Saving Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book 2

Chapter 3. In a Haze

Cinema by Benny Binasi/Skrillex mix is what played through my mind for this chapter. Dear readers, I need to know what you think. Please comment and vote if you like it. The pic above is Steele.

Chapter 3. In a Haze

Marie slowly blinked her eyes, trying to clear the thick haze clouding her vision. Her attempt to orient herself was interrupted by throbbing pain from her arms and lower legs. Pins and needles would have been a welcomed sensation compared to the feeling of numb aching burning through her limbs. She struggled to control her breathing as the pain stole the air from her lungs when she tried to move her legs. Gasping, attempting to stay quiet as snatches of memory flooded back to her, Marie looked at her shoulders, one at a time. Cold steel chains wrapped around her shoulders. She followed the lengths up to where they were bolted to the ceiling. She could not make her arms move, no matter how hard she tried. Her wrists were manacled and pulled out tight above her head. Cold chains snaked around her waist and then beneath each of her knees all leading to a ring that was bolted to the ceiling as well. There was enough light for her to see dark shadows of bruises on her naked form. A whimper died in her throat when she realized she had bite marks in the center of each bruise.  Memories of many faces flooded her mind, each cruel and hungry, leaning to her body to bite her. Frustration filled her as she could not recall exactly why they bit her, or exactly why she was here, wherever 'here' was. She cautiously tested the cuffs around her wrists, but she was rewarded only with pain.

"You can try to get out all you want, but you will find it only makes your bonds tighter. I enjoy watching you struggle. Keep it up, it's a real turn on for me." Marie flicked her head to the right, straining to see where the low, cold voice came from out of the black recesses of the large room. She stilled as his words stirred even more memories. Memories of being violated by the owners of the many faces she had remembered. Instead of giving him pleasure, she went limp, not wanting to entice him further.

"Oh, come now. Don't you like playing? Here in my play room people usually enjoy themselves...but yes, you're different. You fight us..." A tall man walked out of the shadows and trailed his long nails up her bare leg. He had a cruel smile on his handsome, bearded face, with wickedness filling his eyes. He stopped his ministrations at her hip and chuckled softly when her muscles contracted as she tried in vain to draw away from him. The action only succeeded in setting her body swinging on the chains she was suspended from. As quickly as his laughter appeared, it disappeared into a serious deadly façade. "Now tell me...where is Emil Drozdan? He has disappeared."

Panicking, her muddled brain spinning, Marie stuttered, "I d-d-don't kn-know."

"You're lying!" he roared as he back handed the side of her head, sending stars through her vision. The chains rang out sharply as the force of his blow was enough to give a moment of slack before her body slammed back, bouncing into her bonds.

"No...n-n-no! I'm not! I-I-I don't know. He left with Ev..." Marie snapped her jaw shut, knowing she should not say any more.

"He left with who?" the bearded man said through gritted teeth. As he bared them at her, she noticed his teeth weren't normal. They were long and pointed, the dim light gleamed off the sharp points of upper and lower canines.  All Marie could do was shake her head in denial. "You will tell me where he is."

She watched in horror as his fingernails elongated to claws. Dropping his hand to her hip again, he dragged them roughly across her stomach. He grasped her breast and squeezed until she heard the skin pop under the pressure of his nails, eliciting an agonized cry from her throat. She wanted to tell him something that would stop the pain, but in the haze of her memory, she thought they had had this conversation before and it never ended well for her. Letting tears fall from her eyes, she glared at her captor. The fury emanating from his unnatural eyes filled her with terror as he leaned closer to her and lapped the blood that was now freely flowing from her breast.

"I can't kill you yet. You will tell me what I need to know eventually." Turning to look over his shoulder, the man's feral profile was highlighted by the unknown light source. "Blaine, bring the ketamine. She will talk one way or another. The sodium pentothal did not work, which is unbelievable, but if we give enough, it will make her last through more...fun...and she will loosen up and spill what she knows." He turned back with a wicked sneer in place as he reached lower.

Marie screamed and struggled to the best of her ability. When she saw the semi-familiar stocky blond man enter the chamber her fear ramped up several notches. The two males held her tightly while the blond injected a clear liquid directly into a vein, confirmation of the needle placement in the brief burst of crimson flashing into the syringe. He was even more frightening than the bearded man, because he did everything with a friendly smile. Despite her best efforts, Marie fell limp after only a few moments, the drug rapidly numbing her pain, and paralyzing her efforts to protect herself. The last moments before complete blackness took over were filled with more faces—the elderly and fragile, the creepy, and the terrifying. Marie did not have time to feel afraid as she went completely blank. Vaguely, she knew what was happening at the moment, but all she could do was emit a pitiful moan.

~~~~~

She didn't know how much time she had spent in the so-called play room. It could have been just a day or two, or weeks. Every agonizing minute she did recall seemed to last lifetimes. Worse, she knew she had been knocked out much of the time she was there. Now, Marie was sitting in a garish dressing room with make-up tables and mirrors lined by huge round light bulbs all along one wall, emitting so much heat sweat was trickling down her neck. After feeling nothing but cold for so long, the heat was oppressive. She had no idea how she had come to be at this place.

It seemed as if she had just awoken from a horrific nightmare into a bizarre dream. Looking through the reflection of the mirror she was seated in front of, she organized the confusing sounds that had brought her to awareness into those of backstage hustle and bustle. She saw other women walking around, sorting through racks of strips of fabric barely identifiable as clothing, and men intermingled with the group wearing nothing but boots and leather pants.

She jumped when a slender hand reached over her shoulder and caressed her neck.

"Don't worry, guhl, I won' hurt you...unless you make me." Marie looked beside her, as the feminine voice spoke. She had not noticed the appearance of the creepy Asian woman, though she had seen her before. She was one of the most frightening of her captors. She had done such horrendous things to her that the aches deep in Marie's body seemed to throb at the memory. And that was what she recalled, but so much more had to have happened.

"Why am I here? Why are you doing this to me?" Marie asked in a whisper.

The short Asian woman laughed menacingly, and replied, "Still you lie. Do not worry. We will get Mr. Drozdan without you. He is weak. He has no honor. I will kill him as revenge for Raphael. Nevermind...It will be fun to watch you perform for your life. I enjoyed taking out my anger on you, but you do not remember all of our fun. Now, if you try to escape or let on to anyone that you are here against your will, I have been given permission to punish you, and you won't be able to forget."

Marie remained speechless, repulsed as the Asian woman ran her tongue down her ear. Her heart sped up when she saw fangs glint in the bright stage lights. More laughter surrounded her as the Asian woman drew away.

"What are you?" Marie asked, the words stuck in her dry throat, as she remembered the bearded man's teeth and claws.

"Wouldn't you like to know? You'll find out soon enough, Amahté likes you and if you don't get it when you see him, then you are just stupid." The petite woman flung a scrap of fabric at Marie, hitting her in the chest. "Put this on. You will need to be ready for the grand opening."

Marie looked down and realized she was still nude, though not much more so than the other dancers she saw as she looked around in embarrassment. She held up the gauzy swathe of blue. It was basically a vee of fabric linked by a metallic ring to a flimsy skirt that would do little to cover her backside. She did not know what she had done to deserve this. Whatever it was, she prayed she would get out of it alive and no worse for the wear. If she got out of this and found Emil, he was going to have to explain everything.