Page 20 of Vampire

“Poison called me and said that he had a weird call at Scarlett,” Shadow said, walking into the room and sitting next to me, shoving a phone number at Kickstand. “Try to find out who’s number that is.”

“What was so strange about it?” I asked, already knowing in my gut this was the break we needed.

“Poison said he picked up the phone, but nobody was there, but you could hear music and men partying in the background. At first, he thought it was a butt dial, but it was a landline, and he could hear someone breathing and moving the phone. The caller Id didn’t give a name, only an unknown number. It’s just too odd to ignore,” Shadow informed me.

“I agree,” I said, saying nothing more as I watched Kickstand waiting for the name I knew would lead me to Nicolette. And I didn’t have to wait long.

“Carolina’s Bar, it’s located in Moon Township,” Kickstand said, turning his laptop to show us a map of the area.

I was out of my chair and headed for the door. “Wait, Vampire; you can’t just run in there. We aren’t even sure she’s there, let alone how many men are there. It could be a trap or something we need to be sure,” Shadow said. I knew what he said made sense, but I needed to find her, and I wasn’t willing to wait.

“I will go ahead and check it out, and you can gather the brothers and meet me there. I can’t sit here and wait; I just can’t.”

“No, you won’t go alone. The van is ready and loaded. We will go as a team, I sent a text, and the brothers who aren’t here will meet along the way. So let’s head out,” Shadow commanded. This was why I’m in the club, brotherhood, always having each other's back no matter what.

Shadow was right; the van was out front, Johnny in the driver's seat, and the fifteen brothers who were at the clubhouse were preparing to ride. I straddled my bike and pushed beside Shadow, waiting for the others to get into formation; the gate opened, and we hit the road. I will have Nicolette with me tonight if things go as planned.

I GLANCE ATTildie as she read her book, absorbed in words,her eyes never leaving the pages as she sat there. It was like this every time Mouth brought her back. Tildie would go into the bathroom, shower, come out, grab a book, and read for an hour, never acknowledging me. Then after an hour, she would look up, and her big smile would return, and she would come to my cot and talk through her notepad.

So far since I’ve been here, Mouth has taken her three times, twice during the day, and he came in last night picking her up and carrying her out, returning her an hour later. I heard her silent sobbing. I wanted to talk to her about it, but I knew she had a coping mechanism she used by losing herself in her books, and I didn’t want to ruin that for her by bringing up Mouth. So when Stefan came, and I knew he would, I would make them bring Tildie with us. I wouldn’t leave her here.

Tildie looked up, her smile now back in place. She wrote on her notepad and then turned it so I could see. She wrote: I am going to get us some lunch. She unfolded herself from the cot and went to the door, she knocked on it, and a man opened it, letting Tildie out. Mouth was usually there, but not this time. After a minute, the door opened back up, and the man who let Tildie out came in. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be greasy. Dirty blond hair, pockmarked skin, with a slimy smile. He was gross and in need of a bath. He was also high as a kite, his pupils dilated.

He gave me a leering look. “I don’t know why we can’t fuck you. A sexy bitch like you should be fair game. I don’t give a fuck; I want a taste,” he spat, coming toward me. I ran around him, trying to get to the door. But, he grabbed me before I could reach it, hauling me back against him. His body odor made me gag. I kicked out at him, fighting, trying to break free. “Don’t fight bitch, and it will fast and easy,” he rasped, his foul breath hitting my face.

The door opened, and Tildie came in, taking in the scene in front of her. She started back out the door, and the man dropped me, grabbing Tildie, causing her to drop the tray she was carrying. “Oh, no, you mute bitch you aren’t going to rat me out. He picked Tildie up, throwing her against the wall; she fell to the floor, not moving. “I don't care if you do belong to Mouth. I’ll fucking kill you,” he ranted even though Tildie couldn’t hear him. I don’t know what drug he was on, but I knew one thing he wasn’t thinking clearly.

I started toward Tildie to help her, but the man put his arm around my waist,” pulling me toward the cot. I opened my mouth to scream, but his hand went around my mouth as he bent me over the little bed, his body holding me down while he pulled at my shorts. The tears started as I realized I couldn’t stop him. Then he let out a howl of pain and jerked himself off me.

“You stupid cunt,” he raged at Tildie, bringing his hand back to backhand her across the face. “You fucking cut me! I’ll kill you for that.” And he kept hitting her and throwing her around, and I jumped on his back trying to get him off her; I could hear cracks that sounded like bones breaking and screamed for help as loud as I could. Suddenly I was pulled off of the insane man, and he was jerked off Tildie. I heard a crack, and the man fell to the floor, his neck broken.

“It’s alright, butterfly; I got you,” Stefan said from behind me. I turned in his arms, crying, afraid Tildie was dead. He just held me and let me cry a minute. Then, moving me back a little so he could look at me. “Are you hurt?”

Sniffling, trying to be strong for Tildie. “No, I’m fine, but poor Tildie, she tried to help me, and now she’s hurt,” I said, turning to see several men leaning over Tildie. “We can't leave her here; they will keep hurting her. I’m not leaving without her.”

“Nicolette, we won’t leave her here. But, we need to know who she is,” Stefan said, keeping his voice soothing.

“Her name is Tildie, and she is Cross’s sister, and we need to help her,” I sobbed, knowing she was hurt bad.

“Okay, we need to move,” Shadow said from where he stood, watching them work on Tildie.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ONCE WE GOTa block away from the bar,we stopped and walked the rest of the way, so we wouldn’t alert anyone we were there. Shadow, Viking, and I stood outside the place and waited until someone came out. It was a member of the Fire Dragons, and it took only minutes to find out where Nicolette was inside. Moreno, Fuse, and King secured the front entrance, and we called the remaining brothers in to back us up if there was trouble.

We had no sooner got inside when I heard Nicolette screaming for help, and my heart stopped, hoping we weren’t too late. I’ll never forget what we saw when we opened the door to that room. Nicolette was on the back of a man beating him while he tried to buck her off as he hit the unconscious girl who lay on the floor. I pulled Nicolette off the man, and before I knew what was happening, Stonewall had jerked the man up, breaking his neck. Whatever Stonewall saw triggered him, and his face was one of mottled rage that he couldn’t control. As soon as he killed the man, he walked out the door, not saying a word.

It sucked because I had plans for the man who dared to touch my butterfly. And after what he did to the poor girl who now lay unconscious and bleeding, I could have really made him suffer and beg for death.

“How bad is it, Doc?” Shadow asked. Luckily Doc was in on this because if we ever needed him, it was now.

“Bad, we need to get her to a hospital. This goes beyond my realm of experience. She will need a lot of testing. We will stabilize her the best we can and use one of the cots to move her; she has a broken leg, arm, and jawbone, and I can’t be sure but a possible head injury; we need to get her back to Elkview fast, and I can have her admitted as a Jane Doe or something and say it’s domestic violence. I will call in some favors to keep it quiet,” Doc said as he, Soldier and Viking, worked, not stopping. Reader had Tildie’s head on his lap, trying to comfort her.

“What can you tell us about her that may help, history, age, that kind of thing,” Doc said to Nicolette, who was still in shock.

“Oh, God, I can’t believe I didn’t say this to begin with, but Tildie is deaf, she can communicate with sign language, and she can read lips if you talk slow enough. Her full name is Matilda; I don’t know a last. She just turned nineteen a few days ago, and...” she stopped hesitantly.

“Go on, Nicolette, it may help,” I whispered into her ear.

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