I should give you a test ride. Maximus won't mind, so long as I don't drink your blood."
I shook my head and bucked, but couldn't dislodge her. She'd have to inject me with enough Viagra to excite a nursing home because the thought of having sex with her ugly ass made man brain number two shrink up like a stack of dimes. "Get off me, you perv!"
She pushed a clump of matted hair from her face, and smiled. Her fangs retracted, and she looked almost normal, although nowhere near what I'd consider cute. "I can be gentle," she said in her girly voice. "I have lots of experience." She leaned down and nipped my ear, sending a shiver of revulsion through me. "After all, I used to work in a brothel during the California Gold Rush."
Her lips touched mine and she pressed her tongue hard against my mouth, forcing it through my clamped lips. I would have bitten her tongue, but gagged instead at the onslaught of tonsil hockey and her nasty, dead breath.
I convulsed and heaved at her unwanted touch. She leapt off me, quick as a cat.
"I'll have to train you, I see." She tapped a finger against her chin. "Thankfully, I'll have plenty of time to break you in."
A phone, presumably hers, rang, and she walked away to answer it. Before long, she was chattering away about Maximus again.
After my racing heart slowed down, exhaustion flowed through my body, leaving me feeling weak. I had done something amazing, causing a fireball to explode over my head, but what good did it do me here? I couldn't blow a hole through the wall.
Thanks to Maximus drinking my blood, the vampiric prostitute guarding my door, and the moron who shared this room, my future looked terrifying.
"What are you doing here?" my guard said, breaking off her phone conversation.
A female answered. "I'm bringing him food, Amanda. What does it look like?"
The guard snorted. "Trying to get back into Maxi's favor again? Dream on. I never should have taken—"
"As if you're getting any from him," the other woman interrupted.
"Yeah, like Maximus would assign just anybody to guard his new toy, slut. Oh, and you'll have to hand feed him." Amanda laughed. "Maybe you should puree everything next time." The guard resumed her phone conversation, throwing in a few insults about my food handler.
Footsteps approached. I smelled hot bread and other yummy aromas. My stomach gurgled though my heart beat a little faster from uncertainty. I had no idea who this new person was or what they might try to do to me. I felt lips brush against my ear and almost yelped.
"Don't react when you see me," a woman whispered ever so slightly in my ear. "I'll try to get you out of here."
A ray of hope warmed my body. The woman stood and smiled, though her brow wrinkled with worry. My eyes went wide with recognition and it took an effort not to shout with excitement as I smiled back up at Felicia Nosti.
She glanced behind me, toward the door, I figured. Then she touched the strap on my arm. I waited for sweet release. But nothing happened. She touched the strap at my neck. Again nothing. The furrows in her brow deepened.
She leaned down and whispered, "I can't release them. Maximus must have bonded them to himself."
My jaw went tight with frustration. Being so close to freedom only made my bonds chafe worse. Desperation rose in me, and it was all I could do not to freak out and fight the straps, no matter how useless the effort. "Isn't there some way to get me out?" I whispered back in the same low voice.
Felicia held an empanada to my mouth. "Here, take a bite and don't take all damned night," she said aloud. She leaned down. "I'm thinking."
I bit and chewed, swallowing carefully so I didn't choke. She put a flexible straw to my mouth. I sucked cool, sweet water down my parched throat. After finishing the meal and most of the water, I felt the urgent call of nature.
"I've really got to use the bathroom," I said. "And not just a number one."
Felicia's eyes widened. "Amanda, he's got to go."
"We put adult diapers on him," the guard said back. "Tell him to go to town. We'll put him in a sleeper collar to clean him up later."
"You have got to be kidding me!" I shouted. "What kind of prison are you running here?"