Torment (Primal Progeny Book 1) (33 page)

‘Shut your disgusting little mouth.’ He spat as he grabbed her and forced her to sit upright. Dropping the chains onto the bed he picked up the ball gag and pulled the ball into her mouth. She resisted but it was no use, he was too strong and knew the pressure point to press on her jaw to spring it open. He pulled the strap painfully tight, and caught her hair in the clasp as he buckled it on. Then before she could sink back to the bed he wrapped one of the blindfolds over her mouth and tied it tightly. He had honed the art of being careful over the many years he had spent murdering his way across Europe. He could not risk her making a sound, and the blindfold would muffle any noise which managed to make its way past the gag.

Tears streamed down her makeup caked cheeks and he smiled broadly, a sigh of longing escaping him as he tied the second blindfold over her eyes. His cock was throbbing insistently, trapped against his leg by his underwear. He rubbed at it and groaned, working at it until it was standing upright and tucked beneath his waistband.

He grabbed her and shoved her over, flipping her onto her belly and pulling her arms behind her back. She resisted but had no hope of breaking free and he soon had her hog tied on the mattress. The bedclothes were soaked by her tears, and when he rolled her onto her side blood was smeared across her face.

Tucking her long hair behind her ear he whispered into it menacingly ‘I’m coming back for you.’ As he fished around in the drawer for a needle and a small vial he had tucked under the blindfolds. Finding it easily he drew some of the solution into the needle, and deftly injected it into a vein that was bulging out of her arm. She squealed from behind the gag and he threw the needle to the floor and slapped her hard on the face.

His erection was so engorged it was almost painful, and he unzipped his trousers to ease the sensation. Letting them fall to the floor he tugged down his underwear and ripped off his shirt, throwing it’s tattered remains down by the bedside.

Completely naked and full of lust he stood over Holly, his throbbing manhood bobbing over her as blood rushed into it. He looked down at this for a moment, and enjoyed the view. He lent forward, his muscular torso almost touching her quivering, naked body and he whispered into her ear. You’re mine now you disgusting little bitch… Just wait.’

Holly was drifting into the blackness induced by the anesthetic he had injected her with, and she barely heard him. But she did feel the heat of his breath against her skin and the warmth of his arousal just millimetres from her. He groaned in ecstasy as he imagined what he was going to do to her and had to fight with himself to leave her there… But Audra was waiting in the next room and he had her to attend to.

Stepping backwards off the bed he lent forward and nipped the soft, pale skin on her side. Then he turned and left the room, strutting naked across the hallway and throwing open the master bedroom door.

Audra lay naked on the bed waiting for him, having shed his coat and dropped it to the floor. When she caught sight of his naked body and his throbbing erection she was visibly stunned. He reeked of arousal and she was powerless to resist.

‘I want you Audra’ His voice was full of lust ‘I’ve wanted you since the moment I scented you on the breeze following my trail.

Audra bit her lip ‘Nicolai, I’m yours to take… Every inch of me.’

He barely noticed that she used his Christian name, the first time anyone had in decades. He crossed the room to the bed with obvious intent. She watched him advance with longing in her eyes, her naked body desperate for his touch.

In the room across the hall Holly lay prone on the bed, out cold and ready for his real lusts.

Chapter 34

Hunter dropped to the back of the group to run beside Eve after a while, wanting to get close to her again. She had smiled at him when he had first drawn level with her, and he had smiled awkwardly back.

Realizing that he would need a reason to have slowed down he asked her loudly. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask someone for a while, what’s going on with Audra’s accent?’

Eve smirked ‘I’ve been waiting for you to ask actually. Her mother was Italian. Our alpha rescued her from a bad situation many years ago… Well, he tried anyway.’

‘How do you mean?’ Hunter asked.

‘Well, he went for a trip to Europe to hold council with a few other alpha’s and encountered a lone female who was running from something. He took her in and it turned out that she had been made by a travelling scavenger who was not so unlike Varulv. The beast was looking for her, and she was pregnant. In an attempt to hide her from the wolf who was hunting her, Alfred bought her back and cared for her, and in time she had her baby. Alfred looked after the child as though she was his own, and she has always been known as his daughter even though there is no genetic link. That child was Audra…’ She trailed off, her breathing ragged from running and talking.

‘But how did he manage to save her and not her mother?’ Hunter asked, puffing and panting himself from the exertion of jogging and talking together.

Eve slowed to a walk, waiting until Hunter had done the same to continue with her story. She called out to the others ‘We’ll catch up, the new boy’s struggling!’ Which bought loud laughter from the others.

Looking at Hunter she apologized quietly ‘If they think we’re talking about anything interesting they’ll want to hang back and listen in.’ She explained.

Hunter shrugged ‘It’s fine, but why do we need privacy?’

‘What I’m about to tell you is not common knowledge, but I feel like you deserve to know after all the trouble Audra has caused. Perhaps it will give you some insight on why she is the way she is… Not that it makes her any more likeable.’

Hunter nodded and waited for her to continue, their breathing beginning to settle thanks to having slowed to a walk.

Eve continued in hushed tones. ‘When Audra was very young her mother committed suicide. She had always suffered with nightmares about the werewolf who had made her, and her sanity slowly crumbled. When Audra was three years old her mother hung herself, she made it so that her neck was broken by the fall. She did this with Audra in the room… She saw the whole thing. Alfred tried to save her but he was too late.’

Hunter’s eyes widened. ‘I suppose that does explain a lot. But how is it that you know this and others don’t?’

‘I was Beta even then’ Eve answered ‘I’m not as young as I look. He trusted me with the information, as I have now trusted you with it. We told the others that she had died of natural causes. They were all initially skeptical but heart attacks during the change are not unheard of in our kind, even if they are rare.’

Hunter did not know what to say, and so for a while they walked on in silence. After a few minutes Eve suggested that they might jog to catch up with the others. Hunter held out one hand and asked her to wait.

‘There’s something else I need to ask you about, in private. If that’s alright?’

‘That’s fine, ask away.’ She smiled up at him, her piercings glistening in the moonlight.

Hunter swallowed loudly, trying to work out how to phrase what he wanted to say in his head. Eventually he blurted it out. ‘Why do I feel so strongly drawn to you?’

Eve clearly was not expecting the question to be asked so soon. They had both avoided discussing the matter further on their journey, and she had hoped he had forgotten. Her eyebrows shot almost into her brow line and she smiled awkwardly. ‘You want to discuss this now?’ She knew she sounded agitated, but she couldn’t help herself, it wasn’t the time for that conversation.

‘I’d like to know.’ Hunter replied quietly. ‘It’s such a strong pull, I’ve never felt anything like it.’

‘Neither have I’ Eve admitted, her expression soft and slightly vulnerable beneath all her makeup and bravado.

‘…Well?’ Hunter prompted. ‘I know you know more than I do.’

Eve nodded slightly ‘just because I know that does not mean I understand. I can explain to you but you’ll only be in the same situation as me. Knowing and not knowing might be more irritating than having no idea at all?’

‘I’ll risk –’ Hunter began to reply but was cut short by Tobias’ familiar voice.

‘EVE!’ His call was angry.

Eve was startled by the sudden intrusion and turned sharply to face the direction of her co-beta’s shout. She didn’t reply but instead broke into a run, leaving Hunter to chase after her.

They raced forward, hopping over shrubbery and skirting round clumps of dense grass. Eve narrowly avoided running straight into the line of bushes the farmer used to separate his fields from the greenbelt land beyond. Hunter skidded to a halt behind her and almost collided with her back.

‘Where are you?’ Eve called out, looking up and down the line of bushes, scowling deeply.

‘On the other side!’ Tobias called back.

‘How do we get through?’ Eve answered, her nostrils twitching. The smell of death and old blood hung heavy in the air, it was nauseating to her human nostrils.

‘There’s a gap wide enough to get through underneath a few feet to your left.’ Tobias replied. ‘Brace yourselves.’

Eve Hurried along the edge of the field, crouching and scrambling under the thorny bushes hastily. Hunter followed suit, dreading what he would find on the far side.

What he saw was not what he expected, it was far, far worse. He had smelled the clear scent of blood and knew that he would be encountering something unpleasant, but was not prepared for how bad the sight might be. Eve had stopped dead in the spot she had emerged from beneath the bushes, and he had to push past her to see what was going on. He instantly regretted it.

The rest of the men who had gone hunting for Varulv were stood in a semi-circle around the hideous sight on the floor. All of them were staring in silent disbelief. They had known of Varulv’s tastes, and heard much about his modus operandi… But they had not been truly prepared to be confronted with what was left in the wake of his perversions. It was like nothing any of them had ever seen; something entirely beyond the ability of their collective imagination’s to conjure up as a possibility. In a scene mapped in police tape lay the remains of the second victim of Varulv, the same that Eve had heard of on the radio.

The mess of meat on the ground no longer even vaguely resembled a human being. Too much damage had been done, too much had been removed and repositioned. It took a moment of searching the scene before he could even work out which end of the body was the head. Her flesh had been flayed and moved and her limbs strewn about so that she looked like a carcass in an abattoir. His attention was snatched away by the sudden realization that in his peripheral vision, breast tissue hung snagged in the thorns. He gagged, then composed himself and looked back to the body. That is when he noticed her face… Or more accurately what was left of it. He had to look away. The poor girl had almost nothing left above the neck but bone. There were a few patches of raw flesh but that was all, and worst of all… A tuft of white-blonde hair jutting from between her teeth. He hoped and prayed it was from biting the bastard to try and get away. His brain told him otherwise, but he tried to push the thought to the back of his mind.

Eve put a hand on his arm and drew his attention away. Looking up at him she quietly insisted ‘It’s best not to look for too long. Try not to get absorbed by it, sights like that will haunt you in your dreams. Besides we must leave and quickly, the police will no doubt be back at any moment.’

‘My dreams are already haunted by plenty of sights’ He answered quietly ‘you forget how I was made…’ He trailed off, trying to block thought of his parents from his mind.

Eve gave his arm a squeeze. ‘I know’ she paused and sniffed at the air. ‘It reeks of Audra here. By the smell of it she left before the police arrived, thank god.’

Tobias responded angrily ‘her scent is very concentrated around the body. I have a feeling she interfered with it.’

Matthew looked shocked and saddened but managed to interject very quietly ‘We’ve all made mistakes.’

Tobias shot him a disgusted look. ‘In our early days perhaps! And never with a body that will be connected with a serial murderer. Don’t try and defend her Matthew.’

Finnlay spoke up. ‘You don’t even like her Matthew. None of us do?! Why the sudden understanding? She’d probably have tucked into you if you’d been the one lying there!’

Matthew opened his mouth to respond but was cut short by Eve who marched between them. Shoving them both hard in the chests she snarled at the whole group. ‘Enough with the bickering! Now is not the time.’

Tobias nodded. ‘Its safe to just assume that we cannot trust her, so arguing over her is pointless.’

The group nodded and mumbled in agreement, Finnlay jostling Matthew with his elbow and smiling in apology.

Mason interrupted this with an uncertain voice. ‘I think I smell vomit?’

This bought a chorus of sniffs from the others, Matthew quickly confirmed his suspicion. ‘Yeah, and its Audra’s… And its full of human meat.’

Tobias sighed ‘Well that was predictable unfortunately, can you lead us there please Matthew? We need to get out of here quick sharpish anyway, no doubt the police have gone for a coroner, I can smell them in the direction of the nearest road west of here. They’re not far away enough for us to risk staying here any longer.’

Matthew nodded and made off into the field, followed closely by the rest of the group. It was not long before they came upon the disgusting sight of a drying pile of regurgitated human flesh lying on the floor. Eve wrinkled her nose and nudged Matthews back, not wanting to stop and hang around near the remnants of their errant pack member’s meal.

‘Lets get on with it.’ She insisted ‘there’s no point in examining the thing, just keep following her trail.’

Matthew allowed himself to be pushed and carried on his way, following his nose. ‘She’s quite some way away’ He observed.

‘Then we’d better pick up the pace’ Tobias suggested. ‘Lets get back jogging boys.’

Eve elbowed him hard in the ribs and he looked shocked. ‘And girl, obviously. I didn’t think you’d take well to being ordered but if that’s what you want…’ He poked out his tongue, trying to keep his mood light in the face of what was to come.

Eve snarled at him and broke into a jog, heading up the group. The others followed suit and soon Matthew overtook her.

The darkness deepened steadily around them as the night drew on, the stars and moon providing just enough light to see by. In the distance they could see the stark glow of the city border. Blissfully unaware of what exactly was going on behind the inviting glow of those lights.