Carrying me up the basement stairs, Yury kept giving out directions. “As quickly as possible, go search bedrooms for clothes that fit, and shoes. There is snow on the ground.”
Once in the mansion, I realized it was dark outside. The slaves went up the stairs while Yury took me to the kitchen. After flicking on a light, he sat me on an island in the middle of the kitchen then went to a cabinet. Numbly, I sat there watching him grab a glass, shuffle in the refrigerator, and return with a glass of orange juice. The beautiful sight only reinforced my shock. The orange liquid danced in the glass, entrapping my lost mind.
I coughed after Yury squeezed my cheeks to purse my lips and force juice down my throat. Fully dressed slaves entered the kitchen as Yury forced more juice.
Grey Eyes claimed, “She is too malnourished—”
I vomited the juice.
“—for that acid.”
Yury set the glass down while grabbing a small towel. “What do I give her?”
“Besides an emergency facility and an IV? Water.” The slave took the towel and wiped my mouth. Grey Eyes asked, “Do you have a doctor available?”
Yury’s jaw locked. “Only my uncle. Not an option.”
“How long has she been with such neglect?”
Yury’s nostrils flared. I thought he was going to defend his actions against me, but he held up a finger to his nose as his eyes raced around our surroundings.
The black slave whispered, “Cigar smoke.”
Yury scooped me back up and rushed to the rear kitchen door, fear suddenly blanketing the air around us all. Three slaves raced to follow. As soon as he opened the back door, we experienced two blasts of coldness. One from the freezing wind outside, and one from the malicious voice coyly calling Yury’s name. As the voice lingered from another room, I could see Yury’s mind spinning. He whispered, “It is my uncle.” Then he looked to the males. “You will have to run for it.” His eyes met mine. “I will stay. Buy you time.”
The beast had found his heart…
The black slave nodded and grabbed the female’s hand, preparing to drag her across the vast backyard if needed. Grey Eyes whispered a warning to Yury, “I don’t know how severe her shock is. Prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures could be deadly.” He reached out for me as if willing to run for his life, me in his arms, slowing him down. “I will do my best to keep her alive.”
The slaves could’ve run to save themselves but were trying to rescue others.
There it was. Humanity… in Hell.
Through all the chaos of life and death, humanity was present.
I was proud of the smile I gave with pure honesty. Even though I was sealing my fate, I wasn’t going to be responsible for one more death. “Go,” I whispered to Grey Eyes. “Save the savable.”
As the three slaves ran across the backyard, soon to take cover in the forest, their chances of survival were also slim due to the weather, but at least they had a chance. My eyes welled, sorry to let my brother down and not make it back to the one waiting in the blue waters.
I love you, Link.
With me still in his arms, Yury closed the door.
Retribution and Revenge
“Yuuuuury…” called out his uncle in a patronizing tone.
Yury’s chest panted as we slowly walked through a hallway, me still in his arms. “I want to run to the car, but we will never make it. He knows what I’ve done.”
I asked him earlier what he had done, and he said what they deserved, so I knew we were now going to pay for whatever crime had been committed.
He whispered in my ear, “Grab my gun.”
Reaching my left arm around his waist, I lifted his shirt and palmed the piece, pulling it to my stomach and hiding it between him and me. Was it adrenaline that was helping my mind clear from shock and giving me the ability to focus? I don’t know. Maybe it was Timothy. Maybe Crash. Either way, I was very aware of the huge living room that we cautiously entered. There were floor to ceiling windows, and the ceiling must have been over twenty feet high. Only a few lamps were on, just enough light to make my heart pound erratically with the sight I will never forget.
So close. So close to freedom… that was not going to come.
In a white clothed chair sat the elderly man who had accused me of being a curse. Blood leaking from a hole in his chest made it evident his heart no longer had the ability to beat. His eyes having been removed showed the personal nature of such vengeance. The color red was seeping and staining the white material, explaining the lineage now broken.
“My brother did not deserve to be on the floor.” A man smoking a cigar sat on an extensive white couch, blowing smoke into the air. “Where you left him, Yury.”
I looked to Yury, shocked he murdered his own father, but he couldn’t seem to manage pulling his stare from Kirill. Or, better yet, from the dead woman in his arms as if reading my future.
Yury’s uncle was lounged in a relaxed manner as if there wasn’t a gunman aiming out the window that faced the backyard. Three slaves were still running as fast as they could. Their arms pumped, probably begging their bodies to reach the trees. A bullet fired through the air before the black slave slammed to the ground, never to move again. As the female screamed in horror, Grey Eyes tried catch up and gather her hand, but he missed. She, too, fell to the ground after a bullet forced her to do so. Grey Eyes looked back at the mansion for only a blink before darting off into the woods.
The lounging man puffed more smoke into the eerie night air. “Do not kill my biggest sale, ever.” The man head-gestured to another gunman. “Go get him. Not a scratch.”
From a shadow, a man appeared before disappearing out a French door to run across the snowed covered back patio. Even though I doubted God to exist after all I had been through, I still begged him to allow Grey Eyes to avoid capture. What pulled me from the prayer was Yury’s trembling arms. I peered up to see him staring into a corner of the room. Kirill was standing there, motionless, with a dead girl in his arms. He was crying, silently, as if unaware tears were falling. He was crying as if no longer soulless. I hadn’t seen him in so long, I had almost forgotten he existed. Now, I knew where he had been… falling in love.
Yury jolting had my eyes racing back to him. I watched his Adam’s apple bob… from under a blade. My mind not being of sane thoughts had me reaching up to move the knife being held by another of Uncle’s minions. The man behind Yury shook his head no to me. Slowly retracting my hand, I stared into the cruel dark eyes begging me to give him an excuse to slice Yury’s throat. I didn’t have to fake being terrified as I burrowed into Yury’s chest while secretly placing my trigger finger into position on the hidden gun. There was no way I was going to out shoot professionals, but there was also no way I was going to let Yury die without me trying.
The uncle’s voice spoke casually. “My son betrayed me, trying to hide his new infatuation. Look what it cost the bitch. Yury, tell your whore to see what will become of her.” Me not moving my head from Yury’s chest had the man temporarily losing his collected self. “I said look!”
Yury swallowed again before his low voice rumbled, “Fire, look.”
I forced myself to peek over my shoulder. Kirill now had drool dripping from his mouth. He stared beyond the corpse in his arms as his knees buckled and fell to the floor. Across his bent legs, her blond hair hung from her bloody head, mixed with a black leather diamond encrusted leash. My stomach turned as I realized he had claimed this poor young girl. She appeared no more than sixteen, and now had been brutally murdered. Her naked and abused body, sliding from weakening arms, screamed of her cruel exit from this world.