1 Dicey Grenor (29 page)

After coming once
they’d grown more creative in ways to inflict pain on me. Guess they had less
pressure on their balls and more blood flowing to their itty-bitty brains.
Valentina
could use them in her shows provided they learned
the concept of “safe word”. One had even cut off my nipple when I mentioned he
had a baby dick and fucked like a turtle.

My
bad.
Note to self: never insult a man’s manhood while you’re chained up
even if he really is under-endowed.

So in
order to keep their minds off
the saw, I had resorted to
titillating them, pretending my vampire libido wanted them.
Encouraging
them to insert dicks in my orifices rather than sharp metal objects.
I
was not having a good time, mind you, but Dario would be pissed to learn I was
not suffering.
That they were no closer to extracting Max’s
whereabouts.
That I’d survive awhile longer with more time to plot their
demise.

And sure as shit
stinks, their demise was coming since I’d discovered a few clues about my
prison. One, while lying on the floor, I had detected faint scents of bleach
and Lysol which told me this was already a sterile environment before Dario had
doused it with holy water. And two, now that I was no longer hanging upside
down, I got a good look around at all the white cabinets and white tables
covered by clear plastic to catch my splattered blood. There was not much else
to go on since my abduction had been premeditated, but these clues were more
than I had before.

Unfortunately, no
one had been stupid enough to get a blowjob. My fangs were itching to bite a
dick off.

“Where is he?”
Little Dick asked for the fifteen-millionth time.

Lying on the cool
concrete floor, I just shook my head back and forth. How many ways could I say
I didn’t know?

Max had sired
hundreds of female vampires (though I wasn’t sure how many still existed),
joined forces with another vampire clan, and accumulated more power, more
possessions, more wisdom than anyone I’d ever known. He had been around for
over two thousand years and he’d done that by shrewdness and careful planning.
We all came to him blindfolded. We left only after he scrubbed our brains of
his location. It was a safety precaution for all of us. No one feared the other
would turn on him and thereby kill us all. It had been smart. It had been
effective.

And it would be
the reason I met my final death alone today if I did not figure out how to
escape.

Little Dick looked
at his watch then straddled my chest. He’d obviously decided he had wasted
enough time. “Where is he?” he asked.

“I don’t
kn
—”

I never finished
the sentence because he had punched my jaw so hard it cracked. And he was
wearing metal mesh gloves so I couldn’t bite through his skin.

He punched again.

I could take it.
Been taking beatings since I was a child.
This was nothing.
Only thing missing was the prayers to God for my salvation.
Which
would have been nice.

Unless
God wasn’t going to answer.

“Where.
Is.
He?” he asked, accentuating each word with a kick
to my side.

Yeah, that’s
really going to make me talk, you overcompensating motherfucker.

Pulling my knees
to chest, I tucked my chin to shield myself from the beatings as much as
possible since his fists and steel-toed boots were packing more power than my
parents’ belts.

I was happy to
feel my consciousness slipping from me again…

“Hang in there,
Willow. I’m right here,”
came
the sweetest sound I’d
ever heard.
The voice of love and concern.
“You’re not
alone this time,” he said.

Squinting through
swollen lids and bright lighting, I saw him crouching in front of me, smiling
warmly, rubbing my shoulder.

Comforting
me like he’d done years ago when I had confided in him about my childhood.

I forced a smile.
Because either I was delirious with pain and imagining things or Ivan’s ghost
had picked the perfect time to show up.

Chapter 35

When I reached my
hand out to touch Ivan, Little Dick ceased his ministrations and stepped back. “Man,
this bitch is crazy,” he said to no one in particular.

Tuning them out, I
stared into Ivan’s sapphires and thought of how beautiful they were, though not
as mesmerizing as Aaron and
Remi’s
. Not as creepy as
when
Remi
peeped through them, not as innocent as
when Aaron did.

Just realized I
had a thing for eyes and not just because they were the windows to the soul I
used for captivating brains. In fact, an argument could be made that my men’s
eyes were so beautiful, they captivated
me
.

And it wasn’t just
about eye color. Sapphire or metallic blue, emerald or neon green, smoky black,
it didn’t matter. It was also the thickness of the brows and where the bridge
of the nose fit between…

The non-English-speaking
guy had come over and started smacking my face around, so I mentally withdrew
unto myself.
Focusing on my men and their eyes…and their
captivated brains.

My mind wandered
all over the place. Anywhere was better than here.

Speaking of
captivated brains…

Emmanuel had asked
me to make it where he never had to come back. What if I could use my power of
captivation over each of Aaron’s personalities and command them to appear only
at pre-approved times? Maybe I could repair some of the damage I’d done to
their brain that caused them to shift randomly by forcing them to shift
according to a calendar schedule. Mason could go back to shifting only once
every six months,
Remi
every Saturday, and Emmanuel
not at all. It wouldn’t be permanent, of course, but it may buy us a little
time.
Time without Aaron’s medication.

If I survived
today, I’d have to try it.

Provided Aaron was
still alive since I hadn’t gotten the protection amulet from
Saybree
yet.

Hopefully, Dario
was nearby, focusing his efforts on breaking me instead of going after Aaron in
the meantime.
While I was preoccupied with reinforcements.

Who were breaking
me down bit-by-
bit.

Going in and out
of consciousness was no longer helping my mental state. Meditating on
everything other than pain no longer kept me grounded. I was a ball of nerves,
a cesspool of desperation.
Wondering if this was the
beginning of insanity.

My mind had begun
reaching out to Max for help, knowing that was a bad idea in all regards. One,
although I didn’t know exactly where he was, I could still sense he was miles
away.
Still well-hidden in another country.
Two, even
if he was close, it was daylight. And three, if by some swing of the devil’s
dick Max would come rescue
me,
he’d be putting himself
and the clan in danger. If he was unsuccessful in saving me, I was truly dead
anyway.

I crashed the
brain signals as quickly as possible to keep from alerting him to my situation.

Had Aaron gone
through similar torture? Guess I should have read his diary after all. Would I
have split personalities after this?

Remi
had killed his abductor.
And for
some reason that made me laugh.

Here I was
stronger than any human and I couldn’t get out of my mess. Yet, he had escaped
when he was a whippersnapper. Looks like he had the balls I needed right now.

Yeah…I needed
Remi
.

In my delirium or
desperation…or weakness, I stretched my mind out to him.

I should have been
ashamed. What if he wasn’t the one inhabiting the body right now? What if it
was
lil
’ Aaron?

Enough with
the what
ifs. I had to try.

So I did,
stretching my energy as far and as wide as possible. It traveled down the
highway, through the walls, calling him.
Remiiiiii
.
And regardless of whose mind was in the body at my moment
of contact,
Remi
eagerly answered the call.

Willow
, he
whispered, grabbing his chest and swerving into incoming traffic. He was behind
the wheel of his roadster, looking confused, wary.
Where are you?

“I’ve been taken.
I’m in danger and need your help, but…” Hell. First off, I didn’t know where I
was. Secondly, if I did, I couldn’t risk him getting hurt. There were three men
here, maybe four if Dario was waiting nearby. What could
Remi
do against them? I couldn’t lure him here for the slaughter just to save
myself.

I’m coming to
get you
, he said, pulling over on the side of the road.
Tell me where
you are.

“No! Don’t. I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have reached out to you. You’ll get hurt.” I pulled away
from him quickly, shut down the link, and squinted at the fools in the room
with me. The view with my physical eyes was much worse than the one with my
mind’s eye.

Willow! Tell me
where you are
.

Remi’s
voice had startled me. He had pushed back and opened
our connection again. His emotions were strong enough to choke me.
Wary anxiousness.
Profound protectiveness.

Little Dick and
his friends backed away from me to survey the damage. One whistled because he
was so impressed, which told me just how bad I was. “Go get Dario so he can pay
us. This bitch
ain’t
talking and I’m tired. I need a
cig and some sleep,” he said.

Who the fuck is
that?!
Remi
asked hysterically.
Is that the
guy who took you?

“Can you see
through my eyes?” I asked in total shock, unaware of all our blood bond
capabilities. But I was a fast learner. Logic told me if he could see what I
saw,
he may be able to figure out my location. Maybe he
could get word to Franco that I needed help.

Yes!
Remi
said.
I’ve never seen him before. Where are you?

“I’m not sure.
That’s what I need you to figure out.”

He paused.
Looks
like a medical facility.

“Who
the fuck is she talking to now?”
Little Dick said.

One of the guys
left, presumably to get Dario. I stared in the hallway past him when he opened
the door hoping
Remi
could collect clues from
whatever was outside the room. Then I started looking around so he could see as
much of my surroundings as possible. I also wanted him to get a good look at
the
pervs
just in case they got away. They’d be at
the top of my hit list once I got out of here.

Slow down. You’re
moving too fast.
There’s
a trillion hospitals here. I
need to figure out which one you’re at.

I slowed down my
view. Although I still felt nervous about involving
Remi
,
this was the best shot I had at getting out.

“
Remi
, get Franco and Punch to help.
Puh
-lease
do
not come here alone.
It’s not safe.”

 
The door opened and in walked Dario and his
gofer. Since I’d been chained up when he was here before, I didn’t get a chance
to see him. Now, from the floor, I had a front row seat to a whole
lotta
man. If I wasn’t in such bad shape because of Dario’s
directions, I would have thought he was a hunk: tall, well-built, tanned, dark
spiky hair, dark eyes. He looked just as good as when he’d first tried to
abduct me from Hades a week ago.

Never mind that. I
just wanted to bite his ass for allowing what they’d done to me.

So that’s the
guy who attacked you a week ago?
I’d forgotten
Remi
was still in my head listening to my thoughts.
I’ve seen him before at
Hades. He even gave me a business card.
He began rummaging through his
armrest.

“He said he worked
at a blood lab,” I said.

Aha!
Remi
said as he held up a white card with navy blue
letters.
I bet I’ll know where to find him.

Dario winced as he
walked over to me, squatted, and looked me over. Then he buried his face in his
hands and shook his head.
“God.
What did y’all do to
her?”

“We did what you
asked,” one guy said.

Dario stretched
his hand toward me, but pulled it back like he was scared to touch. “Well, did
you at least get what I wanted?”

“
Naw
, man.
She kept saying she didn’t know where he
was.”

Dario rose to his
feet in a huff and started cursing. “You fuck-ups aren’t getting a dime. Y’all
spent all this time getting your dicks wet and still didn’t get what I wanted.
I
ain’t
giving you shit.”

They weren’t going
to let that ride. No,
siree
. They expected payment.

Suddenly, the testosterone
level rose to a cloud so thick I could have skated on it as they fussed and
haggled about money and me.

Nothing good was
coming of this.

And just like a
bad omen, Little Dick pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at me. “If I
shoot her right now, you’ll never get the info you want, will you?” he said.

Oh, shit!
Remi
was zooming down the street now, rightfully assuming
the worse was about to happen.
You don’t have much time. I have to—