I swallowed. I couldn"t remember being this frightened, ever. The not knowing part made matters ten times worse. I couldn"t even escape the terror through the quiet escape sleep would bring. As hard as I willed myself to fall asleep, I was too anxious. Not to mention I was severely uncomfortable due to the hard post to which my back was secured. All I could do was worry and contemplate for the rest of the night, making myself sick with panic.
I remembered Zetta"s lullaby and began to quietly sing. I was hoa.r.s.e from screaming and I could barely muster the words. My voice seemed...broken. Anyway, it certainly wasn"t enough to put me to sleep. But the familiarity of the lullaby did bring a small form of a hazy calmness to this horrifying nightmare I was currently living in. It was something, at least.
TWENTY-NINE.
"My darling, Lily. It"s been much too long."
I was simply too tired to mince words with the strange, beautiful woman standing before me and so I was decidedly blunt. "My name is Lola. And I"ve never met you before."
Her name was Natasha. She"d announced it before she walked in by shouting, "Darling, it"s me, Natasha!" She"d said it like she"d arrived for afternoon tea or something. And just like that, she expected me to know who she was, like she was a long, lost pal of mine. As a gesture of our apparent estranged friendship, she ordered her ruffian lackey to untie me. I was allowed to sit in an actual chair, thank G.o.d.
The lackey was the same man who"d brought me here last night. He was a ma.s.sive bulk of muscle with blonde hair, green eyes and rough, patchy skin. And he was just as scary in the light as he was in the dark.
"This is no way to treat a guest, Gorge," Natasha scolded him.
In a bizarre kind of way she reminded me of the Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed that the two Natashas were eerily similar. Both had pale skin with long, dark hair, both extremely skinny, and both with Russian accents. It was really, really weird. Or maybe I was just overly tired and my mind was playing tricks on me. Either way, I was slightly entertained by her, underneath the constant state of fear and fatigue.
So now I was sitting in a cold, hard metal chair (one step up from being tied up to the pole, I supposed) and I had this Natasha chick acting as if we were long, lost buddies. Then there was Gorge, who was still staring at me like he wanted to crush me in two.
It didn"t help that I was about to pa.s.s out from exhaustion. I simply wasn"t functioning enough to deal with my abduction at the moment.
"No, we"ve never met. . .in this life, anyway," Natasha finally spoke again. She paced the room, slowly, hovering above where I sat in my chair. Ahh, so she"s a fellow Rom, I gathered before my eyes started drooping. I didn"t know why, but this information put me more at ease. I figured it was simply a relief I wasn"t being held hostage by some sick, psycho killer. Just more gypsies. I could handle gypsies.
Since there was a little sunlight streaming in from the room"s one window, I could make out more of my surroundings, not that there were very many. The room was empty, save for the pole, and now my chair. I noticed the floors were made of a commercial carpet. Probably an abandoned office building of some kind. I racked my brain, trying to remember if there were any uninhabited office buildings I"d noticed before. But my mind came up blank for any immediate possibilities. Most likely, I was too tired to think clearly.
"So. . .Lola." Natasha paused to smile, displaying a set of jagged teeth. "I like that name better. It suits you. Anyway, m"dear, Do you know why you"re here?"
"There"s something in my memories that you want." I didn"t even think twice about playing dumb. I was simply too worn out to give her any bull.
"Good girl," she said. "See, Gorge? And you thought she"d be difficult."
Gorge didn"t utter a word. He stayed in the corner of the room, cast in a stony silence. Natasha turned her attention back to me now, flipping her long, dark hair in a column over her shoulder.
"So where is it, Lola?" she asked.
"Where is what?"
Natasha frowned. "Now, I thought you were going to be a good girl for us. Just tell me where it is and we"ll let you live. It"s as simple as that."
I blinked. I decided I didn"t really care about living. If they would just let me sleep, I"d tell them anything they wanted to know.
"Tell me what you"re talking about," I yawned. "I certainly can"t figure out what "it" means, now can I?"
"Fine." She smiled tightly. "To clarify for you, I"m referring to the oracle. Otherwise known as the crystal primus. So...where the h.e.l.l is it?"
I blinked once again. Was this lady serious? Was she coming to me about a crystal ball? This had to be a joke.
I wondered if this was what Baro had been referring to during Thanksgiving dinner. Did I hide some crystal ball to make sure that no one else knew where it was? Could my own family have gone to such lengths, cursing me even, just to keep it hidden? It was highly unlikely. I just couldn"t imagine this all being about some stupid crystal ball.
"I"m waiting, Lola."
"I don"t know," I sighed tiredly. And then I added sarcastically, "Why don"t you ask my Auntie Zetta? She sells dozens of them. All kinds of colors, too. Amethyst, quartz, jade, and citrine. They"re all real pretty. I"m sure she"ll give you a good deal since you and I are supposedly old friends."
Again, Natasha bore the tight smile. But she didn"t respond to me. Instead, with a flick of her finger, she motioned Gorge. And suddenly he was in front of me. Without the slightest hesitation, Gorge lifted his heavy fist and it came crashing down on my right cheek. The sheer force alone knocked me from the chair and onto the floor. I was suddenly very, very awake now, and spitting out blood on the commercial carpeting. I felt my jaw for loose teeth, but thankfully, it seemed they were all still intact.
"Now let"s try this once more," Natasha spoke. Her voice remained sinisterly cheerful. "I can be your best friend, Lola, or your greatest enemy. I think it would be very wise of you to tell me the truth. I don"t appreciate being toyed with."
I glanced up at her from over my shoulder, looking at her tall figure from between the strands of dark hair that had fallen into my face. I swore if her henchman wasn"t there, I would have been delighted to strangle her skinny neck.
"Lady, I just got my memories back a few days ago," I gritted out, blood still seeping from my lips. "I don"t know what the h.e.l.l you"re talking about."
She nodded, contemplating what I"d said. "All right then, I"ll bite," she told me. "You have one hour to start digging in that frazzled little brain of yours to figure out where the primus is. But if you don"t remember within the hour. . .things are going to get a little messy."
Natasha knelt down to reach into her boot, pulling out a thin pocketknife. "You see this?" She remained at my eye level and held it up for display. "I know it"s small. Probably not even big enough to puncture a wound deep enough to kill you. . ." Her smile turned deadly. "But it is thin enough to slice directly between your fingernail and the skin on top of your finger. Gorge will show you how it works when he returns for you. . .unless of course your memories have suddenly come back to you by that point. And let"s hope that does happen-- it would make things so much easier for you."
Natasha tossed the knife to Gorge and then they both proceeded to leave the room. Even with my face still throbbing and my panic at an all-time high, I couldn"t manage to stay awake long enough to try and remember anything about my past lives. I pa.s.sed out on the carpet within a few moments.
THIRTY.
It"s funny how pain can bring the worst out in people. I"d never really been good at dealing with pain in the first place. So maybe I"m a worst-case scenario. But I couldn"t be sure.
Unfortunately, for Natasha and Gorge (and my fingers for that matter), I hadn"t been able to remember where their d.a.m.n crystal ball was. And when Natasha told me I would be tortured, she certainly wasn"t lying.
My fingers were still b.l.o.o.d.y.
I"d screamed the entire time- that was a given. But I"d also begged, pleaded and cried until my voice was hoa.r.s.e and raw. I was a pathetic mess.
"I"ll tell you anything you want to know!" I had shouted at one point. But when I couldn"t come up with a location for the primus, Gorge had set to work digging the blade of his knife under my next fingernail.
It had been excruciating. I"d even pa.s.sed out halfway through the first hand. But lucky for me, Gorge just happened to have smelling salts.
Wouldn"t you just know it. . .
And as soon as I came to, he went to work right where he left off.
When the torturing hadn"t produced any information from me, Gorge left me alone for another hour. The next time he appeared, I was greeted with a blow to my rib cage, knocking me down to the floor. I was almost positive he"d cracked a bone.
Natasha ordered him to leave me be at that point. She was starting to believe I really didn"t know where their crystal was. But Gorge had argued with her. "Do you really believe she"s telling the truth? She gave her own life to protect it! What makes you think she"ll give it up so easily?"
Natasha contemplated his argument, staring at me with a set of darkly shadowed irises. "You"re right," she"d finally conceded. "Let"s give her the night to think things over. If she still refuses to speak tomorrow, we"ll saw off her entire hand."
They"d left the room after that, right before I"d thrown up all over the floor. Since there hadn"t been anything in my stomach to begin with, not much came up. It was mostly liquid, but it reeked, making my environment that much more unpleasant.
I tried my best to move to the other side of the pole I had been re-tied to, groaning because I felt a sharp pain coming from my rib cage.
This had to be the closest reality to h.e.l.l. And tomorrow it would only become worse. Tomorrow I"d lose a hand. I wished I could cry, but I didn"t have any tears left, as dried out as I was. I thought it ironic because I"d always considered myself the rare weeper. Oddly though, I"d found myself crying a good deal these days.
More than anything, I longed for Gabe. I sighed dreamily, imagining him coming to my rescue. The fantasy brought me a small comfort. I could just imagine him putting his arms around me now, telling me everything would be all right. He"d swear to me he"d never let anyone hurt me ever again. I almost smiled. That was just the sort of thing he would say. . .and then he"d caress my face and kiss my lips. He"d stroke my hair and pull me close. He"d wake me up from this nightmare.
Sometime during the night, I"d found the ability to drift off to sleep. Yet something had woken me. I sat up, and then grimaced as I felt my back and side scream from pins and needles. The pole was definitely no recliner.
I suddenly heard a clicking sound, which terrified me. I glanced up at the window, verifying that it was still nighttime. Daylight meant the loss of my hand and I wasn"t ready to deal with that yet.
The door creaked open and an outline of someone"s shadow filled the light within the doorway.
"Lola?" I heard a male voice call out. "Are you in here?"
I couldn"t speak. I couldn"t even make a sound because I was so stunned. But he noticed me anyway and moved to my side.
"Thank G.o.d, you"re alive!" he exclaimed, reaching for my ropes.
I marveled as Cam"s features came into view. "They sent you to rescue me?"
He paused in his efforts to untie the rope that had been restraining me in order to bestow the most derisive look I"d ever seen come from him.
"Well if that ain"t grat.i.tude for you, I don"t know what is," he grumbled.
"Sorry," I stammered. "I just a.s.sumed Gabe would come if anyone did."
"Oh, he"s here," Cam told me. "He"s outside-- beating the h.e.l.l out of your abductors."
I couldn"t help the feeling of immediate relief. I even sighed. He came for me! He still cared for me! And I would be eternally happy!
"You"re remarkable," Cam said, shaking his head. "You"re completely in love with him and yet you refuse to let him see it. Why?"
I pulled the ropes off my hands with a vengeance. It felt so good to be free and in the same instance, I was completely annoyed with Cam for seeing right through me.
"Thank you, Cam," I muttered. "Now, can we please get going?"
"By all means."
Standing up, however, proved more difficult than I"d thought it would be. I stumbled, but caught myself on the pole I"d been tied to.
"Hey, are you okay?" Cam asked. His voice now held traces of concern.
"Yeah, I think so." I attempted to right myself, more slowly this time. "I"ve just been sitting there for so long. . ."
There must have been a flicker of light illuminating my movement because Cam let out a low gasp. Then I realized how awful I must look, how my face and fingers were still stained with blood. I"d completely forgotten about it. "It probably looks worse than it really is," I a.s.sured him.
Cam"s eyes glittered with unshed tears. He traced my jaw with the barest touch of his index finger and then he sighed heavily. "My G.o.d, Lola. . .Gabe is going to murder whoever has done this to you."
THIRTY-ONE.
Cam helped me amble down the stairs and led me outside of the office building. I didn"t recognize the area, so I a.s.sumed we were a good distance away from home.
Out in the parking lot, Gabe held Gorge up by his collar, against the side of his truck. But as soon as he saw Cam and me coming, he threw Gorge down to the ground. He was almost immediately at my side.
I think he went to reach for me, but then he noticed my face. I saw him swallow. Cam didn"t help matters by grabbing my wrist and holding up my hand for Gabe to view.
"She was tortured," he informed his brother.
Gabe didn"t speak for a moment, but I could see the tension building in his brow and in his shoulders. Eventually, in a very low and deep voice, he asked me, "Which one of them did this to you?"
I felt a little panicked at that moment. I wondered if Cam was right. I wondered if Gabe would actually kill Gorge. Granted, I hated that man with a pa.s.sion beyond any rage I"d ever felt before. . .but I didn"t want his death on my conscious and I didn"t want it on Gabe"s, either.
"Gabe, I--"
"Answer my question, Lola." He didn"t shout at me, but his tone remained serious.
I wasn"t sure what to do. I looked to Cam, searching his eyes for an answer. "It"s okay, Lo," Cam a.s.sured me. "You can tell him."
Trusting that Cam would know how to handle things around his brother, I lifted my hand and pointed to Gorge. "Him," I said in a small voice.
Gabe nodded. Then, he turned to Cam and commanded roughly, "Take her back inside."
"What?" I said, startled.
Cam gently, but forcefully took my arm and began to lead me back towards the main door of the office building.
"No!" I cried. Gabe removed a gun from the back of his pants. I heard the click, indicating he"d turned the safety off. "Gabe, you can"t do this!" I screamed.
"Get her out of here!" Gabe shouted. I was suddenly lifted up over Cam"s shoulders and carried inside of the building. I cried out from the pressure he"d put on my torso. Cam released me once we were inside. But as soon as he let me go, he blocked the only exit.
Still hoa.r.s.e from screaming earlier, my voice wouldn"t carry very far. I still tried with all my might to shout to Gabe. Fat tears streamed down my cheeks uncontrollably and I pounded on Cam"s chest as I tried to move him out of my way.
"Gabe-- Gabriel, please! Please don"t kill him!"
But Cam wouldn"t budge. And then it was too late. I stopped shouting when I heard the gunshot blare.