“Damoy droog, a pleasure doing business with you.”
I live by keeping my enemies as close as friends. “Moy droog,” I repeat and grip hands with him. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Your purchased wife will be shipped to you within the hour, sir.”
“Make sure they both arrive unharmed. Any marks they have on their bodies I will personally come back and put on you. No man touches my property.”
I turn and find my way out.
You see, I’m not participating tonight to join The Society; I’m here to burn every single motherfucker into the ground. And I just purchased the element of their demise who will help me destroy my enemy.
Three
Nova
Iam in hell.
Only minutes ago I woke to find myself in a dank-smelling hole and the back of my throat feels like I swallowed buckets of gasoline and lit a match.
The room is mostly dark with only hints of light filtering through the cracks of a door to my left. Muted voices seep through with the light but give me no clues as to where I am. It’s not like I threw myself in here so someone has to know something.
Feeling unbalanced I peel myself off the cement. Grim from the bare floor smears over my palms. I go to wipe the muck off only to find the slashed jeans and my favorite knee-high boots I’d left my apartment in gone. A sheer piece of cloth and my underwear is what I’ve been left in.
Confusion muddles my thoughts and I am having a really hard time piecing together the last few hours of my life. Or days. I honestly don’t know.
After a few moments, I feel strong enough to rise to my knees and try to stand. I take a few careful steps and that’s when I notice I have more than just a wardrobe change. Cold steel locks around both my ankles. A burst of anger forces a wave of hot tears to my eyes.
What the hell is going on? I yank one foot and then the other but the chains are short and barely allow me to move much in any direction. The metal tightens and tears into my skin every time I try to take a step. I shove the shards of fear down and push through the burn of what feels like fire and acid against the skin and give them another hard yank.
“ARGH!” I fight back the tears that want to break free at finding myself in chains again. “No, Nova. Don’t go back there. Don’t go back there.” I crouch on the hard floor and I wrap my arms around my knees. I rock a little, trying to steady my breathing like I used to do.
“One, in. Two, out.” I swallow back the lump of choking fear. No one will come looking for me. For years I’ve worked overtime making sure to keep layers between me and damn near anyone. Constantly moving from city to city. No boyfriends, no family besides my sister. Not until I arrived in New York City did I break and finally make friends with a couple of people.
Jacob won’t even think to look for me when I don’t show up in the back room of his bar. Not for a few days at least. And Ellie. Poor Ellie. Look what being my friend got her. Kidnapped.
I scrub at my face and pull my hair away from my eyes. Even if I did have someone in my life, they wouldn’t know where to start. I cast my gaze around, tightening my arms. I don’t even know wherehereis.
Goosebumps rise on my arms. This dark, cold room is a stiff reminder of how alone I am.
And why I can’t fall prey to my past. Not again. I scrub at my face and grip the last strands of resolve I can find deep within.
First things first. My sister. I need to find her. She has to be scared to death. And my best friend. I try to think back to the moment before I woke, but a muddle of murky thoughts clog my mind. I’m not used to looking out for more than just my sister so having Ellie tacked on makes me feel like a worthless friend.
“Think, Nova.”
The whiskey shots and beer from a girls’ night out mixed with whatever is still burning the back of my throat make me lightheaded when I try to stand. My breathing is shallow and I can’t seem to steady my racing heartbeat.
“What does all this mean? Come on. Think, girl.” There is no way I’ve been here for more than a couple of hours, whereverhereis. I can still taste Diablo’s signature drink, Hell’s Flame, on my tongue. It takes a solid five hours or so for the mix of liquors and tabasco sauce to fade. I use that little detail to mark the time. That means I haven’t been out long and I am possibly still in New York City.
I close my eyes again and shove at the fog, but it’s no use. Any memory of how I got here isn’t coming easy.
“Polaris,” I call out. Heartbreaking silence greets me. “Ellie!” I try again but only get the same response.
I test my restraints again and bite through the pain of metal on flesh. Nada.Fuck.
My gut is telling me I need to hurry. That I’m in more danger than I can possibly understand. I cast my gaze around in the dark with my hands trying for something to help pick or smash these damn things off me. Only rough cement meets my fingertips.
“Don’t panic.” I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, falling into old habits disturbingly easy.