Bite Me (27 page)

Ivie stiffened. “I’m fine. I would like to stay with my friend, please.”

I was proud of her calm response, but I had a bad feeling that Vanessa’s idea of comfortable was the exact opposite.

Otto and Vanessa chuckled and ignored her.

“Yes, Ms. Santino,” he answered.

With that he came and grabbed Ivie by her hair this time. She cried out and reached up to grab his hand with both of hers. He started dragging her toward the door.

“No!” Ivied screamed.

I started to get up from my chair. The cocky bitch hadn’t even tied me to the chair this time. Vanessa was suddenly standing in front of me, and I fell back in the seat.

“Oh no, Donna. I have other plans for you. I’m sure Otto and your friend will be just fine.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Otto dear?”

He stopped and looked at her.

“Have fun. You have carte blanche.”

He grinned and yanked Ivie’s hair viciously. She screamed, her back arching at an unnatural angle. Then I watched helplessly as he dragged my friend out the door.

I looked at Vanessa. “She doesn’t have anything to do with this. Just let her go,” I said. “I’ll do whatever you want if you’ll just let her leave safely.”

I heard another high pitched scream from my friend, and my blood ran cold. Oh God, they were going to kill her and all she had done was come to see me at Conner’s house. Tears welled up in my eyes. I had never felt so hopeless. I had no way to defend myself or my friend from these vampires. It crossed my mind that I should have let Conner turn me weeks ago. I would have been able to at least fight them.

Vanessa laughed. “It’s too late for that now, Donna. I’m afraid that neither of you will be going home.”

The door opened again only this time Parker Hanes was standing there rather than Otto and Ivie. I heard another scream but farther away and knew that my friend was in trouble. I wanted to scream in frustration myself.

Vanessa beckoned him and Parker came into the room, his face strangely devoid of emotion.

“Yes, Mistress,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. Jesus Christ, he sounded like a vampire flunky from a bad horror movie. I had to fight back another gag as he came to her and kissed her hand reverently.

“What can I do for you this evening, Mistress? Would you like a foot massage or perhaps some blood?”

I realized that Parker
was
a flunkie straight out of a bad horror movie. Vanessa had brainwashed him.

“No thank you, Parker. Did you do the other task I set for you?”

He nodded eagerly. “Yes, Mistress. I emailed the pictures to Mr. Savage.”

“Good boy,” she said. “Now come back in an hour for further instruction.”

He bowed. He freaking bowed at her! “Yes, Mistress.”

Parker left the room and I gaped after him. I was beginning to get an idea of why he had kidnapped me last week. My ex-boss wasn’t the psycho, Vanessa was.

After he left the room, Vanessa looked back to me. “Your boss is a lovely, malleable man. It was so easy to get into his mind and bend him to my will.” She paused. “Though he did have some rather disturbing fantasies about you that involved handcuffs and a razor blade.”

I blinked but couldn’t stop the sarcastic response from escaping my lips. “I always thought he wanted to kill me.”

She arched a single eyebrow. I hated it. She looked so superior. It made me want to bitch slap her. “My dear, he wasn’t using the razor blade to kill you. In fact, he’s quite fond of you.”

When I realized what she was saying, I felt bile rise up in my throat. No wonder it was so easy for her to convince him to hurt me. He already wanted to. Not only did he want to, but the thought of hurting me turned him on. I decided then and there that, if I got out of this situation, I would tell Conner. Whatever he chose to do with Parker, I didn’t want to know. What I did know is that I didn’t ever want to see him ever again.

“What are you planning?” I asked Vanessa.

“I just want to teach Conner a lesson about crossing a woman like me.”

Teach him a lesson? “I thought that hurting the Claimed of another vampire was punishable by death.”

She waved a hand nonchalantly. “Oh it is. But you see, I’m not going to kill you. Parker is going to kill you. After he does that he will kill himself. Well, Otto will kill him, but he has become quite adept at making murder appear like suicide. Conner and eventually the police will find a shrine devoted to you in his home. Pictures, personal information, and journals detailing his intense desire to carve his name into your skin will be found there.”

I figured Conner would see straight through that plan, but he might have difficulty proving it to the council. Especially since his only human witness would be dead. Then again he might forgo the Council’s input and just kill Vanessa.

“I see you’ve got it all planned out,” I said.

She looked very proud of herself. Though I still didn’t think she was the genius that she thought she was, I did have to admit that her plan was logical and sound.

I realized I hadn’t heard Ivie scream again for a while, and my heart dropped. I really wasn’t sure if God existed, but if He did then I figured He would lend a hand. I prayed that she was still alive. While I was at it, I prayed that Conner would find us before Vanessa had Parker kill me and Otto killed Ivie.

Tears threatened to spill, but I forced them back. I would be damned if she would see me cry again.

She looked so fucking smug when I looked back at her that I really wanted to leap out of my chair and cunt punt her. Unfortunately, I knew that there was no way I could move quickly enough to catch her off guard, and if I attempted it she would probably snap my neck.

“Now, you wait here like a good girl. After Conner answers Parker’s ransom demand, we’ll move to the next stage of my little plan.”

She swayed to the door on her expensive stilettos and left me alone in the cold, ugly cinder block room. I waited about ten minutes after she left before I hopped up and went to the door. Trying to be quiet about it, I put my hand on the doorknob. It was locked. I don’t know what I had intended to do if it was open, but I couldn’t just sit on my ass.

I prayed again that Ivie would be okay. I didn’t want to imagine what Otto was doing to her. Since I couldn’t go out that door, I looked around the room I was in. It was windowless. There was one other door near the corner. I had a sinking feeling it was a closet. I went to it and saw that I was right. There were cleaning supplies stacked on shelves.

I wished I knew more about chemistry. Then I could have built a bomb, blown a hole in the wall, and saved myself and Ivie. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. I really wanted to remove one of the wooden mop handles to use as a weapon, but I knew all it would likely do was piss a vampire off. I could break it off to use as a stake, but I wasn’t really clear on where I’d have to stab someone to hit the heart. If I were only dealing with Parker or humans, I wouldn’t have hesitated to try to defend myself. I wasn’t dealing with humans though. I was dealing with vampires, and they were faster, stronger, and far more likely to kill me. When it came to being a badass, I sucked.

With a sigh, I shut the closet door and went back to the chair in the middle of the room. As much as I hated it, my only option was to wait. Wait for Conner to come save me. Damsels in distress weren’t my favorite kind of heroines in the romance novels I read. I preferred the woman who would fight tooth and nail for her happy ending. But in this situation I couldn’t fight. All I could do was have faith that Conner would do whatever it took to get me back safely.

I sat in that stupid fucking chair and waited. While I waited, I relived every single moment I had with Conner in the last two months. All the wonderful things and even the not-so-wonderful stuff. It seemed like an eternity before the door opened again. This time it was Parker and the skinny vampire that had thrown me in the van at Conner’s house.

I glared at them both. Parker seemed unfazed, and the vampire just smirked at me. I had an urge to pick up my chair and try to break it over his head. I managed to hold it back. The vampire hung back by the door, and I realized that my ex-boss was on the phone.

“I want five million USD for her. You have twenty-four hours to get the money. I’ll call you with further instructions,” Parker said robotically.

I realized that Vanessa must have given him very explicit instructions on what to say. She’d made him her fucking puppet. Even knowing what he fantasized about me, I didn’t think Parker honestly wanted to physically hurt me. Thinking about something and doing it were two different things. I also knew that Conner wouldn’t give a shit about that and would probably snap his neck anyway. I tried to feel sorry for him, but all I could remember was the self-satisfied smirk on his face the day he fired me. Maybe I wasn’t as good a person as I thought.

I was almost certain that Conner was on the other end of Parker’s line. I was correct because Parker continued, “Yes, I have proof of life.” With that he hit a couple of buttons on his touch screen and turned the phone toward me. I saw Conner’s angry face staring back at me. He was holding his own phone close so I couldn’t see where he was. I hoped that meant he was on his way to come get my ass.

“Donna, are you physically hurt?” he asked.

“No, I’m okay, but they have Ivie.”

He nodded. “I know. I’m working on it. I will get you out of there.”

I knew he would do everything in his power. I just hoped it was enough. Desperate to let him know Vanessa was involved, I said, “You know that issue we were discussing after the Claiming. Well, it’s a given now.”

I knew he got the hint when his eyes narrowed. “Very well. I will take care of this as quickly as possible. You’ll be home by tomorrow night.”

If Vanessa got her way I wouldn’t and I think Conner understood that.

“I love you, Conner,” I said. Just in case.

“And I you. I will see you soon.”

I really, really hoped that meant before tomorrow night. Parker came forward and snatched the phone out of my hand. “Satisfied?” he asked snidely, looking into the camera without fear.

“I am satisfied that she is unharmed but not about anything else,” Conner replied.

Parker sneered. “Well that’s too bad. Five million U.S. dollars by tomorrow night.”

“I understand,” Conner answered.

My ex-boss shut off his phone. The skinny male vampire stopped lingering by the door and entered the room completely. I realized he was trying to stay out of the camera range of Parker’s phone. Vanessa followed.

“Time to go,” she said.

I really wanted to argue or at least stall but the other vampire came to stand behind me and started caressing the back of my hair. Oh hell no. I got to my feet quickly and moved toward the door. Vanessa went out and down the hall. She looked over her shoulder, crooking a finger in a signal for us to follow.

I had a really bad feeling about this, but I was pretty sure I didn’t have a choice, especially when Weasel the Vampire came up behind me, brushing his entire body against my back. Oh, and he was
very
happy to see me. I flinched and trotted after Vanessa. I decided then and there that if she planned to let Weasel Face rape me that I would fight to the death. Fuck, she’d basically said she was going to kill me anyway. If it got to that point and Conner still hadn’t arrived on his white charger, then I wouldn’t go down quietly. They might be bigger and stronger but that didn’t mean I had to roll over and give up.

Vanessa stopped in front of a door. Nearby I heard someone crying. Though I didn’t want to think about why she might be crying, I sincerely hoped it was Ivie. Because if she was crying, then she was still alive.

Opening the door, Vanessa gestured for me to enter. “After you,” she said.

I went through the door and stopped short. This was not going to happen. In front of me was a metal table with leather straps attached to each corner. There was also a drain in the floor in the center of the room. My heart immediately started to try and pound its way through my sternum. Jesus Christ, I did not want to think about what happened in this room.

The weasel-faced vampire was on me in a blink, moving me toward the table though I was digging my heels into the concrete floor. My struggle was a waste of energy. He had me flat on my back on the table before I could draw in the breath to scream in frustration. With one hand on my left wrist and one on my right, he held me down so Parker could buckle the straps. I tried to kick but he repeated the process with my ankles.

In a pathetically quick amount of time, I was tightly bound to the table. I had no range of motion in my hands and arms. I bowed my back, flopping against the hard surface to see if I could pull the straps loose. Parker stood at the head of the bed and turned a handle. My arms and legs were stretched until they were fully extended. I couldn’t move even an inch.

The metallic taste of panic settled at the back of my tongue. Vanessa came to the head of the table and looked down at me, her face strangely expressionless.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way, Donna. Please don’t take it personally. There are things in motion that are larger than even me. I will do what I must to be sure that the coming events have no obstacles. Since Conner will not ally himself with me, then he must be removed from the equation,” she said, her tone conversational.

I realized that Vanessa wasn’t exactly the scheming, power-hungry bitch I thought she was. She wasn’t getting rid of me because she wanted Conner and the power she would have if they were together. She was the sleeper cell for the upcoming invasion.

I wanted to ask her questions to see what I could learn, but she looked over at Parker and her eyes began to glow. “Parker, do you remember all those things you wanted to do to Donna? The ones you wrote in your journal?” she asked.

His face was blank and empty but he nodded.

“You will do them all,” she commanded before she raised a hand to Weasel Face and beckoned him to leave the room with her. Speaking to Weasel Face, she said, “Be sure that you record it all and get the video to Conner. This is the only way we can take him down. Once he sees what is done to her, he will not rest until he gets retribution from Mr. Hanes. We have to be sure to catch him in the act and publically expose him. Once we do, then the Council will have no choice but to terminate him. Then we can implement our plan for control of vampire kind.”