Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

121 - Tara

"Get the fuck off of her!" Sam roared as he fought against the chains. Katrina had been bitten so many times that I didn't think she had long left to live. Two bites, maybe three. That meant, what, less than half an hour? It was safe to say that we were all panicking.

The events of tonight had happened slowly until the incident. Everything was cool: we were in the red room complaining that Rebecca never showed us her outfit; Colby was moping a little about not seeing her in general. But everything was fine. We were fine. And then we had a job that wasn't too difficult. We didn't even all have to go but we decided to go do something while we waited to see Rebecca after her long-awaited showcase.

Shit went down.

We were on a protect job, completed it with ease, then got attacked on our way home. That's when time got faster.

A dozen vampires more than we had attacked all at once and threw vervaine at us, shoving it down our throats. They did anything they could to apprehend us without killing us in the process. I was one of the ones who was knocked out since I was smaller than everyone else, no matter how tall my boots made me.

We were dumped in a big room I didn't recognise. When I woke up properly, I was able to look around; to get a feel for the place. It looked like an industrial building filled with mannequins. When I caught a whiff of Rebecca's scent, Colby's scent, and faintly Katrina's scent, I figured out pretty quickly where we were: Rebecca's studio. Although this wasn't how I had planned to see it, I was kind of glad that it was here I'd been taken to for torture.

Sometimes I liked being an optimist.

The room consisted of a door that was mostly hidden by tens of creepy-ass mannequins before there was a set of stairs leading down to where we were all chained up. The chains were attached to the wall completely, vervaine coating them to add to the pain. It was like this place had been built to hold vampires.

One part of me didn't doubt it, though I was questioning why and since when.

The girl and her little crew had decided to make an example out of Colby. They put him away from the rest of us not far from the base of the stairs, his arms and ankles tied to the wall with the chains. He had been given so much vervaine it was unreal, honestly. It didn't look like it was easy to open his eyes, let alone fight against anyone. When his phone had rung, however, I'd finally seen some life in that face of his. His eyes lit up and he started trying to break free, his eyes turning slowly red. But then he'd had his head slammed against the wall and the girl had run off with the phone so we couldn't hear the end of the call.

I worried deeply for Rebecca. If one of that bitch's bitches was with her, she would have no chance of surviving. She was a strong-willed, violent, aggressive, powerful woman, but she was still a human.

My mind hadn't rested the whole time we'd been in here, let alone when I heard a heartbeat that wasn't weak like Katrina's. My eyes flicked to the stairs as did the eyes of anyone who could completely see—anyone but Colby. He was staring at the ground knowing exactly what was happening; what was upstairs.

The door flung open at the top of the stairs and the sound of someone—a girl—struggling could be heard. She was speaking in an oh so familiar voice. "Get off of me, asshole."

A moment later, that same girl let out a yelp and her body was falling down the stairs. I watched in horror as bouncy brown curls rolled against every single step at a fast pace until there was a loud pained sound. Rebecca hit a column right in the centre of her back. At the speed she was going, I'd be surprised if she hadn't at least broken her spine.

However, Rebecca only whimpered. She laid on her front clutching the back of her head. I noticed dried blood on her hands that wasn't hers—there was a foreign scent that only Colby seemed to recognise as his nose twitched. He scrunched his face up in disgust, though I had no idea why.

Rebecca was just out of his reach. Even if he had the strength to fight back, there would be no use to it. She was about to get god knows what done to her in front of us. It didn't help that all she was wearing was a blazer dress, her long legs on show.

She looked great.

A blur zipped down the stairs too fast for our dampened senses, but the man who stopped—James—took his time once he got to her. He grabbed the hair on the back of her head to yank her up from the ground and walked her to the couch where Katrina was sat half-dead. Unfortunately for James, Rebecca wasn't as passive as Katrina had been so far, even when she'd just been thrown down the stairs.

She hit the cushions and she bounced right back up onto her feet, or onto her monster thigh-high boots that I envied. She looked surprisingly dangerous with blood on her hands and a deadly glare.

"Sit down," James snapped at her.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Make me."

There was a beat before James had her pinned on the couch, straddling her. She struggled to get him off, pushing at him and trying to move her legs. He was staring down at her smugly. "What now, Rebecca? I heard you're quite—" Rebecca slapped him so hard it rang through the room. James growled and next thing we knew, he had her with her front to the wall instead, her arms held behind her back. She was still struggling. "You know, we've never had to tie down the humans before but we'll do it if we have to. Behave."

"Fuck you," Rebecca snapped back.

"Rebecca," I growled without realising how fucked up my voice was, "a little self-preservation could go a long way here." Rebecca scoffed but she didn't say anything else. James waited for a moment before he released her. She stayed where she was.

"Good girl, that's not so hard, now is it?" James taunted. I saw Rebecca opening her mouth so I cleared my throat—she reluctantly closed it and glared at me. James backed away from her, keeping his eyes trained on her face. She showed no sign of her emotion as she stared back at him.

James went up to Colby and I knew from experience that Rebecca was going to find it difficult not to try to help him. I knew enough about Rebecca to know she also wasn't going to try to stop herself when she felt the urge to protect him at all costs. I'd been the victim several times, so had anyone in the group with their Ones. Even Katrina, but she was too reserved to let herself act on it.

James lifted Colby's jaw and mockingly started to inspect it. Colby spat at him despite being weak and growled right after. James cringed, wiping his face with the back of his sleeve before he glared at Rebecca instead.

"She's going to pay for that."