Page 71 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Natalia
Natalia woke from the pounding in her face and head. It took only seconds for everything to come flooding back to her. Looking around at her new surroundings she knew for sure that she was no longer in the tavern.
She didn't have a clue where she was, but there was no doubt in her mind that she wasn’t in the same building she’d been in with Taredd. Whoever grabbed her had taken her somewhere else.
"Where the fuck am I?" she shouted out to anyone that could hear her.
Not expecting a reply, Natalia nearly jumped out of her skin when a deep male voice said: "You're in my home."
Her head instantly snapped in the direction the voice came from, and there stood a group of Demons. The two who snatched her from the tavern were there, as well as another three she hadn't seen before.
All of them had a similar appearance to each other, but other than having the same skin colour, none of them looked anything like Taredd.
From the looks on the faces of these Demons, there was no way in hell they were going to promise not to kill her like Taredd had done. In fact, it looked as if they couldn't wait to tear her apart. They were more of the type that would take great pleasure in causing her as much pain as possible.
"What do you want with me?" she asked them.
"What do you think we want with you?" The same person as last time answered her, so she could see which one she was dealing with.
"I don't know,” she said, playing dumb.
"You can play coy with me as much as you like,” he told her. "But you already know the answer to that question."
"Maybe,” she admitted. "But just so we're all on the same page, tell me anyway."
Natalia could see this Demon wasn't going to find her as entertaining as Taredd seemed to have, it would help if she knew how she entertained Taredd to begin with, then she might have tried doing the same with these Demons... not that it looked as if it would work on them though.
If anything, she was more than likely going to make them want to cause her even more pain before finishing her off. The Demon in charge however, still played along, still answered her.
"We're going to have some fun with you,” he told her.
"I like fun,” she said.
With a sinister laugh, he said: "I didn't say it was going to be fun for you."
The other Demons standing next to him all started laughing as well. A sick feeling entered Natalia's stomach, and she had to fight down the bile that was creeping up her throat.
She wished Taredd was here with her. Natalia knew he would keep her safe if he was. She didn't know how she knew he would, she just did.
"It seems a bit unfair, and doesn't seem like much fun if I don't fight back,” she told them, trying to trick them into releasing her so she could try to escape, or at least, stall them as much as she could.
Natalia didn't know if it would work, but she was trying to stall for time in the hopes that Taredd was going to rescue her. She knew it was unlikely that he was going to burst through those doors and save her, but she couldn't stop the small sliver of hope that he might.
It was possible he didn’t even knew she was missing, let alone be on his way here now to rescue her, but it still didn't stop her.
The demon in charge thought about her comment for a moment. She could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought about how much more fun it would be for him if she fought against him.
When he came to a decision, he turned to the others with him and demanded "Leave us."
"But..." One of the others was about to complain, but stopped when the one in charged pouched him square in the face, knocking him out cold.
"Anyone else have something to say?" he asked the others, all of which shook their heads. "Good. Now, take him and leave."
Without another word, they left the room, taking their fallen comrade with them and shutting the door behind themselves.
"Now that we're alone," he said with an evil grin on his face as he walked towards her. "Shall we begin?"
Natalia swallowed hard. Now she was definitely in trouble.
