Chapter 7
Shane
Idragged my miserable, raggedy ass back to consciousness with great reluctance.
I hurt too much to be awake and aware. My head pounded, my neck burned where I’d been shocked, the scabby, bloody mess of my throat stung, and every other fucking part of me ached and throbbed.
My neck was swollen up, that fucking wire digging deep into raw, puffy flesh.
My body was sticky with blood, old sweat.
I dragged myself slowly up into a sitting position as recent events reassembled themselves in my head.
It seemed more like a dream, not a logical sequence.
It still made no sense. The redheaded siren in the sexy evening gown.
Taking down her hair. Dropping her dress.
The glass wall, grinding miraculously open.
The siren, in my arms. That kiss, that climax.
Then zap, the collar, burning and cutting me full force. Fucking wow.
What was the point of all that drama? Beat me all to hell.
It took a long time and grim concentration to steady my legs enough to walk on them.
I staggered over to the food drawer. A meal had been left in it.
A paper-wrapped sandwich, a bottle of water, an apple.
I took out the water, but didn’t bother with the food.
After a bout with the strangle-wire, I could barely get water down.
I usually passed my long, empty hours meditating, focusing on moonscapes, star fields, ocean waves, migrating birds.
Not today. I just dragged my body over to the cot and sprawled on it.
At some point, I heard another meal being automatically delivered through the mechanical drawer in the wall. I didn’t even roll over.
I wished the sick bastard would just kill me. The difficulty of breathing through my inflamed throat made sleep impossible. I just lay there, and fought for every breath of air I took, while pain hammered at my brain with every stubborn heartbeat.
Time crawled by. I slipped in and out of consciousness. I kept seeing my redheaded siren seductively unbraiding her hair for me. Showing me her tits. Then I heard the microphone buzz. The line was open.
“Mr. Masters? Are you awake?”
Halliwell’s voice. Fuck. My gorge rose. The cat was back to play with its prey.
“Mr. Masters, I am sorry to inform you that you’ve reached the end of the road with us today. Your time as our guest has come to an end.”
Huh. So I was going to die today. Funny, how that pissed me off so much. Just when I’d been devoutly wishing for it just moments before. Something about the tone in that prick’s voice as he informed me. So condescending and self-important.
“Mr. Masters!” Halliwell’s voice took on a wheedling tone, like he was trying to get a toddler to eat his vegetables. “The young lady who visited you last night has also come to say goodbye. If that information might induce you to sit up and face us.”
Well, that sneaky son-of-a-bitch. He’d found the perfect way to jerk me around. I hated him for it, but my eyes snapped open involuntarily.
I couldn’t pass up a chance to lay eyes on Red again. My pride was gone, along with fear, and all the rest of it.
If I was going to die, I wanted to look at something beautiful one last time.
I dragged in a breath, braced for pain and wrenched myself up, swinging my legs down off the cot for ballast until I was sitting. Fuck, that hurt. Fresh blood ran hotly down my neck. It tickled.
Several people were out there. It was quite a crowd today. Halliwell in the center, as usual, enthroned in his big wooden chair, legs crossed, a shit-eating grin on his face. He wore a tux, and was surrounded by young women, but I only saw Red.
She stood beside him, wearing a fucking ball gown, of all things.
It was a luminous green, like her eyes, and it caught the light.
Taffeta, maybe. A big, puffy, Disney-princess kind of skirt, a strapless corset top.
Her perfect little freckled tits popped cheerfully out the top, just her raspberry pink nipples hidden.
Her hair was wound up into another towering hairdo featuring a crown of braids.
My hot, dangerous, sexy czarina, on her way to the ball to make trouble.
Her face was pale, her eyes big and scared looking. She wore a full mask of fancy makeup, just like yesterday. And once our eyes locked, I couldn’t look away.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw familiar faces.
Six or seven of them. Many of these women had come down to lick their lips and ogle me in the past several months.
I always ignored them. They were fine-looking females, every last one, but they were cold.
Dead-eyed. When they looked at me, all they saw was a piece of meat to whack off to. They chilled me to the bone.
Then Red showed up, and somehow, she saw all that I was. Even the parts I was trying desperately to forget.
“What do you want from me?” I asked him.
Halliwell shrugged vaguely. “You know what I want,” he said.
“But you won’t give it to me. Today is actually more about what I thought you might want.
As a final request. After yesterday’s steamy spectacle, I thought perhaps you’d appreciate a final look at your new little friend.
A chance to say goodbye. Just a sentimental notion. ”
“So I make my grand exit today? What’ll it be? The Iron Maiden? The rack?”
“Nothing so barbaric,” Halliwell’s voice was almost jolly.
“Just lethal gas, as we’ve discussed before.
It’s a gentle death, I promise. You fall asleep and drift away.
But all these young ladies wanted to take one last look at you, since you’re so popular.
The ritual became a rather bigger deal than I first anticipated. I hope you’re gratified.”
I ignored him, and stared at Red. Trying to send her a telepathic message. Get away from here. Run, before it’s too late, or you’ll end up just like me.
“So,” Halliwell said. “It’s time. Last words?”
I cleared my throat, which hurt like a bastard, and staggered over to the glass wall, right in front of Red. “Not for that guy,” I said to her, gesturing at Halliwell without looking at him. I kept my eyes locked onto hers. “Just for you.”
She took a step toward me. “Yes?”
“You can do better than these blood-sucking ghouls,” I said. “You don’t belong here. Get away, Red. First chance you get. Run like hell. Please.”
She nodded, her eyes somber and clear.
Halliwell’s smile faded. “Needlessly rude, as always,” he said peevishly. “Goodbye, Mr. Masters.” He pushed the button on the remote with a flourish.
Gas hissed out of the canister. My cage started to fill with a fine mist.
So this was it. I let go, and finally let myself think about Holly, about my brother and sister, with a pang of intense sadness and longing.
Red had moved over to the wall, putting her hands up.
I put mine against hers. I couldn’t feel her body heat, not with six inches of glass between us, but I could imagine it.
My knees were starting to give. I leaned against the glass, and hung onto Red with my eyes.
I would keep hanging on until the death fog dragged me down into the dark.