The flickering overhead fluorescent lighting of the hospital conference room set Gigi's nerves on edge. Her eyes kept moving to the monitor in the corner. {Was Russ watching from another room? Ha, what's the point in worried whether he is or not... at this point there's no changing his mind about me... nor mine about him...} Her breath caught as the door to the room opened. Lamia trailed nervously behind an ethereally beautiful woman. She recognized the goddess from the trials she'd seen weeks earlier... Themis... Goddess of truth and justice... {Shit...}
Themis studied the girl across the table as she lowered into her seat. She flipped through the file Lamia spread out onto the table in front of her. She arched a brow as she moved her gaze back to the wolf girl finally. "Gigi, yes?"
Gigi nodded her head as she mumbled. "Yeah..."
"Public records show you were orphaned during the attack to this island... sixteen years ago now... And you were adopted by the Niels family roughly four years after that." Themis lowered the papers as she moved her attention to Gigi. "Would you please describe in detail those four years between for us? Note, this is an active investigation, and your testimony here tonight will be considered evidence. Any untruths, omissions, or phrasings that could be seen as distractions from the truth will not be excepted and could result in actions against you, not excluding imprisonment. Do you understand?"
Gigi could feel a tremble begin to rattle through her hands. Clinching the arms of her chair she nodded. "Yes... I understand."
"Good, then you may begin," Themis ordered gently.
"I... I... can't recall all the details. I was only four at the time... some of the memories I do have are strained. I can only imagine it was my mind trying to protect me..." Gigi babbled.
"That is fine, tell us what you do recall." Themis pushed on.
Gigi swallowed hard. "My family and I had been visiting the palace the week leading up to the attack." Her eyes moved to the monitor in the corner. "My parents had been working out marriage arrangements between me and the prince..." She swallowed against the build of emotions as the next events came to mind. "After the attack, I had to identify the remains of my parents and baby brother... I... I don't remember all the details after that... Some men found me wandering the foreign streets, I recognized their palace uniforms, so, I didn't fight against them... Instead, I let them take me back to the palace... that... that was when I was tossed into the dungeon for the first time..." She could feel the tears stream down her face as the emotions of that night began to creep into her very marrow. Images she'd fought for years to forget began to seep into her brain. "There were already several others in there by the time I was tossed in... along... along with..." She swallowed hard again as her words threatened to choke her. "Bodies..."
"Please continue, dear. How is it you were released?" Themis asked trying to shift the girl's attention away from the horrors that were obviously haunting her.
Gigi gripped the arms of the chair tighter as her mind moved forward to the years that followed. "It was hell in that room... we were kept in complete darkness with little water and often spoiled food... Our only solace came when... when..." Tears flooded her eyes.
"Yes? Please continue, dear." Themis coached.
"When the men came..." Tears ran down her face in heavy streams. A sick twisted smile curved her face. "We would be brought to nice rooms upstairs in the uppermost floors of the palace. Maids would be sent into wash our bodies and dress us in beautiful lacy things. Meals would be delivered, and we were allowed to eat as much as we wanted..." Her smile began to fade. "But then the men would come in and do all sorts of things to us... vial things..." She shook her head. "It wasn't until Fern recognized who I was that I was pulled from the dungeons and the sex work... I had thought myself to be so lucky to have won his favor... How wrong I'd been... It wasn't until he'd completely broken me, and I'd become boring to him that he devised the plan to send me to America to spy on Russ..." Her attention moved to the monitor again. "I hadn't wanted to... I'd hoped that my new adoptive parents would be understanding and caring... but all they were concerned about was the money Fern sent for my care... When they weren't abusing me, they were completely ignoring me... and I grew to prefer their neglect. It took them five years to track down Russ's actual location and me another year to blackmail him into a relationship as I'd been ordered to do..."
Themis tilted her head. "If you recognized it was blackmail you were being asked to carry out, why do it?"
Gigi frowned. "Because as long as I was directly involved with the prince, my adoptive parents would stay off my back, and Fern would praise us and send extra treats..." She sent the monitor a sad, pleading glance. "I'd hoped that he would see the blackmail for what it was and someday rescue me from it all... that what we had could really become something... but I was wrong... so wrong..."
Themis nodded. "That's enough for now. We will bring in some of the other able-bodied girls. Stay close, if we have more questions, we may need to bring you back in."
Gigi frowned, her watery eyes blurring her vision. "What will happen to me now?" The words came out on a tremble.
"I'm not sure, child... That will all depend on the other testimonies and the decision of your councilmen and pack leaders." Themis replied stoically.
She nodded and made her way to the door, sending the monitor one last glance. {If Russ is given the final say on my fate... what would he choose?}
"Did you know?" Giorgos's words were a low whisper as he watched Gigi fade from the frame.
Russ shrugged, feeling two other sets of eyes on him, waiting for the answer. "The details... no... Her goals for blackmailing me... yes... I knew it wasn't me she really wanted, and it was obvious enough with her sexual... tastes that she'd been through some shit... but I would have never imagined any of this, probably wouldn't have believed it until seeing that room tonight..."
Giorgos nodded. "Me either... but still..." His words were cut off as another girl walked into view of the cameras.
Russ stared at the monitor in morbid curiosity. The girl looked close to his own age now that most of the dirt and grime had been washed from her face. She wore loose hospital scrubs, and her dirty hair was tied back now. Her piercing jade eyes moved from the other women in the room to the monitor then back coldly. He glanced to the others in the room, but they all seemed just as interested in the girl as he was.
Themis glanced over the new file pushed in front of her as a new girl sat down across the table. "Jaden Hunt, your disappearance fell into conjunction with a string of kidnappings reported to the council approximately 3 years ago. What can you tell us about this?"
Jaden's cold eyes studied Themis and Lamia for several long moments before she finally answered. "There isn't much I can tell you about my sister and I's initial abduction, except that it happened in the middle of the night, and we woke on a ship with several other girls... most of the ones you found tonight."
"What can you tell us about the ship?" Themis asked, still flipping through the folder.
"I was one of the oldest of the girls. We were all from nearby areas... It was a short trip. We were unloaded and led through caves into the cellars..." Her stoic voice sent chills down Russ's spine as he listened. "Some of us were chained to the walls others were not..."
"What determined who was chained and who wasn't?" Themis asked.
A wicked glint lit the girl's Jade eyes. "Those who fought we chained..."
"And you were one of those who fought against your captures?" Themis pushed.
"I was... every chance I got." Her lips turned upwards at the corners pride, obvious in her words.
Themis nodded. "And can you describe some of the things you were fighting against?"
The girl's eyes narrowed, becoming distant and glassy. "They would starve us and deprive us of even the most basic necessities to survive. They would harvest our blood and even organs sometimes. The stronger girls were able to shift and repair the damages, but the weaker ones or those who were chained in irons couldn't... We were often drugged and brought into the rooms of visitors of the palace, forced to endure whatever depravities the sick bastards could desire."
"Very good, dear, and can you describe some of those acts?" Themis urged in a soothing voice.
Jaden's eyes burned into the two women sitting across from her. "Very well, if you think you can stomach it..."
"Please continue, dear." Themis replied.
"It was more often than not the men would request several girls to be brought to one room where they would relish in torturing the weak drugged girls. They would force some to watch as they beat, raped, and fed from them... taunting the ones forced to watch that they would be next. Once a girl was unable to wake from unconsciousness they would toss her to the side... some would still victimize the unconsous girls' bodies while others moved on to more lively captures... Those capable of shifting were often forced to shift just so the damages could be repaired and reapplied over and over again. For the ones who couldn't... or were too weak from previous shifts... they were left to die in the cellars as a reminder... a silent threat 'that could be you next'... For those of us of prestigious birth and breeding, King Fernando would save us for his own amusements frequently..."
"Though at this point I dread to ask, but what amusements, dear?" Themis asked.
Jade eyes met hers, holding a burning heat. "Breeding... The sick prick thought there was a chance he could produce his own alpha child."
Themis and Lamia both exchanged shocked glances. Lamia hesitated as she asked... "We found no evidence of infants or pregnant girls though..."
Jaden nodded coldly. "It was a project he'd been working on for several years before I came... it ended some months ago... along with most of the other... activities..."
Lamia nodded as she put the pieces together. "So that's why you have all been so unkempt and malnourished... to be fed and bathed you had to entertain guests and when the visits ended..." Her eyes moved to Themis.
Jaden nodded. "Yes, we were left down there in the pitch dark with no food, water... or hope... When the two vampires were thrown into the pit with us, it was obvious to most of us we would never see the light of day again..."
Themis frowned. "Last question, then you may return to your sister. What happened to the babies fathered by Fernando?"
Jaden shrugged. "I'm not sure, I was only unlucky enough to be impregnated by him twice, and I found ways of aborting them both before they could be brought to term and of use to that bastard."
Themis frowned as she flipped through the papers in the folder. "Because you are of a strong bloodline..." Themis's eyes moved to the girl. "Are you an alpha?"
Jaden didn't answer as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that all the questions? I'd like to return to my sister now."
A heavy frown settled over Themis's expression. "Yes... You may go now, dear..."
Russ struggled to swallow past the lump in his throat. "We have to help these girls... as much as possible..." He murmured to no one in particular as he watched the girl leave the room. It was obvious she'd been through so much more than she was saying, but she still carried herself as a strong confident woman. He couldn't help but admire her strength, even if it was a facade.
Poseidon clamped a hand over his shoulder. "We'll do what we can with those who can be helped..."
Drake caught Poseidon's hand and held it in his. "Dude, I swear to you, I didn't know about all this... about the extreme of this shit..."
Poseidon arched a brow. "Alright... um... You gonna hold my hand all night?"
Drake frowned. "You can tell if someone is lying if you're touching them, right?"
He chuckled as he tugged his hand away from the vampire. "Something like that..." Turning his attention back to Russ, he asked. "Are you wanting to watch more interviews?"
Russ nodded. "I'd like to hear them all out... then drop in on Shelly before doing some rounds... see how they are all doing..."
Poseidon nodded in understanding. "Alright... I'll stay with you then." His gaze moved to the other two men. "What about you two?"
Drake stepped forward placing his hand on Russ's shoulder. "I'm staying, I feel personally responsible for my peoples' involvement in all this."
Giorgos nodded stepping over and placing a hand on Russ's other shoulder. "As painful as it is to hear, like I said, I grew up with some of these girls... I knew some of the ones still missing... or rather unidentified... I'm staying. We got your back man."
"Thanks guys..." Russ patted both men's hands before turning his focus back to the monitor and the new, much weaker girl now entering the room.