She made an effort to clear her throat, then tried again. “Hello?” she called out. “Is someone here? Where am I?” She tugged hard at the restraints wrapped around her wrists and ankles, to no avail.
“Help me!” she cried, her voice now high with panic and quavering with fear. “Someone, please help me!”
All at once, the room was illuminated by harsh overhead lighting, its fluorescent glow momentarily blinding her. Then she heard the sound of a heavy tread on stairs. As she squinted into the light, she saw a man standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Several reactions collided in her still-groggy brain. Relief that someone was there to rescue her, confusion as she tried to place the familiar face of the guy watching her, and a dark, foreboding fear that he wasn’t there to save her.
“I was wondering when you’d come to,” he said, his voice familiar, a smile on his handsome face. “You’ve been out for the past twelve hours straight. Guess I gave you a little more of the drug cocktail than I realized.”
She stared at him with incomprehension, blinking in confusion.
Then, all at once, she recognized him. Thank god. Diana’s cousin would explain what was going on. He would get her out of this terrifying situation.
But wait. What had he just said about a drug cocktail? Her muscles tensed with renewed terror, though her sluggish brain refused to catch up.
“Damon?” she whispered, still not quite making the leap between the nice man she’d had dinner with and this bizarre, terrifying situation.
He moved closer. “One and the same,” he said, his smile widening.
Callie lifted her head again, forcing herself to work through the dizziness. Her tongue felt thick and swollen, the words difficult to form. “Wha… what’s happening?” She jerked against her restraints, a wave of nausea twisting through her gut. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Can you get these cuffs off me?”
Damon shook his head. “Not yet. Not until I’m sure you understand the situation.” His smile was ugly and didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry. In due time, little girl, all will become crystal clear.” Damon’s eyes flickered from her face down her body, a dark, hungry look twisting his features as he slowly licked his lips.
Following his leering gaze, Callie looked down at herself, shocked and horrified to see she was stark naked. Her wrists and ankles were shackled with leather cuffs attached to chains that disappeared over the sides of what appeared to be a canvas army cot.
Her entire body began to tremble, her teeth actually chattering with fear as she struggled desperately to comprehend. Her guts twisted and knotted with terror. How could this be happening? Where was she? Where was Diana? Why was Damon just standing there, that nasty smile on his face?
Danger. Terrible, terrible danger, a voice screamed inside her head.
Black spots appeared in front of her eyes, enlarging until they obscured her vision. A strange whistling sound echoed in her ears and a rush of saliva and bile surged into her mouth.
She parted her lips to scream, but no sound came.
Her head fell back as the darkness swallowed her whole.Chapter 4He’d done it!
Damon had been nursing this abduction fantasy since he was a teenager, embellishing it each time he jerked off. The older he’d gotten, the more he’d become obsessed with the idea of actually bringing it to fruition. The one-night stands with girls he picked up for rough sex were no longer enough.
He’d toyed with the idea of taking on a willing slave girl. There were plenty of sluts on the various BDSM websites he trolled who thought they wanted what he was offering. Especially once they saw his profile pics, they would claim they were ready to submit to him on every level, no matter how far he took them.
But he knew better. Those wannabes just wanted to play at being a sex slave. When push came to shove, they wanted contracts with stupid clauses regarding limits, consent and safewords. They wanted an easy out, a trap door, an escape hatch. Where was the fun in that?
This past year, his fantasy had become something of an obsession. He’d taken his time, interviewing literally dozens of prospects, though of course they had no idea they were applying for the job. As he got more serious about really pulling this off, he started to pay closer attention to the prospective slave girl’s life outside whatever fetish sites she was frequenting. He automatically ruled out any girl with a roommate or close family nearby.
Callie had been perfect. He’d known it from his first perusal of her Facebook profile page. She had just relocated to a new city, far away from her family and friends. There was no evidence of a boyfriend or roommate, and she had yet to start her new job.