Here's the next installment of the story as requested...I hope you enjoy.


The shadows slowly lifted from my mind and made room for a dull, pounding headache. My mouth was dry and felt numb somehow, my skull felt like it would explode any moment if I moved as much as a single muscle. Very carefully I opened my eyes, wincing at the jolt of pain that burned in my head when the faint sunlight hit me like a bolt of lightning.

Instinctively I tried to lift my hands to my head in an effort to soothe the pain but couldn’t move my hands. Panic rose inside of me and I struggled frantically against the restraints that held my wrists together behind my back. I tried to scream but only managed a muffled squeek because of some sort of cloth gag stuffed into my mouth. Oh my God! What was going on here??

Fragments of what happened before I lost conciousness shot through my mind…the two bulldogs in the parking lot…the van… cold and cruel laughter before the world went dark. And yes, I remembered, they cuffed me, too. Fear threatened to overwhelm me but I fought against it, forcing a few deep breaths through my nose and into my lungs. This was not the time to lose my nerves. I had to think.

A new wave of pain, this time travelling up from my wrists that the cuffs dug into mercilessly, helped me to focus and I took a look around. Where the hell was I? The room looked like an old barn and the sunlight that had hit me earlier trickled through the cracks of the wooden walls, creating a warm, golden glow. I was lying on my right side in the middle of the empty room and from my aching muscles and joints I figured that I had been in this position quite some time. Considering the light and the dusty heat around me I estimated the time to be late afternoon, which meant that I’d been knocked out for five, maybe six hours - enough time to get someone to a secluded spot outside of the city.

A shiver ran through my body in spite of the heat; someone had gone to great lengths to get me here. Why? I didn’t have a rich family or even an interesting job, so money couldn’t be the issue. “We have a few questions for you.” Those had been the words they had used this morning, but it just didn’t make any sense – I didn’t have answers. Maybe it was a misunderstanding and they simply caught the wrong girl? Not that it would make any difference. I had seen their faces and I doubted that they would just apologize and let me walk away. Tears rolled down my face as I realized how hopeless the situation was, and how unfair.

With a nasty sound of metal scratching on metal the barn door opened and I recognized bulldog 1, the dark haired twin who had cuffed and knocked me out in the van. He looked over where I lay curled up on the floor and a sardonic smile appeared on his face when he noticed I was awake. “Hey, Sid” he shouted, “I think our sleeping beauty is up. Go and get the boss!”

Closing the door behind him, he slowly walked over to where I lay on the floor. How utterly out of place he looked with his spotless suit inside the dusty barn! I didn’t like the way he shamelessly looked up and down my body, it made me feel naked and even more aware of the fact that I was completely helpless.

I shot him an angry look and he laughed dangerously. “Still willing to put up a fight? The boss will like that.” After a short moment of heavy silence he continued thoughtfully, more to himself than to me. “It would be such a terrible waste…”

As if someone had tapped his shoulder and brought him back to the present, he snapped out of his thoughts and roughly helped me into a sitting position. I groaned in agony as my stiff limbs were forced into new life so suddenly and my head went dizzy from the abrupt change of position. When he noticed I wouldn’t be able to sit up on my own, he held me under my arms and dragged me to a nearby wooden post, leaning my back against it.

He walked around me and I heard him take in a sharp breath and then mutter a curse. “He was supposed to check on her, dammit!” Turning towards me he asked in a more friendly tone, “will you behave if I release you from your restraints? Not like there’s anywhere to run to out here, but I’d hate to chase after you while it’s so fucking hot.” I nodded eagerly. Hell, I’d do anything to get out of the cuffs, the pain in my shoulders and especially my wrists was almost unbearable. He took out a set of keys from the inside of his suit jacket, unlocked the handcuffs and put them in his pocket. Very slowly I moved my hands in front of me and gasped as I saw the damage. Both hands were swollen and a sported a dark shade of purple, the wrists had bracelets of deep bloody cuts carved into the skin.

The door opened again and two men entered. One of them was the blond bulldog, Sid, and the other man I had never seen in my life. He was one of those people who naturally draw all attention to themselves without even opening their mouths to utter a single word. The most obvious eye catcher was his unusual outfit…black leather pants, a knee length coat made of red velvet loosely covering the old fashioned white shirt that was unbuttoned down to mid chest. His long black hair was tied into a ponytail and the equally black goatee emphasized his dark expression. But it was the air of reckless arrogance, the cruel mocking smile that played around his mouth, the cold, piercing gaze from his light blue eyes, the elegant way he moved almost cat like, that made me shiver. He looked…dangerous…devious, even.

“This is not her.” He said in a in a dark voice that made the blood in my veins turn to ice, his eyes never leaving mine. Somehow his words sounded as if he’d just sentenced me to burn at the stake.

“But we followed her from the address you gave us, boss…” Sid said with fear ringing in his voice. I obviously wasn’t the only one who had sensed the danger in that simple statement.

The ‘boss’ disengaged his visual lock on me to turn to Sid with a look of open contempt and the mighty bulldog winced like a puppy that had just been kicked across the room. “I told you Dina probably didn’t live alone. How could she?” He chuckled deviously. “You know who we sold her to…” Turning back to me he continued as if talking to himself. “So what to do with you?” My heart beat frantically and I started slowly, disbelievingly shaking my head, my whole body shivering with fear.

Dina was my shy, beautiful flatmate and I had always wondered what she had been through to make her scream in terror in the middle of the night…every night I had walked into her room, sat down on the bed and rocked her back to sleep. Most of the nights I had stayed and held her close until the sun finally let her nightmares fade away. She never talked about what had happened to her, but I’d seen the marks on her body….

The silky voice of bulldog 2 cut through my sobs. “I don’t think she’ll be of any use to us. Sid left her restraints on too long, look at her hands. Those marks will stay and she won’t be able to use her hands for a long time. None of your clients will settle for a crippled slave, boss.”

To my horror, the ‘boss’ walked up to me and got down on one knee in front of me. When his long, manicured fingers touched me softly, almost as in a caress, the hair on my neck stood up and every fibre in my body held its breath. With sudden force he grabbed my wrists tightly and I screamed in agony, almost passing out from the pain. He let go of one of my hands and grabbed my throat roughly.

“Look at me.” I turned to him and my eyes burned with hatred. He might have broken Dina but I wasn’t going to give him that pleasure, even if it was the last thing I’d do on this earth. If he wanted to kill me he better do it quick. “I think I might have some use for her still.” He laughed dangerously. “Take out her gag, Dave!”

Bulldog 2 – Dave – walked up behind me quietly and cut away the piece of fabric holding the cloth in my mouth in place. I spit out the ball of cloth and it bounced off the boss’ face. His lips curled in a mock smile as he tightened his grip around my throat, nailing my body to the post I leaned against. I choked and squirmed under his grip, my hatred turning to panic again as he watched me closely and finally loosened his grip on my throat with a chuckle. “She’ll take some work but…the entertaining kind.” I collapsed to a miserable heap on the floor, panting. Sid laughed at the last remark but Dave just looked at me silently, his expression unfathomable.

The boss grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my head up sharply, smiling at the yelp of pain from me. “What name does my new slave go by?”

“I’m not a slave.” I croaked, tongue still so dry it was hard to speak and my throat burned with every word.

His expression turned cold. “Tie her up again and leave her here.” With those words and a last angry glance he got up and left.