‘Well, folks,’ he said, ‘how’s about heading on back to the old homestead?’
Jim picked up the woman. Carrying her on his shoulder, he joined the procession on its journey through the woods. Other Guardians complimented him on his catch. Some made lewd suggestions about her. A few peeked under her skirt. Several offered to trade, and grumbled when Jim refused.
At last, they found their way to the road. They hiked up its moonlit center until they came to the bus. Biff and Steve, Guardians who’d stayed behind to protect it from outlaws and vampire gangs, waved greetings from its roof.
On the side of the black bus, in huge gold letters that glimmered with moonlight, was painted, ROGER’S ROWDY RAIDERS.
The vampires, Guardians and prisoners climbed aboard.
Roger drove.
Fiends
An hour later, they passed through the gates of his fortified estate.
3
The next day, Jim slept late. When he woke up, he lay in bed for a long time, thinking about the woman. Remembering her courage and beauty, the way her breast had felt in his hand, her weight and warmth and smoothness while she hung over his shoulder on the way to the bus.
He hoped she was all right. She’d seemed to be unconscious during the entire trip. Of course, she might’ve been pretending. Jim, sitting beside her, had savored the way she looked in the darkness and felt quick rushes of excitement each time a break in the trees permitted moonlight to wash across her.
The other Guardians were all busy raping their prisoners during the bus ride. Some had poked fun at him, asked if he’d gone queer like Biff and Steve, offered to pay him for a chance to screw Sleeping Beauty.
He wasn’t sure why he had left her alone during the trip. In the past, he’d never hesitated to enjoy his prisoners.
But this woman was different. Special. Proud and strong. She deserved better than to be molested while out cold and in the presence of others.
Jim would have her soon. In privacy. She would be alert, brave and fierce.
Soon.
But not today.
For today, the new arrivals would be in the care of Doc and his crew. They would be deloused and showered, then examined. Those judged incapable of bearing children would go to the Donor Ward. Each Donor had a two-fold job: to give a pint of blood daily for the estate’s stockroom, and to provide sexual services not only for the Guardian who captured her but also for any others, so inclined, once he’d finished.
The other prisoners would find themselves in the Specialty Suite.
It wasn’t a suite, just a barracks-like room similar to the Donor Ward. But those assigned to it did receive special treatment. They weren’t milked for blood. They were provided good food, not the slop doled out to the Donors.
And each Special could only be used by the Guardian who had captured her.
Mine will be a Special, Jim thought. She’s gotta be. She
She’ll be mine. All mine.
At least till Delivery Day.
He felt a cold, spreading heaviness.
That’s a long time from now, he told himself. Don’t think about it.
Moaning, he climbed out of bed.
4
He was standing guard in the north tower at ten the next morning when the two-way radio squawked and Doc’s voice came through the speaker. ‘Harmon, you’re up. Specialty Suite, Honors Room Three. Bennington’s on his way to relieve you.’
Jim thumbed the speak button on his mike. ‘Roger,’ he said. Heart pounding, he waited for Bennington. He’d found out last night that his prisoner, named Diane, had been designated a Special. He’d hoped this would be the day, but he hadn’t counted on it; Doc only gave the okay if the timing was right. In Doc’s opinion, it was only right during about two weeks of each woman’s monthly cycle.
Jim couldn’t believe his luck.
Finally, Bennington arrived. Jim climbed down from the tower and made his way across the courtyard toward the Specialty Suite. He had a hard time breathing. His legs felt weak and shaky.
He’d been in Honors Rooms before. With many different outlaw women. But he’d never felt like this: excited, horribly excited, but also nervous. Petrified.
5
Honors Room Three had a single large bed with red satin sheets. The plush carpet was red. So were the curtains that draped the barred windows, and the shades of the twin lamps on either side of the bed.
Jim sat down on a soft, upholstered armchair. And waited. Trembling.
Calm down, he told himself. This is crazy. She’s just a woman.
Yeah, sure.
Hearing footfalls from the corridor, he leaped to his feet. He turned to the door. Watched it open.
Diane stumbled in, shoved from behind by Morgan and Donner, Doc’s burly assistants. She glared at Jim.
‘Key,’ Jim said.
Morgan shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t, if I were you.’
‘I brought her in, didn’t I?’
‘She’ll bust more than your nose, you give her half a chance.’
Jim held out his hand. Morgan, shrugging, tossed him the key to the shackles. Then the two men left the room. The door bumped shut, locking automatically.
And he was alone with Diane.
From the looks of her, she’d struggled on the way to the Honors Room. Her thick hair was mussed, golden wisps hanging down her face. Her blue satin robe had fallen off one shoulder. Its cloth belt was loose, allowing a narrow gap from her waist to the hem at her knees. She was naked beneath the robe.
Jim slipped a finger under the belt. He pulled until its half-knot came apart. Then he spread the robe and slipped it down her arms until it was stopped by the wrist shackles.
Guilt subdued his excitement when he saw the livid smudges on her belly. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ he murmured.
‘Do what you’re going to do,’ she said. Though she was trying to sound tough, he heard a slight tremor in her voice.
‘I’ll take these shackles off,’ he said. ‘But if you fight me, I’ll be forced to hurt you again. I don’t want to do that.’
‘Then don’t take them off.’
‘It’ll be easier on you without them.’
