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“The humans use the example of a caterpillar and a butterfly. Same difference,” Rosetta said.
SaKura and Rakha were tense as they waited for the right time to break into the house where Jenna was being held.
Rosetta redoubled her efforts to get audio from where Jenna was being tortured.
There was a loud crack that made SaKura and Rakha flinch.
“You don’t understand,” Jenna’s pain-filled voice said. “I’m going to kill you.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Jenna pushed herself up from the floor before swiping at her bloody nose and busted lip. She thought her nose broke. The hard crunch of cartilage was loud in her ears and the blazing pain shouted, broken. When she swiped at it, she found it bloody but not broken and the pain was lessening, not the rip-roaring pain of something that was broken.
They were upstairs in a room that must have been for drugs, sleeping, and sex inside this flop house. There was a soiled-looking mattress on the floor. If her nose was correct, there was the faded scent of sex and come, along with discarded needles and other paraphernalia that she didn’t want to name. At one point, the walls were a bright rose, now they were dirty and dingy. There was graffiti on the wall. The tribal tattoo was inspired, and she enjoyed looking at it. The ‘for a good time call whoever’ was old and overdone. Mostly the walls were tagged with names as if it was a mark of excellence to find yourself in this hellhole of a room. Her eyes went back to Jeffrey to ensure he wasn’t getting any closer to her.
“You like to hit women. I bet you like to rape them too, and to see them broken and helpless at your feet. Does that make you feel like a man?” She hated Jeffrey, maybe from the first time she laid eyes on him. He was the type who liked to use his size for intimidation. “Helpless teenagers no longer do it for you?”
The color of his cheeks was getting darker. It started at his chin and rose to his cheeks. She’d never paid attention to how a flush covered the face in the past. The mystery man who still didn’t have a name had driven her out here to this row of abandoned houses. There would be no help from neighbors. He’d given her the choice to walk, or he’d break her legs and carry her. Well, that wasn’t an option.
When the mystery man said, “Tell her that the package has been delivered and we’re even,” it caught her attention. Was there a third party who was working behind the scenes and was she the package?
“Get undressed.” This man has lost his ever-loving mind if he thought she was going to undress for him.
“I don’t think so.” The hit came fast as night. She took the blow in her belly, crumpling over from the force of it. A red-tinged cough came from her. It felt like she had busted something internally. “You’re so strong.” The sarcastic tone of her voice should have stopped him. He kicked her in the same place.
She coughed up more blood while she kept her eyes on his face. When his eyes darkened, unlike a human, that’s when his extra strength made sense. He wasn’t Tan-ge, but he wasn’t one hundred percent human anymore. Had he mated with a different species, or had a close encounter with one that changed him?
“How does it feel to be part monster?” She didn’t know how it happened, but whatever it was that changed him, it was a monster. Not a monster like the Dizas, the lovable purple jerks. No, this monster craved blood. “Bitch, you’re one to talk. You gave away what was mine. To a fuckin’ purple abomination out to conquer our world. Do you think you have room to talk?”
That refrain was becoming a broken record. Newscasters were saying the same things. Then there was the rally. Also, the murmurs on the streets and the ones in her dreams that the voices in her head shared with her. Mind washing on a scale this big was impossible, yet she was sure that’s what was happening.None of it made sense.
“Jeffrey.” She called his name, hoping that hearing his name come from her would bypass whatever dark mantra that was rolling around in his mind. It worked… a little. She could see his blue eyes lighten some.
“If I met you first, things would be different.” A shudder of pure revulsion ripped down her back. She did all she could to keep him from seeing it. “Don’t you understand? It’s too late for me.”
She could see the internal fight. Some small part of him was still human, clinging to … she had no idea what he was clinging to. Maybe a better future or a past not filled with blood and death.
“You don’t have to do this. You can get help and become the man you always wanted to be.” Jenna pushed herself back with one hand while the other explored her ribs and her belly. She was sure there were several cracked ribs and maybe her stomach was punctured. She was sore. Beat the hell up would be the better phrase. There was nothing cracked or broken, and her stomach felt better than when she was first attacked. She wasn’t complaining. The saying ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ was quickly becoming her motto to live by.
The laughter that came from Jeffrey was chilling and deep. He could scare small kids during Halloween. That’s what he was doing to her. He sounded possessed.
“You fucking bitch! It was too late for me the moment I met her. I crave blood, sex, and death. You’re next on the menu.”
Jenna kept slowly pushing herself back. She wasn’t far enough away from him to run, yet. At the same time, she was furiously wondering who she was. Who was this mysterious third person? There was a sting on her hand that was an uncapped needle she bumped into. Shit, great. Thoughts of diseases ran through her head. Things like syphilis, COVID, and whatever transmittable diseases were out there. Had they eradicated AIDS yet? That’s when the memory flooded her mind. Marilyn, Jeffrey’s wife, was a tall woman maybe an inch or two shorter than her husband who stood about 6’1. Her skin was palish like she never saw sunshine. There was also an undercast to it. That always confused Jenna. There were times she thought Marilyn was exposed to toxic chemicals. What she was seeing repeatedly was her hand flicking her long jet-black hair back, revealing an ear where the bottom part of her lobe attached to her head and there was a small tail hanging out like an abnormality. She’d only seen it once or twice. Now that SaKura pointed it out, Jenna knew Marilyn was a tan-ge disguised as a human. Yes, like Rakha, they could take human form, but it seemed they could hold that form longer than the Diza.
“Marilyn.” It popped out of her mouth before she could stop it.
“You’re smart. I always knew you were.” He took two giant steps, putting himself in front of her again. “It should have been you.” He picked her up by the front of her shirt and tossed her against the farthest wall.
This time, she didn’t wonder if her back broke. She felt the spine sever. The moan of pain that came from her, along with not being able to move her toes, told its own story. She was never going to walk again.
Jeffrey started tearing her clothes from her body even as she tried to fight. He shredded her shirt, leaving her in a black lacy bra. “Beautiful.” His hand squeezed one breast so hard she was seeing black wiggling lines. She was gasping for air, trying not to pass out.
“Firm and smooth, I love it.” His hands went to her jeans, shredding and pulling them down. She was wearing the matching black lacy thong. Why? Because she was thinking of SaKura when she dressed this morning. “Beautiful.” He rubbed his cock, and she threw up a little in her mouth. There was no way she was going to allow him to rape her. She’d rather die.
She concentrated on her lower body, trying to get herself to roll even if all she had to use was her arms. Her legs jerked up involuntarily. She felt her severed spine slip into place and there was a warm balm where the pain used to be. What the heck? She moved cautiously, not wanting Jeffrey to know she might not be as broken as he thought. He unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. She waited until they were around his thighs before she lifted her legs and pushed him by planting both feet firmly on his stomach. He shot across the room, his back denting the wall.
Jenna scrambled to her feet, making a beeline for the door.
