It was times like this that I wished I had some way to contact Mother. However, since calling her and asking her to pick me up was out of the question… bait couldn't really call and ask to be taken… I was stuck walking around Time Square, becoming lost in the crowd of tourists and native New Yorkers alike.
I was not worried that I would become so lost that the Red Moon Hunters would not be able to find me. It never stopped them before. Raising my head to look at all the glowing billboards and theater names, I chuckled to myself that maybe I should have just taken out an ad on the jumbotron announcing my location.
Bored out of my mind, but knowing that I needed to stay here until someone came for me, it never occurred to me that Pandora was so far gone that he was willing to create a spectacle as she did. But then again, she was always a drama queen.
I was listening to music, waiting for the light to turn when I felt someone grab me from behind and slit my throat. A little over the top if you ask me. I could hear the screams of the civilians around me before everything blacked out.
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I woke to be tied to a chair in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. I was really starting to get cranky with this scene. Maybe I should just buy all the warehouses in New York just so shit like this would stop. Like seriously, how many could there be in this state to allow for me to wake up in a new one every time?!?
I sighed in disappointment. But, looking on the bright side, at least I wasn't hanging by my arms this time. That is a plus… right? See, this was the problem with most people, they couldn't apricate the small things in life… like not hanging by their arms. In comparison, a chair was much more comfortable.
I crossed my legs in front of me and waited. Pandora was like that, always needed to be the center of attention, to make a grand entrance, no matter what the occasion.
The double doors slid open and a woman walked forward, her stilettos clicking in perfect rhythm with each step she took. Her wide brimmed hat covered half of her face, but I didn't need to see her face to know who she was.
"Hello, Mother," I started, "I heard that you have been looking for me." A thin man came out of my mother's shadow and slapped me across the face. "Beginning the violence a bit early, aren't we?"
"You will show Queen Pandora the respect that she deserves," hissed the man.
I tilted my head and looked at him. He had the demeanor and look of a rat, and being a proud New Yorker, I could always tell a rat when I saw one. I smiled at the man as I studied him. "My apologies," I said in enough of a formal tone that it bordered on sarcasm. "I am not sure the respect she deserves. She is nothing but a lowly kidnapper after all." I gestured to the position I was in as I said it.
"She could have achieved this with just a phone call you know," I continued, still smiling. My neck was starting to itch from where the blood had dried on it, but I had to ignore the annoyance. No hands were free to scratch it.
Turning away from the rat, I looked at the woman fate had decided to make my mother. I never knew what I did to piss her off to this extent, and frankly, it no longer mattered to me. I could accept it was it was just me, but now they killed 15 women and girls in 3 hours on the off chance that it might be me. So this had to stop.
"And the slit throat was really unnecessary," I continued.
"You still love to talk? Don't you?" Came the soft voice from the woman in front of me.
"What can I say, Mother? I enjoy the sound of my own voice." Another slap and I was starting to get a headache. I could feel my monster stirring within me, unhappy that I was willing to put myself through this, her need to protect me from anything and anything. But I could give in to her yet…
Her scoff was enough to know that I was not conforming to whatever script she had going in her head. She always hated when that happened, like she should have been the one to write the futures of man and God alike.
"Where are your puppies?" I asked her, my attention completely centered on her. I could see a rotten thread coming from her, but I wasn't about to find her web. I took a deep breath knowing that Viktor was nearby and hopefully Mike was trying to hunt down the humans that were working for her. I needed to stretch this out as long as possible to give him the time to do his job.
"I am sure that I have no idea what you are talking about," she huffed and motioned to the rat. He ran out of sight quickly and then reappeared with a chair for her. Not a folding one like mine, but an actual wingback chair. Where he managed to pull that from I had no idea, and I really didn't want to know.
"The men that managed to kill 15 girls in a single day. You used to be more disconcerting than that," I said, moving my body to try and get more comfortable. "But I guess things slip in your old age," I smirked, knowing the right buttons to push.
"I am not old!" She hissed, her composure starting to slip. Catching herself, she took a breath and sat upright. "But we are not here about me, we are here about you. There are a few lessons you need to learn, and since you have been unable to do so, I will have to continue to teach you." With a wave of her gloved hand, the warehouse door opened and two men came in carrying a table between us. It was one of those nondescript white folding tables, but it was covered with a thin sheet over top.
Closing my eyes, I stretched my neck, ready for what came next.
Pandora stood up and walked towards the table that the two men had put down nearby. Pulling off the sheet, I saw all the standard and not-so-standard torture tools that she had favored over the years.
"Lesson number one," she said as she turned and looked at me, "The Tesalor name is not for you to use."