“At once, Master.” Daw’snx nodded briefly and was gone.
I got up, feeling energy surging through me. Wherever I found the clothes, I would find Natalie—I was sure of it.
I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
TWENTY-THREE
NATALIE
“Itell you, I’m the Baron’s private Blood Bride!” I said for perhaps the tenth time. “He’s going to beveryupset if you hurt me.”
I was tied to a rickety wooden chair in the small “room” the two goons had dragged me into. It was really just an off-shoot of the dark tunnel furnished with two bedrolls, a crooked table and another chair. The space was lit by the sickly green glow of an emergency lantern, sitting on the table. Clearly the two of them lived here, barely eking out an existence on the fringes of Naggian society.
To them, I was quite a prize.
“You’re lyin’, girly,” snarled one of my captors—a Naggian male with unnaturally yellow eyes. “You ain’t no Blood Bride to the Baron!”
“But what if she’s tellin’ the truth, Gr’ub?” the other one demanded. His eyes were normal but his teeth were rotten and black—even his fangs. Apparently he didn’t use the dental moss like most Naggians did. “I mean, she’s dressed like a fuckin’ Royal—what if she reallyisone?”
“And so what if she is, Bug’ger?” Gr’ub demanded. “What nevermind does that make to us?”
“It’s going to make a hell of a lot of ‘nevermind’ if you hurt me,” I said, lifting my chin. “But if you just contact Baron Vik’tor, he’ll pay you a lot of credits to get me back.”
I certainly hoped I was telling the truth! What if it was as Ass-licks had said and Vik’tor would just forget about me once I wasn’t there anymore? Out of sight, out of mind—isn’t that what they said? And he was rich enough and important enough to have any woman he wanted—he didn’t have to pay money to get a common Blood Whore like me back.
Though I really hoped he would.
“Look, just contact the Baron and tell him you’ve got his favorite Blood Bride,Natalie,” I instructed them. “He’ll be more than happy to pay you.”
Gr’ub narrowed his weird yellow eyes at me.
“What if we don’t believe you? We’d be wastin’ our time, trying to get the attention of the likes of him, when there’s a pretty payday to be had right here and now.”
“What d’you mean, Gr’ub?” Bug’ger asked, slurring his words a little through his rotten teeth.
“Imeanthese furs she’s got on!” Gr’ub snapped impatiently. “They’re worth, ten—maybe twenty grand on the black market. All we gotta do is strip her and sell the clothes!”
“But then what do we do withher?”Bug’ger asked, looking confused.
“You idiot—did thatf’dlxyou chew rot your brain as well as your teeth? We fuck her and suck her dry of course!” Gr’ub snarled, leering at me. “Ain’t never had nohsh’fruxpussy before. I hear it’s hot!”
“How hot, though?” Bug’ger asked, a frown coming over his dull features. “Don’t want to burn my dick off, Gr’ub!”
“You idiot!” Gr’ub smacked him on the back of the head impatiently.
“Ow!” Bug’ger rubbed the place where the other man had hit him. “What’d you do that for, Gr’ub? Huh?”
I clenched my hands—which had been bound behind my back and tied to the rickety wooden chair they had forced me to sit in. Why hadn’t I just gone straight to the main tunnel the minute Ass-licks’ crawler had dropped me off? If only I had heeded that warning in that strange vision I’d had sooner, I wouldn’t be in this mess!
I wondered if I might have another vision now—something that might tell me how to get out of here. But though I closed my eyes tightly and tried to summon something up, nothing came. Not even the faintest tingle. Maybe Vik’tor had to be touching me for it to happen?
Whatever the case might be about my strange visions, the fact was I wasn’t getting one now. I was going to have to get myself out of this mess!
As Gr’ub and Bug’ger continued to argue about what to do with me, I kept working my wrists. The rough rope they had used to tie me was cutting into my skin but it wasn’t quite as tight as it had been. I gritted my teeth as I worked to slip my hands free…
“All right now, boys—what’s this then?”
The new voice at the doorway of the small room Gr’ub and Bug’ger had dragged me to, made me jerk my head up. It must be Vik’tor—somehow he had tracked me down!