Kindled (Book 3 The Kindred Series) (37 page)

   Her arm continued to burn, a fire crep
t
through her veins. Her head spun, she tried to regain control of her body but her feet would not cooperate
as
they
simply
drug limply behind. If she could regain control, then maybe she could fight them off, but
there was no control to be had. There was no fight in her at the moment.

   She listened as doors opened and closed. She was pulled down a long hallway, lights bounced roughly off of the stark linoleum beneath her. She blinked against the harsh
glare,
her eyes burned
from the pain that it caused her sensitive
vision
.
Nausea rolled through her stomach again, but this time she couldn’t hold it back.

   Choking, gagging, she heaved the meager contents
of
her stomach upon the floor. The foul taste of bile made her wince and gag. The men holding her made noises of disgust, but did not stop as they pulled her through the mess she had left behind. Cassie groaned, hating the taste still in her mouth, hating the awful way she felt.

   Another door opened and she was shoved roughly forward. Stumbling, Cassie tripped and fell, sprawling upon the hard ground of her tiny cell.
She remained on her knees, unable to move as she gasped for breath, fighting the urge to vomit again.
Her body shook, her muscles hurt, and though the burning in her arm had not intensified, it had not lessened either.

   She tried to push herself to her feet, but her weak and trembling muscles wouldn
’
t allow her to stand. She collapsed on the floor, curling up in a tight ball as she fought against the fierce shivers
that
wrack
ed
painfully through her body. Clamping her teeth together, it took all she had not to scream again as
s
he was wracked with fierce, bone wrenching spasms. Sweat poured down her body, coating her skin, plastering her clothes to her.

   At some point in time unconsciousness claimed her once more. She awoke again, still curled up in a ball,
freezing cold and
an aching mass of pain. She uncurled slowly,
her
cramped
muscles
scream
ing
in protest
at the movement
.
She was unable to suppress the moan of
agony
that escaped her as she crawled forward, unable to
regain her
feet.

   Reaching the bed, she somehow managed to drag herself onto it before passing out
once more
.

   When she awoke again, her body still ached but every movement
was no longer excruciating. There was a plate of food on the floor by the door. She stared at it, unable to decide if she
actually wanted to eat it
,
o
r if she
even
wanted to tempt fate
by moving again
. Eventually the rumbling in her stomach won out.

   Climbing gingerly off the mattress she made her way slowly to the tray, using the wall for support
. Creeping away from the wall, she grabbed hold of the tray and made her way
cautiously
back to the bed.
She stared at the darkened mirror of Julian’s room, wondering where he was, or if he was even still alive.

   A hollow feeling filled her at the thought of him being gone. Though he would probably still rip her throat out if given the chance, she thought of him as a strange sort
of
ally
now
. Both of them were here against their wills, and both of them were going through hell. Or at least she assumed that Julian was going through the same hell
as
she was.

   Turning
away, she sat on her bed as s
he poked through the contents of
her tray. There was a bowl of soup, a large piece of French bread, and
a
tuna fish sandwich. She had never been a big fan of soup or tuna fish, but her rumbling stomach didn’t
care what her taste buds desired
.
Picking up the sandwich she was about to take a bite when it occurred to her that they ha
d
probably
drugged
her food
too
.

   She paused with the sandwich halfway to her mouth. Dropping it back down, she stared
at the food, trying to ignore the loud, protesting rumble of her stomach. She couldn’t recall the last
time she had even had the opportunity to eat. She wanted to push it away, wanted to refuse the food that may very well be laced with even more drugs, but she simply couldn’t.

   She was starving, and she needed some kind of nutrients if she was ever going to escape from this hell hole. Biting deep into the sandwich, she ignored the taste of it as she chewed and swallow
ed quickly. The soup was
cold, but tolerable if she used the bread to sop it up
first
.

   Her stomach was still rumbling after she finished, but she felt a little better. When she rose again, she didn’t almost fall over
. She dropped the tray by the door and turned toward the bathroom. She had noticed a small shower stall in there the other day, and right now that sounded like a little bit of heaven to her.

   She turned on the light, blinking against the harsh
glow.
The shower
head and two knobs
came out of the wall. It was set up like a shower on a boat
with
no curtain, o
r
door;
t
here was simply a drain beneath it.
Cassie glanced at the small counter by the sink. There was a travel size bar of soap and shampoo set next to a towel
, a brush on the other side
.
There was no mirror above the sink.

   Cassie stripped quickly out of her soiled clothes and turned the shower on as hot as she could stand it. She stood beneath the water, relishing in the heat and pounding spray as it helped to soothe
some
of the tension in her knotted muscles. The water was turning cold before she abandoned
i
t.
Her body felt much better
,
her muscles
were
looser
,
and not as twisted. Though she was not back to normal, she could now at least move without wincing
with
every step.

   Beneath the towel she found a set of blue medical scrubs. She s
tared at them for a long moment;
she was
loath to
put
anything
on that
th
ey
had given her
. Glancing back at her soiled, stained, stinking clothes
that she had no idea how long she had been wearing
, she realized that
she could not put them back on. They reeked of vomit, BO, and sweat. Wrinkling her nose at them, she grabbed hold of the scrubs and quickly slipped the
m
on.

   She found a toothbrush
and a small tube of toothpaste; a
t least her teeth would not rot out while she was here. She brushed for a long time, eager to get the lingering taste of bile and fish out of her mouth.
She worked the tangles out of her hair, wishing that they had thought to leave her conditioner but knowing that she had already received more than she could have hoped for. They had probably
only given her these things because they had also
grown
tired of the stench of her
.

   Feeling almost human again, she made her way slowly out of the bathroom, turning the light off.  She was surprised, and relieved, to find the light in Julian’s room
was
on. She hurried toward her bed, kneeling upon it as she peered eagerly into the room in search of him.
By the door was a small bag of blood. Cassie turned swiftly away from it
, the sight of it making her feel slightly ill
again
.

 
Glancing down, she found
Julian
lying upon his bed, his arm draped over his
eyes. He was also freshly showered with a pair of blue scrubs on.
Though he looked clean, and somewhat refreshed
,
there were tight lines around his mouth, his eyes were squinted shut
, and his jaw was clenched
.
It was obvious that he
was battling
lingering remnants of pain
also
.

   Julian moved his arm, peering up at her with one eye. She frowned down at him, her eyebrows drawn
together questioningly.
“You weren’t here earlier,
”
she said softly.

   “No
,
I wasn’t. You’re looking better than yesterday.”
  
Cassie started in surprise.
“I was here yesterday?” she croaked.

  
A
musement flicker
ed
across his features. “You were
here, but you were barely functioning
.
”

   Cassie slumped down on her bed, shock le
ft
her immobile. She didn’t even remember being in this room yesterday. How bad had she been? What had they done to her that could possibly be
worse than the unending volts of electricity she had received today?
“What
di
d they do to me?” she whispered.

   Julian was silent for a moment, and then his head appeared over top of the window. “I don’t know princess, but it wasn’t pretty. You were a slobbering, blubbering mess.”

   Cassie glanced sharply at him, her eyes narrowing at his assessment of her condi
tion. “Well, I don’t remember it!
” she retorted
sharply
.

   He
grinned down at her, the lines on his face easing slightly.
“Don’t get so defensive princess; I’m just stating a fact.”

   Cassie
looked
at the door behind her
, drawing her knees up against her chest
.
She rested her chin on her knees as dread and horror filtered through her.
“How long have I been
in
here for?” she whispered.

  
“I don’t know,” he admitted reluctantly. “Just as I don’t know how long
I’ve
been here for.”

   She turned her attention back to him. “What have they been doing to you?”

   He frowned at her, shaking back his still damp hair.
“Different things.
The same as they’ve
probably
been doing to you.”

  
“I don’t remember a lot of it,” she admitted reluctantly.

  
He quirked a
n
eye
brow, his eyes
full of
question
s
as they scanned her.
“You’re lucky then.”

   Cassie shuddered,
clinging even tighter to her legs as she began to rock slightly back and forth
.
“If you call this lucky.”

   He issued a sharp bark of laughter. “No, I call this a bunch of bored men who have too much time on their hands, and some severe mommy and daddy issues. I call this insanity.”

   Cassie couldn’t help but smile at him as she shook her head. “You’re right. Aren’t you going to eat?
” she inquired, nodding toward the bag by the door.

   “No, I don’t trust them not to have drugged it.”

   “Neither do I, but you need to keep up your strength. Besides, I ate the food and I’m still standing.
I
f they want to drug us all they have to do is pump it into our rooms. Eat Julian.”

   He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
“Maybe later.”
Cassie sat back on the bed, resting her head against the glass. “You ok princess?”

   “No, are you?”

   He settl
ed
in next to her.
“Better than before.
Apparently
they
’
ve decided to leave us alone
for awhile.”
  
Cassie snorted softly.
“Probably so they can play with the copious amounts of blood they drained from me.”

   “Hmm
,” he muttered.

   “Did they take blood from you?”

   “Yes.”