2
Ursula heard the determined footsteps that echoed in the hallway and knew what this meant. The guard was coming to get her. Every time it happened, she dreaded it. After three long years in captivity, one would have thought she would be used to it, but with every time, the disgust for what they did to her grew. As did the fear, the fear that she would give up the fight, that she would finally succumb and lose herself, become a mindless vessel that only existed to serve their needs.
Twice a night, sometimes three times, they called upon her. She was growing weaker, she could feel it. Not only physically, but mentally too. And she wasn’t the only one. The other girls were in the same situation. They were all Chinese like her. Some young, others older. It didn’t seem to matter to them, because it wasn’t the women’s beauty they were after.
She’d been barely twenty-one when they’d captured her one night in New York after she’d left an evening lecture at NYU. It was her last semester, but she would never finish it. How she had dreaded the final exams—how eager she was to please her parents! If only she had those kind of simple problems now. They seemed so trivial now, so easy to solve.
Getting up from the bed, she grabbed the frame and pushed it closer to the wall, hiding what she’d carved into the exposed wooden beam behind: her parents’ names and address and a message, telling them she was still alive. Every day she survived, she added a date to the list, her carvings now covering virtually the entire area hidden by the headboard.
She had only started the carving at this place, to which they had moved her three months earlier by her own count. At her previous prison, there had been no possibility to do the same—the walls had been made of concrete. Why they had moved her to this place, she didn’t know. But one night, they’d simply packed everything and everybody onto several trucks and deserted the building from which they’d conducted their bloody business.
When the key turned in the lock, Ursula looked at the door. It swung open, revealing the guard who had come to lead her to a room where the next customer was already salivating for a taste. She recognized him as Dirk, and of all the guards, she hated him most. He took obvious pleasure in seeing her suffer, in seeing her be humiliated night after night.
There were always four guards on duty for the thirteen-or-so prisoners if she had counted correctly, even though there were more vampires on the premises. Whether her count of the girls was correct, she could never be sure; recently they had brought in two new girls, and it had been a while since she’d seen a girl called Lanfen. Had she died? Had they finally wrung too much from her fragile body? Ursula shuddered at the thought. No, she couldn’t give up. She had to fight on, hope that she would somehow be saved.
“Your turn,” Dirk ordered with a motion of his head.
She complied as she always did, setting one foot in front of the other, knowing that he would use whatever means necessary to make sure she executed his command. And means he had plenty. She had been at the receiving end of each and every one of them and could say with certainty that she liked none of his methods.
As she walked past him, her head held high, she felt his body shift. Then his mouth was at her ear.
“I like watching you the best. You’ve got more spirit than all the others together. Makes it so much more exciting. Have I ever told you what a turn-on that is for me?”
A cold shiver of disgust ran down her spine.
“Always have to jerk off right after it.”
Ursula closed her eyes and pushed down the bile that rose as a result of his words. How dare he taunt her with something he knew was beyond her reach and the reach of every woman they had kidnapped?
When she turned and glared at him, he laughed.
“Oh, I forgot, that’s right, you can’t get off, can you? Despite the arousal that we allow you to sense, you’ll never climax. Pity that.”
Without thinking, she spit in his face. “Sick bastard.”
Slowly he wiped the spit off his face, glaring at her with red flickering eyes. It took only a second for his fangs to descend. Then the back of his hand hit her right across the cheek, whipping her head to the side so forcefully that she feared it would rip her head off her shoulders.
Pain seared through her, a feeling she had learned to tolerate to a greater extent than she’d thought was possible. A defiant glare still in her eyes, she was aware that he would hurt her no further. She was too valuable to them. He couldn’t kill the golden goose. His leader would stake him for it without giving it a second thought.
Dirk was holding onto his control with his last ounce of strength—she could see it in the glow of his red irises and the way the cords in his neck bulged. For an instant, she felt pride wash over her. She had gotten to him.
One nil for the human.
“Watch out, Ursula, one day you’ll pay for this.”
“Not tonight, vampire.”
Because tonight, a customer was waiting for her. And he wanted his merchandise unblemished. After all, he was paying a high price for it.
Ursula had overheard the guards talking about the amounts of money that changed hands, and she’d been shocked. At the same time, it had made her aware of just how valuable each of the women they held was. And that they couldn’t afford to lose one. It gave her some leverage.
Ursula turned and walked ahead of him, refraining from touching her cheek to soothe the pain. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know that her flesh still stung from his violent slap. She had too much pride for that. Yes, even after three years, she hadn’t let go of it yet. It was what kept her going, what fueled her defiance.
“The blue room,” Dirk ordered behind her.
She turned the corner and headed for the room at the very end, passing a small window that would have provided light during the day, had it not been painted black from the inside. As she entered the familiar room, she allowed her eyes to roam. It was a corner room. There were two windows, one overlooking the main road, the other the side alley that culminated in a dead end. Both windows were small and hung with heavy velvet curtains.
In contrast to the sparse bedroom that Ursula lived in, this room was furnished rather lavishly. Two large sofas upholstered with the same velvet as the drapes dominated the room. A small washstand was tucked away in one corner, a supply of towels and soaps stacked next to it. A shelving unit occupied one interior wall, providing visual as well as audio entertainment should the customers wish this distraction. Many didn’t.
When she heard the door shut behind her and the key turn in the lock, she reluctantly looked at the man who sat on one of the sofas.
“Sir,” Dirk said behind her. “May I present your dinner and entertainment for tonight.”
Then he gave her a shove into the other vampire’s direction and hissed behind her, “Play nice, Ursula. You know I’m watching.”
As if she could ever forget that.
The stranger patted the place next to him with his palm.
“Since this is your first time, I’d like to reiterate the rules,” Dirk interrupted.
The customer raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and simply continued to run his eyes over her body. His fangs peeked from between his lips, and she knew they had extended fully. He was trying to act civil, when underneath that calm exterior, she could sense his impatience, his hunger for a special treat only few were privy to.
“You may choose where to drink from her. But you may not have sex with her.”
“But—”
His protest was instantly cut off. “I said no sex. You’re here for a taste of her blood, not her p-ssy.” After giving him a stern look, Dirk continued, “You will stop when I tell you to. No exception. Her blood is potent. If you take too much, there’s no telling what will happen.”
The vampire narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Dirk took a step closer. “I mean that you’ll become delirious if you take too much. Like an overdose. Understood?”
He nodded in response.
“Go ahead,” Dirk ordered, tossing her a sideways glance.
Ursula steeled herself for what was to come as she took the few steps to the couch and stopped in front of the man. Leeches, she called them. Because that was what they came here for. To feed off the girls imprisoned in this godforsaken place.
Raising his eyelids, the strange vampire looked straight at her. There was a coldness in his look that chilled her. But she suppressed the shiver that ran down her spine. The goose bumps on her skin, however, she couldn’t prevent. A lascivious smile curved his lips when he noticed them.
“I take the neck,” he said.
Figured! Most of them did. They loved digging their dirty fangs into her neck while they pulled her against their vile bodies, pressing their hardening dicks against her like rutting animals. Few drank from her wrist, and those who did, eventually moved on to other areas of her body, losing control over their actions as her blood drugged them.
It was the reason why a guard was in the room at all times, forcing the leech to dislodge his fangs should it become evident that things were getting out of control. The guards were there for the girls’ safety, but in Dirk’s case, Ursula knew he took particular pleasure in the act of watching her.
A firm tug on her hand made her lose her balance and land on the sofa. Before she could straighten, the leech was already on her, his strong body holding her down as the sofa cushioned her back.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Dirk had taken a seat on the sofa opposite, his legs spread wide, one hand already resting on his crotch. The other unhooked the walkie-talkie from his belt and set it next to him on the couch. It appeared that he would already start fondling his dick during the show he’d come to watch, only to finish himself off afterwards.
Disgusted, she closed her eyes and clamped her jaw shut. She would get through this, just like all the other nights. She simply had to block everything around her out. Think of a better place, a safer place.
A rough hand brushed her long black hair away from her neck, then jerked her head to the side. The leech’s hot breath invaded her senses as his head came closer and his mouth connected with her vulnerable skin. Instinctively, she shuddered. A grunt came over the vampire’s lips just before he pierced her skin, sinking his fangs into her.
The pain was only momentary. The humiliation lasted longer. It was only the start. As he fed off her, greedily drinking her blood, gulping it down like a man who’d just run a marathon, she felt the ripples go through her body again. Slowly, they traveled from her neck down to her torso, crawling toward her breasts. Her nipples were already chafing against her T-shirt, and the zipper of the vampire’s leather jacket pressed painfully against her sensitive flesh. When the tingling sensation reached her breasts, it combined with the pain and sent a hot flame shooting through her body.
She cried out, unable to keep her jaw clamped together any longer. A groan from the leech was the answer, before she felt his hand wander over her upper body, fondling, grabbing, squeezing. She knew Dirk wouldn’t stop him as long as he didn’t try to stick his dick inside her, because he enjoyed watching her discomfort, almost as if he could see the shame that flooded her.
Shame, because the vampire’s actions aroused her.
She knew it wasn’t natural, simply a byproduct of the feeding, and there was nothing she could do about it; nevertheless, she was ashamed at the way her body reacted. The way her pelvis tilted toward him, how her sex rubbed itself against his hardening dick, how her nipples sought the teeth of his jacket’s zipper to find relief. Relief her captors had been denying her for three years.
With every pull on her vein, more sensations flooded her body, igniting a need in her that grew to monumental proportions. It was like this every time. It made her writhe underneath every leech she’d ever had, rub herself up against the strangers who violated her body in this way, who took from her what she was unwilling to give.
But as much as she struggled, just as she did now, her fists beating against him at the same time as the rest of her body pushed against him with an altogether different motive, she knew she wouldn’t win tonight’s battle. The vampires were always stronger, their bodies hard and heavy, their hold on her unbreakable, and their fangs lodged so deeply in her neck that she dared not turn her head for fear of having her throat ripped out.
Even as tears welled up in her eyes, she panted like a bitch in heat, her moans mixing with those of the vampire feeding off her.
Dear God, let it be over, she prayed.
But just like every night, nobody was coming to her rescue. Just as nobody was helping the other girls who shared her lot. Even now, she could hear similar noises coming from the room next door, only louder and as it appeared, more violent. She felt a kindred spirit to the other women, knew what they were going through, and her heart wept for them, because it was unable to weep for herself. No, she couldn’t allow self-pity, or she would lose her resolve and her strength.
The leech’s hands started to become less focused, veering off their aim, the way a drunk’s movements eventually became uncoordinated. Soon, he’d let go of her. Soon, her ordeal would be over.
A crackling from the walkie-talkie suddenly broke through Ursula’s consciousness. Then a voice came through.
“Red room, I need help. Now! The client is going apeshit on the girl! Reinforcements now!”
Dirk jumped from his couch, cursing. “Shit! On my way.”
He ran toward the door and unlocked it, when a scream came from the other end of the hallway where the red room was located.
“F*ck!”
Then the door was slammed shut and Dirk was gone.
Ursula waited a couple of seconds, listening intently, but there was no other sound at the door; he hadn’t locked the room on his way out.
Was this her chance?