Bound to the Vampire Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

Kayla

THDUMP.

Kayla’s body jerked.

Thdump.

Her head crashed against what felt like a brick covered in thin rough carpet.

Her eyes shot open to blackness.

What the hell?

Flashes of streetlights flickered through the windows as they passed. Her body lay in an awkward angle.

Had she passed out again?

She shot up to look around, but her bones froze. Her breath caught in her throat. Every seat in the front of the truck was filled with bodies. Eight heavily muscled scary-as-shit bodies.

Instantly, she slouched back into the tight crawlspace of the trunk. So far, none of them noticed her sudden consciousness. She just needed to keep it that way. Her life depended on it.

Without moving a hair, her eyes cut to the window to even worse news. They were traveling at breakneck speeds down the highway. Her only hope of escape meant jumping into oncoming traffic and possibly dying on impact. Her gut churned at the thought, but what choice did she have?

She scanned the darkness for a safety lever. There. On the door next to her knees sat a lime green florescent handle. She inwardly sighed.

Thank you, foremages. At least she was trapped in a modern vehicle. Otherwise… she shuddered to think.

Without a second thought, Kayla reached for the safety latch to the harsh crunch of a pile of fast-food wrappers. She froze stiff.

The heat from eight pairs of eyes set their gaze on her. Shit.

“Mmm. Look who’s awake,” a voice purred from the back seat. Her heart lodged itself in her throat. Even with a mask hiding his face, its owner was unmistakable. He was the mage who killed Derrek.

“Leave the bounty alone. You know the rules,” a voice, who she assumed was the driver’s, called from the front of the car. “We don’t talk to the bounties. Period.”

The mage’s eyes flashed with purple electric currents as he listened to the driver, but didn’t turn away from her. When her eyes locked with his, the feeling of his essence forced its way into her body. It was so strong that not even her tonic could smother it.

His essence was wrong. It didn’t feel homey or reassuring like it had when she felt one of her kin. Instead, his was cold and tattered and grotesque.

An acrid sickness bubbled at the base of her throat. Her gut roiled. Dizziness made the car turn lopsided like she’d taken a spin on a rollercoaster after drinking her weight in alcohol. She swayed, ready to hurl her guts out.

She’d never felt one before, but after feeling him, there was only one thing he could be. A syste—a magic stealer.

Only a magic stealer could feel so foul. One glance at the menacing shot of purple electricity in his eyes confirmed her suspicion. The mage in front of her was the stuff of nightmares.

“Hmm, what’s wrong, kitten?”

Her breathing quickened. Could he feel her essence through the tonic like she could feel his? She hoped not. Syste had a constant need to feed their magic. If he’d even guessed she was a mage, he’d siphon from her until there was nothing left.

He gave her a sick grin.

Maybe he could. Shit.

She gulped, unable to take her eyes away from his.

“Mmm.” He let out a purr and stroked the leather headrest, refusing to break eye contact. “Let me have a little fun with her.”

The driver groaned and changed lanes to weave around another car. “I thought you were into other witches.”

“Mages,” he corrected. Did she detect an elitist undertone? He had a lot of nerve. The man was syste, bottom of the barrel for their kind. “It’s more powerful that way. But I can take from humans every once in a while. No one is without magic.”

Oh, thank the foremages. He thought she was human.

“Fine, then we’ll tell Splinters to ask you the questions when we turn up and she’s dead.”

“Where are you taking me?” her voice came out on its own volition.

The entire car stilled.

Clearly, that was a mistake. She should have kept her freaking mouth closed and prepared her escape while the men conversed. Too late now. Her plan thrust into action. She scrambled for the safety lever and the truck erupted in a flurry.

“What the hell is she doing?” The driver asked. When he looked back in the rearview mirror, the truck swerved.

“Trying to get out,” a deep voice from the man sharing a seat with the syste, said.

“Don’t let her,” the driver ordered.

“Is she fucking crazy?” The passenger said, then turned his entire body like he wanted to see her stupidity first hand.

“Bind her. Hurry.” The driver ordered.

Just as she grabbed the fluorescent green glow-in-the-dark handle, her hand melted. Then, her arms deadened and her entire body went crashing into the door of the trunk.

“Please let me go.”

“Shut her up!” the driver bellowed.

“No, wai—” Her vocal cords seized. A gust of harsh wind entered her mouth and didn’t stop until she closed it.

“She good?”

“Mmm. She’s good now. Aren’t you, kitten?”

“Jesus. Why do I have to tell you all how to do every fucking thing. You had one job. If you weren’t so busy trying to get high, our bounty wouldn’t have almost escaped.”

“It’s done now. Calm yourself.” The mage’s voice lilted when he replied. He didn’t seem to care that the driver was losing his shit in the front seat.

“Fuck, we haven’t eaten in weeks. We need this payday. What if she’d gotten out?”

“You wouldn’t have gotten out, would you have, kitten?”

“Don’t say another fucking word to her.” The driver turned and pointed at the syste. The truck swerved again before he steadied the steering wheel with one-hand to straighten it, and switched lanes.

The electric current in the mage’s eyes extinguished. He scowled, eyes morphing into hatred, but he turned around and sat forward. The foul feeling of his essence eased.

She would have been relieved if the car hadn’t veered off the highway. It was too dark to see where they were exactly. Just that the longer they traveled, the fewer cars she saw. The car drove through a labyrinth of streets until they met a dirt road and the engine cut.

She peeked through the window. On one side lay an open field, the other an abandoned airplane hangar. There were no planes and no other cars. The place was a freaking ghost town.

What the hell was she going to do now?

She didn’t have time to think of another plan.

The trunk opened, forcing her to spill forward. One of her captors caught her before she crashed into the dirt and pulled her onto her feet. The group walked toward the hangar.

Did they really expect her to walk like this? Her legs were bound at the knees.

“Come on.” The man who opened the trunk rounded back and roughly yanked her in the direction of the others. Apparently, so. Shuffling in her stilettos, she tried to follow.

A sudden movement caught her attention. Several yards away, two figures tussled to the ground. After being pulled up, a swing of dark hair showed Breanne fighting until the much larger man wrapped her in a caged grip.

“Yeah, you feel that. Don’t you? Stand up and maybe this won’t accidentally end up in your throat.”

Breanne whimpered. Kayla fought to breathe.

“What the hell is this?” a new voice joined the fray. She was pushed toward the light coming from the empty airplane hangar.

One of the men near Breanne spoke first, “There were two of them, Splinters. I-I mean, Boss.”

Her captors dragged her forward to a thin, balding man with a greasy comb over. For a non-magical, he felt disgusting. She was very sure he wasn’t human. Humans felt neutral to mages, almost like drinking tap water. The man in front of her felt like overbearing spicy heat with a hint of rotten fruit.

She’d never felt anyone like him in her life. His entire aura was jarring. It felt as if devoid if a soul, like the syste had taken it, but left his withered body intact.

Splinters’s face looked like someone had put a rat and a wolf in a blender and somehow joined it with a human. It also held no symmetry, like two different people had been spliced in half, then joined together at the middle. She could almost see the invisible line splitting the man into two.

One side seemed higher than the other and more angular. But even more jarring was the thick scar running from his eyebrow to his chin. It was a deep cut that looked like it had been sewn back together by a toddler after it’d gotten infected. And by the look of it, it’d taken one of his eyes. Adjacent to the scar, a murky blue-gray orb stared back at her as his gaze bounced from her group to Breanne’s.

“Excuse me?” Splinters asked, his voice rough.

The two groups moved and Breanne was forced next to her. Kayla wanted to hug her so bad. Or grab her hand or do something to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. Even though she had no idea if it would be or not.

The boss looked between the two of them, then at the collective behind them. “So, in your incompetence, you brought me two? I asked if you could do this. You assured me you could.”

“I did.” The voice was eager. “She’s here. One of them. They both look the same as in the picture. See?”

The man with the scar ripped the picture from his grasp and held it up to Breanne’s face. Splinters examined her with beady eyes for a moment before sucking his yellowing teeth and spitting at the dirt near her shoes.

“That mage thinks he can get one over on me? There has to be a way to tell which one’s his daughter.”

The wind caught in her throat. Disbelief scattered her thoughts. She visibly shook. They were looking for her.

His confirmation of that fact sent tears to the corners of her eyes. Her life had always been in real, actual danger. Why hadn’t her father said anything? How could she have chalked it up to him being overbearing?

Cow buckets, she was so freaking dumb. Why would anyone waste money on the seven layers of protection she had all her life if it wasn’t for a real threat.

She’d been surrounded by mages at every corner. Her bodyguard was one. The gardener who trimmed the hedges made two. The two teams of people who tracked her routes made up at least a dozen. And she was pretty sure the woman who recently moved across the hall was sent by her father too. Why else would her father go through such lengths if she wasn’t in danger?

“We can ask them questions,” a tall man with a highly angular face offered from the collective. She instantly recognized him as the driver of the truck she’d been hauled in.

Splinters cut his gaze to him and scowled. “Come here.”

He paused before taking a hesitant step forward.

“Closer.”

A few more steps and he was toe to toe with the scarred man. In a move no one saw coming, Splinters balled his fist and rammed it into his gut. The lanky man doubled over with a groan.

“Anyone else want to say something stupid?”

Silence.

“I have an auction starting in less than twenty minutes. Do I look like I have time for an interrogation?”

“No, sir,” the group said in unison.

Splinters looked at the picture again and stepped forward to study Breanne. The man had no sense of personal space. He was a hair’s breath away and Kayla was almost positive the man’s breath was rank enough to give the landfill a run for its money. Breanne squirmed when he grabbed her chin and forced her head from side to side. He grunted, and Breanne looked ready to double over.

Then his gaze moved off Breanne and onto her. His beady eyed stare bore into the side of her face as he examined the photo, then her. The spicy heat of him made her choke like she’d ingested too many chili peppers at once. But Kayla forced her limbs still and prayed like hell he saw very little resemblance between her and the photo in his hands.

His calloused fingertips felt like slime and bad dreams as he stroked her chin and studied her. He moved her face to one side, then the other before forcing his dirty fingers into her mouth to inspect her teeth. After an agonizing moment, he growled in frustration, then slammed the photo into the dirt and spit on it. He tossed the group a scathing look.

“Figure out which one is which. You have five minutes.” He turned away and walked back inside the hangar.

The entire group let out a relieved breath when he disappeared inside. The tall one with high cheekbones spoke first. “So, what do we do?”

Everyone else looked at the mage. Kayla shook in fear.

“Mmm. What are you all looking at me for?”

“Which one is she?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“You are the one who found them. Or did you get it wrong?”

“No, I’m not wrong.” He smirked and sent her a wink that made her skin crawl. “The magic in that apartment building was strong. It stopped just before these two came out and got into the car with the driver.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have taken his word for it,” someone said mutinously from the group.

“Zee, please tell me you have something other than a hunch,” the commanding one pleaded, but it ground out like a threat.

“Their driver was a mage. There’s no reason for a mage to be a driver. Unless he’s guarding someone.”

The commanding one sucked his teeth and stepped toward him. Zee wasn’t fazed by the proximity. He kept the same laissez-faire stance and a playful smirk even though their noses practically touched.

“Carter,” one of them grabbed Carter’s arm in caution.

“No fucking names. How hard is that for you all to understand?” Carter ripped out of his comrade’s grasp, then turned back to the syste this time with a smidge more space between them. “Tell me we didn’t snatch these two on a fucking guess.”

“Mmm. Me thinks one of them is hiding.” Zee’s sing-song voice dragged out every syllable as he craned his head to look at her, then let his nasty gaze linger.

She avoided his eyes.

He knew.

Somewhere deep inside, he had to.

“We just need to find out which one.”

“How?” Carter asked.

“I need to find her essence. The magic will rebound to protect itself. It will give itself away. Mmm, this is going to be fun.” The syste stepped around Carter. With a flick of his hand, her binds loosened.

She steeled herself to run, but a pair of strong gloved hands held her in place. The mage stared at her with the same sick gleam in his eyes as he had in the car.

“I can’t wait to test you, kitten. But first, I need to talk to your friend,” he continued in his deranged tone as he turned to Breanne. He watched her squirm. “Are you going to make this easy or hard?”

Another sick grin. He waited.

“I guess it’s the hard way then.”

Breanne stepped back. Kayla wanted to tell her to run, but she couldn’t speak. Only her chains had been loosened, not the hold on her mouth.

“Mmm, we can’t have you run off again now, can we?”

In an instant, Breanne’s heels anchored to the ground and she toppled over. Two of the men pulled her upright.

The mage grinned wickedly. “Ah, that’s better. Now, where were we?”

He raised her hand and wrapped his long knobby fingers around her arm. He smirked when she didn’t look at him. “All you have to do is answer one question.”

“I can’t.” The words came rushing out of Breanne’s mouth. She looked surprised by that. It made Kayla test her own restraints. She opened her mouth, but a rush of wind made it impossible to speak.

“Mmm, you’ll get your turn.” The mage cut a glance at her and gave her another nasty wink.

She gagged.

“Enough. We don’t have time for this shit. Can you tell or not?” Carter’s commanding voice made them all flinch.

“I can.” The syste cocked his head to one side and stared at Breanne, grip tightening against her forearm. His fingers dug into her flesh.

“Please,” she pleaded.

“Which one of you is the mage?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Wrong answer.” The lightning in his eyes flashed before erupting from his fingertips and into Breanne. Her knees buckled. Her screams echoed off the buildings and into the empty field.

“Keep her quiet.”

Her yells immediately cut off, but her pain was palpable.

Kayla opened her mouth to confess, but there was only wind. She struggled against the grip of the man, but he’d only held her firmly in place.

Suddenly, the wind in her mouth stopped. So did his hold on Breanne’s arm.

Gulping in a large breath, she found her words. “Don’t hurt her.”

She jerked against the vise grip around her arms in an attempt to grab Breanne before she swayed to the ground, but her kidnapper kept her in place. The mage leaned toward her. She gulped.

“Don’t want your friend to have all the fun, do you kitten?”

A flutter of laughter sprang through the collective. Dread forced her still.

“Aww, you’re no fun. Fine, I’ll wager you. Tell me which one of you is the mage and I won’t have to hurt you too.”

“Please, let us go.”

He cocked an eyebrow, his thin lips settled into a smirk. He knew it was her. But the sick bastard wanted to play some more.

“Wrong again.”

He grabbed her wrist and the purple electricity slid down his arm and into her. Her insides shred. Heat seared like lava through her stomach as his magic poured into her. He was burning her from the inside out. Just like when he constricted it around Derrek, her vision blurred. She clutched at her stomach. It felt like he was using it to force her body inside out.

A scream tore from her throat as she bent over.

“Stop, please,” she cried. He didn’t let up. His magic double downed.

“Tell me who’s the mage.”

She opened her mouth to another scream and crumbled to her knees.

“Enough,” Carter said.

Zee ignored the command. His magic pressed into her. It was as if death itself had entered her, weaving his tattered essence across her insides. Scorching and burning as it went. Deeper and further, jumbling in her throat, making it hard to breathe.

“I said, enough!” Carter bellowed and snatched Zee away. The magic released. The fire stopped. The mage staggered backward. A trickle of blood trailed down his nose.

No one moved for a moment. She heaved.

“Let me get a little more of her.” The mage’s voice was rough like the gravel digging into her knees.

“Fuck, you’re trying to get high right now? We need to figure this shit out and you’re taking a hit?”

“Something’s wrong with that one,” he slurred, pointing at her.

“Is she a fucking mage or not?”

Zee’s gaze narrowed into slits, but he kept it fixed on her. “I don’t know yet.”

The collective erupted in agitated sighs and groans.

“I thought you had something.” Carter waved his tanned arms in the air like he couldn’t believe what was happening.

“I do, I just need to make it come out.” His heavy boots thudded toward her, but the commanding one blocked him.

“I swear to God, after this payday, I’m never working with you again. Move.”

He pushed the mage with a rough grip, then kneeled in front of her. He reached for her shoulder. She recoiled.

“Are you alright?” His voice was gentle, but the gentleness didn’t meet his hand as he gripped her shoulder. “Listen, I’m running out of time and I can’t afford to get this wrong. No one is going to get hurt. The girl we need is only going to be held for ransom, then she gets to go home. No harm will come to her.”

A weird feeling settled in her gut; he was different than the others. Definitely not deranged like the psychopath behind him who kept his eerie gaze on her as he wiped a thumb against the blood trickling from his nose. He examined it for a moment, then licked it. Ick. But still, the man kneeling in front of her couldn’t be trusted.

“No one has to get hurt.” There was a sincerity in his tone as his eyes lingered on her friend for a moment longer than necessary. Kayla could have sworn she saw something flash in them. Concern? Guilt? Regret?

By the foremages, the syste’s siphon was making her loopy. There was no way he’d have any empathy in his line of work. Yet there was something in the way he said it, something trustworthy. Yeah, she needed to take a nap and rest. She’d been siphoned from too hard.

“And the other one, what happens to her?” she asked. Her voice felt scratched as it came out of her mouth.

Silence beat between them. He sighed. “She gets to go home too.”

Lie. She felt it in her soul. The girl who wasn’t the mage was never going home again. She glanced at Breanne’s shaking frame, then back at Carter. There was no real option. It was an impossible choice.

If she lied and told them Breanne was the mage, her friend would be saved and she’d die. If she told them the truth, Breanne would be the one to suffer. Although, she might suffer either way. Eventually, they’d find out Breanne wasn’t a real mage and might kill her anyway.

Yet, there was a third option. And even more impossible option. If she could stall long enough for her tonic to wear off, her magic would be too powerful for anyone to stop. Maybe then, she could get them both out.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to let my friend here continue his own interrogation.”

When she didn’t say anything, any gentleness she might have seen before vanished. His face was hard again, and he stood up, towering over her. Behind him, the mage’s eyes flashed dangerously in threat. She involuntarily struggled against an unknown force that seemed to take over her body, keeping it anchored to the ground.

“Please, I’m not who you want,” Breanne choked out, then devolved into tears. “I just want to go home.”

More regret.

 “Zee.” Carter gave him a short nod, the go-ahead to continue.

“Hmm, I love this part.” He smirked and went to Breanne.

“Please, Carter. Don’t do this,” Breanne’s voice choked in a whisper.

For the second time, everyone stopped and looked at the commanding one. Even the mage.

“Dude, you fucking know her?” Zee lifted his brow in disbelief and pointed at Breanne.

“No.”

“This one knows your name.”

“Of course, she fucking does,” Carter growled. “E’s dumbass said it a few minutes ago. See? This is what it does. Makes them think they can get to you.”

Carter turned to Breanne with a scowl. Then balled his fist at his side and grabbed her by her hair. Breanne shook harder.

Shit.

“I’m sorry, please.”

“Shut up,” he growled and slapped her. Hard. The sound echoed across the field. Breanne wailed. “Are you going to keep using my name?”

She shook her head, but he moved to strike again. From the mouth of the hangar, the scarred man emerged. Time was up. Stalling was out.

“Stop.” The words came flying out of Kayla’s mouth. “Don’t hurt her. I’ll tell you who it is.”

Carter lowered the hand he’d been hitting Breanne with but didn’t let her go, a stark reminder that he’d continue if he thought she was playing games. There were none to be played.

There was only one option. One impossible choice. The mage would live while the other would die. And since none of them could tell who was who, they’d have to take her word for it. Kayla pointed at Breanne.

“She’s who you’re looking for.”

“What?” Breanne sobbed. “What are you doing?”

The man behind Breanne forced her forward.

“I’m telling them the truth.” Kayla said without returning her gaze. “She’s the mage.”

Breanne looked up to Carter and back at her. Betrayal and disbelief lined her eyes. Maybe when her father picked her up from the ransom, he’d explain. Then, she’d understand her reason for her deception. She did it to save her.

“Take her,” Carter said to the men behind her.

“Wait. I’m not… Carter,” she begged.

“Shut her up.” He turned to the mage.

Immediately, Breanne was silenced again with gushes of air making it impossible to breathe, let alone speak, as they dragged her into the hangar.

When they could no longer see Breanne, Carter and the few that remained turned to her. He nodded toward the group. They hoisted her up and dragged her toward the hangar.

She tried to back away, but she only ran into a body. Leathered gloves gripped her arms painfully.

“Wait… You said you were going to let me go.” Her voice wobbled. She dug her heels in. The poor skinny things didn’t even stand a chance. They snapped off the back of her foot like a twig in the forest as the men dragged her in the empty hangar.

“Please, you promised.” For the life of her, she couldn’t get her freaking voice to stop shaking.

“There you are, kitten.” The mage rounded the corner from a labyrinth of shipping containers. He gave her a wink. “Did you miss me?”

Shit, this was it. They were going to let him have her. Now, it was her turn to shake.

“You’re going to kill me.” The words came out gurgled as the men tugged her forward, no matter how hard she resisted. What was left of her stilettos scraped as they dragged her toward several men pulling out a black iron cage.

Foremages, this can’t be real. They were going to put her inside of that thing. It became hard to breathe. She fought against the men harder as two of them opened the wide door of the crate.

“Please, you said…” she trailed off.

“Relax, kitten. I’m not going to kill you. Not until I’m done with you.” Then, they threw her into the cage.