by Lowe, Aden
"Come on, Strafer, that's enough." Speaking up against the guy was risky, but Dix couldn't stand it any longer.
Strafer grinned up at him. "What's the matter? Don't have the stomach for it?"
Dix shuffled his feet a moment. "Nah, man, but that ain't got nothing to do with it. You keep at it, that goat is going to die of fear. Belial will be pissed as hell. He needs it alive." To his relief, the bastard sat back and snuffed out his impromptu torture device.
Chapter Fifteen
The truck hit a rut and made Georgie's teeth click together painfully hard. Lucky her tongue was out of the way. It wasn't easy to lie there like a rag doll and try to look as if she were still tied up when every few yards brought a new and more painful bruise. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and made it happen though. All that squirming around and getting hay string in her teeth wasn't going to go to waste if she could help it.
So she lay there half choking on the smell of exhaust and just let the truck beat the hell out of her. At least they weren't going fast. Those holes and ruts would have been a real bitch if they had.
The sob came out of nowhere. What the fuck was she going to do? Sure she could fight, maybe even beat them, but what then? And she didn't even know who they were or what they wanted. Dix showing up at her door like that seemed like too much coincidence, so she had to assume the same men were responsible for his injuries.
Besides the fear she wouldn't make it out of this alive, the thought of Dix still lying on her floor, maybe even dead, terrified the piss out of her. Nothing in her life—from sketchy foster homes as a kid, to walking into domestic violence situations as a cop—scared her half as much as the possibility of his death.
Fuck, she had to get out of this and get back to him. Whoever Kellen sent might not pursue it when he knocked and no one answered. Prayer started to look like a pretty good option, for both of them.
The truck slowed even further and the front dropped hard, gradually returned to level, then the rear bottomed out, parts of the frame scraping rock, before climbing once more. Even at a mere crawl, the obstacle bounced Georgie off the bed and let her fall hard enough to split her lip and leave what felt like a gash on her forehead.
Just as she settled back into her tied-up position, the truck stopped. A light came on and gave the bed of the truck faint illumination. At least she could make out the sides. The doors opened and closed with squeals of protest and make the whole truck shudder.
"You got her?" A female voice at a slight distance carried easily.
"Yeah, we got her. We lost Allocer though. She killed him."
Georgie's stomach rolled. Had she really killed that man? Part of her felt like jumping up to celebrate.
"Get her inside. I want to look at her while she apologizes for killing him." Shadows moved nearer.
The tailgate of the truck dropped with a screech and a heavy hand grabbed her foot and dragged her roughly off the truck. Other hands sank into her hair and pulled her to standing, then hefted her over a muscular shoulder.
Shit. She had to be careful her bonds didn't fall away. They should pass a casual inspection but you never knew. Determined to get away and get back to Dix, she forced the panic out of her head and made herself pay attention to the details around her.
It seemed like there were only two at the moment. Maybe she should kick loose and get the hell out of there. Except she had no idea where she was, or how to get anywhere near help. She tried to be somewhat smart about it, but with so many unknowns, waiting a bit looked like the best idea. Fuck, she wished she knew what to do.
What she really needed was to get her hands on the keys to that truck and drive her own ass out of wherever they'd brought her. The chances of the men, or that woman, just handing the keys over seemed pretty slim. So a weapon to at least incapacitate them looked like her only option. So, she played possum and bided her time.
The man carried her into a building and she tried to get a decent look without alerting anyone she had awakened. It seemed like a good idea for them to keep right on thinking she was unconscious. Maybe they would say something to give her a hint or two.
First impression, the place seemed like a long-abandoned house. Cracked linoleum showed through dirt and debris on the floor. Walls sported holes and peeling wall paper. She spotted a ripped and moldering couch in one corner, and something scurried along it, barely visible in the yellowed light.
The man carrying her stopped and dumped her to the floor with no effort to prevent injury and she barely managed to hold in her curse of pain when her already bruised hip took the brunt of her weight.
"What's wrong with her?" The female voice came again, very close now.
"Strafer knocked her out after she shot Allocer. She hasn't woke up yet."
Heels clicked around her and crunched on the gritty floor. Something ran over her hand with lots and lots of little feet, and Georgie struggled to swallow her gasp of horror. The heels came to a halt right in front of her face and she braced for impact.
Nothing happened after a moment. "Wake her up. She has to pay for destroying one of my children. I will see to Strafer in the meantime. Naberius will assist you." The woman belonging to the heels turned and clicked away.
Georgie let her eyes open just a slit again. A man, probably the one who'd carried her, knelt not far away, head bowed. What the hell? Was he praying? He stayed in that position until the woman left the room, then climbed to his feet.
"You can open your eyes now. Lilith has left."
Startled, Georgie did exactly that. How had he known?
The hulking man stood nearby, grinning broadly. He leaned down to whisper to her. "You did me a favor, even if you don't know it. Allocer was a mean jerk. So I'm going to be nice to you." He bent down and the impulse to draw back from his hand became irresistible. "It's okay, I won't hurt you. I'm just going to untie you so you can sit up. Okay?"
Puzzled, she nodded. The man seemed off a little, maybe simple, just from the way he spoke and the fierce concentration on his face while he untied her fake knots. "Thank you, sir. I'm Georgie."
A broad grin spread over his face. "No one ever calls me sir. I'm called Verin, 'cause I don't like to wait, but my name is Timmy." He offered a huge hand.
Struck by oddness of the situation, Georgie accepted his handshake and gave him a smile. "Pleased to meet you Timmy." Maybe she could find an advantage in being polite.
"Shhh." He looked back the way the woman had gone. "Lilith don't like when I let people say my name." The thick whisper probably carried easily to wherever the woman had gone. "She thinks it means someone will start looking for me. She's wrong though. They quit looking for me a long long time ago. Some days I wish they found me, though."
It took all Georgie had not to ask, but she managed it. "Hey Timmy, you think I could have some water?"
Timmy nodded vigorously. "Sure. That's part of my job. Wait right here." He hurried away, moving deceptively fast for a man of his bulk. Definitely something to remember. At the moment he seemed almost childlike and harmless, but a man that strong who could move that fast posed serious danger. Best not to anger him.
Why would that Lilith woman worry about people looking for him? Had she kidnapped him too? Her mind raced with possible scenarios. Had they snatched Timmy as a young boy away from his family? If so, for what purpose? Or maybe he ran away from something worse than Lilith and her 'children'.
Worrying about him isn't getting you out of this shit, Georgie. Think of that later when you might actually be able to help him. She pushed her mind back to figuring out where she'd been taken and why, and how to get her ass out of trouble alive.
The dingy room held few clues and she really didn't want to look all that closely anyway. She'd rather not see whatever had scurried across the couch again. Still, she looked around a little more carefully.
Timmy had dumped her in the middle of what must have been a living room, if the decaying couch meant anything. Curtains hung at the window, sta
ined and tattered and most likely held together more by cobwebs than fabric, but still curtains. Most of the wallpaper had long since fallen down or disintegrated, but the few patches that remained visible had a geometric pattern that would probably blind her. The paper, and the linoleum she figured had been meant to look like avocado green tile flooring suggested the place might have last held occupants in the nineteen-seventies.
One door led to another room, lit the same sickly yellowish as the one where Timmy dumped her. From her current position, she saw the back of a kitchen chair, also ancient, and lots of dirt, but nothing else. A dark opening yawned at the other side of the room, leading to what she assumed was a hallway, maybe with bedrooms beyond.
Judging by the condition of the road they brought her in on, the place must be somewhat isolated. She tried to think of all the reasons a house might be out in the middle of nowhere and unoccupied, but came up short. Images from some horror flick based on a possessed house filled her brain and excluded every other possibility. Sweat trickled down her back as the house seemed filled with small noises.
Georgie wished she knew how long they drove. Not like she knew the area around Stags Leap, but maybe she could have narrowed it down a little at least. No abandoned houses existed in the area as far as she knew, other than a few ancient ones with caved in roofs. Nothing like this one.
Rita always pushed her to explore and get to know the surrounding countryside. You never know when it might come in handy. Besides, a girl can never know too much about anything. Georgie scoffed at the idea, claiming everything she needed to learn about the area lay within Stags Leap. If she got out of this alive, she intended to take that bit of advice to heart.
Timmy returned, practically soundless—another frightening quality in a man so large—with a bottle of water dwarfed in his giant paw. "Strafer rigged up the 'lectric so the lights work a little, but Lilith said the water in the well is prob'ly poison so we can't use it." He passed the bottle to her, seeming careful to maintain a distance this time, as if someone warned him she posed a danger to him.
Nothing could be further from the truth at the moment. Pain from the multitude of bruises and bumps kept her movement to a minimum. "Thank you, Timmy." Georgie took a grateful drink to soothe her aching throat. The movement of her neck muscles provided a vivid reminder of being held by her hair with a blade to her jugular.
Her heart started to pound heavy in her chest as panic threatened to pull her in. She bit her tongue in an effort to bring her focus back to the present. She could be scared when it was over, but at the moment, she needed all her wits about her. Luck was simply not going to get her out of this fix.
Footsteps approached and Timmy looked alarmed. "Shhh, that's Naberius. He's not nice." He took the water bottle and turned to face the entry.
A tall thin man, maybe thirty years old, came to stand close and leer down at her. "Get on your knees, bitch."
Heart racing once more with fear, Georgie complied, wishing she'd broken free and run when the truck stopped, rather than waiting. This man's face betrayed his cruelty. He was nothing like Timmy and he wouldn't fall for whatever tactic she came up with to gain an advantage.
"Don't bother her Naberius. Lilith won't like it." Timmy looked like he'd swallowed something particularly nasty.
Naberius laughed. "Aw, come on, Verin. Won't hurt you to have a little fun. Strafer said we could try her out after Lilith is done with her. We can find out if ol' Dix still knows how to pick out good pussy."
Georgie felt every drop of blood drain from her face. Shit. These people knew Dix, and apparently knew him well. What did that mean for her?
"No. She's nice. I don't want anything bad to happen to her and that's bad." Timmy's face had gone red and he wore a scowl. "You can't hurt her."
Naberius laughed again. "Shit, you think you're going to stop me? You should know better, Verin." One finger wagged back and forth in a gesture clearly meant to ridicule the very idea.
Timmy's scowl deepened. "No. I won't let you hurt her. She's my friend."
Once more Naberius laughed, long and hard. "You stupid fuck. She's not your friend. Girls like her laugh their asses off at you. If you wasn't so dumb, you'd remember that. That day we went to get burgers. Remember? All those pretty girls sitting in the booth laughing, mocking you? Bet this one's laughing at you right now. Just like them."
Timmy looked toward her, as if to check. "No she's not. You're scaring her." The stubborn set to his jaw warned the other man to stop, but Georgie knew the bastard would push every button in Timmy's head before he finished.
"Stop it." Lilith came in, followed by a third man. "Naberius, you will stop teasing Verin. Understood?" She came to stand before Georgie. "Well, well. So you hold Dixon's heart? Sad, he used to have far better taste."
Chapter Sixteen
Dix forced his body to bow to his will, no matter how much pain it brought. He could endure anything to bring Georgie back. Well, anything other than her absence. Not knowing where or how she was totally wrecked him. The thought of her in Strafer's hands, or worse, Lilith's, terrified him.
Kellen and the others searched for her, devoting the bulk of the Hell Raiders' resources and man hours to finding her and exacting justice. They would risk everything and go until Judgement Day, but life had to eventually return to something like normal. They all had obligations. Without Georgie, though, normal couldn't exist for Dix. Nothing mattered to him except finding her and bringing her home. Nothing.
So as the sky outside the window brightened, he pushed his shoulders off the bed and managed to work his way to a sitting position. By the time he caught his breath, sweat rolled off him. Still, he pushed on, goal firmly in mind. One at a time, he swung his feet off the edge of the damn hospital bed they put him in.
He sat there, losing the battle to keep his breaths shallow. That bullet from Strafer might not have damaged anything important, but it still hurt like a bitch. Didn't matter though. A hole through his chest wouldn't have stopped him from trying to find Georgie. He let his feet slip to the floor and stood braced against the bed, wishing for something a hell of a lot stronger than whatever the boys had given him for pain.
Jeans refused to cooperate and just cover his ass automatically, so he had to really work to drag them off the back of the chair and get them on. He found holding his breath when he moved helped. The sky outside said not all that long had passed, by the time he got the jeans on and slid his cut over his shoulders, even if he felt like he'd run a couple of marathons. His shirt seemed to have disappeared, and no way in hell could he pull his boots on. The jeans and cut would have to do for the moment.
Lucky for him, the boys put him in the sick room, a little closer to the front of the house than his own. The fact they even had a room specifically for sick or injured Hell Raiders spoke volumes about the dangers they sometimes encountered. A doctor came when called and the room held an impressive stock of medical equipment, just waiting for the need to arise.
Finally, Dix reached the door. The hall outside the room was darker than the armpits of Hell, but he negotiated his way down it by memory, heading for the bathroom. A healthy piss later, he paused long enough to catch a glimpse of the damage in the mirror. Fuck, whatever Strafer hit him with had left a definite mark. He took the time to splash some cold water on his face then started for the kitchen. Surely someone would have coffee made, and maybe even food.
To his relief, the smell of brewing coffee reached him as he neared the end of the hall. Having to stand and wait for it would suck at the moment. An unexpected obstacle arose though, in the form of the room waiting to be crossed with few handholds between him and the kitchen. He only had to lean a little in either direction for nice solid support since he left the sick room.
One long table with chairs, and two glorified picnic tables filled the dining room at the moment, waiting to seat the regulars. And none were handy to help him across that big open space.
"Need a hand, brother?" Badger s
tepped out of the kitchen and assessed his predicament with one glance.
"I could use one." Dix gratefully accepted the older man's help and ended up sitting at the table while Badger brought him coffee and a donut. "Thanks, man."
"Anytime, kid. Any word on your woman?" Badger pulled out a chair and sat across from him with his own coffee.
"Not yet. I have to find her, Badger. The Raiders got shit to do, and this is because of some idiot mistakes I made."
The base of the old biker's coffee mug struck the table hard. "Boy, you best forget you ever thought that shit. First thing, yeah, Raiders got shit to do, and finding your woman tops the list now. You might still be a Prospect, but you're ours. That means she is too. And family comes first. You understand?"
"Uh, yeah. Sorry, Badger. I know the Raiders would piss on the flames of Hell to find any of the full members' ol' ladies. But I'm just a prospect, and she only just agreed to not kick my ass." Dix forced himself to pause for a sip of coffee. "Kellen tell everyone what kind of people we're talking about here?"
"Nah, kid, that don't matter. All any of us needs to know is that one of our own is in trouble. They could be purple people eaters, for all the difference it makes to us."
Coffee tried really hard to choke Dix as a laugh forced its way out. "Badger, you got a way with words for such an old fucker."
"What? You never heard the song?" Badger stood up. "No worries, kid. You just heal and figure out where these people took your woman. You probably know something, even if you don't think you do."
The words rang a bell. "How'd you get so smart, Badger?"
"Ha, smart am I? Well, listen to your elders kid, and you might get smart someday too." The old man laughed and turned away to leave Dix to his own thoughts.
Dix quickly followed the train of thought the old man had started. The entire time he'd been with Belial and his followers, Belial had spoken of Sanctuary, a place where they didn't have to hide. At first, Dix thought he meant some far off pipedream, but as details came up, Belial clearly had a specific place in mind. Dix didn't really give a fuck where that place might be after things started getting too nasty for his taste, but Sophie did. She'd had stars in her eyes when it came to Belial and his plans for a bright future for his people.