The High Priestess - The Darkest Desires Series

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win points on his lower back twinged in pain as McQueen shifted his legs. Groaning, he cracked open his crusty eyes and hissed at the harsh bare bulb that swung above him. His hands were numb. Painfully numb. Trying to shift them to assess his situation he heard a light scraping sound above his head. Groggily he looked up as he pulled again. Some kind of chain, looped above his head bound his wrists. The warm metal was the only things supporting his weight, pulling hard on his shoulders and causing his muscles to scream in protest. 

Finding his feet underneath him, McQueen stood slowly and with great difficultly. As he moved, his body protested. He cursed Echo to the depths of Hell and snarled at himself for ever believing her. Her innocence was a sham. He thought he could help her, maybe even save her. But she was right. You can't save someone who doesn't even know they need saving. And now he was here, kidnapped and facing a foe he didn't even know. Stupid! He'd been so stu-

"Glad you're awake." A sarcastic voice came from the side of him. Looking across, his mouth fell agape. Echo was hung just as he was, arms tied aloft, and her eye and temple were black and blue, a nasty bruise forming across her face that hadn't been there before. "Welcome to the party."

"What..." Looking around himself again, McQueen saw what 'party' Echo spoke of. With only the single bulb as a light, he could see shelves, rows upon rows of shelves lining the walls and bare brick behind them. There were bottles and glasses stacked around them, while a giant freezer, the only modern object in the room, took up the whole wall at the end. McQueen could also see one single door. It was slightly ajar, which could be seen as a good thing, however, the further he looked around the room that knowledge did little to ease his mind.

He examined the chain above his head and was sickened to find that it wasn't a chain, but was in fact his own cuffs, while his spare set encircled Echo's wrists. Both of them were attached to old iron rings that were deeply implanted into the beams above. He tugged harder this time, his strength slowly returning, but his back strained in protest. He didn't realise how much being tasered would hurt. He told himself he would be more mindful the next time he thought of using it. "How long have we been down here?" He asked huffing for breath as the cuffs had failed to move.

"Oh, well let me see?" Echo began. McQueen could already hear the sarcasm lacing her voice. "Well the kidnapper and I had a wonderful chat while you were unconscious. The goose egg on the side of my head shouldn't deter your ideas of how close we became." She spat. "How the fuck should I know?"

"Who the hell is behind this?" He spat back, though he dared to guess the answer.

"I don't know." Echo answered. She tried to rotate her shoulders, but the height of the handcuffs stopped her. McQueen was a few inches taller than her, so he could stand on the floor, releasing the strain on his arms. For Echo though, being shorter she was having trouble. For a split second he was concerned about her circulation, but then he thought, fuck her.

"Oh, you don't know?" He ignored her pain, focusing on the situation "Your God-damn family did this! They've been a foul smell in our nose since we first came here. Your 'people' did this! They set everything up and I wouldn't be surprised if you were in on it."

Echo laughed viciously but it was also full of pity. "It wasn't them. You don't know them. They can't, it's impossible for them to have done anything. And as for me being in on it? Well I'm glad we got back round to square one. I was wondering how long that would take?"

"Impossible? It's not impossible" He sneered. "The victims are customers of this House. They have been killed on their property and you have been stalking this case every step. Your family have had their mucky fingers in all the pies since the beginning! I can't believe you still think them innocent in all this!"