Tilting the glass tube, he slips the stick down its neck and holds it still against the bright green grass at the bottom. Eventually, the tiny flame on the end moves off the stick and onto the grass. As he removes the stick, the single flame shudders and splits in two. The pretty orange lights dance side by side before splitting in half, creating four beautiful lights. Thin ribbons of smoke swirl up the neck of the glass and filter out into the air as Kade moves the lip of the tube toward my mouth and I close my lips over it, inhaling deeply. The soft, gentle smoke twirls in my lungs, returning my stomach back to its normal position.
The panic fades.
And I feel…warm.
He pulls it from my mouth and leans over me, returning it to the bedside table.
I fall asleep then…or maybe I fall asleep when he’s back under the covers and he’s pulled me into his chest, holding me close. He asks me a question about my time locked up and then the dream starts…I don’t see it, but I hear it. My voice echoes around my own head, describing a memory the exact way it happened, from the smell down to the exact way I felt the night the moderator cut my neck.
The smell of alcohol and smoke was heavy in the room. His friends had just left after tormenting me with delicious smelling food, alcohol, and water. They spat them at me while they shouted obscenities, treating me like a feral animal.
Jim was the name of the moderator in charge. His annoying, husky voice boomed around the room, making me jump every time he started a sentence unexpectedly. He had always been an asshole to me, but more so than usual that night because I refused to entertain him and his company. Of course, he didn’t like it when I turned my back to them, acting as though they didn’t exist. Jim was confused, considering I spent a good portion of the afternoon going back and forth with him. They wanted entertainment, but I wasn’t there to entertain. In fact, the thought made me sick to my stomach.
As I sat in silence, huddled in my barren corner, they verbally attacked me some more. They said horrible things about me and Kade—things that weren’t true. They even dubbed me “The Misfortunate,” claiming I bring misfortune and death to those who get close to me.
Clever.
They could say what they want. Since they weren’t touching me, I didn’t mind.
Once all the food was gone and the booze had been consumed, Jim’s friends grew bored and eventually, they left. By that time, Jim could barely walk in a straight line. I could hear it in his stumble, and that was when my hair began to prickle and my pulse pounded under my skin. I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of keys jingling and saw the anger etched on his face. His eyes were thinned and he clenched his teeth, making him look like an old man rather than the twenty-something he was.
Unsteadily, I rose to my feet and backed up against the wall as he slurred his words and fidgeted with the keys on his chain, searching for the one that fit my lock. Inside, my organs churned and fear materialised, but I managed to keep a straight face. Kathryn shouted from the cell beside mine, but he ignored her, his eyes focusing solely on the keys in his hand. When he found the key, he swiftly unlocked my cage and let himself in. I swallowed hard, pressing myself as hard as I could against the hard concrete wall behind me. Sharp shards of concrete that hadn’t been smoothed off cut my skin, but they were the least of my worries.
“You embarrassed me,” he slurred with a growl. “Now I’m gonna embarrass you, and in front of your mother, no less.”
I shrieked as he launched forward. I thought I was quick enough to dodge him, but he caught me by the last inch of my hair. I screamed as he wrapped my hair around his fist and drove me into the bars. Unsmoothed metal scratched my skin, but failed to dig deep as Jim yanked me off the bars and shoved me out of my cell. My tired feet stumbled underneath me and we would have crashed to the ground if Jim hadn’t snagged the first bar of Kathryn’s cell. Once again, he slammed me hard against the bars, sending pain through my breasts. Kathryn rushed to the bars, her hands out in front of her, but before she made contact, Jim pressed the jagged edge of a key into the side of my neck. I hissed, flinching as the dirty metal bit into my skin.
“One more step and I bury this key inside her neck.”
Kathryn, in her pretty navy dress, stopped in her tracks. Tears welled in her eyes and saliva connected her lips as she opened them with a sob.
“Please,” she pleaded in a whisper. “She did nothing to you.”
Jim pressed the key harder, angling the tip so it dug deeper.
“Who is going to miss her, huh? Kade Sario?” He spit, his breath reeking of whiskey. “Fat chance. He’ll have another Unfortunate whore to replace this one in a week.”
The sloppy sound of him licking his lips right by my ear twisted my stomach, sending bile into my throat. I closed my eyes. Do I not look like a human to him? Do we not share the same features? How can he treat another human being like this without feeling it in his conscience? In his heart?
The metal pieces of a belt buckle echoed through the room as they clashed together.
“Do it and you’ll regret it,” Kathryn warned, anger prominent in her tone.
“I don’t think anyone would object to me sticking my dick in a traitorous Unfortunate whore.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” I squeezed out, my voice trembling along with my hands.
Leaving his belt, he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it back, forcing the key deeper in my skin. Warm, sticky blood flowed down my neck and ran under the neckline of my tunic.
“You think a Fortunate like him would truly give a shit about you? You are a whore—a convenient place for him to dump his come. People like him don’t love people like you.” His mouth found my ear and he licked me, tracing my lobe with his slimy tongue. “Until they put a bullet in your skull, your ass is mine.”
Tears flooded my eyes and threatened to fall.
“And if they declare me a Fortunate?” I asked through silent tears. “What right will you have to my body then?”
He chuckled. “I’m not worried about that. You’re not one of them. You were born an Unfortunate whore and you will die an Unfortunate whore, but not before I fuck you like the stupid slut you are.”
I snapped. Anger shot through me, sucking the fear right out of me. I thrust backwards, pushing Jim off balance and sending him crashing to the floor.
“You cunt!” he shouted, clenching his skull. Panicked, I ran for the main door, but it was locked. My lungs heaved, my heart clenched, and thick tendrils of dread burrowed through my chest.
Jim laughed, his torturous cackle filling the room. “You didn’t think I’d let you out of your cage without locking the main door, did you?”
I was mortified, mortified because I didn’t hear him lock the door. With nowhere else to go, I dived for my cell. I needed something, anything to put between us to keep him away from me…but he beat me to it. He caught the gate before I had the chance to close it.
Jim yanked the gate open, pulling it from my hands. I backed up, my hands outstretched in front of me.
“Please,” I begged. “You don’t want to—”
He snapped forward, grasping my face in the palm of his hand, squeezing my jaw shut.
“I’m done hearing you talk.”
“If you hurt me, Kade Sario will kill you,” I squeezed out through my clenched jaw. “That I promise you.”
He shoved his free hand down the front of his pants. “You talk too much. Lucky I have something big enough to stuff your mouth with.”
“The Misfortunate? That’s what they call me?”
He squeezed my jaw tighter, making me hiss. Saliva spilled out the side of my mouth since my tongue was wedged against the roof of it.
“Do people simply drop dead around me or do I have someone looking out for me?”
He swayed on his feet.
“Think about it,” I said. “Is a quick screw worth your life?”
He dropped his hand from my jaw and I fought the urge to rub it as it throbbed.
br /> “I don’t believe you.”
I almost wanted him to do it. I wanted to prove to him that people like me are capable of winning someone’s love—even someone as big and as strong as Kade Sario.
I swallowed hard. “Touch me and find out.”
To my surprise, Jim eased off. He pulled his hand from his pants as he backed up one step at a time.
“I hope they put a bullet through your head,” he growled, sneering.
I pressed my back to the wall and hung my head, relieved.
“Yeah. Me too.”
Chapter Six
Kade
Dew from the grass flicked onto his shoes with every step he took, making them glisten in the light of the full moon as he crossed the sparse field. Fifty metres ahead was the moderator barracks. It wasn’t a tall building but it was long, housing every single one of the town’s active moderators. Those that weren’t on duty were here, drinking and messing around like they had no care or responsibility in the world.
A dense, sick feeling swirled inside him. It’d be a lie if he said manipulating Nine into telling him about the jagged cut on her neck didn’t make him feel guilty. He didn’t plan it, but when the opportunity arose, he took it. She admitted everything, explained it in full detail, and he felt every hurtful word, every knock and every cut. He couldn’t ignore it, despite how bad he wanted to. He tried, but he’d based his whole life on principles and that moderator fuck she called Jim imposed on those principles. A lot of notable Fortunates would take a political approach to dealing with this kind of infringement, but his father taught him differently. As a Fortunate something had to be done. As a Sario, Kade would make Jim pay with his blood.
∞
Chet, the burly, red-headed moderator at the front desk, let Kade in without a word, and even supplied him with Jim’s mod number and what annex he resided in. Kade made a mental note to promote the man later.
James Buchanan was Jim’s full name. He was the offspring of Jarold Tremaine and an unnamed Unfortunate. Kade felt better knowing he was going to kill the seed of an insignificant Fortunate. No political issues would arise from that.
Kaden passed annex after annex, drawing closer and closer to the number he desired, and, as fate would have it, Jim’s annex was number nine.
How convenient.
Inside, pillows were tossed from bunk bed to bunk bed, followed by exaggerated laughter and every swear word under the sun. The smell of sour, poorly cultivated wine hung in the air and burned at Kade’s nostrils. He couldn’t stand to be in this place another second. In one corner a large man tugged his small cock to Unfortunate films from the Black House and in another, a young man, no older than eighteen, polished a rifle. For the briefest moment, he was grateful he was born a Fortunate. The thought of existing in the shit hole he stood in made his blood run cold.
“I’m looking for James Buchanan.” Kade shouted, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Number seven-three-two-D-B-six.”
Heads turned to look at him, their beady eyes wide and frightened. How many Fortunates have come to the barracks seeking a moderator before? he thought. Judging by the looks on their faces, he assumed it wasn’t many and he guessed the outcome was never good.
Kade stood patiently, waiting for the asshole to show his face. Within seconds, he was able to put a face to a name. Jim raked his thin fingers through his mousey brown hair and nervously licked his thin pink lips as he stepped out from behind a bunk and into the center of the room wearing his worn, all black uniform.
Kade didn’t know what colour Jim’s natural complexion was, but he’d bet all seventeen of his mines it wasn’t pale white.
“I am James Buchanan, sir.”
Kade’s eyebrows pulled together. He wasn’t sure what he expected Jim to look like, but he definitely wasn’t expecting a man as young and as disappointing as him. Kade almost felt bad that he had to kill the guy, but he remembered that although Jim was small for him, he was still bigger than Nine. Kade had to remind himself as he looked at the uneasy moderator who stood in front him that he hurt Nine. He was a dangerous man. By killing him, Kade would be doing the world a favour.
Kade stepped to the side. “Let’s take a walk.”
∞
“You seem tense,” Kade wondered aloud, unable to take the smirk off his lips.
Moderators didn’t have the same restrictions the Unfortunates did. If they finished whatever their jobs required of them they were allowed to unwind with booze and food. To keep their spirits up, they were rewarded with an Unfortunate from the Black House twice a month.
“I can’t say a Fortunate such as yourself has ever brought me down to the lake for a beer before.” Jim replied, eyeing Kade suspiciously. “Forgive me if I’m a little…concerned.”
“And what would you have to be concerned about? Hm?” Kade asked, unscrewing the lid off his third beer, the golden bubbles racing up the neck of the clear glass.
He brought Jim to the lake to come clean and beg for forgiveness. He thought a relaxed setting would help him forgive like Nine did. At the moment, he didn’t plan on forgiving Jim, but as they passed by the Sario mansion, Kade felt a stir in his stomach. For Nine, he decided he’d try to be the man she wanted. So he grabbed a six pack of beer and brought Jim down to the lake. Kade’s favourite spot.
“I know you know what I did. Why else would we be here?”
Kade took note of the slight slur in his tone. He’d only had two and a half beers. If his gentle swaying was anything to go by, Kade assumed Jim was drinking before he arrived at Jim’s annex.
Jim glanced over his shoulder. “Are you going to kill me?”
Kade lifted the semi-warm beer to his lips.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said before swallowing a large mouthful.
A short spell of silence filled the air and it did nothing but escalate the tension and impatience Kade felt. He couldn’t let it go. To forgive such disrespect just wasn’t his style. Despite Nine’s voice in his head, he knew in his heart that forgiveness would not be given this night.
“Is this where you caught the Unfortunate?” Jim asked a small eternity later, turning back to the lake.
The moon shone on the surface, making it look more like hard glass than water.
Kade cleared his throat uncomfortably, but Jim didn’t notice. “Yes. This is where I caught her.”
He shifted anxiously. He didn’t want to talk about that night. He already spent most of his time trying to forget it.
But he couldn’t.
He remembered her expression and the way her eyes glistened, begging him to do whatever she wanted him to do. He remembered the way she flinched when he told her he couldn’t love her. That hit home the most. That was his biggest regret.
“Did she put up a fight?”
Kade clenched his bottle. “No.”
Jim turned to face Kade, his shoes sinking ever so slightly into the semi-firm mud beneath his feet. Under the light of the moon, dark shadows circled his eyes and covered his lips.
“I don’t want to die. Not tonight.”
That didn’t matter to Kade. Jim was a dead man the second he touched Nine. He should have known that.
Kade tilted his head. “Did you know she belonged to me?”
“No.”
Lie. Kade smirked because he knew it. He dropped his beer on the ground and pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll give you once last chance to answer the question truthfully. Did you know she belonged to me?”
Jim stuttered and spluttered, his grasp making the beer in his hand tremble. “I…I mean…It…It might have been mentioned in passing, but I thought you were finished with her once they locked her up. I swear I meant no harm.”
Kade launched forward, grabbing the beer from Jim’s hand and smashing it upside his head before his body even registered he was angry.
Jim crashed to the ground, groaning and clenching the side of his face. Beer and glass coated and cut Kade’s left hand, bu
t as the moment dragged on, and his chest bubbled with anger, he didn’t give a shit.
Kade bent and snatched the black fabric of Jim’s uniform in his hand and pulled him close to his face. Jim lowered his hand from his face and, under the light of the moon, Kade saw the blood and glass contorting his skin.
“You meant no harm?” Kade pulled back his arm, clenched his fist, and let it loose. It connected with Jim’s mouth, splitting his lip and staining his teeth with blood. “You attack a woman smaller and weaker than you and you meant no harm?”
Kade hit him again.
And again.
And again.
Until he was sure his fist would bruise. When he stopped slamming his fist into the pathetic excuse for a moderator, Jim choked on his teeth and spat up blood. It ran over his chin and down his throat. Blood from his nose spilled over his cheeks and got lost in his ears. Still Kade wasn’t satisfied.
“She makes you soft,” Jim spat, more blood trickling from the sides of his lips.
Kade smirked. “Oh. She makes me many things, but soft isn’t one of them.”
From his waistband, Kade pulled out his gun and pressed the eager barrel between Jim’s dark eyes.
Regret flooded Jim’s face. His eyes widened, his lips trembled, and sobs forced their way up his throat.
“Please…”
Kade slightly twisted the gun against his skull. “You know, if she was here, she’d be begging me not to kill you.”
“Please!”
He lessened the pressure of his gun on Jim’s forehead.
“I know she’d forgive you…”
The beginnings of relief crept over his face, starting in the curve of his eyebrows.
“But I can’t.”
With a squeeze, Kade pulled the trigger and BANG!
The shot rang out.
Chapter Seven
Nine