Lovers Unchained (7 page)

Her thoughts exactly, but hearing him say it made her feel better, made her feel as if she finally met someone she could trust with her burdens. They would talk more when they escaped. She definitely wanted to keep this demon with her, at least until they safely made it out of the Dark Realm.

“Goodnight,” Carissa whispered. Closing her eyes, she dreamed of her demon, Jude.

Chapter 5

“Goodnight,” Jude said, while he walked back to his cot to lay down. He listened to his mate’s breathing; it was music to his ears. Her breathing slowed and she fell asleep. He wanted to watch her sleep, he wanted to be the last thing she saw when she closed her eyes and the first thing she saw when she awakened.

 He closed his eyes, but sleep didn’t come, probably because he still wasn’t used to sleeping during the daylight hours. He still had time to catch a few hours of sleep before his next escapade with Lana. Jude opened his eyes and imagined what Carissa looked like. He hoped she was as beautiful on the outside as he sensed she was on the inside. However, knowing Lana, she probably picked a woman as plain as a piece of paper, but Jude didn’t care what she looked like, as long as she wasn’t hideous. Since, he has been without a woman for over twenty years, almost any woman would do.

He was ready to feel a woman ride him until his body was sore. Jude looked down at his still semi-hard cock. Tomorrow, he would convince Lana to allow him to fuck Carissa. He needed to mark her as his; his inner demon would not be denied. There would be hell to pay if anyone tried to stand in his way. Jude closed his eyes; his last waking thought was of his mate sleeping a few feet away from him.

When Jude awoke, his first thought was of his woman. He sniffed the air, but her scent wasn’t there. He listened carefully, but her voice did not drift to him. Jude wasn’t alarmed, the female captives were in charge of preparing lunch for the male captives and the servants. Breakfast was not a luxury for them. The vamps didn’t awake before lunch; therefore, the captives were not allowed to eat before then.

Lana awoke every day at four in the afternoon. He still had a few more hours to sleep before she summoned him. His stomach growled loudly, reminding him he needed to eat. Jude sat up and swung his legs off the cot onto the floor. Where were the ladies with the trays of food? Jude hoped Carissa would be the one to bring him his food, so he could get his first glimpse of her.

Cheers coming from down the hall let him know food was being passed out. Jude guessed the time was close to one-thirty. His tray usually reached him at one-forty—Lana was a stickler for rules. Her captives were fed at one-thirty and again at six-thirty. There were no snacks or water served in between meal times. Those male captives who were unlucky enough to be chosen to pleasure Lana received an extra meal when they dined with her in her bedroom.

Jude’s stomach rumbled again. He saw a short, petite woman serving food a few cells down from him. He sniffed; her scent was not the one he craved. She was not his mate. As she moved closer to his cell, Jude got a better view of her face. He was shocked by how beautiful she was. Lana usually never kept beautiful women as captives. Her hair was a pale gray color, the exact color of the cell walls. Once she was directly in front of him, he noticed how her hands trembled while holding his tray.

She slid the tray through the food slot in the bars. When Jude spoke to her, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her skin turned paler, almost translucent. Jude immediately recognized her for what she was, a chameleon. Her handcuffs kept her from blending in completely with her surroundings.
Her race was wiped out years ago.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Jude said, when she prepared to move to the next cell. She continued moving as if she didn’t hear him.

“Hey, wait.”

The chameleon stopped, but she did not turn to face him. Her short hair curled around her ears reminding him of a pixie. He knew she wasn’t Carissa. Even though she was attractive, his body didn’t respond to her as it did to his mate.

“What’s your name?” Jude asked. For a second, he thought she wasn’t going to respond.

 “I’m Faede,” the chameleon said in a voice sounding like a cool breeze.

 “That’s a pretty name. Do you know a captive by the name of Carissa?”

The chameleon looked as if she was about to speak, but changed her mind. Instead, she shook her head no, and continued passing the food out to the other male captives. Jude took his tray and walked to his cot to eat. There was no silverware, so he used his fingers to eat the gruel. He scooped up a handful of the slimy food and shoveled it into his mouth.

 He swallowed it without chewing. On the corner of the tray was a small carton of milk, which he used to wash down the mystery food. He scooped another handful of the food and swallowed it. The trick was not to chew it, so you wouldn’t taste it. Jude gulped down the rest of his milk and placed his tray back into the food slot.

Soon, Faede would be back to pick up all the empty trays. The female captives were not allowed to eat until all the males ate, and all the trays were collected. He heard the food cart rattling closer to him. When Faede reached him, she grabbed his tray and added it to the rest of the empty trays on her cart.

Hesitantly, she lifted her head and their eyes met. The  mercury color of her irises held him captive. She didn’t open her mouth to speak, but somehow he heard her voice talking to him in his head.

 “Carissa is serving food in the other hall. She told me to tell you good morning for her, if I saw you.”

Jude smiled at her words, but he was unable to speak or take his eyes off hers. Faede blinked twice and her eyes went from being a swirl of mercury to gray like her hair. She smiled shyly at Jude, bent her head and continued on to the next cell.

This was no normal chameleon
. He went over in his head what happened. Eyes like those only existed in two types of creatures, soul snatching Succubi and Demons. He never heard of a soul snatching Chameleon. Most Chameleons were non-violent, their ability to camouflage themselves usually the only defense they needed. You can’t kill what you can’t find. 

Someone with her abilities would prove useful when it came time to escape. Jude turned to walk back to his cot at the same time as Bruce teleported into his cell. Jude looked at his wrist pretending he had a watch to look at.

“Isn’t it a little early for you to be up doing the Queen’s dirty work?” Jude asked. Bruce hissed, picked Jude up and slammed him into the wall. Bruce stalked to Jude’s fallen body and wrapped his hands around Jude’s throat.

 “What were you doing talking to Faede?” Bruce yelled, baring his fangs while he stared into Jude’s black eyes. Jude tried to answer, but Bruce tightened his hold, preventing him from speaking. Jude lifted his leg, kneeing the vampire in the groin and Bruce winced, but he didn’t loosen his grip.

“What did you say to her?” Bruce yelled.

Jude didn’t answer, he couldn’t answer. He felt his inner demon clawing its way to the surface, but the handcuffs prevented it from fully emerging. Jude stared up at Bruce through red eyes. He knew Bruce didn’t normally result to violence unless provoked, but he didn’t have any idea what he said to get the overgrown leech so worked up.

 “How did you get her to talk to you?” Bruce asked, loosening his grip on Jude’s throat.

The moment Jude felt Bruce’s grip ease up, he lifted his body, head butting Bruce as hard as he could, given his position. The blow was hard enough to shift Bruce’s position. Jude rolled from under the huge vampire and jumped to his feet. His eyes glowed red and he positioned himself in a fighting stance.

Bruce stood up, his broken nose quickly healing on its own. He laughed at Jude.

“Demon, I could kill you in three seconds and there is nothing you can do about it.” Bruce laughed again.

Jude tried calling his inner demon to the surface; he would need all the strength he could muster with these handcuffs on.

“I saw you talking to her,” Bruce said, slowly advancing on Jude.

Jude held his position refusing to back down to a leech. If he wasn’t handcuffed this little skirmish would be over.

 “Why do you care?” Jude asked, holding his ground, but studying the vampire for weaknesses.  “I thought you belonged to the Queen Bitch.”

Bruce smiled menacingly. “Unlike you, I gave her what she wanted. Now that she’s tired of me, I’ve become her trusted servant, free to walk these halls as I please.”

“But not free to leave, huh? Oh, and not free to mate, either,” Jude said, testing his theory. The vampire hissed and teleported to Jude’s side. Jude anticipated the movement and kicked out with his right leg, kicking the vampire into the wall.

Jude resumed his stance and waited for the vamp to make his next move.

“So, she’s your Bride, huh?” 

Bruce stood up slowly. “You’re going to pay for that, demon.” Bruce teleported directly behind Jude, a move Jude did not anticipate. Bruce wrapped his large arms around Jude’s throat, squeezing tightly, the action lifting Jude off the floor.

Jude was pissed. The handcuffs inhibited him from using all of his strength. He allowed his claws and his fangs to elongate, and dug his claws into the vampire’s arms, digging deep until he felt bone. As the vampire bellowed in pain, Jude butted the back of his head against the vampires newly healed nose.

Bruce staggered and his grip on Jude’s throat loosened. Jude took advantage of this by retracting his claws from the vamps arms and swiftly turning to face him. Before Jude came face to face with the vamp, he was punched in the neck, the blow sending him flying to his cot. Bruce sagged back against the bars of the cell.

Jude moved to get up; unfortunately, so did Bruce. Before Bruce teleported to Jude, a small hand reached through the bars touching the vampire on the shoulder. Bruce tensed and a bulge formed in his pants. Jude looked away, but didn’t turn his back; he refused to turn his back to an enemy.

He was right, Faede belonged to the vampire. Bruce teleported out of the cell and reappeared behind the chameleon. Jude watched as the jealous vampire and his mate disappeared. He would have been worried, but he knew Faede could handle herself. Before Bruce disappeared with her, she looked at him and he heard her talking in his head again.

“I’m sorry for the pain my vampire inflicted on you. His soul is disturbed and he is filled with anger. The life he lived has not been an easy one, but now that he has found me, things will be different. I will help him remember what life is like without pain.”

The tiny, soul snatcher was about to say more before her jealous vamp took her away to who knows where. Jude knew Bruce wouldn’t hurt her, it was damn near impossible for a male to hurt his mate. It would be like stabbing a dagger into your own chest and twisting it, damn near impossible.

Jude got up and rubbed his throat. He wanted to get the hell out of these cuffs and soon. He stretched his aching body. Lack of working out made him a little rusty in the fight department. If his old team would have seen him now, they would laugh at his lackluster performance. He dropped to the floor and started doing push-ups, near two hundred he lost count, thinking about his own mate.

 He needed to get them both out of this hell hole. The handcuffs they wore weren’t the only problem. There was no way he could free them if he couldn’t fight the enemy. His little skirmish with Bruce proved it. Lana was a bigger problem. He had to figure out a way to escape without killing the vampiress. Though his fangs ached to rip her throat out, he couldn’t do so in her home.

Jude sniffed the air, his mate’s scent was not there. She wasn’t back in her cell and he didn’t know if he should be worried or not. Sweat poured from Jude’s body somewhere around five-hundred push-ups.

He came up for a count and was hit with her scent and he ceased working out. Standing up, he wiped the sweat from his brow. Two creatures passed by his cell carrying an unconscious woman in their arms. Her face and body was blocked from his view, but he saw golden brown hair hanging down her back as the creatures passed by.

“What happened to her?” Jude asked. He knew without a doubt this woman was Carissa; her scent teased his nostrils, but her condition worried him.

 “What did you do to her?” The four-eyed creatures kept walking as if they didn’t hear him. Jude heard them unlocking Carissa’s cell and laying her down on her cot. The cell doors clicked shut and the creatures headed back his way.

Jude growled at them and smelled the fear pouring from their ghoulish bodies. Yet, still they didn’t look his way.

 “I’m fine,” he heard his mate whisper.

“What happened?” Jude asked.

 “I’m low on energy. The more energy I get, the more these handcuffs drain,” she whispered back.

“What can I do to help?” He was willing to give her every ounce of energy in him if he could.

“Are you sure you want to help?” his mate asked weakly.

“Just tell me what I need to do.”  He would do anything for her. He hadn’t marked her yet, but the instinctual need to protect her still took hold of him.

“Touch yourself,” Carissa said, sounding embarrassed.

Jude laughed; he didn’t have a problem with agreeing.

“Are you a Succubus?” Jude asked, hopeful. If she was, he was prepared to keep her high on energy for the rest of eternity.