Skarlet by Thomas Emson

Author:Thomas Emson [Emson, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Fantasy, Vampires
ISBN: 978-1250017956
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published: 2014-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 54

CHICKEN COOP.

SCREAMS echoed around the cavern.

Nadia Radu strutted down the stairs. She sneered at the women and teenagers in the cage.

They whined and cried and shrieked, they rocked back and forth and rattled the bars.

Ion jabbed a cattle prod into the cage. Sparks flew. The one that got singed screeched and stumbled away.

Nadia stood next to Ion and smelled the sweat and the pee wafting from the cage. She cringed and fanned her hand in front of her nose.

A dozen victims were rammed into the cage, dragged here the previous night by vampires out hunting. Their wrists were handcuffed, and when they shivered and rocked, their chains jangled. The miserable figures were blood-stained and sweat-stained, and dust coated their skins and their clothes were torn.

“Would you moan and beg if you were in their position, Ion?” she said.

“No, I’d be trying to think of a way to get out,” he said.

“Not pleading like this pathetic lot?”

“They’re kids, Nadia – kids and girls,” he said.

She glanced at Ion, and her eyes slid up and down his body. Her blood quickened, and the skin at her throat flushed. She stroked her choker, the material leathery. Ion leered at her. She’d taken him into her bed last night, and like always he proved to be her best lover.

She said, “Not feeling sympathy for them, are you?”

“Me? Sympathy? You know that I don’t have the capacity for such weak-minded rubbish, Nadia.”

She turned to face the prisoners, studying them. They cowered and cried. A crust of teenagers who a few hours earlier had swaggered through the streets now wept for their mothers. A young woman who looked like she was the bitch in her yard yelped in terror. A hen dressed in a veil with an L-plate stuck on her chest sobered up in rapid time.

“You’re pathetic,” Nadia said to them.

“Please let us go,” said the young woman. Her skin was dark and she was beautiful. The woman wore an orange mini-dress. Sweat poured down her face. Dirt streaked her arms. A heel had snapped off one of her silver shoes.

“And what happens if we don’t?” said Nadia.

“Please,” she said, and then some of the others joined in saying, “Please, please, please,” too.

And then the hen said, “What are you going to do to us? Is this all a joke? Did Karin put you up to this? Fucking bridesmaid, I’ll fucking kill her. I’m not fucking amused. I’m getting married next Saturday, and my fiancé’s got contacts. So if you don’t let me go, you’ll be in trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

The hen stuttered and then said, “Just major fucking trouble.”

Nadia glanced at Ion, and nodded. Ion stepped forward and jabbed the cattle prod through the bars. Inside the cage, they recoiled and shrieked. He yanked open the door and stepped in, flashing the prod around to keep then at bay. He grabbed the hen by the hair. Her veil crumpled in his hand. She screeched as Ion dragged her out of the cage. As he stepped out of the door, the orange-dress woman and a youth rushed forward.

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