Page 89 of The Book Reader
“I’ll help you miss, where ya goin’?” His voice is harsh and sends a chill of fear through me
Taking a step back, I say, “It’s okay, my boyfriend is on his way, I’m just going to wait for him over there.” I turn around and start walking backward.
The man stares at me, grinning, with a considerable set of fangs in his mouth. I smile and turn to run, but bump into another hard chest. Something clicks around my wrists, but it doesn’t register as I lift my gaze to look up at a man with red eyes and tattoos covering his face. “Mmmmm, you smell delicious.” He grins.
He lowers his head to my neck and breathes me in. “I can smell the power rolling off you.” His hands grip my arms, and he pulls me even closer. “Boss lady gonna be so happy.”
My heart sinks as I wait for the voices; I wait for the feeling my grandfather used to tell me about, that relief that everything is going to be okay. I get nothing, and panic blankets me. “You need to let me go,” I say, trying to sound as strong as I can, even if I’m scared for my life right now.
He laughs. “You can’t hurt us, we got you.”
I frown at his words, then the click from earlier hits me, and I look down. In my shock, when I bumped into him, I didn’t feel the cuffs around my wrist. They’re gold with symbols all over them; now, I feel the power running through them, and it feels like a curse on my skin.
The man in front of me wraps his hand around my neck and squeezes hard. Air is trapped in my lungs, and I can’t replace it with more. His grip is so tight, my chest is tight, and black dots appear in my vision. My fingers claw at him, trying to get him to let me go. “Drop her, Axe. Boss lady gonna be mad if you kill her.”
The voice is distant. Even if it’s not meant to help me, I’m grateful when I’m dropped to the ground with a thud. The sand around me scatters, and heat from the desert hits me in the face. I scramble to get away from them, but pressure on my back pushes me down deeper. The tiny grains of sand embed in my face.
One of them lowers so he can growl into my ear. “Boss lady won’t mind us playing with you a little bit, though.”
Letting out a scream, feeling rough hands run up the back of my thighs, his touch turning my stomach, making me want to throw up, I want to push him away, but fear has me frozen in place. I can smell his body odor —the sickly scent of sweat and blood so strong that I can almost taste it. I want to bury myface in the sand, even if it suffocates me; it will be better than smelling him. He pulls my hair again, lifting me with it. He turns me over so I face him. His red eyes burn into mine with a hunger I’ve seen so many times at the club—the look of wanting what they can’t have and knowing they will do anything to get it.
It’s a look I never want aimed at me. He rips open my shirt, causing buttons to spray everywhere. He pushes the shirt further open and groans, seeing my breasts on full display. I try to cover myself, but my efforts are wasted when he grabs me again, his hands leaving bruises in their wake. Desperation is evident in his eyes with the need he has to touch me everywhere.
His hands move to grope my breasts. He plays with them, squeezing so hard that tears spring from my eyes and run down my cheeks. I whimper and buck my hips trying to get him off me, but he is too strong. The more I try to move, the more both seem to be enjoying this.
“Pull her legs open. Let’s see what kind of pussy the book reader has.” Axe growls.
Using my legs, I push back, but I can’t move very fast; I sink deeper into the sand.
“Grab her, Max, hold her down,” his voice dark and deadly. Max reaches for me and grabs a handful of my hair again. He pulls me up and drags me back over. My hands frantically try to grab the sand to stop him from moving me; my legs dig into the loose grains, but it’s no use. The movement pulls me deeper, like a blanket of quicksand. I reach up, trying to rip his grip from mine, but he is just too strong.
“Help me, please.Help me!” I scream, but it’s only met with a dark chuckle.
“Scream all you want. Nobody will help you; no one comes here, this is Macy’s land.”
Max pulls on my hair tighter, making it feel like it’s going to rip out of my head. The other large daemon comes over andslaps me hard, making me sob silently. Strong hands are on my legs, forcing them apart.
I let out another scream and kick out again. This time, my foot connects with Axe’s face, knocking him away from me. He hisses before wrapping his hand hard around my neck and choking me again. “You will pay for that bitch!”
Axe spits in my face, then punches me hard, shattering my cheekbone. I wince, waiting for him to begin touching me again, but instead, he throws another punch. Each blow feels calculated, meant to cause me as much pain as possible.
He aims for my face, stomach, and ribs; each hit pours so much agony into my body that I almost black out. I’ve never been hit by a daemon before. Now I understand why most non-supernaturals who end up fighting them always end up in the hospital—daemons have unmatched power and strength.
He roars each time he hits me. It feels like they are trying to kill me with rage.
Blood runs down my nose; much like my cheekbone, I think it’s broken.
“We should take her to Ester Isle and wait for Macy. It’ll be safer there.” One of them—though I can’t tell whom—says. The talking makes me realize they have stopped hitting me and have left me lying on the ground.
The pain is so much that it makes me want to cry with each breath I take.
I wish Gaelan were here; I wish he would shimmer in and save me, but I know that he won’t. He is going to be so angry and so worried when he wakes up. He’s going to think I am gone again, that Macy has taken me.
I wonder where they will leave my body for him to find this time. A sob escapes my lips at the thought of him finding me, knowing that it’s going to break him. I didn’t get a chance to tell him I loved him. I am going to die, and he wouldn’t have heardme say those words—he said that he wasn’t going to lose me again.
He has.
“We can play some more with her then. I wonder what it would be like to fuck the Book Reader?” They both laugh.
