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CHAPTER 1- www.deviantart.com/llamallamat…

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“~Hi, you’ve reached Lindsay’s voicemail. I promise I’m not screening my calls, just leave a mes-“

Madeline hung up again. That was the third time she’d called her friend in the last hour to figure out where to meet her before the auction. Between inspection of the pieces, presentation speeches, and everything else they would need some time to ensure they were on the same page. This was Slonus Gallery’s first real chance to be known by the public!

Guess she was going to have to trust the judgement of the driver as they neared Blanton Museum-a queue of limos and high end vans already forming.

“Jesus, Madeline! Even the champagne in the car is good!” Jenna remarked as she finished what was probably her third (?) glass of the drive. “Suppose that statement is redundant, though? Like saying ‘damn, that filet mignon was really good.’ No such thing as bad champagne when it’s genuine, right?”

Actually, there definitely was such a thing as bad champagne-but Madeline figured it better to withhold the reminder about her silver spoon.

Jenna sat lounged on the seat adjacent to the driver, clad in a well-fitting navy dress. Nylon accents stitched across the body, giving revealing glances at her toned figure-all accompanied by blue suede pumps and a dark pair of tights hugging her legs. The brunette athlete typically wasn’t one for the hosiery-or dressing up in general-but Madeline seemed to usually be wearing them. With her friend being the most keen to have her act together at an event like this, Jenna figured it best to emulate her.

Madeline, on the other hand, sat poised in the seat closest to the door in a more reserved number-likely done to keep from distracting from the pieces she and Lindsay would be bringing to auction. Her black silk pencil dress tried valiantly to keep her from turning heads-but everyone knew it was futile. If nothing else, the red accents of her Louboutins were a clear indicator of her unspoken status.

This modesty thing was exhausting.

Caught up in worrying about her checklist for the evening, Madeline’s revelry was broken by a shrill guffaw from the back of the car.

“I say, it hardly holds a candle to the sweat of peasants in the field, wouldn’t you say?” Ashley had put on the almost Python-esque aristocrat voice again, savoring the anguished expression it usually instigated from Madeline. “The champagne lacks that sorrowful aftertaste!”

The blonde had clearly gone out of her way to be noticed this evening. A deep purple sequined slit dress hugged her body, its nearly blinding luster a potential liability if enough light shined on it. Crossing her long legs revealed a stylish pair of black open-toe heels
completing the technicolor ensemble.

“What pedestrian taste, my dear Ashley!” Jenna shouted across with a stiff upper lip-her face straining to maintain a deadpan as Madeline buried her head in her hands. “Everyone knows peasant sweat is hardly what you serve company! Madeline, sweetheart, would you happen to have a bottle of childless widow’s tears in this carriage? Or perha-“

“Right here is fine, Mr. Jensen.” Madeline tapped on the limo’s glass to notify the driver, hoping to flashbang the exchange that she found herself caught in the middle of. The man at the wheel pulled in to an adjacent entrance ramp-one not quite as filled with unloading vehicles since it lacked the gravitas of the more popular, carpeted entrance that gave the full gala experience. Like entering a movie premier, the wealthy and powerful from all over almost floated into the museum. Chiseled dates and arm candy clung to each man or woman stepping out to the walkway-cameras flashing about them in a furious chatter.

It baffled Madeline. Most of these people weren’t inherently famous. Silicon Valley billionaires, oil execs, politicians, and more were all in attendance-none of whom would make a very exciting front page.

It was probably better to avoid the cameras and publicity at something like this, Madeline thought as Jensen put the car in park and stepped out to open the door for the girls.

“Woah, woah, woah, Mads!” Ashley’s voice called out.

Madeline stopped in the door frame, turning her head to see the betrayed glare of her friends.

“You’re telling me we’re going to skip the pomp and circumstance? The literal red carpet? C’mon Maddy! You’ve got me fucked up if you think I’m refusing that opportunity.” The blonde sat back in her seat, Jenna adopting the same position.

“I’m not sure if we-“ Madeline stopped herself. There you go, being a rich bitch again! She thought.

Oh, you only have one summer home in Cabo? How quaint.

“I...well..” Madeline relented. “Jensen-swing around to the front. I’ll be getting out here.”

Stepping out of the car, she heard a resounding Fuck yeah! from inside the limo.

Who was she to ruin their fun at the red carpet?

....................................

“-all I’m saying is it’s fascinating! The stuff we’re doing with these bots is leagues ahead of the ones from even five years ago.” An eccentric LlamTech code monkey continued talking Ashley’s ear off, clearly doing his best to impress her. Or maybe he was a VP? She really didn’t care. He kept going. “You’ve seen those Mark 1 IGII security drones, right?”

Ashley let out an exhausted sigh. Oh yes, she was very familiar with the Mark 1 LlamaTech robots. One of the originals, “Iggy” as she and her friends affectionately referred to it, was still at large since breaking loose from the labs years ago.

Where was that trash can on treads, anyhow?

“I’m quite well acquainted with those. We had quite a few run ins u-...ahem..” Ashley stopped herself to keep from drawing any attention to herself. “-had a few incidents using the early models for our security purposes.”

The code monkey lit up, believing he had caught the interest of the woman he was trying to impress.

“Weren’t they a mess?! I’m sure you had all sorts of mishaps over at-..What company did you say you were with, again?”

Shit shit shit shit

“The..I’m..” Ashley took a sip of her wine, pretending to have been caught mid drink by the question in order to hide the pause she needed to think of an answer. “I’m in HR with the Morales Corp. Nothing fancy-can’t say I’ve dealt too extensively in matters like that to see whatever new models are out now.”

The young man nodded cheerfully, obviously more focused on wooing this woman than sniffing out a snoop that had been actively working to subvert his company’s operations.

“It would make sense if you haven’t-LlamTech has been steering away from large scale automatons to less overt methods. Drone swarms, security networks, nanotechnology-That sort of thing”

Nanotech. Great. For all she knew, every person her could already be swarmed with microscopic bots and not even know it. Ashley took another nervous sip of her drink.

“The stuff I’ve been working on-“ the man lifted his arm a little too fast and knocked the glass she had been holding-sending a splash of wine over the front of her dress.

“Oh-oh goodness-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” He immediately scrambled for a something to clean up the mess.

He was handsome enough for Ashley to give a shit-but the poor guy was an uncoordinated mess. She smiled reassuringly.

“Look, its not a problem, I-“

“Sorry, sorry, this is all my fault!”

She stopped his hand from trying to clean up the mess.

“It’s fine! Don’t worry! I’ll just go get myself cleaned up. Talk to you later, err...”

“Kenneth.”

“Kenneth! Good chat! I’ll catch up with you later!”

With that, Ashley gracefully escaped the conversation. The wine spill was a welcome diversion-giving her the chance to reconvene with Jenna. Last she had seen, the star athlete herself was neck deep in shots at the open bar-at least half a dozen cheering onlookers going wild as she outdrank a tuxedo’d brute about four times her size. The guy was obviously somebody’s security-a hulking mass trying not to be seen by his employer as he ran to vomit in a trash can discretely.

That girl was fond of showing up those thug types, wasn’t she?

“Ashley! Over here!”

Following the voice lead her gaze to the middle of a packed table where Jenna sat reclined in one of the plush seats, obviously the center of attention. A mass of empty glasses sat before her-yet her posture and her words stood with not a hint of a slur or wobble to them.

Goddamn, Jen could hold her drinks.

“This is the woman I was telling you all about!” Jenna leaned in to her audience as Ashley approached. “Ash-tell ‘em about that time that you fought off those LlamTech bots last month! I’m serious folks, this girl stumbles on a drug ring and then straight up fights a bunch of terminators! It’s incredible!”

Ashley’s face was flush red.

Jenna, you have no idea who these people are, please do not reveal to them that I may or may not have been the reason their shares plummeted

“She’s honestly just exaggerating! We’ve got a friend who works in R and D there-I just got a little too close to one of those guys on one occasion!” Ashley gave the briefest, yet fiercest glare at Jenna. The sort that screams kindly shut the fuck up before we end up murdered in a back alley, please.

“Suuure, but what about that Dr. Hideki guy stalking Adrianne? They don’t believe me on some of the shit I’ve said about him!” Jenna continued to give more and more details about just who they were to anybody who would listen. “Remember when you found out he was still taking cash from LlamTech even after they ‘fired’ him? Whooooooo, they were not happy about that one!”

Ashley took back what she thought about the holding her drinks thing.

“It was a big PR issue!” Ashley chuckled, pulling her friend up from her seat delicately. “Really blown out of proportion! I’m sorry to interrupt the lovely time you all are having but we’re meeting a friend!”

“Lovely chatting with you all!” Jenna almost sang as she got up. She placed her hand on the shoulder of the gentlemen next to her-clearly having become quite friendly with the whole table. “You tell that woman how you feel, Carlos! I’m sure she feels exactly the same.”

Almost dragging her, Ashley lead Jenna to a less crowded corner of the ballroom as the winded through the pack of servers and guests. She placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders, forcing her to straighten up and look her in the eye.

“What are you doing?! We can’t have people start to catch on about who we are here-you’ve got no idea who’s in this crowd tonight.” Ashley’s voice was a nigh hushed shout. “I’ve already had some LlamTech codemonkey try and talk me up-this place is crawling with O’Mara’s buddies.”

Jenna seemed offended, catching her balance. “Hey, I’m just enjoying myself! Loosen up, buttercup! I don’t think we’re under anywhere neaaaar as much scrutiny as you think we are!” Buzzed as she was, her demeanor ricocheted from impudent to overzealously friendly again. The athlete pulled her friend close, embracing her in one of those drunk hugs.

“You’re such a gooooood friend, you know that Ash? Always trying to keep us from getting murdered.” Jenna rocked them back and forth, not releasing the hug. “That’s what friends do, isn’t it?...Keep each other from getting murdered, yeah? I straight up love ya, girl.”

Oh no. She was thirty minutes away from profusely complimenting strangers in the women’s bathroom.

“Love you too, Jen.” Ashley responded patiently, making sure they weren’t drawing too many eyes. “Let’s get you some fresh air?”

Her friend sprung back from the hug, awash in a second wind of energy.

“I’ve GOT it! I’ll just take five.” She stumbled a bit, heading towards the glass doors leading to the balcony. “You go check with Madeline, yeah?”

Ashley watched her friend stumble in a drowsy serpentine movement to the outdoors. Hopefully a few minutes outside would help her sober up? She reached into her clutch, checking her phone to see if Madeline and her friend were getting ready for the auction portion of the gala.

Shit. 3 messages from Mad. 6 missed calls.

Madeline: No word from Lindsay
Madeline: She should have been here like an hour ago.
Madeline: any eyes on her out there??

Of course. It was too much to ask to have a lovely night out, wasn’t it? Chatting up handsome strangers, enjoying a few $12 beers, and the worst thing to deal with being nursing a hungover Jenna back to health?

Looks as though all that wasn’t in the cards tonight. Ashley dialed Madeline back-relieved to at least hear her pick up safe and sound.

“Ash-have you seen Lindsay an-“

“No. No I haven’t. Has she even texted you?”

You could hear the eye roll on the other end. “No-of course not! Please tell me we haven’t gotten her all wrapped up in this snooping nonsense” Madeline sounded like she was pleading with some higher power. “She hasn’t had anything to do with any of these people!”

Ashley groaned. It’s not like she drove these people to be criminals, dammit! O’Mara, Venturi, the Collector, Hideki-these people were all some variation of nutjob with zero ethics or morals.

And they could all very well be here at this gala.

“Listen, we’ll find her. Tell the host to wait on the auction part until we figure out where Lindsay is.” Ashley’s tone changed to as reassuring as she could make it. “I’m sure she’s just held up in traffic or something and we’re all just worrying about nothing. You focus on making sure you’re ready for this auction.”

“I don’t even think you bel-“

“Everything will be fine, Mad.”

She hung up just as an older man stepped to toward the stage, approaching the podium next to the brass band. He was a well built black man in his mid-fifties with a large mass of dreads tied neatly behind his head. Even from this distance, his height appeared to be well over 6’5”.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” The band settled down as his baritone voice permeated the banquet hall. “Thank you for joining us this year at the O’Mara Foundation’s annual charity gala-unfortunately, Miss O’Mara herself will not be in attendance this evening-so I hope my ugly mug will be an acceptable replacement.”

He paused for the low murmur of forced laughter. Ashley casually coasted her way towards the rooms main door while everyone’s attention was affixed.

“For those who don’t know me, my name is Cassius Thorton-President of the O’Mara Foundation. It’s likely not a name you’ve heard-I’ve always been behind the scenes of Miss O’Mara’s work with the organization. An organization that has been at the forefront of medical, scientific, and philanthropic causes the world over for the last fifteen years.”

He straightened himself, extending to his full, massive height. “None of which would have been possible without all of your support. On behalf of Juliana O’Mara, myself, and everyone at LlamTech-please offer yourselves a round of applause!”

How did such an imposing guy end up giving stiff banquet speeches for a living?

“Amongst the other festivities of this evening, I hope you’ll join me in tonight’s art auction-all proceeds benefiting the foundation’s charitable work. We’ve-uh-experienced a bit of a delay, I’ve been informed. But I assure you, things will commence forthright!”

Yeah, delays. One of your ‘guests’ has probably got something to do with that, Ashley thought. As much as she wanted to stick around for the patter this man was giving-she needed to regroup with Madeline and find her friend. What’s more, she needed to clean off this damn wine stain.

Leaving the main banquet hall, Ashley hustled into women’s room and planted herself in front of a sink next to another woman casually reapplying her makeup. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, she soaked them just enough to begin scrubbing out the settling in stain. A clatter next to her as the woman placed an eyeliner tube on the counter, followed by the sound of her clearing her throat. There were few feelings more eerie than when you know somebody’s glaring at you in a mirror, were there?

“Ashley.”

Oh god, she wished she’d noticed the vibrant green hair on the woman next to her when she came in.

“Audrey.” She responded with a cold cynicism.

“Miss Venturi will do, please. Especially after everything you’ve done.”

Everything she’d done? Shit, Ashley didn’t recall trying to kill Audrey Venturi and her friends in the last few months. She was having this tonight. She locked eyes with the other woman-her deep red glare holding nothing but malice for the amateur sleuth. Still committed to the Batman villain persona, she was clad in a tight deep green pencil dress-her arms coiled in numerous solid gold bands of vines and leaves.

“Every considered toning down the Poison Ivy persona, Audrey?” Ashley remarked, moving back to cleaning the stain out of her dress. “Or at least trying something more original? I mean, Jesus-gold vines?”

Venturi smiled a nasty, serpentine grin.

“Glad to see you’ve still got your good humor, Ashley.” She put her makeup back into her clutch bag. “Tell me-how many of your sweet friends are here this evening?”

Ashley tightened her grip on one of the towels.

“Why-planning to feed them to one of your little pets?”

“I think you know the answer to that.” That damn smile came back. “If you don’t want to tell me your numbers, I suppose I won’t tell you mine. But do know this, Ashley, my sweet-my friends are quite numerous this evening.”

Audrey turned to face the blonde, getting uncomfortably close.

“And they all know exactly who you are. Tread lightly, girl.”

With that, the green haired woman spun on her heel to leave the restroom-but not before turning her head back to Ashley.

“A little birdy told me that your friend, Miss Madeline Morales is attending this evening. Is this true?”

Ashley stood silent, glaring.

“You don’t have to tell me. I’ll find out. I’ve got a little unfinished business to settle with that darling girl. Do tell her I said hello.”

The door slammed behind Audrey Venturi as she left to rejoin the party.

Son of a bitch. “RC Cola-Poison Ivy” was here, too?

How many more of the sick fucks she’d dealt with were gracing the gala with their presence?

....................................

Muffled moans emanated from a wooden crate in the storage room. Stashed amongst dozens of priceless art pieces and artifacts, one of these boxes contained a piece far more lively than any abstract sculpture.

Cramped and folded over, Lindsay Slonus grunted furiously into her mouth-filling gag. Her whole night was spent bound to a pole-having only recently been shoved back in a crate by her kidnappers. She had only been in this particular crate for the better part of two hours, but holding this position for that long was nigh torture. From what she could tell, she had to have been held in some sort of basement overnight-with the decision to lock her back in a crate possibly resulting from the presence of possible witnesses arriving. Was she beneath the museum?

“Hllmhhhhhh?! Mhhhhffhhhhhh?!”

Maybe Madeline was closer than she thought? Or literally anybody else that could find her and get her the hell out of this? Her mind wasn’t even wondering about the motive behind whatever it was that had just happened to her at the gallery-her primary concern was getting untied and nothing more.

Her hips were allowed slight movement, writhing up and down as she tried to find a weakness in the ropes. God, her knees were killing her in this position. Intermittent thuds came from the box as her boots pounded against the inside from the minute kicks the damsel could produce.

She always thought she would be into this sort of thing. After this shit show, however, the first guy who suggested it was leaving immediately.

“HHLLLLLLLLHHHH?!”

The clatter of the garage door lifting made her freeze.

Freeze? What the hell were you doing girl? Make some damn noise! Lindsay thought.

“MHHHHVRRRR HRRHHH!!” PHHHLLMmmmm!”

The low murmur of conversation could be heard from outside, but any indication of just how many people or who they were remained a mystery.

“HlllLlhhhhhhhh?!”

The voices came closer. She was getting out of here! The heavenly metal sound of a crowbar could be heard and before she knew it, she watched the teeth become visible inside the box as it pried open the lid. Several more points of entry were made around the edge before the lid was removed completely, finally exposing poor bound Lindsay to the open air!

Into the open air and face to face once more with the masked man from earlier.

Fuck.

“Good evening, Miss Slonus. I apologize for the cramped accommodations-I assure you, we won’t be wasting any more of your time.”

The masked man was flanked by another bulky fellow in a jumpsuit-this one concealing his face behind a balaclava. This man reached inside of the crate and grabbed Lindsay’s arms, pulling her effortlessly out of her confines and depositing her on top of another sealed crate.

As it stood, it looked as though she was amongst the multitude of paintings and sculptures from numerous galleries that were to go to auction tomorrow.

The museum storage basement? Lindsay thought. At least they were kind enough to transport everything in spite of kidnapping her.

As she took in the surroundings outside of her wooden prison, she found herself encircled by not just the masked man and his goon-but many, many balaclava’d goons. All of them worked diligently preparing well over a dozen crates-each about six feet long.

Just large enough to fit a person in each crate.

“Whhtt thhh fhhhhmm?!!”

The metal masked man ignored her question as if he had heard it a million times before and proceeded to run his fingers through her red hair. He once more squeezed her cheeks, inspecting her with the same rigid attention to detail that she herself would apply to any acquisition.

Acquisition. Holy shit, it was all coming together.

Lindsay observed the crates once more. Each was filled with a liberal amount of foam padding inside, the edges of the foam mold adorned with numerous leather straps.

The girl squealed into her gag, realizing just how horrifyingly deep this spectacle went.

“Hush, dear. You’re hardly the first in this situation.” Happy with his inspection, he stepped back. “Excellent bone structure, by the way. I’m sure you’ll be worth quite the fortune.”

That phrase itself wasn’t the only thing that felt like a punch in the stomach. Her skin crawled at the way the fucking creep just casually made that statement. Who else were those boxes for?!

Madeline.

Shit, Madeline was going to be here. Madeline and god only knows who else that could be taken from the gala and subjected to whatever nightmare was unfolding before her.

“Whhtt dhhh yhh mhhhh?!”

“Shhhhhh, my dear.” He playfully patted her face. “You’re simply going through the motions. It’s understandable. ‘Where am I?’, ‘what do you want with me?’, ‘who are you?’, and so on. Every person that has been in your position has done the same-some don’t even get that lucky.”

He sat on a nearby crate, almost fluttering downward, and gestured with a flick of his hand to one of the goons to do something.

“While I don’t intend to answer every question that’s swirling in that pretty little head of yours, I’ll give you the standard ‘talk’. Does that sound satisfactory, Lindsay?”

“Fmhhhh yhhhhh.”

“Ah, excellent. You’re going to be one of ‘those’ acquisitions.” He straightened his tie “So here it is, my dear. People in my business call me ‘The Collector’. It’s not a fancy name, but what name is when it’s given to you from your reputation? As the name suggests, I deal in a very particular trade. Beautiful men and women, all sourced with the upmost discretion and programmed to customer spec, if desired.”

The goon that had left a moment ago handed him a metal mask, not unlike his own. The Collector showed it to Lindsay-it’s blank face staring into her very soul.

“Of course, none of that is done until we’ve wiped the slate clean.” He stood up and began approaching her with that same, horrifyingly slow walk. “That is where these darlings come in. Once affixed to the merchandise, everything you ever knew you were will slowly be eroded away. I won’t explain the science-I don’t expect you to understand-but I would advise against fighting it. Things get messy if you try and fight somebody rearranging your grey matter, wouldn’t you agree?”

Lindsay’s chest was burning with an icy fear. Shit, she could feel her heartbeat all the way down in her feet.

“There will be numerous close associates of mine at tonight’s O’Mara Gala-all of whom are interested in some window shopping.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Each has been given a little ‘burner’ phone with which to do some bidding. All the wealthy and beautiful at the event will be up for grabs-they just don’t know it yet. All my friends must do is place their bids through this little device and one by one, those selected will disappear throughout the evening and end up exactly where you are for processing.”

Lindsay sat wide-eyed and shaking. Stunned didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling.

“Ah, yes-processing.” He chuckled to himself like he had nearly left for work without his keys “You’d think after how many times I’ve given this speech, I’d remember every part!”

He held the mask inches from her face.

“I’d recommend being a good girl about this, Lindsay. You can’t imagine what fighting the reprogramming does to a new slave-and I’d hate to see that befall your pretty little face.” He ran his fingers playfully through her hair once more. “I’m usually one for blondes myself, but I might make an exception for you. I’d love to add you to my personal stock.”

Holding her head in place, he gently pressed the mask to her face as metal fingers around the edges dig into her. Her gagged screams become twice as muffled as her vision filled with a cacophony of lights and colors from inside the mask.

“Since you’re not on the auction block, I might just do that. Sweet dreams, my dear..”

Lindsay felt like her head was floating six inches above her neck as she felt a multitude of probes press against her temple. She was slipping away faster and faster-and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Her subconscious felt like a car backing out of a driveway, pulling further away from the lucid state of mind she was in moments ago.

She screamed. At least, she was pretty sure she did. Her brain and her body didn’t seem to be communicating on the same wavelength.

And so, she drifted. Drifted off to the lull of the hypnotic mask wiping away her very being.

............................

Audrey Venturi slithered into the storage room her guards had cleared out for her. Armed security ensured that she wouldn’t be disturbed for the next hour or so-at least until she would be expected to offer some sort of social graces to gala attendees.

She had a little morsel in her flytrap, after all.

Before her stood-stretched rather taut-a tightly bound and gagged Jenna Carmine. Like a fly tumbling into a pitcher plant, Ashley’s friend had made it far, far too easy. From what she had heard, this one draped herself on one of her goons on the balcony with the intent to dance with the dumb thug.

The trussed girl stood slumbering, likely still happily sedated by the combination of the needle one of her men had jabbed into her and the heavy amounts of alcohol still in her system. She remembered this one-little miss track and field! The fond memories returned to her-memories of this girl and Ashley’s younger sister, Aidan. Two beautiful girls her ‘supplier’ had nabbed from a university track meet. If she recalled, she had been planning to feed the pair to her (then) newest acquisition-a Giant Tam Dao Pitcher Plant. Before she even had the chance to feed her precious pet, a certain blonde snoop and her damn cowgirl friend had managed to start a fire in a nearby wing-ruining what a lovely evening they were having.

While she would have preferred to have both girls back in her clutches, picking up where she left off with darling Jenna here would have to suffice. This one was slim, toned, and shapely-a simply perfect treat for one of her pets. Maybe one of the more toothy ones-she’d hate to have one of her darlings choke on such a lean piece of meat.

Audrey ran her long, manicured nails along her prey’s face. The Collector was probably busy preparing to pick off his selections one by one for the evening-she’d have plenty fresh stock to feed her pets when she got home. For now, she had this one all to herself.

“Welcome back, Miss Carmine..” The green haired woman hissed in her bound quarry’s ear.

Jenna began to stir, mewing softly into her gag. From a sleepy lull to full awareness in an instant, her eyes widened as she realized just who was in her personal space.

“Mmmhhh hhnnmmhh fmhhhhhk?!”

This was certainly a sobering experience.

“Shhhhhh, it’s just you and I sweetheart.” She ran her fingers along Jenna’s squirming body. “-but I’m sure your associates will be joining us shortly. You might not have noticed it-sloshed as you were-but our old friend The Collector has been making the rounds tonight. Ever heard the phrase ‘everything’s for sale’?”

She revealed a phone-unassuming, but certainly not a luxury brand. Logging into it revealed an entire listing of photos taken from the evening-creepshots taken from around the ballroom of dozens of men and women in their finery, all completely unaware of what was going on around them.

How many people were in on this shit?!

Jenna felt a dizziness wash over her as she examined further-each photo had a price tag. What’s worse is that those numbers were steadily climbing.

Audrey tapped a listing to reveal what Jenna had feared-someone had taken a photo of Ashley while she was talking to that LlamTech guy.

“Oh, look-people are already taking a liking to your friend, Miss Hamrick!”

“Mhmhhhhffhggg?!”

“I’m currently the high bidder-but I’m not sure I want any of you girls going through that man’s famous conditioning. I’ll have to leave some order notes, don’t you think?”

Jesus Christ, $650,000?

Jenna didn’t have to guess if she was there-given her present situation. Fortunately, Madeline was nowhere to be seen as Audrey scrolled.

She was safe. Or similarly indisposed. Keeping a positive fucking outlook in all of this, aren’t we? Jenna thought.

Audrey put the phone away.

“We’ve still got another hour or two before I get to collect.”The athlete’s body tightened as her kidnapper’s hand roved along her. Audrey Venturi made a sickening sigh as she tightened her grip on the fly in her web. “Tell me, Jenna-what do you know about Giant Waterwheel plants?”

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Description
CHAPTER 1- www.deviantart.com/llamallamat…

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“~Hi, you’ve reached Lindsay’s voicemail. I promise I’m not screening my calls, just leave a mes-“

Madeline hung up again. That was the third time she’d called her friend in the last hour to figure out where to meet her before the auction. Between inspection of the pieces, presentation speeches, and everything else they would need some time to ensure they were on the same page. This was Slonus Gallery’s first real chance to be known by the public!

Guess she was going to have to trust the judgement of the driver as they neared Blanton Museum-a queue of limos and high end vans already forming.

“Jesus, Madeline! Even the champagne in the car is good!” Jenna remarked as she finished what was probably her third (?) glass of the drive. “Suppose that statement is redundant, though? Like saying ‘damn, that filet mignon was really good.’ No such thing as bad champagne when it’s genuine, right?”

Actually, there definitely was such a thing as bad champagne-but Madeline figured it better to withhold the reminder about her silver spoon.

Jenna sat lounged on the seat adjacent to the driver, clad in a well-fitting navy dress. Nylon accents stitched across the body, giving revealing glances at her toned figure-all accompanied by blue suede pumps and a dark pair of tights hugging her legs. The brunette athlete typically wasn’t one for the hosiery-or dressing up in general-but Madeline seemed to usually be wearing them. With her friend being the most keen to have her act together at an event like this, Jenna figured it best to emulate her.

Madeline, on the other hand, sat poised in the seat closest to the door in a more reserved number-likely done to keep from distracting from the pieces she and Lindsay would be bringing to auction. Her black silk pencil dress tried valiantly to keep her from turning heads-but everyone knew it was futile. If nothing else, the red accents of her Louboutins were a clear indicator of her unspoken status.

This modesty thing was exhausting.

Caught up in worrying about her checklist for the evening, Madeline’s revelry was broken by a shrill guffaw from the back of the car.

“I say, it hardly holds a candle to the sweat of peasants in the field, wouldn’t you say?” Ashley had put on the almost Python-esque aristocrat voice again, savoring the anguished expression it usually instigated from Madeline. “The champagne lacks that sorrowful aftertaste!”

The blonde had clearly gone out of her way to be noticed this evening. A deep purple sequined slit dress hugged her body, its nearly blinding luster a potential liability if enough light shined on it. Crossing her long legs revealed a stylish pair of black open-toe heels
completing the technicolor ensemble.

“What pedestrian taste, my dear Ashley!” Jenna shouted across with a stiff upper lip-her face straining to maintain a deadpan as Madeline buried her head in her hands. “Everyone knows peasant sweat is hardly what you serve company! Madeline, sweetheart, would you happen to have a bottle of childless widow’s tears in this carriage? Or perha-“

“Right here is fine, Mr. Jensen.” Madeline tapped on the limo’s glass to notify the driver, hoping to flashbang the exchange that she found herself caught in the middle of. The man at the wheel pulled in to an adjacent entrance ramp-one not quite as filled with unloading vehicles since it lacked the gravitas of the more popular, carpeted entrance that gave the full gala experience. Like entering a movie premier, the wealthy and powerful from all over almost floated into the museum. Chiseled dates and arm candy clung to each man or woman stepping out to the walkway-cameras flashing about them in a furious chatter.

It baffled Madeline. Most of these people weren’t inherently famous. Silicon Valley billionaires, oil execs, politicians, and more were all in attendance-none of whom would make a very exciting front page.

It was probably better to avoid the cameras and publicity at something like this, Madeline thought as Jensen put the car in park and stepped out to open the door for the girls.

“Woah, woah, woah, Mads!” Ashley’s voice called out.

Madeline stopped in the door frame, turning her head to see the betrayed glare of her friends.

“You’re telling me we’re going to skip the pomp and circumstance? The literal red carpet? C’mon Maddy! You’ve got me fucked up if you think I’m refusing that opportunity.” The blonde sat back in her seat, Jenna adopting the same position.

“I’m not sure if we-“ Madeline stopped herself. There you go, being a rich bitch again! She thought.

Oh, you only have one summer home in Cabo? How quaint.

“I...well..” Madeline relented. “Jensen-swing around to the front. I’ll be getting out here.”

Stepping out of the car, she heard a resounding Fuck yeah! from inside the limo.

Who was she to ruin their fun at the red carpet?

....................................

“-all I’m saying is it’s fascinating! The stuff we’re doing with these bots is leagues ahead of the ones from even five years ago.” An eccentric LlamTech code monkey continued talking Ashley’s ear off, clearly doing his best to impress her. Or maybe he was a VP? She really didn’t care. He kept going. “You’ve seen those Mark 1 IGII security drones, right?”

Ashley let out an exhausted sigh. Oh yes, she was very familiar with the Mark 1 LlamaTech robots. One of the originals, “Iggy” as she and her friends affectionately referred to it, was still at large since breaking loose from the labs years ago.

Where was that trash can on treads, anyhow?

“I’m quite well acquainted with those. We had quite a few run ins u-...ahem..” Ashley stopped herself to keep from drawing any attention to herself. “-had a few incidents using the early models for our security purposes.”

The code monkey lit up, believing he had caught the interest of the woman he was trying to impress.

“Weren’t they a mess?! I’m sure you had all sorts of mishaps over at-..What company did you say you were with, again?”

Shit shit shit shit

“The..I’m..” Ashley took a sip of her wine, pretending to have been caught mid drink by the question in order to hide the pause she needed to think of an answer. “I’m in HR with the Morales Corp. Nothing fancy-can’t say I’ve dealt too extensively in matters like that to see whatever new models are out now.”

The young man nodded cheerfully, obviously more focused on wooing this woman than sniffing out a snoop that had been actively working to subvert his company’s operations.

“It would make sense if you haven’t-LlamTech has been steering away from large scale automatons to less overt methods. Drone swarms, security networks, nanotechnology-That sort of thing”

Nanotech. Great. For all she knew, every person her could already be swarmed with microscopic bots and not even know it. Ashley took another nervous sip of her drink.

“The stuff I’ve been working on-“ the man lifted his arm a little too fast and knocked the glass she had been holding-sending a splash of wine over the front of her dress.

“Oh-oh goodness-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” He immediately scrambled for a something to clean up the mess.

He was handsome enough for Ashley to give a shit-but the poor guy was an uncoordinated mess. She smiled reassuringly.

“Look, its not a problem, I-“

“Sorry, sorry, this is all my fault!”

She stopped his hand from trying to clean up the mess.

“It’s fine! Don’t worry! I’ll just go get myself cleaned up. Talk to you later, err...”

“Kenneth.”

“Kenneth! Good chat! I’ll catch up with you later!”

With that, Ashley gracefully escaped the conversation. The wine spill was a welcome diversion-giving her the chance to reconvene with Jenna. Last she had seen, the star athlete herself was neck deep in shots at the open bar-at least half a dozen cheering onlookers going wild as she outdrank a tuxedo’d brute about four times her size. The guy was obviously somebody’s security-a hulking mass trying not to be seen by his employer as he ran to vomit in a trash can discretely.

That girl was fond of showing up those thug types, wasn’t she?

“Ashley! Over here!”

Following the voice lead her gaze to the middle of a packed table where Jenna sat reclined in one of the plush seats, obviously the center of attention. A mass of empty glasses sat before her-yet her posture and her words stood with not a hint of a slur or wobble to them.

Goddamn, Jen could hold her drinks.

“This is the woman I was telling you all about!” Jenna leaned in to her audience as Ashley approached. “Ash-tell ‘em about that time that you fought off those LlamTech bots last month! I’m serious folks, this girl stumbles on a drug ring and then straight up fights a bunch of terminators! It’s incredible!”

Ashley’s face was flush red.

Jenna, you have no idea who these people are, please do not reveal to them that I may or may not have been the reason their shares plummeted

“She’s honestly just exaggerating! We’ve got a friend who works in R and D there-I just got a little too close to one of those guys on one occasion!” Ashley gave the briefest, yet fiercest glare at Jenna. The sort that screams kindly shut the fuck up before we end up murdered in a back alley, please.

“Suuure, but what about that Dr. Hideki guy stalking Adrianne? They don’t believe me on some of the shit I’ve said about him!” Jenna continued to give more and more details about just who they were to anybody who would listen. “Remember when you found out he was still taking cash from LlamTech even after they ‘fired’ him? Whooooooo, they were not happy about that one!”

Ashley took back what she thought about the holding her drinks thing.

“It was a big PR issue!” Ashley chuckled, pulling her friend up from her seat delicately. “Really blown out of proportion! I’m sorry to interrupt the lovely time you all are having but we’re meeting a friend!”

“Lovely chatting with you all!” Jenna almost sang as she got up. She placed her hand on the shoulder of the gentlemen next to her-clearly having become quite friendly with the whole table. “You tell that woman how you feel, Carlos! I’m sure she feels exactly the same.”

Almost dragging her, Ashley lead Jenna to a less crowded corner of the ballroom as the winded through the pack of servers and guests. She placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders, forcing her to straighten up and look her in the eye.

“What are you doing?! We can’t have people start to catch on about who we are here-you’ve got no idea who’s in this crowd tonight.” Ashley’s voice was a nigh hushed shout. “I’ve already had some LlamTech codemonkey try and talk me up-this place is crawling with O’Mara’s buddies.”

Jenna seemed offended, catching her balance. “Hey, I’m just enjoying myself! Loosen up, buttercup! I don’t think we’re under anywhere neaaaar as much scrutiny as you think we are!” Buzzed as she was, her demeanor ricocheted from impudent to overzealously friendly again. The athlete pulled her friend close, embracing her in one of those drunk hugs.

“You’re such a gooooood friend, you know that Ash? Always trying to keep us from getting murdered.” Jenna rocked them back and forth, not releasing the hug. “That’s what friends do, isn’t it?...Keep each other from getting murdered, yeah? I straight up love ya, girl.”

Oh no. She was thirty minutes away from profusely complimenting strangers in the women’s bathroom.

“Love you too, Jen.” Ashley responded patiently, making sure they weren’t drawing too many eyes. “Let’s get you some fresh air?”

Her friend sprung back from the hug, awash in a second wind of energy.

“I’ve GOT it! I’ll just take five.” She stumbled a bit, heading towards the glass doors leading to the balcony. “You go check with Madeline, yeah?”

Ashley watched her friend stumble in a drowsy serpentine movement to the outdoors. Hopefully a few minutes outside would help her sober up? She reached into her clutch, checking her phone to see if Madeline and her friend were getting ready for the auction portion of the gala.

Shit. 3 messages from Mad. 6 missed calls.

Madeline: No word from Lindsay
Madeline: She should have been here like an hour ago.
Madeline: any eyes on her out there??

Of course. It was too much to ask to have a lovely night out, wasn’t it? Chatting up handsome strangers, enjoying a few $12 beers, and the worst thing to deal with being nursing a hungover Jenna back to health?

Looks as though all that wasn’t in the cards tonight. Ashley dialed Madeline back-relieved to at least hear her pick up safe and sound.

“Ash-have you seen Lindsay an-“

“No. No I haven’t. Has she even texted you?”

You could hear the eye roll on the other end. “No-of course not! Please tell me we haven’t gotten her all wrapped up in this snooping nonsense” Madeline sounded like she was pleading with some higher power. “She hasn’t had anything to do with any of these people!”

Ashley groaned. It’s not like she drove these people to be criminals, dammit! O’Mara, Venturi, the Collector, Hideki-these people were all some variation of nutjob with zero ethics or morals.

And they could all very well be here at this gala.

“Listen, we’ll find her. Tell the host to wait on the auction part until we figure out where Lindsay is.” Ashley’s tone changed to as reassuring as she could make it. “I’m sure she’s just held up in traffic or something and we’re all just worrying about nothing. You focus on making sure you’re ready for this auction.”

“I don’t even think you bel-“

“Everything will be fine, Mad.”

She hung up just as an older man stepped to toward the stage, approaching the podium next to the brass band. He was a well built black man in his mid-fifties with a large mass of dreads tied neatly behind his head. Even from this distance, his height appeared to be well over 6’5”.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” The band settled down as his baritone voice permeated the banquet hall. “Thank you for joining us this year at the O’Mara Foundation’s annual charity gala-unfortunately, Miss O’Mara herself will not be in attendance this evening-so I hope my ugly mug will be an acceptable replacement.”

He paused for the low murmur of forced laughter. Ashley casually coasted her way towards the rooms main door while everyone’s attention was affixed.

“For those who don’t know me, my name is Cassius Thorton-President of the O’Mara Foundation. It’s likely not a name you’ve heard-I’ve always been behind the scenes of Miss O’Mara’s work with the organization. An organization that has been at the forefront of medical, scientific, and philanthropic causes the world over for the last fifteen years.”

He straightened himself, extending to his full, massive height. “None of which would have been possible without all of your support. On behalf of Juliana O’Mara, myself, and everyone at LlamTech-please offer yourselves a round of applause!”

How did such an imposing guy end up giving stiff banquet speeches for a living?

“Amongst the other festivities of this evening, I hope you’ll join me in tonight’s art auction-all proceeds benefiting the foundation’s charitable work. We’ve-uh-experienced a bit of a delay, I’ve been informed. But I assure you, things will commence forthright!”

Yeah, delays. One of your ‘guests’ has probably got something to do with that, Ashley thought. As much as she wanted to stick around for the patter this man was giving-she needed to regroup with Madeline and find her friend. What’s more, she needed to clean off this damn wine stain.

Leaving the main banquet hall, Ashley hustled into women’s room and planted herself in front of a sink next to another woman casually reapplying her makeup. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, she soaked them just enough to begin scrubbing out the settling in stain. A clatter next to her as the woman placed an eyeliner tube on the counter, followed by the sound of her clearing her throat. There were few feelings more eerie than when you know somebody’s glaring at you in a mirror, were there?

“Ashley.”

Oh god, she wished she’d noticed the vibrant green hair on the woman next to her when she came in.

“Audrey.” She responded with a cold cynicism.

“Miss Venturi will do, please. Especially after everything you’ve done.”

Everything she’d done? Shit, Ashley didn’t recall trying to kill Audrey Venturi and her friends in the last few months. She was having this tonight. She locked eyes with the other woman-her deep red glare holding nothing but malice for the amateur sleuth. Still committed to the Batman villain persona, she was clad in a tight deep green pencil dress-her arms coiled in numerous solid gold bands of vines and leaves.

“Every considered toning down the Poison Ivy persona, Audrey?” Ashley remarked, moving back to cleaning the stain out of her dress. “Or at least trying something more original? I mean, Jesus-gold vines?”

Venturi smiled a nasty, serpentine grin.

“Glad to see you’ve still got your good humor, Ashley.” She put her makeup back into her clutch bag. “Tell me-how many of your sweet friends are here this evening?”

Ashley tightened her grip on one of the towels.

“Why-planning to feed them to one of your little pets?”

“I think you know the answer to that.” That damn smile came back. “If you don’t want to tell me your numbers, I suppose I won’t tell you mine. But do know this, Ashley, my sweet-my friends are quite numerous this evening.”

Audrey turned to face the blonde, getting uncomfortably close.

“And they all know exactly who you are. Tread lightly, girl.”

With that, the green haired woman spun on her heel to leave the restroom-but not before turning her head back to Ashley.

“A little birdy told me that your friend, Miss Madeline Morales is attending this evening. Is this true?”

Ashley stood silent, glaring.

“You don’t have to tell me. I’ll find out. I’ve got a little unfinished business to settle with that darling girl. Do tell her I said hello.”

The door slammed behind Audrey Venturi as she left to rejoin the party.

Son of a bitch. “RC Cola-Poison Ivy” was here, too?

How many more of the sick fucks she’d dealt with were gracing the gala with their presence?

....................................

Muffled moans emanated from a wooden crate in the storage room. Stashed amongst dozens of priceless art pieces and artifacts, one of these boxes contained a piece far more lively than any abstract sculpture.

Cramped and folded over, Lindsay Slonus grunted furiously into her mouth-filling gag. Her whole night was spent bound to a pole-having only recently been shoved back in a crate by her kidnappers. She had only been in this particular crate for the better part of two hours, but holding this position for that long was nigh torture. From what she could tell, she had to have been held in some sort of basement overnight-with the decision to lock her back in a crate possibly resulting from the presence of possible witnesses arriving. Was she beneath the museum?

“Hllmhhhhhh?! Mhhhhffhhhhhh?!”

Maybe Madeline was closer than she thought? Or literally anybody else that could find her and get her the hell out of this? Her mind wasn’t even wondering about the motive behind whatever it was that had just happened to her at the gallery-her primary concern was getting untied and nothing more.

Her hips were allowed slight movement, writhing up and down as she tried to find a weakness in the ropes. God, her knees were killing her in this position. Intermittent thuds came from the box as her boots pounded against the inside from the minute kicks the damsel could produce.

She always thought she would be into this sort of thing. After this shit show, however, the first guy who suggested it was leaving immediately.

“HHLLLLLLLLHHHH?!”

The clatter of the garage door lifting made her freeze.

Freeze? What the hell were you doing girl? Make some damn noise! Lindsay thought.

“MHHHHVRRRR HRRHHH!!” PHHHLLMmmmm!”

The low murmur of conversation could be heard from outside, but any indication of just how many people or who they were remained a mystery.

“HlllLlhhhhhhhh?!”

The voices came closer. She was getting out of here! The heavenly metal sound of a crowbar could be heard and before she knew it, she watched the teeth become visible inside the box as it pried open the lid. Several more points of entry were made around the edge before the lid was removed completely, finally exposing poor bound Lindsay to the open air!

Into the open air and face to face once more with the masked man from earlier.

Fuck.

“Good evening, Miss Slonus. I apologize for the cramped accommodations-I assure you, we won’t be wasting any more of your time.”

The masked man was flanked by another bulky fellow in a jumpsuit-this one concealing his face behind a balaclava. This man reached inside of the crate and grabbed Lindsay’s arms, pulling her effortlessly out of her confines and depositing her on top of another sealed crate.

As it stood, it looked as though she was amongst the multitude of paintings and sculptures from numerous galleries that were to go to auction tomorrow.

The museum storage basement? Lindsay thought. At least they were kind enough to transport everything in spite of kidnapping her.

As she took in the surroundings outside of her wooden prison, she found herself encircled by not just the masked man and his goon-but many, many balaclava’d goons. All of them worked diligently preparing well over a dozen crates-each about six feet long.

Just large enough to fit a person in each crate.

“Whhtt thhh fhhhhmm?!!”

The metal masked man ignored her question as if he had heard it a million times before and proceeded to run his fingers through her red hair. He once more squeezed her cheeks, inspecting her with the same rigid attention to detail that she herself would apply to any acquisition.

Acquisition. Holy shit, it was all coming together.

Lindsay observed the crates once more. Each was filled with a liberal amount of foam padding inside, the edges of the foam mold adorned with numerous leather straps.

The girl squealed into her gag, realizing just how horrifyingly deep this spectacle went.

“Hush, dear. You’re hardly the first in this situation.” Happy with his inspection, he stepped back. “Excellent bone structure, by the way. I’m sure you’ll be worth quite the fortune.”

That phrase itself wasn’t the only thing that felt like a punch in the stomach. Her skin crawled at the way the fucking creep just casually made that statement. Who else were those boxes for?!

Madeline.

Shit, Madeline was going to be here. Madeline and god only knows who else that could be taken from the gala and subjected to whatever nightmare was unfolding before her.

“Whhtt dhhh yhh mhhhh?!”

“Shhhhhh, my dear.” He playfully patted her face. “You’re simply going through the motions. It’s understandable. ‘Where am I?’, ‘what do you want with me?’, ‘who are you?’, and so on. Every person that has been in your position has done the same-some don’t even get that lucky.”

He sat on a nearby crate, almost fluttering downward, and gestured with a flick of his hand to one of the goons to do something.

“While I don’t intend to answer every question that’s swirling in that pretty little head of yours, I’ll give you the standard ‘talk’. Does that sound satisfactory, Lindsay?”

“Fmhhhh yhhhhh.”

“Ah, excellent. You’re going to be one of ‘those’ acquisitions.” He straightened his tie “So here it is, my dear. People in my business call me ‘The Collector’. It’s not a fancy name, but what name is when it’s given to you from your reputation? As the name suggests, I deal in a very particular trade. Beautiful men and women, all sourced with the upmost discretion and programmed to customer spec, if desired.”

The goon that had left a moment ago handed him a metal mask, not unlike his own. The Collector showed it to Lindsay-it’s blank face staring into her very soul.

“Of course, none of that is done until we’ve wiped the slate clean.” He stood up and began approaching her with that same, horrifyingly slow walk. “That is where these darlings come in. Once affixed to the merchandise, everything you ever knew you were will slowly be eroded away. I won’t explain the science-I don’t expect you to understand-but I would advise against fighting it. Things get messy if you try and fight somebody rearranging your grey matter, wouldn’t you agree?”

Lindsay’s chest was burning with an icy fear. Shit, she could feel her heartbeat all the way down in her feet.

“There will be numerous close associates of mine at tonight’s O’Mara Gala-all of whom are interested in some window shopping.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Each has been given a little ‘burner’ phone with which to do some bidding. All the wealthy and beautiful at the event will be up for grabs-they just don’t know it yet. All my friends must do is place their bids through this little device and one by one, those selected will disappear throughout the evening and end up exactly where you are for processing.”

Lindsay sat wide-eyed and shaking. Stunned didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling.

“Ah, yes-processing.” He chuckled to himself like he had nearly left for work without his keys “You’d think after how many times I’ve given this speech, I’d remember every part!”

He held the mask inches from her face.

“I’d recommend being a good girl about this, Lindsay. You can’t imagine what fighting the reprogramming does to a new slave-and I’d hate to see that befall your pretty little face.” He ran his fingers playfully through her hair once more. “I’m usually one for blondes myself, but I might make an exception for you. I’d love to add you to my personal stock.”

Holding her head in place, he gently pressed the mask to her face as metal fingers around the edges dig into her. Her gagged screams become twice as muffled as her vision filled with a cacophony of lights and colors from inside the mask.

“Since you’re not on the auction block, I might just do that. Sweet dreams, my dear..”

Lindsay felt like her head was floating six inches above her neck as she felt a multitude of probes press against her temple. She was slipping away faster and faster-and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Her subconscious felt like a car backing out of a driveway, pulling further away from the lucid state of mind she was in moments ago.

She screamed. At least, she was pretty sure she did. Her brain and her body didn’t seem to be communicating on the same wavelength.

And so, she drifted. Drifted off to the lull of the hypnotic mask wiping away her very being.

............................

Audrey Venturi slithered into the storage room her guards had cleared out for her. Armed security ensured that she wouldn’t be disturbed for the next hour or so-at least until she would be expected to offer some sort of social graces to gala attendees.

She had a little morsel in her flytrap, after all.

Before her stood-stretched rather taut-a tightly bound and gagged Jenna Carmine. Like a fly tumbling into a pitcher plant, Ashley’s friend had made it far, far too easy. From what she had heard, this one draped herself on one of her goons on the balcony with the intent to dance with the dumb thug.

The trussed girl stood slumbering, likely still happily sedated by the combination of the needle one of her men had jabbed into her and the heavy amounts of alcohol still in her system. She remembered this one-little miss track and field! The fond memories returned to her-memories of this girl and Ashley’s younger sister, Aidan. Two beautiful girls her ‘supplier’ had nabbed from a university track meet. If she recalled, she had been planning to feed the pair to her (then) newest acquisition-a Giant Tam Dao Pitcher Plant. Before she even had the chance to feed her precious pet, a certain blonde snoop and her damn cowgirl friend had managed to start a fire in a nearby wing-ruining what a lovely evening they were having.

While she would have preferred to have both girls back in her clutches, picking up where she left off with darling Jenna here would have to suffice. This one was slim, toned, and shapely-a simply perfect treat for one of her pets. Maybe one of the more toothy ones-she’d hate to have one of her darlings choke on such a lean piece of meat.

Audrey ran her long, manicured nails along her prey’s face. The Collector was probably busy preparing to pick off his selections one by one for the evening-she’d have plenty fresh stock to feed her pets when she got home. For now, she had this one all to herself.

“Welcome back, Miss Carmine..” The green haired woman hissed in her bound quarry’s ear.

Jenna began to stir, mewing softly into her gag. From a sleepy lull to full awareness in an instant, her eyes widened as she realized just who was in her personal space.

“Mmmhhh hhnnmmhh fmhhhhhk?!”

This was certainly a sobering experience.

“Shhhhhh, it’s just you and I sweetheart.” She ran her fingers along Jenna’s squirming body. “-but I’m sure your associates will be joining us shortly. You might not have noticed it-sloshed as you were-but our old friend The Collector has been making the rounds tonight. Ever heard the phrase ‘everything’s for sale’?”

She revealed a phone-unassuming, but certainly not a luxury brand. Logging into it revealed an entire listing of photos taken from the evening-creepshots taken from around the ballroom of dozens of men and women in their finery, all completely unaware of what was going on around them.

How many people were in on this shit?!

Jenna felt a dizziness wash over her as she examined further-each photo had a price tag. What’s worse is that those numbers were steadily climbing.

Audrey tapped a listing to reveal what Jenna had feared-someone had taken a photo of Ashley while she was talking to that LlamTech guy.

“Oh, look-people are already taking a liking to your friend, Miss Hamrick!”

“Mhmhhhhffhggg?!”

“I’m currently the high bidder-but I’m not sure I want any of you girls going through that man’s famous conditioning. I’ll have to leave some order notes, don’t you think?”

Jesus Christ, $650,000?

Jenna didn’t have to guess if she was there-given her present situation. Fortunately, Madeline was nowhere to be seen as Audrey scrolled.

She was safe. Or similarly indisposed. Keeping a positive fucking outlook in all of this, aren’t we? Jenna thought.

Audrey put the phone away.

“We’ve still got another hour or two before I get to collect.”The athlete’s body tightened as her kidnapper’s hand roved along her. Audrey Venturi made a sickening sigh as she tightened her grip on the fly in her web. “Tell me, Jenna-what do you know about Giant Waterwheel plants?”

......................................