Page 18 of Cherished by the Sinners (Sinners Never Die #4)

Darlene

D arlene stumbled for the fourth time as Eli pulled her through the dark warehouse. He kept her upright but didn’t slow down.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out that they were in a long hallway. They reached a door at the end and Eli opened it.

The remainder of the warehouse spread out in front of her. But it was divided up in a weird way. Someone had used fabric-covered room partitions to create the illusion of rooms.

Eli dragged her around and past the screens and into a smaller central area. There was a single light on, illuminating a circle of three chairs in the middle of the space.

No, not chairs, recliners. The kind your grandpa sat in to watch TV.

Darlene stared at the chairs, then at the man sitting in one of them. The other two were unoccupied. He was dressed in an expensive suit, and was staring at her as if she were some kind of bug. One he wanted to step on.

Eli dragged her to an unoccupied chair, shoved her into it, then sat in the last open one.

No one said anything.

Darlene studied each man. Similar noses and chins. Same hair color. Hmm, Eli did mention an uncle. This must be him.

The stranger stood and strode over to her. There was an expression on his face that she recognized from her years on the street. It was the expression some men wore when they were deciding how they were going to hurt you.

Normally, she’d stare at her feet when dealing with someone like that, try to make herself small and non-threatening.

But not this time. Nope, this time, she wasn’t going to let anyone treat her as if she wasn’t a person. She had value, people liked her. Louise, Anna, Baz, and Mason and Magnus, they all liked her. And she was safe.

This was not safe.

Eli said to be quiet, but she knew this man. She’d met him a hundred times before in different bodies. Silence was an invitation to them. It gave them power. She would never give anyone power over her again.

This time she maintained eye contact with the man who stopped close enough to bend over and sniff her hair.

She leaned away. “I’m sorry if I smell bad. I was covered in someone else’s blood.”

The man grabbed her hair at the back of her head and forced her head back to expose her throat.

She couldn’t move, not even a little, and for the first time since entering the warehouse, fear threatened to overwhelm her.

She couldn’t control her panicked heartrate, but she could slow down her breathing.

It took effort, but she managed to take in a deep slow breath, let it out, then took in another one.

He sniffed again. “You have been drinking alcohol?”

“Yes.” She didn’t like the quiver in her voice. She cleared her throat and added, “Just a shot.”

He sniffed again, then let her go and returned to his seat.

“Well?” Eli asked. “Is she?”

“No,” the Sniffer said.

“What do they want her for then?”

He sounded so baffled she snorted a laugh.

Both men looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

“You dare to laugh?” the Sniffer asked. His eyes glittered with rage.

She looked at Eli, he looked as baffled as the Sniffer. “Isn’t it obvious?”

None of their expressions changed.

“Happiness.”

Now it was their turn to laugh. “With you?” the Sniffer said as he chuckled. “You are a whore.”

“I was,” she agreed. “I’m not anymore.”

Eli shifted in his seat. “Uncle, I want to show you something.”

His uncle looked at Eli with varying degrees of interest. The Sniffer waved his hand like he was some royal prince or something.

Eli turned to her. “Show him your back.”

“Why, so he can call me even more names?”

“I think he should know who you are.”

She thrust a chin at the Sniffer. “He’s already decided who I am. My scars aren’t going to change his mind about anything.”

She turned to the Sniffer. “What’s the grand plan? Are you planning on killing me?” she kept talking. “Why wait?” She stood and walked toward him.

Sniffer frowned. “You want me to kill you?” He looked at Eli. “Is she sick?”

Darlene stopped a couple of steps away from the Sniffer.

“I’ve been ordered around and abused for years.

A serial killer used my back as a canvas, then tried to kill me.

” Her voice quivered and her hands shook.

It was as if all the rage she’d stuffed down deep inside her soul had broken through a dam and flooded her entire body.

“I’m so tired of other people thinking they get to decide what happens to me. So, if I’m going to die, I want to do it on my terms. I want it to be my decision.”

“I make the decisions here.” The Sniffer narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. “You’re a servant, a nothing, a nobody.”

“If I’m nothing and a nobody, then there’s no reason for me to be here.”

He stood, so rapidly it looked like he’d been seated one second then standing the next. “You are here as a hostage.”

Was he nuts ? “What possible gain could I bring you?”

He sneered at her. “The Brezniks need to be brought to heel.”

Darlene sighed. “How well do you know them?”

His smile was terrible. “Much better than you do.” He bent closer. “They are evil.”

“No, they’re not.” She shrugged. “I haven’t known them long, just a couple of months, but I think morally gray is a better description.”

The Sniffer looked at her with wide eyes for a moment before bursting out in laughter. Eli joined in.

“They have committed horrible crimes,” the Sniffer told her with relish.

“I can’t think of a single person who hasn’t done something horrible at least once in their life,” Darlene said.

“We are flawed, all of us. Only a fool would think otherwise. But I don’t care about what they’ve done in the past. They treat me with respect, kindness now.

They’ve given me a home and a job, and for the first time in my life I’m making all the choices for me. ”

“What about sex?” the Sniffer asked.

“What sex?” she asked, heat flowing up her neck to warm her cheeks. “I haven’t had sex since I started working for them.”

“You are blushing,” the Sniffer said, sounding shocked. “As if you are an innocent.”

“I’ve never been with someone because I wanted to. It was always for money so I could eat or put a roof over my head.”

The Sniffer studied her for a moment, then sat down in his chair. “I think you need to understand that no one in our world is morally gray.” He looked at Eli. “Bring me a snack.”

Eli frowned, but got to his feet, bowed to his uncle then disappeared into the dark.

“Have any of the Brezniks told you how old they are?” The Sniffer asked.

“No.”

The Sniffer sneered at her. “You’re completely ignorant of the truth.” He grinned as if that was very amusing. “I think I will enjoy this demonstration a great deal.”

“What did the Brezniks do to you?” she asked him. “Why do you want to hurt them?”

“They killed two of my nephews and several members of our household.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Under what circumstances?”

“They were withholding things from us,” he said. “Things that are vital for our survival.” She opened her mouth, but he put up a hand. “No more talking. Sit down and shut up.” His expression told her that if she didn’t do as ordered his next move would be violent.

She returned to her seat and sat down.

Neither said anything as they waited for Eli to return with the Sniffer’s popcorn.

Finally, after several minutes, Eli returned with another woman in tow.

It wasn’t until he pulled her into the middle of the chairs, that Darlene recognized her. Another sex worker, Joan. She was a couple of years older than Darlene, but looked ten years older than that.

Joan saw Darlene and tried to pull her arm out of Eli’s grasp. “Hey, you never said anything about a twosome or...” she looked around at him and his uncle. “Or whatever this is. That’s extra.”

“Don’t worry,” the Sniffer said, getting to his feet and walking up to Joan. “No one else will be participating.” He smiled at her, baring his teeth, including his canines that had been filed sharp, as if he were some teenaged vampire wannabe.

He took hold of her other arm, and Eli let go, retreating back to his seat.

Joan suddenly tried to pull out of the Sniffer’s grasp. “Let go,” she said, her voice rising. “You’re hurting me.”

The Sniffer grabbed the back of Joan’s head and tilted it backward, much like he did when Darlene had arrived. He sniffed, but didn’t let her go.

He opened his mouth wide and bit down on Joan’s neck.

Joan screamed and fought, hitting and kicking, but the Sniffer’s grip never wavered.

He swallowed.

His mouth was attached to her neck, but a tiny rivulet of blood ran down from his lips to pool in the dip of her clavicle. It only took a second or two before there was enough blood to drip down her arm and off the end of her middle finger.

He swallowed.

And swallowed.

“He’s drinking her blood,” Darlene said barely above a whisper. No inflection to the words because none of this made sense to her. Why would anyone want to drink someone’s blood like that? Vampires aren’t real.

He swallowed and swallowed and swallowed.

“He’s going to kill her,” she said in that same dead tone.

Vampires aren’t real .

“Do you understand now,” Eli said to her, his voice as quiet as hers had been. As emotionless. “My uncle and I are the same.” He bared his teeth at her. “Just like the Brezniks and your special friends Mason and Magnus. We are all monsters and we all eat people.”

“Vampires aren’t real,” she whispered.

A thump brought her gaze around to see Joan’s body on the floor. Her skin was a pasty whitish-gray and her eyes were wide open and staring at nothing.

He hadn’t just dropped her; he’d thrown her. She landed with a wet smack in the growing pool of her own blood. It splashed up, soaking the front of Darlene’s scrubs and spattering her face with warm, sticky drops.

The Sniffer stared at Darlene with an insane person’s grin outlined in blood on his face.

Darlene hadn’t been truly afraid until this moment.

Now, fear was a black hole that had opened up between her feet, sucking her down into the dark where she would never escape.