Deliverance by Adrienne Monson Page A

taking his eyes off her, Arthur picked up a small metal clamp from the table. Before she knew what to expect, he seized her jaw and forced the clamp between her pursed lips. A grating sound echoed through the room and seeped into her nerves as he turned a crank that forced her teeth wide apart. Cool air made her mouth feel dry and she tried to bite down to break the clamp, but it was too strong for her jaw. He grabbed a different vial filled with clear liquid and poured it over her tongue. It had to have been some kind of acid, because Leisha’s tongue literally melted in her mouth. She gurgled a scream as grainy bits threatened to choke her. As Arthur pulled out the clamp and stepped back to put it away, Leisha spit out the remnants of her mouth and teeth. Charred flesh filled the air and her throat convulsed from the agony.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Arthur said. “Why do that when I wish to interrogate you? Well, first off, I hate hearing your snarky comments.” He picked up an aluminum baseball bat. “And secondly, I’m not interested in asking questions right now. You see, all of us harbor some resentment toward you since we so graciously housed you in our base and then you betrayed us.” He practiced a hard swing. The bat whistled as it flew around his body. “So I thought it would be good for morale if we all had a chance to spend some alone time with you first.” Lifting the blunt weapon over his head, he used his whole body to crash it down on her chest. Her bones cracked and splintered at the impact, and her lungs flooded with blood, forcing her to hold her breath. “After everyone has had their turn, we’ll start asking you some questions.”

Chapter 7

    D ays flew into nights and into more days. Time had no relevance for Leisha anymore. All she knew was that she wanted to die. She’d tried to get her body to give up a few times, but her vampire endurance would kick in and prevent her from that blessed escape.
    She’d lost count of how many immortals had come to exact their revenge on her. They all took great pleasure in making her scream. For a while, Leisha’s pride made it worse. She’d kept silent as they battered her body with aluminum bats, bare fists, and blades. She clamped her lips shut when they repeatedly stabbed every part of her body. No area was left unmolested.
    And some of the men took advantage of her situation to demean her in ways only men could. Leisha was all too familiar with rape. But Ptah had actually been attracted to her when he’d used her for his sadistic pleasures. These men did it solely to wield power over her. Leisha wasn’t sure which kind of violation was worse.
    But the immortals that came to use her as a punching bag got frustrated at her silence, so they came up with more creative ways to break her and make her scream. One method was pouring acid over her eyes. She couldn’t help herself from calling out as the searing pain wormed deeper into her eyes until they were completely disintegrated and the acid moved on to the membranes and brain matter deeper in her skull. Regrowing eyes was a painful process, especially since she was in dire need of blood.
    When they left her alone, they switched off between two tortures. The first was to make it as hot as a sauna, which made her sweat out precious blood that she needed. The second was to leave flashing strobe lights on for hours at a time. The glaring light seeped through her eyelids when she tried to shut out the obnoxious rhythm of blinding white flashes. If she hadn’t fed so recently before she’d been taken, she would have died already.
    In the times when she’d tried to die, Leisha forced herself to remember that Samantha was linked to her and would die along with her. But in her darkest moments, she couldn’t bring herself to care anymore. And that was when she broke. Tears would have escaped if she’d had any fluid in her body to spare, but they didn’t come. Instead, great, heaving sobs