Bloodlust | lrh

5. The book thieves

Soka was hoping to sleep on the couch again after eating, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Luke only gives one reward at a time, and the girl already ate hers.

The hard wood floors give Soka aches and pains like nothing else, but she feels stronger than she has since she got here. She isn't sure of the day or time, she silently scolds herself for not finding out from Ashton yesterday. She isn't even sure of how many days it's been since her last shift at the store. Leah crosses her mind for a moment, but she misses her so dearly that it's too painful to think about.

The clanking of keys and mechanical sound of the lock turning gets her to sit up. She still hasn't decided if she wants to fight back today or not, since yesterday was relatively pleasant. This is what he wants. She keeps trying to convince herself that fighting until the day she dies is the right thing, but being able to eat sounds so much better.

Luke let's himself in, a sliver of light illuminating part of the floor until the door is closed again. The boy has this room set up with poor lighting on purpose, for this is where all of his gifts sit to rot.

"You're going to do something else for me." He crosses his arms over his chest, leaning his shoulder on the wall. That's the last thing Soka wants to hear.

"And if I don't?" She asks quietly, not instigating, but genuinely wondering. Luke can tell the difference.

"I have shackles on the back of my car ready to take you for a ride." The vicious words fall so effortlessly off his tongue. It makes Soka wonder if he's ever said anything nice in his life.

"What do I have to do?" She whispers, the threat of being dragged by his car definitely being more than just scary words.

"Tell me if this is something your store would have." He pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, opening it up and displaying it for the girl to see. It's a picture of a book, and she racks her brain to remember if she's seen it before. Luke knows it came into the city since Ashton is the one who set it up, he just lost track of where it went.

"What's it for?" As soon as the words leave her lips she is full of regret. Luke isn't the type for questions, but he doesn't show any signs of frustration with her.

"Do you have it, or not?" He presses. The book is about the geography of North America, and she can't help but wonder what a guy like Luke could possibly need a geography text book for. How Luke knows about her job is another pressing question, but there isn't a chance in hell she was going to ask that now.

"We got a shipment in the night I was taken." She gulps down the hollow feeling she gets as she says those words, not letting her captor see it. "The book you ripped up was from the crate."

"That was a geography textbook, was it not?" He pushes himself off the wall, now understanding the connection the girl is trying to make.

"There might be more." Soka doesn't exactly feel confident about this conversation, the topic being the job these people stole her away from. She can only hope that he doesn't send men to loot the place, for the guilt of that would be too much to handle.

"You're going to find out for me." He hands off the piece of paper, the confused girl taking it in her hands to analyze. "We'll drive you at sun down."

"I don't have the keys to get in. We can just go now, my boss can't do anything to stop you." She pleads, hoping there is a slim chance his stance can be shifted. Her statement isn't entirely inflated, there really isn't anything Leah can do to help her. The only way to get away from Luke would be fleeing the city, since you can't hide from someone who has eyes and ears everywhere.

"Let me worry about getting in. We leave at sun down." He shuts it down immediately, turning on his heels to leave her in disarray. Soka can't help but feel like getting in means something more like breaking the entire front window. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let him destroy Leah's livelihood, or if any of those books were free game to steal through the night.