Salvation

Chapter 12: Rescue

"I've been waiting for you Darci." Darci looks beside her, and then jumps back away from the man who spoke and bumps into Johnson; who had gotten into the van behind her. "Don't be scared Darci; we won't hurt you...yet. It's up to you." He leans forward into the light and pulls the tape off of her mouth. Darci gets a good look at his face as he does; it's oval in shape and drawn so tight that his eyes seem to pop out of his face. His lips are small and curved into a half smile, wrinkling his already crimpled face. "Don't you remember me? I was your first owner; until Alex decided to take you away from me. He hid you well, but not well enough." He mumbled angrily, and then swore under his breath as Daniel throws the van roughly into drive; causing all of them to fall over.

"Rick," Darci mutters, "I thought Alex sent you to jail."

"He did, but I'm out now, and back for what I want; you." Darci shrinks under his heated gaze, trying to make herself invisible. Instead, she encouraged him forward, now sitting beside her he grabs her face in his hand and makes her look at him. "I thought you would have remembered; never look away from me. You don't want to make me mad, do you?" he asks her roughly as his hand tightens on her cheeks.

Slowly she shakes her head, "No Rick, I don't."

"Good choice Darci." He nods his head behind her and the last thing she sees before she is knocked unconscious is Rick's face.

***

Marc watched as the men hauled Darci away, and once they were out of sight he gets up and runs as quietly as he can back to his van. Once there, he follows as far back as he could without losing sight of them; more importantly, of Darci. "I can't lose her again." He thinks to himself as he continues to speed after the other van. Marc sits as comfortably as he can with his back throbbing from the swing of the bat.

After half an hour, the van he is following turns onto a gravel drive way leading to a huge 3 story mansion. Marc turns into an abandoned field road and parks his van. Getting out, he quietly runs to the mansion. As Marc gets closer to the mansion, he can see a huge bay window looking out at the paved road. There is only one another window facing the road, and it is on ground level; looking into a basement. Slowly Marc creeps along the front of the house until he is beside the basement window.

Looking inside Marc can barely see; it is pitch black. He notices a movement off to the left, and as he squints, Marc can see someone stumbling down stairs. Moving to the side so he won't be notices, Marc continues to watch through the window as the figure turns the light on and helps another person carry another person down the stairs. "Darci!"

Marc continues to watch as the two men take and put Darci onto the floor in the corner of the room and bind her hands together above her head, tying them to a ring nailed to the wall. They take the excess rope and leave it dangling over Darci's shoulder. When the men finish up with her, they quickly go back upstairs, turning all the lights off and closing the door behind them.

As fast as he could, Marc examined the window and had unlocked the latch; opening the window. Carefully and as quietly as possible, Marc crawled through the window feet first. He glances around the room and listens to make sure to one is around then heads over to Darci.

"Darci," he asks, shaking her gently, "can you hear me?" Cradling her face in his hand, she starts to stir. As Darci starts moaning, Marc covers her mouth with his hand; startling her as he does it. Darci's eyes shoot open, but in the dark can't see anything so she starts to struggle in his hold. "Darci stop! It's me." he whispers roughly, then let's go of her mouth as she stops suddenly. "Stop struggling, ok? I'm going to untie your hands and get you out of here." Marc reaches up and starts to untie the knots, then remembering the pocket knife he always carries, he grabs that and cuts the ropes; getting them done faster than otherwise.

Once the ropes are gone from her hands, Marc helps her up and over to the window. Boosting her up; Marc guides her body through the window then follows after her, hoisting himself up and out the window. Grasping Darci's hand, Marc leads her back to his van. Soon they are on the road, heading back to town.

"Marc," Darci says hesitantly, "thank you." She reaches over the middle and grabs his hand; turning it and kissing his palm. His thumb starts to absently stroke her hand as he mulls over what to say.

"You're welcome Darci; I just wish that hadn't happened in the first place." He continues stroking her hand, offering her comfort. "But, it wouldn't happen as often if you knew how to defend yourself." Looking over at Darci, he notices her shoulders tense. "Hey, I'm not complaining. I do love saving you, but it would be good for you to learn anyways. Give yourself a fighting chance. Would you be interested in learning?"

"I don't know, maybe. I was always thinking I should've taken the time, but then, I just gave up all hope of getting out of the trade. If I did want to learn, who would teach me?" she asks, looking at him through her hair.

"I would." He replies matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's not worry about it right now, first, let's get home, it's been a long day."

***

As Marc pulled the van into the garage, he gently shakes Darci's shoulder, waking her up. "Wake up, Darci. We're home." He whispers in her ear, then planting a soft kiss on her temple. She yawns and stretches in her seat, making the seatbelt strain around her chest. Relaxing from the stretch she gets out of the car and walks into the house, glancing behind her every few seconds to make sure Marc is following her. Slowing her walk, she lets Marc catch up to her, then grasping his hand, walks beside him to the bedroom.

Once there he sits beside her on the bed and looks at her face, noticing that there is a new cut on her lip. He reaches out and barely grazes it with his fingers, making her flinch in the process. "How did this happen?" he whispers quietly, looking at Darci carefully.

"Rick, the man that organized my taking, hit me when I refused to cooperate. The ring on his finger is what got caught on my lip. It's fine though, it'll heal." Pulling away from Marc she turns her back and pulls the sheets back to get underneath them. He stops her and pulls her towards him, giving her the 'I don't believe you' look. Darci sighs, "Fine, it stings, but it's nothing I can't live through. It'll be fine by tomorrow, if not, I'll let you look at it. Deal?"

"Deal." Marc agrees, letting it go for now then getting up and going to the other side of the bed, helping Darci pull the sheets back. Crawling into bed behind her, Marc wonders about how much pain she would've gone through during the past 3 years. Falling asleep he tells himself: "I'll make it up to her soon. I promise."