I scowled at the stranger. ‘Don’t touch me.’
‘And she’s feeling much better.’
John stepped around the corner, his body tall, lean, muscular, and practically glowing with a renewed sense of vitality. ‘Good, thank you, Greg.’ He paused. ‘Get her cleaned up and then bring her back in here. I have more questions for her. I think she won’t have any trouble answering today.’
How long had I been knocked out for?
I looked out the window and saw that it was still dark outside. It could have only have been for a few hours tops. They would have locked me back up again if daylight approached, and my body healed far too quickly for me to have passed the day away without knowing about it.
‘Clean her up?’ Adam asked, a puzzled expression on his face. He glanced between John and the new stranger that I didn’t recognise.
I looked curiously at the one that John now referred to as Greg. His was a different human form all together. This one was of an older man, mid-forties to early fifties, with greying hair and steel grey eyes. Obviously Greg had been let off guard duty to go and feed, hence the new skin suit.
‘Yes, clean her up,’ John answered. ‘She smells like shit.’
‘Is it terribly unappealing to you?’ I snapped at him.
‘Yes, very.’
‘Well then leave me where I am so I can fester.’
John laughed. ‘She’s going to make a fabulous addition
to our pack when she finally accepts she is one of us.’
‘Dare to dream,’ I said, rolling my eyes and looking away from him.
Greg moved behind me and started loosening the ropes. I immediately started shifting around, looking for an angle of escape.
‘Elena!’ John asserted using a hard-edged double-timbre voice that I hadn’t heard before. ‘You will behave. You will not try to escape, and you will do exactly as I ask of you at all times.’
His voice rolled over me with a wave of authority that was not to be denied, and much to my surprise, I immediately became still in the chair.
What the hell? Get Up!
I screamed silently at myself.
I stared down at the ropes loosening around me, wanting very much to run away, but my body completely ignoring the insistence of my mind. ‘What did you just do to me?’
‘I gave you an order.’
‘How?’
He smiled wistfully. ‘You are part-werewolf, Elena, and that means total submission to the wishes of your alpha.’
‘You mean nothing to me,’ I spat.
‘Your body begs to differ.’
The ropes loosened completely and fell to the floor. I remained sitting still even though I was screaming at myself.
Run, run as fast as you can, run as far away as your legs can carry you!
I glared furiously back at John, my nostrils flaring as he smiled back at me. ‘Now get up and follow Greg and Adam into the bathroom,’ he asserted again, power rippling in his voice. ‘And clean yourself up. I no longer want to smell the Vampire on your skin. I wish to make you mine.’
My legs pushed me off the chair involuntarily, and I dutifully followed behind Greg and Adam as if held on an invisible leash. ‘I’ll never be yours,’ I said in his ear, as I obediently followed him past the front door and down a tattered hallway that led to the bathroom. All I heard in reply was the assured authority of his position over mine, and the delicate sound of his sanctimonious laughter behind me.
Cockroaches ran over every corner of the room and scurried behind cupboard doors and between the floorboards, all haste, and trying to get away from us as we entered the bathroom. Every tile in the room was covered in scum and mould. I felt as if I would get seriously ill just by breathing the air in this space. On the upside, there was a small window in this room that was left open and I could see outside. But from this particular viewpoint, all that could be viewed in the darkness was a section of overgrown lawn leading over towards a dense tree line.
There were no gardens that I could see around the house, only grass and the trees that wrapped around the perimeter.
The house appeared to be on a piece of land, surrounded by rainforest, possibly the same forest I was running through earlier. But if not, this dirty, insect-infested hovel that they were keeping me in had to be near civilisation. There had to be a driveway or path or any discernible track that would lead somewhere back to other people.
I thought about screaming at the top of my lungs, but would anyone hear me? If I did manage to get out of this hellhole, then where would I run too? Would I end up in exactly the same predicament as earlier, running through the scrub until the Vânâtors found me?
Adam pushed me roughly into the shower cubicle and turned the faucet on, holding my head under the shower-head. The water that spurted from the rusty nozzle was brown and smelly, and I closed my eyes and mouth, hoping that the contaminated liquid wouldn’t get inside of me.
Ugh, it’s so cold.
With the alpha’s command still running through my system, still yet to be fulfilled, I reached out and plucked the bar of soap from the holder on the wall and started to wash myself, shuddering at the thought of who might have used it in the past.
I soaped down my shredded T-shirt and my half-jeans, as well as my hair, face, and anywhere else that was covered in dirt and blood. My clothes stayed stained, but at least they were rinsing clean underneath the water, the mess running clear of me, onto the tiles at my feet. I scrubbed at my skin until it felt slightly raw, trying to wash away the scent of William on my skin, as John had commanded. I’d have given anything to smell his aroma of sandalwood and spice right now. I’d even take Thomas’s scent of lemon myrtle if it meant that I was being rescued.
Adam turned the water off and yanked me out of the shower by my wet hair, Greg assisting him. ‘Hey!’ I yelled at them and slapped them both in the side of the head. ‘Don’t you frigging manhandle me!’
Greg tried to get in a punch, but I ducked. Unfortunately, Adam’s fist fell right on target and cuffed me hard in the side of the ear. I hit the shower screen with a
thump
.
‘Elena! Behave!’ John’s alpha tones bellowed from down the hallway.
Greg and Adam both laughed as they threw a somewhat clean looking towel at me. ‘Yeah, behave,’ Greg said. ‘Or we might just have to show you exactly what happens to those who don’t do as they are told.’
I snorted. ‘I’m shaking in my boots.’
‘You should be,’ Adam answered.
I laughed and lowered my voice to a whisper. ‘Do you want me to give you a play by play of what I’ve already done to three of your pack mates?’
They didn’t answer.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. So shut your mouths before I show you what happens when you really piss me off.’
While keeping one eye on the angry wolves in front of me, I mopped up my face and hair, then towelling down my wet T-shirt and pants until they were just merely damp. It would take a lot more than a towel off to dry what remained of my jeans.
Greg yanked the towel off me once they were through scrutinising me, and Adam pulled me back towards the chair in the tattered living room again, tying me up again before the command of the alpha began to wear off. I could already feel the tingling sensation of his authority dissipating.
‘There, now, does that feel better?’ John asked me as he slowly sat down in front of me again.
‘It doesn’t matter if you feed me and give me a bath. I’m still not going to give you any information. I’m not a frigging dog! You might as well put me back down in the cell and lock me up for good because I ain’t talking.’
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, we can see that injuring you only has a momentary effect. You have been quite strong to withstand what must be a lot of pain, but I have thought of something that you won’t be able to resist. It is a little brutal, I must admit, and not what I would like to resort to, but you have left me with no other choice.’ He motioned to Greg with his fingers and then whispered something quietly into his ear.
What were they up to now?
He disappeared into the other room and then came back a few minutes later with a girl about my age who was crying, and flailing pathetically against Greg’s strong grip. She looked at me in horror, probably wondering what fate would befall her as she saw me strapped to the chair, surrounded by two strange and naked men. I had a feeling I knew where this was going now and I was worried that I wouldn’t be strong enough to see it.
She kicked about wildly, but he easily restrained her with one of his arms, using his other hand to keep her from screaming.
‘So, what’s it going to be, Elena? Do you think that this poor girl’s life might be worth answering a few questions for us?’
I looked from John to the terrified girl in front of me, her eyes pleading with me to do whatever I had to do to ensure her safety.
‘How did you become the way you are?’ he asked me, almost gently.
I looked at the girl again, not exactly sure how to proceed.
Were they bluffing?
I waited. I didn’t want to answer. For that matter, I didn’t want to answer any of their questions. Was the fate of one girl’s life worth revealing a secret that could lead to the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands of innocents?
The girl looked at me, pleading with her eyes for me to answer the question, but I held my ground. Though my stomach churned violently, and my knuckles ached and cracked from how tightly I held my curled fists, I had to think clearly.
John shook his head and waved his hand at Greg to continue. Greg slowly opened his mouth wide, allowing enough room for his fangs to grow to their full length. His eyes darkened and his skin turned a funny shade of grey as he lowered his mouth down to savage the girl’s neck.
I closed my eyes. I did not want to see what fate I had condemned her to.
‘Elena, open your eyes and watch,’ John asserted, his alpha tone thrumming inside my mind.
My eyes flew open against their will and settled on the girl. She was thrashing about wildly beneath him, trails of blood oozing down her neck to spill onto the flimsy material of her tank top.
‘Stop!’ I yelled, unable to look away. ‘This is the reason why you’re being hunted in the first place, you cruel bastards. Can’t you see that?’
John motioned for Greg to stop and Greg reluctantly pulled away, blood smearing his mouth and chin. He promptly wiped it away with the back of his hand. The girl was hanging limply from his arm, still alive, but a little dazed and confused.
I had a feeling that they would probably kill her anyway. Their cruel nature insisted that this girl was no more than a means to an end, and I didn’t particularly want her death on my conscience. It was bad enough that I couldn’t help Elizabeth, let alone this innocent. But I kept trying to tell myself that the sacrifice of one would be the saving grace of many, or I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror ever again.
‘Are you ready to speak?’ John asked me.
I shook my head and looked up at the girl. ‘I’m so sorry.’
John leaned in close to me again, his lips only an inch from my own, his breath pouring into my mouth, making me slightly giddy. ‘You’re more like us than you realise, Elena,’ he murmured against my lips. ‘You are willing to do what it takes to protect those around you, those that you love, even if it means sacrificing the life of an innocent.’
‘I’m not protecting my loved ones. I’m protecting the entire human populace from ever being plagued by you.’
‘Now, now, calm down, Elena. You wouldn’t want Greg to do something he might regret.’ He pointed to the girl now struggling again in Greg’s arms, blood still slowly seeping down her throat.