by Brandi Bell
“Is your witch still going to come take the collar off?” I asked. “It still makes me feel empty and hollow. I didn’t run and you left me alone outside.”
“He’s supposed to come by at some point today. We’ll see what happens.” At that he served breakfast along with water and coffee.
I ate my pancakes in silence, hoping not to do anything to upset him again. He was such a ticking time bomb, I never knew what would set him off. We finished eating, then he requested I wash the dishes. I complied without a complaint. Washing dishes wasn’t a hard thing to do. It was odd to have my emotions so dulled, but at the same time, it made being held captive a little easier.
When I finished the dishes he insisted we sit in the living room and watch TV. He had the news on and the story playing was about the disappearance of Ruby Stone, lead singer of Mz Hyde. She was kidnapped from the venue as soon as she walked off stage. The police were asking the public to send any tips or sighting to their hotline number. They cut to a segment interviewing the band about the disappearance. Grady spoke to the camera and said, “Ruby, we know you are strong and we'll find you no matter what it takes.”
My heart fluttered a tiny bit, but still muted to what I would have expected. I knew Grady spoke to me, even if he used Ruby’s name. Relief washed over me knowing they weren’t hurt.
All of the sudden Jake turned the tv off and threw the remote at the wall. “They don’t know what they're talking about. She wasn’t kidnapped she was rescued from that crazy band. You heard them say they would find you no matter what! Crazy stalker band. I'll protect you from them with my life, Jade. I won’t let them get ahold of you again.”
“Erm, thank you?” I tried to find what he wanted to hear.
“I mean it, Jade, you belong with me and only me, no one will ever get to you again. I won’t allow it.”
“What about my family?”
“After you both realize you love me and only me we can go visit them.”
I felt like throwing up. I hoped I convinced Jake to take off the collar. I couldn’t keep going through this day after day before going crazy myself.
He walked out of the room, and left me sitting there on my own. I was afraid to turn the TV back on, so I just stared out the front window daydreaming about being back in Grady’s arms where I belonged.
I’m not sure how long I spent daydreaming out the window, but I was pulled back to reality when a slimy, creepy feeling came over me. Jake sat right next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. It took everything in me not to shudder in revulsion. At least the collar helped mute that feeling as well, for the time being.
“Let’s watch a movie, I’m sorry I lost my temper, I just would do anything for you, Jade.”
I just nodded my head at him, afraid to open my mouth with as queasy as I felt. The feeling went away as soon as he stood up to get the remote and turn the TV on. It returned, however, as soon as he sat next to me and placed his arm around my shoulders again.
I turned a bit and tried to lose myself in a daydream again, but the creepy feeling wouldn’t allow me to escape again.
Jake chose some war movie, so I just stared at the screen until it was over. It held no interest for me, and I couldn’t completely zone out. I was just stuck in the moment, even though I wished for anything but.
He chose a second movie, this time it was a comedy. I had to pay more attention, I couldn’t let him know how disgusting he was to me.
I did a decent job apparently, because he never caught on. We went back in the kitchen and he wanted me to make him a sandwich. How cliche right? I just made the sandwiches, in hopes that he would trust me enough to stay out of the cage once the collar was removed.
We were halfway through eating lunch when a knock came at the door.
“Wait here,” Jake demanded.
I sat and strained to listen. I heard the door open and a murmuring of voices but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I really hated that collar, with my magic I could have heard everything they were saying, but then again, with my magic I wouldn’t be stuck there.
A few moments later Jake came into the kitchen followed by one of the most handsome men I had ever seen. He was tall with striking hazel eyes. His black hair made them stand out all the more. My jaw dropped.
“It’s not polite to stare, lass,” he said with a slight Scottish lilt.
“Uh sorry,” was all I managed to spit out.
“Why are you staring at him!” Jake snarled.
“I wasn’t expecting a witch to look like him,” I replied.
“Oh.”
“Get her back in the cage and we'll discuss what will happen now,” the Scot said with a wicked grin.
I felt a shudder go down my back. Nothing good was going to come of this, and I was reasonably sure he was not a witch. I followed Jake back down to the cage regardless. With the collar on, I was a sitting duck.
The men returned back upstairs. It felt like I sat there for a long time before they returned. Jake looked pale, and wouldn’t look at me. The scot walked up to me first.
“Aye, I'll remove the collar for now, lass, but not permanently. I just want to see if the claim this one made about your other half is true.”
I just nodded. I felt my fear spike even through the muted emotions. I knew this man was very bad news. He opened the cage, stepped in, and touched the collar. It fell away immediately.
I gasped as everything returned immediately. I no longer felt empty and my emotions were back full force. I crumpled to the ground in a heap of sobs. I couldn’t control all of the warring emotions going on in my body at once.
“No time for that, lass,” he said, as he lifted me up like I weighed nothing.
He stared into my eyes and started chanting. It was the last thing I remembered.
Chapter 14
My entire body hurt. I laid on cold concrete with my arms and legs were bound again. I wasn’t entirely sure what happened, but I know that man, if he was a man, forced Ruby to come out.
“Oh good you have returned, lass. You’re much easier to deal with than your other side,” the Scot said as he walked towards the cage, “I'll allow Jake to unbind you if you don’t do anything stupid. You are a smart girl aren’t you, lass?”
I nodded my head yes. I was terrified. He opened the door and let Jake in and started to follow. I began trembling.
“Aye, lass, you are right to be scared. This lad doesn’t have the brains to be scared. He’s too crazy and obsessed to realize what he has gotten himself into,” he said and then began laughing.
The sound sent another shudder down my spine. “You’re no witch. What are you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Demon, incubus?”
A shocked look came across his face. “What would make you guess that?”
“Your magic felt the same as some spells I encountered in a club in Florida. Well, before I was forced down by the collar anyways.”
“Fine, maybe you would believe me. I’m an incubus and yes, we’re demons, but not in the heaven hell that humans think of. You should be scared, lass, this one owes me favors and didn’t put a limitation on those favors. You have interested me.”
“You can’t have my Jade,” Jake snarled.
The Scot full on belly laughed, “Don’t worry lad, I won’t be taking the lass today.”
He whispered to me, “I’ve been looking for the creature my sister helped make for nigh on twenty-five years now, and I’ve found you. Don’t think you can escape me.”
With that, he snapped the collar back on me. “You are feeding off me through the collar?”
“Smart and beautiful.”
“Why am I not trying to sleep all the time, like the remote spell from The Time Warp.”
“I don’t know that, but it’s good for you, aye?”
With that he left. I crumbled to the floor sobbing again. I had no idea how I would get out of this situation. I was stuck with a crazy
man until an emotion eating demon came for me.
“I thought Incubi were sex demons,” Jake spoke up after some time.
“Well now you know the myth isn’t true. They feed off of all emotion, the stronger the better. Lust, fear, anger, they really don’t care.”
“I guess I shouldn’t make deals with strangers.”
“There is a saying, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.”
“I won’t let him take you. I'll kill him first.”
“Yeah, a human kill a demon. You are in way over your head. You need to let me go so I can find someone who can actually help me.”
“No!!” He roared. “You’re mine. If he just wants to feed off of you through the collar I can keep you. I don’t care about that.”
“I care,” I whispered.
“Tough, you just have to live with what you are given.”
With that he walked off and left me in the cage. It felt like all the progress I made in making him trust me vanished. With that thought, the sun set.
When I became aware, I wasn’t tied up this time. That was an improvement. I looked around and Jake was opening the door to the cage. “Let’s go eat breakfast,” he said as he turned to walk to the stairs.
Maybe I hadn’t broken his trust all the way, I thought as I got up and followed him upstairs. My first stop was the bathroom. There was nothing laying around for me to clean up this time, so I just used the sink to do the best I could.
I headed into the kitchen and breakfast was on the table. I ate in silence, not knowing what would set him off. His emotions were on edge as it was.
“Jade, I have to go to the store today, so you have to stay in the cage.”
I only nodded my head yes. I followed him downstairs, he opened the cage door and drug the mattress back in. He made me get in the cage. He then set the TV up, handed me the remote, and left.
I put on some mindless TV show then laid down on the bed. I let my thoughts wander, and before long I was daydreaming about being in Grady’s arms again. I was brought back to reality when I heard the basement door open. I glanced at the tv and it looked like a few episodes had passed.
Jake opened the cage door, and then turned off the TV. He headed back upstairs without a word. I went ahead and followed him just to get out of the basement.
He opened the backdoor, so I went into the backyard and sat down. The sun felt so good on my skin. I was shocked he was letting me outside after I begged him to let me go. I wasn’t the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. I lounged in the sun for a while lost in a daydream, until I felt his creepy eyes on me again.
I turned to look at him staring at me from the doorway. He had warring emotions flashing across his face. I thought he was going to say something, but he just turned around and went back in the house.
I figured if I was going to escape this was my chance. I checked the fence for a gate and found one on the street facing side. I was in luck, it wasn’t locked. I ran out of it and made it halfway down the street, before I was knocked down.
“Not so fast, lass, I let you stay with the lad because his emotions are delicious. But that doesn’t mean you can get away that easily,” the Scot said, as he drug me back to Jake’s house.
He knocked on the door. Jake looked shocked when he answered the door and the Scot had me in tow. “I was just going for a run?” I tried.
And just like that I was back in the cage. He removed the mattress and TV, a look of fury on his face.
“I thought we were building trust, Jade, but you were using me.”
“I needed to run. My legs are cramped being stuck in this house.”
“You were running away from me,” Jake growled.
“I never said I wouldn’t come back,” I said.
“Then why did he drag you back.”
“I don’t know! I was only two houses away!” I shouted, hoping to make myself sound believable.
“I don’t believe you. you'll have to stay back down here.”
With that he left. I crumpled in the corner feeling defeated. I was so close to escaping, yet it didn’t work. I felt like giving up, there was no way I was getting out of this.
I sat there lost in my misery for hours, until it was Ruby’s turn.
Chapter 15
I was really cold when I came to. At least I wasn’t wet this time. I looked around and Jake was nowhere to be found. I guess he was too mad to deal with me today. My bladder wished he would come around.
“JAKE!” I yelled as loud as I could. “I’ve got to pee!”
It seemed like ages, but he eventually came down the stairs, with a very cold detached look in his eyes. He opened the cage door and attached the leash to the collar before I even registered what was happening. Then he turned around and started towards the stairs with no warning, and yanked me with him.
He led me to the bathroom and pushed me in, leash and all. I was shocked at the change in his demeanor, but he was certifiable, so I just figured it was part of his mental illness. It worried me he would start hurting us next though.
I finished in the restroom and opened the door, he yanked ahold of the leash as fast as he could. It pulled me forward into him and I had to grab him to keep my balance. It gave me a creepy feeling, but his eyes lost their coldness.
“One evening in the cage, and you’re ready to throw yourself at me, Jade? You feel that remorseful already?” he smiled.
I nodded, trying my best to hide my revulsion.
“In that case come on we'll have breakfast, are you thirsty?”
I nodded again, afraid to speak. He kept ahold of the leash but quit yanking me around, and lead me to the kitchen to sit. He placed a bottle of water in front of me and started cooking. This felt very similar to the first time he brought me up, except I wasn’t blindfolded this time.
He began to speak excitedly, “I knew you’d come around, see we were meant to be together. I’m so excited to take you out and show you off. We won’t need the leash, or the cage, or the collar soon. Ruby just needs to understand that she has to love me too. You guys need to learn to share.”
I thought to myself wow, just catching myself from falling gave him this idea, I'm really worried about his instability. I knew better than to voice my concerns. Again I was glad that the collar muted my feelings.
I ate breakfast silently while he still talked manically. He didn’t even seem to notice the conversation was one sided. When we finished eating he led me back to the bathroom and grabbed clothes and a towel. He told me to get ready we were going out. I was more than happy to comply, thinking that would be the perfect chance to escape.
Once I was finished, he kept the leash on as he lead me to the car. Once we were in, he removed it. “We’re going to the mall today. You’re going to pick out lingerie to wear for me.”
Again all I did was nod, trying to push the sick feeling in my stomach down. I couldn’t hint at the fact that once we were surrounded by people I could easily get away.
He insisted on holding my hand as we walked into the mall. It was gross and sweaty, but I resisted the urge to pull my hand out to wipe it on my pants. Once we stepped into the mall I spotted a security guard and pulled away from Jake and ran as hard as I could towards him.
When the guard turned around I knew I had made a big mistake. It was the Scot. This was a test and I failed miserably.
“Aye, lass, I knew you would run. I couldn’t convince this poor sucker. I think my influence has made his mental health worse. He should probably be committed, but he isn’t my problem. You, lass, are now going to come with me.”
“No. HELP! FIRE! SOMETHING!” I scream at the top of my lungs as he drags me out of the mall.
Of course, no one is going to pay attention, he is in a security guard uniform so everyone just thought I was crazy. He was too prepared for this. He pulled me into the back of a car and touched my forehead and said sleep. I was out cold.
When I awoke I was in a bedroom, but I still felt cut
off from my magic. The collar was still around my neck. “Hello, Jade,” the Scot said.
“Why do you want me so bad?” I asked.
“You are the perfect food source. Two souls to feed off of at once. I figured out why you don’t feel tired, and you feel empty. I’m feeding off of the sleeping soul,” he explained.
“I must find this spell my sister used, and help more mixed couples have babies. Imagine a world full of two souled people to feed from,” he mused. “On any account, you’ll be treated better here than you were at crazy man's house. It was just a means to an end. I play the long game. But I’ll warn you, my house is escape proof, and you’re too weak to fight me.”
I just sat there in shock. I wasn’t sure how to react to this change in circumstance. I was so confident that I was going to escape at the mall, then this happened. I just traded one captor for another, and I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t in more danger now. I decided I would just play the mute for the time being. This guy seemed to like the sound of his own voice.
“Forgive me, I never did introduce myself. My name is Seamus. I figured since you’ll be here for a very long time, there is no harm in you knowing now.”
With that he turned towards the door, “You can go anywhere you want to in the house, including the garden, but you won’t be able to leave the property line. If you try it will be painful, so I suggest saving yourself the hurt.”
He left me alone, so I laid down on the bed to think. I was still a prisoner, but my prison was prettier than a cage in a basement. My captor wasn’t crazy, but calculating which made it much harder to escape. Everyone slipped up somewhere, I would just have to stay aware until I got the chance to get away.
I decided I might as well explore since there was nothing else to do. There were three doors in the bedroom I was in. I already knew where the one went to the right of the bed, so I chose the door across from the bed closest to the window. It was a giant walk in closet, with clothes in both our styles. I shuddered as I shut the door. He was well prepared for this. The door to the right of the closet was a giant ensuite bathroom. It had a giant soaker tub and all sorts of products were lined up across the counter.