Page 10 of Hysteria Rises
I flinch, pulling hard on the restraint to get as far away as I can. More frantic than before, I shake my head, tears streaming down my face. “No. Please no.” Ican’t decide which is worse… being awake and knowing what’s happening or realizing that if they drug me I won’t have a chance in hell at stopping whatever they’re planning.
Across the room, my assailant stands rigidly in the doorway, blocking my view. I catch the barest glimpse of another male just outside the door. The only things about him that register are his shoulder-length hair, which might be blond, and the deep crease down the center of his forehead that makes me utterly certain he’s not my savior. I can’t hear the angry hisses volleying back and forth between them.
I squeeze my eyes shut, unable to comprehend how this is happening at all. But it is. “Hold still. Relax your arm. It’ll go better for you.” The sharp prick of the needle breaking my skin has my eyes flying open and a strangled cry leaving my lips.
Hazel Eyes has resumed his position at the end of the table. I stare straight ahead, refusing to look him in the eye, even when he bends at the waist and gets directly in my line of sight.
“What did you give me?” I whisper, but neither of them answers. Whatever it was, it doesn’t take long before my head begins to swim. The pain in my head has never ceased, but it’s dulling. “Will you please take the cuffs off?”
I look at the older man, then the younger, realizing that my vision has gone all soft around the edges. Blurry. I drag in a breath, then repeat myself. “Please?”
“What do you think, son? I’ll leave it up to you.”
I pry my eyelids upward long enough to see this guy shrug. “She won’t be awake much longer anyway. I don’t think it matters.”
There’s no further discussion, but a moment later, I’m freed of the bindings. I could cry with relief. I lie there, floating in and out, only somewhat aware of the men talking about how things went.
I wait, struggling to remain conscious to hear more because there’s something about the tone of the conversation that tells me it’ll be important.
From somewhere at the outer edges of my mind Hazel Eyes clears his throat, then murmurs, “So… twenty-three, then?”
Where am I? I awaken in a dark room with a thumping, angry beast throwing unrelenting punches inside my skull. It feels like a threat of what’s to come. Or a warning. Why can’t I seem to get my brain to function? It feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton. Hands shaking, I lift them to either temple in an attempt to stop my head from rolling drunkenly off my neck and to the floor.
Dragging in a ragged, desperate breath, I try to take in my surroundings. It’s a strange combination of sterile yet musty in here—perhaps the odor I associate with an older building can’t be disguised bydisinfectant. I blink, trying to focus, but I can’t… and I don’t have any recollection of being in this room. Maybe I should be breathing a sigh of relief that I’m no longer at the scene of the earlier horror. This place feels smaller, as if its dark walls are closing in around me. I run my hands over anything I can reach, and my fingers encounter cold stone nearby on my left, then when I fully extend my right arm… it’s there, too. I’m in a holding cell of some sort.
I tremble as I lift a hand to my head to soothe the unending pounding. At the edge of my hairline, I discover what I can only assume must be a bandage. A memory in the form of a violent rush of image and sound hits me as my mind flicks back to the mountainous woods I’d gotten lost in and the strange antics of the masked men I’d encountered. I remember falling, but only flickers of recall after that. At least it explains the way my head aches.
I swallow, touching a hand to my abdomen. A confused breath skitters from me at the discovery that I’m no longer naked, but also dressed in clothes that are not mine.At least they’re dry.I run trembling hands over my body, the worn cotton under my fingertips giving me pause. Seems like a nightgown, but that’s it. No underwear.
My lip quakes as my mind stumbles back in time to the last conscious moments I remember. An exam room. Withthosemen. Limbsrestrained.Legs wide open. My feet propped up in a pair of stirrups. My stomach pitches like a ship in a storm. Bile rushes frommy stomach, and my throat burns as I swallow the bitterness back down. Unease coats every inch of my skin. The sharp snap of a lock being unbolted and the subsequent whining creak of a door opening has me whipping toward the source of the sounds. My head rebels indignantly at the sudden movement. The onslaught of agony has me curling up on my side and burying my face in my hands.
Footsteps approach.Breathe. Experimentally, I open one cautious eye. Turn my head. A long shadow has cast over me, and I suck in a nervous breath, shifting to get a better view. I fully expect one of the bastards who’d been prodding at my naked body earlier, but this is not either of themoreven the guy who’d interrupted their exam. Whoever it is stands in the foot of space between me and the stone wall. Way too close. Lightning clashes outside the window. My mind riots as I catch a glimpse of a lean, muscular body.
I can’t hold in the desperate need to know exactly how much shit I’m in any longer. I ignore the nausea and the pain and push with weak arms so that I’m only partially reclined. The man cocks his head to the side, observing me as I shake uncontrollably, then a moment later, drops to his haunches. At this range, I can tell he’s young. Possibly around my age. A muscle at the back of his jaw twitches hard as he studies me, eyes roving over my face. Long lashes frame his eyes, but the stare he aims at me is cold, almost as if he’s daring me to speak.
Words rush from me like the deluge of rain from the sky. “Where the fuck am I? Who are you people? How many of you are there? Was it you all I saw in the woods?” I fire off the first questions that pop into my mind so quickly, I have to stop to draw in a ragged breath before continuing. The final question comes out in an anguished rush, my voice rising with every word. “What thefuckdo you want from m?—?”
He grips the back of my neck with one large, bruising hand and slaps the other over the lower portion of my face, cutting off the remainder of my question… and my breath. My oxygen-deprived lungs strain, making me jerk in his hold. No matter that this backwoods heathen could probably snap my neck, I claw at his well-muscled forearms, digging in with my nails. Self-preservation kicks in hard. I struggle, yanking and tugging at him as my chest burns. It’s so dark in this cell that the telltale shimmering stars on my vision’s periphery come into brilliant focus, the signal of imminent loss of consciousness.
As my ears ring and my surroundings become muted and dim, the brute before me leans in close and gives me a firm shake before ducking his head beside mine. “Listen to me.” His voice is deep and achingly soft next to my ear, but the insistent tone has me clutching at wakefulness with both hands as a cascade of unease barrels through me.
“You’ll find things will go better for you if you keep your mouth shut and don’t ask questions.”
SIX
ARROW
A new woman.A new set of problems. Another source of turmoil introduced to our world.
I shouldn’t be in this room with her. But sometimes, there’s no stopping the base impulses that fill my head and course through my body.
From the moment I’d set eyes on the girl running among the trees, she’d called to me, like a siren in the storm. Alluring. Enticing. A temptation I won’t deny.Can’t.
With a remorseful groan, I wrench my hand free from where it’s been clamped tightly over her mouth.Fuck. She’d put up quite a struggle to break free of my hold, but to no avail. Her talons will no doubt leave their mark on my skin. Just what I need.
I go absolutely still, staring in the dark at her motionless body, then wince with regret.Shit. My jaw grinds for a moment before I heave a disturbed breathfrom my lungs. Crouching down, I fit myself in the limited space beside her.
For a count of three I wait and watch before placing my hand over her chest. And while I search for any sign at all that I haven’t messed upbad, I hold my breath.
