Chapter Seven – Bait

WARNING – Chapter contains scenes of a sexual nature and adult language

Cass awoke feeling thoroughly unrested. She knew the reason for her lack of sleep. She was worried about returning to the club tonight. No, she was lying to herself. The prospect of facing Seth again was a scary one, granted. But what had kept her awake wasn't fear, it was Jake. Every time she'd closed her eyes, his face had floated teasingly in front of her. She was saved the trouble of trying to figure out what that meant by the arrival of a pretty, brown haired girl.

"Cass? I'm Lupe Acevedo, Thierry sent me".

Cass looked unsure, the girl didn't look anything like a body guard. Lupe seemed to understand her thoughts though and said,

"Don't worry, no one will get past me, you'll be safe".

Not really reassured but not wanting to be rude, she nodded politely.

"So, what's the plan" she asked, trying to mask her nerves.

"Cass, Thierry has given me specific instructions" Cass motioned for her to continue.

"We think Seth may try to snatch you, he seems to enjoy taking captives and has shown a strong desire for you personally".

"OK, what do you want me to do" Cass asked warily

"If he makes a move, go with him. We know he has captives somewhere but have never been able to find where he keeps them".

"You want me to be bait?"

"Exactly" Lupe smiled.

Cass had agreed to act as bait reluctantly. She could think of nothing more terrifying than being one of Seth's captives. She couldn't say no though. The thought of him holding girls against their will was too much for her to bare.

The two girls spent a while going over the plan, Lupe would drive Cass back to the club, dropping her off a short distance away so Cass could appear to arrive on foot. Cass just had to wait for Seth to make his move, then pretend to put up a fight and go with him. Lupe assured her over and over that she would be safe.

"I won't be far behind you, wherever you go. If we get a hint that he may harm you, we will come in and pull you out" she said determinedly.

The girls set off alone. Leaving the facility silently. Lupe dropped her off as planned, then took off into the dark. Cass took a deep breath and entered the club.

She made it as far as the door before her boss pounced, she managed to pull together a story about family problems to explain her absence the previous night. He didn't seem to believe her but he let it go eventually.

She was on edge all night, scanning the crowds, looking for signs of Seth, but he didn't show. She was relieved and disappointed all at the same time. She finally returned her gaze to the bar, but as she did, something caught her eye. It was just a flash of someone in the crowd, just for one instant she thought she recognised him,

"Colin?"

She vaulted the bar and ran into the throng of people on the dance floor. She was being ridiculous, she knew it couldn't have been him, but she searched regardless, not wanting to extinguish the small spark of hope she felt.

She was jostled from side to side as people danced together. No one looked her way as she shoved through the crowd. She reached the other side of the dance floor and sighed, he was nowhere to be seen. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment, then she saw him again. He was by the door leading back towards the employee's area. Cass followed without thinking. She saw him leave through the employee's entrance and took off after him. She ran flat out to keep up but he was just too fast. She didn't realise where they were heading until the hostel came into view. She hesitated for a second as she took in her surroundings and lost sight of Colin for a moment. She continued up the street slowly, looking all around for a clue as to which way he went, he stepped out suddenly from behind a parked van. He didn't speak, he just grabbed her upper arm and threw her into the back of the van, he climbed in behind her and shut the door. The van pulled off and rumbled down the street. Colin sat against the doors watching her. He looked the same as Cass had remembered him, with a few small exceptions, like no glasses. perfect skin, and a dark, almost sinister edge to his eyes. He hadn't aged though, he still looked fifteen.

"You're one of them?" Cass hugged her knees to her for comfort. "Colin, what happened to you?".

He didn't answer, just continued to stare at her.

They drove for what felt like days but was probably much less. No matter what Cass said, she never managed to get a response from Colin. The van stopped suddenly and he jumped out, he reached back in the van and grabbed Cass' arm again.

"Ow, OK OK I'm coming" she said, hoping he would ease his grip. He didn't.

She looked around, they must have drove to the outskirts of the city because Cass was surrounded on three sides by trees, in front of her stood a small stone cottage. If she hadn't been so scared, she would have thought it beautiful. She was taken straight through the house to the basement, where she was handcuffed to the wall by three inch thick metal chains. The chains were just too short for her to stand, so she found herself kneeling on the cold stone floor.

She'd been expecting it, but her heart still froze when Seth walked in. He stood in front of her smiling.

"Just as it should be, you kneeling before me" he snickered.

She growled at him viciously, she wanted to rip his face off with her bare hands. He knelt on one knee near her and started running his hands all over her body, searching. She remembered the dagger Rashel had given her, still in her jacket at the club. She'd just have to improvise. She spat in his face. He wiped his sleeve across his eyes, when he pulled his arm away his eyes had changed. They were the silver eyes from her nightmares. He slapped her across her cheek using the back of his hand. Her skin stung, she was sure he'd cut her.

"That wasn't nice Cass" he hissed "you shouldn't make me angry".

The anger in his face seemed to vanish as quickly as it had flared, he cupped her face in his hands, gently probing her cheek.

"you're bleeding" he whispered.

Then to Cass' horror, he licked her face, once, twice, faster and harder. He gripped her hair in his hand and yanked her head sideways, she braced herself as he bit her throat. She squeezed her eyes tight shut against the pain and prayed for someone to rescue her. From the sound he was making, he appeared to be getting off on drinking from her. He pulled away from her and unfastened his jeans to release his erection, he toyed with it for a moment before standing, then he pushed it towards Cass' mouth.

"How about we pick up where we left off?"

"You put that in my mouth you fucking shit and I swear I'll bite the fucker off" She hissed between clenched teeth.

He laughed at her and fastened his jeans,

"A few days down here honey and you'll be begging for me".

He left her in the dark, feeling weak from the amount of blood he'd taken. She curled up in a ball near the wall and allowed the tears to flow. She found herself wishing for Jake. Although she wasn't sure why, the thought of him comforted her.

Some time later she was awoken by footsteps coming down the basement stairs. She sat up huddled against the wall, bracing herself for whatever Seth might do to her next. A candle spluttered into life near her face, creating a sphere of light in the windowless room. She strained to see who was holding it,

"Colin?".

"Shhh" he pleaded "we don't have much time" he reached down and unlocked her chains. She remained seated and stared at him hard,

"Why are you helping me? you're one of them" she demanded.

"He made me lure you out of that club, he thought if you saw me you would follow. But I'm tired of Seth's games. I can't stand by and let him hurt you again"

He motioned for her to follow him but she shook her head.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, How do I even know I can trust you?" She turned her head away from him sullenly.

"I'm sorry" he said after along pause.

He waited to see if Cass would reply, but when she didn't, he continued.

"Look Cass, I've seen first hand what Seth can do, believe me, you do not want to hang around and find out what he has planned for you"

Cass leaned back against the wall and raised her eyes to him,

"Colin, I need to know, what happened to Kerry?"

Colin sighed heavily and sat down beside her

"I don't know" Cass raised a sceptical eyebrow at him, "really Cass, I don't know. I remember Kevin pinning her down and Jason touching her, I tried to pull them away but they were too strong. Then there was a blast, like an orange ball of light. Next thing I knew, we were waking up and she was gone. They grabbed me and dragged me out, I begged them to let me go so I could look for you but they hit me and I must have blacked out"

Cass didn't know what to say, Kerry had managed to escape so there was a good chance she was still alive. But where could she be?

"Why did they change you?" she asked eventually.

"They didn't want to, Kevin and Jason I mean. But Seth wouldn't let them kill me. I think he thought once he'd changed me that I'd be loyal to him and help him to get you"

"But isn't that what happened?" she snapped at him.

He smiled at her and gently stroked her hair "I'm only here to protect you, its the only way I can think of to make up for not protecting you last time"

She believed him, she wasn't sure why but she felt he was telling her the truth.

"Listen Colin, have you any idea where Kerry might be?"

He shook his head and her heart sank, she felt hope draining out of her but she tried to stay focused. Kerry wasn't the only reason she was here after all.

"Do you know if Seth has any prisoners here?"

Colin shook his head, "He keeps his 'pets' in his Vegas house" he said with an air of distaste.

Cass' face broke into a huge smile, 'jackpot' she thought.

"Can you get us there?" she asked brightly.