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“I need a doctor,” the other guy says in a too-loud voice. I wonder how impaired his hearing is now that Tanya bit his ear off.
“For fuck’s sake. Just keep pressing on it. We’ll drop off the little one to our creepy friend, and the other two somewhere, and I’ll drive you. I’m not a monster.”
“Okay. Okay. Okay,” Jeans Guy chants, clearly trying to rise over the pain.
“Go get someone to help me.” One of the car doors swings open, then slams shut. Then the other one, then steps, then someone is pulling me out and I’m forced to bite on my lips because fucking hell, my middle hurts. It’s like I did a thousand crunches.
I’m plopped on one side, on a very uncomfortable stone that digs into my ribs. The desire to adjust myself overtakes my whole mind, and for a moment, I forget why I’m here, what happened, and even who I am. The physical need to survive and avoid pain wins over my rational brain. As I lie down, I dig my heel in the gravel and slide to the left, reducing the pressure on my ribs. A metallic taste fills my mouth—I’ve bitten through my lip. Better that than exposing how awake I am.
Tanya is laid next to me a moment later. The creak of her leather jacket and the smell of her hair mixed with blood reveals her identity.
Quiet settles around us. Are we alone? Is it safe for me to take this suffocating hood off? My finger twitches, my hands ready to move, when I hear steps and voices in the distance. I have to play dead a bit more.
Someone grabs me under the armpits and pulls my limp body, dragging my feet. Little stones scratch my ankles and lodge inside my shoes. I have to be glad they didn’t decide to move me feet first.
Tanya and I are put into an inside space, shielding us from the sun and the ability to cry for help. A lock clicks shut and I count to ten as I listen to the fading footsteps. When I get to ten, I pull my hood off, finally freeing my head. My forehead is sweaty and I’m desperate for a sip of water.
I look around. Tanya is next to me, still out cold, slumped in the corner of the small room. It looks like some sort of empty storage—there are some shelves attached to the wall and nothing else. Jenya isn’t here.
Shit, they might come back to put her here with us. Or is she being taken straight to Koschei? In any case, I have to wake Tanya up and we have to get out of here.
Scooting across the dirty ground, I nudge her with my shoulder. She doesn’t respond. I move in front of her, rotating so that I’m on my knees in front of her.
I pull her hood off, revealing a bloody face and messy blond hair. She’s beautiful, like a warrior princess painted in battle colors.
“Tanya,” I whisper-shout and shake her by the shoulders.
Nothing.
I sit back on my heels.Think, Ben.You’re a terrible protector, but you’re still smart.
What do I have on me? I pat my pockets. My wallet, my new pen, a bottle of ink. Not a lot of choices.
What did they use to take us down? It wasn’t Chloroform—that would take hours of inhalations to sedate us. It must be one of Comet Healthcare’s illegal products. The Empress was adamant about cleaning up our streets from any merchandise related to Comet International, starting from their harmless supplements, to the sinister black pills that keep popping up all over.
A fast way to bring someone back is smelling salts. Smelling salts… The ink!
It’s not exactly it, but it should smell sickly sweet. It’s worth a try.
Getting stuff from an inside pocket is fucking difficult. I move like a worm while I try to get the bottle out. My hands shake as I open it, the zip ties digging further into my skin. A bit more movement and they will open my skin.
I give the ink a sniff. It smells strong, but would it be enough to wake Tanya up? I put it under her nose, pressing her jaw up with my other hand, making sure she’s not using her mouth to breathe.
While I wait for the ink to do its thing, I look at her porcelain skin and fair eyelashes. She’s not wearing a lot of makeup today. The side of her that I’m seeing is the side I’ve always longed for—the authentic, unfiltered aspect of her that made my heart speed up and got me hard in equal measures when I first met her.
My mind wanders to those first months, savoring the taste of the memories. Maybe I’m getting high on ink vapor too because the way I remember everything is overly sweet, like those times were made of cotton candy.
Tanya’s brows twitch and she moves her face away from the small bottle. It must be working. I put it under her nose again, determined to get her to open her eyes.
She lifts her hands, trying to swat the smell away, knocking the ink to the floor. It spills in a dark puddle near us.
I grasp her chin, shaking her face a bit.
“Tanya. Tanya!”
Her eyes flutter open. She’s already scowling and I want to kiss her. The look of confusion and annoyance reminds me of that time in Valerie’s office when she couldn’t figure out where she was and why I was with her.
I doubt today will end with me eating her out, though.
