“She’s good,” he growled in a low voice. “Throw her in with the others.”
“Not until I get my three hundred,” Matt said, pulling me by the back of my shirt. “You owe me for the last girl, too.”
I resisted the urge to grind my heel into Matt’s toe. He didn’t seem to mind getting paid for his dirty work. If I had my talons handy, I’d leave him a beautiful scar along the inside of his leg to remind him of the women he’d sold into slavery.
“Fine,” the giant grumbled.
He pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and threw it at Matt’s face, laughing as the bills floated to the ground. Matt swore and collected the money from the damp ground. With the fee stashed in his pocket, he spat at the ground and shoved me forward, mumbling a few more curses under his breath.
Stumbling forward, I tripped and landed on all fours, the metal collar digging into my skin. The drugs were really sinking in. I could feel myself losing control and pretty soon, it w
ould overcome me.
“Don’t… please…” I looked up at the giant’s face and blinked away the tears stinging my eyes. “I don’t want to go.”
“Nobody ever wants to go.” He picked me up by the back of my shirt and swung me into his side. “You’re just out of lucky tonight, honey.”
“But my boyfriend…” I struggled to find the words in the fog. My boyfriend. My ex-boyfriend. I needed to call him. I wanted to take it all back. He’d save me. He’d rescue me from my stupid mistake. I couldn’t do this alone. What was I thinking?
The giant opened the back of the truck and swung me into it, like I weighed nothing more than a rag doll. He ignored my pleas and slammed the door, latching it into place. I screamed and dragged my fingernails across the metal, praying for my talons to extend. But the collar kept them hidden. I was stuck. The plan was a success.
Turning around, I blinked and waited for my eyes to adjust to the utter darkness. It only took a few seconds, but soon I saw three other sets of eyes watching me. They peered at me from the other side of the truck, unblinking. There was no time to talk. The drugs finally overtook me, dropping me to the hard metal floor.
Chapter Ten
The first thing I noticed were the urine stains on the bed next to me. They spread across the bare surface like a yellow rash, contaminating the dirty mattress with a smell that burned my nose. Dim lights hung above my head from the ceiling; the black and red wires exposed and dangling. Around me sat about a dozen girls, all around my age, huddled and muttering. They each wore a metal collar that stripped them of their supernatural powers, making them look like a bunch of helpless humans.
I scanned my eyes across the room and found a pair of dark brown eyes staring at me. They belonged to a young woman with striking high cheekbones and long sleek brown hair. Her darkened skin and bone structure reminded me of the Apache Native Americans I’d met during a brief stop in Santa Fe, to pick up a turquoise bracelet that was haunted by a tragic young woman. Once in a while, I’d catch her ghost haunting the museum at night, never to rest until she found her lost lover.
“Where are we?” I asked.
The drugs were beginning to wear off. While the room still tilted to the side when I moved too fast, I could at least sit up.
She ran her eyes over my body without blinking. “Who knows? I’ve been here for a week and no one tells me anything.” Her eyes stopped at my boots. “You don’t have anything to eat, do you?”
I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. With a disappointed sigh, she laid down on a mattress and crossed her arms under her head.
Most of the girls were huddled together on the other side of the room. They spoke in whispers and frantic hisses. The fear was almost palatable. Ten dirty mattresses covered the cement floor, with a few blankets thrown on top. Stained and crumbling drywall covered the four walls of the room, leaving us without a window to even peek through. I could see a single metal door across from me. From the dents on the door, I imagined a few of the girls had tried to beat their way through. Obviously, they didn’t have much success.
“My name’s Aya,” I told the girl. “I’m a harpy.”
“Tala,” she replied, rolling on her side to face me. “Werewolf. Or at least I used to be. This collar neutered me.”
“Me too.” I plucked at the metal, letting it drop against my skin. “What happens now? Does someone eventually come to get us?”
There was no way I’d find my mother locked up in a tiny room. I had to get out any way I could.
“If we’re lucky, they’ll do another sweep tonight,” she said with a grimace. “That’s the only time they bring food and the waste buckets. If they don’t come tonight, I might have to eat one of the new girls.”
She bared her teeth and eyed the two girls sitting in the dark corner of the room. But without her powers, the threat didn’t hold much weight. Still, I imagined Tala was a fierce creature to behold when she had access to all her powers.
“What happens at a sweep?” I tucked my ankles under me and hugged my knees. It was comforting, somehow, wrapping myself up in a tight little ball.
“They choose the girls they want to pitch to the buyers,” Tala replied. She closed her eyes and ran a red tongue over her lips. “After that, who knows? None of the girls I saw leave ever came back. They could be dead, for all I know.”
There was a collective gasp from the girls sitting in the corner. They stared at Tala with wide and tearful eyes, pulling at their arms for comfort. I shook my head and smiled at them, trying to provide some hope. But all I managed to do was make them both burst into tears.
“Great. The sobbing twins are at it again,” Tala muttered. “Might as well kill me now. It’ll save them the effort.”