Lure Read online

  Duncan held up a set of those bead curtains you only expect to see two places—a hippie’s van or a strip joint. I wasn’t in either, which made their appearance unsettling.

  “Go on in and have a look around.” Jeryl released my hand and gave me a slight shove forward. I stumbled into complete darkness. My body went into panic mode. I squinted and carefully reached a hand out around me.

  “What do you think?” Jeryl asked.

  “Uh, I can’t see anything.” Please let this just be him being weird, I pleaded silently.

  “Oh, sorry. I forgot about that.”

  My eyes stung as a bright light suddenly blinded me. The change from pitch black to bright light was overwhelming.

  I blinked a few times before I could fully open my eyes. “Oh.”

  “It’s nice isn’t it?” Jeryl asked.

  I glanced around at the peeling neon pink paint on the walls and the crushed velvet couches that looked they were straight from the seventies. I guess that explained the beads. The two poles anchored into the floor and ceiling made me more than a little uneasy. They had better not have expected me to be using one of them, but none of that could compare to the giant cage off to the side of the room. Either they had huge dogs, or these people were even freakier than I thought. “Oh.”

  “I’m glad you like our VIP room. We don’t let just anybody see it.”

  Maybe this was a cult? A cult of escapees from a mental hospital? I searched for a rationale for who Jeryl was and why Duncan gave him any deference.

  “Why don’t you take a seat?” He gestured to a couch. “And maybe you’ve reconsidered that drink?”

  What the hell was going on? Was this guy for real?

  I blurted out the only thing I could think of that would give me an excuse to leave the VIP room. “Where’s the restroom?”

  “Oh, I’ll show you.” Jeryl offered.

  “Thanks.” Luckily I didn’t actually need to use the bathroom, because I doubted it was any nicer than the rest of the place.

  “It’s just this way.” Jeryl pushed me toward a set of spiral stairs.

  “The bathrooms are upstairs?” Could this situation get any creepier?

  “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  “Uh, maybe I’ll wait.” Walking upstairs meant getting further into the decrepit building. That wasn’t high on my to-do-list.

  “I know women, Daisy. You’re not the best at waiting.” He shoved me up onto the stairs.

  I doubted he knew too many women, at least not normal ones, but it didn’t seem like I was going to be able to turn around, so I took tentative steps up the stairs. Finally I reached the floor above. Once again I was in complete darkness.

  “It’s the third door on the left.”

  “I can’t see any doors.”

  “Let me show you.” Jeryl’s hand settled on my arm. He led me into the darkness. “It’s this one. The light switch is just inside the door.”

  “Ok, thanks.”

  “Want me to hold your bag for you?”

  “Oh, no thanks.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I need it.” Like I was letting my bag and phone go?

  “You’re not menstruating.”

  Crazy? No, this guy was a lunatic. “Ok, I’m going in there.”

  “Give me your bag.”

  “No. I want it.” I hurried inside and closed the door. I flicked on the lights, temporarily blinding myself.

  “Your phone isn’t going to work in there anyway,” he mumbled.

  He’d evidently figured out what I was going to do. I walked into a stall. It was actually a restroom. A dingy gross one, but at least he hadn’t led me to a torture chamber or something. I tried to send Reyna a text, but it wouldn’t send. I checked the signal, no bars. No bars in downtown New Orleans? Was that possible? Next I tried the internet. Could I email her? Nothing.

  I checked each stall for windows so maybe I could get to the roof, but I came up empty. Okay, plan C. Run for the hills.

  I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t wearing heels, flip flops left my feet open to the ickiness of the Grounddigger, but at least I could move in them.

  I waited a few more minutes for good measure, before pushing open the door. I expected to see Jeryl standing there, but the hall was empty. I followed the light to make my way downstairs.

  “What are they doing in here?” Jeryl barked.

  They? Were there other normal people inside now?

  “They insisted they knew Duncan and had to come in. They were making a scene.” Another man I assumed was the bouncer replied.

  I tried to quietly take the stairs so I could get closer. The problem is even in flip flops, walking down shaky, dingy metal stairs quietly was difficult.

  “That didn’t mean you should have allowed them in. We’re busy tonight.”

  Busy? If a dozen people was busy.

  “What should I do with them?” the same man replied.

  “You have to bring them back now. Who knows what they saw?”

  “Daisy!” a female voice shrieked.

  I knew that voice. “Reyna!” I tried to take the stairs faster, and I nearly fell down the last few.

  Duncan caught me at the bottom. “You shouldn’t have told your friends where you were.”

  “Why not?” My gut told me I wasn’t going to like the answer. The dozen patrons were circling in around my friends.

  “No one was going to kill you because we wanted you. The rest of them will be dead by the end of the night.”

  “What?” I gawked at Duncan. “Is this a joke, like the Shaun thing?”

  “I’m not in charge here.”

  “I’m guessing Jeryl is.” I turned to look for the creepy guy. “And what do you mean you want me?”

  “You call to all of us, so we’re going to keep you. That’s why I brought you. It also means I’m invited back into the nest.” He smiled.

  “Nest? What the hell is this place?”

  “Oh, this isn’t the nest. It’s just our place in the city.” Duncan grabbed my arm.

  “What?” Dread hit me like a fifty pound weight in my gut. What had I gotten us into?

  Chapter Seven

  “Reyna!” I screamed her name. We had to get out of there and fast.

  I fought to break away from Duncan only to find that all three of my friends were being held by two men each.

  “Daisy.” Jeryl broke into a smile. “Lovely to see you again.”

  “Why are my friends being held against their will?” Of course I realized I was also being held, but I decided not to go there yet.

  “We run an exclusive club. We can’t have just any riff raff running around.”

  “You mean the VIP room isn’t the only exclusive spot?” I tried my best to sound genuine.

  “Entry to our club has certain requirements.” He clasped his hands together. “We are willing to waive those requirements for you, dear¸ but not for them.”

  “Why? If it’s a female thing, why are you holding Reyna?”

  “She smells like sex.” One of the guys holding Shaun wrinkled up his face. “Human-human sex.”

  “Uh, yeah I don’t have sex with non-humans.” Reyna paled. “If you guys are into bestiality I’m sorry, but you’re sick.”

  “Who said anything about bestiality? We enjoy sex with humans.” Duncan returned his hand to my shoulder. I recoiled. This was all his fault. Or mine. I was the one who had insisted on going out with him, wasn’t I?

  “So you’re holding us hostage because we smell like sex?” Shaun sneered.

  “You don’t smell of sex.” Jeryl gave him a patronizing smile. “You smell of desperation.” The crazy guy got that right.

  “Is that so? Then why was Daisy in my bed last night?” I was about to argue when Shaun shot me a look. “If you’re looking for a virgin sacrifice or something, Daisy isn’t going to cut it.”

  Was the creep really helping me?

  “She’s definitely not a virgin,”
Reyna added.

  I’d never been happier to have people talk about my sex life.

  “She hasn’t had sex in months.” Jeryl said it as a statement. He was right, but that didn’t mean I was going to agree.

  “Shaun’s telling the truth. I was in his bed last night.”

  “And you jumped out screaming.” Duncan squeezed my shoulder. “I was there, or did you forget?”

  I groaned internally. Oh yeah.

  Jeryl kept his gaze on me. “We can discuss this later. We have to move.”

  “Move?” I looked to Jeryl with my question.

  “We can’t get caught with the evidence here.” He reached for my hand, but I pulled it back.

  “Come now, I assure you we’re going to get to know each other very well.” He licked his lips.

  “No, we’re not.” I looked him straight in the eye. That’s when I noticed he had this same weird colored ring in his eyes that Duncan had. I looked at the other men, they had the same thing. Freaky.

  “We are. And right now you’re going to put your wrists together so I can bind them.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Why would I do that?” I stepped back. That turned out to be a mistake as I walked right into Duncan’s chest.

  “Because you’d rather I didn’t kill your friend.”

  I noticed he said friend in singular. Perceptive. Not that I wanted anything to happen to the guys.

  “Please, just let us go. Is it money you want? I don’t have much, but I’ll give you what I have.”

  Jeryl laughed. “Money? You think we want money from you?” He stepped closer just as Duncan wrapped his arms around me from behind. “We want something more primal from you.” He held his hand over my neck like he was going to choke me “Much more primal.”

  “Don’t touch her!” Shaun yelled.

  Jeryl laughed. “Showing concern for the girl who rebuffed you? Humans are so interesting.”

  “Like you’re not human?” Chad asked.

  “No. We’re not.”

  In a flash, one of the guys holding Reyna leaned her head back and rested his long sharp teeth on her neck. Fangs. The guy had fangs.

  Jeryl laughed at my obvious fear. “Hold your hands out behind your back, or he bites.”

  “What the fuck are you?” Chad struggled against his captors as he tried to get to Reyna.

  Duncan laughed again. “You’re denser than I thought.”

  “Vampires,” I said the word slowly. I knew they couldn’t actually be supernatural, but they wanted to be. I’d read about the condition online. People who want to be vampires so bad that they have sharp teeth implanted and stuff. Insane, but these guys totally fit the bill. Fake or not, those teeth could cut Reyna. I held my hands out behind me. “Let her go.”

  “If we let her go she’ll just call for help.”

  “No she won’t.”

  “You think your friend would leave you for dead?” Duncan asked.

  Jeryl tied my wrists. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t take the risk. We don’t need her, but we won’t kill her if you cooperate.”

  “And what does cooperating involve?” I tried to keep my voice strong, but dealing with crazy people for nearly an hour was taking its toll. I was exhausted, and I just wanted to press rewind and be back at East Madison.

  “Don’t scream or make a scene.”

  “We’re not going down quietly,” Chad growled.

  “Oh yes, you will.” His captors started pulling him forward. Like the rest of us, his hands were tied behind him.

  They led us back through the VIP room. The bead curtains seemed more menacing this time.

  “Get in.”

  I blinked in the darkness. “I can’t see.” That line was starting to get old.

  “Sorry.” The lights suddenly turned on again, and I saw a long, black bag in front of me. “Uh, what am I supposed to do with that?”

  “Get into it.”

  I glanced around. My friends were situated in front of similar bags.

  “You want to put us in body bags?” Shaun said incredulously. “Aren’t you going to kill us first?”

  “Would you like me to?” Duncan asked. His dead pan voice seemed a whole lot more sinister this time around.

  “Duncan. Go find Lloyd,” Jeryl barked.

  “Now? Aren’t you getting ready to leave?” Duncan glared at Jeryl.

  “I said to go. He’s the only one missing.”

  “Fine. But wait for me.”

  “No. We’ll see you there.”

  “You just want her first,” Duncan snarled.

  “And I will have her first, but that’s not the issue.”

  Have me first? That had better not have meant what I thought it did.

  “Why not send someone else?”

  “The sooner you leave, the sooner you meet us.”

  “Don’t harm her.” Duncan gripped my arm so tight it hurt.

  “She’ll be in one piece.”

  One piece? Gee, that was reassuring.

  Duncan released my arm and walked through the beads. Really? He was just going to leave? I knew he was in on this, and he’d been the one to bring me in, but still he seemed like the safest bet of all the men around us.

  Jeryl pointed to Chad and Shaun. “Either get in your bags, or I kill the girl.”

  “You just told Duncan you wouldn’t.” Shaun seemed to have no fear.

  “I said I wouldn’t hurt Daisy. I said nothing of the other.”

  “Oh yes, the one who smells of sex,” Shaun mumbled.

  “Hey!” Reyna yelled.

  I wondered if my friends were drunk. They were handling the situation almost too well. I was doing everything short of passing out.

  I didn’t need Mr. Fangs to experiment on Reyna again so I allowed Jeryl to push me into the bag. I really hoped there were holes to breathe through. “If something happens to any of those three, I will do nothing you ask.”

  “Relax, Daisy. We’ll keep them around for a while.” Jeryl zipped up my bag.

  The bag partially muffled the voices, but I couldn’t have concentrated anyway. I felt like I was suffocating. Were they going to kill me after all?

  “Calm down,” Jeryl hissed as I felt myself being lifted. “The heavier you breathe, the more air you go through.”

  I breathed heavier again. I was dizzy and nauseous and my chest hurt.

  “I’m here, Daisy.” Reyna’s voice gave me some comfort. She was one of the few people who knew just how claustrophobic I was. I refused to even take an elevator. “Think happy thoughts.” Happy thoughts? Considering I was inside a body bag, happy thoughts weren’t easy to come by.

  I heard more talking, and then I was put down again on an uncomfortable surface. A door slammed, music blared, and we started to move. We must have been in the back of a truck or van. I tried to pay attention to the turns at first so we’d be able to figure out where we were, but I quickly lost count. Where were they taking us?

  “Next time you get mad at me just hit me, okay,” Shaun teased.

  His bag must have been next to mine.

  “If we make it through this alive I’m going to kiss you for standing up for me.”

  “Kiss me? Is that it?” He was trying to distract me. To keep me calm. The boy changed personality so often it was giving me whiplash.

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  “You won’t be kissing that human, Daisy.” Jeryl’s voice pulled me from my momentary peace.

  “I’m so sorry, guys.” It really was all my fault.

  “I’m sorry for being an ass.” Shaun really was being a charmer.

  “Did Shaun just apologize?” Chad asked.

  “Yeah. I guess the thought of dying is making me do strange things.”

  “Shut up back there,” Jeryl yelled.

  We listened. Maybe it was the suddenly more intense tone of Jeryl’s voice or the realization that we’d been driving long enough that we couldn
’t have been in New Orleans anymore, but the joking was over.

  We drove and drove until I lost all sense of time. Each bump hurt as we banged around in the back. I was terrified, but knowing I wasn’t in this alone helped. Still, I knew we’d be lucky to get out of this alive, and by the way Jeryl had been talking and looking at me, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Maybe death would be better than what they had in store for me. I quickly shook off the thoughts, I couldn’t afford to panic.

  Eventually the vehicle stopped, and my whole body tensed. I hated being inside the bag, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to face what would be waiting for me when I was removed from it. If I was removed from it, I reminded myself.

  “We’re only letting Daisy out. I want her to see her new home,” Jeryl said from right near me.

  My new home? I shuddered. I really hoped Reyna or the guys had told someone where we were, or that someone would track my cell phone. That is if my purse had made the trip. Somehow I didn’t think my captors were concerned about my stuff.

  I gulped in air as the bag was unzipped. I blinked, seeing the blur of a face in the darkness. “Where are we?”

  “Home sweet home.” Jeryl took my bound hands and pulled me out. “This is your new castle.”

  I squinted to see what he was talking about, but everything was pitch black.

  We moved forward, and my eyes adjusted enough in the moonlight that I could see men carrying the other bags on their shoulders. I felt awful. I was the one who got us into the mess, and I was the only one walking. Still, I definitely wasn’t safe. Who knew what these crazies had planned?

  “Here we are,” Jeryl said with pride.

  I looked up to see a ramshackle old home. “Oh.”

  “Oh? Is that the only term in your vocabulary? This is your new nest. You should be happy.”

  “Nest? Happy? The only way I’m going to be happy is if you let my friends and me go. Don’t even worry about driving us back. We’ll walk.”

  “Walking works for me too,” Shaun agreed from a distance. He was thanked by having his bag tossed on the wooden porch. The bag fell all the way through the wood.

  He grunted. “Fuck, that hurt.”

  “Shaun!”

  “I’m alive, baby. Thanks for the concern though.”

  I let the baby thing go. Considering he’d just been dropped through a wood porch, he was off the hook.