“Wakey time, bitch,” my favorite Hunter shouts at me.
“Fuck off,” I snarl at him, words being the only thing I have in my arsenal.
He jeers at me and pulls on the few remaining strands of hair that I have left on the side of my head closest to him. The burnt side. I grimace but make no sound.
“You are a toughie, aren’t you?” he questions me. “Most Vampires light up like a tiki torch, but not you, eh. What is your poison? I will find it. In the meanwhile…” He steps back and I see Cade standing behind him, still chained up and being held in place by two Hunters, one on either side of him. I can see the resignation on his face, and I shake my head.
“No!” I say as loudly as my hoarse voice will allow me. “You don’t have to do this. You have me. You can let him go.”
“Let him go?” the Hunter scoffs. “We are not in the business of letting Vampires go, bitch.”
“Don’t,” I plead with him, shaking my head. But there is no point. Their minds are made up and unless rescue swoops in right this second, Cade is done for and there is nothing I can do about it.
“Say your goodbyes,” the Hunter says jovially, pulling out a stake and without waiting another heartbeat, slams it straight into Cade’s chest. His eyes go wide, and I cry out, the unshed tears pooling up and falling down my cheeks.
“No! Fuck! I’m sorry, Cade. I’m sorry!” It’s the last thing he hears before he explodes into a pile of dust in front of my very eyes, his demise tearing through me with unfettered force.
“You bastards!” I scream, kicking out at them with my bare, bloodied feet. “I will see you all burn for this!”
It’s hollow and they know it. I am in no position to be making threats.
The Hunter breathes in deeply and then steps closer to me. “There’s that fear,” he says so close to my face, I can feel his hot breath on my lips. “I wondered what I had to do to bring it out in you. I don’t like tough cookies. I like my women weak…”
“Like you,” I shout in his face and spit a glob of saliva and blood at him.
He backhands me sharply, snapping my head backwards and causing me to squeeze my eyes shut against the pain.
“Weak!” he shouts in my face and rips my torn shirt open to reveal my breasts.
I had wondered when this portion of the torture would rear its head. I wasn’t sure if they would rape me, considering their utter disgust for me, but it appears they would. His friends are leering at me, but he just stands there, looking into my defiant eye
s.
“Oh, I won’t touch you in that way,” he says. “You are a dirty whore. I’ve heard the stories about you. These four on the other hand, have no such qualms about rutting a filthy bitch like you.”
“Bring it,” I sneer at him. “You’ve heard the stories? Then you know I can take all five of you at once and not bat an eyelid. It’ll be fun. Give me some pleasure in this boredom that you have created for me. I’m actually looking forward to it.”
His eyes harden and, casting my glance at the other four, they looked slightly shocked and unsure of themselves now. That was my intention. If they think I will stand here while they all take a go with me crying and begging for them to stop, they have another thing coming. I thrust out my chest and waggle my assets at them. “Well?” I taunt them. “Who’s first? I will ride you like a fucking stallion and you won’t ever want to fuck a human woman again.”
“Enough!” the main Hunter bellows at me, backhanding me once again. “No one touches the cunt. Got it?” he instructs his men and they nod, reluctantly, but also with a sense of relief.
“Babies,” I mutter under my breath and get a kick in the crotch for my insubordination.
At least I prevented my own gang-rape. It could be worse.
I shuffle myself upright, trying to ease the pressure on my wrists a tiny bit, but the slippery-with-my-own-blood floor is making it difficult.
It is then that I hear a scuffle by the door and fix my eyes on it. Hard.
I know.
I can sense him.
My husband has arrived, and he is in no mood to suffer fools.
I smile through my cracked lips, causing the four guards to glance warily at the door. “You are so dead,” I say with a smile at them and then droop in relief as the door bursts open on a stream of blood-red smoke.
Constantine storms in taking out the four Hunters as one, stripping them of their flesh before he impales them to the roof of the cell, as a collection of gory piñatas to be found.