Faline

Joey and Marie finish making the last of the waffle sandwiches, Kerry with her chocolate chip muffins, and Lex and Salem wrap up the last of the peanut butter and banana smoothies. While they all do that, I work out a lunch menu, prepping pretzel dough while telling the others what I'm planning for.

"Since you guys have each become adept at using the machines without being in pairs, we're going to try something different. Salem; clean and get new birds put in the standing ovens, Joey; it's time for you to learn how to make pizza dough."

I smile at him as his nose scrunches playfully.

"Once you get a bunch of it made, prep some smaller pizzas. Top them any way you like. Scarlett; you get potato duty. Do you remember me showing you how to bake and stuff them?"

The skittish redhead nods. With a mishap with powdered sugar a week or so ago, I’m trying to keep her away from powdered anything. Almost gave the poor thing a heart attack. Both she and Lex still get teased, but both take it in innocent fun. She's getting better about jumping at every little thing, but the fox Shifter still has some growing to do.

"Lex; you get to make the popcorn shrimp. Nothing fancy, just seasoned and breaded."

He gives a sheepish grin. Last time he had tried being all fancy, Scarlett was the one who paid for it.

"Marie; you start making subs, and Ty; try doing those chicken nuggets stuffed with cheese again. We will get them to work."

We share a grin. The darker man has been trying to perfect his stuffing ability.

Uhh, with food.

Filling food with an edible substance.

You know what, I'm just gonna stop, I'm not winning here.

Kerry gets working on cookies while I do up the pretzels with nacho cheese, and that's everybody. Others come and go for the next couple of hours or so, at least. Eating, chatting, and even smiling. Kitchen seems to be the safe place for it.

Makes sense since while in here they aren't working or doing any chores. A place to relax before going off to do whatever. Even a few Vamps will now and then come over and chat for a few before moving on.

Get the feeling that the ones who do are young and not here on a more permanent basis. I'm just beating some flour off of me when a slave comes running in. From the scent of them when they get closer, some kind of Shifter animal is coming at me.

Can see Seth come to attention from leaning next to the freezer. Guard dog indeed. Ignoring him for the moment, I go toward the one trying to get my attention. The male canine Shifter isn't so much out of breath as much as upset.

His elevated heart rate and the scent of blood on him reminds me I have yet to feed. Avina comes up behind me, clearly knowing the man. He drops in front of me as we meet in the middle, so I do as well so I can figure out the problem.

"It's Mercedes, she needs help, her patron was really rough and messed her up bad. She asked me to find you. The bathroom...she's in the bathroom."

Standing, I look back to Kerry while taking off my apron.

"Kerry, take care of things here. Avina and Seth, come with me."

Petting the Shifters head, I turn and take off. I know where the bathrooms are that he's talking about, so I head straight for them. Seth stays right at my side, Avina a few steps behind.

I don't use Vamp speed just so she stays within range. Doesn't take long to get there, and I can smell the water and blood before we get close. These bathrooms remind me much of the ones you would see in a school; the locker rooms, only this is 'co-ed'.

A wide doorway leads into a large tiled room with showerheads lining the walls to the left, drains go along the floor in the middle, and a large sunken pool-sized bath to the right. The small section of protruding wall separating the two rooms has shelves of items needed from soaps to towels. Only comes out a couple of feet, and only four or so feet high. Out of the way and not near enough to the water to get wet.

Under one of the shower heads within the spray is a huddled naked woman, not small by any means, but she's trying to be. Holding my hand out to Seth to make him stay back, I motion Avina in before me. She's known by all the slaves and doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Not that I've seen anyway.

The woman has her back to me, so I can only see some features. Toned, hourglass frame, her long black hair hangs over her right shoulder, the left side of her head shaved. Her skin is dark so not sure of nationality but still has that 'paleness' to it from not being outside for some time.

The scent of blood is strong, red streams lead to the drains from her shivering body. Avina is beside her, whispering softly, telling her that Franco had found Faline and is now here. Can hear small sobs coming from her, but they're ones made from pain, not the usual ones.

"Mercedes? Is there something I can do?"

I try to speak softly, which isn't too hard. By something going wrong in the healing process of my vocal cords, my voice has changed to a huskier tone, the sound making you think of candle lights and bedrooms. Quite aggravating.

It happened after sharing an experience with my sister when I was being held down. I'd been hysterical and screaming. Had done it so much that something had broken or shredded within my voice-box. Vampires are supposed to heal everything perfectly, but for some reason, I didn't.

I can see the girl shiver at my tone, don't know if that's good or bad. Last thing I want to do is cause her more pain. Stepping to the side so she can see me so I'm not coming up on her back, I see the slashes over her body. Even hunched over as she is, I can see that there are many. Her arms have deeper cuts, expected from one raising their arms to shield themselves.

Eyes are so light a brown, they look like peanut shells as they turn towards me, filled with agony. Her color and features remind me of a girl I went to school with years ago. Cross between African coloring and Mexican; a mocha cream color.

Her legs had been brought up to her chest, but Avina convinces her to move them so I can see. Have to bite my tongue from swearing aloud when they slide down, revealing the front of her body. Someone had used her as a carving board.

These aren't random slices, they were made and placed deliberately. Wrists and ankles are raw and bleeding from her bonds, not all the wounds new ones. Scar tissue underneath tells that she's been tied down before.

My heart instantly goes out to her, knowing that pain as shown by my own scars. Mine are much more 'faded' looking, but I know they're there. Her face is untouched, but from collarbone down to knee, red rivers flow.

"He said...for the amount he paid for me...he should be able to do whatever he wants. So he did."

Her voice is very soft and pain-filled, accent coloring the words as she speaks them. Her body had literally been turned into a canvas; slices and cuts looping in design over the most painful areas. Many are deep enough to cause scarring, so I scowl. Avina's sad face looks up to me.

"This isn't supposed to happen. Mercedes is human, only Shifters and Weres are used for this type of...play. Their bodies heal faster and don't leave this amount of damage."

I remember Lady telling me what all she sells here. 'Blood, Flesh, and Sex'. While it makes sense to use ones who can take the damage to the flesh, I still don't like it. And this...this should not have happened at all.

"Who did this?"

Cuts up and down the girl’s inner thighs made to look like tiger stripes make me bite my cheek hard, gold eyes hard as I demand an answer.

"I don't know his name... He paid for sex...not flesh. He's human."

She hadn't actually washed any scent off, so I get close and try to catch something. No good, I'm not that adept at sorting through scents.

"Seth, come here. Can you pick up the scent of the one who did this?"

Mercedes's eyes don't even widen as he comes in. Either she's in shock or she sees enough of this that it's an everyday thing. Crouching down, he runs his nose over her, and unable to read his expressions yet, I have no idea what he's thinking.

"He paid for sex, so he made sure he got that in too. What do you want to do?"

Can feel myself go cold on the inside. Avina gives me a confused look when I start stripping, handing her my clothes.

"I'm going to want to put those back on. Take them to Kerry and have her set them aside for me, then take Mercedes to Trisha. Then you may want to collect your Mistress, as I may end up ruining another one of her rooms. Lead the way, Seth."

My sub finally hardens her face and nods, taking what I hand her before I shift to my cat. Stretching out my spine, I turn to the giant red and black wolf. His toothy grin is accompanied by glinting in his ever so pale blue eyes. That look I think I can interpret. He may not care about the girl or what happened, but he's looking forward to some bloodshed.

After getting the info of what room they were in, he takes off for it. I stay right on his heels as we go through the corridors. Could have just followed the blood trail back, and I think that's mostly what he's doing. Cat chasing the giant canine, we get to the room rather quickly.

We both poke our heads in. It hasn't been cleaned yet, so it's full of scents. Sweat, blood, semen. Human. Now that we both have his scent assaulting our noses, we get down to hunting.