Bright Moon (31 page)

“Take Miss Rita to her room,” Parker said
then left them with a smile, staring at his ring all the time.

She was roused much before the sun rose the
next morning. The gray darkness outside was not promising, as if a
sign of things to come. Mark had been sent to retrieve her and
didn’t give her time to dress from her nightclothes. He held a new
phone and grinned like it was his birthday. The toy was set aside
just long enough for him to cut her palm with the little
pocketknife and spit into the wound, making certain to infect her
before they left.

“What are you going to do with that?” she
asked when he retrieved his phone.

“I understand Parker stumbled upon your
weakness,” he replied. “You know what that means? I can go back to
using you as
sport.
”

Her mouth snapped shut and she remained
quiet, recalling her mother saying it was less painful to do as
they asked. He took her to a room that did not differ much from the
one before. They strapped her to the same kind of horrible chair
while Parker busied himself with a tall vile that held gold
glitter. Once restrained, she watched him add a pinch of it to a
tiny plastic cup that had already been filled with water.

“My girl, please don’t put up a fight,” he
said when he came to her side. Mark’s phone was ready to record and
she was determined not to dramatize anything. She took the offered
water without incident. The gold specks were gritty and burned like
boiling water. Her body tensed against the pain as the gold settled
in her stomach, spreading like flowering fire.

“I think it worked,” Mark said when he
observed her trembling.

Parker’s laugh filled with satanic joy. “At
last!”

She squeezed her eyes shut when he took hold
of her arm. There was a tight pinch on the inside of her right
elbow and he moved to her left and did the same. When she peeked
down the needles were connected to tubing which was connected to a
plastic pouch. She had donated blood before and the sensation was
much the same, aside from the spreading fever. Her blood slowly
left her body and she became sleepy and cold. Eventually, even the
pain faded as Parker drained every bit he possibly could, switching
the bags as needed. She was unconscious before the session was
over.

Parker allowed her to recuperate a few days.
She’d woken from the event feeling sick and weak, but the burning
sensation had passed. When she stumbled to the bathroom her pale
reflection startled her and she avoided looking in the mirror
after.

There was a collection of iron rich
vegetables on a trolley just inside her door. She ate a little, but
was too groggy to accomplish much and fell back into bed. She
wished, not for the last time, that she had shared her secret
before Parker had discovered her weakness.

She wasn’t taken on any excursions as they’d
done before. Instead she was kept shut in her room until Mark and
Felix came. He had his familiar phone and she wanted to smash the
thing to pieces every time she saw it.

“You have some color,” he remarked
sarcastically after Felix had gone and they walked down the
hall.

“No thanks to you,” she bit back.

“What do you expect? This footage is
perfect.”

“There was a time when you were the only
person to show me kindness.”

“I was very convincing, wasn’t I? I knew
that would get under Jo’s skin.”

Back in the torture sanctuary, Parker gave
her the glittering gold to drink and hooked the vampire-like tubes
back to her arms. Parker drained her until the only life left was
the immortal’s inability to die. She was more than relieved to fall
under the comfort of sleep.

They continued taking her blood on a regular
basis. She was usually well enough to be alert and conscious for
one day before she was taken back. She lost track of the days and
the number of times her blood was drained. She was left alone
except when Mark came. The more blood they took, the more exhausted
she felt each passing day. There was a constant dull ache behind
her eyes and her muscles were stiff. She could go for days without
even getting out of bed except when absolutely necessary. After a
particularly weakening day, she woke to clicking. She saw Mark
through her heavy lids. He was using a still camera to take
pictures.

“What are you doing?” she asked sleepily and
sat up.

“Taking pictures. I thought I might try an
actual camera for once. Do you like it?”

“For Tyson?” she asked.

“Who else?”

“Can’t you let it rest for one day?”
“I could, but what fun would that be?” He played with the camera
and she noticed his laptop sitting on the table, open and ready for
use. The remains of the box the camera had come in were scattered
at the end of the bed. He glanced around the room and set the
camera down. “I forgot my phone.”

She held her breath, not daring to hope he
would leave her alone with the laptop. Mark glanced at her and she
fell back to her pillow, acting too weak to support her body. He
muttered something and walked quickly out. Her heart was a bundle
of nerves and excitement when she looked around and he was gone.
The laptop sat calling to her. She moved quickly, checking for
internet connection. The signal was alive and she opened the
browser, typing in the address for her email.

California, beach, abandoned
hospital.
The first email she sent was short. She didn’t dare
spend more time and listened for Mark, who should have been back by
then. She sent the email to Callan’s new email address, the secure
one Jack had created. She took the camera and began taking pictures
out her window. Very aware of the time ticking by, she quickly
jammed the memory chip into the computer and opened a new email.
The pictures seemed to take forever to attach to the email. Her
hands shook when the files were completely uploaded. She hit send
and closed the internet after wiping the history clean. She
withdrew the memory chip and put it back in the camera. Faint
footsteps were in the hall and she scrambled back to bed. As she
lay there, her veins turned electric with fear when she realized
she’d forgotten to delete the pictures. It was too late. Mark
entered the room holding his phone. She could only hope he wouldn’t
notice and pretended to be asleep.

“I found it!” Mark sang. She could feel his
presence at the side of the bed. She peeked between her lids.

“Good for you.”

He went about his business, taking a few
more pictures and filming a little, nudging her when the camcorder
was on. “Come on, don’t you want to say hello to your love?” he
prodded.

She turned over so her back was to him.

“You never want to play along,” Mark sighed.
“It makes for horrible filming.”

“Maybe you should quit.”

He didn’t answer and she heard him typing
away at the computer. She waited with baited breath for him to
realize she’d taken some pictures, but he finished after a few
minutes then left, hesitating at the door. “I expect I will have
better results in a few days. Next time you’re in the chair, try
not to hide your pain so well.”

“I’ll work on that,” she said, her voice
dripping with sarcasm as she tried to sound particularly weak. The
door to her confinement shut again and he was gone. He hadn’t
noticed the extra pictures, but it didn’t mean she was out of
danger. If he noticed later he might guess what she’d done. There
wasn’t much she could do about it then but worry and she was too
spent to make herself do that for very long.

Two days later she dreaded Mark’s arrival.
She wasn’t sure if he noticed the pictures or not. He came early
and didn’t act out of character. Parker secured the straps when she
was brought in and Mark pulled out his phone.

“You don’t have to do that,” she heard
herself saying when Parker mixed the gold specks with the water. “I
can start my blood flowing without the gold.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“I can cut my skin without the use of gold.
Give me the needle and I’ll show you,” she said again.

“You can cut your own skin? How long have
you known?”

“Just since yesterday,” she answered in a
small voice.

Parker leaned over, his face inches from
her. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“I…don’t know.”

“My girl, you should have made this
discovery sooner. You know I’m going to use gold as long as it
works. I don’t want you finding any other
abilities
, now do
I?”

The session went as any other. She took the
gold and her blood was drained until she fell asleep. As usual, she
was taken to her room and left to restore her blood count. She was
awakened the next morning by an unplanned visit from Mark and
Parker. They came into her room and the door banged off the wall,
shocking her awake. Parker held a box wrapped with ribbon.

“I have a present for you,” he said in a
lethal tone. He put the box in her lap. “Open it.”

The red ribbon was tied in a neat little
bow, wrapped around a white box. She watched it nervously as if it
might explode. Mark held his phone and that was never a good sign.
She pulled the ribbon slowly and it fell away. Carefully, she
lifted the lid and her chest compressed in alarm. There were two
gold bangles lying on a layer of velvet. They were more like
manacles than bangles. Parker laughed at the expression on her
face.

“I thought girls liked jewelry,” he
commented and sat on the bed. She shied from him and pushed the box
away. “I was touched by your offer yesterday and decided to get you
something to show my appreciation. Why don’t you try them on?”

She shook her head.

“Oh, my dear girl, please don’t put up a
fight. You’ll make Jo feel badly.” He glanced at Mark’s phone.

“Do we have to do this while he’s
recording?” she asked in a whisper.

“We wouldn’t have to do this at all if I
knew I could trust you.”

She wanted to be brave, but her will power
was drained. Her courage failed when he fished one of the bracelets
from the little box. He snatched one of her wrists only to have her
wriggle free and back off the bed. “Please, you have my blood, what
more do you need?”
“I need you to know what happens when you lie to me!” Parker’s eyes
were cold as he backed her into a corner. Her hands trembled in
anticipation of more pain. Mark set the phone on the dresser at an
angle it would catch most of what went on, then came to assist
Parker in holding her down. He pinned her easily and held her wrist
toward Parker who quickly clamped the first bangle on. There was a
little latch fastened with a lock and it clicked shut. The
blistering fire immediately blossomed over her wrist and flamed up
her arm. Mark still had her pinned and Parker fastened the other to
her free wrist before they both stepped back to watch her writhe in
pain. She desperately tried to yank the gold over her hand, but it
was much too small and her fingers burned. Mark checked his phone
and Parker smiled contentedly when she begged him to remove the
gold.

“Please,” she gasped between screams as she
dug at the latch with her fingernails. “Please take them off!” When
she held her arms out to him her eyes were glassed over. He clicked
his tongue disappointedly and shook his head. She finally fell to
the floor and aimlessly shifted the manacles as she sobbed, waiting
for them to decide she’d been tortured enough.

When Parker finally came forward with the
little gold key, her skin was raw, yellow and ugly. She took a
deep, shuddering breath of relief when the tiny lock clicked and
the bangles fell away. Parker returned them to their box then
leaned over her. “If you make me regret releasing your mother, I
may just find her and bring her back. Never…
never
lie to me
again. Understand?”

Her only answer was a small sob.

“Good. Now rest up so we can have more of
your blood.”

She trembled where she lay and sobbed until
sleep carried her away.

Another day went by before Mark came. Felix
had not entered with him as he usually did. Mark was not the
normal, abrasive, cocky individual she was used to seeing and
didn’t have his phone or camera. He went to take her hand, but
stopped and cocked his head. He listened hard before gripping her
wrist firmly in his hands.

“You seem distracted today,” she said before
he could pierce her skin.

“I don’t understand why Parker insists on
lingering here,” he muttered. “We have stayed too long.”

“He really does frighten you, doesn’t he?”
she asked and they both knew she wasn’t referring to Parker. He cut
her palm. She flinched and tried to escape his relentless grip.
Strong as ever, he held her still as he spit into her hand.

“For all you know he’ll kill you if you ever
see him again. You should be afraid of him too,” he said crossly
and jerked her by the elbow, leading her to Parker. As usual, she
tried to go outside herself during the session and didn’t meet
their eyes as they strapped her to the chair. Parker bent over the
table to mix the gold flecks and she noticed the handle of his gun
as she often did. It protruded through a gap between his shirt and
pants, making it easy to spot. She longed to grasp it in her hands
just once, but he tipped the concoction into her mouth when she
parted her lips. The burning fire spread through her body.

“There’s a good girl,” Parker said as if she
were a dog that had just done a clever trick. “Now hold as still as
you can.”

The pinch on her arm came and her blood
wound its way through the tubing.

“I have some good news,” Parker said,
drawing her from her weak refuge.

“I don’t know if I can handle much good news
today,” she said bitterly.

“Do you know what tomorrow is?” he asked, as
if she hadn’t spoken.