Infamous: (A Bad Boy Romantic Suspense) (32 page)

“Ovary up, Emma,” I said to no one and sighed. I looked at my wrists, squinting, and saw that my thorny rope assessment wasn’t far off. My bag was nowhere to be seen, so the knife was out of the question. The binding was some kind of cord that was rough and spiky for no apparent reason other than to make me uncomfortable. Someone was having fun at my expense. And I had a pretty good idea who.

“If you’re watching or listening somehow, you sadistic, spider-legged asshole, I am on to you. You won’t get shit from me,” I said loudly. There was no answer, but I had a feeling I had been heard, just the same.

This was confirmed by the sound of footsteps a few minutes later and then the leering, unpleasant face of my kidnapper, whose name I still didn’t know. Mind, it’s probably not common practice to tell your kidnappee your name. So I mentally called him “the Spider Jerk” so I’d have something to refer to him as and get a little dig in whenever possible.

“You rang, princess?” he said, leaning against the bars.

“I thought there was probably a camera or listening device in here somewhere. Unless you can hear long distance,” I said.

“While my hearing is acute, it doesn’t quite work through several layers of solid rock, a basement, and three floors,” he said.

“Great. So you’re not just a sadist, you’re also a voyeur.” I got up and stretched my legs.

“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s merely so you can be observed by my employer, and to make sure you don’t escape,” he said.

“How the hell would I manage that? I’m a human being, not a shape-shifter, vampire, or, like…flying goddamn nun. What do you expect me to do, eat through the walls?” I said sourly.

“I don’t ask questions. They wanted eyes on you so I provided some. Now, anything else? Magazine? Refreshment?” he said. He was mocking me and I was frustrated. There wasn’t a thing I could do about it, either.

“Well, unless you want your employers to watch me starve to death or dry up like a prune, I’ll eventually need food and water. And these wrist bindings are ridiculous. It’s not like I can punch through the bars.” I was standing near him now, watching him through said bars. He was considering me coolly, a nasty light in eyes.

“No, but at least this way I can guarantee you aren’t comfortable at any time. I find I like the idea of you being in pain, even if it’s just minor,” he said.

“Well, that’s gross,” I said and sat back down on the bed. I sighed and looked at the barren walls, the utter lack of anything to look at or do. The boredom might get to me before the starvation.

“I’ll bring you some food, however. Can’t let you waste away. Then you’d miss all the fun.” He started to walk away.

“Why do I get the impression your idea of fun and my idea of fun are radically different things?” I said. He laughed, and its harsh, utter lack of mirth echoed as he disappeared up the stairs again.

I sat there for several more hours, staring at my hands. I tried keeping my mind occupied by counting, doing multiplication, going over my favorite movie quotes, anything to distract me from the big fat nothing there was to do or see. I got up and paced just to give myself a minor change of scenery and keep my muscles from getting stiff.

Counting the steps I took ate up some time, as did counting how many steps it was around the room. I wondered who had been in it before me and if they’d also slowly gone insane from the lack of air, light, and activity. I wasn’t quite in Crazyville yet but I could see it happening pretty fast. I missed my phone, my family, and my vampires.

I had a bad feeling I wasn’t going to see any of them again.

At some point I fell asleep again on the incredibly lumpy bed, and when I woke up, feeling worse, there was a tray of dubious-looking “food” on the floor. It looked like oatmeal and tasted like wet sand, but I ate it. Even though it was decidedly gross I felt better after. My blood sugar was no longer in my feet and my head cleared a little. I drank the glass of water that was left with it in huge gulps and then realized a horrible truth: there was no bathroom in this cell. That was going to get…complicated later. I tried not to think about it.

Instead, I thought about what Dimitri and Robert were doing. I knew they’d try to look for me, but would they be able to find any trace of what had happened? I’d left on my own; they might assume I’d gone home or was otherwise traveling under my own steam. The only way they’d find out it was something else entirely was if Solosha came to and told them. Although maybe if she was gone they’d figure out something was up. They weren’t stupid.

Clearly whoever had paid Spider Jerk to grab me had something they wanted from me, likely to do with that whole “not being influenced by vampires” trait I had. I kind of hated being “special” in this way. But if I hadn’t been, what would have become of me and Tasha? That thought brought me up short. She, at least, would be dead by now. And I probably would be too. At least this way she was safe and, though I clearly wasn’t, I was still alive.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had more power in the situation than I had thought. Whoever this was needed me. Needed what I had. Just like the vampire council and Dimitri and Robert needed me. Otherwise I’d, again, be dead. I wasn’t. And I wasn’t an unwilling vampire, either. So something about all of this was really fishy. I mean, any one of them could have “made” me at any time. I couldn’t overpower them. So why hadn’t they? It would’ve been easy. Something wasn’t right. I was missing something and I couldn’t figure out what.

My eyes got droopy and the room spun. I felt suddenly very, very, very strange. My limbs got heavy and my head felt like a large lead ball. I fell to the mattress and tried to move but couldn’t. I heard an unpleasant laugh, and my last thought before unconsciousness was…

“That fucking Spider Jerk drugged me…”

I woke to painful light. I was sitting on something, a chair, and the light in my eyes was so yellow and so bright I was blinded. I blinked, tears streaming down my face from the intensity of it. My arms were free but my legs wouldn’t move. I didn’t really want to think about why.

As my eyes adjusted I made out three shadows at the other end of the room. This room, unlike the cell, had paintings on the walls and rustic furniture in deliberately distressed tones of white. I could smell sea air, and when I turned my head I could see a familiar-looking mountain across an inlet of ocean. I couldn’t figure out why it was familiar. My head was still foggy and my vision kept blurring. It was night out and I could see that the brightness was coming from a spotlight that was fixed on me. I could feel some of its heat on my cheek.

“She’s awake,” said a gruff voice I didn’t recognize.

“Good,” the Spider Jerk said.

“You didn’t have to drug her, Stoller,” said another voice, familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“Have to? No. Wanted to? Enjoyed it? Yes,” said Spider Jerk, aka Stoller. At least I knew his name now. I coughed, trying to speak, but my throat felt like it was full of knives. I didn’t know what he’d slipped me but it was nasty stuff.

“I think she’s waking up.”

“Excellent. We should get started.”

That sounded good and ominous. I braced myself for a slap or ice water or something else unpleasant. Instead a cool hand was placed against my sore cheek.

“Emma? Time to wake up. We have much to discuss.” The familiar voice again. I was starting to place it when I opened my eyes and looked into the face of Alexis, the councilperson, plummy red hair still perfectly, softly mohawked, lips a deep red, eyes playfully predatory. I gulped. That was the voice that had scared me, the cheerful one. The one that, beneath the sunny tones, had been full of fangs and blood and terror.

Alexis sat across from me, legs crossed, and smiled. It wasn’t even remotely friendly, although there was the suggestion that the smile attempted to be. Like someone who knows you should smile to put people at ease but doesn’t quite understand why.

“You,” I croaked, feeling like I should be more surprised. But somehow it fit. Alexis had been the most cavalier at the council meeting but also the most interested in what was going on, beneath the aloof amusement. The behavior of the other two had been perfunctory, though I knew Edward just outright hated me. Hate I could handle. What I saw in Alexis’s face was calculating. It was cold. It would use me if it could and spit me out. And if it couldn’t?

“Yes, me. It’s been a while. How have you been?” Alexis asked, still all smiles.

“Fabulous. Especially the ‘drugged and tied up’ part. Every girl’s dream,” I said.

“You’d be surprised.” Alexis sighed, as though remembering a fond memory. I raised an eyebrow.

“Misspent youth, what can I say?” she said, and laughed. It was a bright, tinkling sound, but hollow. It lacked something a human laugh would have. Soul.

“So, not that I’m not grateful for the holiday and everything, but what the fuck do you want?” I asked, straightening up as best I could. My limbs still felt too heavy; my legs in particular seemed weighted down as if by concrete blocks. At least I could feel them now, unlike when I woke up.

“Right to the point. No girl talk? I was curious about what it was like to sleep with both Robert and Dimitri. Compare notes. Amongst other things,” she said and waggled a pinky finger suggestively.

“They both get it done,” I said, then shut up. There was no way I was going to indulge this little game she was playing. She wanted something from me and I wasn’t going to make it easy to get, whatever it was.

“Shy, how quaint. Well, the point of this isn’t to talk about those two lovely men, however gorgeous or talented in bed they may be. My family has other needs,” she said, getting down to business finally.

“Your family?” My stomach suddenly felt tight and sick.

“Yes. Very few, not even the other council members, know that I am part of a house this old. One of the oldest. Neither of your protectors are aware either, as it should be. We have…plans for both their houses in the coming days. We have plans for a great many things,” she said.

“Okay. Well, that’s…nice? You guys do you. I don’t have anything to do with vampire politics and I don’t want to. So if you could just point me to the nearest door…” I shifted, uncomfortable with being told what were clearly top-secret details. That didn’t bode well for my eventual freedom.

“Ah, but you do. This apparent ability of yours not to be influenced by us could be quite handy. If you chose the right side,” she said, leaning forward, attempting a look of friendly concern.

“Which would be yours,” I said.

“You learn fast. I like a human who isn’t thick,” she said.

“Thanks. I guess this wouldn’t be a good time to point out that all of you vampires used to be humans,” I said. Her face remained smiling but there was now a tightness around the mouth.

“True. We like to forget our unfortunate origins. Look to the future. Since we have so much more of it,” she said.

“Yes, and how do you use it? Playing stupid political games and kidnapping people. Oh, and eating them. Let’s not forget that,” I said. I was over this pleasantry bullshit.

“Who could? Take you, for instance. I could eat you right now. Drain all the blood from your body. But slowly. Painfully. Letting you feel every moment of your pointless little life slipping away, drop by delicious, red drop,” she said and smiled. This time her mouth was full of razor-sharp points and it cracked, wider than it should be. I swallowed.

“Sure. But if you were going to, you would have. You need something from me. Or I’d be dead,” I said, keeping my voice even. I felt powerless and helpless in the situation, so I clung to the one thing I knew to be true: if they’d wanted me dead, I would be. There was more to this.

“Not thick at all, I see,” Alexis said. I saw Stoller come strolling in, spindly limbs planting themselves carefully, looking unnaturally hinged.

“Done yet?” he asked, coming to stand behind Alexis.

“Oh, hardly. This meatsack has spunk, I’ll give her that,” she said, looking up at him.

“Does she? I thought she was rather boring, personally. Although she does have a decent ability to slap,” he said, rolling his eyes as though this were the most tedious topic in the world. And yet I could see he was tense, waiting.

“Oh, Stoller. This is why I employ you. Your stunning wit,” Alexis said, voice dripping with sarcasm. She looked at me as one might a bug one was considering squashing.

“You employ me because I get things done. The things you don’t want anyone knowing you do,” he said, a calculating look on his face.

“Hey, uhm, I don’t need to hear any of this, okay? I like to keep the amount of information that could get me killed to a minimum,” I said, pushing up in my seat. I wiggled my toes and felt them tingle. My arms were free but felt like they had bowling balls attached to them. Every movement felt like an extreme effort. It was frustrating and terrifying.

“It’s rather too late for any of that,” said Alexis. She waved a hand at Stoller and he slunk away.

“I thought it might be,” I muttered.

“So, the reason you haven’t been drained and mounted like a trophy on a wall is pretty simple: in order for us to utilize your gift, you must be turned willingly. Otherwise you’ll simply be a thrall and of no use. Unfortunate, I know,” Alexis said. Something clicked in my head and I started to laugh. I laughed loud and hard, tears streaming down my face.