Chapter Twenty-Five
Omniscient Touch
I wasn't sure how Trenton was going to take to this newfound inner meditation which involved completely cutting off the connection between my brain and body, leaving me rendered helpless as death. Personally, I didn't really care how he acted, but actually was hoping he'd become bored of me and end my suffering soon after he was finished with me. Maybe being raped, bitten, and tortured wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. Not that I was certain what Trenton wanted with me, but after meeting Dylan, I assumed he couldn't be another Evanen, in which measures would be taken to "win my heart". Too bad he wouldn't have the fun of "breaking me", which clearly was already done -- if I wasn't ever broken.
Trenton gripped me in his arms, and ordered the second man in the limo -- Jove, I think he was called -- to open the door for him. Then Trenton lifted me out as though I were just some blanket he didn't want to get dirty. I didn't help him one bit, allowing my head to lean back, and my arms to dangle where they may. Jove followed behind, flashing into my blurry out-of-it view so that I could see him reach to seemingly touch my face. Before he reached me, Trenton turned to growl at him, and he moved away from me. This confused me, but I didn't show any sign of noticing it.
I didn't take notice to observing where we were, feeling as though my visual observations would be a useful as a person with their eyes crossed. It was still quite dark outside, but it seemed as though I could sense the sun begging to burst into the sky. Jove moved ahead of Trenton to open the front door of the building we were moving to. We moved into the building, and the smell of what I could only describe as clean came to my nose. It was dim in here. Trenton continued to walk forward for what seemed like forever before he turned to confront Jove.
"You may leave," he stated sharply, and he paused.
"Can't I just--," Jove started to say, but Trenton interrupted with a dark, "Leave." And there was a moment of hesitation before footsteps were heard moving away from us. Trenton opened a door that led to another dim place, which seemed to be the place he was planning on leaving me. He moved further into the room, and laid me down on an extremely soft bed which held a fuzzy, warm blanket on top that I didn't respond to. For a moment, I thought he was going to just start in on me right then, but he bent over me, moving close to me to breathe in my scent strangely.
"Don't go anywhere, love," Trenton said lightly, and a bit humorously. Then he turned and left the room. Even though I felt relief flow through me at his absence, I continue to lay the way I had been placed. I decided this was best; being absolutely unresponsive until I could die or figure a way out of here. So, figuring Trenton would be waiting to see if I tried to escape -- which I apparently could do seeing as I could now think about it --, I continued to lay on the comfortable bed until I started to drift off. Just then, the door burst open, but instead of Trenton moving in, a good couple of girls entered with small giggles and a vibe of excitement ran through them. The only thing I could think of was a bunch of longtime jailbirds meeting someone new walking into their prison and whispering "fresh meat".
"Well, hello there, Darling," I heard a familiar voice say as though I were a big treat, "Looks as though you and me are going to become sisters at last." I didn't have to look to know Dylan's voice, and the glee behind it. It's strange how a person enjoys seeing someone else go through the same pain as them. I didn't answer of course, but that didn't stop the other girls from pushing around my body as though looking for any broken appendages. Then Dylan's face came into view, with her smile. "Yep, she sure is putting up a good fight... well, not technically, but you know what I mean." She turned her voice to talk to me, "We're going to dress you up for your new master, now. So it'd be easier if you help us out. Okay?" She hesitated, and waited for a response. Then she grabbed my wrist to lift it up above me before letting it go, where if fell straight back down.
"He's not going to like that one bit," a smaller voice sneered, and Dylan frowned as she stared at my blank expression. But then she started hauling me up, with the help of the other girls. I let my head roll back without putting in effort to do anything for them. Then they all started the process of drawing up a bath and stripping me down while trying to keep me from falling into a heap on the floor. It was strange to be bathed by complete strangers, and furthermore strange to be dressed in a very loose, thin dress-like cloth without any garments underneath. With one last effort, they dropped me back onto the bed, where I laid just as lethargic as before.
To add to the outfit, a girl clasped a dark black dog collar around my neck. "That's creepy," another voice said in discontent, "It's like dressing a dead body... or a big doll without the stiffness." There were murmurs of agreement, and they started shuffling out. Dylan remained, staring at me with her head tilted to the side a bit. I would say that was creepy, but then again I'm not saying anything at the moment.
"I kind of hope I'll be seeing you," She said slowly, "But I'm kind of hoping I don't." And she was gone, leaving me back to my depressing loneliness so that I could await the most horror I could imagine. I begged in my head over and over for death to come take me, but nothing happened. I couldn't have some diabetic attack or anything of that sort anymore, so that was no longer dependable. I just wanted things to go back, and I didn't care if that meant back with Evanen, when Mikel was dead and I'd be stuck with nothing. I just wanted to be gone.
The door opened, but I didn't look to see who it was. I didn't have to to know it was Trenton. He slid onto the bed, making his way towards me slowly as though that would either seduce or scare me. When he reached my feet, he continued towards me, trailing his cold hand up my leg an inch at a time. He moved my legs apart at the knees and continued until he was as close as could be. I felt like hyperventilating, vomiting, or just freaking out in any way possible, but I continued to stay calm and dead. He moved his hand over my stomach and to my breast, bending his mouth to my neck below the collar so that he could press his lips against my skin hungrily. I was anticipating him to finish it; to enter me and use me for what he wanted so that he could end this. I just wanted it to be over. But he didn't do anything yet except trail his lips over my neck and to my face.
He gripped my chin lightly, moving my face to look at me. Then he trailed his lips over my cheek and nose before stopping. "When are you going to give up, love," he suddenly asked in a tired voice. I didn't move, of course. I didn't quite know what he meant, nor did I care. He merely stayed above me, waiting for something to happen. "Speak," He snapped, and the order ripped into my thoughts angrily.
"Speak," I responded dully, not even recognizing my own voice.
"Struggle," He ordered even more angrily, and the demand grabbed ahold of my muscles until I was barely moving in a very weak attempt at a struggle that my mind didn't recognize as my own movement. The demand let go, and I was back to no movement. "Speak," He ordered again, gripping my face in his hands, trying to egg any real emotion or action from me.
"Speak," I said dully, and the order still rang in my head so I went into an unenthusiastic, dead chant of, "Speak, speak, speak." Not too long, my slurring made it sound like I was saying "speakuhssspeakuh.." Finally, the order left, and I went just as quiet as before. Now Trenton just hovered above me, seeming unsure what to do and very frustrated.
"I didn't want to do this, but it looks as though I have no use for you, love," Trenton stated, a bit as though a little boy who had dropped his icecream and was plenty disappointed. He gripped my head between his hands, and I wondered if he was going to crush my head. He moved my head side to side as though testing the flexability, and then to the far side smoothly. I knew then that he planned to break my neck. A quick snap, and it'd be over. I closed my eyes slowly, happy for once, but scared at the same time. But he didn't finish what he'd started. Instead, he hesitated, and let go of my head to trace his fingers over my closed eyes. Crap, I'd shown I was still in here. Now I expected him to continue to mutilate me, but he instead moved off the bed and stood there for a moment.
He reached across and grabbed my wrists before pulling me almost boredly across the bed until I fell to the floor painfully. I held my breath, but then let it go back to normal, fighting to keep the bond between my mind and my body severed. Trenton continued to pull my body out of the room without concern for my well-being as I was being scraped against the carpet and knicked by odd things protruding from the door and walls. He kept a good grip on my wrists and dragged my limp body further down a dim hall until he stopped at another room, where he let go of me so that he could open the door. I thunked my head against the floor, but kept still until he grabbed one of my wrists to drag me into the new room as though I really were a doll. I wondered if this was Jove he was taking me to, deciding to let him do what he wanted with me after all. But instead, I heard the sound of girls talking quietly to each other as I was dragged to the middle of the room and dropped again.
"Watch this one," Trenton said to his slave girls, which included Dylan, "If she starts acting normal again, report it and I'll be back." He paused to look at me, and turned to leave. Once he was gone, the girls continued to stay quiet. I could feel their eyes on me. For a moment, I figured they'd go back to talking and just leave me here, but I heard footsteps approach me.
"Did he get her," a girl asked curiously.
Dylan's face came into view, and she started looking at me skin just as curiously. Then she turned to look at the other girls with a surprised look upon her face. "No. Not even a bite," she said, astonished before looking at me, "Well, damn, darling. You might just be smarter than I thought. No wonder the famous Evanen couldn't let you out of his claws." And there was a burst of giggles as they moved to swamp me. They helped each other pull me up and set me against a beanie chair so that I could see everything around me. I wondered if this was what it was like to be a cripple.
They acted as though I were some magical being; someone to idol. Dylan couldn't stop talking about how she saw the look on Evanen's face when Trenton had merely held my hand. 'Such jealousy,' she said in glee. Then she went on to tell how she had spotted me kissing a different vampire... and I remembered her look after Trenton had come back and Mikel had left. The look as though I were candy. She had seen Mikel, then. I continued to let them talk all they wanted, whilst I looked into oblivion as always with nothing showing on my face physically.
"Let me tell you about where you are," Dylan suddenly said, and I found it slightly funny how she talked to me as though I wasn't acting as though I was brain dead. It was as if she knew I was just fine, and hearing everything. "This is the Cat Room. We're the slaves of Sir Trenton who do everything from pleasing Sir Trenton himself to being a comfort to his guests. He'll usually just let them come in here to pick, but you won't have to worry because your collar is a nice, dark black. This means that you're all for Sir Trenton and no one else." I noticed right then that everyone had blood red collars on, even Dylan, though the last time I had seen her at Evanen's house, she had had a black collar on as well.
The girls went right on talking and talking and talking until I actually did focus them out because they were chatting as though they had the best lives when really they were vampire sluts. They were handed out to strangers for their fun, and no doubt they hadn't chose this. Then again, I wondered if they had. Why would someone choose this? It was a disturbing thought, and I preferred to ignore it. It wasn't too long before a random man came in, and the girls crawled towards him as though he were a treat. I felt disgusted, but I didn't move. I continued my lethargic ways, and I wasn't bothered. At least my collar was worth something.
After awhile, the girls got bored with me and moved off to their own business. Dylan waited until they all left, and moved to keep herself in my blurry view. She seemed to want to speak about something, but it would be pointless because I wasn't going to say anything back. "I know that your Evanen didn't give you up," Dylan suddenly admitted, "He never gets so obsessed about a human. In fact, I don't think he found much about a human to be excited about. So I know he didn't just throw you at Sir Trenton like everyone thinks he did." She hesitated, looking around, and I waited to see what else she had to say.
"Did he talk to you about The Rising," Dylan asked me curiously. Pointless, that question was, because I wasn't going to jump out for nothing. She didn't seem to mind, though she was seriously curious about it. "I'm not completely sure what it's all about, but the whole vampire world is buzzing about it. Apparently it's really important; something to do with power." I had heard this from Mikel already. Dylan waited as though willing me to fill in the gaps to that story. The truth was, I wasn't sure what the Rising was completely about either.
"Look, he's apparently suppose to be handing something away, but I'm not sure what it is. What I was sure about, by how everyone was freaking about you, he was planning on giving it to you," She continued, pausing once again. I felt my heartbeat start up a notch, remembering Mikel's words. Passing power on to me by turning me to a vampire, which was out of the question because if I was set to stay human before, now that Mikel was dead, I was dead set to stay human. It was the most important thing to him; that I'd become old and die properly. And now that he was gone, the last thing I'd want would be to disappoint his spirit. If he has a spirit. I didn't want to think about if he didn't have a spirit. If vampires were automatically doomed.
"Be careful if you make it out of here alive," Dylan said cautiously, "Because I have no doubt that you will get out. Especially with Evanen Draele as your guardian. I'm surprised Sir Trenton hasn't locked you away so no vampire could ever spot you. So you be careful if you get out because the last thing vampires want is for the Rising to go wrong, and their future to be changed in a way they don't want it to be." She smiled again with that smile that said she was more mature and omniscient than me. Which she probably was, but just the fact that she acted just like some older sibling would towards a child sibling annoyed me. I let it go.
Trenton's slaves were allowed to leave to do anything, such as use the bathroom and things of that sort, but their main spot was right in the Cat Room. Dylan usually dragged me along to the bathroom every once in a while as though I were a cripple, and practically forced me to use it. I still didn't show any sign of going back to normal. Not until I was gone. The girls found it interesting to treat me as a doll; bathing and dressing me, putting on makeup, and pampering my hair and nails. I let them do what they wanted. They would bring food as well, and try to get me to eat. That's where I drew the line, though. I refused to eat, and the hunger ate at my stomach, but I didn't want to make my life any more sufferable in its length than it already was. Dylan noticed this, and tried to force food down my throat, but I kept it from going down my throat every time. Sometimes a bit would get by, but that wasn't near enough what Dylan wanted me to eat. Drinking was a lot harder to prevent, seeing as liquid could go down one pipe or the other with Dylan behind the cup. I drank, which made her happy, but not enough because as the days went by, my bones were starting to become noticeable.
~...~
Life was so dull, I just couldn't wait until my body gave up on my lack of food. Luckily enough, this no reaction thing was getting really easy to do, so that I started to believe I would actually not know how to move if I wanted to. Or how to talk. I felt as though I forgot what my voice sounded like. The plus side was that Trenton would come in to hear about how I was as dead as ever, and he would just leave. I assumed he was waiting until I gave up, but I wasn't planning on it. It wasn't as though he could try to do a Kate-taming technique from 'The Taming Of The Shrew'. I already wasn't eating and I don't know what sleep I get. It seemed as though I was in nothing but sleep.
Somehow, I found all this humorous. I had actually been taken by a vampire who didn't care about harming an innocent person, and I was still getting out of it. So I was basically happy, awaiting my end. And at the moment, I had been sitting back listlessly against my normal beanie bag while some girl was doing my nails out of boredom. The others were basically snoozing or humming. Some were talking mildly, not really up to doing anything. I wondered how shocked they'd be if I had gotten up and started doing my nails myself, humming away. Then again, they'd just tell Trenton and I'd be right back to a larger mess than I was already in.
The door to the Cat Room opened, and all the girls looked up expectantly. I didn't, as usual, seeing as I never was one who had to bother with that stuff. But then the girl doing my nails scrambled away from me rapidly, and I felt the presence of someone who bent down in front of me. This confused me a bit, but I assumed it was Trenton. Then from a bit further away, not close enough to be the person in front of me, I heard Trenton say, "Go on and touch her already. See what's wrong with her."
"Don't rush me," I heard a familiar man say, and recognized it as Jove, the man from the car. Great, now Trenton had actually given me up to be touched by some creepy Jove dude. I seethed on the inside with such rage at the fact that I was still alive for this. Then I nearly flinched when I felt a strong, cold hand of a vampire lightly touch the side of my face almost hesitatingly. I heard Jove chuckle as he put his other hand on the other side of my head so that he could carefully turn my head to face him. At his touch, I felt a sudden rush of energy that boiled in my guts, and I accidently focused directly on his eyes. I hadn't seen so clearly in a long time.
"Well, hello, Darling," he said, as though Dylan had possesed him, "Let's see what going on with our dear Hailence." His hair was cut short, messy, and as black as night. There was a pale cast over his flawless skin. He had a beautiful, circular face with an even nose and pale lips. His eyes were bright in entertainment, and I couldn't tear my gaze from the solid green color of his stare. It made me feel awake, which was plain strange. I felt an urge to reach up and grip his hands on my face, and to kiss his pale lips. And then all those urges were torn from me when Mikel's name screeched into my mind. Automatically, I felt a wave of utter guilt and disgust with myself. I allowed myself to shove away the energy in my gut and cut the connection between my mind and body again. I felt suddenly safer in my constant state of helplessness.
Jove smiled charmingly, and I didn't respond with a dazed smile as I believed he thought I would. He stroked the sides of my head pleasantly, and it reminded me of stroking a dog behind its ears. He didn't seem to want to let go, and Trenton seemed to be getting impatient. "Well," Trenton asked expectantly. Jove seemed startled that Trenton was there.. that he himself was there. He looked back at Trenton before looking at me. He leaned my head back slowly so I wouldn't break my neck in my non-active state by letting it fall back by itself. Then he practically had to rip his hands away as though he were connected to me.
"First of all, she's not as untouched as you like to think she is," Jove stated, smirking at Trenton as though he found this humorous, "In fact, she had herself a nice lover. A Draele.. not Evanen, but one named Mikel. Turns out he died not too long ago, which is probably a good reason why she's hellbent to kill herself eventually. Second, she's useless to you. She's not going to just hop up and be better any time soon. And third.. " He looked at me with a glint in his eyes. "I'd like to keep her to myself. I enjoy her thoughts." I didn't like how it seemed as though the only question with vampires was 'who gets to have the human'. It wasn't as if I was some property. But still, Jove moved closer towards me, reaching out to touch me again. I could assume that somehow he could either see or hear my thoughts by touching me, and this made me nervous because no matter how dead I acted on the outside, I was a roar of life on the inside. I wondered if Evanen could do this same thing, and why he wouldn't if he could have.
Before Jove could touch me, Trenton snatched his wrist. "What did I say before you came in here," he sneered as though scolding a child. "This one is mine. You just do your job, tell me if she really is messed up or pretending, and leave her alone." He let go of Jove's wrist as though he burned it, but it probably had more to do with the sudden expression of knowledge upon Jove's face. After a moment, Jove turned his gaze from Trenton -- who looked suddenly nervous -- and looked at me.
"You'd be amazed how special she isn't," Jove stated, and I would've felt offended if I hadn't felt the same way. "Just because the carrier to our glowing, vampiric future seems to be enamored of her, doesn't actually mean she's something to go insane about. If you keep thinking that way, the only conclusion you'll reach is disappointment and burned time." I waited to see if anything else would happen, but they both just hauled out of the Cat Room. I was starting to go into deep thought over this last remark (specifically the part of "the carrier to our glowing, vampiric future") when I was suddenly surrounded by the other female species I had momentarily forgotten were here.
"Ooooh, first Evanen Draele, then Sir Trenton, and now Jove Silverstone," a girl said in amazement as though this were the best gossip in high school. I could never tell who exactly was who except for Dylan, who seemed to be brooding elsewhere. Apparently something didn't fit well in her stomach. But the other girls seemed absolutely ecstatic over this previous event.
"I'd love for Silverstone to want me," another girl stated airily. It sickened me.
"Mhmm, if only his little trick didn't get in the way," said whoever. I really didn't care anymore, but I assumed this trick was the thought hearing thing. "One touch with any of us, he flinches and flees. Especially with Dylan." The girl went into a whisper, and I could imagine her looking towards Dylan. "Man, she wanted nothing more but Silverstone, and he got a glimpse of her mind. Now she's like a leper to him."
Then a girl started poking me. "Wonder what made her mind so appealing to him," she asked curiously, and with a bit of jealousy. They proceded to try to ask me questions, and to get a response out of me. This was completely ridiculous seeing as I had gone this long without sign of life, so why would the presence of another vampire who now was probably going to start stalking me wake me up? I felt like slapping all of them until they went back into the hole they came from. But I refrained, and soon enough they all left.
One girl made her way to me. Her aura seeped with something that reminded me a bit of how Katha felt around me. "Well, aren't you a lucky one," Dylan asked, no longer sounding so sweet. Great. Another one who doesn't like me on my list. This was just what I needed. I suddenly felt a sharp pain of a pinch on my arm. She continued to tighten her pinching grip on my skin, and it was really hard not to start wincing. I felt the urge to just yell out that I didn't care to have any other vampire bothering me in my life so she had nothing to worry about, but she let go. "You'd better hurry up and die." Dylan moved back to her spot to brood some more until another guest came in to use her.
When I slept that night, I was having unmeaningful dreams of Mikel, who I was trying not to think about when I was awake so my subconscious decided to throw him at me in spite. It wasn't as though Mikel did anything meaningful, and most of the dreams were hard to remember anyways. Mostly it consisted of me doing some sort of activity, trying to find something, or just talking about nothing. Then Mikel would show up at some point, and I never acted as though it was odd that a dead person was talking to me. I couldn't remember what he'd say, but it usually was just suggestions or an answer to a weird question. Sometimes he'd just be in the dream doing nothing, but I'd forget he was dead in real life. It was a major disappointment when I woke up to remember that he wasn't around anymore. It would take all of me not to just burst into tears, but sometimes I couldn't keep the tears from slithering down my cheek. I missed Mikel. It felt like I would forever miss Mikel.