Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (38 page)

I shouted at her,
“But I don’t even know him!”  Another electric charge rocked my body.  My body shook in a mixture of adrenaline and desperation.  I gritted my teeth, knowing that I would bring on the brutality of the device
with another outburst
, but I didn’t care
. 
“He is about to be chosen by another
Centauride
.
”  The electric charges seemed to grow in intensity and length with each zap
,
as I braced myself when the third shock hit me
. 

Zandra
shook her finger at me, as if correcting a small child caught in a cookie jar.  “I’m afraid that won’t happen.  I’ve already spoken with my dear friend, Kyle.
  After your mother’s stunt
,
he and I have developed a healthy respect for one another.
 
You and
Gage will be married in one month.
  Preparations are already underway.”

I put my hands to the tortu
rous
device in an effort to move
it away
from the delicate skin around my neck,
“I won’t marry him.”  The fourth shock hit me so hard that I felt the flesh around my neck scorch
, my fingers went numb
,
and I
couldn’t help but
scream out in pain. 
 

Zandra
seemed to be enjoying the brutality of her present, “Have we learned our lesson yet?
  I can assure you, you have no alternatives.
”

I didn’t think I could make my voice work without releasing sobs instead of words.  The smell of burned flesh was thick in the air
,
and I knew she would continue to
batter
me until I relented or
went up in flames
.  She stood in front of me, “Do not try to remove my endowment
.  I
t is your legacy.  It can be removed by me or
by
your husband.
 
I will only warn you this one time:  s
hould you try to remove it, the pain will be unbearable and the scarring
a
permanent
reminder of your insolence.
 
Attempting to leav
e
my estate has
similar
results.
 
You will learn your place.  You will be obedient to me for the remainder of your stay
,
and you will
not run away from your obligations
. 
Goodnight, Camille.
”

With her final threat, the tears that I had held for the last forty
-
three days of loneliness,
and
the last fifteen minutes of brutality
, let loose
.  She had won.  I was a sobbing mess
,
and as the salt from my tears streamed down my face, several down my neck and into the now open wounds, the sting
was
a horrific reminder of how utterly horrible my existence had become.
  I finally understood my mother’s diary entry
: 
it hadn’t been some vampire.  My own grandmother had put this device on my mother.  From her description
in the diary,
it could do far more than scorch my skin.
   

Sleep didn’t find me that night.  The pain of the raw, charred skin on my neck didn’t permit me to find any sort of position that would dull the pain.  I asked the guard if he could get me some Neosporin
,
but he looked forward
,
with
no acknowledgement to my request.   I watched the sun pour in through the window
,
praying that my nightmare would be over soon.  Why was she so set on m
e
marrying Gage Richardson?  She had set up a similar arrangement with
his father
and my mother
-
but my mother was able to escape.  Waves of sadness washed over me as I imagined my mom growing up here with this lunatic.  No wonder she told me her family was dead.  No wonder we never traveled outside of California.  I
was furious with myself for not having run
away to a remote jungle to escape this crazy woman
when I had the chance
.  But at this point, running away was no longer an option. 

In one short month
,
I would be married
, m
arried to a man whose heart would forever belong to Bianca.  She told me no decision I ever made would drive a wedge
into
our friendship.  Marrying the man that she
loved
might qualify as a wedge.  Three heavy knocks hit my bedroom door with such force th
at the
wall shook.  I stared at the door, not willing to utter a syllable.

“Camille, could you come out here?”  It was a man’s voice
. 
I didn’t recognize it, but
someone was talking to me.  It was someone besides
Zandra
. 

Chapter 28

At this point I would relish any visitor that was not my captor.  I stood up gingerly from my bed, carefully put a sweatshirt on over my nightshirt and grabbed a pair of jeans. 
My guard didn’t flinch. 
I turned the doorknob cautiously to be sure it wasn’t some sort of a trick.

I recognized him from the
pizza place
the day Bianca hatched her “brilliant” plan.  It was the man
who
would become my warden in a month. 
His voice was confident and his expression told me he was pleased to see me,
“I thought I
’d stop by to acquaint myself with my fiancé
.”
  H
e looked
handsome
.  He wore a black t-shirt, a size
too small for his biceps, his jeans were well worn but clean
,
his goatee and mustache were nicely trimmed
,
and
he gave me
a
willing smile
.

“Hi, Gage.” I found the strength to mumble, “Nice to
see you again
.”

“I thought we could get to know each other.  Maybe go for a drive or something.”  He
gave a startled look at
the guard
who
had spent the night standing at attention. 
I could tell Gage didn’t know what to make of him
,
so he a
dded, “We could take your escort along.”
He
had recovered quickly from his surprise
, a
s if every single
Centauride
just happened to have a guard posted on her
24
hours per day.

I shook my head, “I’m not permitted to leave the estate.”

“Even with an escort?”

I shook my head a little more vigorously
.  W
hen I did
,
the necklace rubbed one of the sores on my neck
,
and I winced.  Gage saw me wince, but I’m sure he didn’t know why.  “How about a walk in the garden?” he offered.

I looked at the guard to see if he would object.  He continued
focusing his attention onto the opposite wall.  “Okay.”

Gage seemed nice
.  H
e complimented the gardens that I
also
once thought were beautiful, the statues of the
Greek
gods that lined each section.  The guards hadn’t changed over like they normally would have.  I began to wonder if something had happened to
Phineas
.  He should have been here by now.  Could
Zandra
have found out that he shared information with me?  He said
she would go after his family.  If she was somehow liste
n
ing to us yesterday, what would she have heard?

“Camille, did you hear me?”  Gage was staring at me.

“I’m sorry,
my mind was wandering
.  What’d you say?”

“I asked if you had chosen the gardens for our ceremony?”

“Uh,
Zandra
hasn’t told me where.”

It was obvious that Gage was trying to be charming,
“If I get a vote, I’d like it to be next to the statue of Zeus.”

My spirit was nearly broken,
“I’ll ask her if she minds.”

“Camille, is there something wrong?”

I couldn’t answer him
.  H
is question was wrong, on so many levels.
  When he realized I had no intention of answering him
,
he said,
“Camille, you
’re
supposed to be excited.  We
’
ll be united in a few short weeks
.  Y
ou don’t seem the least bit interested.”

I had cried my eyes out
last night
until nothing was left.  I knew there was no escape
,
and I would be forced into exactly the life my mom never wanted and
had
carefully sheltered me from
,
hiding me away for
twenty-two
years. 
All her sacrifices for me had been made in vain. 
Gage
grasped both my hands in his, “Do you not want to marry me?”  There was a hopefulness in his voice
,
and I was too emotionally drained to try to figure out if it was hopefulness that I did or did not want to marry him.  It didn’t matter what I wanted.  It wasn’t my choice
.  I had no options
.

“I . . . just had a rough night last night.  I’m sorry if . . . I don’t seem into it.”

My lack of enthusiasm didn’t diminish his, “
I think Dad and
Zandra
are enthused enough for both of us.  The invitations will be going out tomorrow.
”
 
My only response was a
solitary tear dripp
ing
down my cheek
. 
I tried to
wipe it away quickly before he could see, but Gage was far too perceptive. 

“Talk to me, Camille.  There is something bothering you.”  If I hadn’t been subjected to the last two months, the kindness in Gage’s voice wouldn’t have had such an effect on me.  But the absence of any human contact, other than
Zandra
, combined with the
emptiness
of emotions and the horrible night last night left me broken.  It left me needing comfort.  I leaned fully into Gage, sobbing silently against his chest as he gently wrapped his arms around me.  He told me it’d be okay, and I got the impression he had no idea why he was comforting me
,
but he held me anyway
.

When my emotional meltdown had subsided
,
I looked up at him with blurry eyes and tear
-
stained cheeks.  I could see he was at a loss, unsure what to say.  Finally I took my eyes off of him and found a very interesting patch of grass to concentrate on
while he still held me in his arms
.  The words were out before I realized they had come from me.  “What about, Bianca?”

Gage let go of me as if my skin burned him.  He took a step away from me and said slowly, “I don’t want you to mention Bianca to me, ever.”

I was confused,
“But she loves you. 
Why would you
agree to marry me?”

His voice was harsh and his eyes angry, “Bianca is engaged to a Centaur.  Never speak of her
to me
.”

“But, Bianca is my friend . . . I don’t. . .
”
the necklace must have decided my question constituted disobedience because the wounds that had been caked over with scabs
overnight
were just reopened by the
new
zap of electricity.  I fell to the ground on my hands and knees and screamed like a Banshee.
  Gage stood, dumbfounded. 
The necklace of horrors was hidden from view under my sweatshirt.  The freshly opened wounds seeped blood through the sweatshirt as Gage’s eyes watched helplessly. 
I saw him look at the guard
,
who paid no attention whatsoever to me writhing in pain.  Gage knelt down beside me and saw the streaks of blood from the freshly opened wounds.  He instantly tried to remove the necklace from me
,
but that only resulted in a second zap
to us both
and a
shriller
scream
from me
.