Chapter Fifteen

Saturday

Summer

When I wake, I know something is wrong. There was a sound, something that woke me, and immediately I get a sick feeling in my stomach that something isn’t right. “Summer,” a soft voice says from the corner of the room, and I freeze, afraid to admit to myself who I think I hear. When he steps forward out of the light, I swallow hard. You’re dead! I scream inside my head, but I can’t find the words.

Donnie is standing in my bedroom, dressed all in black tactical gear, the front of him covered with a dark stain. He is holding a knife in his hand. I flinch at the sight of him. Unsure of what I’m seeing or if I’m dreaming, everything has been so surreal lately. I can’t tell anymore what reality is and isn’t. When he steps towards me, my eyes go wide, and unshed tears threaten at the corners.

“Shh, baby. I need you to be quiet. There is one left.” I’m frozen in place. Every muscle in my body is so tense that I’m starting to shake. “Can you do that for me?” he asks as he steps towards me again. I nod at him slowly.

“Good girl, where’s the study?” he asks me. By the way he is speaking I can tell that he thinks I’m on the verge of breaking down. He is right. I don’t know which I will do first, scream, puke, or pass out.

“Through the living room, by the back door, in the hall there is a door there with a blue planter sitting next to it.” I try to give him the best explanation I can, hoping he will be able to find it quickly. He nods and turns to leave the room. “Wait!” I call to him in a hushed whisper.

“Stay here. You got that? I need you to stay here.” Donnie is nodding to me as I nod back in agreement. I watch him turn and leave the room. Looking down, I notice dark footprints on the carpet where his boots were. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to calm myself and ease the nausea.

***

Donnie It was just after dawn when I entered the house through the back door on the patio. I am making my way back there now. Summer says the study is near there, and I need to find the last one, Balint.

When I crept in and found the first two, I quickly dispatched them, using the sun to my advantage. I slit their throats. Then only had to open the blackout shades and watch them burn in their beds. The third room I found was empty. When I finally found the third brother in his bed, I slit his throat and dragged him from it. I was able to get him into a chair and bind and gag him before he healed. I waited for him to come around to consciousness before I demanded he tell me where I could find his final brother.

“The other two are already dead, you piece of shit. Maybe if you tell me where to find Balint, I’ll let you live.” I stare into his eyes as his gaze burns into me. When I remove the gag, he remains silent, not speaking a word.

Finally, he says, “Do you really think she loves you? She was willing to jump at the chance to be with the four of us. Another couple of days here and I’d have been fucking that sweet pussy and making her mine.”

I punch him square on the jaw and his head snaps back with force. A crunching sound filling the room tells me I broke his jaw. Satisfied with myself, I glare down at him, waiting for him to speak again, expecting he will tell me what I want to hear this time.

“Want to try again?” I ask him.

“Balint will kill you. You’re a child, nothing compared to him. Then he will be the one who gets to breed her. Think about that while he rips you limb from limb. I’ve already seen her in his arms, kissing him, begging him with her body, rubbing against him like the whore she is, tonight we took her. The four of us, giving her pleasure you never could.” When he tells me this, it sends me over the edge. I kick the wooden chair sitting at the desk across the room. Stalking over to it, I break off one of the legs and then make my way back to the leech.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. Where the fuck is your brother?” I hold the splintered wooden leg against his chest just above his heart and start to push slowly into him, piercing the skin, inch by inch, making my way through the muscles. He doesn’t break our stare. I’ll give him that. He’s got a set of balls on him.

When I have only an inch or so left before I pierce his heart, he finally breaks and looks away from me for a moment. “He’ll be in the study,” he says. “You don’t have to do this. We didn’t touch Summer.” He lies. I know it to be the lie it is. I could smell them in her room.

“It’s too late for that now. I don’t like it when people try to mess with my happiness. You came into my home and took what is mine. I will not let that go unpunished.”

“We didn’t—” he starts to protest, as I shove the leg of the chair into his chest with all of my might piercing his heart and ending his life.

When I found Summer sleeping, it took everything I had not to grab her and run into the daylight, not looking back. But I have no doubt that Balint, as well trained as he is, would simply come after us in revenge for his brothers. I don’t want to spend the rest of our lives constantly looking over my shoulder.

When I spot the blue planter Summer mentioned, I pause and listen. I can hear him through the door. I wait for another moment, wishing I knew what to expect in the room, anything that would give me the upper hand. Are there even windows in this room to allow me to use the sunlight to my advantage? Will he be armed? I take a few deep breaths and open the door.

***

Summer

I’m standing in the kitchen when I watch Donnie grab the doorknob and push the door to the study open.

“Who the fuck are you?” I hear Balint ask him.

“Who do you think I am? You thought you could come to my home?” I growl.

“Ah, Donnie. This is a shame. We were so close to having her convinced you were dead. Leo is supposed to be here tomorrow to finish the deal.”

I listen to his words as I make my way across the living room to the doorway. I stand just outside and listen to them in the study. Still torn and confused, I don’t know what to believe. I shake my head at my thoughts unsure of where they’re coming from.

“Leo? What does he have to do with this?” I hear Donnie ask, and I tense. He doesn’t know that Leo is the one who took me.

“That’s not important, don’t worry about it. I’m not one to stand here and go over my evil plan at the final moments only to have it get me killed. I’ve seen enough movies to know better. Would you like to take a seat and discuss this like civilized men?” Balint’s voice remains steady and calm.

I shift in the doorway to see through the crack. Balint is standing in his shorts next to the liquor cart, a drink in his hand. Seeing him does something to my insides, and I squeeze my thighs together, trying to stop the feeling between them. I briefly wonder when he left my bed and thank whoever is listening that Donnie did not find us together there.

“No, I don’t think I will. I’m going to finish what I started, then Summer and I will be leaving,” Donnie tells him, and the confusion builds in my mind again.

“So they’re all dead then?” Balint’s voice is sad, and it breaks my heart. Tears fill my eyes.

“Yes. Are you ready to join them?” Donnie asks, and I step back from the doorway, bumping into the planter.

“Summer,” they say at the same time. They know I’m here in the hall. Knowing my cover is blown, I push open the door and peer into the room. Donnie has positioned himself on the opposite side of the room from Balint, the knife still in his hand. I look between them, and I realize that one of these men will claim me tonight. The second realization is that I have no idea which I prefer to win and the fog building in my mind makes the unshed tears in my eyes spillover.

“No, darling, don’t cry. Come here.” Balint takes a step towards me and holds his arm out signaling me to come to stand by his side. I shift uncomfortably from foot to foot and look at him, contemplating his words.

“Summer, this isn’t you. He trained under a warlock who taught him to control you, baby. He has been feeding you dreams to take over your mind. Look at me, sweetheart.” I turn to Donnie and look him in the eyes. The pleading in them is like another knife in my heart.

“The dreams?” I ask him softly and look back to Balint, I don’t know who I expect to answer me, but neither does.

Donnie throws the knife, and I can hear it hissing through the air across the room. A snarl erupts from Balint when it catches him in the left shoulder, the arm he was holding out to me falls, and he grabs at the knife buried in the bone.

“No! Donnie, don’t do this.” I stagger backward and bump into the doorframe. “No!” I cry out again, covering my mouth, crying in earnest now.

He lunges across the room for Balint, and I scream as the two collide. I can hear the crunching of bones. They fall to the ground, and the liquor cart crashes over next to them. Shattered glass flies across the wooden floor, liquid spilling out onto the ornate rug in the center of the room.

“You son of a bitch bastard, you thought you could touch her!” I hear Donnie yell as he rolls Balint onto his back and begins to pummel his face with his fists. A growl builds in Balint's chest, and he shoves Donnie off of him, kicking and sending him flying backward across the room. Donnie’s body lands on a table, and wood shards fly everywhere.

I watch the whole scene unfold, confused and torn between the two men. Understanding that Balint was controlling me dawns on me again, but still, the feelings that I have so deep inside me for Balint tell me that it couldn’t be true. He loves me and wouldn’t do that to me. I look down at my belly, my hand hovering there over it, our baby. Donnie’s baby. The thought helps clear the fog, and I shake my head from side to side, finally gaining some clarity. They kidnapped me. They were going to forcibly breed me. Donnie is here to save me.

“Summer!” I hear him call my name, and I look back up at the room.

Balint has Donnie on his back. A broken piece of the wooden table is in Balint’s hand pressed against Donnie’s chest.

“No! Balint, stop!” I scream at him and throw myself towards them.

“He killed them, Summer. He killed my brothers. He will kill me too if I let him live, darling. He wants to take you from me. He has to die. Darling?” When he says the word the first time, I feel a strange niggling at the back of my mind. The second time it is almost like pressure in my skull. Vaguely, I remember noticing this last night as we lay in bed together. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. Donnie was right. Balint controls me, all of my feelings for these men that didn’t make any sense, he is responsible for them.

I look around the room for something, anything I can use to save Donnie, while Balint continues to push the wood down into his chest. I see Donnie wrap his hands around the makeshift stake and the glinting of his ring sets off alarm bells in my brain.

I dive towards the window and rip the blackout curtain from the wall before I rush to the next, doing the same. The crashing of the curtain rods onto the wooden floor is all I can hear as I pull one after another down until all six of the massive windows are uncovered. The morning light shines into the room.

Turning slowly, I see Balint fall to the ground next to Donnie, and I hear him scream. I watch as his skin turns first to embers, glowing bright orange, then to ash and his body collapses in on itself. Dust moats dance around the room in the streams of sunlight.

“God, oh my god, Donnie!” The moment I watch Balint die, the power he held over me is gone and all of the confusion from the past three days disappears with it. “Donnie!” I scream his name again as I run to him on the floor in the center of the room, his hands still wrapped around the wooden stake. He pulls it from his chest and throws it onto the floor. It lands with a thud in the pile of ash that moments ago was Balint.

“Good girl,” Donnie gasps out at me. “Summer.” He is panting, and as I collapse into his arms I push him back onto his back with the force of my hug as he starts to sit up.

“Donnie, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t going to… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know what I was doing.” I’m hysterical, trying to explain myself to him, all of it flowing into my mind, kissing Balint in the kitchen last night. Letting them touch me, all of the connection I felt for these men is gone, and I breathe a sigh of relief at having control of my own mind again.

“Shh,” Donnie says as he rubs my hair gently. “I’ve got you, baby, it’s okay. I know what they were doing. It’s okay. Look at me,” he says, putting his hands on either side of my face and pulling my head up so he can look at me. He kisses my cheeks, my forehead, my nose, he smothers me in them. “Baby, I thought I’d lost you two.” His hand settles on my belly, and he gently squeezes. Our daughter kicks at him through me, and I smile.

“I want to go home, please. I need to go home. We have to leave before Leo gets here tomorrow. I can’t take any more of this,” I say, as I let him continue to hold me.

“What does Leo have to do with any of this?” Donnie stills, looking into my eyes.

“Leo is the one who kidnapped me, the brothers, they saved me from the auction—” I trail off because using the word saved doesn’t sound right as it comes out of my mouth. I’m still so confused about what happened to me and how Balint was able to get into my mind.

Leaning in, I kiss Donnie on the lips and let him hold me for a while as we sit in the middle of the disaster that was once Balint’s study. I feel the sunlight warm my skin, and I smile at him. “You came for me. They told me you were dead,” I say at last.

Donnie nods. “I know, baby. It’s okay, don’t worry. We’re going home.” He stands and carefully raises me to my feet with him. I do my best to avoid the broken glass in the room, but my bare feet are already cut to pieces.

***

That evening I lie curled up in the bed of Donnie’s hotel room. I’ve had a shower, and Donnie has cleaned up and bandaged my feet. I watch as he sits at the desk on his phone, trying to track down flights for us back to the states. When I drift off, I dream of having Gus in my arms and returning home with my friends.

I open my eyes and see Donnie sitting on the edge of the bed next to me. The room is dark, and I see the glow of the streetlights coming in through the window. He has his hand on my cheek and rubs his thumb across my lips. “Hey, baby. I was going to let you sleep, but I couldn’t help myself.” He bends down and kisses me, taking my mouth in his, then he sucks my lower lip into his mouth and nips at me.

“I missed you.” I smile up at him. “Come here.” Pulling back the covers, I invite him into bed with me. He kisses me hard and fast, I can feel his desire for me in his kiss, and I grind my hips against him.

“Donnie, I need you. Please.” He takes my mouth in his again, and I’m lost in our kiss. I reach down, slip off the thin underwear I have on, and raise myself up to Donnie, taking ahold of him. I rub the head of his cock up and down my slit, moistening him with my arousal, coating him in my slick juices.

He lowers himself over me, a hand on each side of my head, and pushes forward into me. I cry out at having him fill me and clench down around him. “Yes,” I hiss out the word in Donnie’s ear. “Fuck me, sir. Show me who I belong to.” He fucks my pussy, slow and hard for what seems like forever. Each time I get close to my orgasm, he slows and pulls out of me. I’m gasping and whining by the time he pushes back into my pussy.

“Please, sir,” I beg him wrapping my legs around his waist and holding him inside me. I grind my clit on his pelvis, refusing to let up until he laughs at my efforts. “You want to come for me, baby?”

“Yes, sir. Please, make me come for you,” I beg before I grind myself onto him again.

“Come here,” Donnie says as he rolls us over, and I am on top of him, straddling him now. “I want you to ride me, baby. Ride me and make yourself come all over my cock.”

Listening to his order, I raise myself up onto my knees and ride his cock, hard and fast, continuing to grind my clit on him as I pound him into my pussy. “I’m going to come, sir.”

He grabs ahold of my hair and pulls my head down to him, pinching my nipple as he says into my ear, “Come for me, I want to feel your cum all over my dick.” His words send me over the edge. My orgasm takes over my body, my muscles tighten around him, I feel the rush of my cum on my thighs, and I can hear the sound of Donnie’s cock pounding into me.

“I’m going to come for you. Keep riding me, baby. I want to come deep inside your tight pussy. Fuck.” He groans just as he takes ahold of my hips and pulls me down onto him hard. I can feel him at the entrance of my womb as he bucks underneath me, filling me.

His hot mouth finds my breasts, and he bites down on my nipple, sending a shockwave of sensation through my body to my clit, and I come again. Bucking against him, I collapse onto the bed next to him. Donnie wraps me in his arms, pulling my back to his body. I’m the little spoon to his big spoon, wrapped in his arms. “I love you, baby. I’m never going to let you go again, okay?”

His words make me smile, and I nod.

“I love you. I’m sorry, Donnie, I didn’t know what—” Cutting me off, he rolls me to face him.

“Hush, I know. It’s okay. You’re safe now, and we are going home tomorrow night. I have one thing I have to take care of in the morning before we head to the airport.” I nod sleepily at his words and drift off to sleep in Donnie's arms, safe at last.

***

Sunday

Donnie

I’m sitting in the living room when I hear the doorbell, at last. I check my watch, ten o’clock a.m. “Of course, he would only agree to meet during the day.” Rolling my eyes, I call loudly to the man on the other side of the front door, “Come in.”

I hear the click of the doorknob, and he slips in then closes the door behind himself. When he turns to face me, I confirm it is Leo, and nod to myself. Then unload the magazine of my gun into his chest, dropping the empty one out, I load my second, and as I walk towards him, I continue to fire repeatedly. Keeping him on the ground, not giving him the chance to get away, I stand over his body, then look down into his eyes, and realization registers on his face.

“Weren’t expecting me were you?” I ask him as I pull the stake out from the holster on my thigh and place my boot on his chest, pinning him to the ground.

“Donnie, I’m sor—” he begs me.

“Don’t,” I cut him off. Holstering my gun, I wrap the stake in both hands, and in one swift motion, I drive it down into his chest and through his heart.