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I paced the room in a circle, thinking about Parker. He must be so pissed off at me right now. I was sure he thought I’d stood him up. I’d told him I’d be right over. Would he even go looking for me or just assume I’d ghosted him? I thought about his face… the blue of his eyes and those full lips… they had been so soft but commanding. The way his hands roamed my body and gripped my hair while we kissed. How he didn’t care about my scars and touched my face like they weren’t there. Tears welled in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I hadn’t cried in what seemed like years. I’d never had anything make me feel this deeply since I’d been turned all those years ago. I wasn’t crying because I had been kidnapped. My heart was breaking at the thought of never seeing Parker again. I hadn’t even spent that much time with him but had begun to believe I was falling in love with him. And now he probably hated me, and I was going to be killed by these horrible traffickers before I could tell him. I pulled out my phone and sent another text to Gregory. I noticed the first one hadn’t gone through yet, it was pending.
Me: PS – if you do get ahold of Face, tell him I love him.
I hit send. If I somehow made it out of here, and had to face him after such a confession, well, I’d have to come to grips with the possibility he didn’t feel the same. But if I didn’t make it out, at least he would have known my feelings.
I wiped away the tears and forced myself to think of something else. Like how I was going to get out of here. Truth be told, I hated vampires. After I was turned, I wanted to burn down every one of their homes, cars, and places of business. I walked over to the bed and lay down, trying to force myself to stay awake. It didn’t work, though, because I could feel the weight of the impending sunrise and that always made me sleep like I’d been drugged.
I checked my reflection one last time before grabbing my purse and heading out the door. Once I reached the strip club, I parked in the back and made my way through the employees’ entrance.
“Hey, Devon,” Mace, the bartender, called out.
“Hey, what’s new?” I asked as I set my purse and sweater behind the bar. Nights were starting to get a little chilly here in New Orleans, and I was a wuss when it came to the cold.
“Nothin’. You ready for tonight? We’re gonna be slammed since Ginger and Bunny are up tonight.” He used the glass he was cleaning to indicate the stage where the ladies were practicing their routines.
I chuckled. “I know. Put on the extra short skirt for some good tips,” I said with a wink, shaking my hips.
He whistled between his teeth and gave me the once-over. “You get it, girl.”
Laughing, I did my usual preps for the night and once the doors opened, I was busy from the minute they opened until three a.m. at last call, and only endured five ass-grabs and three butt slaps while serving cocktails. Exhausted, I counted up my tips and helped Mace and the other bartender clean up. My feet were screaming from the three-inch heels I’d worn all night, so I changed into the flats I’d thrown into my purse. I lifted my long hair out of the way and then shrugged on my sweater.
“Where’s Benny?” I asked. He usually walked me to my car because a previous customer had been stalking me. He’d left me threatening and sometimes graphic, perverse notes on my car. Even mailed them to the club. I’d reported it to the police and even had a restraining order against him, but the guy always came sleazing around. Benny and the other bouncers would always get rid of him, but I didn’t feel safe walking to my car alone. None of us girls did.
“I’m here,” Benny said, his huge frame practically taking up the doorway. “Ready?”
I nodded and adjusted my purse over my shoulder.
“So, are you almost done with school?” Benny asked as we crossed the large lot. I’d parked next to the dumpsters to try to hide my car so creep-o stalker wouldn’t see it, but it never worked.
“Yeah, gonna change my major, though. I don’t think I want to teach anymore. I’m taking an interest in computers. Can’t stay off that internet, it’s like a shiny new toy.”
He chuckled. “It is a shiny new toy. I can’t be bothered with that computer stuff, it’s all over my head. Can you get a degree in computers?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, I have an appointment tomorrow to go talk to a guidance counselor. I didn’t see anything in the school catalogue about it, though.”
“You’re smart, I’m sure—”
I looked up at him to see why he’d stopped talking. The tip of a bloody knife was poking out through his throat. He was grappling for it, but soon his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
I was too terrified to scream. I turned and ran when I saw my stalker pull the knife from Benny’s neck and come running toward me. I wasn’t fast enough, though; he tackled me to the ground and put duct tape over my mouth before he dragged me to the other side of the dumpster where nobody would see us if they left the club.
He sat on my chest and twirled the bloody knife around with a wicked smile. “Shh, pet. We’re gonna have some fun.”
I tried to scream from behind the tape, but it was just muffled. Stalker took the tip of the knife and ran it down my cheek and through the skin with a dark laugh. I screamed in pain, but he kept on. Cut, cut, cut, numerous times on each cheek, from the bottom of my eye socket to my chin. Then he started in on my neck. My salty tears streamed down my face and stung the open wounds with a burning pain. He began making slices on my neck next.
“Since you think you’re too fucking good to be with me, then I’ll make sure nobody else gets to have you, either, bitch,” he said with a terrifying, murderous grin. “Then, I’ll take you back to my place where you’ll be my little pet. You’ll be so ugly nobody will want you. But I’ll still want you. And if you try to run away, I’ll start cutting your body too. In fact, I might just take this knife”—he lifted it in front of me, blood dripping down the blade, and twirled it slowly—“and stick it right up your pussy. No man’s gonna want your mangled, ugly cunt. But I will. I’ll still love every part of you. But nobody else will. Just me.”
I was growing weak from the blood loss and had stopped screaming. I couldn’t buck him off, and I started to pray for death. I would rather die than be taken back to this maniac’s house of horrors and live as a slave. I felt him poke the blade hard into the side of my neck and start to slice.
“Shit,” he said.
I blinked open weak eyelids to see him staring down at my throat. “Shit!” Blood was arcing out so far, I could see it from the corner of my eye. “Nicked the damn jugular. Fuck!” He tried to cover it with his hand, so I closed my eyes and let my body go completely limp. “Dammit! Devon, baby, no!” He jumped off my body, and I cracked open an eye to see him run off. I tried to get up, but I passed out.
When I woke, I was in a strange house, lying on a soft bed. The open curtains on the window revealed the night sky. I sat up, panicked because I didn’t know where I was.
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
I whipped my head around to see a strange man in a dress shirt, tie, and slacks looking at me. “Who are you?”
