Imprisoned

  “You…you were? I mean, of course you were, Sir,” she stumbled the words out haltingly.

  Stubbins nodded.

  “Uh-huh. So I understand that you’re doin’ what you have to in order to survive, lad. And I want you to know I don’t blame you—nor will I shame you for it.”

  “Um…thank you, Sir,” Ari murmured. This seemed like quite a reversal from the laughter and joking she’d endured this morning when the whole Spice Lords gang was around. But maybe Stubbins had just been putting on an act for his underlings, being tougher on her in order to prove he was the boss.

  “You’re welcome.” He nodded and dropped his hand to take another puff of his stick. “Now then—as it happens, I do have a kite for you but you might not like it.”

  “Does it matter if I like it or not?” Ari asked, gathering her courage and looking up at the Spice Lords boss boldly.

  He laughed and shook his head.

  “Actually, no. But it’s a kite for the hole and I’m not sure about sending such a fresh fish as yourself down to tend to it.”

  “The hole? As in…solitary?” Ari’s heart began to bang against her ribs. The hole—that’s where Wheezer said they’re keeping Jak! I could see him again! I could see my brother! She didn’t know why the possibility hadn’t occurred to her earlier, when she’d first been made a fix-it. But she’d had the idea that the solitary confinement area was hidden and locked away somewhere—accessible only to the Horvath guards.

  “Yep—that’s the hole all right.” Stubbins nodded. “Seems like there’s a short in the wiring down there and the guards don’t like it. Not that I give a good Gods-damn what those lizard-faced fuckers want.” He spat on the floor again, a look of anger crossing his rough face. “But that’s the job so we’re stuck with it. Can you handle it?”

  Could she handle it? Ari thought she could have handled rewiring the entire huge prison as long as it meant getting to see her beloved big brother again. Still, she didn’t want to seem over-eager.

  “Yes, Sir, I can,” she said, trying to look calm and cautious. “But, can you tell me how to get to the hole? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “That’s because the entrance is way down under the Laundry room in the sub-basement,” Stubbins said grimly. “It’s past where they keep the lasher kennels.”

  Ari felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cubes directly into the pit of her stomach.

  “The…the lashers?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t shake too much. She couldn’t help thinking of those lantern-yellow eyes in the darkness… the way the huge, hungry lasher had tried to get in to Lathe’s cell before the big Kindred had sent it away with a shout.

  “Sure, lad. Where’d you think the damn Horvaths keep their scaly little pets?” Stubbins spit again in apparent disgust. “They sleep all day in their kennels down there at the entrance of the hole. Then the minute lights out sounds, the cold air starts blowin’—wakes ‘em right up. They come prowling, looking for food. The Horvath’s don’t feed them until about five minutes before lights up in the morning. Keeps them hungry and lean, don’t you know.”

  “I…guess that makes sense,” Ari said faintly.

  “So—that being said, you still think you can handle it?” Stubbins raised a bushy black eyebrow at her. “It’s a hard way to go, that path to the hole. I’ve seen men a hell of a lot bigger and stronger than you come back squallin’ like scared little girls when I tried to send them down there to fix something.”

  Ari wondered what her new boss would think if he knew she was a girl herself. Somehow, the thought gave her courage.

  I can handle anything a man can handle and more. I can do this!

  She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. If the only way to get to see Jak again was to go past the sleeping lashers, well then she would do it. Jak would do it for her if their situations were reversed. And even if she couldn’t free her big brother, at least she could offer him some hope and let him know he wasn’t alone.

  “I can do it,” she said in a firm voice. “I know I can, Sir.”

  “All right, lad—I’ll take your word for it. Now, let’s see…” Stubbins flipped open the red tool box and lifted out the top section, searching deeper inside for what he wanted.

  Ari stood respectfully to one side but she couldn’t help staring curiously at the contents of the box. There was every kind of tool imaginable—even a hard-burn torch for welding high-density metals. There was a pair of dark goggles attached to it, clearly for safety. Well, it was good to see that the Spice Lords boss tried to make certain the fix-its under his supervision had the tools and the safety precautions they needed.

  All in all, Stubbins was turning out to be a pretty good boss—at least so far. Ari thought that her predecessor—the one who had lost a hand—must have been a real idiot not to just follow the rules and leave the porn alone.

  Though speaking of porn, she had yet to see any of the vids or mags Wheezer had talked about. Maybe Stubbins kept them in a different place? There was another box sitting behind the folding table, under the stairwell. This one was bigger than the tool box and it was painted blue instead of faded red. Maybe that was where it was kept? Ari really didn’t care. Even the few porn vids Jak had kept hidden from their parents had only been a curiosity to her—not something to actively seek out time and again. She had no use for porn and no interest in it.

  Especially now that you’re putting on your own porno shows, huh? snickered a nasty little voice in her head. Ari pushed it aside. As Stubbins had said, she’d just been doing what she had to in order to survive. She’d been trying to send a message to Tapper, telling him that she belonged to Lathe.

  Oh yeah? And what message were you trying to send to Lathe, then? I love you? I want you? whispered the voice. Honestly, Ari wished she could get rid of it! She wasn’t sure if it was the voice of her conscious or self-shame or both.

  I don’t love him—I barely know him, she tried to argue with herself. But there was no denying that just the thought of the big Kindred made her stomach quiver with longing. She wanted to be close to him again…to smell his warm, masculine scent and feel his strong arms around her…she wanted to feel his fangs in her throat and hear his deep voice in her ear telling her—

  “Here you go—these should do to start.” Stubbins’ voice broke into her illicit fantasy and Ari jumped. When she looked up, she saw her new boss had put a pile of tools on the table, along with a broad leather strap that turned out to be a tool-belt. Licking his thumb, he pressed it to the black button on the bottoms of all the tools and then nodded for Ari to do the same.

  She dutifully licked her thumb and copied his motions, watching as the red handles of the designated tools turned briefly blue, letting her know they were attuned to her and safe to touch.

  “Good,” Stubbins said, watching as she slung the leather belt around her waist and began loading in the tools. “Now be careful down in the hole. And whatever you do, don’t get too close to the cells at the end of the tunnel down there.”

  “Oh no?” Ari felt that cold, ice cubes in her stomach sensation again. “Why is that?”

  “Because one of ‘em is holding the Beast,” Stubbins said darkly. “A fuckin’ bad one, he is and ‘ent no mistake about that. He’s the reason those damn Yonnite Mistresses who own this place had the laser ceiling installed on the Rec Yard that kills all the fuckin’ birds.” He shook his head. “Not that the Horvaths’ll ever let him out of the hole. But they wanted to be sure he couldn’t get away if he ever did get out.” He pointed his still-smoldering nico-stick at Ari. “See that he doesn’t get out on your shift, lad. Stay the fuck away from his cell. Got it?”

  “Yes, Sir. I understand completely.” Ari nodded but inside she couldn’t help wondering about her brother. How long had he been trapped down in the dark with a monster so vile even the Yonnite Mistresses and the Horvath guards were wary of him?

  Poor Jak! I hope he’s okay. I hope that Beast prisoner hasn’t
been able to hurt him!

  Ari supposed she would find out. She finished loading her tool belt and nodded at Stubbins again. He nodded back.

  “Go on, lad and just be careful,” he warned her. “Leave the lashers and the Beast alone—just tend to the wiring.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Ari said again and with a final nod, she slipped away to find the hole.

  Twenty-Nine

  The sub-basement under the Laundry room was dank and dark and filled with shadows. Lit by a single glow, which swung from a long cord in the center of the ceiling, it had a musty feel about it, as though it wasn’t used for much. A few empty crates in one corner suggested that it might have been a storage area once but the inch or so of dust collected on their lids let Ari know it hadn’t been used that way for a long time.

  Where were the lasher kennels that Stubbins had talked about? Though she looked all around her, Ari could see no sign of the animals that prowled the corridors of BleakHall each night. Not that she wanted to. She would be much happier if she could avoid the huge predators completely.

  She moved further into the room. The echoes of her footsteps seemed to fall flat—killed by the muffling pressure of the entire prison right over her head. It was a claustrophobic space despite the high metal ceiling but Ari strove to keep her fear in check. She hadn’t even gotten to the hole yet—she couldn’t let the entryway of the haunted house freak her out or she would never get through the house itself!

  Then she saw it—at the far end of the room was a large rectangular opening which served as a doorway.

  Ari’s breath felt thick in her throat. That must be the entrance to the hole. She approached it warily, her largest wrench gripped tightly in one hand. If anything came out of that dark opening she would be ready for it—she hoped.

  She drew closer and closer but nothing stirred except a sighing gust of dank-smelling air that breathed from the dark mouth of the tunnel. One of the tools Stubbins had checked out to her was a hand glow. Ari pulled it out of her tool belt and turned it on, using it to light her way as she stepped reluctantly into the entrance to the hole.

  For the first few yards she saw nothing—just black metal walls and floor which could have been any of the other corridors in BleakHall. Then the hand glow’s beam swept across something new—it looked to Ari a little like the cage she’d been locked in while in the holding area on her first day in the prison. But she realized, as she got closer, that the cage was laid on its side and it had no door. It was just a rectangular chain-link box.

  Ari frowned. What was the point of that? Was this where the Horvaths stored old cages when they were broken and no longer useful? But these looked fine—other than the fact that they had no doors. Because, there were more of them, she saw now as she shone the beam down the tunnel that led to the hole. The passageway was lined with cages—there were fifteen or twenty of them on either side—and all of them were lying on their sides.

  As she looked closer, she saw that most of them seemed to be at least partially filled with something, though she couldn’t see what. Dark hummocks of some kind of material or supplies were stacked in each cage.

  Then she saw one of the hummocks move.

  It shifted to one side with a rustling like dry leaves rubbing against each other and then one huge yellow eye opened and stared sleepily right into the light. A low rumbling growl came from the cage and then the beast—the lasher Ari realized with numb fascination—was staring directly at her—both eyes open in the darkness.

  These weren’t broken cages or storage boxes—these were the lasher kennels Stubbins had talked about. Ari stared dumbly at the beast looking back at her as the realization washed over her.

  Goddess of Mercy, it’s huge!

  Her mind felt numb but some instinct of self-preservation made her fingers fumble with the controls to the hand glow and turn it off. Then she stood there in the darkness feeling like her heart was beating right between her teeth, waiting to see if the enormous lasher would come after her.

  There was another sleepy growling sound and the huge yellow eyes—each one easily as large as Lathe’s fist—blinked several more times. Ari could tell because they glowed in the dark, shining brightly even though she had turned her light off.

  Goddess of Mercy, please…please!

  She was so frightened she couldn’t even form a coherent prayer. But someone must have heard her because finally the eyes blinked closed and there was another scaly, rustling sound and a heavy sigh, as if the huge creature was returning to sleep. Then…silence.

  Ari stayed where she was, frozen in place and afraid to move for what felt like hours but was probably more like five or ten minutes. Her muscles felt tight and her bladder was heavy with the need to pee—as though her body wanted to dump everything and run. Grimly, she squeezed her thighs together and held it. Her mind kept wanting to show her pictures of the huge lasher crouching in the dark, just waiting for her to walk past it so it could pounce. Ari pushed the thought away.

  Jak, she told herself. Jak is down there, past the lashers. I have to get to him—I have to.

  Only that thought—the knowledge that her older brother was at the end of the tunnel she was traveling through—got her going again. She forced herself to take a single, shuffling step and then another and another. Finally she was moving again but as she went, she was praying every step of the way.

  It seemed to take forever to traverse the tunnel since she was walking blindly in the dark and trying to be as quiet as she could. But after what felt like a small eternity her eyes adjusted and she began to see a dim glow some distance ahead of her. It grew gradually brighter and Ari felt that she was walking uphill a little instead of constantly down, into the depths.

  At last she could see her hands in front of her—the hand glow clutched in one and the wrench in the other—and realized they were trembling. In between prayers, she’d had some half-baked idea about shining the light in the lasher’s eyes and hitting it with the wrench if it pounced on her.

  That was stupid of course—completely foolishness to think she could take on one of the huge predators and win with such meager weapons. But it was all she had been able to think of and having a plan of attack was better than just walking blindly into danger.

  As she came to the source of the light, Ari saw it was another single glow, hanging from the metal ceiling. It illuminated a semi-circular room with five metal doorways set in the black metal of the walls. There were narrow windows, set high up in the doors—little more than slits with bars in them as far as Ari could see. Three of the cells looked unoccupied but two—the first and the fifth—had clip charts hanging from magnetic hooks on their doors.

  Ari went cautiously to the fifth door and examined the chart.

  Slade Payne, read the words scrolling across the front of the chart. Arson, homicide, rape, mutilation. Sentence—six consecutive life sentences. Then, in large red letters the chart proclaimed—Use EXTREME CAUTION. Hybrid strength and reflexes make this prisoner difficult to contain or control. High risk of mortality!

  This had to be the cell of the Beast that Stubbins had talked about, Ari thought with a shiver. He sounded like a real charmer. A multiple-murderer rapist who would mutilate you and burn your body when he was through with you. Ugh.

  Walking softly so as not to disturb the occupant of the cell, she made her way to the first doorway and looked at the chart.

  To her joy, she saw her big brother’s name scrolling across the top in red letters.

  Jak Blackthorn, aggravated assault on another inmate. Sentence—seven solar months solitary, it said. Ari was surprised—the Jak she knew wouldn’t have attacked anyone—not even another prisoner. Then again, Lathe had told her that BleakHall changed people.

  It certainly changed you. I doubt you would have given anyone a public blowjob before darkening these doors, sneered a little voice in her head. But Ari refused to think of that now—not when her older brother was finally within reach.

  “Jak??
?? she whispered softly, standing on her tiptoes to get as close to the barred window at the top of the door as she could. “Jak, can you hear me?”

  At first there was no sound but then someone stirred inside the narrow, dark cell. A low, familiar voice muttered, as though to itself, “Can’t be…must be…hearing things.”

  “Jak?” Ari dared to raise her voice a little. “Jak, it’s me. It’s Ari!”

  “Ari?” Her brother’s voice sounded choked with disbelief. “Is…is that really you?”

  There were dragging sounds, as though he was forcing himself to his feet, and then his tired, dirty, unshaven face appeared in the window. Dark blue eyes, much like her own, looked out at her through the bars.

  “Jak!” Ari was so happy and relieved she wanted to cry. In fact, she did feel warm drops slipping down her cheeks but she didn’t even care. Reaching as far as she could, she managed to get the tips of her fingers up through the bars. Jak grabbed them, holding her hand as best he could and then Ari began to cry in earnest.

  “Oh Jak!” she whispered through her tears. “I thought…thought I would never see you again! I wanted to die when I found out where they had taken you! I’ve missed you so much!”

  “Ari?” His voice was hoarse and bewildered. “Ari, my little rook, what are you doing here? Did you come to visit me? I thought BleakHall didn’t allow any visitors.”

  “They don’t.” Ari swiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her prison jumpsuit. “I came undercover, Jak. I…I came to rescue you,” she said although she knew there was no chance of that now.

  “What?” He frowned. “Ari, you shouldn’t be here! BleakHall is no place for a female!”