Bloodbreeders: The Revenge (15 page)

“He goes where she was. He’s going to die in there just like all of the ones that he walked off laughing at.”

The boys helped me drag him over to the opening. I told them it was my place to roll him into the hell that he had placed Tanda in to die, and a privilege that was all mine. Derek, of course, had to make a comment about me already being covered in the stuff that filled the cages anyway, getting him a much needed slap on the back of the head from Brandon. Garvin sat holding Tanda in his lap on the steps, while the boys held the torches and stood back, while I
rolled the not so whole man into the cage. I had to sit down on the floor and push with my feet to get his weight over the opening. It was then that he began to comprehend what was happening to him.

“I would rather you finish me,” Enrique moaned, grabbing at the cage entrance with his only hand, while he kicked for momentum with his only foot. “Renee, please don’t lock me in here.”

“If you answer my question honestly, Enrique, I will think about helping you from dying in this horrifically, terrifying place.”

“I’ll answer anything you want to know, just please don’t leave me down here,” he begged, reaching out trying to touch my leg.

“Did you rape Tanda, before you put her in this cage?” I asked, looking him directly in the eyes.

“Please,” he cried.

I already knew the answer before I asked it, but I wanted him to see the acknowledgement of it on my face. I pulled back the leg that he was reaching for and kicked him square in the face, rocking him backwards and I didn’t stop kicking him until he was far enough in the cage to lift the door and slam it shut.

“You will die in there knowing what you’ve done was wrong. You may never feel remorse for all of the lives that you’ve taken, Enrique, but how long will you survive having to think about it?”

I walked off without one ounce of regret for what I had just done. I felt justified, elated, knowing that he and Annabel would never do the morbid things that they were doing, anymore. Bo had offered to carry Tanda for Garvin, but he wasn’t about to let go of his sister. She had closed her eyes again, but now I think it was in relief of being in the warmth of his arms.

I was the last to take the long maddening trail back up from the depths of Yvette’s secret abyss. The abyss that, I would make sure that no creature would ever journey to again, even if I had to burn the place to the ground by sheer will alone. Enrique would be the last victim to lie in the belly of this beast, though more would suffer, paying for the hell they had caused before all was said and done. I thought as I followed the others, who also walked in silence, about what I
was going to tell them. I had already said that we would go in and get those that we were searching for and leave. Two, had paid with their lives for the crimes that they had committed, but the one who made the laws that ruled these wicked walls, was still somewhere being pampered, and more than likely unaware that her home had even been invaded.

It was the sound of Bo opening the iron door that tore me away from my many thoughts. My little ones were the first to take in deep gulps of air that had to smell like roses compared to the stench that they just escaped from. Brandon helped me close the door, and then both of us leaned our backs against it and began to chuckle.

“I use to think this smelt bad,” Brandon said, rolling his head over to look at me.

“They’ll smell us coming from a mile away now,” I replied, then winked at him.

“I think it would be best that we clean ourselves before we go beyond this level. The Mistress knows that Annabel and Enrique are about on other business most of the night and does not check in until close to the resting hour,” Garvin explained. “At times, not even until the next night.”

“We won’t be going anywhere. You’ll be staying down here with your sister and Ashley,” I said pushing myself off the door. “We have another friend who was hurt trying to protect us, and I don’t want to leave Tanda and Ashley alone without protection.”

“If that is what you wish.”

We bunched together and made our way back to the room that we had Sydney hidden in, and found him resting peacefully. I had the boys bring a chair into the cell and told Garvin to sit down, so I could get a better look at Tanda. She was so badly caked in the things that were festering in the bottom of those cages that, I couldn’t manage to tell anything. I asked Garvin if the washroom that they had taken me to had everything that we would need, and if Tanda’s room was still on this level. He told me that the Mistress had everything of theirs burnt as a punishment for their action against her, and that there would be nothing to find in her room. I nodded, then took Ashley and Bo with me to get everything ready to give Tanda as much of a bath as we could.

I had Bo go back and tell Garvin when we were ready, and then he in turn, carried Tanda to us. She was too weak to even sit up, and it was heart breaking watching her try. Garvin raised his wrist to his mouth, and was just about to bite through the flesh when I looked up and grabbed his arm.

“I can’t let you do that.”

“I have never seen her this weak before and I will not lose her now,” he replied, pulling his arm from my grip.

“Please. Then let me do it,” I said, gently taking his hand back in mine. “You’re too weak yourself, Garvin.”

“I would be forever in you dept.”

I smiled getting down on my knees. I stroked Tanda’s forehead, telling her that I was going to feed her from my vein, and that I needed her to drink when I pressed my arm to her mouth. When she didn’t respond, I looked to Garvin to make sure she was ready when I bit into my flesh. The blood came slowly at first, and then the flow became steadier as I pressed on my arm. I held it over her gray lips, as Garvin tilted her head back and opened her mouth.

“Drink from the life of your new mother, my sister,” Garvin whispered leaning close to her ear. “She will belong to you forever now.” Then he kissed her cheek.

I watched as my blood spilled from the sides of her mouth, thinking we might have been too late. Then she coughed. Just a small sound, as some of the blood slid down her throat. She swallowed several times before she raised her extremely delicate hand up, and pulled my arm closer to her mouth until her lips embraced it with a mild suction. The more she drank, the more life came back into the color of her skin. I began to feel light headed, realizing that I was giving too much, and making myself weak, so I pulled my arm away. Ashley handed me a piece of cloth that she must have torn from her own shirt. As I was looking down, placing it around my wrist, I felt a hand touch the side of my head.

“Thank you,” Tanda said, doing her best to smile. “You gave me your life, and now I belong to you.”

“I would give you my life a thousand times over, both of you,” I smiled, and then looked back at the others. “All of you.”

“And you think you’re not a leader,” Ashley said, coming over and hugging me from behind. “That water we heated is going to get cold if we don’t get her in it.”

“What would I do without you?”

Chapter Fifteen

Tanda had regained some strength from my blood, enough to sit up and let us bathe her. Garvin sat back and watched like a gallant bodyguard, as Ashley and I worked on getting Tanda back to as normal as possible. I remembered when she and I sat in this very room doing the same, only it was her helping me scrub off the decay and putrid filth that had incrusted itself to my body. As Ashley poured the last of the warm water over her, I was making sure we had the last bit of soap out of her thin blonde hair. Once she was dry, I put one of the plain white, cotton gowns on her that I found hanging in the closet. Ones that were for those that were unlucky enough to be chosen for a night with one of the Mistress’s perverted guests. A gown much like the ones that I had worn during my stay here.

“I thought on you every time I opened my eyes, and I knew that one of those times I would open them and you would be there,” Tanda said as I combed her hair. “Even when I heard Annabel, tell Martin that you were taken to…”

“Martin?” I interrupted. “He really was here? When?” I asked looking back at Garvin.

“Weeks after you had gone. It is how Tanda ended up in the hole.”

“That must be what Sydney was talking about,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

“I wouldn’t tell the Mistress how you got out, after she heard me talking to Martin,” she explained turning to look up at me.

“Tanda was about to tell him that you went back to your family, when Annabel walked in on them. It was then that she made him think that Tanda was about to tell him that you were taken to London,” Garvin said in compliance.

“London, England,” I gasped.

“I was too afraid to tell him that she was lying, Renee. I’ve seen what she does to those who do such things,” Tanda admitted, turning back away from my worried stare.

“I don’t blame you one bit,” I said, turning her around and taking her into my arms. “I’m
just so grateful that you’re both alive. The question is, how on earth am I going to search for him now?”

“You are correct in your thinking, because that is where a problem lies. Your maker is a very wealthy man and can travel without question. He has a number of normals working for him in every port, along with several homes along the coast of your country. We on the other hand, have nothing,” Garvin clarified, showing great concern on his face.

“My mother always told us, ‘that where there is a will, there is a way’, and I believe everything that woman said—period. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“You are very wise for being so young, Lady Renee.”

“Thanks, and don’t call me that. Why did they punish you, Garvin?”

“For stepping in front of Annabel when she was going to strike me,” Tanda answered in his place.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and held me tight. I could feel her shoulders trembling and knew that she was crying. I got down on my knees and sat back on my heels, holding her so she could get it out of her system. Garvin and Ashley had both walked over and squatted down, wrapping the two of us in their embrace, which didn’t do anything but cause me to break down and cry right along with Tanda. Garvin was the first to stand back up, letting me know that we needed to hurry. It had to be close to midnight, if not already past, and there was plenty left on my plate. Once we were all back in the same area as the others, the questions began.

“Shouldn’t we get back to the boat?” Brandon asked.

“We can carry Sydney on some kind of stretcher,” Derek added.

“What about when we’re in the water?” Ashley asked. “He could drown.”

“We can’t stay here until he wakes up, Ash,” Derek responded sharply.

“If you wanna go so bad …then go.” she yelled directly in his face. “But I’m not leaving him, or putting his life in danger to suit you.”

“She has a point, Renee. What are we going to do?” Bo turned and asked.

“I think we have three that are too weak to move right now. Do you really wanna know what I think?” I asked looking around the room.

“Tell us,” Garvin said, after seeing all the nods.

“I think we should find Yvette, gut her like a farm pig, and then burn this place back to hell where it belongs.”

“You don’t even know how many people she has up there. In and out, isn’t that what you said?” Brandon asked, in a complaining manner. I would have expected that tone from Ashley or Derek.

“Tell you what, Brandon. I want you to take everyone off of this rock, get them back to Sydney’s boat. Hopefully, Yvette won’t know anything is up before tomorrow night, and y’all will be far enough away to be safe, but I’m not going anywhere. I know what I told all of you, and I absolutely meant it when I said it. But, coming back here and seeing all of this again…there’s no way that I can let this go on if there’s any possible chance that I can stop it.”

“There is livestock behind the estate. If I can feed, I will be strong enough to stand beside you,” Garvin stood and proudly said.

“No way am I leaving here without you,” Bo said stepping over by me. “Not after the shit that I’ve seen. This place is history.”

“Sorry brother, I’m with them,” Derek added.

“I just don’t want to lose anyone. It’s because of what I saw, that makes me so afraid of this woman,” Brandon admitted stepping closer. “What can I do?”

“Give me a big hug, because you just scared me really bad,” I replied pulling him into my arms, with every one of my little bloodbreeders joining in.

The three boys—Bo, Brandon, and Derek, found two more cots to put in the cell with Sydney, and an additional two for the outer room. The same room that had been the torture room. Tanda, who was feeling much better and looking more like herself by the second, was going to be using one. Garvin, who still looked as grim as he did when we found him, was already lying on the other. Afterwards the boys slipped out the front door in search of one of the animals that Garvin had told them about in the stalls behind the estate. I was laying out our weapons on the
table that Annabel used for her torture devises. That way upon their return, the boys and I could load up, before going to the upper levels. We had no idea of just how many we we’re going to be up against. Once I was finished, I told the others that I was going to wait at the top of the stairs for the boys.