I gulped while Fang continued to raise holy hell in the cell next to me. Some of it in English...some of it I swear sounded like Klingon. Wiggling, I tried again to break free from my bonds, but to no avail. I was strung up tighter than a pair of Spanx on a cheat day.
"You know, Dru, it's been a hell of a long day. I think I'll just hangout here, if you don't mind." I batted my eyelashes innocently at her.
"Oh, but I do," she purred, opening my cell door. The ominous creak of it resembled nails on a chalk board and I winced. "I'm afraid I must insist you come with me."
She stared straight into my eyes as she approached. It was like looking at pure evil and madness all wrapped up in a malevolent package. I half expected her to be carrying a plate of fava beans and a nice Chianti. A squeak scurried up my throat, but I bravely swallowed it back. I may be in a bad spot here, but I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of seeing how much the psychotic vampire terrified me.
Reaching up with those overly manicured nails of hers, she slowly unlocked one cuff. Big mistake bitchzilla. Seizing on her desire to be overly dramatic, I quickly swung my freed hand and clobbered her on the side of the face. It felt like slapping a brick wall, but I didn't care. It gave me a few precious seconds of time to rip the manacle off my other wrist and I dropped to the floor. My legs where still attached to the damn wall, but I was free enough to lunge forward.
I didn't really have any kind of plan. I was shooting from the hip and working purely on survival. My eyes locked on her ankles and the only thought I had was to bite them like a rabid terrier. If I was lucky, I could chew my shoes off her feet.
Pushing myself headfirst with fangs drawn, I dove forward only to come up short and ended up face-planting on the disgusting floor. Spitting out God only knew what, I swiftly rolled over to jerk the chains hampering my legs free. I was just about to reach the first shackle when a muzzle of a gun appeared, poking me in the nose.
"That's right you little redheaded witch, I didn't come unprepared." Druilla kneeled down, her golden eyes alight with a deranged glee. Bright blood trickled down her chin from the split lip I had given her. "You may be immune to my powers, but I doubt even you can survive a gunshot wound from pointblank range."
Since I totally didn't want to find out, I would have to agree with her on that one. Especially given the size of the cannon she had pointed at my face. Seriously? What was with these vamps and everything having to be enormous? That thing was big enough to make Dirty Harry look like he was carrying around a peashooter.
"Now," she waved the gun towards my ankles still chained to the wall, "unlatch yourself and get on your feet."
I didn't budge an inch.
"Move!" she snarled, jabbing me with the revolver.
"What's the magic word?" I sing-sung as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her. If she thought I was going to make this easy on her...she had another thing coming.
A ferocious fire flared to life in her eyes. Leaning back on her heels...ahem...I mean my heels...a little sadistic smile spread quickly across her sangria lips. Just as swiftly, her hand flashed out, slapping hard across my face making my head whip around to the other side. The sting burned and made my eyes water. Fang's roar of fury from the other cell filled the chamber along with Druilla's maniacal laughter.
Lifting my hand to see if my jaw was still attached, I turned my eyes back to her. "Please would have worked," I muttered even though my mouth hurt like hell. Judging by how fast my lips were swelling, I wouldn't be needing any collagen injections anytime soon.
"Now we're even," she said softly, wiping the dribble of blood from her lips with her fingers and licking them clean. Ewwwww.
"Hardly," I snorted under my breath. Reaching forward, I quickly broke off the restraints clamped around my ankles.
Fang kept up his frenzied howling on the other side of the wall.
"It's okay," I told him. Or the wall rather. "She hits like a girl," I added with a smile to boost the insult.
"Get up!" she growled, poking the point of her weapon between my shoulder blades.
Slowly, I eased myself up on my feet. Taking my sweet time, I brushed the grit and grime off my jeans while the hamster churned sluggishly on its wheel in my head trying to come up with a new plan. Plan A failed and ended up with me and Fang trussed up in the dungeon. Plan B had also been an epic failure...though somewhat more satisfactory since she was sporting a fat lip. That left me with plan C.
There was only one problem. I had no clue what plan C was.
"I will kill you Druilla!" Fang shouted.
"Darling, don't be that way my pet," she tutted. "I'm doing this for us."
"There is no us! There never has been nor will there ever be!"
"That's because you refuse to see the potential our mating will bring." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me with her to the front of Fang's cell.
Drake flashed his long fangs as he fought against the chains crisscrossing his naked chest as he thrashed wildly on a stone altar set in the middle of the room. Judging by the heaving of his chest and the amount of sweat dripping off him, he was wearing out and getting weaker. Light bruising and strange burns were beginning to appear on his beautiful skin.
"Stop, darling...please," Druilla begged. "You are only making it worse. If the lead seeps into your skin, I'm afraid you will not recover."
"You should have thought of that before you strapped me down," he growled as he writhed, his muscles straining.
"I didn't do this!" Druilla snapped. "You caused your own agony when you defied Nicolai because of this demon." She shook me like a ragdoll.
"You know, if you guys need a moment to hash things out...I can just go," I offered, trying to jerk myself out of her red lacquered talons.
"Shut up!" Druilla snarled. "It is because of you everything is now in jeopardy!"
"Hey! News flash Cruilla! I didn't do anything! It's not like I asked to be turned into a vampire," I sniffed indignantly. "Last week I was happily living my life and then POOF...I'm thrust into a world I didn't even know existed outside of the movies. I grew fangs overnight, ate my neighbor's cat, I got shot at, my house got blown to bits, I got chased by some road rage retard in a SUV and then hung up like a salami in an Italian deli! I'm the victim here!"
"You ate a cat?" Two voices in unison asked me. Both, I might add, had the same disgusted tone and Druilla looked like she was about to start dry heaving.
"Really? After everything I said, you two pick up on that?" I said wryly, rolling my eyes. And they claim I lacked focus.
"Enough of this!" Druilla hissed. "Drake, I will deal with you later. Try not to kill youself while I'm away."
Ignoring his thundering threats, she hauled me down the passageway like we were late for a doorbuster sale.
"You know, I read on a packet of Taco Bell hot sauce once that all men really want are topless handjobs with spit. You might want to try that rather than the forced marriage proposal route," I grumbled, dragging my feet.
"You," she shoved me hard up against the stone wall, my head bouncing like a racquetball, "will shut the hell up! You know nothing. I had him in my bed once and I will have him again. Drake is mine!" she spat, her face only inches from mine, rained me with spittle. Gross!
"First off, unless you plan on laying a lip lock on me...back up. Second, I couldn't care less what you think Drake is. What you two were in the past is none of my business." I made sure I emphasized the word past. "But, if I were you, I wouldn't walk around bragging about it. I mean really, it's not a triumph to be some guy's one night stand." I snorted. "He's a dude, it's not like you had to pass a laborious application process. You have tits...that pretty much makes you a shoe in," I added mockingly.
Her eyes blazed red. Okay...yeah...I probably should have chosen to keep my mouth shut, but jealousy, fear and a righteous amount of anger was making for the worse case of mouth diarrhea I had ever suffered from.
She backed up a couple of steps, but before I could breathe a sigh of relief she lifted her gun and shot me in shoulder. There was a 'thunk" sound as the bullet lodged into the stone behind me. Holy Moses on a pogo stick! It stung like a bitch and was nothing like you see in the movies when the hero gets shot. When it happens on the big screen, he usually does a little wince, but continues on to save the day. I hate to break the news here folks, but when you get shot...it hurts like a #@!&%$#@!!
Even though I could feel my heartbeat in the hole I was now sporting, I wouldn't give her the gratification of screaming.
"OW! SON OF A BISQUIT EATER!" Okay...I lied. Give me a break, I was leaking blood like my Gremlin leaks oil.
She smiled at me. "Have anything else you'd like to say?"
"You shoot like a girl," I sneered as I wheezed in pain.
"Perhaps, I should practice more." Raising the gun to my face, she pulled back the hammer. "This is much more fun than leaving you out for the sun."
I closed my eyes and waited for the end to come, my life flashing behind my lids. The time I got three pairs of designer jeans for the price of one due to a malfunction at the register. Those Manolo Blahniks with the cutest little leopard print bow I found at a yard sale for a mere buck fifty. Ah...and who could forget those wonderful deals I got at Nordstrom's Black Friday extravaganza two years ago when I accidently throat punched some dude who was trying to take a pair of cashmere gloves out of my grasp. Serendipity my ass.
A loud 'thump' followed by the sound of somebody hitting the floor ended my cruise down memory lane. Cracking one lid open, I peeked out to see Taos standing there holding a very large wooden beam. Popping both eyes wide, I blinked as I looked down to see Druilla knocked out cold at my feet. I totally take it back, Cool Ranch Doritos eaters are the good guys.
"Um...thanks," I said breathlessly, regretting I had called him a worm.
"Don't mention it." He dropped the beam and pulled an apple out of his pocket. Biting down into it with a loud crack, he turned away. "You had better get a move on, she won't stay down long." He threw over his shoulder as he disappeared down one of the dark hallways.
I swear, I could have kissed him. Bending down, I started groping through her pockets until I found the ring of keys. Jumping up, I sprinted down back towards the cell block. I made it halfway when it dawned on me what I forgot and I turned back.
Looking down at my nemesis, a growl worked its way up my throat. Normally, I was pretty nonconfrontational in life. Fighting just wasn't my thing, unless it was a good old fashioned catfight with lots of hissing, spitting and name calling. Kneeling down, I jerked back my fist and punched her straight in the eyeball.
"That's for stealing my shoes and shooting me." Raising my fist, I hammered her in the nose, blood squirted out staining her lovely white mink coat. "That's for messing with my Fang."
Standing up, I jerked my shoes off her feet. Slipping them on, I bent down and grabbed the revolver out of her limp hand. Tucking it into the waistband of my jeans, I prayed I wouldn't shoot myself in the ass as I took off running back towards the cells. Skidding to a halt in front of Fang's cage, I started working my way through the gigantic ring of keys. My shoulder throbbing with every beat of my heart.
"I swear Druilla...if you..."
"Guess again, fang boy."
"Red?" He cranked his head around. "How...when...? I heard a gunshot, I thought...I thought you were dead." Confusion made his brow drop into a frown as he grappled with how I could possibly be standing outside of his cell.
"Yeah...well, I'm a lot more holy than I used to be," I mumbled.
Finally finding the right one, I scampered inside. A smile broke across his face rivaling the sun and I basked in the glory of it. Even though we had been right next to each other, I sort of missed the big lug.
"You're alive," he said softly, his diamond eyes shining.
"I survived being a foster kid in a broken system, being audited...hell, I even survived Disco Week at the Superpumper. You think some little twit dressed like a throwback from Studio 56 with a gun is going to slow me down?"
"Fuck, I'm glad to see you haven't lost that feistiness," he said weakly and for the first time, I noticed how pale he was. "You need to leave, Red. Now. That shot is going to bring a lot of attention down here. Just go."
"I'm not leaving you behind," I muttered, still trying to jam one key after another into the lock on his chains. The blood oozing from my shoulder, flowed down my arm and coated my hands making everything slippery.
"Listen to me," he pleaded, his eyes glowing intently. "There's a tunnel, down past the cellars covered by some shelves. Move the shelves and get into the tunnel. Bar the door and run. It will take you past the Colony border..."
"Shut up!" I threw the keys against the wall when the last one still wouldn't open his padlock. "We started this together, Fang," I reached out and clutched his chains, "we finish it together."
Grim resolve gave me the extra strength I needed as I pulled with all my might.
The chains broke, bits and pieces of them shattering and pinging around the room. Falling to the floor in exhaustion, I felt the sharp edges of them cutting into my palms. Holy hell...my shoulder hurt, my head hurt and I needed to sleep for a week. But...dammit...Fang was mine...again.
Mel lived! Now...how the heck are they going to escape?
Stay tuned for the next installment of FANGED to find out. Don't forget to come join the fun on my Facebook page K. M. Halandras for sneak peeks!
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you liked it please give it a vote and comments are always appreciated. If you don't see any updates here...check out my other two stories Bending Steele or When Roses Collide.