Just A Taste Of Heaven

Chapter 15 - Dark Horse

"So Nevaeh! What else are you lying about?" Avery's voice startled them.

"What the hell, Avery! You scared us!" Faith replied.

"Who are you really? Faith or Nevaeh! Whoever you are!" Avery said with disdain. She was standing defensively.

"She's one of them, isn't she?" Faith asked Caleb.

Caleb nodded his head in confirmation.

"I'm what exactly?" Avery asked aggressively.

"A runaway slave." Faith stated.

"I'm a living being, not a possession! You're not taking me back there." Avery hissed.

"No, I would kill the bastard who dares to say he owns you. I may not be a slave but if you haven't noticed yet, I'm on the run too." Faith retorted.

She had no choice. Not only did she owe Avery the truth but she couldn't risk Avery revealing her real name to anyone. Besides, in all honesty, she trusted her.

"Go on." ordered Avery.

"I may not be a slave, but some people want to kill me, while others would like to turn me into a breeder. I'll explain, but you must swear not to tell anyone!"

"If I tell anyone, you can send me back to my "master". That would be double destruction. Frankly, it revolts me, these bastards who think they can decide for us!"

"Actually, no. Conrad Fenwick is no longer your 'master'. You're safe." Caleb interjected.

"What?" exclaimed Avery.

"She doesn't know?" Faith asked, shocked.

"No. The only ones who know about it didn't take it the way I thought they would so I stopped telling them. I'm not a master and I refuse to be treated like one! Besides, Avery, you've always denied being a slave so how can I talk about it." Caleb explained.

"Okay, let's go for another honest discussion. Sit down, this is going to take a while. Can you start by telling us your story, please?" Faith proposed to Avery.

"No, I'm not starting!" Avery refused.

They looked at each other in a stare-down before turning their attention back to Caleb.

"Okay, I get it! I'm starting! Again..." He mumbled.

Caleb and Faith explained their stories again before Avery agreed to talk about hers or at least what she knew. She had woken up when she was 11 years old with no memory. She had already been sold to Conrad Fenwick where the horror had begun right away. She had run away 3 years ago when she was 17. She had ended up here because word was that Hallhunt was a safe town and the Den of Pleasure was a place where she knew she could work with her skills and where she would not be asked questions about her origins. The more Faith listened to her story, the more she felt that something was wrong.

"You know what you are, right?" She ended up asking her.

"What do you mean?" Avery replied, confused.

"Your kind." Faith specified.

"Duh, I'm a human of course!"

Caleb choked on his coffee.

"You really think you could have surprised us earlier if you were just human?" Caleb asked her, coughing again.

"Yeah, I'm very very quiet." Avery defended herself.

"Sweetie, it's more than that." Faith stated, taking her hand between hers.

"But that's impossible! I would know! I don't have a voice in my head and still it's way too big to forget..." Avery mumbled, pulling her hand out of Faith's.