Captured (Page 18)

She knew that the vampires were cruel, indifferent, brutal, and bloodthirsty but this was the first she had heard of this sort of thing. But then again, she had always just assumed that a blood slave was drained and tortured physically, but perhaps they were also mentally assaulted until they snapped completely, and had to be killed.

Aria shuddered at the thought, seconds before a barrette was jabbed roughly into her scalp. Aria shot Lauren a dark look, but her protest and anger died out as she saw the malicious gleam in Lauren’s eyes. A sinking feeling filled her as she realized that it was not only the vampires that were cruel here, but also the humans, her own kind.

And she was completely at Lauren’s mercy, a fact that was driven home by the sharp stab of the next barrette.

Aria withstood it all through the next few days; she took the handfuls of hair she lost with silence. She remained quiet through the skin pinching, jerking, pulling, and shoving that it often took for Lauren to get her into clothes that fit perfectly once on, but seemed almost impossible for Lauren to get on her at times. Bruises marred her skin from her chest down, but she was well aware of the fact that Lauren did not touch her face. Though she was in pain, Aria would not give Lauren, or the prince, the satisfaction of seeing her break, of seeing her cry.

Instead, she kept it all inside, letting her anger fester. She let it build, fueling her rage and fanning her desire to escape this place the first chance she got.

It wasn’t until she was climbing out of the shower, and Lauren pushed her onto the hard floor, that a startled cry of pain escaped her. Her knees smacked off of the hard floor, her palms stung painfully, her hip was bruised, and she heard the sharp crack of one of her ribs. Aria pushed herself slowly up, gingerly rising to her feet, her hand cradling her wounded ribs.

She had been trampled by horses before; it had hurt worse than this, but not by much. At least then she had been able to roll through most of the horses hooves. Now she was on a constant collision course with the woman that was torturing her on a daily basis. She did not know how much more she could take before she snapped and pounded the girl into a bloody mess. For though she was beaten, and now also broken, she was certain she could still take the blonde on and just as certain that she would face immediate death afterward for it.

She was beginning to think that death might be worth it, if it meant getting to extract a little revenge upon Lauren. The only thing holding her back was that she wanted to extract revenge upon all of them, not just the bitch before her. She wanted to show everyone that she was more than just the simple minded blood slave they thought she was.

Aria cradled her ribs as she defiantly met Lauren’s smug smile. She moved slowly, gingerly into the dressing room, trying not to cry as Lauren pulled the strings of her dress tight. For the first time since she had arrived, she ignored the tray of food outside her door, preferring to curl up in the bed, trying to fight off the agony crushing her chest. It did not help that she could not get the offending dress off, could not work the horrible tight ties free.

Somehow, she wasn’t quite sure how, she managed to fall asleep for a little bit. It was dark when she woke again to Lauren’s prodding. “Get up you filthy, lazy creature.”

Aria bit hard on her bottom lip, drawing blood as she held back her pain. Lauren pulled hard on the strings, finally releasing the tight binds pinching her rib painfully. Aria sagged in relief, gasping in as much air as her wounded ribs would allow. Lauren released her and left the room, leaving Aria to try and figure out how she was going to get the dress over her head, and the nightgown back on.

It took more strength and energy than she wanted to admit to wiggle her way free of the dress. Tomorrow morning she was going to throw the damn thing out, it was the piece of clothing she hated most now. Even more so than she hated the heels. She sat on the edge of the bed, trying to gather her strength to slip the nightgown over her head. She could just leave it off, Lauren had not bothered to help her out of the silly undergarments she had to wear here, but she could not sleep in such a vulnerable state. It was bad enough having to wear the silly nightgown to sleep when she was used to so much more, but to wear even less would be far worse. She was in constant danger here; she needed to be as clothed as possible if she was going to be at least a little prepared for that danger.

Drawing in as deep a breath as she could, she knotted the nightgown before her and slowly began to slip her arms in. She winced as pain shot through her battered rib cage. She struggled not to cry out, biting her tongue as agony tore through her side. “Arian…”

Aria froze, her hands trapped within the sleeves of the nightgown. She had not heard him coming. In the forest, she could hear a field mouse from a mile away. But here, in this strange and deadly place, when she needed her senses the most they were failing her. Badly. She did not turn to face him; she could not bring herself to do so. Instead, she remained unmoving. For the first time she was grateful for the silly, uncomfortable undergarments that at least shielded some of her nudity from his view.

She kept her head turned away from him, her breath held, as she waited for him to take his fill of the damage done to her body before he left again. She did not know what had brought him here tonight, not when he’d left her alone for so long, nor did she care. She simply wanted him to absorb whatever he could of her and leave; she had no fight in her tonight.

“What the hell happened?” he asked softly.

Arianna clenched her jaw as she pulled the nightgown further up her arms, grinding her teeth against the pain. She refused to answer him, refused to let him see that she was at all disturbed by his presence. He was before her suddenly, his hand seizing hold of the nightgown as he tried to pull it away. Aria clung to it, trying to keep herself sheltered from his gaze. However, he was far stronger than her, and in far better shape. In the end, she lost.

Tilting her chin up, she glared defiantly back at him, refusing to be intimidated by his show of strength and control. “What happened?” he demanded gruffly.

“Like you don’t know,” she snapped.

His eyebrows drew sharply together over his glasses, his mouth compressed in a hard line. “I wouldn’t be asking if I knew. What happened?”

Aria refused to back down from him, refused to cower beneath the weight of his heavy stare. “Your bitch happened,” she retorted fiercely.

Shock registered on his face, his mouth parted slightly as she felt his eyes wander slowly over her again. Though it was far more of her body than any man had ever seen before, she did not shrink from his gaze, did not turn away from him or try to shield herself from him. He already thought her far weaker than him; she would not support his theory by being afraid of his weighty stare. She merely straightened her shoulders. “Are you talking about that girl that was here earlier?”