Ember Ch. 03

Ember woke confused. Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to process what had just happened. She'd concentrated on finding a protector when she called for help this time, but had ended up in her bedroom, in her underwear, with that amorous dream man again. She doubted that man, no, that vampire, could protect anything, as obsessed with sex as he was. His mind seemed very definitely to be one-track.

He'd insisted he was real, but wouldn't that be the first thing any decent hallucination would say? She had to admit, though, the teeth in her neck had certainly felt real, and so did what he'd done with his fingers as he'd bitten her the first time.

She'd heard Mjesec's voice. It had been faint in her head, telling her to finish calling her protector to her. But wasn't she already with the only man she seemed to be able to summon at all? Something had happened though as the teeth in her neck and the relentless fingers inside her drove her to orgasm. Mjesec's voice had become insistent, ordering her to bring him to her, and Ember had thought about the place she and her sister were being held.

She'd seen a woman with long, black hair, Stryx sprawled on the floor next to her bed, and then for the briefest of moments she saw Stryx crouched over her in the room where she was tied to the couch. He'd reached out to touch her cheek where Dmitri had hit her, and disappeared as her orgasm faded.

Almost! Mjesec's voice had whispered faintly in her head.

Kind of a private moment! Ember thought reproachfully.

A gentle, tinkling laugh had echoed in her mind. Try again.

How? What do I need to do?

I think your vampire knows exactly what you need to do. Not what I would have chosen for a protector, but I think he will do nicely.

Stryx had masterfully manipulated her body, his touches the perfect combination of rough and gentle, hard and soft. There had been nothing soft about the erection he'd rubbed against her.

She'd asked to see him and he'd effortlessly lifted and turned her to face him. She'd seen a face with full, sensual lips, high cheekbones, and hard planes before she met his blue eyes as she filled herself with him.

Transfixed, she'd stared into his eyes, such an impossible color of blue, so dark it was nearly black, as she stretched around him inside her. Every inch of him touched and filled her in a way no other man ever had, and something had stirred in her.

She'd needed more and he'd given it to her, picking her up and laying her out so he could fuck her harder. Yes, that was what she had needed. The something that had stirred inside her woke more fully, reaching for something, it needed...what? She didn't know.

Time and again he'd brought her close, so close to her pleasure, and taken it away. Her frustration had mounted—she did not like to be passive in bed, but Stryx held her still, held her down, denying her movement and what she wanted. She'd resorted to pleading, writhing against his grip on her, and he'd finally given her what she needed.

Her second orgasm had been much more powerful than the first.

Now! Mjesec had called to her. Summon him now!

The same strange things happened. She'd been in the other woman's bedroom with Stryx again. This time there was a red-headed man there too, anxiously crouched over Stryx. The woman in the bed had looked up, as if she could see her.

Sister! The word was full of joy and amazement, but this was not the thought of Mjesec. This thought came from the woman in the bed.

Then she was in the room where she was tied up again. Stryx was there, biting her. Seriously, that man, no, that vampire, she reminded herself, had a one-track mind. He'd torn at the ropes that bound her and freed her sister.

The waves of pleasure began to ebb, and as Stryx disappeared, so did her bird's eye view of the room.

Ember! Now it was Musette's voice in her head, using their twin connection.

For fuck's sake, can't a girl have an orgasm with her dream lover and not have everyone talking to her in her head while she's trying to enjoy it? Private. Moment. People.

Someone giggled. Someone else snorted. Musette laughed the musical laugh that always made Ember smile.

Coming fully awake Ember blinked, and a wave of despair washed over her as the dirty ceiling of the room she was locked in came into focus.

"Ember?" her sister asked softly. "Are you back with us?"

"Musette," Ember said. "How long was I asleep?"

"Not long."

"You mean not long enough," one of the other women said, setting the women to laughter again.

Realized she was no longer bound, Ember sat up and faced the other women. "What do you mean?"

"What was it you said? Oh yeah, something along the lines of 'for fuck's sake, can't a girl have an orgasm with her dream lover and not have everyone talking in her head while she's trying to enjoy it?'"

Ember closed her eyes in mortification. "I said that out loud?"

Musette nodded. "And we had a visitor while you were taking your nap."

"Dmitri come back for another grope?"

"Nope. This was a man named Stryx. He said to tell you he's real and he will find you. I kind of wish Dmitri had been here when he showed up though, I think Stryx would have killed him. Why didn't you tell me about him before?"

"I thought I had just made him up in a dream. I told him he wasn't real."

"I don't know about you, but if that man was going to find me and look at me the way he looked at you, these assholes could kidnap me every day," a woman with long dark hair said.

"He really wasn't a dream?" Ember asked.

"No," Musette said. "He was really here."

"Think about what was a dream and what wasn't a dream later," a woman with short blonde hair said. "Right now think about how we're going to get out of here. The door is chained shut from the outside, so we'll have to wait until they open it. But there's enough stuff in here to turn into weapons. You're Musette, and you're Ember. I'm Sylvia, and this is Angela."

Ember's gaze fell on the two women that hadn't said anything yet. They'd been freed but remained sitting in their chairs, their blank gazes looking at nothing.

"They've been here longer than the rest of us," Sylvia said. "They haven't said anything at all."

"How long have you been here?" Musette asked.

"Since this morning," Sylvia replied. "Those two were already catatonic when we were brought in."

"Okay, this is going to sound weird, but can any of you actually do magic?" Ember asked.

"Asks the woman that can make hot men appear from thin air." Angela laughed.

"Fair point. But while I can apparently make him appear, I don't know how to make him stay. Did anyone see what the warehouse looks like?" Ember asked. "The SUV I was in didn't drive in very far after the door opened. Are we close to a way out of here if we get out of this room?"

"I saw a few trailers, like the one we're in, and the warehouse is tall," Musette said. "But we aren't very far from the door, if we can get out of here."

"There's a smaller door to the side of the big ones—" Angela broke off as footsteps approached their trailer. Without needing to say anything the women resumed their places, as if they were still tied up.

"We're going to get dinner," Dmitri's voice said. "We'll be back before the mages get here for the auction."

Three car doors slammed and an engine roared as the big metal warehouse doors noisily retracted.

After the car left, the doors cranked back into place, and a few minutes later the chain on the door to their trailer rattled. The lock clicked and the door opened to admit a man with unkempt brown hair and dead eyes. He eyed the women and headed for one of the two women that hadn't said anything.

She still didn't utter a word, but the sound that did escape her was full of terror and dread.

As soon as the man passed her Ember leapt to her feet and picked up a lamp from a small table. She smashed it onto the man's head and he grunted, falling to a knee. Musette. Sylvia, and Angela jumped up from their seats. Sylvia lifted her chair and swung it at the man, smashing it over his head. The rickety wooden chair was reduced to kindling and the man went down without another sound.

Using the ropes they'd been bound with they tied the man up, wrapping some of the rope into his mouth and around his head to gag him. Ember went to the door and peeked out. There was no one. Stepping all the way out she looked around. There were no other cars, cutting her Plan A short.

Re-entering the trailer she said, "I didn't hear anyone else in the warehouse and there aren't any more cars. I think we're alone. Let's see if we can find something to wear and get out of here before they get back here."

Sylvia and Angela left the trailer to look around the warehouse for themselves. Musette was crouched by the two women that still hadn't spoken, cajoling them to get up and come with her in a quiet but urgent tone.

It took a few minutes, but she got them to their feet and they walked out of the trailer on their own. Sylvia came back with a random assortment of jeans, shirts, shorts, and shoes and the women dressed themselves as best they could.

They went to the other trailers and found one locked. Angela went back to their trailer and returned with some keys she'd taken from the man they'd left unconscious.

They found six more women inside the trailer, set them free and found some clothes for them. Ember tried not to think about what had happened to the women whose clothes they were now wearing.

When they'd checked the rest of the trailers and warehouse and found it empty except for the one man, they left and took a meandering path through the nearby buildings, trying to stay out of sight and hiding every time a car approached them. Dmitri and the others would be returning from their dinner break, and mages were supposed to be arriving soon. They couldn't trust anyone coming to the area.

"Look," Sylvia said, pointing to a small jetty. "There's a boat. It's too small for all twelve of us to use, but some of us could take it and send back help."

The women cautiously approached the jetty, but no one was around. The small boat was little more than a dinghy with a small outboard motor on the back of it, but they managed to squeeze eight women into it.

Ember tried to get Musette to go, but her sister refused to leave her. Angela and Sylvia also stayed behind and they watched the boat race across the water until it was swallowed up by the night.

Shouts raised an alarm from the direction of the warehouse they'd escaped from, and there was no mistaking one of the voices shouting belonged to Dmitri.

"They know we're gone now, we have to find some place to hide," Musette whisper-shouted.

"No, we need to run," Ember disagreed. "Go!"

They ran around the corner of the nearest building and using that as cover went into an all out sprint, taking the next corner. They ran on, having to backtrack when cars pulled into their path, and several times they went into buildings instead of around them. The last building they entered went into had a car parked in it. Sylvia and Angela made it to the car and got in. Musette was close behind them.

Ember was the one that saw Dmitri enter the warehouse.

He threw something at her that exploded near her feet and her ankle felt like it had been caught in a bear trap. She screamed as she fell, unable to run anymore.

Dmitri leaned against the door, watching her writhe in pain.

Musette ran back towards her. The car started but didn't move.

"No, Musette, run!" Ember yelled. But her sister didn't listen, falling to her knees beside Ember. "He'll find me, you have to leave with them," Ember begged her sister to go.

"When he comes he'll find us, Go!" Musette yelled, waving an arm at the car.

Sylvia and Angela looked regretful, but they left, tires squealing as the car crashed through a door to the outside and was gone.

Dmitri swaggered over to the sisters. "You have no idea how happy I am to see both of you." He threw a powder into their faces and they inhaled reflexively. Everything went black.

**********

Stryx jolted awake and took in his surroundings. "Damn it!" He was sitting on the floor in Selene's room, not with his Dragă. Selene and Idris were staring down at him.

"What the fuck, boss? You just disappeared!" Idris exclaimed.

"Twice," Selene added. "Your Dragă is getting stronger."

"She sent me to the place they're keeping her." He was tired of the games his little witch was playing with him, summoning and dismissing him as she liked. When he got his hands on her she would never be dismissing him again. He licked his lips—the taste of her blood still there. He hadn't been positive that part had been real either, but her blood in his mouth was proof enough that it was.

Now that he'd gotten a taste of her she couldn't hide from him. Now he could hunt her, and when he found her, she was his. Closing his eyes he concentrated, trying to sense Ember. A smug smile curved his lips as he felt her. He had a direction. "I know where to go."

"Are we going hunting?"

"I am going hunting," Stryx said, getting to his feet. He clapped Idris on the shoulder as he passed him. "Don't wait up."

Ignoring Stryx, and without missing a beat, Idris turned and fell into step beside Stryx as he went down the spiral staircase. "As your bodyguard, I can't let you go alone."

"As your boss, I can order you to stay here."

"I call you boss, but you're not the king of me." Idris snorted. "Take your rightful place, and I'll follow your orders. Until then, I'll do what I like."

"You should know I am making a list of demeaning and ridiculous orders to give you in case I am ever so unfortunate as to actually become king."

Idris grinned, undaunted. "So, where are we hunting?"

"East," Stryx said, knowing his time was limited, and it was easier to not argue with Idris. "The warehouses near the port."

They passed by the main levels of the compound heading for the armory. Stryx sighed as Norrix, Zeke, Melchior, Jael and Cyran fell in behind them.

"Has Ciaran come back yet?" Stryx asked.

"No, he called and said he's on his way," Jael replied. He had golden colored skin and shoulder length black hair. His black eyes were cold and predatory. "He found a couple laptops and a phone that he's bringing back. It looks like two women shared the house."

My Dragă and her twin sister."

"Did you say your Dragă?" Norrix asked. A muscular man with curly brown hair and golden eyes, he served as a sort of librarian and researcher for their Vitiate, but he didn't mind a good fight if mages were involved.

Stryx nodded. "See if you can find any records or whatever about Dragă here."

"I'll look into it as soon as we get back."

"Twin Dragăs?" Cyran asked. His angelic curly blond hair and blue-eyed looks belied the predator that lived in his skin."Oh, I could get behind that. And in front of that. At the same time."

Melchior, a giant of a man with white blond hair and eyes such a pale blue they almost white, swatted the back of Cyran's head. "How is a Dragă possible?"

"I don't know," Stryx snapped.

"You all right, boss?" Cyran asked.

"He's fine. We're going hunting," Idris replied.

"Hunting!" Cyran exclaimed. "I love hunting! What are we hunting?"

"Mages," Jael answered.

"I love hunting mages!"

In the armory everyone but Jael armed themselves with guns, swords and daggers. Jael constantly wore two blades crossed in a harness on his back. Before he'd been made vampire he was an assassin and he didn't go anywhere, not even to the armory, unarmed.

They took two cars, Stryx in the first giving directions to Idris as he drove.

"Do we have a plan?" Norrix asked.

"Find my Dragă. Kill the mages." Stryx replied.

"I like that plan. It's easy to remember."

They arrived near the warehouse and left the cars, going the rest of the way on foot. It was easy to guess which warehouse they wanted—there was only one all lit up and angry men shouting at one another. The vampires stopped to listen.

"You let them all escape!" a man was shouting into the face of hulking, shaggy-haired man. "How incompetent do you have to be to let spelled and bound women escape?"

Stryx grinned.

"We caught two of them," the shaggy-haired man said.

"Two out of twelve! And you had nothing to do with catching them, Dmitri did!" the man bellowed. "Go. If you manage to retrieve any of the witches yourself maybe the mages won't kill you later."

Stryx turned to Jael, but he was already melting into the shadows to go after the shaggy-haired man.

The man that had been doing the yelling made a call on his cell phone. "Tell them the auction is canceled. Unforeseen complications. We'll let them know when we can reschedule it." He ended the call and entered the warehouse.

"I hear five inside," Stryx said, the others nodded in agreement.

Stryx was torn. His Dragă was no longer here, he could sense that. He wanted to go after her, but he also wanted to kill the men responsible for hurting her. She had escaped and he could track her, so he could find her after the threat had been eliminated. Mind made up, he said, "Idris, you and Norrix are with me. Melchior, you take Norrix and Cyran and circle around the back. When you're in position let us know and we'll go in from the front and trap them between us."

Melchior, Norris, and Cyran peeled away and disappeared into the night. A few minutes later glass shattered.

"Go," Stryx ordered, drawing his sword from its scabbard on his back. They rushed into the warehouse, stunned at what they saw. Trailers lined one side, and cages the opposite wall. A makeshift stage had been set up in the middle, wooden posts with cuffs at their tops and bottoms waited to restrain someone

Chairs circled the stage and a few laptops were up and running, showing views of the stage on the large monitors they were attached to. A table held blades, ropes, canes, whips, chains and manacles. A variety of bottled, colorful potions and powders were set out on another table.

Mages drained witches of their magic using all kinds of methods, but it usually involved sex, blood, or pain. It looked like they were going to test each witch for their audience before selling her.

Five stunned men were facing the back of the warehouse where three vampires had just crashed through windows, landed in rolls and come up with swords in their hands.

The growl Stryx let out had the five men spinning back towards the front of the warehouse.

The vampires closed in.

It was all over in a matter of minutes. Jael came in a moment later, the shaggy haired man in front of him.

"Why isn't he dead?" Stryx snarled.

"He said the two women they managed to re-capture were twins," Jael said. "One with red hair, one with blonde. I thought you might like a word."

Stryx stalked over and held his blood stained sword to the man's neck. "Where are they?"

"I don't know!" the man blubbered. "Dmitri found them. He had some sort of side deal with a mage, but I don't know where he took them."

Stryx's blade flashed, and the man fell to the ground.

"Then you are useless." He turned to the other men. "I'm going to find my Dragă."

"We'll go with you," Cyran volunteered.

"No, you will not. You five need to stay here and see what you can find out. We caught them by surprise. Take all their computers and gadgets to Karov and see what he can do with them. Maybe we can track down the rest of the men and some mages," Stryx said. "Besides, I can tell you haven't fed, and I won't have you near my Dragă while you're hungry. She's one woman. We don't need to overwhelm her. Idris and I can handle her."

"I'm going to tell her you said that when we catch her," Idris said gleefully. "I can already tell she's going to be feisty."