The house was packed. Bodies upon bodies squeezed together in an attempt to fit more people in. The living room consisted of a bunch of old couches some of which were occupied by couples dry humping each other. A heavy cloud of smoke floated above our heads and I could taste the bitterness of belladonna and other drugs in the air.
This was the haven of illegal—drugs and sex and booze.
Music blared through the speakers, but the voices still managed to overpower it.
Everywhere I moved, someone touched me, grazing my body with theirs, overwhelming me. All the intense emotions storming me. Over the weeks, I’d gotten used to the overwhelming feeling of the Pit. But this place was all new to me, it was like starting over. I could taste everyone’s emotions on my tongue at once and it was making me sweat. The low lighting made it difficult to recognize who anyone was, but maybe I didn’t know anyone here. Aaron moved behind me, his hands loosely on my hips and his front plastered to my back. I could feel his hardness digging into my ass, but I didn’t panic. I didn’t let it stir the fear twisting in my stomach.
I needed answers. I needed to see if I could find whatever information he had on me.
I scanned the crowded room but didn’t see Danny. Maybe he was in another room.
I paused, twisting my arm so it gripped Aaron’s neck and whispered in his ear. “I’m gonna find the bathroom. Be right back.”
He nodded against me, his attention immediately going to another girl grinding on a guy on a nearby couch.
I elbowed my way past the living room and into the kitchen to see a few people doing a line of coke on the counter. As I turned the corner, a group of guys blocked my path. All of them stared and as I bowed my head and moved past them, I heard one say something.
“She’s a souleater,” he said, nudging his friend. “They fuck you up good.”
Again, I ignored them and moved onto the next room until I ventured upstairs, hearing the excitement of people behind closed doors.
I listened at each door until I found one that was silent and peeked inside. It wasn’t a bedroom, but an office.
Jackpot.
I tiptoed inside and began searching through the drawers. More bills, more notes of nonsense. I turned on the lamp beside me and squinted at the tiny notes. Nothing. Nothing important.
Not again…
I dropped the papers and sat down in Danny’s chair, sighing into my hands. The sight of folders underneath his desk made my stomach drop. I reached down and pulled them up.
Folders about people—every single personal detail about them. Blood type, name, address, birthday—if they’d lose their virginity. What kind of demons they were.
Dolores Sawyer.
Her name sat in bold letters at the top of the folder. I flipped it open and began searching through, searching for a clue.
Age: 32 (born March 9th, 1985)
Appearance: Brown hair, shoulder-length. Green eyes. Very slender, probably malnourished.
Breast: D
Blood type: A positive
Family: Mother (incubus from Kansas, deceased from overdose);
Father (unknown);
No siblings.
Status: Single
Address: Unknown
Employment: Sex worker
Addictions: none known
Race of demon: Incubus.
A photograph snuck between the white papers and I gawked at her tanned skin, the freckles scattered across her cheeks and nose like splatter from a paintbrush.
But I didn’t see any clues as to where she would’ve been taken to.
I put the folder down and shuffled through more papers.
And then my heart dropped and twisted violently when my eyes stumbled upon my name.
Alexandra Harvey.
My own name plastered on a yellow folder.
I flipped it open, tearing at the papers and reading over all the details written about myself.
My blood type.
My old address before the hunters took me.
My birthday.
And that I’m a souleater.
My hand flew to my mouth, covering it before any sound could come out.
What did all of this mean? Why did he have such detailed files on these demons?
He’d said back in his office that he liked to research each of his employees extensively, and sure enough, he’d known things about me that not many knew.
But this didn’t feel like the kind of research one did on an employee.
I stuffed the files into my coat, not caring if it bent them. Just as long as I had them.
The door squeaked, and I straightened, gawking at the sight of Danny, leaning against the doorframe.
His features were drawn into an ugly frown and the zigzag scar moved as he gritted his teeth.
He slammed the door behind him, the few paintings on the wall shaking from the blow.
“Hello, little Lex,” he said, no hint of friendliness in his tone. It was all anger and frost. “Here we meet again, in a place you weren’t invited to enter.”
I stood quickly, trying not to tremble in front of him.
Fuck. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck.
“What were you doing, hm?” He took a step forward, blocking my path to the door. “I thought I’d made myself clear on the consequences of snooping.” He tsked, head shaking disapprovingly.
I swallowed down my panic and raised my chin. Not backing down. Not being the scared little girl he wanted me to be. “You have folders. You have folders about me. About my friend that is missing.”
His nostrils flared at that and he glanced down at my jacket. “Naughty snoops die around here, little Lex, did you know that? Of course you did, because I warned you once. Didn’t I?”
He stepped closer, too close that I couldn’t help but back up. He grinned down at me, his hand going into his leather jacket pocket and pulling out a knife. “Such a lovely, lovely face though, such a shame.”
I darted forward, trying to rush around him, but his arms caught me, and we tumbled into the wall.
I groaned, in pain as he brought the knife to my throat. I froze, slowing my breathing.
He hummed, the knife stroking my neck. “Did I mention I like to enjoy my victims before I kill them? Maybe I should do just that, your sweet little ass has been teasing me for far too long, little slut. And I’ve been good to you, but you’ve been very bad, little Lex. Now is the time to right your wrongs.” He leaned forward, licking me from collarbone to neck and I couldn’t’ help but shiver at the touch.
“Wilson!” he bellowed, a dark laugh breaking through his cruel smile. “Maybe I’ll invite our friend to join in, how would you feel about that, souleater?”
The door cracked open and I froze, watching as a man walked inside.
My heart paused when my gaze reached his face.
I knew him.
But how? From where? I searched my memories hurriedly, trying to remember.
Where? Where? Where?
The man smiled darkly at something Danny had just said, exposing his crooked teeth and dimples. A memory flashed in my mind at that and my breath left my lungs.
He’d stolen me. He’d been the man who stole me and gave me to the hunters all those months ago.
But he wasn’t human.
He was a demon.
A demon had sold me to hunters.
My heart grew frantic at the discovery and what it all implied as the weight of a thousand nightmares crashed into me at once.
The hunters. Being kidnapped. The laughs. The fists. The pain. The blood.
Him.
Him.
Him.
He’d been there.
I knew it as much as I knew who I was and where I’d come from.
I fought through the panic, through the darkness. I fought to push the nightmares back, locking them away deep within me. This wasn’t the place to think about all this. This wasn’t the place to be afraid and weak.
“We’re gonna have fun with you,” Danny whispered into my skin. “I hope you said goodbye to your Knight.”
I trembled, the knife at the base of my neck but my eyes stayed glued to Danny.
“You,” I gasped.
He arched a brow and Danny looked back at him. “You know her, Wilson?”
Wilson shook his head.
But I knew it was him. It was the last thing I’d told myself to do before they’d dragged me away from the party I’d been attending and consequently, away from my life. To memorize someone. To focus on everything to try and save myself. The man that I thought was a hunter that sold me to more hunters. I had seen in my hazy vision the hunters give him money.
“You sold me,” I whispered, shaking as I stared at Wilson.
“Sorry, babe, I don’t remember you.” He squinted at me, stepping closer. “Don’t take it personally, I sell a lot of faceless women to hunters. They all blur after a while.” He shrugged nonchalantly, having the nerve to smile after admitting such horrors.
“And you—you’re in this with him,” I said, turning my head to look directly at Danny, eyes accusing. “You help him sell these demons to the hunters.”
Danny dug the knife deeper into my throat and I flinched. “Don’t get cocky, little Lex. It’s not attractive.”
“Maybe you should shut her up with your cock,” Wilson suggested, moving closer, his eyes gleaming in excitement. “Or I can use mine.”
“Hmm. She’d bite it off. This girl has too much recklessness in her still. The hunters didn’t fuck her up enough,” Danny said, gripping my jaw in a tight hold. “They should have sold you to me. I’d fuck you up nice and good.”
I squirmed against him, wanting to break his skull against my knee, but the knife continued to bite into my skin.
“Oh you know way too many things, little Lex, don’t you?” Danny whispered, turning my head to the side so he can nip at my earlobe. He combed at my loose strands, exposing more of my neck. Then he dug the knife in and I hissed in pain. “You snooped around the wrong fucking guys.” Red seeped into my white t-shirt. “I’ll break you and then I’ll give Savage what’s left of you.”
He laughed at my expression.
“But I’ll let Wilson have a turn with you first. Seems fitting, don’t you think? To relive old, cherished memories together before you leave us forever,” he said, patting my cheek like a little child. “Plus, I was in the middle of something before you messed up my night, you see, little Lex. But I’ll be back, have no fear,” he added, whispering the last part as if we were intimate and it made the hairs on my arms rise in disgust.
He let go, exchanging a smile with Wilson and closed the door behind him.
I breathed out shakily and slowly transferred my gaze to the hunter.
“Get on your knees, souleater,” he demanded, his hands going to his belt.
I shook my head.
His brow lowered over his angry eyes. “Do I need to break them first?”
I clenched my jaw, willing myself to not look away from him.
“You know, I think I do remember you,” he said, nodding to himself, edging closer and closer and closer. His hand caught my wrist and yanked me forward.
Perfect. I bit my lip to hide my smile.
“If you remembered me, you would have broken me properly,” I said, my voice even and composed and deadly, batting my lashes at him. “Instead you broke the wrong parts of me.” I dug my nails into his wrist and he cried out as I flung his hand off. “Don’t touch me.”
With a bestial growl, Wilson snatched my ponytail, his free hand encircling my throat. “You fucking whore.”
“Fuck—you—” I heaved, clawing to dislodge the hand crushing my airway. I threw my head forward, slamming into his forehead and he staggered back, hitting the desk. But he didn’t let that stop him. He surged forward, his nails digging into my forearms. I swung my knee into his stomach and he gasped, all the air leaving his lungs.
I wasn’t stopping, I wasn’t giving up.
No one could break me.
Not unless I allowed them to.
I used my elbow to jab his nose, knocking his head back and then raised my knee to his groin.
He went down fast, groaning in pain. I stepped on his hand, listening to the sound of bones crushing under my boot and twisted.
He cried out and I kicked his face, knocking him out cold.
I rushed to the door and didn’t look back, exhaling when Danny was nowhere in sight.
He’d been so sure I would bend to his will.
That I was weak.
That he’d get what he wanted.
He was wrong about me. All of them were.
I wasn’t weak, defenseless Little Lex anymore.