Among the Shrouded (19 page)

“
Gone forever?”

“Yeah.  Gone forever.  I haven’t seen her since.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“No.  To be honest, I haven’t looked for her.”

He turned to her and wrapped her in his arms.  She laid her head against his chest and realized all at once just how grateful she was to have shared her truth with him.  Standing in the middle of the kitchen, being held by a man she barely knew, she felt whole.  Not that he was some illusive missing piece that finally completed her, but instead, that he had unknowingly helped to put her own disheveled pieces back together.

It was a humbling admission.

“I guess that makes us kindred spirits in a way, since we were both abandoned by our mothers,” he said at last.

“I
was lucky enough to have my dad though.”

“
That’s true.  And now you have me too.”

“And
you have me.”

“That I do,”
he replied.

CHAPTER

28

KATE

On the day after the auction, something amazing happened to the fourteen women imprisoned in the basement of the warehouse.  They allowed Kate’s hope to spread like an evening fog among them.

“Do you want to know
about what is going to happen?” a tiny Chinese woman named Wan asked her as they readied themselves for the arrival of their captors.

“
No,” she said reluctantly.  “Unless there’s something you can tell me that will make it better.”

“Close your eyes,” called a woman
named Uma from the far end of the hall.

“Think about something else,” said
Svetlana.  “Think about something peaceful, like a sunset.”

“Or picking flowers.”

“Or petting a cat.”

“I feel sorry for them,” whispered a woman three cells down from
her.

“Why would you feel sorry for them?” Anya asked.

“They don’t understand what it means to love.  And I do.  No matter what, that makes me stronger than they are.”

“You’re right,” she said as she zipped up the slinky dress that had been delivered to her cell earlier in the day.  “We are all stronger than they are because we have loved.”

“And been loved,” called another.

“I don’t feel strong anymore,” said a small voice she had never heard before.  “They treat us like animals.  Like we aren’t even human.  Most days, I don’t even feel like I deserve to be alive.  So how can you speak of hope when you have not yet felt the power of their hatred?”

She
hesitated, unable to formulate a plausible response to the woman’s pain.  She realized, of course, the girl was right.  She had been caged and starved, but she had not yet been brutalized.  That would change in a matter of hours.

“You are absolutely right,”
she said.  “But will you consider this?  Tomorrow, after I have withstood the same horrors you have experienced, if my hope remains, will you let me help you remember that you are more than what they say you are?”

The cell block was silent.  No one dared to move. 
She held her breath and felt as if the well-being of the entire group hinged upon this one woman’s response.

“He wi
ll steal your soul tonight,” the girl said at last.

“
Maybe he will,” she relented.  “And so what should I do tomorrow?”

No one spoke.

“Tomorrow,” she said finally, “I will take it back.”

With that, the ominous door hinges
alerted the women to their keepers’ arrival.  Within seconds, the man in the red sweatshirt and his lackey appeared, their side arms holstered visibly on their hips. 

“Showtime, Ladies,” he called.  “You know the drill.”

She watched as all of the women down the line turned their backs toward their cell doors.  Her heart broke for each of them.  And as she listened to Lera and Anya being bound, she tried concentrating on a way out of her situation, but her fear was too great and it overshadowed any attempt at rational thought.

Unlike previous occasions
, when the women had been transported en masse by van, tonight, as they reached the top of the stairs, several large black town cars were parked inside the warehouse.  Two by two, the women were loaded into the cars, but not before their bindings were secured and blindfolds were put in place.

Lera was taken from
her side and as she was led away, Kate called to her in Ukrainian, “Remember you are loved.”  For her disobedience, she was kicked in the back of her calves, causing her to stumble forward and fall to her knees.  She hastily returned to her feet and allowed Svetlana to lead her into their waiting car.

The women were silent on the drive to
wherever it was they were being taken.  She could think of nothing to say that would make either one of them feel any better about what awaited them at the end of the journey.  When the car finally came to a stop, the women were led, still bound and blindfolded, through what sounded like an underground parking garage.  Her ill-fitting stilettos echoed loudly indicating the walls around her were made of concrete and the ceiling was quite low.  The sound of a small bell and mechanical equipment led her to believe she was being taken into an elevator.  Once inside, she relished the sensation of being lifted into space.  She imagined that she was rising above herself.  Above her captors.  Above the hell into which she was about to descend.

When the elevator came to a stop
and the doors slid open, she was led a short distance before being taken into a room and given her instructions.  She was told to stay put and do whatever was asked of her.  Someone would return for her at the end of the night.

Her blindfold was removed but b
y the time her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness and she turned to face her escort, she found that he was gone and she was alone, standing in the center of a lavishly decorated bedroom.  She was disappointed to feel that her hands were still bound.

She
took advantage of the fact that Mr. V had not yet arrived and quickly surveyed her surroundings.  Although it was divided into several more intimate spaces, the room itself was larger than her family’s entire apartment.  There was a dressing area housing a tall wardrobe and closet to her left.  A small refrigerator and bar stood in the far corner of the room.  Behind her was a bathroom as well as a door she assumed was an exit.  Without hesitation, she hurried to the door and tried awkwardly to turn the handle with her still-bound hands.  Of course, as she had expected, the door was locked from the outside in.

Discouraged but not
defeated, she continued to scan the room and noticed there was a large window on the opposite side of the room.  The draperies were tightly drawn and she was unable to see outside.  She contemplated moving the curtains aside to see if the window would provide a means of escape, but before she could move, she heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock of the door.

She turned just in time to see
Mr. V walking through the door.

She
recoiled, taking several steps back and running her legs into the side rail of the bed, bruising her already painful calf.

“Yekaterina, a pleasure to mak
e your acquaintance,” said Mr. V in a voice that made her skin crawl.  She watched as he carefully removed his overcoat and laid it on the pants rack beside the wardrobe.

She
held her breath, trying desperately to think of something she could say which would convince the man she was undeserving of whatever his intentions were for her.  Her mouth was dry and she was unable to speak.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he said soothingly as he walked across the room in her direction.  “This can be a wonderful experience for us both.
  I am really hoping it will be.”

“I’m not afraid of you,”
she said finally, surprising herself with her boldness.

“Ah.  She speaks.
Well, I am glad you aren’t afraid.  That’s good because I have quite an evening planned for us,” he said, removing his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt.  “What shall we do first?”

“Please d
on’t hurt me,” she said, willing her desires into reality by using her gift, the only defense she had in her arsenal.

“Now why would you think I would hurt you?”

She remained silent.

“I won’t hurt you unless you give me a reason to hurt you.  You aren’t going to give me a reason, are you?”

She shook her head.

“Good.  Now, how abou
t you let me have a look at you?  You were quite the hot commodity last night.  I really had to up the ante to assure I got you first.  Couldn’t take the chance that anyone else was going to snag you out from under me.”

He moved closer to
her, to within only a few feet, and she could see the many craters that marred his ruddy complexion.  Her muscles tightened and her jaw locked.  She stood resolutely before him as he brought his hand up to her face.

“So beautiful.  So perfect in every wa
y.  I only hope what I haven’t seen of you is as perfect as what I have seen.  Now, take off the dress.”

She
couldn’t move.

“I’ll not ask you again
, Yekaterina.  Take off the dress.”

“I would
, except they’ve tied my hands behind my back.”

“Ah yes.  You haven’t proven
to them that you are trustworthy.  Of course.  Well,” he said, grabbing a hold of her shoulders and turning her around, “we can fix that.”  He paused, considering her momentarily.  “
Can
you be trusted Yekaterina?”

“Yes,
” she replied.

Mr. V
easily untied the rope that restrained her movements.  His hands lingered far too long on her wrists as he turned her back around to face him.  She could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“Now,” he said.  “Take off your dress.”

She massaged her wrists and concentrated on maintaining her safety.  Slowly, she unzipped the side of her dress and allowed the garment to slide effortlessly to the floor.

“Love
ly,” he said.  “Just lovely.”  He moved a step closer.  She shuddered.

He reached out and cupped her breasts in his hands.  In what should have been
a pleasant, loving gesture, she felt only disgust.  She lifted her chin, a defiant gesture to a man who paid highly for submissive women.  He met her gaze and cocked his head to the side, unsure of what to make of her boldness.

“I believe I
will allow you to watch what I’m about to do to you.  I was planning on covering your eyes.  I hate it when all of you look at me so pathetically.  However, I think it would be better for both of us if you saw exactly how little control you have here this evening.”

She
chose not to respond.  Neither did she avert her eyes.  Strangely, in that moment, all of the fear and doubt that had been consuming her thoughts disappeared.  She was suddenly able to pool the strength from every fiber of her being into one single thought.  The man standing before her would not violate her.  This she knew.

With much dramatic
flair, Mr. V unbuttoned the remaining buttons of his shirt, revealing his paunchy midsection and a scar that ran the length of his chest.  Next, he removed both of his shoes, unbuckled his belt and slid it from around his waist in one smooth motion.  He cracked the belt in the air as if it was a whip half an inch from her face.  She did not flinch.

Before
she realized what was happening, he grabbed her squarely by the shoulders and shoved her backward so she fell heavily onto the bed behind her.  He was immediately on top of her, using the weight of his own body to pin her beneath him so she couldn’t escape.  In an instant, he had wrapped the belt from his pants around both of her wrists and secured her arms to the bedframe.

“Now, my dear,
you will not close your eyes.  I want you to see all that I have to offer to you.”

“You will not hurt me,”
she said.  It was clear to her assailant she was not begging for her safety and she could see by the heat spreading across his face that he was enraged by the fact that somehow, she still thought she had the upper hand.

He quickly checked the tightness of
her restraints and the bedframe groaned as he climbed off the bed to remove his pants.  Within seconds he was straddling her once again, only this time his flesh pressed firmly against hers. A wave of nausea washed over her and she swallowed back the bile that inched its way into her esophagus.

He began by running his hands
along the length of her body.  He groped and squeezed her breasts and thighs, all the while, rubbing himself against her skin.  She mentally removed herself from the situation by concentrating on the beads of sweat that began to form on the man’s forehead.  She ignored his meaty hands which violated her most private areas and instead watched as one bead of sweat after another materialized on his brow.