AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t—”
“Don’t. Lie. To. Me.” Each word punctuated by another kick. Barbara screamed and tried to cover her head.
“You stupid little bitch. She ain’t your friend. She’s preying on you. Corrupting you. Did she touch you, Babs? Bite you?”
“No.”
“Get up.” He hauled her to her feet. “Take your clothes off.”
“NO!”
He slapped her hard around the face again. Blood exploded from her lip.
“Do it!”
Slowly, she shed her shirt and shorts.
“Everything.”
She slipped off her damp bathing costume. She wrapped her arms over her breasts and crossed her legs to hide her lady parts, shame overtaking the pain. Her dad walked around her in a slow circle, staring at her body, lifting her hair to check her neck. She shuddered at his touch. Eventually, he spat on the floor.
“Get dressed. And then get in the truck.”
She couldn’t refuse. She hastily pulled her clothes back on and then climbed into the truck. Her dad climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“We’re going for a drive.”
The truck bumped and juddered down the track. Every jolt sent paroxysms of pain through Barbara’s battered body. For a moment, she thought her dad was driving her into town, but then he turned off down another, even narrower, track that cut and weaved through the heavy forest. Finally, when it seemed like the track had petered out entirely and they were just bumping along scrubland between the trees, the forest opened out into a clearing. A large wooden cabin stood in the center. The lodge.
Her dad stopped his truck outside. Then he jumped out, walked around and yanked open her door.
“Get out.”
She half climbed, half tumbled out, clutching her sore ribs. Her dad grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the lodge. He took a heavy key out of his pocket.
“Dad, please?”
“Shut your mouth.”
He fumbled the key into the lock.
“This is our town. A good, Christian town. The Colony, they’re feral, creatures of Satan. They got no place on this earth.”
“I get it. Can we just go home?”
He grabbed her face, squeezing. “You need to understand.” Then he pushed open the door and shoved her into the darkened room. “This is the only place vampyrs ‘hang’ around here.”
He flicked on a light. Barbara turned.
The room was sparsely furnished with battered couches and chairs, careworn rugs thrown over the floor. A makeshift bar had been set up in one corner and a scarred table was scattered with cards. A place for men to meet, drink, gamble…and admire their trophies.
They were mounted on every wall. Heads. At least a dozen. Men, women, children. They gazed down with dead, glassy eyes. Fair-haired, dark, auburn. Faces frozen in anguish. Teeth protruding in paralyzed snarls.
“No,” Barbara muttered. “No!”
“It’s where they belong, Babs. They’re animals—and we hunt them like animals.” Her dad smiled a thin, cruel smile. “But don’t worry. They won’t bite.”
He slammed the door shut. Barbara heard the key turn on the other side. Horror rose in her throat. She threw herself at the rough wood.
