Authors: Casey Moss
Hope
gave the tall, busty blonde
a
once-over and nodded her
head.
A
blast of cold air walloped her the moment she opened the door to the casino
and, compared to the heat outdoors, the coolness was divine. She followed Ruby past
rows and rows of blinking and clanging, musical and talkative slot machines and
past a long buffet line to a sports bar. Weird that everything else outside the
casino seemed to be in shambles, but in the casino life appeared vibrant and
thriving.
“I
have a friend who tends here so we might be able to get some freebies. You like
beer?”
“Sure.”
From the looks of the large silver tanks behind the glass walls, the restaurant
brewed their own. “I can’t believe the opulence of this place.” Hope followed
Ruby and the waitress to the table.
“Honey,
you ain’t seen
nothing
yet. If you think this is something,
wait until you see some of the big casinos down on the strip. Clans have been
doing some great work fixin’ ‘em up.” She waved over at a bartender as she sat.
“That’s my friend Bob. He’ll make us some grub. So tell me, what brings you to
the gambling dustbowl?
Especially
vis-a-vis
limbo junction.
Let me guess, you’re running from
a guy. Am I right?”
“Limbo junction?”
“Yeah,
it’s where the forgotten go. They walk on in there and wait.”
“Wait
for what?”
No wonder
the people there didn’t seem too happy
.
“Wait
to be remembered, I gather. I’ve never had to go in there so I don’t rightly
know.”
Wait
to be remembered. Was that why she ended up in the middle of that room? No.
That didn’t feel right. Maybe she’d never know why she ended up there, but she
needed to remember something and soon. She felt like she’d go crazy if she
didn’t.
Ruby asked if I’m running from a
guy
. Hope
pondered the question. Recollections of a man
dressed
in a tropical print short-sleeved shirt and tan cargo shorts came to mind,
followed by a different man dressed all in black.
Den. Buzz. I’ve
started to remember something!
She quelled her excitement for fear of losing the memory thread.
Buzz. He’s the one I’m running from
.
She
gawked at the bleached blonde, amazed and speechless for an instant. “Yeah, you’re
right about me running. His name’s Buzz. I hope I never see the ass ever again.
I think he drugged me. I believe that’s what’s messing with my memories.” Bits
and pieces started filling in the gaps in her mind. “He said we were married,
but I don’t remember any kind of ceremony.” She sipped on the beer the waitress
had brought her. “He’d tie me up and lock me in the attic. A few evenings ago,
he’d left on a trip, and since I was having a moment of clarity, I
hightailed
it out.”
The
waitress came over, placed an appetizer of garlic bread with a bowl of spinach
and artichoke dip and a cheese pizza on the table. “Bob says your meal is
comped.”
Ruby
waved and winked at the bartender again.
“So?”
The blonde asked once the server retreated. “You were able to escape. Do you
think he’ll be looking for you?”
“I
thought about that.” Hope tore into a strip of the bread. “I don’t know.” She
shoved the chunk into the dip then into her mouth. “I hope not,” she spoke, chewed
and swallowed. “But knowing him, once he finds me gone, he’ll be on the hunt.
I’ll need a good place to hide from him and his cronies.”
“Well,
that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about. You’ll stay with me for as long
as you like.”
“Why
are you being so nice? You don’t even know me.”
Perhaps I should have considered whether or not to trust her before I
followed her here
.
Ruby
put down the pizza slice she had been munching on, reached out and held her
hand. “Because I’ve been where you are,” she confided. “I left a bad
relationship of my own back in LA and had no one when I crossed over into this
crazy town. What I would have done for a bit of kindness.” Ruby sighed.
“Enough about me.
Anything more come back to you? Do you
know where you need to go yet?”
“Nope,”
Hope mumbled over a bit of garlic bread in her mouth.
“Do
you have any skills that might come in handy to a clan or help you to be
independent?”
“I’m
almost done with college. I’ve been in theater and dance. Ballet, jazz, tap… You
name it, I’ve done it. I used to dream of being a ballet dancer, but after
puberty I realized I didn’t have the body type.”
“I’d
have to agree. Those ladies are so tall and thin and lithe and your short
hourglass figure would stand out like a sore thumb. No offense. Even in this
entertainment ridden town you may not cut it as a showgirl, but there are
plenty of opportunities for your type.
Granted, they’re
mostly in the adult entertainment field
,
but
it’s
honest work, and it pays well. I’m an exotic dancer and
make on average five hundred copper pieces a night.
Others
who don’t know how to work the customers as well make less, maybe only one or
two hundred a night.
There’s one woman I know who makes six to eight
hundred a night. On top of the money, we have the flexibility of time to
audition for other gigs if that’s what we want to do. If you’re interested in
checking
it out, I can take you with me
tonight when I go into work. It’d be an easy way to make a quick buck. Plus,
you can stay independent of a clan. It’s great having the freedom.”
Hope sighed.
The last thing she wanted to do was perpetuate the kind of lifestyle she had
with her
husband
—
being on
exhibition—but she needed a way to exist. The promise of financial stability
and freedom sounded great.
“I’ll go with
you,” Hope accepted. “I’ll scope the place out, and if I feel cool with it,
then we’ll go from there.”
Chapter Fourteen
Passing
through the back door of the club into the cool night, Hope couldn’t believe
how fast the week had flown. Within the first twenty-four hours of being in her
new place
,
she’d decided to become Ruby’s co-worker, pulled her initial
shift and made three hundred copper. The next day, her new roommate and friend
had given her some pointers and
,
sure enough
,
the tips paid off. She had made over three grand in only six
days. The men loved her wholesomeness, her petite, curvy frame, and the fact
she didn’t ply them with a sob story. She was upfront with each of the gents
she spoke to, telling them she had left her husband and was getting back on her
feet. And, as much as she hated exposing herself to a room full of strangers,
she liked the coin she made.
She adored her
new friends as well. The group of them met every night after their shifts for a
very early breakfast. In fact, if she didn’t hurry, they’d leave the café
before she even got there, and she needed to talk to Carly. Thanks to her, she
had gotten and performed an audition that afternoon for a big production show
on the strip. She wanted to voice her appreciation for the opportunity.
Thinking a
shortcut was in order, Hope slipped into a long alleyway. She hurried in the
dark shadows, keeping her focus on a flickering street lamp at the end.
Metal tinkled behind
her, followed by heavy footsteps.
Hope picked up
her pace
,
but didn’t run and didn’t look back.
Ruby warned
me
. Told me
not to go out alone after a shift or go down the alley even though it was
a shortcut
. She chastised herself for not remembering the woman’s advice,
for letting her guard down.
The footfalls
picked up their cadence behind her.
Hope’s heart
fluttered. Fleeting memories ran across her mind—s
ound of scratching,
stench of rotting meat,
pointed canines dripping crimson liquid.
She racked her mind for information.
They’re called… They’re called…
CWUs
.
Dangerous creatures that could change one forever.
Den
. The man she thought of when she met
Ruby.
Her man.
My boyfriend.
He’d
told me that CWUs were worse than vampires
. Which was following her? She
had no clue and didn’t want to find out.
Her friend
would have her head if she knew she had put herself in a dangerous situation.
She began to trot and her pursuers followed suit.
All too soon a
hand grabbed her hair and yanked her back into a vise-like grip. A rough,
calloused palm slapped over her mouth. She couldn’t scream and could barely
move. Her eyes widened when a second man appeared into view in front of her. His
long coat, shirt and pants had tears and long rips. When he leered at her, he
had four fangs protruding from both the top and bottom of his jaw. He wasn’t a
zombie
looking rogue vampire—a main descriptor for CWUs.
His
mouth appeared illuminated with strange orange and red glowing streams. There
was a shroud of shimmering
gray
around his head and arms.
Definitely
not a CWU.
Just a
vampire.
Guess that’s good, but I’m still in trouble
.
“Well, now,
there’s our lass,” the words puffed out of the second man’s mouth in a dirty,
rust colored cloud of smoke.
“Yep, we have
her now,” her captor stated. “But I sense she hasn’t enlightened yet.”
A burnt orange
colored cloud drifted past her.
“Does that
mean we can turn her and have an advantage?” The assailant in front of her
asked. The currents of the colors engulfing him spiked high into the air.
“Yes, I
believe it does.” The man, keeping his hand over her mouth and holding her
tight, bent her neck to one side, exposed and licked her skin.
Colors
?
Why was she
seeing colors when there was barely any light in the alleyway? Her mind reached
and strained for an answer.
Detox
.
That had to be it
.
The self-assurance didn’t help, but it made sense. She was still coming
off the drugs Buzz had fed her. More concerned over her experience of the DT’s,
she scarcely registered the man’s teeth scraping along the skin of her throat.
“Hey. Wait!”
the guy in front of her yelped. “You got to change the last one. It’s my turn
this time.” The colors over the guy’s head beat like the bars of a stereo’s
equalizer output.
Her feet grew
cold. The icy burn of panic traveled up, encircling her ankles, settling in the
joints of her knees and encompassing her lungs. She began to shake.
“Yes, that may
be, but I am the one who caught her after all.”
“Let her go,” a
man shouted from behind them.
The first
aggressor released her with such force she spun fast, stumbled and fell to the
ground. The two offenders turned to the new man, hissing like feral cats, their
colors swirling together in a frenzied maelstrom.
The newcomer held
up his hand, palm toward the fiends. He shouted foreign words. The vampires’ colors
made a thick ribbon and headed in the new guy’s direction.
Between the
darkness of the alley and weird stream of color, she couldn’t make out who her
savior was. But having the impression of him sucking the colors from her
attackers and them seeming to disappear, her thought process short circuited. She
swooned and dropped to the ground.
PART SEVEN
Faith’s Enlightenment
Chapter
Fifteen
Tavis
woke up to find the sheet near his groin tented with the biggest boner he ever
had. He slipped his hand beneath his baggy shorts and lightly grasped his cock.
Slowly and methodically, he slid his hand up and down the shaft, conjuring
pictures of Faith in his mind.
She’d
been gorgeous in that outfit in her dream, with her long wavy, raw sienna
colored hair pulled up and away from her face with a handful of clips. Her lush,
inviting full lips were just waiting to be kissed. Her firm, full breasts
begged to be touched. She was his tall, lithe beauty.
His Zya.
He had to make sure she stayed his.
Close
to the edge of satisfying himself, he stopped before he messed the sheets. The
last thing he needed was to waste time cleaning something he didn’t need to. He
rose from the bed, put on his ski mask and went in to the bathroom. Under the
icy water of the shower, he topped himself off. After he dressed and put on the
ski mask again, he left the bathroom to go find his girl. He encountered Alden
on the way to Faith’s room.
“I
know I told you I’d tell you today.” Tavis held up a hand to ward off any
questions Alden might have. “But I really need to check on Faith first.”