Bloody and Wild

Bloody Palms

Lauren stared critically at her reflection. She'd lost weight since her abduction, and it showed on her long neck and narrow waist but hard work had also toned her muscles. Her arms now had a small, defined bulge, her stomach muscles felt solid and she'd lost the fat on her thighs. She gnawed her lip.

She was more used to dressing to emphasize soft, sensuous curves but she didn't have them anymore.  Lacking bum and breasts she decided to reveal her legs. Roxanne's mini skirt needed a belt to hold it up but she was happy that is was denim and not a more wispy material. The top was hot pink and covered her modestly to the neck but revealed her bronze back.

"Lauren-" Roxanne began in a warning tone.

"Don't worry," she soothed giving her friend a peck on the cheek. "I know what I'm doing." Roxanne wasn't at all convinced, her frown deepened and she looked wretched.

"Please don't-" Lauren placed her hands on Roxanne's shoulders and lowered her head slightly so that they were eye level.

"Don't worry." She repeated firmly.

"But if you make him angry..." Lauren looked hard into her friends pleading gaze and shook her head sadly.

"He'll put me in chains and perhaps kill me," Lauren finished for her. "I know what I'm risking and I know that I'm dealing with a monster. But I have to at least attempt to do something. So please at least try not to worry." She waited until Roxanne gave a small, quivering nod before exiting the bathroom and hurrying across the echoing hallway and out of the door.

Outside the air was cool and the hair stood up on Lauren's exposed arms. She hesitated on the porch. She half expected Thorn to appear out of the shadows beside her but he didn't. He and most of the other men had left already, converging on Lewis' vulnerable pack.

She shivered and looked across the yard to the entrance of the pack prison. A guard was stationed outside, taking deep drags from the stub of a cigarette. She had heard him boast that he could make a cigarette last longer than anybody else and would challenge others to try and beat him. For the moment though he was alone, staring bleakly into the darkness.

She had been surprised to learn that Ryder hadn't left with the others, instead of leading the attack he spent most of his time down the dungeons. The sadistic bastard, she thought darkly. She would just have to wait until he next resurfaced and intercept him.

Her gaze left the prison and slid instead to the gleaming cage that was bathed in a pool of silvery moonlight. Claudia was still inside, her legs dangled through the bars and her body and head were limp. Lauren hadn't seen her move in a couple of days now.

She found her feet slowly making their way to the cage. Her stomach recoiled from the foul stench that intensified as she approached. She froze when she was a couple of feet away, reluctant to get closer for fear of what she might find. A breeze ruffled the loose tendrils of her soft, brown hair.

"She's not dead," a soft voice whispered close behind her. Lauren started and spun around, her heartbeat fluttering like a humming bird's wing. The moonlight didn't reach Aiden's face but she could see his glowing crimson eyes. "It's faeces that you smell, not decay." Her stomach twisted into a knot. "You look ravishing," he complimented in the same soft voice. Standing this close she should have felt his breath upon her face but Aiden didn't need to breathe. She took a trembling step back.

"So Ryder didn't send you packing? You must have made him quite the offer." Her voice shook slightly, but she fixed the vampire with a steady unafraid gaze. Aiden chuckled.

"Indeed, though not quite as tantalising as the offer you're about to make." The vampire reached out and brushed his fingertips down the length of her arm. Lauren struck with the swiftness of a cobra. Aiden's hand dropped and his bloody eyes looked down at the stake pressed painfully against his heart, its sharpened point cutting through the skin. Aiden groaned and stumbled back.