Chris appeared behind him, his hand wrapped tightly around Dani’s arm as he pulled her into the room. Chris stared hard around the room for a moment before settling on the man that Devon held. Dani trembled in his grasp. “You could have killed me!” she snapped at the man, her eyes shimmering with tears.

The stranger struggled within Devon’s grasp, the air whistling in and out of him. Though Devon longed to crush his windpipe, he eased his grip on him. He was sure they would need him for some answers. The man choked in some air, sputtering as Devon stepped away. He took hold of Cassie’s hand, pulling her slightly behind him as the stranger stumbled forward.

Cassie’s hand tightened on his in displeasure as she took a step from behind his back. “Who are you?” she demanded.

The man righted himself; his hand cradled his wounded throat as he struggled for air. He glanced wildly around the room, searching for an escape route and finding none. “You had better start talking,” Devon snarled.

His gaze snapped back to Devon, his eyes wild with fear. “You may want to close the door,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “There are still a few of them running around out there.”

Chris hesitated for a moment before reaching back and closing the door. He slid the lock into place, keeping his hand against the knob as he turned slowly back to the room. “Who are you?” Cassie demanded again.

The man’s eyes lit upon her, hatred bloomed in them. Devon growled, stepping swiftly in front of her in order to block her from the man’s loathsome stare. “I haven’t killed in a long time, but I won’t hesitate to rip out your throat if you look at her like that again!” he hissed. The man’s eyes snapped back to him, fear widened them as he backed into the wall. “Now, who the hell are you?”

“Derek,” he answered. “My name is Derek.”

Cassie inhaled sharply behind him, her hand tightened painfully around his. He could hear the quickening beat of her heart; feel the horror, terror, and confusion that washed through her. She pressed closer to him, her breath coming swiftly in and out, her chest rising and falling rapidly against him as the stranger pinned her with his hate filled gaze.

“Her father.”

CHAPTER 7

Devon grabbed Cassie as her knees buckled, catching her before she hit the floor. Her air was strangled in her chest, the constriction in it making it impossible for her to breathe. He grabbed hold of her face, holding it gently in his grasp. “Breathe,” he whispered. “Just breathe.”

She gasped in air; it seared into her lungs, burning all the way down to the hollow pit of her stomach. Her breath shuddered out of her, pain racked through her extremities. Devon held her tight, keeping her somewhat grounded through the racking pain that suffused her. She gulped down another harsh breath, letting it out in a hitching sob that threatened to shatter her.

Her father! This man, this cruel bastard that had so easily tortured her was her father!? It couldn’t be; her father was dead. Her father had been a good man! At least she had convinced herself that he was a decent man over the years, when she had daydreamed about what he had been like. Her grandmother had always told her that he was a good man, that he had loved her mother, and Cassie, dearly.

But apparently she had been wrong. Her father had brought her here. Her father had stood impassively by as they had tortured and drugged her. Her father had helped them to do it all to her, he had been the one in charge of her torment. Her father hated her!

Another sob exploded from her, her fingers curled tightly around Devon’s wrists as she tried to keep herself grounded with him, tried to gain strength from him. Devon loved her, her friends loved her and that was all that mattered, she tried to remind herself. She had never known her father, and although this man claimed to be him, he was not.

Her father didn’t matter, she repeatedly told herself. This man was a stranger, a monster. This man may have helped to create her, but he had not made her the person that she was. He was nothing to her. And yet she still felt as if her heart had been ripped out, still felt as if someone had slammed her in the chest with a baseball bat.

Devon wrapped his hand around her head, pulling her close to kiss her gently. “Are you ok?” he asked softly.

Cassie managed a nod, trying hard to steady the shaking in her body. He held her tight against him as he turned slightly back to her father. He tried to keep her blocked from the man, but Cassie refused to let the man know that he had affected her so badly. There was absolute hatred etched into the man’s features, his blue eyes were hard, cold, unremorseful. Cassie could not bring herself to look at him anymore. Turning away, she focused her attention on Chris who was watching her with confusion and uncertainty, but there was also sympathy and pain evident in his sapphire gaze.

Releasing Dani, Chris came slowly over and pulled her gently from Devon’s arms. Devon reluctantly released her to Chris before focusing on her father again. Chris wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her tight as he moved her swiftly away. Julian remained unmoving, his hands fisted tightly, and his entire body ramrod straight as fire burned in his eyes.

Cassie could only stare helplessly back at him, wishing that she could somehow take all of this away from him. Dani was gaping; her eyes darted wildly between Cassie and the stranger that was her father. Even Joey looked stunned by the revelation. “I didn’t know,” Dani whispered shaking her red streaked hair back. “I swear I didn’t know Cassie.”

Julian moved swiftly forward, snarling viciously at her father before shoving into a door at the back of the room. He needed to escape, needed to calm down, before he killed them all. The door crashed open, swinging wildly back and forth. “Here!” he shouted back to them.

Cassie hugged Chris tighter, thankful for his unwavering love and support. Devon strode forward, grabbing her father by the arm as he hauled him roughly into the other room. The man stumbled slightly as he tried to keep up with Devon’s long, furious strides. Joey remained unmoving upon the floor, his eyes wide as he stared up at them.

“I really didn’t know,” Dani whispered again.

Cassie pulled slowly away from Chris, moving stiffly to the door they had disappeared through. She pushed it open, her eyes widening in surprise as she took in the wood boxes piled from floor to ceiling against two walls. Devon and Julian were no longer in the room, but there was another door across from her.

She made her way to it, pushing it slowly open. Cold air hit her at once. She shivered, pulling her hands inside the sleeves of her baggy coat in an attempt to ward off the chill. Devon and Julian glanced up from where they stood by a set of cooler doors. Inside the coolers were bags of blood lined up in rows from floor to ceiling. Both Devon and Julian’s eyes were bright red with fury and hunger; they gleamed in the dim light of the room.

Though she could feel her father’s gaze upon her, she did not turn to him. “I’ll get one of the boxes,” Devon said softly, hurrying toward her.

“Is it drugged?” Devon froze, his eyebrows drawing sharply together as he stared questioningly at her. “The blood. The food they brought us in here was drugged before. Is it drugged now?”

Devon’s jaw clenched tightly, his nostrils flared with fury. Julian cursed loudly, the door of the cooler slammed against the other one as he flung it open. He snatched a bag roughly out. Glowering at her father, he ripped the top easily off of it. He inhaled deeply before nodding briskly to Devon. “It’s good,” he muttered. “They must drug it right before they bring it to us.”

They all turned toward Cassie’s father, but he remained immobile, his face as cold as stone. “Drugs are probably stronger that way,” Cassie whispered.

Julian shrugged and downed the contents of the bag before tossing it aside. Devon slipped his arm through hers, pulling her gently back into the other room. Squeezing her arm, he released her to grab hold of one of the stacked boxes. Cassie watched in amazement as he ripped off the top, which had been securely nailed on, as if it were nothing. He dropped it to the floor, turned the box over and dumped its contents on the ground. Cassie took a small step back as stakes clattered across the floor, skittering about her feet.

Chris, drawn by the noise, poked his head into the room. His eyebrows rose questioningly as he studied the stakes. “Hope they have better weapons than those,” he muttered before ducking out again.

Cassie silently agreed as she stared at the wooden weapons. She was hoping to find something that wouldn’t require them to get so close to the Halflings roaming the town. Devon opened the door to the room with all the blood; he threw in the box and its lid. He turned back to her, his body humming with tension, his face immobile and hard. “Let’s see what we have in here, and hopefully it is better than stakes.”

Cassie glanced at the hundred or so boxes piled within the room. They were of all shapes and sizes, but she was a little afraid that they might all contain the same thing. Grasping hold of one of the boxes, she pulled it from the top of the pile. She tugged at the top, but was unable to pull it off. Devon reached around her, his hard arms locking against her sides, the muscles in his forearms bulging as he ripped the lid off with apparent ease.

Her mouth parted, her heart hammered with excitement as she glanced up at him. Even in this hell of a place, in this god awful situation, he still managed to entice her. His gaze returned to hers, his eyes once again becoming the vivid emerald color she cherished. His finger stroked lightly over her jawbone as he bent to kiss her. Cassie stood on tiptoe, losing herself to the touch and feel of him, burying herself in the tenderness and strength of his love. His arms encircled her as he pulled her tight against him, cradling her gently in his warm embrace.

A disgusted sound tore her away from the bliss that his kiss brought to her. Cassie turned to find her father standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed fiercely, and his hands fisted at his sides. Loathing and revulsion blazed from him, pounding against her. She ducked her head, unable to stand the hatred coming from her own father.

Devon growled low in his throat, his hand wrapped around the back of her neck as he turned her slightly, trying to protect her from the man’s glare. Julian appeared in the doorway, the box propped under his arm. He shoved her father forward, casting a fierce glare at the smaller man. “Move,” he ordered gruffly as he shoved her father back into the front room. He propped the door open with the box so that they could keep an eye on the three of them, and Chris. “Let’s get what we can out of these boxes and get the hell out of here.”

Cassie nodded, pulling reluctantly out of Devon’s arms as she turned her attention back to the boxes.

***

Cassie propped the box on her hip, bracing herself as Julian slowly pulled the door open. He peered into the hallway, searching it quickly before nodding briskly. He stepped into the hall, followed closely by Dani, Joey, and her father. Devon glanced sharply back at her, his hand encircling hers as he stepped into the hall next. He had not wanted her to be behind him, had fought against it, but in the end it had been determined that it would be best to have their enemies surrounded by the two strongest members of the group, him and Julian.

Covering her mouth with her shirt, Cassie followed them out the door. She closed her eyes before they reached the hallway with all of the carnage. Devon led her swiftly through the mutilated bodies. They turned another corner, but Cassie kept her eyes tightly shut, not wanting to see her cell again, or the room where they had electrocuted her.

She shuddered, her hand tightened around Devon’s at the reminder that it was her own father that had ordered such a thing done. “Almost there,” he said softly.

The hair on Cassie’s neck stood up, her whole body erupted in a tingling chill. She froze, pulling Devon sharply back and causing Chris to slam into her. Her eyes flew open as she rapidly searched the deserted hallway. “Cassie?” Devon asked quietly.

She shook her head, holding her hand up to silence him as she strained to hear anything within the hallway, strained to hear whatever it was that she knew was watching them. And there was something. She could feel it out there, creeping steadily closer, hunting them from the shadows of the compound.

She glanced swiftly at Chris whose gaze was darting rapidly around the hall. “There is something here,” Cassie said softly.

“Yes,” Chris agreed.

Devon stepped closer to her, pushing her toward the wall. “Where is it?” he hissed.

Chris shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Devon used his body to move her toward the others. “Move slowly.”

Cassie nodded, licking her lips nervously as they continued down the hall, braced for the imminent attack. Her entire body hummed with adrenaline; her fingers trembled on the box she held. The one she was prepared to drop at a moment’s notice. Her edginess grew as they turned another corner; she knew that the closer they got to freedom, the more likely the attack would be. Her hand tightened on Devon’s, squeezing him as tight as she could. She was so very scared of whatever was stalking them.