The Immortal Slave

13)Artemis

"Helena" by My Chemical Romance
*****************

She was going home. It was only a matter of time; Cami was going to go home and forget this whole nightmare ever happened. She would be back under her loving family's roof surrounded by her parents and brothers. She would even be back to playing with her youngest brother on his PlayStation in no time. Then, her biggest problems in life would resort to arguing with a future roommate on who gets to possess more of the single closet in their dorm room at college. That was simply what Cami kept telling herself. If she even gave in to the possibility that as rescue mission wasn't being pulled off today, she mentally knew she would roll herself into a tight little ball and refuse to come out.

Cami could not concentrate once Kohl had tossed away his cigarette and licked her collar bone all the way up to her jaw. It was purely done to pull a reaction from her, but, she didn't dare move. She had the philosophy that if she stayed very still and didn't contribute to his abuse, maybe he would no longer consider her a fun toy. She was right; Kohl soon brought her back to where the massive group of women were once Cami started to pull a Nicole by staring blankly into space. She did not appear to be as fun to him when she wasn't fighting. Once Kohl had brought her back before soon vanishing, Cami took the time to release a violent shudder and then a few disgusted squeaks by remembering his warm tongue licking up her splattered blood.

Strangely, Cami found at least ten of the girls who weren't crying were glaring at her upon her sudden arrival. There was something about her they suddenly didn't seem to like. "That's amazing she gets to have a virgin crown even after he obviously banged her somewhere," a girl with a British accent voiced quietly as her friends glared at Cami harshly. No words could leave Cami's mouth as she stared at the girls who seemingly didn't like her.

What was her crime to inspire their cruel words? Having her neck savagely bitten into while Kohl drained the life out of her? The only reason she was even still alive was for his healing her. Why he did was solely for him to be able to drink her blood some other time. There was no kindness or compassion behind the deranged act.

Cami didn't get a chance to respond as the girls moved away from her, but, she had half a mind to offer them to switch positions with her. She was curious if they would be so very catty once they had their own blood drained from them. Cami tried to remain calm as she thought about what had been happening when Melanie was last here. "Where's Mel?" she asked as soon as she found Britney coming towards her. The room was dimly lit, a large and very thick curtain separating the girls from what appeared to be a very large stage.

Her friend watched her sadly, her lingerie clad shoulders sagging as looked about to cry. "She was taken." Britney then came over to wrap Cami in a hug, saying nothing more. Cami tried to remain calm considering Melanie was safe now. She was going home, where they were all going to meet her soon. Still, Cami was on unfamiliar terrain. She wasn't used to being the strong one. That was always Melanie's place among the girls. Cami was the one who attempted to talk them out of stupid ideas; Mel was always the bravest of their group. With her gone, Britney and Nicole watched her with wide and helpless eyes, causing Cami to realize she had sickly turn into their leader to make them feel better.

"We're going to be fine," she said in a level voice, trying to keep calm. "We're going to go home, okay? Home..."

"W-why are you b-bleeding...?" Nicole asked quietly, her hollow eyes widening as she glanced at a few random droplets of blood still on her neck. Cami mentally noted this was the first time she heard her speak in a very long time.

Britney perked her head up at this to examine her. "Wait, and where did Kohl take you...?"

"He drank my blood," Cami said calmly. "Now, let's move with the group..." Her previous words had been utterly wrong to say. Nicole started blubbering again as Britney looked on the verge of hyperventilating. They both started to panic, but something else startled Cami completely. A robotically smooth female voice seemed to boom beyond the curtain in a rather leveled tone. "Number twenty-five is a dazzling blonde with a porcelain skin tone, aged sixteen. Blue eyes and natural blonde hair. This gem is fluent in both English and French; her talents include cooking and cleaning, and playing multiple pieces of the piano. Starting bid is two-thousand euros. Let the bidding begin!"