The Changelings (War of the Fae: Book 1) (13 page)

I looked around and saw everyone complying, so I did the same, hesitantly.
 
Why was this guy all of a sudden being so friendly?
 
Why wasn't Mr. Dardennes doing the toast with us?
 
Alarm bells were ringing faintly in the back of my mind.
 
Tony looked sideways at me from the neighboring seat, probably picking up my nervous vibe.
 
He elbowed me gently, probably telling me to settle down and drink up.

Mr. Nischa gestured his drink towards us.
 
"Skal!" he said, and then quickly put the shot glass to his lips and threw it back, drinking the amber liquid in one gulp.
 

Everyone else around me was responding in kind.
 
I lifted my glass and said a weak 'Skal' along with the rest of them; they were decidedly more enthusiastic than I was about the whole thing.
 
In my peripheral vision I saw glasses being tipped back and then set back down on tables.
 
My hand was frozen in place, the glass not quite touching my lips yet.

Tony's hand whacked me on the arm.
 
"Ouch, Tone, watch it!"
 
I turned to give him my bitchy look, but what I saw shocked me out of bitch mode and into scared shitless mode.
 
His eyes were shut and his mouth was hanging open.
 
He was out cold.
 
I heard a clank and a crash as someone else's shot glass fell and hit the table.
 
I looked over and saw that everyone but me was unconscious, some of them obviously going into that state before they had even put their glasses down.

I lowered the shot glass away from my face and looked at Mr. Nischa with narrowed eyes.
 
He was standing in place, still in front of the office door, no expression on his face.
 
He just looked at me and said, "Skal, Miss Jayne."

"Fuck
that
," was my very firm response.
 
Skal my ass.
 
I put my arm across Tony's chest to keep him from falling forward and set the glass down on the table in front of me.
 
"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing here, but I am
not
drinking that shit.
 
And you'd better stay the fuck away from me.
 
I don't care how big you are – I'm not going down and neither is Tony."
 
I could actually feel the adrenaline rising up in my bloodstream, and my heart felt like it had jumped into my throat.
 
I had to swallow hard to make it easier to breathe.
 

Mr. Nischa reached his arm up and tapped on the door behind him with his knuckle.
 
The door opened and Mr. Dardennes stuck his head out.
 
"Yes, Ivar?"

Mr. Nischa said nothing – just gestured at me with a nod of his head.

Mr. Dardennes looked over.
 
"Ah.
 
I see we have a problem."
 
He opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out.
 
"Jayne, you did not participate in the toast with your fellow passengers ... how unfortunate.
 
We really do need you to drink what's in your glass before we go too much farther into our little trip."

I picked up the glass and dumped the contents on the nice, cream-colored carpet.
 
"Whoops, I spilled it.
 
Bummer.
 
Guess I'll have to sit this one out."
 
I figured I might as well go full-on rebel with this.
 
Drugging test subjects never means anything good, so I figured I was already pretty much dead or sold into slavery anyway ... might as well go down fighting.
 
I unbuckled my seatbelt as casually as I could.
 
I needed to be able to get up and kick some balls if necessary.
 
I wondered if it was a man or woman flying this luxurious kidnapping mobile.
 
If the pilot had testicles, I had a much better chance of getting the hell out of there alive.

Mr. Dardennes smiled – a kind of tired smile.
 
"Jayne, I know how this must look to you, but we find these measures necessary to protect the confidentiality of our operations.
 
All will become clear to you in due time.
 
I ask that you just trust me in the meantime, and take a drink as Mr. Nischa has asked."

I looked at him incredulously.
 
This guy was obviously off his rocker.
 
"You know, you really had me fooled in the meeting and interview; I had no idea you were a completely insane sex slave trafficker.
 
You can tell your pilot to turn this plane around and go back to Miami because I'm
not
drinking that poison and I will
never
trust you – you can bet your sweet ass on that."
 
Tony started snoring next to me.

"The drink is a sedative so you will sleep until we land.
 
It will not harm you at all.
 
The flight is quite long.
 
You will be much happier to sleep through it, I assure you."

"Yeah, um, no thanks.
 
Just take me back to Miami.
 
I'm not interested in your test anymore."

Mr. Dardennes sighed.
 
"Ivar, bring her another drink.
 
Make sure she drinks it, but don't injure her."
 
He went back into his office and closed the door.
 

Boy, did that guy have a lot of nerve.
 
And Ivar Nischa was gonna be sorry if he even thought about trying that shit on me.
 

Ivar waked past me, back towards the cockpit.
 
I feverishly looked around me, searching for some kind of weapon.
 
None of us had brought anything but changes of clothes in our backpacks – I'd watched everyone pack.
 
Tony had left his gun at the warehouse too, up in the rafters.
 
I reached down and grabbed a shard of glass from Jared's broken shot glass.
 
It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

Ivar returned with a crystal carafe of the amber liquid and another little glass.
 
He sat down in the empty seat across from me and set the carafe on the table between us.
 
"You need to take the drink, Miss Jayne."
 
He had no expression on his face and no anger in his voice.
 
Just certainty.

"You need to get the fuck away from me before I make you sorry you ever lived."
 
I lifted my eyebrows for emphasis, my false bravado nearly even fooling me.
 
I was trying like hell to keep the shaking out of my voice.
 
I couldn't let him see me sweat.

"This will be much better for you if you just comply.
 
I do not want you to be hurt.
 
You are very small and I am very big.
 
You will either drink it or I will inject it into you.
 
Come ... let us be adult about this."

"Adult?
 
Adult?
 
You want me to be
adult?
 
How about this: adults don't drug children and kidnap them, at least not high-functioning, sane ones.
 
Why don't
you
be the adult here, and I'll just be the kid."

Ivar reached up and took the glass stopper out of the carafe.
 
He lifted it by its neck, pouring out a shot.
 
"Last chance to do this the easy way," he said quietly, almost sadly, sliding the drink towards me to let it rest a few inches from the edge nearest me.

"Go
fuck
yourself."
 
I quickly swiped my hand across the table, sending the glass and its contents flying onto the carpeted aisle.
 
A little bit splashed on Jared, but I knew he wouldn't mind.
 

Ivar jumped up from his seat so fast, I didn't even see it coming.
 
I didn't even have a chance to cut him with my weapon.
 
The last thing I saw was his sad but determined face, less than an inch away from mine, the smell of sweet alcohol on his breath.
 
The last thing I felt was a stinging sensation in my arm.
 
"You bastard ... you stuck me ... "
 

And then everything went black.

I could hear voices, Tony's and Spike's.
 
Then I felt someone squeezing my hand.
 
"Wake up, Jayne, come on."
 
Tony sounded worried.
 
I wanted to squeeze his hand back, but my body was not obeying my mental commands at the moment.
 

Someone grabbed my foot and shook it gently.
 
"Hey, Jayne, it's me, Spike.
 
Come on, you're gonna miss all the fun, wake up."

Fun?
 
Was he nuts?
 
Since when did sexual slavery sound like fun?
 
The fog had started to clear from my brain.
 
I remembered seeing Ivar's face in mine, and a sharp, stabbing pain in my arm.
 
Shit.
 
He'd gotten the jump on me.
 
He was gonna pay too, since I now realized that I was still alive.
 
Bastard should have killed me when he had the chance.

I was finally able to open my eyes.
 
I looked around me, but all I could see was Tony's face, worry etched in the lines above his eyebrows.

"She's awake!
 
Hey, Jayne, I'm so glad you're back.
 
You feel okay?"

I turned my head and saw the crew sitting at and standing around a wood table in the middle of a big room.
 
I was lying on a couch in what looked like a log cabin ski lodge.
 
There was even a big fireplace at the end of the room, not far from me.
 
There was no fire in it now, though – probably a good thing since unless I'd gone into some sort of seven-month-long coma or changed hemispheres, it was too hot outside.

I sat up slowly, waiting for the dizziness to stop.
 
Whatever they'd stuck me with had really kicked my ass.
 
I didn't remember a thing after my exchange with Ivar – not even any dreams.
 
Speaking of whom ... "Where is that motherfucker, so I can kick his ass?"

"Which motherfucker would you be referring to?" asked Jared, who had joined Spike at the foot of the couch.

"Ivar first ... then Dardennes."

Spike smiled, but I wasn't in the mood for his beauty.
 
That shows you how pissed I was.
 

"They're not here," said Tony.

"Where is 'here', anyway?" I asked, sitting up and looking around.

"We have no idea.
 
We're in some sort of lodge in the mountains.
 
Chase and Finn went outside and looked around a bit, but didn't see anything or anyone."

The dizziness had subsided, so I stood up.
 
Everyone seemed to be waiting for me to speak.
 
"So what the hell happened?
 
Last thing I remember is seeing all of you pass out around me and then getting into it with Ivar before he stuck me in the arm with some needle."

Everyone looked at Jared to explain.
 
"Well, the last thing any of us remember is saying 'Skal'.
 
We all woke up here about a half hour ago.
 
Whatever Ivar got you with must have been stronger than what we drank."

"So, what's the theory?
 
Are we sex slaves now, or what?"
 
I wasn't kidding but everyone laughed anyway.

"Yep, she's back," said Tony, giving me a quick hug.
 
"I was so worried about you, Jayne.
 
You were just so out of it."

"Yeah, well, see what happens to you after you're hit with an elephant tranquilizer ... hey, does anyone know what time it is?"

"No, none of us have our watches or cell phones anymore," said Finn, "but it looks like it's afternoon, if the sun's in the right place."

"Afternoon?
 
What the hell?
 
That means we were on that damn plane and passed out for ... how many hours?"

"There's no way of knowing, since we don't know what time zone we're in right now," said Jared.

I shook my head, not wanting to believe what the facts were telling me.
 
"Where in the hell are we?
 
And am I the only one pissed that we've essentially been kidnapped here?"

The front door of the lodge opened and Dardennes stepped through, followed by Ivar and Céline.

I saw red.
 
Tony tried to grab my arm, but I slipped through.
 
Spike and Jared saw the look on my face and both moved to block me.
 
Spike grabbed me in a semi-hug, gripping me across the shoulders with one arm, and putting his opposite hand on my shoulder that was under his armpit.
 
"Jayne ... "

I glared at him, angry as hell that he'd stopped me.
 
"I hope you wore a cup today."
 
I wasn't kidding.
 
Anyone with balls was liable to get hurt with the mood I was in.
 
I wasn't sure how I was going to handle Céline ... maybe punch her in the boobs until she begged for mercy.

Spike smiled in response, effectively taking some of the fight out of me.
 
Dammit.
 

"Just wait and let's hear what they have to say before you take 'em all down, k?"