Page 10 of Pretty Monsters

I don't answer him. He should know me well enough to know I don't do feelings. Ignoring him, I go into the cabin, but he follows me.

Still not paying him any attention, I grab the crow bar I left inside the cabin and get to work prying up the floor boards I've been using as a hiding place.

"That's it isn't it?" he pushes.

I look at him over my shoulder. "Your father wants to sell your sister to one of the most sadistic bastards either of us has ever met besides Damien, and you choose right now to leave her alone outside?"

I set the crow bar down, and go outside. Raven hasn't moved more than to sway back and forth. When I was little, I used to rock myself like that.

"Get inside," I order her

She narrows her eyes at me, and I like the glimpse of fire I see in her. There's fear in them though, and she doesn't question my reasons to make her go into the cabin.

One thing is for sure, she might be Lucien's sister, but she just became my responsibility. He doesn't know what it's like to have your power and humanity stripped away and to be reduced to nothing more than an asset to be traded for the benefit of someone else.

Raven and I are barely worth more than cattle to the man who holds our lives in his grasp. Lucien isn't willing to kill to keep her, and it is going to take the spilling of blood to stay out of Damien's reach.

I move quickly, having already wasted too much time preoccupied by the black-haired temptress, and pop up the floorboards.

Next I take the lid off a large Tupperware bin I set into the ground. Getting fake identification from a source Damien couldn't trace was difficult and time consuming. I wasn't going to risk them by placing them under the floor on top of a foundation of hard earth.

Inside the bin I have another couple of backpacks filled with clothes for Lucien and myself, the IDs, and money. For the last six months I have been hiding what I could without anyone noticing.

Getting money was the hardest part, since I'm not actually an employee. I have never had a bank account or gotten a paycheck. Hell, the fake ID in my bag is the only one I've ever had. Everyone calls me Sin, but I have no idea if my mother, whoever she was, gave me that name or if they just decided to call me that when I was brought to Blackthorne Manor. As far as a last name, I don't have one.

I couldn't even name myself for the ID, so my contact changed my name to Adam Dade. Lucien's ID is under the name Lance Arthurs. I dig it out and hand it to him. "If I were going to leave you here, why did I have a bag packed for you with ID?"

"What am I going to do? I don't have anything," Raven mutters, but I think she's mostly speaking to herself.

"You've got me," Lucien starts to try and comfort her. I step in front of him, cutting off his path to her.

"Let's go," I say to explain my weird behavior.

I'm not sure why I don't want him near her, but I don't. I'm not going to try and explain it to him when I don't understand it myself.

"There are two motorcycles outside."

Lucien takes his wallet out of his pocket and fans out several large bills. "I don't even know why I've been taking out all this cash, but something told me to start getting all of my money my...uh...Damien wouldn't notice."

"How much is that?" Raven asks.

"There's about five thousand here," he tells her. Then he goes to the wood burning stove we stopped using at the end of winter and pulled part of the pipe loose. He grabs another wad of cash. "I was actually carrying it with me tonight to hide it with the rest of what I've gathered. I think there's about eight thousand all together."

We split the money between our bags and head outside.

"There's only two motorcycles," Raven points out.

"Do you even know how to ride?" I ask her.

She looks at her feet. "No. I was never taught to drive at all. I'm going to slow the two of you down and get you killed. I should tell you to go without me."

"Fuck that," I snap. "We're getting out of here, and if you want to spout more stupid shit, wait until we stop for the night. You are not staying here to be sold to a pervert who enjoys hurting innocent girls. Feel me?"

Outside I pull off the netting I'd improvised with branches and other vegetation to hide the bikes from being discovered. They are the most recent acquisition. I bought them in pieces and have spent all my free time putting them back together.

Lucien climbs on one and puts the helmet on. Like with the IDs I only have two helmets. The fact he put his on first tells me which one of us Raven will be riding with. He hasn't figured it out though.

He turns and waits for her to climb on the back of his bike. She seems to know which one of us is in charge though, and looks to me to tell her what to do.

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