Page 164 of Crystal Iris
I manage a scream. “Help!” My voice echoes. My eyes are still working hard to form faces. Panic sets in.
My breathing gets out of control; my body shakes as I try to free myself from whatever is holding me still.
“Easy, bunny. You’re not going anywhere,” I hear the man say.
I try moving again; my wrists burn from the motion. I scream again, this time a little louder.
“Nobody can hear you. Save your breath. You’re going to need it.”
Shit.This is not good. I try to focus on my breathing. I need to think. I need to think. I need to get out of here. Akira! She’ll know when I don’t show up. She’ll call the cops. Someone had to have seen me if I was taken. The club was packed. Someone did. I try to calm myself.Someone had to.
“She needs time. She’s too high. I’ll come back in an hour,” I hear another man say. “Do not touch her.”
I let the words sink in.I have one hour.
I hear a door open and close. It’s loud. It has to be a gate. Where am I? How long have I been here?
The drink—if someone put something in my drink, did they put it in Akira’s too? I panic for her.
“Easy, bunny. You’re so… fresh,” the man says, licking my face.
I manage to spit on him.
“Feisty… just how I like it,” he says, grabbing my face.
My head is killing me. I scan my body. My legs are tied up. My wrists are tied up. My vision still isn’t one hundred percent, but I can feel whatever I’m on wearing off. I close my eyes and listen to my surroundings. I can hear cars; I must still be in the city. No other voices—just the man’s heavy breathing and footsteps. I need to find a way out of here.
My mouth is dry.
“I need water,” I say.
“You don’t get to ask for things,” the man replies, spitting on the floor.
“Please, he won’t be happy to come back and find me like this. Water will help.”
“Smart one, aren’t you?”
“Please, just a sip.”
He brings something to my lips. I drink it. It tastes clean.
He comes closer and takes a whiff of my neck. “You smell so… sweet.”
I know better than to fight him off. I need to somehow get him to play along.
“Why am I here?” I ask.
“That’s not for me to say.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your hunter, little bunny.” He keeps chewing something.
“What do you want from me?”
“I’m just the hunter. I do what I’m paid to do.”
“And what were you paid to do?”
