Undesirable Chapter 16
TITLE: Undesirable (A vampire novel)
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter R)
SUMMARY: George is at the end of his rope, Nadette at the end of her wits and Jeffrey is... well, he's Jeffrey.
WARNINGS: (this chapter) Non-con, Bondage.
Word Count: 6292
Chapter 16
I didn't know what to think. A quick check on Amy saw that she was making herself comfortable in the chair by the vanity and wasn't looking at Jeffrey. Even if she had been, he had deliberately put his back to her. So this wasn't some twitch, Jeffrey was up to something - but what?
"Well," Jeffrey said somewhat harshly. I winced reflexively, but his eyes were not as cruel as his voice. "Do I have to connect the dots for you as well? Lie. Down." He undid his cufflinks and put them on the vanity, and then began shedding his clothes in quick order.
I awkwardly turned myself around so that I could lie down - hampered by the cuffs that limited my movement. By the time I got myself untangled and on my back, Jeffrey was completely naked. I swallowed and looked at his lean body, uncertain what would be the best way to react. It struck me that, compared to the other men I'd seen that night, he didn't look that physically imposing - much more slim and willowy. Twinkish. In fact, I figure he was one of the very few men who could pull off drag and have it be hot rather than silly. And that just made him a bit difficult, even in this situation, to take entirely seriously.
Why was I thinking this? Christ, even the tiniest of the female vampires was far stronger than a normal man. I really needed to be getting my thoughts in order before I provoked him into doing permanent damage to me. I hoped to God he understood I was confused and exhausted beyond any ability to put two and two together and I didn't have the foggiest clue what that wink meant. What was he up to? Was he mad at me? Wasn't he?
He crawled over my body, settling himself between my spread legs and I couldn't help but realize that he was much lighter than Gregory and it didn't hurt at all to have his weight on me. He felt warm and I felt a strange sensual comfort from that. One of his fingers touched my lips, crossing it in a shush.
We don't have much time.
I stiffened. The voice echoed in my head like it had come down a long metal tube, but Jeffrey's lips hadn't moved at all.
We won't have ten minutes, despite her promise. We are lucky to have even five, and this isn't the easiest thing for me to do. I'm quite adept at reading minds, and I have a few other tricks as well, but planting words is not my strongest ability and planting images is even tougher. I need to be in physical contact to do it. This is going to be a real challenge for me.
I nodded my acknowledgement. Then felt myself briefly frozen as Jeffrey seized my brain. He released me a moment later and I was overwhelmed with a sense of urgency.
Don't move, don't speak. This is tough, Mouse, so don't make me control you more than I have to. Now listen, listen, I'm going to fuck you, just like I said, and it's going to be hard - I'm afraid bruises are inevitable, sorry. If you like, you can consider it to be your due punishment. But the reason for it is that we are being observed very closely and the moment I start behaving in a way that's unexpected, Nadette will be in here again to kick me out.
I understood, but this time I made no physical move that Amy might be able to remark on. The idea of being hurt wasn't appealing, but I didn't get a say in that. And if Jeffrey was willing to go this far to give me a message chances were it was a pretty important one.
I spent all night convincing Nadette that I'm just so colorfully weird that this is normal behavior for me, but she doesn't trust me by a long shot. She only allowed me in here so that I could completely discredit myself with my behavior and lose any chance of launching a legitimate grievance. As soon as she feels I've done that she'll be back.
I get it, I thought back at him. What's going on? Why are you discrediting yourself?
Revenge, my sweet Mouse. Revenge. I couldn't help wincing at the raw anger behind his words. But then he mellowed back. The problem is, George, that I can't lie to Nadette anymore than you can lie to me. His "voice" turned deeply apologetic. She can't read my mind beyond the most superficial layer, and if she tried to go deeper I could probably beat her off, but the very top, the part where I give away my deceit, she can read easily. Only the very oldest and most experienced vampires can put up a convincing false face, and I'm not there yet.
I see.
But I'll let you in on a secret, one that even most vampires don't know. There is a way to lie and not get caught: By mixing the honest truth with obvious sarcasm you can confuse a vampire's senses long enough to bury a bald-faced lie. So what I said about being humiliated and wanting revenge is quite true - but the person I want to collect it from is not you, understand. It's her. It's Nadette.
Oh my god. It was like a ray of sudden hope in a vast sea of despair.
I can see you are one of those men who takes masochistic pride in claiming responsibility for things out of their control, but you did not poach my property and offer it up to people I despise. All you did was board a bus. I'm smart enough to tell the difference.
This was true. Oh, God. I wasn't responsible. I never meant any of this to happen. Not Jeffrey, not Darlene. All I wanted was to go home…
Listen, Mouse, I am going to get my revenge. Jeffrey's voice was strident. And George, my sweet, my love, you are going to help me. This is an order from your Patron. Understood?
I did. The "order" part rankled a bit, but revenge against Nadette? That was one bandwagon I'd happily climb on. What did he want me to do? How, when, where?
You probably haven't noticed, but I've just entered you. I know you can't feel it, I've isolated you in your head, but I need you right now to go along with it. I want you to cry out in pain. Otherwise Amy is going to suspect something, because this really should hurt a lot.
I hadn't realized it, but he was right. I didn't feel my body at all. My eyes had drifted shut and I'd stopped hearing the outside world. I'd been so intent on his voice I hadn't noticed any of these things. I did now. I tried moaning. Nothing. I tried louder, and felt a stab of panic when again nothing happened.
Perfect. You can't hear it but Amy and I can. You sound terrified. Keep it up. If you can produce some tears that will be useful as well. I'm going to be busy for a couple of seconds, you won't know with what for now, but you will after a certain trigger. They are images that will help you escape.
Escape? Oh, God, please, yes. How was he going to manage it?
Silence.
Jeffrey?
The only response was an uptick in that tickly-migrainy feeling in my head. As the seconds ticked on, I racked my brains to anticipate his plan, but my imagination was dry. If there were a way to escape this hellhole, surely I'd have thought of it over the last week. Trust me, I'd had a lot of empty hours to mull it over. Having Jeffrey's aid gave me hope, but what, honestly, could he do for me? With Amy watching Jeffrey's every move like a hawk, and I had absolutely no doubt she was, he couldn't do anything overt.
Or perhaps he could. Maybe I was over thinking the problem. Jeffrey didn't have my human limitations. He had strength enough to pull a door off its hinges, and that incredible speed at his disposal. If he busted out the window with his powers, and maybe hauled me over his shoulder and leapt out into the morning sunshine….
Jeffrey made and amused sound in my head. If only. But then we'd both have thirteen vampires on us in short order and I'm afraid, while I may be good in a scrap, I'm not so strong as to take that many on at one time. The best I can do is to be a distraction, I'm afraid. You are going to have to escape on your own.
I made a non-verbal protest at the impossibility of the idea, but Jeffrey "spoke" over me: This is only half planned in advance. I'll admit that. I've been pumping one of Nadette's security guards for several days, but his knowledge was limited when it came to the conditions you were under. Luckily, I had a few things fall into my lap this evening. It's all coming together, George. You have to trust me on that.
We are almost out of time, now listen up: I'm going to start a fight with Nadette. Framed as a duel, the others won't interfere, but they will doubtless come and watch. You can use that time to make a run of it. I can offer you a five, or perhaps even ten minute head start. After that, it's up to you.
A five or ten minute running start? On foot? Against vampires? Was he on drugs or something? My spirits crashed. There was no fucking way in hell that would work. It wasn't a cunning plan, it was downright lame.
What the hell could I do in ten minutes? Even if I wasn't physically exhausted and sore in places that would make running problematic at best, I was chained to the fucking bed ! And if for some reason I could pick my way out of these cuffs, there was the door that locked on the wrong side. And should I manage a way to somehow break through that, the building would sound an alarm as soon as I left. And assuming for some reason that failed, I'd just get tased as soon as stepped beyond the perimeter of my anklet. Ten minutes? An hour wouldn't be enough. A month might be too short. He was going to get torn up for nothing.
Even as revenge, it didn't make any sense. Should he lose his battle, he'd just have added injury to insult. But even if he won the fight with Nadette, the outcome wouldn't be any better. Without Nadette holding everyone in line, it would be utter chaos. I just couldn't imagine Gregory throwing up his hands and saying, "Gosh, I guess you win, he's all yours!" And Tanya, and Elizabeth and Sydney - hell even broke Coraline might get in it if money were no longer the game. The idea was horrifying. I didn't want to become a "collateral reward" for the remaining 12 vampires to fight over, and the first thing they'd do would be to gang up and eviscerate Jeffrey.
The headache backed off. There, the last of it is done…. George… said Jeffrey, softly, sadly, like a caress on my cheek. I am your patron. But I can't lie - you are right to be concerned. I'm probably going to be injured by this. Perhaps even badly - Nadette is much more formidable fighter than she looks. She wouldn't have this position if she couldn't defend it.
Then don't do this! I thought back at him, feeling panic and despair. Don't get yourself killed over nothing. I'm not worth that. A sick wave of guilt washed over me and I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that I was ruining yet another life. The vision of Darlene came up in my mind.
It's sweet that you're concerned about me, Mouse, but please, don't compare me to that utter incompetent. His voice was gently. Have a bit of trust that I know what I'm doing. Then his mental voice became more hurried and urgent. Unfortunately, George, there will be a period of several days when I won't be able to champion you. During that time, I need for you to be the sneakiest, stealthiest bastard you can be. That skill you used to leave my territory without getting caught? You need to do that again, only you need to do it better. A lot better. You lasted less than a day, with initially no one but myself after you. You'll have be able to lay low several days, perhaps even as long as a week, and as soon as you leave every vampire in the nation is going to consider you in free play.
But you aren't in free play, George. You are mine. I will come and collect you as soon as I can. I promise you that. Until then be strong.
Before I could respond, the world came crashing back on me. I felt a sudden, intense burning pain in my ass that made me cry out. My vision blurred with tears, but the moment I blinked them away I saw that Jeffrey was now standing up. "You said ten minutes. That was barely two!"
"You are injuring him. I said no injuring," said Nadette. "Now get the hell out of here before I set the others on you."
"The others?" asked Jeffrey haughtily. "Always having others doing your dirty work. What an utter coward you are. Honestly, when was the last time you actually championed your own causes and didn't rely on a bevy of cronies doing all the work for you. Oh, yes, never. You went straight from suckling your Sire's ample teat to a ready made American empire."
Nadette's face turned nearly purple with rage. "You dare? You dare? While you've lazed around your feeding grounds like some eighteenth century fop, I have built a goddamn new world order. I have extended my hand in welcome far more than you deserve, only to have it slapped down with one insult after another. I am done! If it's a duel you want, you will get it!"
"Excellent!" He held up his fists in a boxer's stance. "Front lawn. I don't want you crying that I attacked you from behind. I want there to be witnesses."
"Front lawn, I hope you enjoy the sun, because it's pretty hot out there right now. And put your fucking clothes on, you exhibitionist."
Nadette turned to me while Jeffrey dressed. "I'm sorry, George." Her voice actually did sound somewhat contrite. "I didn't think he'd actually dare harm you. But clearly your old Patron is utterly insane. I will do the world a favor and put a muzzle on him."
She honestly expected me to believe her. I didn't think he'd actually dare harm you -- yeah right. My memory was longer than five minutes and I could still clearly hear her saying enjoy your rape. And yet now she poured on the concern as if my welfare was the top most priority on her agenda. What a fucking hypocrite.
Nadette wasn't paying a lick of attention to my thoughts, thank God. " - Amy? Go find Claudia, she can - no." Nadette changed her mind suddenly. "No, she needs to be - Crap." Nadette knelt by me. "George hang in there, it will only be a few minutes and I'll have someone here to untie you. You can last fifteen minutes. This shouldn't take long." Her eyes flashed towards Jeffrey with cartoonishly exaggerated distain.
She turned to Amy again who was hanging on the door waiting to get the rest of her instructions. "Get Claudia, Amy, she's asleep in apartment One. Have her coordinate crowd control. I want the Harem off the lawns in five minutes. Pack em off inside."
Amy nodded and was down the hall as fast as her heels would let her.
"I'm ready," said Jeffrey, snapping his cufflinks, his face very sober. "Duel to submission."
Nadette laughed. "Pity you have no harem here to feed you when this is over. But if you beg me nicely, I can roust up a few Browns for your curious palate." She stood very close to Jeffrey. "And I will collect on the submission. All your assets will be mine. All of them." She tapped him squarely in the center of his chest.
Jeffrey didn't flinch. He grinned cruelly back at her. "And when you submit to me, I will have you resign from the council and retire in well earned disgrace to a position in a rural protectorate."
"Ha!"
Jeffrey stepped out and held the door for her in a mockery of gentlemanliness. Nadette walked out, going a step farther than ignoring the gesture to actually bang the door with her open hand. The false smile fell off Jeffrey's face, and without even a last look of acknowledgement at me he slammed the door closed with a bang.
I lay stunned in the silence of the room, thinking nothing, feeling the aches and pains around my body throb with the beat of my pulse. My throat was dry. I sucked a bit of saliva into my mouth and swallowed. The dry air stank of stale sweat. The plastic pinched my groin, so I spread my legs a little. Above me, the dust move in lazy patterns in the long shaft of sunlight from the window.
I should be escaping now. The timer was on, my five to ten minutes slowly trickling down. But I was going nowhere. A ginger test of the cuffs proved their solidity, and my own human fragility.
I hurt. God I hurt so bad. I hurt and I was tired and I didn't know what to do.
Seconds passed. The furnace kicked on and a trickle of 72 degree warmth rose up from the vent in the floor. Twenty more endlessly long seconds and out in the hall I heard the first thumping and rumbling of the corralled harem. Voices crept through the tight cracks, unintelligible. The humans were off the lawns. Soon, the fight would begin and soon after that, it'd be over. And I'd still be here when Claudia came with the sedative.
The clock by my bedside flicked from 7:13 to 7:14. Light caught the edge of the tapestry on the far wall. Maybe I should just go to sleep.
Then I felt it, a slight tickle jab of pain like a muscle spasm at the nape of my neck. A weak, brief touch of a vampire's will. Something clicked in my brain - like a half-forgotten memory coming to fore. My tired heart started to beat just a bit harder.
Something had happened that shouldn't - no, no it was the other way around, something hadn't happened that should have. My eyes suddenly focused on the metal plate on the door that hid the deadbolt. I hadn't heard a key in the lock. People had been walking in and out of my room continuously for the last three hours and they'd never bothered to lock the door because I was chained to the bed and couldn't go anywhere.
The door was unlocked. The insurmountable door with the hinges on the wrong side was unlocked. One barrier down.
I felt adrenaline surge in me. I had a sudden vision of one of the links in my handcuff chain being pulled apart. Rolling over, I grabbed the chain and looked. There it was, on the left side, about five links up from the cuff, the thick metal ring was twisted slightly apart. It wasn't obvious at all. The gap was barely wider than the heavy metal links themselves.
My heart started to pound. I can do this. With shaking hands I tried to push the metal through that narrow opening. My palms were awash with sweat and I couldn't for the life of me get my fingers to stop trembling, but after three increasingly desperate tries, I got it through. I pulled my aching arms back and saw that I now had two bracelets, one with a long length of chain attached, the other with a short one.
I rolled off the bed. My tiredness had vanished, and even the aches and pains I knew I should be feeling were missing. I'd never felt more alive. I was in the utterly in the moment, focused now on my goal and it seemed like I could run a fucking marathon. Everything seemed perfectly clear.
Turning my head I looked around the room, knowing that I'd know what I was looking for the moment I saw it. My eyes landed on the drawer to the vanity, the one Jeffrey had briefly peeked into while casing the room. I yanked the drawer open, and there it was, lying next to my wallet - an unassuming little rectangle of plain cardboard. I picked it up and puzzled for only a moment, before I had a vision of myself squeezing the edges and tapping on one end. I did just that and a razor blade slid partly out a slit. Tugging on the corner of meta, I had the whole edge free, which I quickly tested on the thick nylon strap holding the monitoring device to my ankle. It fell off with an audible clunk, and I hid it in the vanity.
Two barriers down.
Taking my wallet with me, I moved over to the closet next. I was naked and thought part of me rued the amount of time it would take to dress, the rational part of my brain knew it was necessary. Jeans would work, and a grey long sleeved turtleneck, socks, tennis shoes. The broken handcuffs gave me some grief when I pulled them through the sleeves. I compromised, and pulled the bracelets free, but let the chains remain caught up in the tight stretchy fabric. It felt awkward and the links pinched my skin when I bent my arms wrong, but I didn't have time to fuss anymore.
I couldn't believe I was actually doing this. But I was. I needed to move faster, everything was taking just too damn long.
I had another flash of vision, and suddenly went down on my knees in the closet and felt around carpeting. My fingers touched something metal and I brought it up. A key to the building. Where had Jeffrey gotten his hands on a goddamn key? Claudia? No, the red - the security guy who called in sick, the flu guy. Claudia was right, he didn't have the flu, he had something much worse: Jeffrey on a mission.
Christ, there was no time. 7:17 already. Every second counted. Shoving my wallet into my back pocket and the key into the little one in front, I grabbed the windbreaker and carefully opened the door to my room.
The hall wasn't empty. From the amount of noise I didn't expect it to be. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so fucking packed. Claustrophobia added a whole new dimension to my nervous terror. There had to be fifty people stuffed in a hallway all milling about looking like they had no idea where to go. Most of them chattering and excited. Fuck. They saw me, of course, there was no way to hide. Worse, they remembered who I was. I looked in terror at one woman's face, expecting her to sound some kind of alarm.
"Can you see it from your room?" she asked me.
My heart skipped a beat. "See - you mean the fight?" I glanced back over my shoulder at the window in my room. I couldn't see anything out of it. God, my eyes could barely focus.
"Shit yeah." She skirted past me into the room while I stood there momentarily bewildered. "Yeah, Hey guys in here, Good view! Holy -- shit! Oh fuck that's brutal."
I forced myself to turn away, still numb with fear. I ended up fighting the crowd to the stairwell, then flattening myself to the rail, I made my way to the first floor. I sniffed in a deep breath when I saw someone in security guard's uniform gesturing to people, but his attention was off in another direction. Not waiting for my heart attack to end, I turned to make my way down the hall in the opposite direction I usually took to get out of the building.
I'd never been this direction before, but I had a series of visions, like photographs that suddenly blazed up in my mind, then dimmed. They lead me to a grey metal door with an "Exit" sign stenciled in red across it at chest height. I jammed my hands down on the bar latch and pushed it open. Beyond was a strange shallow length of hallway with some cleaning equipment stacked up to one side. There was no time to ponder the architecture because the next photographic clue was already starting to dim. My eyes jumped to the second door straight across from me. I saw the same caution message about the alarm as on the other door. Jamming my hand roughly into my tight front pocket, I found the key and managed to pin it between my fore and middle fingers. It seemed even little things presented more of a challenge than they should, but soon the key was out and the lock itself didn't resist the way I worried it might. I let myself on to the grass in the cold shadow of the backside of the building.
Now where?
I saw a line of bush, straight ahead twenty feet -- a hedge really, about four feet tall and seemingly solid for hundreds of yards in either direction. My instincts pushed me to turn right, and there not ten feet further, I saw a narrow gap, barely wide enough to slide through sideways. I sprinted to it.
Behind me, I could hear the sound of the fight now bouncing off the buildings. Jeffrey's hoarse cries, Nadette's shrieks. Other sounds of yelling. The duel would be in full swing about now, but not for much longer. The vision of Darlene flashed in my head again. It hadn't taken long to reduce her to fleeing mess. Not long at all.
I ducked my head, and practically threw myself in the foliage. Still staying low I followed the back side of the hedge for about a hundred feet, because that's what the visions in my head seemed to say. The grounds grew more irregular, and a glance to the right showed me a flash of a parking lot, filled with cars. If only I'd been just a bit more of a renegade in my youth, maybe I'd have learned how to hotwire one, but I didn't. And besides that's not where my visions told me to go next. So far Jeffrey seemed to know what he was doing, I figured I better not deviate from the plan.
I started running as fast as I could to a strand of poplars. The dewy grass was beginning to soak it's way through the sides of tennis shoes, and God only knew how deep my foot prints were on the soft ground. Daring to look over my shoulder for a second I realized how incredibly exposed I still was to the windows on the back side of the dormitory. Belatedly, I bent down and pushed myself extra hard to get to the far side of the trees. With my head ducked low, I passed between the straight row of carefully pruned tree trunks and dashed up the six foot berm beyond. I gave the dormitory one last glance, and felt a moment's relief when the last window disappeared behind the grassy hill.
The ground fell fairly steeply on the far side of berm. The traffic noise grew suddenly much louder and I could see the freeway stretched out at the base of the hill. I nearly fell on my ass scrambling down, but I kept my footing well enough not to crash into the ten foot chainlink fence topped with razor wire. Oh fucking hell. What now, Jeffrey? What now?
Another flash, I followed the chainlink fence yet another hundred feet and then stopped abruptly for no apparent reason. Dropping to my knees I peered at this inconvienient barrier, certain there was something I should be noticing. And there was, near the bottom, a number of the links had been clipped apart near the pole so that they could be bent back. I did just that, bending the stiff wire up. It resisted a lot more than I expected, to such a point that while I was crawling through to the other side, my jacket got caught and I had to waste precious, precious seconds yanking myself free. Then when I succeeded the links snapped back into place again with what sounded to my ears like an angry loud clink.
On the far side of the fence, the ground dropped off again, but more gently. There were several rows of round azalia bushes, each filled with bright red flowers. I wound my way through them, and then down a five foot tall retaining wall, and finally I stood at the side of the freeway. Cars sped passed me, the light traffic of an early Saturday morning in a major city. Was I supposed to hitch hike? No -- just this side of the next offramp, I saw the back end of a black limousine. That was my get away car.
I ran.
How long had it been since Jeffrey and Nadette had left me? More than five minutes. More than 10. Surely, surely the fight was over by now. Had Claudia finished corralling the guest harem yet? What if she hadn't bothered to wait until the end of the fight to go up to my room and check on me? It seemed likely the alarm was already raised. They'd be after me in moments.
The limousine seemed farther and farther away, ala Alice in Wonderland. And worse, the adrenaline boost was starting to give out. My lungs burned from all the heavy breathing and my legs felt wobbly and slow. Slowly at first but then more insistently all other aches made themselves known -- the public ones, where the cuffs scraped against my wrists, the private ones in my thighs and ass and cock. It was only another 200 yards but it seemed like I was running though knee-deep water. Every step was slower and shorter. No matter how much effort I put into driving my muscles, they rebelled and twitched.
God I couldn't quit now, I had to make it. I had to. Freedom was too damn close…
Gasping for breath I staggered up to the back of the car and leaned my palms briefly against the cold metal. The back cabin had the same deeply tinted windows as the limo that had picked me up at the bus stop a week ago. I had a horrible vision of Nadette sitting in the back seat, waiting for me. But that was absurd. Whoever was in there wasn't Nadette. Jim perhaps or Ted or one of the other many people I'd seen in my brief stay at Jeffrey's condo. Sucking in a deep breath, I walked around to the front of the limo and peered into the drivers seat to see which of Jeffrey's minions was waiting to take me back to Chicago.
The front seat was empty. I grabbed the handle of the car and pulled. It didn't budge - it was locked.
Oh my fucking God. This was not happening. What am I supposed to do now? If I was meant to find a key somewhere on the gravely shoulder, I there was no vision to guide me. And if not -- why send me here if there was no one to drive me? Had Jeffrey thought he could get away in time to drive me himself?
Shit, I couldn't just wait. I looked up with horror at the traffic racing by. How many minutes? How long before the vampires followed my obvious trail to this place. Was there even time to hitch hike? Should I just keep running? Find some hole to hide in?
There were no more visions to guide me. Jeffrey had failed.
I slammed my fist against the side of the car and turned around and faced Nadette's estate with despair. From this angle it just looked like institutional landscaping leading up to a line of trees. There was no sign of the compound hidden beyond. Every bit of wind movement made me think that the posse had finally caught up. It would be soon now. My will to fight waned and I just wanted to get it the fuck over with.
What was the fucking point.
Two seconds. That's how long I figured it was between the point where I had given up and stopped running and when life finally decided to throw me a bone. Two seconds, but it seemed like a timeless eternity. I had time for one last horrible vision of the vampires decending on me en masse and being dragged back into the land of nightmares. Then the door to the back seat of the limo suddenly opened up next to me. I jumped and spun around, my scream thankfully covered by the roar of traffic. Holding the sleeve of my windbreaker over my gaping mouth I stared in terror at the person who emerged.
"Geo?" came a sleepy voice.
Oh, my fucking god. I practically collapsed against the side of the car. It was Wally. Wally. Jeffrey had fucking given me Wally. I wanted to cry with relief.
There he was, his hair standing up wildly, as if ruffled from sleep. He still wore the dark suit he had on the night before. His face looked extra pasty and tired, and my god he was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen. I could kiss him. He blinked once and then his mouth dropped open. "Geo!"
Time. Time. Time. Like the beat of my pulse in my forehead. "Do you have the keys to this car?" I asked hurriedly.
"Yeah."
"Then fucking drive man. Fucking drive, NOW!"
The ground seemed to slide away sideways, as we tumbled into the front of the limo, me taking the passenger side, Wally the driver. He fumbled the key for a moment then turned the car on. It seemed like everything was taking forever. And time was ticking away and my heart was a fucking sledge hammer against my ribs. I felt nauseated.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" I said to him, because Wally was still stuck in normal time and not the sped up frantic time warp I'd settled into. "Fucking go, man! Don't wait, go!" I stomped an imaginary gas peddle.
"I'm going. Don't want me to fucking wreck the limo, do you?" He pulled out into the traffic and floored the accelerator to get up to speed. Someone laid on a horn at us, but then we were moving with traffic. I tried to look behind us, but I couldn't see anything. I turned to Wally, focusing on his pale eyes and slightly parted mouth. If a vampire saw us leaving, and they were still in range, the first thing I'd notice is if they grabbed Wally's mind and forced him to break.
Wally didn't break. He moved into the middle lane instead. We were barreling down the freeway now at a steady 60 miles an hour, but the ride was so glossy smooth we could have been still. It all felt totally unreal, but I began to realize we were going to make it. We actually were going to make it.
I grabbed my chest to try to calm it down. Fuuuuuuuck.
"Where are we going," asked Wally.
"Out of here. We need to be out of this protectorate as soon as possible."
"Yeah but which way?"
"I don't know. I don't have a fucking map. North. Fucking go north."
"I think we are going West."
"Fuck then, West. We just gotta get out of the city."
"No wait, I think we are going North."
I couldn't give him a response. It was as if my entire body had decided to collapse all at once. I hurt so bad I was starting to get high off the endorphins and I was shaking so hard even the idea of trying to talk seemed impossible. Holy fucking cow. I'd escaped. I'd actually escaped that hellhole. And I wasn't in the possession of a vampire - not even Jeffrey. Hell I didn't even know if Jeffrey was still alive. I didn't care. I was free.
The crushing pressure of fear and humiliation vanished and for a moment I truly thought I was going to explode. Instead I laughed - a high, crazy, hysterical chuckle that I was utterly helpless to stop or control in any way. It just went on and on as we cut a northwest diagonal up I29, past neat houses with clean trim yards and fast food restaurants filled with breakfast seekers. The ordinary everyday world surrounded us and made the Nadette experience seem like a long bad dream. Up ahead the highway stretched like an straight river of grey pavement and the suburbs melted into a bright blue cloudless sky.
It was a fucking glorious morning.
Back to chapter 15
On to chapter 17
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter R)
SUMMARY: George is at the end of his rope, Nadette at the end of her wits and Jeffrey is... well, he's Jeffrey.
WARNINGS: (this chapter) Non-con, Bondage.
Word Count: 6292
Chapter 16
I didn't know what to think. A quick check on Amy saw that she was making herself comfortable in the chair by the vanity and wasn't looking at Jeffrey. Even if she had been, he had deliberately put his back to her. So this wasn't some twitch, Jeffrey was up to something - but what?
"Well," Jeffrey said somewhat harshly. I winced reflexively, but his eyes were not as cruel as his voice. "Do I have to connect the dots for you as well? Lie. Down." He undid his cufflinks and put them on the vanity, and then began shedding his clothes in quick order.
I awkwardly turned myself around so that I could lie down - hampered by the cuffs that limited my movement. By the time I got myself untangled and on my back, Jeffrey was completely naked. I swallowed and looked at his lean body, uncertain what would be the best way to react. It struck me that, compared to the other men I'd seen that night, he didn't look that physically imposing - much more slim and willowy. Twinkish. In fact, I figure he was one of the very few men who could pull off drag and have it be hot rather than silly. And that just made him a bit difficult, even in this situation, to take entirely seriously.
Why was I thinking this? Christ, even the tiniest of the female vampires was far stronger than a normal man. I really needed to be getting my thoughts in order before I provoked him into doing permanent damage to me. I hoped to God he understood I was confused and exhausted beyond any ability to put two and two together and I didn't have the foggiest clue what that wink meant. What was he up to? Was he mad at me? Wasn't he?
He crawled over my body, settling himself between my spread legs and I couldn't help but realize that he was much lighter than Gregory and it didn't hurt at all to have his weight on me. He felt warm and I felt a strange sensual comfort from that. One of his fingers touched my lips, crossing it in a shush.
We don't have much time.
I stiffened. The voice echoed in my head like it had come down a long metal tube, but Jeffrey's lips hadn't moved at all.
We won't have ten minutes, despite her promise. We are lucky to have even five, and this isn't the easiest thing for me to do. I'm quite adept at reading minds, and I have a few other tricks as well, but planting words is not my strongest ability and planting images is even tougher. I need to be in physical contact to do it. This is going to be a real challenge for me.
I nodded my acknowledgement. Then felt myself briefly frozen as Jeffrey seized my brain. He released me a moment later and I was overwhelmed with a sense of urgency.
Don't move, don't speak. This is tough, Mouse, so don't make me control you more than I have to. Now listen, listen, I'm going to fuck you, just like I said, and it's going to be hard - I'm afraid bruises are inevitable, sorry. If you like, you can consider it to be your due punishment. But the reason for it is that we are being observed very closely and the moment I start behaving in a way that's unexpected, Nadette will be in here again to kick me out.
I understood, but this time I made no physical move that Amy might be able to remark on. The idea of being hurt wasn't appealing, but I didn't get a say in that. And if Jeffrey was willing to go this far to give me a message chances were it was a pretty important one.
I spent all night convincing Nadette that I'm just so colorfully weird that this is normal behavior for me, but she doesn't trust me by a long shot. She only allowed me in here so that I could completely discredit myself with my behavior and lose any chance of launching a legitimate grievance. As soon as she feels I've done that she'll be back.
I get it, I thought back at him. What's going on? Why are you discrediting yourself?
Revenge, my sweet Mouse. Revenge. I couldn't help wincing at the raw anger behind his words. But then he mellowed back. The problem is, George, that I can't lie to Nadette anymore than you can lie to me. His "voice" turned deeply apologetic. She can't read my mind beyond the most superficial layer, and if she tried to go deeper I could probably beat her off, but the very top, the part where I give away my deceit, she can read easily. Only the very oldest and most experienced vampires can put up a convincing false face, and I'm not there yet.
I see.
But I'll let you in on a secret, one that even most vampires don't know. There is a way to lie and not get caught: By mixing the honest truth with obvious sarcasm you can confuse a vampire's senses long enough to bury a bald-faced lie. So what I said about being humiliated and wanting revenge is quite true - but the person I want to collect it from is not you, understand. It's her. It's Nadette.
Oh my god. It was like a ray of sudden hope in a vast sea of despair.
I can see you are one of those men who takes masochistic pride in claiming responsibility for things out of their control, but you did not poach my property and offer it up to people I despise. All you did was board a bus. I'm smart enough to tell the difference.
This was true. Oh, God. I wasn't responsible. I never meant any of this to happen. Not Jeffrey, not Darlene. All I wanted was to go home…
Listen, Mouse, I am going to get my revenge. Jeffrey's voice was strident. And George, my sweet, my love, you are going to help me. This is an order from your Patron. Understood?
I did. The "order" part rankled a bit, but revenge against Nadette? That was one bandwagon I'd happily climb on. What did he want me to do? How, when, where?
You probably haven't noticed, but I've just entered you. I know you can't feel it, I've isolated you in your head, but I need you right now to go along with it. I want you to cry out in pain. Otherwise Amy is going to suspect something, because this really should hurt a lot.
I hadn't realized it, but he was right. I didn't feel my body at all. My eyes had drifted shut and I'd stopped hearing the outside world. I'd been so intent on his voice I hadn't noticed any of these things. I did now. I tried moaning. Nothing. I tried louder, and felt a stab of panic when again nothing happened.
Perfect. You can't hear it but Amy and I can. You sound terrified. Keep it up. If you can produce some tears that will be useful as well. I'm going to be busy for a couple of seconds, you won't know with what for now, but you will after a certain trigger. They are images that will help you escape.
Escape? Oh, God, please, yes. How was he going to manage it?
Silence.
Jeffrey?
The only response was an uptick in that tickly-migrainy feeling in my head. As the seconds ticked on, I racked my brains to anticipate his plan, but my imagination was dry. If there were a way to escape this hellhole, surely I'd have thought of it over the last week. Trust me, I'd had a lot of empty hours to mull it over. Having Jeffrey's aid gave me hope, but what, honestly, could he do for me? With Amy watching Jeffrey's every move like a hawk, and I had absolutely no doubt she was, he couldn't do anything overt.
Or perhaps he could. Maybe I was over thinking the problem. Jeffrey didn't have my human limitations. He had strength enough to pull a door off its hinges, and that incredible speed at his disposal. If he busted out the window with his powers, and maybe hauled me over his shoulder and leapt out into the morning sunshine….
Jeffrey made and amused sound in my head. If only. But then we'd both have thirteen vampires on us in short order and I'm afraid, while I may be good in a scrap, I'm not so strong as to take that many on at one time. The best I can do is to be a distraction, I'm afraid. You are going to have to escape on your own.
I made a non-verbal protest at the impossibility of the idea, but Jeffrey "spoke" over me: This is only half planned in advance. I'll admit that. I've been pumping one of Nadette's security guards for several days, but his knowledge was limited when it came to the conditions you were under. Luckily, I had a few things fall into my lap this evening. It's all coming together, George. You have to trust me on that.
We are almost out of time, now listen up: I'm going to start a fight with Nadette. Framed as a duel, the others won't interfere, but they will doubtless come and watch. You can use that time to make a run of it. I can offer you a five, or perhaps even ten minute head start. After that, it's up to you.
A five or ten minute running start? On foot? Against vampires? Was he on drugs or something? My spirits crashed. There was no fucking way in hell that would work. It wasn't a cunning plan, it was downright lame.
What the hell could I do in ten minutes? Even if I wasn't physically exhausted and sore in places that would make running problematic at best, I was chained to the fucking bed ! And if for some reason I could pick my way out of these cuffs, there was the door that locked on the wrong side. And should I manage a way to somehow break through that, the building would sound an alarm as soon as I left. And assuming for some reason that failed, I'd just get tased as soon as stepped beyond the perimeter of my anklet. Ten minutes? An hour wouldn't be enough. A month might be too short. He was going to get torn up for nothing.
Even as revenge, it didn't make any sense. Should he lose his battle, he'd just have added injury to insult. But even if he won the fight with Nadette, the outcome wouldn't be any better. Without Nadette holding everyone in line, it would be utter chaos. I just couldn't imagine Gregory throwing up his hands and saying, "Gosh, I guess you win, he's all yours!" And Tanya, and Elizabeth and Sydney - hell even broke Coraline might get in it if money were no longer the game. The idea was horrifying. I didn't want to become a "collateral reward" for the remaining 12 vampires to fight over, and the first thing they'd do would be to gang up and eviscerate Jeffrey.
The headache backed off. There, the last of it is done…. George… said Jeffrey, softly, sadly, like a caress on my cheek. I am your patron. But I can't lie - you are right to be concerned. I'm probably going to be injured by this. Perhaps even badly - Nadette is much more formidable fighter than she looks. She wouldn't have this position if she couldn't defend it.
Then don't do this! I thought back at him, feeling panic and despair. Don't get yourself killed over nothing. I'm not worth that. A sick wave of guilt washed over me and I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that I was ruining yet another life. The vision of Darlene came up in my mind.
It's sweet that you're concerned about me, Mouse, but please, don't compare me to that utter incompetent. His voice was gently. Have a bit of trust that I know what I'm doing. Then his mental voice became more hurried and urgent. Unfortunately, George, there will be a period of several days when I won't be able to champion you. During that time, I need for you to be the sneakiest, stealthiest bastard you can be. That skill you used to leave my territory without getting caught? You need to do that again, only you need to do it better. A lot better. You lasted less than a day, with initially no one but myself after you. You'll have be able to lay low several days, perhaps even as long as a week, and as soon as you leave every vampire in the nation is going to consider you in free play.
But you aren't in free play, George. You are mine. I will come and collect you as soon as I can. I promise you that. Until then be strong.
Before I could respond, the world came crashing back on me. I felt a sudden, intense burning pain in my ass that made me cry out. My vision blurred with tears, but the moment I blinked them away I saw that Jeffrey was now standing up. "You said ten minutes. That was barely two!"
"You are injuring him. I said no injuring," said Nadette. "Now get the hell out of here before I set the others on you."
"The others?" asked Jeffrey haughtily. "Always having others doing your dirty work. What an utter coward you are. Honestly, when was the last time you actually championed your own causes and didn't rely on a bevy of cronies doing all the work for you. Oh, yes, never. You went straight from suckling your Sire's ample teat to a ready made American empire."
Nadette's face turned nearly purple with rage. "You dare? You dare? While you've lazed around your feeding grounds like some eighteenth century fop, I have built a goddamn new world order. I have extended my hand in welcome far more than you deserve, only to have it slapped down with one insult after another. I am done! If it's a duel you want, you will get it!"
"Excellent!" He held up his fists in a boxer's stance. "Front lawn. I don't want you crying that I attacked you from behind. I want there to be witnesses."
"Front lawn, I hope you enjoy the sun, because it's pretty hot out there right now. And put your fucking clothes on, you exhibitionist."
Nadette turned to me while Jeffrey dressed. "I'm sorry, George." Her voice actually did sound somewhat contrite. "I didn't think he'd actually dare harm you. But clearly your old Patron is utterly insane. I will do the world a favor and put a muzzle on him."
She honestly expected me to believe her. I didn't think he'd actually dare harm you -- yeah right. My memory was longer than five minutes and I could still clearly hear her saying enjoy your rape. And yet now she poured on the concern as if my welfare was the top most priority on her agenda. What a fucking hypocrite.
Nadette wasn't paying a lick of attention to my thoughts, thank God. " - Amy? Go find Claudia, she can - no." Nadette changed her mind suddenly. "No, she needs to be - Crap." Nadette knelt by me. "George hang in there, it will only be a few minutes and I'll have someone here to untie you. You can last fifteen minutes. This shouldn't take long." Her eyes flashed towards Jeffrey with cartoonishly exaggerated distain.
She turned to Amy again who was hanging on the door waiting to get the rest of her instructions. "Get Claudia, Amy, she's asleep in apartment One. Have her coordinate crowd control. I want the Harem off the lawns in five minutes. Pack em off inside."
Amy nodded and was down the hall as fast as her heels would let her.
"I'm ready," said Jeffrey, snapping his cufflinks, his face very sober. "Duel to submission."
Nadette laughed. "Pity you have no harem here to feed you when this is over. But if you beg me nicely, I can roust up a few Browns for your curious palate." She stood very close to Jeffrey. "And I will collect on the submission. All your assets will be mine. All of them." She tapped him squarely in the center of his chest.
Jeffrey didn't flinch. He grinned cruelly back at her. "And when you submit to me, I will have you resign from the council and retire in well earned disgrace to a position in a rural protectorate."
"Ha!"
Jeffrey stepped out and held the door for her in a mockery of gentlemanliness. Nadette walked out, going a step farther than ignoring the gesture to actually bang the door with her open hand. The false smile fell off Jeffrey's face, and without even a last look of acknowledgement at me he slammed the door closed with a bang.
I lay stunned in the silence of the room, thinking nothing, feeling the aches and pains around my body throb with the beat of my pulse. My throat was dry. I sucked a bit of saliva into my mouth and swallowed. The dry air stank of stale sweat. The plastic pinched my groin, so I spread my legs a little. Above me, the dust move in lazy patterns in the long shaft of sunlight from the window.
I should be escaping now. The timer was on, my five to ten minutes slowly trickling down. But I was going nowhere. A ginger test of the cuffs proved their solidity, and my own human fragility.
I hurt. God I hurt so bad. I hurt and I was tired and I didn't know what to do.
Seconds passed. The furnace kicked on and a trickle of 72 degree warmth rose up from the vent in the floor. Twenty more endlessly long seconds and out in the hall I heard the first thumping and rumbling of the corralled harem. Voices crept through the tight cracks, unintelligible. The humans were off the lawns. Soon, the fight would begin and soon after that, it'd be over. And I'd still be here when Claudia came with the sedative.
The clock by my bedside flicked from 7:13 to 7:14. Light caught the edge of the tapestry on the far wall. Maybe I should just go to sleep.
Then I felt it, a slight tickle jab of pain like a muscle spasm at the nape of my neck. A weak, brief touch of a vampire's will. Something clicked in my brain - like a half-forgotten memory coming to fore. My tired heart started to beat just a bit harder.
Something had happened that shouldn't - no, no it was the other way around, something hadn't happened that should have. My eyes suddenly focused on the metal plate on the door that hid the deadbolt. I hadn't heard a key in the lock. People had been walking in and out of my room continuously for the last three hours and they'd never bothered to lock the door because I was chained to the bed and couldn't go anywhere.
The door was unlocked. The insurmountable door with the hinges on the wrong side was unlocked. One barrier down.
I felt adrenaline surge in me. I had a sudden vision of one of the links in my handcuff chain being pulled apart. Rolling over, I grabbed the chain and looked. There it was, on the left side, about five links up from the cuff, the thick metal ring was twisted slightly apart. It wasn't obvious at all. The gap was barely wider than the heavy metal links themselves.
My heart started to pound. I can do this. With shaking hands I tried to push the metal through that narrow opening. My palms were awash with sweat and I couldn't for the life of me get my fingers to stop trembling, but after three increasingly desperate tries, I got it through. I pulled my aching arms back and saw that I now had two bracelets, one with a long length of chain attached, the other with a short one.
I rolled off the bed. My tiredness had vanished, and even the aches and pains I knew I should be feeling were missing. I'd never felt more alive. I was in the utterly in the moment, focused now on my goal and it seemed like I could run a fucking marathon. Everything seemed perfectly clear.
Turning my head I looked around the room, knowing that I'd know what I was looking for the moment I saw it. My eyes landed on the drawer to the vanity, the one Jeffrey had briefly peeked into while casing the room. I yanked the drawer open, and there it was, lying next to my wallet - an unassuming little rectangle of plain cardboard. I picked it up and puzzled for only a moment, before I had a vision of myself squeezing the edges and tapping on one end. I did just that and a razor blade slid partly out a slit. Tugging on the corner of meta, I had the whole edge free, which I quickly tested on the thick nylon strap holding the monitoring device to my ankle. It fell off with an audible clunk, and I hid it in the vanity.
Two barriers down.
Taking my wallet with me, I moved over to the closet next. I was naked and thought part of me rued the amount of time it would take to dress, the rational part of my brain knew it was necessary. Jeans would work, and a grey long sleeved turtleneck, socks, tennis shoes. The broken handcuffs gave me some grief when I pulled them through the sleeves. I compromised, and pulled the bracelets free, but let the chains remain caught up in the tight stretchy fabric. It felt awkward and the links pinched my skin when I bent my arms wrong, but I didn't have time to fuss anymore.
I couldn't believe I was actually doing this. But I was. I needed to move faster, everything was taking just too damn long.
I had another flash of vision, and suddenly went down on my knees in the closet and felt around carpeting. My fingers touched something metal and I brought it up. A key to the building. Where had Jeffrey gotten his hands on a goddamn key? Claudia? No, the red - the security guy who called in sick, the flu guy. Claudia was right, he didn't have the flu, he had something much worse: Jeffrey on a mission.
Christ, there was no time. 7:17 already. Every second counted. Shoving my wallet into my back pocket and the key into the little one in front, I grabbed the windbreaker and carefully opened the door to my room.
The hall wasn't empty. From the amount of noise I didn't expect it to be. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so fucking packed. Claustrophobia added a whole new dimension to my nervous terror. There had to be fifty people stuffed in a hallway all milling about looking like they had no idea where to go. Most of them chattering and excited. Fuck. They saw me, of course, there was no way to hide. Worse, they remembered who I was. I looked in terror at one woman's face, expecting her to sound some kind of alarm.
"Can you see it from your room?" she asked me.
My heart skipped a beat. "See - you mean the fight?" I glanced back over my shoulder at the window in my room. I couldn't see anything out of it. God, my eyes could barely focus.
"Shit yeah." She skirted past me into the room while I stood there momentarily bewildered. "Yeah, Hey guys in here, Good view! Holy -- shit! Oh fuck that's brutal."
I forced myself to turn away, still numb with fear. I ended up fighting the crowd to the stairwell, then flattening myself to the rail, I made my way to the first floor. I sniffed in a deep breath when I saw someone in security guard's uniform gesturing to people, but his attention was off in another direction. Not waiting for my heart attack to end, I turned to make my way down the hall in the opposite direction I usually took to get out of the building.
I'd never been this direction before, but I had a series of visions, like photographs that suddenly blazed up in my mind, then dimmed. They lead me to a grey metal door with an "Exit" sign stenciled in red across it at chest height. I jammed my hands down on the bar latch and pushed it open. Beyond was a strange shallow length of hallway with some cleaning equipment stacked up to one side. There was no time to ponder the architecture because the next photographic clue was already starting to dim. My eyes jumped to the second door straight across from me. I saw the same caution message about the alarm as on the other door. Jamming my hand roughly into my tight front pocket, I found the key and managed to pin it between my fore and middle fingers. It seemed even little things presented more of a challenge than they should, but soon the key was out and the lock itself didn't resist the way I worried it might. I let myself on to the grass in the cold shadow of the backside of the building.
Now where?
I saw a line of bush, straight ahead twenty feet -- a hedge really, about four feet tall and seemingly solid for hundreds of yards in either direction. My instincts pushed me to turn right, and there not ten feet further, I saw a narrow gap, barely wide enough to slide through sideways. I sprinted to it.
Behind me, I could hear the sound of the fight now bouncing off the buildings. Jeffrey's hoarse cries, Nadette's shrieks. Other sounds of yelling. The duel would be in full swing about now, but not for much longer. The vision of Darlene flashed in my head again. It hadn't taken long to reduce her to fleeing mess. Not long at all.
I ducked my head, and practically threw myself in the foliage. Still staying low I followed the back side of the hedge for about a hundred feet, because that's what the visions in my head seemed to say. The grounds grew more irregular, and a glance to the right showed me a flash of a parking lot, filled with cars. If only I'd been just a bit more of a renegade in my youth, maybe I'd have learned how to hotwire one, but I didn't. And besides that's not where my visions told me to go next. So far Jeffrey seemed to know what he was doing, I figured I better not deviate from the plan.
I started running as fast as I could to a strand of poplars. The dewy grass was beginning to soak it's way through the sides of tennis shoes, and God only knew how deep my foot prints were on the soft ground. Daring to look over my shoulder for a second I realized how incredibly exposed I still was to the windows on the back side of the dormitory. Belatedly, I bent down and pushed myself extra hard to get to the far side of the trees. With my head ducked low, I passed between the straight row of carefully pruned tree trunks and dashed up the six foot berm beyond. I gave the dormitory one last glance, and felt a moment's relief when the last window disappeared behind the grassy hill.
The ground fell fairly steeply on the far side of berm. The traffic noise grew suddenly much louder and I could see the freeway stretched out at the base of the hill. I nearly fell on my ass scrambling down, but I kept my footing well enough not to crash into the ten foot chainlink fence topped with razor wire. Oh fucking hell. What now, Jeffrey? What now?
Another flash, I followed the chainlink fence yet another hundred feet and then stopped abruptly for no apparent reason. Dropping to my knees I peered at this inconvienient barrier, certain there was something I should be noticing. And there was, near the bottom, a number of the links had been clipped apart near the pole so that they could be bent back. I did just that, bending the stiff wire up. It resisted a lot more than I expected, to such a point that while I was crawling through to the other side, my jacket got caught and I had to waste precious, precious seconds yanking myself free. Then when I succeeded the links snapped back into place again with what sounded to my ears like an angry loud clink.
On the far side of the fence, the ground dropped off again, but more gently. There were several rows of round azalia bushes, each filled with bright red flowers. I wound my way through them, and then down a five foot tall retaining wall, and finally I stood at the side of the freeway. Cars sped passed me, the light traffic of an early Saturday morning in a major city. Was I supposed to hitch hike? No -- just this side of the next offramp, I saw the back end of a black limousine. That was my get away car.
I ran.
How long had it been since Jeffrey and Nadette had left me? More than five minutes. More than 10. Surely, surely the fight was over by now. Had Claudia finished corralling the guest harem yet? What if she hadn't bothered to wait until the end of the fight to go up to my room and check on me? It seemed likely the alarm was already raised. They'd be after me in moments.
The limousine seemed farther and farther away, ala Alice in Wonderland. And worse, the adrenaline boost was starting to give out. My lungs burned from all the heavy breathing and my legs felt wobbly and slow. Slowly at first but then more insistently all other aches made themselves known -- the public ones, where the cuffs scraped against my wrists, the private ones in my thighs and ass and cock. It was only another 200 yards but it seemed like I was running though knee-deep water. Every step was slower and shorter. No matter how much effort I put into driving my muscles, they rebelled and twitched.
God I couldn't quit now, I had to make it. I had to. Freedom was too damn close…
Gasping for breath I staggered up to the back of the car and leaned my palms briefly against the cold metal. The back cabin had the same deeply tinted windows as the limo that had picked me up at the bus stop a week ago. I had a horrible vision of Nadette sitting in the back seat, waiting for me. But that was absurd. Whoever was in there wasn't Nadette. Jim perhaps or Ted or one of the other many people I'd seen in my brief stay at Jeffrey's condo. Sucking in a deep breath, I walked around to the front of the limo and peered into the drivers seat to see which of Jeffrey's minions was waiting to take me back to Chicago.
The front seat was empty. I grabbed the handle of the car and pulled. It didn't budge - it was locked.
Oh my fucking God. This was not happening. What am I supposed to do now? If I was meant to find a key somewhere on the gravely shoulder, I there was no vision to guide me. And if not -- why send me here if there was no one to drive me? Had Jeffrey thought he could get away in time to drive me himself?
Shit, I couldn't just wait. I looked up with horror at the traffic racing by. How many minutes? How long before the vampires followed my obvious trail to this place. Was there even time to hitch hike? Should I just keep running? Find some hole to hide in?
There were no more visions to guide me. Jeffrey had failed.
I slammed my fist against the side of the car and turned around and faced Nadette's estate with despair. From this angle it just looked like institutional landscaping leading up to a line of trees. There was no sign of the compound hidden beyond. Every bit of wind movement made me think that the posse had finally caught up. It would be soon now. My will to fight waned and I just wanted to get it the fuck over with.
What was the fucking point.
Two seconds. That's how long I figured it was between the point where I had given up and stopped running and when life finally decided to throw me a bone. Two seconds, but it seemed like a timeless eternity. I had time for one last horrible vision of the vampires decending on me en masse and being dragged back into the land of nightmares. Then the door to the back seat of the limo suddenly opened up next to me. I jumped and spun around, my scream thankfully covered by the roar of traffic. Holding the sleeve of my windbreaker over my gaping mouth I stared in terror at the person who emerged.
"Geo?" came a sleepy voice.
Oh, my fucking god. I practically collapsed against the side of the car. It was Wally. Wally. Jeffrey had fucking given me Wally. I wanted to cry with relief.
There he was, his hair standing up wildly, as if ruffled from sleep. He still wore the dark suit he had on the night before. His face looked extra pasty and tired, and my god he was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen. I could kiss him. He blinked once and then his mouth dropped open. "Geo!"
Time. Time. Time. Like the beat of my pulse in my forehead. "Do you have the keys to this car?" I asked hurriedly.
"Yeah."
"Then fucking drive man. Fucking drive, NOW!"
The ground seemed to slide away sideways, as we tumbled into the front of the limo, me taking the passenger side, Wally the driver. He fumbled the key for a moment then turned the car on. It seemed like everything was taking forever. And time was ticking away and my heart was a fucking sledge hammer against my ribs. I felt nauseated.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" I said to him, because Wally was still stuck in normal time and not the sped up frantic time warp I'd settled into. "Fucking go, man! Don't wait, go!" I stomped an imaginary gas peddle.
"I'm going. Don't want me to fucking wreck the limo, do you?" He pulled out into the traffic and floored the accelerator to get up to speed. Someone laid on a horn at us, but then we were moving with traffic. I tried to look behind us, but I couldn't see anything. I turned to Wally, focusing on his pale eyes and slightly parted mouth. If a vampire saw us leaving, and they were still in range, the first thing I'd notice is if they grabbed Wally's mind and forced him to break.
Wally didn't break. He moved into the middle lane instead. We were barreling down the freeway now at a steady 60 miles an hour, but the ride was so glossy smooth we could have been still. It all felt totally unreal, but I began to realize we were going to make it. We actually were going to make it.
I grabbed my chest to try to calm it down. Fuuuuuuuck.
"Where are we going," asked Wally.
"Out of here. We need to be out of this protectorate as soon as possible."
"Yeah but which way?"
"I don't know. I don't have a fucking map. North. Fucking go north."
"I think we are going West."
"Fuck then, West. We just gotta get out of the city."
"No wait, I think we are going North."
I couldn't give him a response. It was as if my entire body had decided to collapse all at once. I hurt so bad I was starting to get high off the endorphins and I was shaking so hard even the idea of trying to talk seemed impossible. Holy fucking cow. I'd escaped. I'd actually escaped that hellhole. And I wasn't in the possession of a vampire - not even Jeffrey. Hell I didn't even know if Jeffrey was still alive. I didn't care. I was free.
The crushing pressure of fear and humiliation vanished and for a moment I truly thought I was going to explode. Instead I laughed - a high, crazy, hysterical chuckle that I was utterly helpless to stop or control in any way. It just went on and on as we cut a northwest diagonal up I29, past neat houses with clean trim yards and fast food restaurants filled with breakfast seekers. The ordinary everyday world surrounded us and made the Nadette experience seem like a long bad dream. Up ahead the highway stretched like an straight river of grey pavement and the suburbs melted into a bright blue cloudless sky.
It was a fucking glorious morning.
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