The Lure of a Vampire
The Waiting Game
Chastity wandered into the bus station twenty minutes after midnight, her feet were aching and her legs burned from the uphill climb but she had made it.
She looked around the dimly lit lobby, eyeing the few people sitting in the station suspiciously as she power walked up to the only person manning the ticket sales.
The guy was middle-aged, lanky and disinterested as he stared at his phone intently, his finger scrolling the screen downward. "Um... Hello?"
The man looked at her, the bored stare in his eyes annoying as he asked, "Where to?"
"Can I get to Oregon for under one hundred dollars?" Chastity remembered her mom mentioning a sister that lived there. Kary Ann Arbor or something like that. She decided to pay that aunt a visit, plead her case and if worse came to worse she could always stay there, work, and support herself.
"Yep," then he eyed her with the same suspicion she had the others. "Are you over 18?"
"Oh yeah... umm... of course I am." She stammered as she swung her bag around and dug in the front pocket, pulling out a fake ID she bough only a few months back.
Sliding it over the counter the the man, he examined it before sliding it back in her direction and asking. "Where in Oregon do you need to go?"
"Portland will be okay," she said, even if her aunt lived out of the city she could take a bus closer to her.
The clerk typed some things into his computer before saying, "93.46 after all taxes and fees."
Chastity took her ID and placed it back in her bag before fishing the crumpled bills out of the bigger pocket and handing them to him. She waited patiently as he counted her change and handed it back to her with the ticket.
"The bus will get here by sundown. It's seven hours before the first stop once your on so I suggest you grab some food."
Chastity bit her lip, hating that she was going to be waiting for upwards of eighteen hours for the bus but knew she had no other options. Anywhere else she'd be completely lost and without help, at least Oregon offered the possibility of a better life.
Thanking the man, Chastity found a seat farthest from everyone and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She closed her eyes and sighed as she laid her head against the bony joint.
Chastity was exhausted but her mind was too wild to contain. As she thought deeply her mind kept going to the mysterious man -- Max de Laurentes -- and what he could possibly need with a purchased fiancé.
Chastity wasn't dead and was blatantly aware of his striking features and dashing good looks. He had to only be in his mid-twenties, the prime of his life and he was out buying young girls.
Dread curled in the pit of Chastity's stomach, her mind wandering to a Discovery Channel special she had watched on human sex slave trafficking. Maybe he was just as bad as the other men her father feared, maybe he hadn't known he'd sell her. It was the only plausible conclusion she could come up with.
A young, good-looking, and assumingly wealthy man buying a girl to marry? Throw that creep in jail and throw away the key.
With a long sigh, Chastity squeezed her eyes shut tighter and began to count down from one hundred hoping it would ease her anxiety and let her fall into the peaceful oblivion of sleep.
She looked around the dimly lit lobby, eyeing the few people sitting in the station suspiciously as she power walked up to the only person manning the ticket sales.
The guy was middle-aged, lanky and disinterested as he stared at his phone intently, his finger scrolling the screen downward. "Um... Hello?"
The man looked at her, the bored stare in his eyes annoying as he asked, "Where to?"
"Can I get to Oregon for under one hundred dollars?" Chastity remembered her mom mentioning a sister that lived there. Kary Ann Arbor or something like that. She decided to pay that aunt a visit, plead her case and if worse came to worse she could always stay there, work, and support herself.
"Yep," then he eyed her with the same suspicion she had the others. "Are you over 18?"
"Oh yeah... umm... of course I am." She stammered as she swung her bag around and dug in the front pocket, pulling out a fake ID she bough only a few months back.
Sliding it over the counter the the man, he examined it before sliding it back in her direction and asking. "Where in Oregon do you need to go?"
"Portland will be okay," she said, even if her aunt lived out of the city she could take a bus closer to her.
The clerk typed some things into his computer before saying, "93.46 after all taxes and fees."
Chastity took her ID and placed it back in her bag before fishing the crumpled bills out of the bigger pocket and handing them to him. She waited patiently as he counted her change and handed it back to her with the ticket.
"The bus will get here by sundown. It's seven hours before the first stop once your on so I suggest you grab some food."
Chastity bit her lip, hating that she was going to be waiting for upwards of eighteen hours for the bus but knew she had no other options. Anywhere else she'd be completely lost and without help, at least Oregon offered the possibility of a better life.
Thanking the man, Chastity found a seat farthest from everyone and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She closed her eyes and sighed as she laid her head against the bony joint.
Chastity was exhausted but her mind was too wild to contain. As she thought deeply her mind kept going to the mysterious man -- Max de Laurentes -- and what he could possibly need with a purchased fiancé.
Chastity wasn't dead and was blatantly aware of his striking features and dashing good looks. He had to only be in his mid-twenties, the prime of his life and he was out buying young girls.
Dread curled in the pit of Chastity's stomach, her mind wandering to a Discovery Channel special she had watched on human sex slave trafficking. Maybe he was just as bad as the other men her father feared, maybe he hadn't known he'd sell her. It was the only plausible conclusion she could come up with.
A young, good-looking, and assumingly wealthy man buying a girl to marry? Throw that creep in jail and throw away the key.
With a long sigh, Chastity squeezed her eyes shut tighter and began to count down from one hundred hoping it would ease her anxiety and let her fall into the peaceful oblivion of sleep.