Previously: Quartos lifted me over his shoulder with ease and followed Unos, the pain from the chains was making me feel weak and as I slowly slipped out of consciousness my final thoughts were of the boy who had his life taken away because of someone he never really knew.
Lauren's POV:
My grief over Ben's death tore at me in the darkness of the hold. I hadn't known him for long but I couldn't help but feel guilty for his tragic death at the hands of Unos. If I had just given him the attention he had been so desperate for he might not have been so determined to help me and get himself killed.
It was a few days before the crippling guilt allowed me to take stock of my situation. I was trapped in a large cage, which I soon discovered was reinforced with silver, in a large cargo hold. I assumed I was on some kind of ship due to the continuous rocking motion but I couldn't be sure because I had been unconscious when I was caged. I was safe from the sunlight during the day, at least, but it was during this time that I was tormented by my captors, in particular a man named Sixtus. He would constantly berate me with insults and feign disgust at my being a vampire but I could see a sick desire in his eyes at the same time and if I had been human I think he would have done much worse to me.
One morning, after a long night of desperate thoughts of Ben and my family, Sixtus came into the hold. I hissed as a ray of sunlight fell on my arm and shrank to the back of my cage. He hurriedly closed the trap door again, restoring the room to darkness. He was clearly drunk, swaying from side to side unsteadily and leering at me with a sick grin on his face.
"Hello my lovely leeching lass, how are we today?" he mumbled, slurring his words slightly. He looked me up and down and his face became serious, "mmmm if only you were human, I would..." and then he trailed off into gibberish. Suddenly I had a wicked idea. I stood up and stared deep into his eyes.
"What's stopping you, Sixtus? I won't hurt you," I spoke softly.
"R-Really?" he replied with a smile.
"Of course, Sixtus, I want you as much as you want me. Come to me."
He slowly stepped towards the cage with a dreamy look in his eyes, I grinned and walked as close to the bars as I could and held out my hand. He gingerly slid his arm through the bars, his eyes still fixed on mine. Quick as a flash I grabbed his arm and smashed it against the bar, snapping it at the elbow. His face contorted with shock and pain and he let out a high pitched scream, he then collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain as I laughed at him. He deserved it for tormenting me, not to mention keeping me locked up in the first place and it felt good to have some revenge by thralling him.
Sixtus was taken off guard duty after that and two other guards replaced him. One of them glared at me with hatred for his entire shift but the other seemed much kinder and almost looked bored to be there. Neither of them said very much and I was glad of the silence and the time to think, mostly of escape.
Two days after the incident with Sixtus, I was snapped out of my reverie by the trapdoor being flung open and a very large man stepping into the hold carrying an unconscious figure under his arm. The serious guard sprang to his feet immediately and virtually saluted as the man lumbered down the wooden steps, the other remained in his relaxed position against the far wall looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Who is this now, Duos? You know it is getting quite crowded down here," he said loudly.
"Show some respect," the other guard whispered under his breath, still rigidly upright.
Duos, however, didn't seem to mind, "This, Cinqus, is our new captive. Apparently Unos wants a pet." A forced laugh came from the other guard which made Cinqus wince and Duos frown.
