When she had them in place, she started moving them around. Mollie tried not to become frustrated with her inability to see what she was doing, but sweat beaded on her forehead and the ticking second hand of her watch sounded like drumbeats ticking away her life.
Each passing second was one second closer to those freaks returning for them.
She concentrated on her breathing and kept her hands steady while she worked. The slightest tremor might screw it all up.
Mike tore his gaze away from Mollie to inspect the barn again. He almost told her to hurry, but he bit the words back. Rushing her wouldn’t do either of them any good, and there was no guarantee she’d succeed.
He searched for cameras amid the rafters and spotted one in the right corner of the barn. Their captors weren’t too close, if they’d been next door, they would be here by now, but the Savages were monitoring their actions and had to know they were up to something.
A click sounded before the creak of hinges filled the air. His head shot back toward Mollie as her cage door swung open. She sat with her mouth half open and her hands on her knees as the door stopped a few inches away from her.
All around the barn, gasps filled the air, and the increased beat of hearts resonated. Mike stared at her in amazement as she snatched up the Zippo and scurried from her cage. When she tried to rise, she staggered and nearly went down. Lurching sideways, she fell against the bars of her cage.
“Are you okay?” he demanded. He reached for her through the bars but came up short of where she stood.
“My legs are cramped, and it’s been a while since I ate, but I’m fine,” she muttered before removing the pins from her lock.
She spat her gum into her cage and clutched the bars as, on wobbly legs, she made her way over to Mike’s cage and handed him back his lighter. The pins and needles were working their way out of her legs, and the longer she stood, the stronger they felt. She shifted from side to side, stretching her muscles as she examined the lock on Mike’s cage. It was the same as the others.
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to set Mike free when she had no idea who he was, but he’d helped her, and she’d promised to help him. She couldn’t walk away and leave him to whatever fate awaited him here. No matter how desperate she was to find Aida, she’d hate herself for the rest of her life if she left him caged.
Besides, with as large as he was, his friendship might come in handy for whatever awaited them outside this barn. She certainly didn’t want him as an enemy, and that’s what he’d become if she left him here and he somehow got free.
“Hold the lighter here,” Mollie instructed.
When she grabbed his hand to move it into position, a jolt went through her the second their skin came into contact. Gasping, she nearly released the pins when she jerked her hand away from his. Trying to get her galloping heart under control, she refused to meet his eyes when she bent her head to the task of picking his lock.
What was that? Never had she experienced anything like it, and her body remained electrified by the jolt he’d given her. Had he felt it too? What does it matter if he did? You have far more important things to worry about.
Which was very true. Mollie ignored the tingling in her hand as she remained focused on the lock. She didn’t look up when she felt his eyes burning into her head as she wiggled the pins.
“How did you learn to pick locks?” he asked.
A faint smile curved her mouth while she remained focused on her task. Her mom had been dead for two years now, but out of habit, she always made sure she had a couple of bobby pins on her, as well as a lockpick kit, but her kit was wherever her car was now. Bobby pins had always been her go-to as they were easier to carry, and a nine-year-old toting around a lockpick set probably would have attracted the attention of child services.
“My mom was always locking herself out of places, or her keys into places,” Mollie said. “I couldn’t tell you the number of times she locked us out of our house, car, or rooms in our house. After a while, instead of calling a locksmith or breaking a window, I learned how to pick a lock. I saw it in a movie once and thought it looked like fun.”
“Why didn’t you just carry an extra key with you?”
When she glanced at him, her incredible eyes danced with mischief and stole Mike’s breath. Without thinking, he reached through the bars and stroked the gentle curve of her cheek. Her skin was like silk beneath his fingers as the same thrill he’d gotten from touching her before ran up his arm. What he wouldn’t give to be free of these bars and this place so he could explore more of her.
Mollie gulped and tore her attention away from him when one of the pins nearly tumbled from the lock. She struggled to recall what they’d been talking about as she focused on freeing him.
“Now what would be the fun in that?” she asked in a tone meant to be teasing, but she sounded more like Kermit the Frog.
A click silenced his answer.
Mike stared in amazement when his door swung open before his gaze shifted back to her. All her humor vanished as she backed uneasily away from him and toward her cage. He understood her sudden distrust; their situation didn’t exactly scream faith in others.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he vowed.
Approaching headlights drew his attention as they illuminated the edges of the barn doors while he crawled out from his cage.
Chapter Six
Mike’s gaze shot to Mollie when she stopped edging away from him and froze to gawk at the doors. Rising, he ignored the stiffness of his legs as he ran over and claimed her hand. A small jolt of electricity raced through him, and his hand instinctively tightened around hers. He’d get her out of this no matter what it took.
“This way,” he said and tugged on her hand.
Pulling her with him, they ran toward the ladder leading to the hayloft. He despised the places, but he reached around her to grasp the rungs of the ladder and jerked on them. The old wood creaked but remained firm, and he believed it would hold their weight.
He nudged Mollie toward the ladder. “Climb.”
Mollie balked. “We’ll be trapped up there, and there’s a side door over here.” She pointed to the left side of the barn. “I saw it behind those cages before they took Aida.”
“They’ll have that door covered already,” he said as the truck engine turned off. The headlights remained shining on the barn.
“But they’ll know we never left the building!” she protested.
“We have no other choice. The longer we remain free, the better our chances of escaping. Go!”
She gazed uncertainly at him before reluctantly grasping the rungs and climbing the ladder. Mike watched her tall, supple body move with grace and speed. Her black, long-sleeved shirt emphasized pert breasts that would fit perfectly in his hand. His gaze fell to her round, firm ass in her form-fitting jeans.
He tore his attention away from her when he found himself growing aroused. Now was not the time or place. Grasping the rungs, he climbed swiftly as Mollie pulled herself into the hayloft. She glanced back at him before vanishing into the shadows above. Seconds later, Mike followed her into the cavernous space as the large barn doors opened.
He slid further into the shadows where he could stay out of view but still see what was happening below. Mollie crept forward and knelt at his side. The headlights spilling inside illuminated the dirt floor and the hundred or so cages tucked inside the barn; most of them were full. Many of the occupants threw their hands over their eyes and cringed away from the light.
Mike spotted Jack in his cell, sitting with his back against the bars and a knee drawn up against his chest. An insolent look of disdain was on his face as Jack tapped his fingers against his shin. Mike didn’t see Doug anywhere, but he could be in one of the cages inside the stalls.
However, Mike couldn’t get a good view of the dozen or so stalls in the barn. Judging by the size of the barn, Mike suspected there had once been more stalls, but they’d been ripped out to make room fo
r more cages.
The first vamp who strolled into the barn held a rifle; he tapped the barrel of it against his palm while he surveyed the cages. Mike focused on the gold patch on the man’s coat, but he was too far away to read what it said. Beside him, Mollie slid further into the shadows and crouched lower.
Mike searched for more cameras and found three of them tucked into the corners of the barn; he didn’t spot any in the loft though—not that it mattered, whoever was watching them already knew where they were. He didn’t know if they had some way to relay that information to these bastards, but he suspected they did.
Two more vampires entered and flanked the first. They wore identical coats, but they didn’t have a rifle.
“Two piggies got out,” the woman said.
The one holding the gun smirked. “Not very bright piggies.”
“Not at all,” the other man agreed.
Mollie tried to keep her breathing even as she watched the lunatics sauntering into the barn, but it was difficult when her heart was running faster than a racecar’s engine, and a clammy sweat coated her body.
We never should have come up here. As she thought it, the barn’s side door opened, and two more men entered.
If they had gone out the side door, they would have been caught or dead already. They were trapped in the loft, but at least they were still free for whatever short amount of time they had. Mollie jumped when Mike reclaimed her hand and jerked his head to the side.
She remained crouched low as they made their way across the loft. The brief realization the wood beneath them might be rotten and could give way at any second flitted across her mind, but she dismissed it. Rotten floorboards were the least of her problems, and there was no way for her to know if they were or not, so there was no point in worrying about it.
Mike led her around the old, molding bales of hay scattered throughout the loft. The vamps most likely knew they were up here, but the smell of the hay should cover their exact location, which might allow him to get the drop on some of them. But before he tried to go after them, he had to get Mollie somewhere as safe as he could considering what they faced.
Mollie shoved her finger under her nose when Mike led her around a pile of hay and the dust tickled her nose. Do not sneeze! Do not sneeze!
Over the years, she’d watched countless horror movies and screamed at the fleeing women to take off their heels, or not go that way, or to stop being so loud! She would not be one of the idiot horror victims who sneezed in the hayloft.
Mike gestured for her to kneel behind a stack of three bales before settling in front of her. Even in the dark recesses at the back of the loft, Mollie’s startling eyes were vivid. His words died on his tongue as he found himself momentarily lost to those wide eyes with their thick fringe of black lashes.
He didn’t know what it was about her, but he would not let anyone or anything hurt her.
Leaning close, he rested his lips against her ear. “Stay here.”
When she started to shake her head and pull away from him, he tenderly clasped her neck and held her close. The soft strands of her hair caressed his face while the scent of her engulfed him. It took all he had not to turn his head and run his lips over her skin before pressing his lips to hers.
“I’m going to try something,” he said, “and I’d prefer you stayed safe.”
“I can help you,” she whispered.
“Not yet.”
Not ever, but if he told her that, she would argue with him. He sensed a well of strength and determination running through her; she would rebel against being relegated to a lesser role than what she believed she could handle. It was a trait he admired when it wasn’t working against him.
However, judging by the fact she’d said “people” when they were discussing who had caught them, Mollie didn’t know about vampires, and he’d prefer to keep it that way. He certainly didn’t want her to witness what he planned to do to the bastards below, if they didn’t kill him first.
She didn’t know what she’d been plunged into, and if he could, he would keep the worst of his world from her.
You can make her do as you say. He could use his powers to make her stay here, but something inside him recoiled at the idea. It might be safer for her if he forced her to do his bidding, but he wouldn’t mess with her mind in that way.
“Stay here,” he said, “until I have a better idea what’s going on.”
Mollie hesitated before giving a small nod of agreement. Mike’s hand squeezed hers, and she leaned closer to absorb his warmth and strength.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
“I will.”
For some inexplicable reason, tears pricked her eyes when he pulled away and crept back toward the center of the loft.
Chapter Seven
Mike cautiously circled to the left. He stayed away from the ladder as he approached the edge of the hayloft and knelt there. Below, the vampires had split up and were ambling through the cluster of cages.
“Have you seen the piggies?” the man holding the gun asked, poking a woman in the ribs with it.
The woman cried out and pressed more firmly against the bars at the back of her cage. When she cowered in the corner and covered her head with her hands, the man laughed before strolling away. Mike realized the vamp wasn’t looking for an answer; he was merely relishing the torment of his victims. He, and all the others in the black coats, had to be Savages.
When Mike got his hands on that Savage, he was going to enjoy killing the bastard, and killing was not something he relished.
“Have you seen the piggies?” the Savage asked, shoving the barrel of the rifle into the face of a gawking, rail-thin man.
How long have some of them been here? Mike wondered as he surveyed the cages.
Long enough that some of the vampires and humans bordered on starvation. More than a few of them wore baggy clothes he suspected fit when they’d arrived here, and their cheekbones stood out against their pale, dirty skin. Either the Savages didn’t care about feeding the humans, or they didn’t want them to put up any fight when they turned the starving vamps loose on them.
A creak from behind him drew his attention away from the others. He expected to find Mollie hovering nearby; instead, he met the golden eyes of a black cat. Startled, the cat turned and fled into the shadows of the barn.
“Here piggy, piggy, piggy!” the man with the rifle taunted.
Mike turned back to find him pulling the gun out of the man’s face before continuing through the cages.
“Oh, piggy, where art thou?”
Mollie cringed when the man’s voice rang through the rafters until it came from everywhere at once. She poked her head around the bales of hay and stifled another sneeze when more dust drifted to her. Closing her eyes, Mollie pinched her nostrils as her eyes watered. What a fantastic time to discover she was allergic to hay.
I will not sneeze!
The words became a mantra in her head until the urge finally faded and tears streaked her cheeks. Opening her eyes again, she searched the loft for anything she could use as a weapon but saw nothing.
Crawling to the other end of the bales, she poked her head around that side and spotted Mike kneeling at the edge of the loft, watching the proceedings below.
“Little pig, little pig, let me in!” the man called in a booming, baritone voice.
His words echoed throughout again, but this time, Mollie pinpointed his location. Her gaze fell to the hay and dust-covered boards beneath her. If she was correct, then he was right below her.
“Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin!” the man yelled in a higher-pitched falsetto.
Back in his deeper baritone, the man called, “Then, I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in!”
Mollie didn’t know what instinct caused her to move, but as Mike was coming at her, she was leaping to her feet and scrambling over the top of the bales. The thunderous explosion of a gunshot reverberated through the barn as the flo
or she’d been kneeling on blew upward. Shards of wood pelted her calves before she flung herself over the bales and crashed onto the other side of them.
Dust burst into the air around her, and the breath was knocked from her lungs, making it impossible for her to breathe as she stared at the wooden rafters over her head. If she’d been able to scream, she would have when she spotted a set of golden eyes peering down at her. But thankfully her inability to breathe kept her from shrieking over a cat.
Dust swirled around her as she attempted to get her arms and legs under her. Then solid arms were encircling her as the floor burst apart behind her again.
Mollie bit back a cry when Mike’s arms tightened around her while he rolled until she was dizzy and had no idea where they were in the loft. When he came to a stop, he lowered one arm to her waist and kept the other locked across her back as he launched to his feet.
Dangling against his side, Mollie instinctively slipped her legs around his waist and cleaved to him as he released her to grasp an overhead beam. She’d nearly had her ass blown off and was being stalked by a madman with a Three Little Pigs obsession, but Mollie felt a rush of desire when his powerful body flexed against hers.
She held on as Mike lifted his legs off the ground and gripped the beam with them. She marveled at the strength he possessed while he scurried up the rafter and toward the center of the barn before swinging out to catch another beam. She finally managed to draw in her first deep breath as he made his way across the rafters with the ease of a monkey swinging through the trees. Except, he carried a hundred and forty pounds of her weight with him.
The strength he showed was impossible, wasn’t it? And why was she questioning this when a lunatic was firing at them through the floorboards?
But the gunshots had ceased, and she heard only the frightened whimpers of those in the cages. Mike propelled them further up the rafter and nearly to the peak of the barn.
Consumed: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 8 Page 4