Protected Slaves

6. Mother

I was aware of people talking as I slowly drifted back into consciousness. Their voices were hushed as if they were being careful to not wake me but it wasn't like I fell asleep on my own will. I felt blankets over my body and I could faintly smell Emily's perfume. My body relaxed at the recognition of the fact that I was laying on my own bed. The voices became more insistent as the conversation continued. I kept my eyes closed as I strained my ears to hear what was being said.

"You can't tell Tom that he is here," Emily said. "Because if he finds out that I know that he was here then he'd hurt me just to get answers."

"I won't tell him," an unfamiliar voice replied.

I opened my eyes to see that Emily was standing in front of the door with Kellin in front of her -that would explain the unfamiliar voice - I looked to the side of the room to see that Miles was standing in the corner of the room with his hands shoved into the pocket of his hoodie. Safety washed through me at the sight of Miles.

"Miles," I croaked.

Everyone's head snapped in my direction but there was only one person that really mattered to me. Miles. He moved swiftly across the space and sat on the edge of my bed with a look of concern on his face. I was aware that Emily had moved closer to me as well. I looked up at her to see a look of relief wash over her features.

"You're okay," Emily assured me but I could see that she was trying to reassure herself as well.

"How did I get back here?" I asked.

"Tom brought you back an hour ago," Emily replied, stroking the hand she had just picked up.

"What is he still doing here?" I demanded, jerking my chin in Kellin's direction.

"He doesn't want to face Tom right now," Emily admitted.

Kellin moved closer to the group and crossed his arms over his chest with a small smile playing on his lips. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook Emily's hand away from mine so that I could hit him if need be.

"Don't look at me as if I'm the enemy," Kellin said. "You know I could have run off the moment Winchester arrived and told Tom that he was here but I've decided to stay and I promised Emily that I wouldn't tell him."

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"I'm sick of Tom's bullshit," Kellin admitted. "I was glad that he asked me to take Emily away because I think I would have intervened if I was still there."

I searched Kellin's features to see if he was lying but I decided that I could trust him. I could see by the way he had his jaw clenched that he did not like the way Tom treated others.

"I'm sick of it too," Emily whispered. "You were right Rayla; I should have listened to you."

"We all make mistakes," I told her.

Miles cleared his throat and I turned my head to look back at him. I was actually surprised that he had stayed quiet for so long.

"I need to talk to you," he said. "In private."

I looked back at Emily and Kellin with an apologetic smile. "Sorry guys but you've got to go."

Kellin rolled his eyes and grabbed Emily's arm and dragged her out of the room. Miles waited until the door was closed before he moved closer to me.

"What did Davidson do to you?" Miles asked. "Besides the obvious marks on your face."

I pulled my arms out from underneath the blankets and showed Miles the arm with the scars on it. "He injected me with sort of drug that forced me to go to sleep."