Misfits, Inc. (15 page)

T
he faint glow of candles surrounding the altar partially
brightened the large, eerie chamber.  Desi lie on the altar in her lacy, red
bra and matching panties.  Blood streaked the side of her head from a scalp
laceration.  She slowly woke, realized she was shackled by her wrists and
ankles to the stone slab, and immediately fought her restraints.  Faint
snarling was heard in the darkness not far from the altar.  She gasped with
alarm and looked around.  A soft female groan followed by a giggle was heard. 
Desi again yanked on the shackles while attempting to see beyond the faint
candlelight.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, although her
tone was frightened.  “This isn’t funny.  Let me go!”

“I believe she’s awake,” came the soft, female
murmur.

Desi strained to follow the voice in the darkness. 
The woman was heard pacing the back of the room.

“Who are you?” Desi cried out.

Cass stepped into the dim glow surrounding the
altar and smiled sweetly at Desi.

“You?” Desi suddenly gasped with a look of surprise
on her face.  “But the last thing I remember--”

Delaney appeared behind Cass and shared her devious
grin.  “I don’t think she remembers being hit after she entered the security
office,” he informed Cass while gently cocking his head.

“I’m just glad you didn’t accidentally kill her
like you did that other girl,” Cass boldly remarked without looking back at
him.  She mocked Desi with her smile.  “Don’t need to leave more leftovers for
the snappers.”

Desi stared at them, not understanding the comment,
but she didn’t appear exactly curious at the moment either.

“I don’t think she’s met a snapper yet,” he
remarked then gave a general nod into the darkness.

One of the large, black creatures stepped into the
light from the candles.  It snarled then licked its sharp, fanged teeth.  Desi
cried out and pulled sharply against her shackles.  Cass placed her hand on
Desi’s forehead and shushed her softly, as if attempting to comfort her.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Cass cooed softly.  “I won’t let
that nasty snapper eat you.”

“Please, let me go,” Desi gasped while not only struggling
against her restraints but also the hand touching her head.

Delaney moved against Cass from behind and ran his
hands firmly along her hips and thighs.  His hands pulled her skirt slow and
seductively upward.  Cass caressed Desi’s shoulder and sensually ran her hand
along her arm to her shackled wrist.  Desi stared in horror and silence as
Delaney bent Cass over the altar in a compromising position.  Cass pressed her
face against Desi’s bra clad chest and ran her lips down her arm to the
restrained wrist that she caressed.  Delaney grinded slow and firmly against
Cass, causing her to cry out softly in ecstasy.  Desi stared with her mouth
hanging open in disbelief and horror to what she was witnessing.

Cass groaned her pleasure and lifted her head slightly
to meet Desi’s stunned gaze.  Cass smiled, revealing sharp fangs.  Desi saw the
fangs and screamed with horror.  Cass’s fangs punctured Desi’s inner arm just
above the shackles, tearing through her flesh and ripping into her veins.  Desi
screamed to the sharp, sudden pain.  Cass groaned her pleasure while slurping
the rapidly spilling blood from the screaming woman’s arm.  There was nothing
refined about lapping up the warm, sticky blood as it pulsated from her vein. 
The blood covered Cass’s entire lower face and ran down her chin.  Cass slurped
and groaned her intense pleasure as Delaney continued with his duties.

The snapper paced the area near the altar, licking
its fangs, and listening intently to the gruesome slurping sound.  Desi’s
screams became dull in comparison to Cass’s groans of delight.  The snapper
waited patiently while watching the scene on the altar.  Desi let out a shrill,
weak cry, gasped, and fell silent.  The snapper sprang to attention.  A
blood-soaked heart was tossed from the altar.  The snapper caught the pulsating
organ and gnawed on it with its powerful jaws.  It was tough to chew, but the
snapper devoured it in only a few seconds.  The creature waited patiently for
more treats to come its way.

Delaney released Cass and moved alongside Desi’s
lifeless, blood-soaked body on the altar.  Her chest was crudely torn open,
revealing a large opening where her heart was once located.  Delaney revealed
his own fangs and punctured the dead woman’s upper inner thigh.  He lapped the
blood as it more slowly ran from her vein.  Cass dove for Desi’s neck and tore
into her jugular, sucking as much blood as she could.  Both were nearly
drenched in blood from their chins to their chests.  They paused only a moment
to lock eyes over the dead, bloodied woman.  They smiled lustfully at each
other through bloodstained teeth then resumed their feast.

†

A
fter her encounter with
Rafe, Hailey found it difficult to go back to sleep.  His story, combined with
his actions from the other night, invaded her every thought.  She hated that
he’d successfully turned her on.  Hailey walked onto the moonlit beach a little
after midnight and attempted to clear her head of Rafe.  There appeared to be
no one around, and she was enjoying the solitude despite the loud dance music
from the lounge.  The details of her
first
encounter with Rafe were
fuzzy at best.  She briefly remembered him.  She remembered a dying soldier
consumed with anger and hostility after a failed attempt to save his comrade. 
He was left for dead.  He wasn’t the first.  There were others.  She remembered
what seemed like dreams of other men who had been near death and were possible
candidates for the Guardian.  She had to leave them.  It was impossible to save
them.  Only one could be saved, and against Skyler’s better judgment, she chose
Rafe.  Someone approached her from behind while she remained deep in thought. 
She was suddenly grabbed.  Hailey cried out and turned in the sand.

Mel laughed drunkenly while holding her shoes in
her hand.  “Scared you.”

“No shit!”

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Mel announced
and remained giddy.  “Two women are already missing.”

“Yes, Penny and Amy,” Hailey informed her while
folding her arms across her chest.  “Doesn’t that bother you?”

“They’re not missing,” Mel replied and offered a
lustful grin.  “Tam thinks they met up with some horny, young men.  She says it
happens all the time.”

Hailey wasn’t going to argue with Mel in her
current, drunken condition.  It’s not as if it’d do any good anyway.  She
wouldn’t even remember their conversation by morning.

“You’re certainly in no condition to be anyone’s
chaperone,” Hailey remarked, “and you have no business being out here alone
either.”

“Shows what you know,” she teased.  “I followed
you.  Sneaked right up behind you.  What are you doing?”

“I was hoping to find Skyler,” Hailey replied while
looking around.  “He wasn’t in his room, and he sometimes walks the beach when
he can’t sleep.”

“That creepy desk guy?”

Hailey glared at her friend with disapproval. 
“He’s not creepy,” she muttered.

“Please!  He’s the definition of creepy!”

Both heard a low snarl and looked around.  Hailey
knew exactly what the sound meant.  Although neither saw anything, even Mel
knew the sound wasn’t good.

“What was that?” Mel asked nervously.

“Our cue to move.”

Hailey grabbed her arm and hurried her toward the
hotel.  A beast suddenly cut off their path.  Mel screamed and turned toward
the ocean.  Another beast leaped down from the rocks as a third approached from
the woods.  With the loud music playing in the lounge, no one would ever hear
their screams.

“Skyler, now would be a good time,” Hailey called
out even though no one was there to hear them.

Hailey grabbed Mel’s arm and pulled her toward the
cabana.  Another beast leaped down from the cabana, stopping the women from
reaching the poolside.  Mel again screamed.  The four beasts closed in.

“What are they?” Mel cried out while staring at the
creatures.  “What’s happening?”

“When you see the signal, run for the hotel and
don’t look back.”

“What signal?”

The panther appeared seemingly out of nowhere and
leaped for one of the beasts.  Mel screamed as the panther and creature
collided, rolling fiercely around the sand.

“Go!”

Mel and Hailey ran for the hotel.  The three
remaining beasts ran after them.  Mel was tackled to the sand by one of the
large creatures.  Hailey threw herself to the sand and narrowly avoided a
second pouncing beast.  The first beast grabbed Mel’s dress near the back of
her neck and dragged her along the sand at top speed.  She thrashed and
screamed frantically while being dragged toward the woods.  Hailey scrambled to
her hands and knees and stared helplessly as Mel was pulled onto the path and
out of sight.  One of the creatures tackled Hailey to the sand, knocking the wind
from her from its weight.  She finally managed to scream as she held it back,
attempting to keep it from tearing into her throat.  With most of their weight
in their upper bodies, the beasts had to rely on their fangs versus their claws
during an attack.  It was possibly the only thing keeping the creature from
tearing her apart, although she wouldn’t be able to hold it back much longer. 

“Hailey!” Skyler cried out from across the beach.

Skyler treaded sand at top speed toward her and
leaped onto the creature’s back.  He had jumped on the creature with such force
and speed that they both toppled off Hailey and rolled across the sand.  The
beast recovered a second before Skyler and found the perfect opportunity to use
its claws to slash him across the chest, throwing him across the sand.  Hailey
moved into a crouched position and stared at Skyler where he lie motionless and
bleeding.  She heard a loud, sharp roar of pain.  She looked to her right.  The
black panther lie in a bloody heap on the sand and no longer moved.  All three
beasts slowly circled Hailey.  One snarled and made its move.  There was the
faint sound of shattering glass.  Hailey looked back at the hotel.  Rafe leaped
through the air from the nineteenth floor, landed in a crouched position twenty
feet from the hotel doors, and charged for them.

Two of the beasts ran for him while the third
leaped for Hailey.  Hailey rolled out of the creature’s path.  It struck the
sand harshly then spun with a snarl.  Without slowing his momentum, Rafe spun
through the air into a roundhouse kick and struck one of the creatures in the
head.  Rafe rolled across the sand as the creature was catapulted backwards
several feet.  The second beast lunged for Rafe.  He kicked the large creature
in the side and flipped it across the sand.  The first beast recovered from the
hard kick and charged him.  Rafe caught the creature by the throat and kicked
it in the underbelly, causing it to whine painfully.  Hailey outmaneuvered the
beast chasing her and rolled across the sand not far from the pile of panther. 
The black mass suddenly twitched, catching her attention.  She jumped back with
surprise and watched as a white tiger clawed its way out of the pile of black
fur.

The beast chasing her stopped in its tracks and
stared at the fully emerged white tiger.  The remaining black fur turned to
dust.  The tiger roared viciously.  The beast turned and ran.  The white tiger
chased it into the woods.  Rafe punched one of the last two beasts in the
nose.  It lunged back for him and sank its sharpened teeth into his shoulder. 
Rafe cried out with pain and then countered by biting the beast’s paw.  The
beast yelped and pulled away.  Rafe crouched down and bared his own bloody
teeth.  The beast slowly backed up, turned, and then ran for the woods.  The
remaining beast turned for Hailey.  She placed her hand on the ground.  The
sand rippled and sank.  The beast leaped backward, nearly sucked into the
sand.  It whimpered and ran for the woods.  Rafe sneered, spit out the
creature’s blood, and straightened.  Hailey ran to Skyler’s fallen side. 
Skyler moved slightly with a low, painful groan.  There were deep scratches
across his chest.  Rafe approached while examining the bleeding bite wound on
his own shoulder. 

“Skyler, can you hear me?”

Skyler moaned softly and barely opened his eyes to
look at her.  “Am I dead?”

Hailey felt her entire body sag with relief.  She
had been certain he was dead.  Judging by the severity of his wounds, they’d
need to find the helicopter pilot and fly him to a mainland hospital
immediately.

“I don’t know whether you’re incredibly brave or
extremely stupid.”

“The answer would only disappoint you,” he
muttered.

As she applied pressure to the wounds on his chest,
Logan and Vance appeared from the hotel and ran for them.  Rafe glared at them
while clutching his bleeding shoulder.

“Excellent timing,” he scoffed.

Hailey looked at Skyler’s cuts beneath her hand. 
The wounds vanished before her eyes.  Logan and Vance approached just in time
to see the last of the wounds rapidly healing.  Skyler slowly sat up and felt
his chest with surprise.  Hailey looked at her blood-covered hand.  The blood
appeared to evaporate on her skin.  Logan and Vance backed away from her. 
Hailey looked at Rafe.  He stared with a concerned look and took a step back as
well.