Chapter 6 #3
“She was fae, wasn’t she?” A third spoke up, making them all give him shit.
“You’re a fae fucker, Kristof?”
“No, tesó, she’s fully human. Pretty, with full lips, and huge fuckin’ boobs, and this long red hair I wrapped around my hand while she sucked me off like a vacuum. They call her the English Rose. Like giving her a pretty name makes her anything more than a warm hole to stick my dick in.”
Searing hot anger bloomed up the back of my neck and across my shoulders, my teeth grinding together.
It took everything in me to keep from running down the ramp and shooting this Kristof right between the eyes.
The protectiveness I felt for Rosie shuffled my feet, twitching my trigger finger.
Not only did I most likely know this guy, at least by face, but this piece of crap had another connection to me, to my friend, and he had no clue what she had gone through in her life to survive.
His spoiled, entitled life held no understanding of how hard the real world was outside HDF.
It made me want to show them all exactly how horrible it could be.
“Szar!” Shit! One of them hissed, and I could see his outline push off the lamp post he was leaning against, tossing down his cigarette. “They’re here!”
“Fuck.” The Kristof guy exclaimed, stomping out his as well. “They weren’t supposed to be here for another few hours.”
All four straightened up, their demeanors shifting into serious soldiers, cascading prickles down my spine. Something was coming.
“Get the gate. Hurry!” Kristof ordered two of them, their forms jogging for the locked entry down the ramp.
Fear grated down my chest, splicing itself between my ribs.
My head darted back inside the market, none of my comrades anywhere nearby.
Before I could even whistle, the gate peeled opened, the metal shredding over the cement as the men dragged the gates open.
Blinding light from car headlights slammed me back into the corner, trying to dissolve into the darkest shadows.
Panic clogged my airways, paralyzing me as the windowless van came up the ramp, curving around only feet from me.
Two guards followed close behind, the two others staying back to keep watch.
I could tell it was the guy Kristof who had spoken about Rosie and the other one who was leaning against the lamppost. They seemed more in charge than the other two.
The closer they got, the more I recognized their faces.
Both graduated a few years before Caden, and they were so unmemorable and low rank, I had no clue what their names were.
Kristof was tall and stocky, not at all fit, but large enough he might look intimidating.
The other one was shorter but trimmer, with a buzzed haircut and a deep scar above his lip.
They followed the van to the far side, parking in front of another pair of doors, to what I would think would be a utility/electrical closet or a room for supplies.
A middle-aged, lean blond man climbed out of the driver’s seat. His face immediately made me press harder back into the wall.
“Captain Kobak.” Both men went straight, saluting him. “You’re early.”
“And you’re a disgrace.” His pinched brows didn’t move, his long, skinny face displaying nothing but annoyance. He opened the sliding door of the van, and two more soldiers climbed out.
Kobak was well known at HDF. Cruel. Solemn.
Detached from any emotions which made someone human.
No family, friends, or pets, his lone focus was rising through the ranks.
He had Bakos’s job for a while until he had an overabundance of complaints about his brutality, even sending trainees to the clinic himself and getting off on beating them within an inch of their life.
Istvan had to remove him, put him in a different position.
The passenger side door slammed, and the other man waddled around.
It took everything in me not to gasp.
Dr. Karl. The last person I expected to see tonight.
He was dressed in his white lab coat, his protruding stomach straining his shirt. My gut twisted with warning. Why was he here? What the hell was going on?
“We don’t have all day,” Captain Kobak snapped, motioning for them to move.
“Of course, sir!” Kristof and Buzzcut dashed for the door, pulling out a set of keys. The two other soldiers followed them, just out of my eyeline.
Drawing in a breath, I inched closer, slanting my head to see. All their attention was focused away from me, but if any of them turned around, they would be able to see me.
Kristof unlocked several bolts before the door swung open. He stepped into the room, the three others following, telling me either this room was a lot bigger than I thought, or it was connected to a larger one.
The strike of my heartbeat counted the seconds they were gone, until I saw Dr. Karl lean into the doorway.
“Oh, these look like much better specimens than the last ones. Maybe they will last a bit longer.”
“Like we can’t simply get more. They’re cockroaches,” Kobak sneered, stepping back as two guards dragged something out.
It took me a moment to make out the shape in the dim light.
A man.
Young and tall, he sagged over like he couldn’t stand up, his feet barely able to move.
The guards carted him to the van. He was dirty, emaciated, and beaten, but I had no doubt he was fae.
His hair looked almost like feathers, so dark it looked iridescent.
His nose was sharp, like a bird’s beak. Beautiful. Regal.
And appearing to be drugged.
He swayed and stumbled like he could barely stay conscious. The two sentinels roughly flung him into the van, and the sound of his bones thumped hard on the van floor.
“Make sure he’s cuffed,” Kobak ordered. “Last one was able to get loose, and I had to shoot him before we even arrived.”
“Yes, sir.” They climbed into the van while Kristof and Buzzcut dragged out another one.
My hand slapped over my mouth, swallowing back my reaction. I recognized her. One of the workers I had seen in Carnal Row, still half-shifted into her bunny form. She was also gaunt, beaten, and drugged.
Dr. Karl’s beady eyes watched her as the men tossed her into the van, forcing her to cry out.
“Shut up, you fucking fae kurva.” Kristof spat at her.
“Please be gentle with the stock. I need them in somewhat good condition.” Dr. Karl strolled around to the passenger side, climbing in.
Kristof huffed, sliding the van door, the two other guards already inside.
Captain Kobak turned to Kristof and Buzzcut. “Don’t think I won’t mention to General Markos about your abhorrent lack of commitment to your job. Now get back to your posts.”
“Yes, si—”
Crash!
The sound of something falling onto the tile in the market below echoed out, turning everyone to the door. To me. It was a second, my reflexes moving slower than I was used to, not ducking away fast enough. Kobak’s eyes landed on mine.
Recognition widened them.
One beat, and everything turned to hell.