Angels Born of Hell and Fire

Chapter One:

A shiver ran down my spine as a salty breeze entered our cage. I rubbed my arms, smearing them with the mud that had collected beneath my palms. The stench of urine and fish had long ago neutralized within my nostrils. The constant rock of the ship demanded that I surrender to the deep sleep it lured me into. But I forced it away, sitting ridged on the mud caked floor of the cage, my wide eyes staring out past the rusted bars into blackness. I could just make out the faint outline of the cages around me, and the shivering profiles of the girls within. Other than a few muffled whimpers, nobody made a sound. We had been forbidden to speak; the penalty for it far worse than any death. Silence prevailed.

I had no idea where we were being taken but I was aware that our destination wasn’t somewhere they served drinks with little pink umbrella’s in them. No I wasn’t that deluded. A thousand horror stories ran through my mind, fed by the novels I had eagerly read my whole life, and by my own over reactive imagination. Whoever said that imagination was a gift had obviously never been locked in a cage and thrown in the darkest bowels of a ship headed for an unknown destination.

The idea of sleep was almost laughable.

Jasper stirred, bringing my attention down to where she used my numb legs as a pillow. Her once vibrant red hair was now brown, clotted with mud and who knows what else. Dirt smeared her pale face and glasses. I had no idea how she could see out of them. She was utterly filthy, and I knew I was no different. I could feel dirt everywhere, the coarse feel of it scratching at my skin every time I moved. My shirt was heavy and stiff from mud and sweat, my jeans no different. If I could see my hands I knew they would be practically black with it.

Theses cages where really filthy.

We had been on the ship for any number of hours, down here it was impossible to tell how many. The light had gone as soon as they shut the door, but if the small windows up by the ceiling where any indication I would guess that it was still deep within the night The idea that we had only been down here few a small number of hours made my heart sink. If a few hours of this dragged like weeks, how would a life time feel?

I took a deep shuddering breath, refusing to give into the tears that threatened to overwhelm me. If there was one thing I had learned from listening to the muffled sobs around me was that crying did nothing. All tears could do was possibly get you killed for making too much noise. So no, I wasn’t about to let myself cry. Jasper was lucky; she had fallen into an exhausted sleep shortly after we had been put in here. Several others had also chosen that form of escape.

For my own I did what I had always done, I escaped into my mind, traveling along the path that had taken us here, hadn’t it been only earlier today that we had been in school? Just two regular 17 year old girls? Complaining about lack of sleep and homework?

I felt my bottom lip begin to tremble. I bit it.

That was right, only hours ago Jasper and I had been on our way home, that same as any other day. Walking the same path we took every day. The only difference was that before going home we had stopped to get something to eat and ran onto some friends of ours. I can still remember the sound of the music playing from the speakers in the ceiling, how we had laughed at how outdated it was.

Just like any other day.

Jasper was supposed to sleep over; her mom had finally agreed to let her stay on a school night. We had been so excited... But as we had walked to my house it had gotten dark too quickly, the shadows stretching out far to reach us. The next thing we knew there were hands coming out of those shadows, covering our mouths and grabbing our arms. I had bit the one covering mine, and kicked my heel backwards into his shin with enough force to make him let go. I acted on instincts I hadn’t even known I had. I grabbed the small phone in my pocket, wrapping my fingers around it before smashing my fist into the man’s face. Pain skittered up my knuckles and I felt the phone splinter. I ignored it and used my slight advantage to bring my foot up hard between the man’s legs. He had dropped like a ton of bricks. If I had been alone I would have ran then. And probably would have gotten away. But then again... if I had been alone I wouldn’t have been walking so late after dark would I? So I hadn’t been alone, I had Jasper with me. I had spun, searching for her only to stopped dead. Another man had held Jasper in a headlock, a gun pressed tightly against her temple....

I felt tears slide silently down my dirty cheeks.

It had been hopeless after that, I wouldn’t leave without Jasper. How could I? I had only known her for a little over a year but that didn’t mean I could stand to leave her in the hands of two dirty old men. So I had hesitated instead of running and that was all it had took......

The sudden sound of gruff voices shattered the silence.

Several otherwise prone bodies flinched and scurried to the farthest reaches of their cage.

Where they coming for us? So soon?

Panic blossomed in my chest.

Sure it was disgusting down here but at least we were being left alone, at least we were still basically okay.
I swallowed hard, praying hard that whoever was would just keep walking.

I could hear footfalls now, and realized that there was more than one of them. Mine and Jasper’s cage was closest to the door and I was using the side of the cage nearest the wall a back rest. I now turned my head and pressed my ear against the cold wall, ignoring the slimy feel of it.

The voices came closer. The light on the other side of the door flicked on.

“I don’t know why we should do this boss. I mean giving him first pick like this.” a voice said and I immediately was drawn deep within my own memories.

That’s the voice of the man who kidnapped Jasper and me!

The thought ran my blood first cold then hot.

If I ever got my hands around that man’s neck I swear he’d wish he had never even seen Jasper and me.

For a moment I was surprised at the violence of my own thoughts. Not once had I ever thought bodily harm upon another being. The knowledge that if I could I would honestly kill that man unnerved me. But then....what did I expect? The mad had kidnapped us! Of course I wanted him dead.

A second voice brought me back from my own thoughts.

“If you want to go tell ‘im that then be my guest, there’s something not right about tha’ man.” The new voice seemed to shudder. “Tha quicker we give ‘im what he wants tha quicker e’ll be gone.” the other man grunted.

I turned my head and suddenly caught the gaze of the girl in the next cage. She sat like I did, her back up against the rusted bars, her legs stretched out in front of her. I could see several small bodies curled around hers; children.

The girl’s eyes were wide in the limited lighting. She cast a terrified glance down at the kids who used her as a pillow before staring back at me with a hopeless expression. It was then that I realized that this girl had been in these cages for a long time and that she knew that if a bidder wanted first choice it was because he wanted them young. She suddenly shut her eyes and huddled over the children, as if her thin body alone could protect them from the evil on the other side of the door. I swallowed hard, once again fighting back the tears.
The man who had kidnapped me spoke again
.
“So what did he want? Anything specific? A young one perhaps? They always want the young ones.”

He spoke the girl’s worse fear. Watching her now I saw her shoulders begin to shake. She probably wasn’t much older than Jasper and I, and without all the mud she was probably quite pretty though I couldn’t really make out many details.

How long has she been down here?

Even if I had been allowed I wasn’t sure I would have asked.

There was the terrible screeching of metal that announced the opening of the door. If anyone had been asleep before they were now awake.

I blinked at the sudden brightness. Jasper sat up with a start, squinting behind dirty glasses.

“Naw, he wants ‘em a bit older, teenagers he said.” The man spoke like he had a big wad of gum in his mouth
.
“Teenagers huh? Anything else? Looks?” my kidnapper asked.

“Ya, said he wasn’t lookin’ for no scrawny tooth pick, has to have some fight in ‘em.”

“Ah, likes them feisty does he?” he chuckled. I could see them now that my eyes had adjusted; they walked casually up and down the isle of cages, pausing to look into each one before moving on.

“I don’t know they all look pretty scrawny to me.” said the kidnapper who threw them in cages without food or water.

Suddenly the room darkened, a figure stood silhouetted in the doorway.

“Excuse me gentlemen by I fear I am in a bit a hurry,” said a smooth cultivated voice.

I felt the hair rise along my arms.

The bidder.

The two men spun, surprised. The boss stuttered.

“Of-of course. Ah, we were just lookin’ for what you asked for Sir.” he seemed completely cowed by the man in the doorway.

“Of course. But would it not be simpler for me to just take a look for myself?” the figure now moved away from the door towards the two men.

“I’ll only be a minute, I promise.” he seemed amused by the quaking men.

“Of c-course Sir. But you see we haven’t had time to clean them up for you.” this from the kidnapper.

The man looked into the nearest cage.

“I can see that.” He turned and the light hit his face for the first time.

A gasp strangled itself from my throat before I could stop it. He was beautiful! What the hell was he doing down here with slave traders? He could have any woman he wanted with a bat of one of those long black eyelashes.
Suddenly those eyes turned to mine and looked straight into them.

For the rest of my life I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain what happened next.

His glowing violet eyes went wide as they met my brown ones. He took a full two steps forward before he stopped himself; something unexplainable flickered across his features and was gone before I could figure out what it was. He tore his eyes away from mine and looked behind me to Jasper. I too glanced at her face to find her staring wide eyed back at the man.

“Them.” Then man breathed and I looked back in time to see him turn toward the other two.

“I want those two.”

It took me a full minute to realize that his pale hand was extended, towards Jasper and I.

[End: Chapter One]