Love, Fangs And Bloodlust
Chapter 2
Reilly
It was definitely a chilly night. I thought Florida was supposed to be a warm state and here we are in the low 50's F, and it would be dropping again in the next few evenings. I finally arrived at the back door of my friend's restaurant when I noticed a girl getting ready to get into her car. She seemed to grow a bit nervous at something then hurriedly jumped in her car, shutting and locking the door behind her. Hmm, that's odd. I wonder if John managed to piss off yet another girl. Of course that thought just brought a smile to my face. Making eye contact with her I stopped smiling and just watched her, after a few moments I finally went in to the warmth leaving the beauty to leave without an audience.
"Hey John! Did you piss off another woman tonight?" I asked grinning, shaking his hand and pulling him into a half hug.
"Hey Reilly," he responded to my 'greeting.' His expression to my question was priceless, all I could do was chuckle at that. Coming to, he finally shook his head and responded, "No, why?" confusion still plain on his face.
Man, I loved messing with John. I laughed at his expression before taking a breath to respond. "Because some chick just got into her car like she was pissed or scared. I thought it was pissed, maybe you scared her." I chuckled again, earning a glare from John getting me to laugh some more.
He continued to glare at me for a short time, but finally he sighed and asked while shaking his head at me, "What did she look like?"
"Chestnut brown hair, about five foot six, creamy skin, and wearing a waitress uniform. Kind of spunky looking if I do say so myself." I added thinking about her curvy figure and the way she moved.
John must have seen my eyes and recognized my expression because he snapped his fingers in front of me. Once I snapped out of it, I scowled at him unsure why he was snapping his fingers at me. He finally spoke after glaring at me a moment, "She is off limits no matter who you are."
Dread coursed through my veins, causing me to look as if someone had just told me I had just lost my best friend. After a few moments I finally looked at him, "You sure?!" He nodded crossing his arms and leaning against a counter. "Man, that sucks! Such a beauty too!"
"I know, trust me I know. Her name is Akira Salena, just out of high school. Sweet girl too and great waitress. She handled the weekend group perfectly, and no one trained her. She must have been watching David and committing things to memory." John thought a moment and looked down at the floor thinking hard about something. His whole demeanor changed then he looked up at me. "David never came in to work tonight, never called either."
I barked back at him, "Why am I finding this out now?!" I changed my attitude realizing his reaction to my words and his saddened expressions. "Do we have any ideas where he is?" I asked a bit nicer.
He nodded slowly once, "Only one."
I cursed and punched the nearby wall putting a dent into the drywall. Great, that would have to be fixed and David found. This is a very bad week. David wasn't like me, but he was a friend, and was supposed to be left alone. I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. After a short time, I looked up at John and let my hands fall to my legs placing my hands partially into the pockets of my jeans. "I need to go John, my father and brother need to know about this." He only nodded and stood up straight as I turned and left. This wasn't good.
The next day, David still hadn't called or showed up for work, no one had seen him or heard from him. He vanished. One day he was at work, went home and was not heard from again. This sucked. My father nor brother knew anything. No one in their circles knew anything nor heard anything from our enemies. They had gone silent, wow what a pun. I visited Akira at her job and sat in her section ordering something easy then gave her a pretty good tip. She was pretty, and a great waitress. As I was leaving, the big group came in and she ran off to get them their drinks and food orders. I left, not wanting anywhere near them. Bad blood there. Ha, another pun! I was on a roll. My father had called a meeting with the council and being his youngest son, I had to be there.
Four hours of diplomacy later? NOTHING! "Calm down son. We will find David and the others. This is far from over. You have my word," my father placed his hand on my back then grabbed my shoulder squeezing it slightly trying to comfort me. I just nodded at him then walked off. This was getting old. Really old. My brother had left right after the meeting to go hunting for answers, any at all.
Running sounded good. The weather wasn't too cold for a run.
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Akira
My head hurt, body hurt and I was cold, but I kept my eyes closed. I heard breathing and cries of pain, of who's, I didn't know. I finally gave into my curiosity and opened my eyes slowly.
I heard someone whisper from behind me, "Akira... Akira!" I just shook my head trying to clear my eyes as all I saw was pitch blackness.
"You won't be able to see anything. I have been here going on three days now, nothing but blackness or abuse, " the same voice whispered again.
I finally recognized the voice. "David! Where are we? Why am I in chains from the ceiling?"
I finally realized that I was hanging from the ceiling and my feet were stuck to the floor by ankle shackles. I tried moving, but to no avail.
"Shhh!" David whispered, obviously telling me I was talking too loudly and making too much noise. "They'll hear you! Talk in a whisper, trust me," David said with definite fright in his voice.
"Shhh......" Another whisper came out of thin air followed by a giggle. I recognized that laugh. My face drained of color, for that I was sure. "Oh, I am sure you are already too late for that," Deirdre started giggling again. She walked over to me and drug her nails across my body causing me to feel the very thin material, they had changed me into, being the only line of defense. "Hanson said we could play, isn't that nice?"
I began to tremble slightly, but still responded with something smart ass, "You make this sound like a child asking their parent if you can go out to play." For some reason, I didn't act as if I was scared, instead, I acted tough. "Let me out of these chains and I'll definitely play with you, you blonde bimbo!" Yeah, I yelled and insulted; I am stupid sometimes.
Deirdre took two steps over to me and slapped my face hard enough that I thought I got whiplash. I screamed out in pain and would have fallen had it not been for me being held up by the shackles. A click sounded behind me, and a dim light turned on above my head causing me to blink my eyes rapidly to help adjust to the light no matter how dull. She grinned evilly, then grabbed my hair yanking my head back causing me to cry out again. The tears start gathering around the edges of my eyes then fall to the floor. She decided that a bit more abuse was in order as she grabbed a whip and started hitting me with it. A few more minutes of the whip, and I was hanging there, tears pouring from my eyes and blood seeping from the cuts from the whip.
"So lovely! I see you started without me though, Deirdre."
I peaked out through my hair to see Deirdre's boyfriend strolling in, a bit too fast for human speed. He smiled at her then glanced at me with pure disgust. The slap came out of nowhere, as I wasn't watching Deirdre. I saw stars for a few moments then just hung my head and cried.
"There, that's better, don't you think Vance?" Deirdre asked seemingly proud of beating me up.
I moved only my eyes to look up in time to see Vance sliding his hands around Deirdre from behind. "The best, baby." I glared down at the floor wishing they would just go away already, but as always, I wasn't that lucky. After a few moments of silence, Vance spoke up again, "You know hon, Hanson said you could have a little extra fun with her as long as she wasn't weakened, or killed."
I jerked my head up and looked at them both, obvious fear in my eyes. They both grinned at me. That was the last thing I remember before I was beaten, bloodied and bitten. I screamed and cried even begged for them to release me. They didn't. They had no mercy whatsoever. After what felt like hours later, they left.
I hung there and cried wishing for death to come in my sleep. I knew I wasn't that lucky though. After a few moments of silence, except from my crying, David finally spoke.
"Akira, are you okay?" I didn't answer, just cried. "Akira, I-" He cut himself off for a moment then continued a bit softer, "Why would they pick you, and be so mean to you on top of it all? They haven't been like that to the rest of us- well not that abusive, I mean."
We both waited in silence as the minutes ticked by before I spoke, my voice was soft, almost a whisper. Defeated. "They came in when you weren't there the first night. I had watched you and learned the routine. I got a good tip and went and bought new clothes the next day." I paused forced by the coughing that started. I whined, flinching some due to the violent coughing and the pain that the harshness of it caused. "I ran into the blonde, Deirdre, and insulted her. That night they came in again and she made my time hell. She then assaulted me after I left work. They both got me at my apartment. No warning. No noise." I said nothing more, just cried. The tears streamed down my face causing stinging wherever they hit, reminding me of the cuts on my face.
"Just hang in there, Akira. We are going to get out of this, I know it."
No other voice made a peep after that. It was like I was the only one there. That is how I spent that night. I fell asleep crying and in pain.
The next morning I woke to the door being shoved opened and someone walking around with something squeaky. My eyes were swollen enough that I couldn't see too clearly. Finally, an old man came over with a cart, the culprit of the squeak and shoved broth-soaked bread into my mouth, then walked off. I ate it, thankful for some food at least. I hung in silence hoping to be freed. I didn't have long to hang in silence, they came back.
Deirdre smacked me around some and spewed insults at me. This continued on until I hung limp and unresponsive. Thankfully, she soon grew bored of my unresponsiveness, then left. I sighed softly, glad that that worked. Two days, I hung there. Abused, though not too roughly now, alone, except for the others, about twenty in all. Wishing I would wake up from this nightmare. The third morning was different. The broth-soaked bread was shoved in my mouth, then moments later my hands were freed causing me to fall to the floor in pain.
The third day was hell. There was a hunt about to commence, and we were the prey.
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