Chapter 16

Sage

When I came to, I realized that my hands were still tied, but the gag was off. I blinked in the dark, and I could feel a throbbing ache at the back of my head. I moaned, feeling my lips drying up.

“Hey, hey…” I heard a girl’s voice. I could sense someone sliding over to me, along with the sound of the drip drip of water from the ceiling. I realized that it was the girl from before.

“I was scared they’d knocked you out,” I heard her say. It was taking my eyes longer than usual to adjust to the dark.

“I’m fine…I think. Where are we?” I asked her, and now I could see her crouched down in front of me. Her hands were tied too, and she had brought her face close to mine.

“In the basement of the house. They kicked me down the stairs and carried you down,” she said, and I heard her wince.

“That man hit me!” I hissed, remembering the moment when that asshole’s knock came out of the blue. I was struggling in his arms, screeching while my mouth was still gagged. I shouldn’t have fought it so hard, maybe then I wouldn’t have got punched. But I couldn’t just comply. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“They’re up there, I think. Keep your voice down. Shhh,…we don’t want them to know that you’re conscious again. They might come back down and hit us again,” she was looking up at the ceiling of the dark, cold basement, almost afraid that they could see us here.

“What’s your name?” I asked her, and she looked back at me. Her fishnet stockings were torn now, her clothes were ragged. Someone had apparently tried to force her clothes off her at some point.

“Casey. Yours?” she asked and settled down on the floor beside me.

“Sage,” I replied, and she smiled weakly at me.

“Do you really know Glock? You know the Bad Disciples?” she asked, in a small voice and I nodded my head.

“Yes, Glock is an old friend. I’ve known him for years,” I replied, and she nodded her head with her eyes widened.

“Sage…I’m so sorry, I really didn’t think a girl would have turned up. Not that I could have done anything about it. They had a knife on my stomach while I made the call,” she said, and her tears were welling up again.

“I know, Casey, I don’t blame you for this. We’ll just have to find a way out of this together,” I said to her, and she nodded her head, then tried to brush her tears away with her shoulder, which wasn’t helpful.

“Do you really think that the Bad Disciples will come for us?” she asked me and I forced a smile on my face.

“I know Glock will, as soon as he finds out, but until then we have to stay strong and put up a fight,” I told her and Casey suddenly looked afraid.

“Put up a fight? Against them? But we can’t, it’s not possible. They’ll kill us,” she whimpered, and I edged closer to her.

“Casey, look at me. Have they killed any of the girls? Tell me, have they murdered anyone?” I asked her, and she tried to avoid my eyes.

“Casey! Please, tell me,” I pleaded with her, and she gulped.

“I haven’t seen it happen, but I’ve heard rumors. They’ve killed a few girls who tried to escape, or who resisted and refused to do what they were told,” she said with a shiver, and a few more tears rolled down her cheeks. I could feel my mouth going dry.

This did not surprise me. I was sure now that these men were capable of killing women. They would do anything for power and money.

“Okay, let’s forget about that,” I said.

“How? How can we forget about that? We can’t put up a fight, Sage. I don’t want to die!” she shrieked and then clamped her mouth shut when she remembered that she couldn’t be too loud.

“Okay, hush, listen to me, we can try and escape. My car is outside. If we can get out of the basement, we can go to my car,” I said, and Casey was shaking her head.

“We need to get these binds off and then find a window. There has to be a window or a door in this room,” I said, and she started sliding herself away from me. It seemed like she was afraid of me now.

“Casey, I want to help you, but I can’t do this alone,” I begged her, but she shook her head wildly.

“We can chew through these binds, come on, let’s do it,” I exclaimed and lifted my wrists up to my mouth. I sunk my teeth into the thick chords and realized it wasn’t going to work, but I was damn well going to try.

“No, Sage! Please don’t do it. If they find you doing it they will punish you, and me for not stopping you! I don’t want to die!” Casey was crying again, while I gnawed unsuccessfully at my binds.

The thick metal door at the top of the basement stairs creaked. Someone was coming down.

***

The man standing in front of me now had a long thick scar that ran down the front of his face.

He had a large frame and had to be over six feet tall. He was older than the other Dragon Knights. His eyes had a harsh edge to them. They were grey and dangerous, and he had a way of undressing me without even touching me. The harder he looked at me, the more I was convinced that he could see right through me.

He didn’t have to say it. I already knew he was their president. With the way he carried himself, he couldn’t be anyone else.

Now, in the dark, cold basement of this abandoned house, with my hands still tied; I was face-to-face with the leader of the Dragon Knights.

“I didn’t believe it when they described you to me. You are stunning, sweetheart,” he had a slithering voice that sent chills down my spine. He was smiling at me as he looked. Casey had slunk back into the corner of the room, trying to stay out of this man’s vision.

I stuck my chin up in the air, daring him to say more, to say anything to me.

“Now, tell me, sweetheart, how are you connected with Glock? You think if I set a honey trap for him, he’ll come sniffing about here?” the man stepped closer to me and I brought my knees to my chin. I could feel the muscles in my body stiffening, my back stiffening with a mixture of fear and rage.

“They told me you were a big talker, cat got your tongue, sweetheart?” he said with that sickly smile still on his face, and he crouched down in front of me. Our faces were only a few inches away now, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath, I could see the shape of the scar on his face clearly. I felt sick to my stomach.

“I don’t have to talk to you,” I hissed at him, and he threw his head back and laughed.

“Of course, you do, Sage, who else do you have to talk to? I’m pretty sure Casey isn’t good company,” the man said, and I clenched my jaws at him.

“How do you know my name?” I growled, and he laughed some more.

“Finding out your name in this town wasn’t too hard, Sage. A redhead who hangs around Glock, big tits, those were the keywords used, and we got your name within seconds,” he said and reached for my hair. I tried to shake his touch away, but he had a firm grip on my hair now.

“Soft hair,” he said and pulled a bunch of it to his face. He was breathing in deeply. “Smells good too. You know how to look after yourself, don’t you, beautiful Sage? Not like Casey here. You should take some fashion advice from Sage,” he looked at Casey, who was curled up in the corner, staring at us with tears streaming down her face.

“Okay, yes I will,” she murmured politely, and the man laughed.

“Who are you?” I asked him, and he turned to me again.

“You want to sit down and have a chat? A real heart to heart?” he asked, mocking me and I gulped, trying to hold back the rage that was seeping out of my veins.

“What is your name?” I growled at him.

“Why do you want to know, sweetheart?” he asked and reached for my hair again. I didn’t move or flinch, I let him touch me.

“So that I can tell Glock. He should know exactly which of you to kill first,” I hissed the words at him, and he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my face close to his. I could feel the pain shooting down my spine. He had grasped my hair too tightly, but I didn’t want him to know just how badly he was hurting me.

“You think your little boyfriend can get to me? Not before I’ve sold you off for a nice price,” he said with that slithering voice.

His face was close to mine, and with my hands tied, all I could do was spit at him. I watched as my spittle landed right on his left cheek. It was satisfying, even though it wasn’t much. I wanted him to know that I was never going to give up fighting for myself, no matter how long it might take Glock to eventually find me.

His slap landed on my cheek like a hot iron on my skin. I heard Casey gasp as my head rolled back and another searing ache ran down my spine. He grabbed the back of my neck and used that to yank me closer to him again.

With one hand, he wiped the spittle off his face, and then he rubbed it on my knee. I gritted my teeth. I could sense the blood pooling under my skin where the slap had landed on my cheek.

“Don’t ever try something like that again, do you understand, Sage? The next time it will be more than just a slap,” he growled at me, and I flared my nostrils at him.

“What are you going to do?” I barked at him.

The man shook his head like he was disappointed in a child and he stood up off the floor. I fell back when he released his grip on me, and then he dusted his hands like they were dirty.

“I want you to remember that I have personally taken on the responsibility of training you. I’m sure your bitch roommate here will be more than happy to fill you in on the details of that. Also, I like a bit of spunk, and you have loads of that, don’t you, Sage?” he hissed, just as we heard the shot of a gun upstairs.

The three of us flinched at the same time, and my eyes lit up. The sound of shots could only mean one thing, the Bad Disciples were here. Glock had found me.