CHAPTER 31
Ivy
Three hours before . . .
Consciousness looms near the edges of my mind. It’s calling to me. Demanding that I take note of something that isn’t quite right.
Something is off.
Slowly, I come to and my senses pick up on a few subtle changes.
The room feels heavy—consumed by a dark cloud I can feel all around me.
It’s odd. My skin prickles; the atmosphere inside these four walls is suffocating. As if somebody’s watching me.
Watching us.
Not that we aren’t always under watch, but this feels different somehow. More invasive.
I can literally feel the presence of evil sitting at our feet. Invading our quiet for their sick pleasure.
Then it hits me again.
How we were taken. How they knocked us out with a sleeping agent inside our water.
Every time we’ve been drugged it’s been blatant, a show of power over us. In a way, they feel as though we are nothing more than a piece of property they own. An object.
But this time . . .
Jesus, I whimper internally. Clenching my eyes tight while willing my body to not move. Not to let them know that I’m awake.
Someone grunts low in their throat and it’s closer than what I imagined. Chains rattle and the movement of shuffling feet follow. Closer. A chair scrapes the ground and then stops.
A finger snaps.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Again the chains clanks against the floor and then silence.
I can’t breathe. My chest feels as if it’s caving in on itself and the sheet rustles with its exaggerated movements. No matter how hard or how deep I inhale, I can’t get air to my lungs.
Beside me Noah shifts. It’s minute; he removes his leg from over my thighs and resettles face down. Close enough that I can feel his every exhale on my neck, but the man is unaware of our surroundings. Of the monsters mere steps away.
Bolder. They’re no longer giving us the illusion of a boundary between us.
I almost envy that he’s asleep, but I’d rather it be me than him. He’d react violently; a cornered snake ready to attack anything within a few feet of me.
Another snap and a throat clears, the sound rough. Abrasive. As if the person hasn’t used their voice in a long time.
Which one is it? Jacques or Clarice?
They both seem to get off on my fear. Focus more on me than on Noah.
“Please stop.” Oh God, I know that voice. It’s meek and hoarse, but it’s Jamie and she’s in here. That sound was not coming from a speaker or TV.
Immediately I sit up, searching her out. However, my elation turns into abject horror the moment our eyes lock.
“Jaime,” I whisper past the lump in my throat at the sight of her. Bloody and on her knees, she’s wearing a dog’s collar around her neck, the metal chain wrapped tight around a hand. A hand that’s resting on her neck with a rustic dagger also in its clasp.
It’s pressed there, not cutting, but as a warning.
A few bruises dot her upper arms and neck. Jaime blinks at me—tries to signal behind her with rapid movement of her eyes. I’m afraid to look.
Again, that throat clears and the hand pulls on her leash. The man digs the very tip of the knife into her cheek, causing a few drops of blood to roll down and pool at the edge of her lip.
“Please stop.” At my plea the hand pauses and resumes its place with the leash and dagger lying in his hold on her skin.
His other hand comes up from his thigh. He snaps his fingers twice then points up. He wants my attention on his face. God help us.
I look up and into the mask of Raoul. The cutout of his eyes are a black hole. Eerie.
Reminds me of the blankness of Jacques’ intense stare.
No one moves or makes a sound for a few minutes. We just stare. His focus is on me while I try not to flinch back.
Fight or flight, my body demands I chose.
Raoul beckons me closer with a finger and I shake my head. He tsks, but remains seated. Doesn’t try to hurt Jaime at my refusal either.
Again the silence looms.
My skin feels flushed; beads of sweat trickle down my neck and I move it all over one shoulder. At the movement Noah looks up from behind half-lidded eyes and smiles at me.
“Come cuddle.” He pouts his lips, asking for a kiss that I oblige him. Just one. A quick peck and he resettles with his head near my thigh. He’s out like a light once more.
He didn’t even realize we have company.
What the fuck did they give us to make him that unaware? Why did I react differently than he?
“Isn’t that sweet?” Clarice chimes in from behind Raoul. When the hell did she get here?
At the sound of her voice, Jaime begins to shake, the chain of her leash making enough sound to force my eyes down and away from this demonic doll. The pain in her eyes—the raw fear in her expression causes me to move back and into the headboard. Whatever they’ve done to her is nothing compared to what they’ll do to me.
Valerie’s hate knows no bounds and she will have them cut me into pieces before feeding me to her dog. Literally.
“Eyes on me, brat. We don’t have much time.” My reaction isn’t fast enough for Clarice, and I watch in horror as Raoul flicks his wrist and cuts a jagged line across my friend’s shoulder. One blink of the eye and the blood flows down her arm. Jaime presses her lips together—hard—to bite back her scream of pain.
She’s covered in dry, crusted blood, most of her wounds already scabbing.
“Should we add another so soon? Eyes up, Ivy,” Clarice spits out from between her teeth.
“What do you need from me to make this stop?” I’ll do anything to not cause my friend any more pain. Even if Noah kills me afterward, I can’t sit by and do nothing.
“Anything?” Her laughter causes me to flinch, something she finds amusing and claps. “You’ll do as I say without any fight? Behave as all good children should?”
“Yes.” That word tastes bitter on my tongue.
“Then get up from the bed and come to me.”
This is purgatory. I slide to the edge and sit with my feet dangling off the mattress. Clarice watches me, her mask moving up and down her face, the shift minute, but I can tell she’s enjoying my discomfort.
She’s laughing—her shoulders shaking—all the while Raoul remains a statue with his toy at his feet.
Just waiting to do his master’s bidding. To hurt her.
With embarrassment, I slide down and stand straight. I’m naked and completely at their mercy.
“Hurry up, child. We must leave far before he wakes up and the true fun begins.”
Oh God, my poor Noah. He’s going to flip the fuck out when he comes to and I’m not here.
“Move it or I’ll cut her once more . . . this time I’ll adorn her right eye—a quick slash and she’ll be perfect like me.”
With one last longing glance in Noah’s direction, I move toward my fate. Silently, I tell him that I love him and take Clarice’s outstretched hand.
“Good girl,” she coos and drags my shaking body past the threshold and down a dark hall. We don’t stop until we reach a turn. “Put this on.”
“Why?” I ask, taking an all black robe from her and putting it on. Why the hell are they covering me up now? After everything?
“Because we must not tempt the Master. Our mistress will be very upset if we allow it.” Her sullen voice causes me to pause; she seems upset by this. As if she herself has been on the receiving end of Valerie’s wrath because of me. Or that man.
Same man who gave us the chance to shower in peace. He showed his hand and the power he holds in this game.
Who is he?
And why is he so familiar to me?
I’m so lost in my thoughts, the memory of that man calling me little Ivy love that I don’t realize when we enter through another set of doors. It isn’t until the lock clicks into place that I’m startled from my thoughts.
Clarice and Raoul stand in the middle and watch my every move while I look around the sterile room. It’s white. All white except for the lone pipe with hanging handcuffs that runs straight across the center. Beneath the metal pole, the floor is all tile and has a huge drain at the center.
Waterdrops still decorate the area around the trench.
As if they’ve had to clean up recently.
A harsh shiver runs down my spine at the thought and I take a step back.
Clarice tsks. “Come closer.” She beckons and is looking in our direction.
I look beside me, expecting to find Jaime, but she is nowhere to be found. What the hell?
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about her . . . she’s busy saying her evening prayers with Agnes. They’ll be a while.”
“Where is she? Enough with the riddles and games—” I’m cut off by the sound or a harsh, inhuman shout. Noah.
He’s screaming my name like a lunatic. His desperation comes across the small speakers set up strategically in each corner of this room. My man is pissed.
“Where the bloody fuck is she?” Noah yells out and its animalistic, deranged. “Answer me.”
“She’s alive and that’s all you need to worry about at the moment,” Valerie answers, but I can hear the unhappiness of the fact quite clear. “Ivy is being detained and not your biggest concern at the moment . . . you should be more—”
“Bring her back or I’ll burn this entire place down.”
“Is that a threat, Mr. Barker?” You are in no position to—”
“It’s a motherfucking promise.” Silence follows his threat and neither of them say a word. Neither do the two within the room with me. In fact, we all stay rooted to our spot, waiting.
Minutes pass and my worry turns to fear. I need to go back to Noah.
“Please take me back.” They shake their heads in unison and I square my shoulders. Fuck it, I take a step back toward the door and they follow. My hand is on the knob, turning it, when the crackle comes through the speakers once more.
“Ivy . . . baby, I’m coming for you!”