Page 123 of Rising Queen (Blood Empire 1)

He turns back to me. “Look, I know I haven't been the most easy-going person, but this shit could go south. So just be careful, okay?”

Okay? What the fuck is going on? Ugh, why does he have to be so... alpha male, and why is it so damn hot hearing him growl at me like that.

Normally, I would have stabbed him in the neck by now. Fuck, Evie is right; Iamgoing soft. I'm three more swoons away from being a fucking squish-mellow.

“Yes, sir,” I salute him like a soldier, making him crack a grin. “And you know, stay alive and all that bull shit. Rosie would be crushed if she lost any of you.”

Not wanting this to turn into some love fest, I push past the guys. “Peace out, fuckers. May the odds be ever in your favor.”

I’VE BEEN WALKING FORat least two hours. I’ve checked three rooms and found jack shit. Needing a moment's break, I take a drink from the water bottle that I brought with me.

Screwing the top back on, I retie my laces and get ready to continue down the tunnel when I hear people arguing.

Yes! Fuck yes! That’s got to be the men they hired to watch over the girls. I’ll be fucking pissed if it’s just some random city workers.

Quickly but quietly, I creep my way down the tunnel, dimming the light on my flashlight. The tunnel turns off to the left, so I'm able to peek around the corner, keeping my body hidden.

“Look, we haven't heard from them in almost two days. Something must have happened. Reception is shit down here. I'm just gonna go up and call them to see what's going on. You're gonna be fine,” a man with a buzz cut says, rolling his eyes at some blonde dude.

“Letmego. I need a break from all the bitching and crying these girls do. They’re giving me a fucking headache.”

“Fine,” the first guy snaps, shoving the cell phone into the blonde guy's hand. “But hurry. When you get back, we can take that pretty, little redhead for a spin.” His grin is sick and twisted, and I can’t fucking wait to watch him bleed.

“You’re fucked,” blonde guy laughs. “They would kill us if they knew we were sampling the goods.”

Buzz head scoffs. “We're down here for hours every day. It’s just mean to tempt us and not to let us pass the time. It’s what they're here for anyways,” he shrugs.

Oh, yes. I'm gonna have so much satisfaction killing these guys. My only problem is that I don’t have the time to knock them out and tie them up to bring them home as my next playdates.Insert pouty face.

Blondie starts heading down the tunnel towards me as the buzz head dude goes back into the room. Plastering myself against the wall to avoid the light of his flashlight, I wait until he rounds the corner.

Thankfully, the light misses me, and he continues down the tunnel. The light is bright enough for me to see what I'm doing, so I slip out my dagger, not wanting to use my gun and end up drawing attention to us. I don't know how many more men are in that room.

Creeping behind him, I wait for the right moment, before leaping on him like a little spider monkey.I know there's probably more graceful ways of doing this, but where's the fun in that?

“What the fuck!” he grunts, but that's all he has the chance to say before I wrap my legs tightly around his waist, grip his hair with one hand, and bring my dagger up. With one swift motion, I slice his neck. Blood starts squirting out of his neck almost as hard as Neo makes me squirt during our fuck fests.Almost. I still hold the gold medal for that.

The flashlight falls from his hand, and he drops to his knees. Hopping off his back, I kick him the rest of the way to the ground for the fun of it.

“Well, that was fun and all, but I got more of your friends to kill and mine to save. Bye-bye.” I wave to his corpse. His eyes are wide and glazed over, his mouth parted, and a pretty, red pool of blood starts forming under his face.

“Ha, you look funny,” I giggle, wiping the blood on my dagger off onto his shirt, then turn around and skip down the tunnel back to the door he came out of. Killing always puts a pep in my step.

Getting to the door, I slowly pull it open. Thankfully, it doesn't make too much noise. Not that anyone would hear it over all the crying.

“Just you wait! When she finds us, and she fucking will, she’s gonna kill you all!” a woman roars. It’s Tracy! My heart skips a beat while a smile splits my face. Thank god, she's here. She just better be okay.

“Oh, shut the fuck up. No one is coming for you. You’re just pissed that you were stupid enough to actually believe that I wanted you. I do have to admit that kidnapping one of Queenie's girls was a good‘fuck you’to the stupid bitch.” That voice sounds like the dude with the buzz cut.

Looking around the dimly lit space, I see shelves and boxes. It looks like we're in some kind of storage room.

Keeping hidden, I do a quick sweep of the area. There are three men in total: one talking to Tracy and two fuckers sleeping in chairs.

I guess watching a bunch of kidnapped girls can be a pretty tiring job.That's sarcasm, by the way.

Moving around a few more shelves, I get a better look at the girls. I can't see them all, but it looks like the room goes further back into another chamber with wall to ceiling cages taking up the entire space. Fucking pieces of shit are chaining them in like cattle.

Flashes of my past flicker across my mind. Being locked in my cell every night for years. Seeing those helpless girls getting ready to be sold on the night we burnt the place to the ground.

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