Page 17 of Marked for Redemption

“A physical exam requires me to touch her. You can leave, bloodsucker. I can do this without you.” There was a glint in his eye that I didn’t appreciate. Something seemed off with the doctor.

“I’ll take my chances. There’ll be no exam. You have your blood and blade. We’ll be leaving now.”

He plucked a hair from Zendaya–Renee’s head and she winced.

I slammed him against the wall with my hand around his neck. He tried to draw a weapon from his side, but I caught it before he struck.

“I don’t want problems with you,” I spoke between gritted teeth. “Instead, we’re leaving before even your stench sounds appetizing. I’ve done what I need to do. So have you. Walk away, doctor.” I didn’t want to kill him, but I would. Blood was blood, and drinking from him repulsed me. But if I stayed long enough, it wouldn’t matter.

“She’ll die again.” He nodded toward Renee. “You should leave her here for me to keep healthy.” There went that glint in his eye again.

“Like I said. I’ll take my chances.” I let him go and backed away from him to go over to Renee. “Let’s go.”

Barely able to stand, I lifted her instead. I backed down the tunnel the way we came.

“Don’t get lost.”

Trust me, I wasn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was to be stuck down here with him.

RENEE/ZENDAYA

Inside Colton’s home, it was small like a cottage. It was still warm and welcoming, but after he laid me down on the couch, he felt different. I’d called him Alistair, and he’d corrected me immediately.

“Alistair is dead. For whatever reasons that it brought us here, it left the man you knew back there. And you, you’ve tarnished what I was becoming in this life. I don’t know what you are or who you are.” He sighed.

“Then why did you save me, Al–Colton?”

“I don’t know.” He went to the closet and came back with a towel and washcloth. Then he supplied me with a bucket of water and soap. “Clean yourself up.”

With that, he left me to my own devices.

I ached everywhere, especially my chest. I smelled of death and something awful. My senses were different, diluted, and less active. Tired, I wanted to rest but didn’t want to piss off Colton any more than I had. On wobbly knees, I tried to stand again but fell back onto the couch. It was easier to scoot forward and try to maneuver while sitting down.

It took a long time to get all of me clean. I was careful when I washed my chest with the wound still partially open and a bruise there. I didn’t want to infect it. Couldn’t. I left my clothes in a pile on the floor and curled up on the couch to sleep. It was freezing here and since I couldn’t get up to find something to cover up with; I settled for using the towel as a shield. Sleep became my friend. Colton only woke me to wash, eat, use the bathroom, and so he could administer medication.

After a few days, I could stand. I stayed awake longer. I felt like I was recovering from a virus that didn’t want to leave my body.

“You look different,” Colton said to me a few days later. “More like Renee and less so like Zendaya.”

“How is that possible?” I asked.

“How is any of this possible?”

“Colton, I know you’re avoiding me. Can we talk about it?”

“Talk? See, that would have been ideal when you were torturing me for information that I didn’t know you wanted. Instead, you cut into my skin, beat me until I was unconscious, and…” He was yelling by the end and losing control. “You were inside my head, Renee. Playing tricks and games to get me to talk. You fucking made me think I was crazy! You used my vulnerability to get what the fuck you wanted and when you were done, dropped me off like it was going to fix what you’d done. Can we talk? Fuck, no. I’m too busy trying to figure out why I saved your life. How are you even alive right now when I saw you die? Part of me wished that whatever shit he did to you didn’t work.”

I held in the pain from his words. He hated me and the things that he spoke of. I didn’t remember doing any of them. Feeling alone and also afraid, I had nowhere to go if he put me out. I knew I was human. Had to be because I’d never felt this way before. Powerless and like, he stalked every move I made.

If what he’d said was true, I was now his prey, and he was the predator that dared me to make one false move.

“You’re my slave now. You’ll do what I say or I’ll let any of the other elite show you how privileged you are to be inside here. This is what you deserve for what you did to me. Not death. It was too kind. As my slave, I’ll be torturing you.”

He already had been. He didn’t allow me any clothes or a blanket. I’d been using the towels he gave me for warmth and to shield me from his eyes. They were cold and calculating, as if he expected me to do something so he could scold me. He didn’t bolt the doors because where would I go? He knew the dangers of me going outside and he banked on my fear. I didn’t blame him for using what he had to get the upper hand.

“Okay.” I swallowed while nodding.

“Yes, Master.” He corrected me.

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