Defeated.

Standing abruptly, I announce, “Well, if that’s all, I’d like to be excused. I’m a little tired.”

Dad looks up to me. “Of course, dear. If that’s what ye-” Dads cell phone vibrates on the dining table. The screen flashes bright red. When my father picks up his phone to look at the display, he visibly pales. Looking between me and Terah, he says firmly, “Girls, go to ye rooms. Right now. Lock the doors from the inside. I don’t want ye to come out until ye hear from me. No one else but me. Do ye understand?”

My blood runs cold. I can’t move. I’m petrified.

“I said do ye understand me?” Dad booms and it jolts me. I nod vigorously and from the corner of my eye, I see Terah do the same. Dad focuses on something passed Terah and I, in the distance and whispers, “Run!”

My legs move of their own accord.

I drag Terah down the hall, running in my socks and slipping every few steps. We bolt up the stairs, and when we reach our rooms, I pull her into a hard hug. She whispers, “It’s probably nothing, Lily. Do what Dad says, okay?” I nod into her shoulder.

We separate. I hear her go into her room and shut the door. I open the door to my room, with my hand still on the knob. I freeze, solid as an iceberg.

Oh, fuck my life!

Chapter Two

Kidnapped

Lily

Pressure builds in my ears, my palms sweat, and I lock my knees to stop them from shaking.

Staring into the masked face of the tall, muscled, olive-skinned intruder, I try hard to think about what I should do, but all my brain is giving out is white noise.

He stands by my bed, motionless, wearing a tight black tee, black cargo pants, and black army boots. The mask he wears is black and looks to be leather too. It’s a peculiar looking mask. It’s been sewn together and covers his whole head. The eye holes are round but covered with some sort of mesh so you can’t see directly into the person’s eye, same with the nose holes and mouth. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I almost want to ask him where he got it from . It looks very steam-punk, and if I’d seen him on the street and not in my room being all creepy and shit, I would ask him where he got it.

What the eff? Focus!

My brain currently wears a sign that says “Gone Fishin’”.

Movement at the door to my closet tears my focus away from the intruder. When another identically dressed, masked man appears, only bigger and taller, I figure I’m screwed.

Well, that’s that. Goodbye cruel world. Be sure to fuck thyself on the way out, you mean-assed son of a whore.

I should’ve snuck out with Terah tonight. God, she’s gonna be so pissed at me!

A muffled scream from Terah’s room makes me break out into a cold sweat. I panic a moment before courage blooms from the center of my gut. I breathe deeply and steady myself.

I am not going down without a fight!

My hand stiffens on the door knob. I take a small step back, and the man at my bed shakes his head slowly. And shit! It freaks me out.

I take another small step back. My sister screams again, louder this time, and it slices right through me like a hot knife through butter. The man at my closet steps closer to me. I hold his masked gaze and take another step back. Before I can think about what I’m doing, I turn and run as fast as I can to my sister’s room. I thank God she didn’t have time to lock the door. I open the door to see two more masked men restraining Terah. My hands shake as I take in her tearful face. I rush over to her desk, pick up the crystal vase that sits on the corner of it, and creep over to masked man number four. Unable to see me with his back to me, I smash the vase down onto his head as hard as I can without a moment’s thought. It shatters to pieces and the man falls to his knees yelling, “Fuck!”

Strong arms wrap around my waist and lift me. I kick out and shriek, “No! Let my sister go!”

Balling my hands into fists, I swing back over my shoulders and connect with another masked man’s face. He growls, “Stop!”

Stop? Are you shitting me? How about…no!

“Limp dick motherfucker! Let me go!” I yell out through heaving breaths.

My knuckles throb but I try to hit him over and over again. He’s moved his head behind mine so I can’t reach his face. Pulling my arm forward, I wrench it back hard and elbow him in the ribs. He drops me and I hit the floor with a thud. Scrambling to my feet, I run forward two steps before bigger, taller masked man number two hauls me over his shoulder and runs with me down the stairs. It hurts my stomach so badly, I feel like I’m going to puke. I don’t even realize I’ve started crying until I can barely take in a full breath. The man takes me down the hall and toward the front door.

The nerve of these guys! Kidnapping us through the front door?

Now that’s just cocky.

I screech, “DAD! MOM! HELP!”

A muffled argument I can’t quite make out reaches my ears and I hear my dad yell out, “Delilah!” just as the masked man takes me out the front door.

Anguish slices through me. My stiff body slumps in defeat and I sob into the man’s back. I cry out, “Please let me go! Oh God, please!”

But the man’s pace never slows.

As we pass the property line, he holds me tightly and carries me into the back of a large black van. The van takes off as soon as my butt hits the seat. I have no fight left in me. The courage I felt earlier is completely demolished by the one thought circling around in my head…

It’s official.

I’ve been kidnapped.

***

The back of the van is pitch black. I can’t see a damn thing. I have no idea where I’m being taken. All I know is that Humungo won’t let go of my arm.

The van stops after what feels like about twenty hours of driving when in reality, it’s been around twenty minutes. The side door slides open and light floods the back. I look around me and fear clogs my throat.

There are another three people in the back with us. They’re all so quiet that I hadn’t even noticed them. They’re masked, too. If the devil had minions, this is what they’d look like; I’m sure of it.

Freaking. The. Eff. Out.

Humungo tugs on my arm and steps out of the van, pulling me out behind him. I look around. We’re in an underground parking lot that’s completely empty. I squeak when he lifts me over his shoulder again and carries me like I’m a sack of potatoes. I don’t mind not walking right now because I don’t think I could even if I wanted to, but damn, his shoulder in my belly hurts like hell. My face is pained as I strain through gritted teeth, “Please put me down. You’re hurting me.”

To my absolute shock, he does.

The man places me on my feet in front of him, grips my upper arm with one hand and removes his leather mask with the other. I’m suddenly staring into a pair of blue eyes that are so cold, if you looked up arctic in the encyclopedia these eyes would be pictured underneath.

“Don’t even think about trying to run.” As he says this in his rough and husky voice, I realize I’m trying to back away from him.

Fear washes over me. I take a moment to look around.

Dark. Desolate. Deserted.

Two options flicker through my mind; attempt to escape, or go with the husky voiced, gruff man. Mentally, I weigh my options. Escaping means running. Running on Jell-O like legs likely won’t get me far, which would leave me captured once more by an extremely pissed-off abductor.

I scan my surroundings again , desperately looking for a means of escape. My face falls when I can’t find one. I look up into the face of my kidnapper and nod in resolve.

The dickhead smirks and I want to knee him in the jingle bells.

My face must convey what I feel because his smirk flares into a wide, gleaming, crooked smile.

The man is actually not bad looking. Not traditionally good looking, but gruffly attractive in a manly way. His nose is crooked and looks like it’s been broken a few times, but he has high cheek bones and a strong chin. His full lips surround his teeth which are white and a little crooked on the bottom. This man doesn’t look like he was ever meant to be a pretty boy. His dark hair is buzzed. His tall, muscular frame is extremely intimidating; his arms alone look like they could squish a person’s head to mush with no effort.