The moment they stepped outside, the cold wind whipped through her netted onesie as if it was nothing. Camila could feel the goosebumps all throughout her body, but she didn't utter a sound. She was too afraid of Blade's current mood. One moment her was toying with her, trying to watch her break in the most carnal way and the next he was practically savage.
Following him up and past the dais, they walked through a well-worn path in the woods until they reached another clearing. Everybody was there. The women were grouped not too far from the path, all wearing a collection of bone necklaces around their necks as well. To the right of the clearing was a large brazier surrounded by the other hunters and guards. Once they entered the clearing everyone seemed to turn to look at them. They were late. Maybe that was why Blade was in a sudden foul mood or what that beeping meant on his computer when he stopped…
Feeling her body flush, Camila couldn't let herself finish that thought.
A nearby guard signaled for her to join the other women as Blade continued to walk towards the other hunters. Walking to the group of women, her body relaxed when she saw Fiona sitting a little away from everyone by herself. She was dressed almost identically as she was, with the same netted onesie.
"I know it's terrible, but I am so glad I am not the only one wearing this whore outfit," Fiona cried when Camila sat next to her.
Nodding, Camila crossed her arms over her breasts and brought her knees up to her chest. "It's the absolute worst, and not much better than being all out naked." Camila knew that anyone could see her dark nipples sticking out of the holes of the net if they looked, even despite the bone jewelry on top.
"I don't know about that, I was super happy when X gave it to me, being naked was awful," Fiona said, making sure to keep her voice lowered just so Camila could hear. It didn't have to be said that they were ignoring the rest of the women. "But I didn't think I would have to go traipsing around in it though."
"I was less than thrilled," Camila grumbled, thinking about just how exactly Blade gave her the cuffs.
Leaning forward until her face was directly in the line of sight with Camila's, Fiona gave her a worried look. "Are you ok? I figured you would be happy that we have bathrooms now and a house thing to sleep in."
Camila bit her lip as she debated on what exactly to share with Fiona. She didn't want to scare the girl and tell her that these things—these hunters—were rapist because in all honesty Fiona's hunter seemed actually kind of nice. And she certainly couldn't tell her the exact details of what happened between her and Blade, how she almost came from his damn finger. A monster finger at that!
"Blade just isn't as nice as X is," Camila left it at that.
Shocked, Fiona sat back on her heels with a wide-eyed look of betrayal before her mouth quivered in a near cry. "I am so sorry Camila," Fiona whispered as she leaned forward and hugged her.
The hug nearly made her cry, but Camila resisted.
The raised growls from across the clearing stole their attention momentarily as the hunters seemed to be celebrating around the brazier. It all felt so pagan. Camila could only pray there wouldn't be any pagan sacrifices next.
Since the women had no brazier or fire-pit, they were forced to huddle together for warmth against the cool air. Leaning in against her, Fiona turned back to Camila. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly.
"No," Camila answered truthfully.
Turning discreetly, Camila observed the other women. They didn't look any better than yesterday, somehow, they looked even more haggard. Camila was about to turn back around when she caught Angie's dark gaze. A chill swept through Camilla as their eyes meet. Not wavering, Angie's gaze was cold and hard. Uncomfortable, Camila quickly averted her gaze.
"Have you seen Angie?" Camila whispered to Fiona.
Fiona gave her a frightened look as she nodded. "Every time I even accidently look at her, it feels like she is trying to put a curse on me or something."
Excited roars kicked up from across the clearing. Forming a large semi-circle the hunters made a makeshift fight ring amongst themselves. Two by two, the hunters paired up removing all but their waist armor and sparred with each other. From what little she did see, the object of the sparring seemed to be able to throw the other hunter outside of the ring line but Camila didn't care enough to even look at their stupid savage sport. Anger had finally settled over her from Blade's actions earlier and she refused to even look in his direction. Resting her head on her knees, Camila stared off unseeingly into the woods.
The loud roars and the women's occasional gasping was evidence that the match was turning brutal.
"Ugg I can barely watch," Fiona cringed next to her.
Camila didn't say anything.
"Blade keeps looking over here at you," Fiona whispered.
Flipping her head to the other cheek, Camila gave Fiona a dry look. "I hope he gets tossed on his ass."
Fiona was beginning to smile when she glanced back at the field in horror. "Oh no, X is up now!" Anxious, Fiona sat up straighter while staring at the green hunter worriedly. "What if he gets hurt and he can't play the game anymore?! What will happen to me?"
Camila never thought of that. Interested now she turned to look at the fight ring where the green hunter began circling another hunter. Unable to help herself, Camila glanced through the crowd until she found Blade's green gaze staring intently back at her. All the other hunters were staring directly ahead toward the fight, why was he staring at her? Averting her gaze quickly, Camila looked back at X fighting. When X finally did kick the other hunter out of bounds, Fiona let out a sigh of relief and Camila promptly went back to ignoring all of them.
A guard walked up to them and stopped. It was the same guard from yesterday that snatched her from the water naked. Pointing he signaled for Camila to follow him.
Dammit. Why her?
Sharing a worried look with Fiona, Camila stood up. Nervously, she followed the guard as he walked towards the side of the clearing near a small cluster of trees. On a table were large black metal bowls filled with some sort of liquid and a pile of the same red fruits Blade had given her. With a snarl the guard signaled for her to grab one of the three bowls of soaked fruit. Picking up a bowl, Camilla scrunched her nose at the strong smell that wafted as the fruits sloshed in the bowl. That smell was universal. The fruits were soaking in some sort of liquor. Pointing he directed her back to the women to drop off the bowl and to return and repeat the process on the remaining two bowls. Greedily the women began plucking the fruit out of the bowls, even Fiona. She wanted to tell her no, but the guard was snarling for her to hurry. Surely Fiona could smell and see that the fruit was soaked in alien liquor, right?
Walking back behind the small cluster of trees, Camila was happy that this was the last bowl to grab. She just wanted to sit down and sulk dammit, not work for these monsters. She was reaching for the last bowl when the hand covered her mouth and slammed her against a nearby tree. Dazed for a minute, Camila had to force her vision to clear to focus on the guard in front of her pinning her to the tree. Fear flooded through her system as his pale eyes burned with evil intent. Clawing at his hand at her mouth and kicking at his shins, Camilla felt like she was fighting off a bear with the strength of an ant. Swiping at her fighting arms viscously the guard tore at the netting on her stomach. Screaming behind his hand, Camila shut her eyes as the tears ran down, she couldn't watch as he raped and maimed her to death.
The pressure from her mouth suddenly gave away followed by a large splintering crash.
Falling to the ground, Camila opened her eyes to see the small clearing of trees, that had blocked them from the rest of the clearing, destroyed and the guard getting up from the ground a few yards away. Standing next to her, Blade stood with his knees bent and his claws extended as his whole body seemed to seethe in furious anger. Whipping his head around he looked down at her before turning back and charging at the guard. Paralyzed with shock, Camila watched Blade land a deafening punch on the guard's mouth. Roars of encouragement sounded to life as the fighting now surrounded Blade and the guard. Unable to see now, Camila carefully picked herself off the ground.
"Camila!" What happened?!" Fiona ran up to her nearly stumbling, apparently a little tipsy, her face looked pale. "One minute I was sitting there and the next I see Blade tossing the guard you were with through the trees."
Shakily, Camilla explained what happened as they quickly made it back to the area where the women sat now intently watching the match and giving her wide-eyed stares.
"Oh God," Fiona whispered. "I'm…I'm so sorry," she looked like she wanted to be sick. "I was just sitting here eating the liquor fruit waiting for you to come back. I figured we may as well get drunk…" her words trailed off in shame.
Camila could only nod to Fiona, her attention was too busy with Blade and the hunter's viscous fight. This fight wasn't like the others, this was no playful sparring match—this was deadlier. Even from where she was, she could hear Blade's punches crack bones. With one final blow the guard lay on his back trying but failing to get up. Standing over him, Blade looked to the elder hunter with the black cape standing in front of his own set of warriors. Pulling something from behind his back the elder hunter tossed something into the dirt near Blade's feet. Bending down, Blade retrieved the item before standing back over the fallen disgraced guard. With excited snarls the crowd around him waited impatiently for the next move. Camila's stomach turned when she saw the knife in Blade's hand. It was nearly the size of a machete and it looked ten times deadlier. Reaching down and holding the thrashing guard by his dreads Blade struck with the knife, spraying bright green phosphorescent blood. Camila and Fiona both turned away as he beheaded the guard.
A bloodcurdling roar filled the cold air.
The wind was picking up strongly when the hunters decided to disband their celebrations. X arrived at their side, instantly grabbing Fiona and carrying her away without so much as a growl of hello. The rest of the guards began escorting the women back through the dark woods as the torrential rain began to pour. Squinting through the freezing rain, Camila began to carefully pick her way forward through the forest when she heard the familiar rolling clicks. Turning she looked up to see Blade standing behind her as the rain pelted off his still blood splattered armor holding her soaked sneakers.
"My shoes!" she cried, temporarily forgetting she wasn't speaking or looking at him.
A gruff grunt was his only reply before he thrusted her the soggy shoes. Holding them to her chest, she didn't fight or protest when he picked her up in his arms and began racing back to camp. Walking back inside the yurt he finally let her down. Switching on the large fire-pit the room was cast in a bright orange glow. Silently he pulled off the trophies from around her neck and hanging from her netting. Although she had been dreading being alone with him again, she couldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't relieved to be back in the safety of the yurt and away from any other hunters. Lifting her arm, he gently turned it over to reveal a long bloody cut running down the underside of her forearm. Through all the chaos, Camila hadn't even noticed it was there.
Stepping back, Blade shook his head with a snarl, his dreads whipping around in anger.
Pulling his knife from his boot, Blade began to cut an identical mark along his own arm. Bright green phosphorous blood began oozing from the cut, just like from the neck of the decapitated guard.
"Blade stop!" grabbing frantically at his arm to pull the knife away from his skin. "You don't have to do this."
Finishing the cut, he returned the knife to his boot before turning and walking out the yurt.
Camila wanted to scream. Never in her life had she ever experienced a more frustrating man, alien, or whatever. One minute he was considerate and the next a total prick hole. Mashing at the buttons on her cuffs until the netting retracted she stepped into the hot shower. After showering she set her soaking wet shoes by the fire to dry and reactivated her net suit. Though she was dressed like a hooker it beat sleeping next to Blade naked.
Praying he wouldn't come back she laid down uneasily in the bed all the while staring at the door. Above her she could see the rain beat at the skylight window and she could hear the wind howling. What type of jungle monsoon were they in for now?
-A/N-
Thanx for all the lovely comments I read them all every time