Now I laughed. I unlocked the backdoor and we set to making the day"s cupcakes. We still had two hours before the store opened.
In record time the kitchen was a mess. Flour coated the stainless steel island and the floor. I laughed looking at Caeden. "You have batter on your face," I said.
He wiped at it only making it worse. "Did I get it?" he asked.
"Far from it," I said around a laugh. I turned the mixer off and went to help him. I grabbed a rag wiped gently at his cheek. "It"s gone," I said.
"Thanks," he said his voice choked.
I went back to mixing when I heard the curse behind me.
"What is it?" I asked, surprised at the string of profanities coming from his mouth.
"We"re out of cupcake liners, cream cheese, and a load of other c.r.a.p. The truck was supposed to come in last night but apparently it didn"t," he groaned.
I wiped my hands on my ap.r.o.n. "Well," I said putting my hands flat on the counter. "What do we do? Can you run to the store and get the bare necessities?"
He took his hat off and ran his hands angrily through his hair before replacing it. "I guess so," he said. "We don"t have much choice. Will you be okay?" he asked.
I batted my eye lashes and said, "I know I look like a damsel in distress but I"m really going to be okay for the fifteen minutes it"ll take you to go across the road to Food Lion."
He laughed. "Alright," he said putting his hands up in defense, "I get it, you"ll be fine." He pulled his keys out of his pocket. "I won"t be long," he said starting towards the back door.
"I"ll be fine," I said with a laugh and then pushed him out the door.
I already had some batter prepared but since we were out of liners there wasn"t much I could do. So, I tried to clean up as best I could. I knew that it would only get messy again but I figured some mess was better than a lot of mess.
I was just rinsing out the rag when I heard the door open behind me. A smile lit my face. "That was quick," I said.
"Were you expecting me?" asked a voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Travis.
Stunned I dropped the rag back into the water where it splattered. Little droplets of water sprayed up to cover my arms, the floor, and the counter. I whipped around to find Travis and a man I didn"t recognize.
The man had sandy brown hair and black eyes that matched Travis. He had a strong jaw and a b.u.t.ton nose. His b.u.t.ton nose didn"t match the evil look on his face. He smiled a smile that promised pain and suffering. I knew that this was Peter Grimm, Travis" dad, he had to be.
I looked back at Travis. Trying to think about anything besides about what was going to happen to me, I wondered where Travis got his white blond hair. It must have been from his mother. But it seemed to out of place with his black eyes.
They took a step closer and the time for thinking about mundane things like hair and eyes was over. My flight or fight senses were kicking in and they were screaming run! They had the back exit blocked, there was no way to get around them, and they were too big to fight. I had no choice but to run. And so run I did.
I sent up a silent prayer that I had worn sneakers today and then I sprinted to the front of the shop. I pushed a rolling cart behind me and heard it crash followed by their curses. I could hear their footsteps behind me and it was a small place so I ran faster. I flew through the swinging door and then jumped over the counter and probably bruised my leg in the process but it didn"t matter. I had to get out of here now. I reached the door, which meant sanctuary, but it wouldn"t open.
It was locked.
And with it my fate was sealed.
I gulped once before something smashed into my skull and then everything went thankfully numb.
It didn"t take long for me to come around. They were pulling me into the back of a large truck at the back of the store.
"Help!" I screamed. Their hold on me tightened. I tried to elbow one of them and succeeded. I heard a muttered "ow" but they still held tight. "Let me go!" I screamed kicking my legs. I was going to make this as difficult as possible.
The man that I a.s.sumed was Peter laughed in my face. "Not likely," he sneered and then closed the door of the truck in my face.
I screamed as loud as I could. Tears ran silently down my cheeks.
Travis and the man got in the car and then were screeching out of the parking lot. Obviously, killing us by hitting ice was not a concern.
Idly I wondered how long it would take Caeden to get back and see that I was gone. Would he know what happened? Would he be able to find me?
Or, I gulped, would they kill me before he could?
I didn"t want to die. I hadn"t even had a chance to live yet. So, many things I had yet to experience. Looking at their faces I had no doubt that they would kill me. I could see it in their eyes. I knew Travis was a bad person but I hadn"t suspected him to be a murderer. But hadn"t he and his dad tried to kill Caeden? I knew they wouldn"t hesitate to end my life. My life was meaningless. As far as they knew I was just a regular human. I squished my lips together to hold in the whimper that wanted to escape.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked my voice cracking.
"Bait," muttered Travis. "Caeden seems fond of you."
"What are you going to do to him?" I asked.
Travis glanced back at me and I knew the answer.
"You"re going to kill him." I gulped it wasn"t a question but Peter answered me anyway.
"We already failed once," said Peter, "we won"t fail again."
I bit my lip until it bled so that I couldn"t scream. Tears silently leaked out of my eyes. Kill him. They couldn"t. I wouldn"t let them. I would find a way to escape? Or a way to warn him? I had to do something. I would not let Caeden die for me despite my earlier thoughts of rescue. When it came to life or death I would die a million times over before I let Caeden die for me. I hadn"t said I love you, to him, but I did. I was in love with him. Madly. Deeply. Completely.
They drove for a while before they pulled over and put a blindfold over my eyes and tied my hands together. One of them slapped my face and then shoved me forcefully into the car. My knee collided with the metal of the car door. He laughed. It was Peter.
We drove, and drove, and drove. I knew they were trying to confuse me. It didn"t matter though. I didn"t want to be found. To be found meant Caeden"s death and I couldn"t have that.
Finally, after hours, the truck stopped. Someone pulled me roughly from the car and I knew that their fingerprints would leave behind bruises.
"What"s so special about you?" whispered Travis in my ear before he shoved me forcefully in to the ground. "Clumsy thing aren"t you? Pathetic human," he spat.
Tears sprang to my eyes again and I was suddenly thankful for the blindfold so that they couldn"t see. Travis pulled me roughly up by hair and I couldn"t help the scream that escaped my throat. He laughed.
We walked a little further before he let me go and then I heard a creaking noise. A moldy smell accompanied the noise.
Rough, callused, hands grabbed me, I a.s.sumed it was Peter. He laughed in my ear before throwing me down. Down. Down.
My body was battered by cement steps. I heard the door slam closed before my head collided with the floor. It throbbed painfully for a moment before I pa.s.sed out.
When I woke up, I thought I must still have my eyes closed, because it was much too dark. And then the puzzle pieces slammed together in my head. Travis. Peter. Store. Truck. Blindfold. Creaking. Fall.
Thinking of the fall and dull throbbing in my head came to the forefront of my mind. Despite my hands being tied I could move them enough to remove the blindfold.
It didn"t help. It was still so dark that I couldn"t make out my surroundings. It smelled moldy, rusty, and stale. It made my stomach churn. I was extremely cold. I could feel the Gooseb.u.mps on my skin and my teeth rattled. The ground beneath me was cold and dusty, like maybe it was dirt. I shivered and wrapped my arms tighter around me. I wished I had a jacket or a sweatshirt. Anything to keep me warm.
I could feel the dried tears on my cheeks crack when I moved my face. I scooted across the floor until I found a wall to lean against. The wall was cold like the ground but I was too tired to care. I leaned my head against the cool stone and brought my knees up to my chest. My teeth chattered so hard that my jaw hurt.
After hours of just sitting there I tried to fall asleep. It wasn"t a good sleep. How could it be?
Every little noise that I heard jolted me from my restless sleep. And there were lots of noises. I started to become paranoid. What if that dripping noise wasn"t water? What if it was a snake"s tongue sliding between its fangs? That scuttling noise, what if it wasn"t the wind but a rat?
With nothing to distract me my thoughts ran wild. I tried to empty my mind and think of nothing but that was impossible. In fact it was worse.
All I could see was Travis and Peter attacking Caeden. Two against one. I didn"t think Caeden would be able to survive another attack by the Grimm"s. He barely survived the first. A sob escaped my chest when I pictured them hurting Caeden, I couldn"t think the word dead.
The wind whistled outside and the temperature continued to drop. Night had come.
Light filtered into the room and I cracked my eyes open. I must have finally fallen asleep. My neck hurt from the unG.o.dly position I had slept in. My whole body hurt like I had been run over by a truck. No doubt from being thrown around like a sack of potatoes. The shadow of a figure began to descend the concrete steps. Enough light filtered in so that I could see that I was in some kind of underground bunkhouse. Something like you might see in tornado country.
The person stopped in front of me, the light was behind them, so I couldn"t see their face. The person bent down in front of me, I flinched away. A hand snaked out and grabbed my chin forcing me to look into their eyes.
I tried to pull away but the hand wouldn"t allow me to budge. "Look at me!" growled the voice of Peter. When I resisted he slapped me so hard I was surprised a few teeth didn"t fall out. I did taste blood though and I quickly spat it at him. "Ugh! You b.i.t.c.h!" he yelled.
"Why are you doing this?" I screamed at him. "Let me go! I haven"t done anything to you!"
"No? I think you have." Tears ran down my face and he shook me. "What do you know?" he yelled in my face, spit flying.
"What do you mean?" I choked.
"You know what I"m talking about! Don"t play dumb!"
I just kept shaking my head.
Peter disappeared and I was alone once again. I heard the door slam shut sealing me in and then the sound of a lock being closed.
I put my head in my hands and cried. I knew I wasn"t coming out of here alive. I would die here by this man"s hands. I knew it in my soul. My time was ticking away. My death was looming not far off. At that moment I would"ve almost welcomed it. Except for the one thing that was holding me back. I hadn"t told Caeden that I was in love with him yet. I knew he loved me despite him not speaking the words either and I also was certain he knew how I felt. But I still hadn"t said the words and I feared I"d never get the chance.
Hours later the door opened again. It looked like it must be sunset. I didn"t recognize the shape of this person. It looked like a woman. Which meant weaker, but I knew she too must be a shifter so she wouldn"t be much weaker.
I launched myself at her with a battle cry. We landed on the steps, her head whacking against the concrete. I jumped up quickly trying to make a break for the door but her hand wrapped around my ankle and suddenly I was slammed back against the floor with the wind knocked out of me.
"Don"t do that again," she said sternly. "I may not have killed you but the others would not hesitate to do so. Your life means nothing to them."
I didn"t say anything.
"Good," she said and then I felt the p.r.i.c.k of a needle being stabbed into my arm.
My muscles instantly froze and my eyelids became heavy. With a smile she climbed off of me. And then everything went blissfully black.
I couldn"t move my arms. Or my legs. I was paralyzed!
I jolted awake trying to get my limbs to move. Noticing the straps that held me in place I let out a breath of release, I wasn"t paralyzed, and then I panicked for a completely different reason. They had me trapped! I was tied to some kind of metal table, almost like a coroner"s table and I wasn"t going anywhere. I pulled against the restraints but they only dug painfully into my flesh. Liquid began to trickle down my fingers and I realized it was my blood.
A laugh sounded from the corner and I stiffly turned my head to see Travis standing in the corner. It dimly occurred to me that they had brought a lantern for some light. No one else, thankfully, appeared to be in the room. One person was better than several.
"Did you think that after that stunt you pulled we"d keep you loose? Silly, silly, Sophie. You could have hurt my mom. My dad and I didn"t like that. He was very angry with you. Lucky for you I"m a nice guy and I talked him down from killing you."
He moved closer to me and his hand tenderly stroked my face. He leaned down over me, his breath tickling my face. "I want you," he breathed. "It"s not fair that Caeden gets to be an Alpha and gets to have you. He always gets everything," Travis ground out.
I didn"t say anything. Fear held me frozen more than the restraints strapped to my limbs.
"You"re one of us aren"t you? I can smell it on you. It gets stronger every day. Which means..." he said thoughtfully, turning to pace the room, I let out a breath I hadn"t known I was holding, "You haven"t shifted yet. But you"re a stranger... Adopted they said... but what if it was a lie..." he suddenly whirled around to stand beside me once again. His face radiated pure anger. "Who. Are. Your. Parents?" When I didn"t answer he screamed, "Tell me!"
I flinched. Lie to him! Commanded my inner voice. "I don"t know!" I cried. "I don"t know! It"s true, I"m adopted! I don"t even know what you"re talking about!"
"Liar!" he screamed, his voice echoing. A purple vein looked ready to burst in his forehead.
Tears leaked out of my eyes. "No," I said shaking my head back and forth. "I"m not!"
He paced the room again and ran his hands angrily through his hair. "You"re lying! I"m going to ask you again, who are your parents?"
"I"m adopted!" I cried. "I don"t know!"
I saw the flash of silver metallic before it sliced my skin. It burned and I screamed. The knife kept stabbing into my skin. He grinned maliciously at me. "Now everyone will know what you are!"
The restraint was suddenly gone from my right arm and Travis squeezed it tightly. He shoved my arm in my face. Blood ran down my arms in endless red rivers, stained my arm, and my clothes. But when I looked past the red I saw what he had carved viciously into my flesh like I was some kind of animal for slaughter. Liar. He slammed my arm back down on the table so hard I let out a scream of pain. He tightened the restraint around my arm so that it was even tighter than it had been before. He grinned down at me and then before I knew what he was doing he crushed his lips to mine. A different kind of pain radiated through my body. My body was rejecting his touch. An electric current ran through my body. He jumped away like he had been electrocuted. His black eyes leered down at me with puzzlement. Then with a smile befitting the joker he was gone.
And I was awake with the pain.
Hours later they gave me food, if you could even call it that, and water. But I couldn"t eat.
Days later, maybe it was a week, I lost track, my body began to shut down. I hadn"t eaten anything since I had been taken. I couldn"t stomach much more than the water.
And every day, several times a day, they tortured me. My body was now more purple and green than natural skin color. I knew my lip was swollen and my nose felt misshapen. I knew I was missing a finger nail which Peter had forcibly ripped from my body. And every day Travis pulled out his knife and retraced the word, Liar, so that it never began to heal.
Peter and Travis took turns torturing me. Thank G.o.d they never came in at the same time or I"d probably be dead. Travis always ended his torture with his lips pressed painfully against mine and every time my body rejected his kiss with a shock. He"d smirk and walk away. Maybe he mistook the shock as "sparks flying", instead of, "get your creepy lips off mine"?
Travis" mom stood in the room with me. "Sweetie," she said which made me flinch. Why did she even bother trying to be nice to me? "Eat something. You"re killing yourself." I wanted to mutter to her that I knew that, that I was doing it on purpose. I would much rather die and it be my fault than to murdered. "Please, just a cracker," she goaded. "I need to take some blood and it"s going to hurt if your veins are all dried up."
I didn"t move. No morsel of food was going to pa.s.s between my lips.
"Fine, have it your way," she said, in her oddly pleasant voice. She snapped on gloves, grabbed a needle, and a vial. Her pale blond hair shown like a beacon in the darkened room. As she neared me I closed my eyes and swallowed. The needle pierced my skin. Apparently she couldn"t get any blood from the vein because a moment later it was pulled from my skin and stuck yet again. I didn"t move. I didn"t flinch. I was beyond pain. I was beyond suffering. I was floating. I was nothing. Nothing but a sh.e.l.l. My soul wandered nearby, not quite ready to depart.