Female Prey & the Elusive Prey Read online

  “I’ll get it!” Barbara announced, almost jumping out of her chair. Her hair, loose and fully dried now, flowed along behind her like spun gold as she hurried over to open the door.

  The complimentary meal had sandwiches made from small, crusty rolls, tossed salads in small bowls, and a crock of some kind of soup that smelled delicious. There was also coffee, hot tea, iced tea and a small bottle of red wine, all loaded onto a metal cart. An elderly gentleman in a black suit smiled and nodded at Barbara before trundling it all over to the table. He never said a word, only smiled and nodded to Kimberley and bowed slightly to Joanna before leaving. Barbara shut the door behind him and then hurried over to inspect the food, pick up an empty plate, and begin loading it up.

  “Please, go right ahead.” Joanna nodded towards Kimberley, who had hesitated. “I’m sure that you are both hungry, and the food here is excellent.”

  “Oh, wow!” Barbara exclaimed around a mouthful of sandwich. “This IS good!” She looked at Joanna. “Would you care to join us?”

  “No, thank you.” Joanna smiled. “I’ve already eaten.”

  Kimberley shrugged and began filling her own plate. Maybe Joanna had already eaten and maybe she just wasn’t allowed to eat with the guests, but she wasn’t going to pursue the matter. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite: baked ham, Swiss cheese, a bit of Romaine lettuce and a dab of sweetish mustard…but it tasted like the very best ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce and mustard she’d ever had. What did the soup taste like?

  “I have a question…” she said between bites. “An acquaintance of ours said that she was going to sell herself in the slave market tomorrow. How does that work?”

  “I’m sorry…” Joanna responded. “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Well,” Kimberley elaborated. “We…” she waved a hand towards Barbara, who was too busy eating to talk at the moment “We’re signed up for…evasion and escape, I think it’s called. Basically, though, we’re going to go play hide-and-go-seek in the woods with a bunch of men trying very hard to catch us, and we both know what happens if we get caught.” She couldn’t resist a grin at that. “But our friend is signed up for something else. She’s going right into the slave market tomorrow morning. I want to know why we weren’t told about this…ah…option, and if we’d picked it instead, how would it work?”

  “Ah.” Joanna nodded. “Well, it would be quite simple, really. You and Miss Kingman have already paid for your…vacation package here. This suite will be held for the both of you for the duration of your stay here…”

  “I don’t see what that has to do with my question,” Kimberley interrupted.

  “No. Perhaps not, but please let me finish.” Joanna looked at her a bit sternly.

  “Sorry. Please go ahead.”

  “As I said…your payment is for this suite and other accommodations here at the hotel; the pool, the spa, and all of the other amenities. Meals are also covered. The two of you may choose to simply enjoy the hospitality of the house and never go out to play hide-and-seek, as you put it.” Joanna took a breath. “Now, if you choose to go out and play, you may very well be captured. Your captors may decide to keep you until your time is up or to release you before that time is up. In which case, you may return here, or they may decide to sell you at the slave market themselves. If they do that and you are sold, a portion of the proceeds from your auction will be credited to your account. In the case of your friend, she has reserved a suite here for only one night. Since she is selling herself, so to speak, all of the proceeds from her sale will be credited to her account.” She smiled. “Is that clear?”

  “Ah…yes,” Kimberley gulped. “Except that I still don’t know why we weren’t told about that beforehand.”

  Joanna smiled warmly. “Since this is only the second time for either of you, it would not have been offered as an option. What would be the point in telling you?”

  Kimberley sighed. Just like last year, she was having to learn things as she went. She looked over at Barbara, who was working on her second…or third…sandwich. Barbara’s blue eyes widened and she shrugged in reply.

  She turned back to Joanna. “All right. So now what?”

  “Is it still your intention to go out into the woods tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes…I guess so. Why?”

  “Before you do that, you must register with one of our guides. There is an office just beyond the pool area, at the edge of the woods. Be sure to stop by there before entering the woods.”

  “I thought that we were registered already,” Barbara sounded puzzled.

  “You are registered at the hotel,” Joanna answered. “Not for evasion and escape yet.”

  “Why do we have to register again? Isn’t everything already covered?”

  “No, Miss Kingman.” Joanna shook her head slowly. “You are indeed registered at the hotel, but we require every female guest to register before she goes off into the wilds. We must keep careful track, you see, of who is where. In addition, if you are captured, your captors are required to notify us of that, and if you return to the hotel on your own, you must likewise let us know.”

  “How do they do that…or we do that?” Barbara asked.

  “Before you go into the wilds, a small chip will be implanted, usually in an earlobe. The hotel staff and any…hunters…will have scanners able to read the chip.”

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” Kimberley shook her head.

  “It is a very quick and painless procedure, and the chip will become inert after a certain period of time. Please understand, Miss Jacobsen…” Joanna seemed deadly serious about this. “Previously, the men who hunted you were staff members…professionals. Here, the hunters are not employees, not professionals. They are, rather, men…and some women, I should add…who have contracted with us for their own version of a vacation package.”

  “I see that, but…” Kimberley began.

  Joanna held up a hand, cutting her off. “Anyone and everyone coming here is carefully screened and evaluated, of course. But…we must still take certain precautions. You do understand, don’t you?”

  Kimberley sighed. “Yes, I understand.” She hadn’t liked the idea of being tagged, but she could see Joanna’s point.

  “Miss Kingman?” Joanna turned towards Barbara.

  “Oh yes! Absolutely!” Barbara nodded. “I suppose if we don’t agree to getting chips implanted in our ears we can’t go and play in the woods, right?”

  “Correct.” Joanna nodded. “However, you may still stay at the hotel. Your suite is paid for. There are some women who do only that. However, the hotel has a nightclub of sorts, and both men and women go there.” She smiled. “It’s not unlike many another vacation resorts in that respect.” She looked at Barbara, then Kimberley. “Are there any more questions?”

  “Uh…no. Not at the moment.” Kimberley looked at her friend. “Barbara?”

  “None for me.” Barbara shook her head.

  “Very well.” Joanna stood. “If either of you think of anything else, just use the phone. Dial ‘0’ for information.” She nodded to Kimberley and Barbara in turn. “Good afternoon.”

  “Wow!” Barbara exhaled after Joanna shut the door behind her. “That was quite a performance. Kind of ice-queenish, wasn’t she?”

  “Kind of,” Kimberley agreed. “I wonder how much of it was just a front, though. You saw the collar she was wearing.”

  “Couldn’t miss it.” Barbara nodded. Then she laughed. “I wonder how often she gets called as room service. She’s very professional, very proper and very distant…and a man would see that collar and start to wonder…and then one night, he picks up the phone.”

  “Yes. I can picture that,” Kimberley agreed. She tried a bit of the soup. It was laden with delicious vegetables, but had no trace of meat in it. She herself was wondering what Joanna would be like stripped of everything but that collar.

  “But did you catch that one bit…some of the hunters are women?”
>
  “I caught it.” Kimberley nodded. She took another spoonful of soup. “Cat mentioned it, too. What do you think of that?”

  “I’m not sure I’d want to get captured by a woman.” Barbara yawned and stretched. “A woman might be a bit too cruel, you know? You still up for this?”

  “I’ve come this far,” Kimberley answered. “How about you?”

  “Me? I’m game.” She yawned again. “Or rather, I will be tomorrow. I’m kinda sleepy right now.”

  Kimberley pushed the now-empty bowl away and took one of the small salads. She was a bit tired herself, but more hungry than tired at the moment. “So take a nap,” she suggested. “I’ll wake you in time for dinner. Maybe we can even check out that nightclub.”

  Barbara yawned again, hugely. “All right. Sounds good to me.” She stood up and stretched. “But let’s not stay up too late tonight. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep on the trail tomorrow.”

  “You do that, and I’ll leave you behind.” Kimberley smiled, but she wasn’t completely joking. She intended to make anyone trying to capture her work very hard at it. She was Elf-Girl, after all. She had the beginnings of a reputation to protect.

  Barbara padded barefoot over to her bed and flopped onto it, face-down. She moved once to put a pillow under her head, and then was still.

  Kimberley sat quietly in the chair, devouring the salad. There was already some kind of dressing on it, slightly sweet and slightly salty at the same time. She finished it quickly and had a little more of the wine. She felt pleasantly full now, and more than a little sleepy herself. Perhaps she could get dressed and have a look around the place, but somehow it seemed to be too much trouble just now. A short nap, on the other hand, sounded very good, and not too much trouble at all. The last thing she did before collapsing onto her own bed was leave a wake-up call. If the dinners they served here were as good as the lunches, she didn’t want to miss one. It might be awhile before she had a chance at another solid meal.

  “Are you sure about this?” Barbara asked plaintively, still holding the one dress she had brought against her body, as if it would change her friend’s mind. It was dark red, cut low in front, and low in back, and it ended a handspan above her knees. Kimberley had seen her wear it before. It would cling to her body in a way that made men’s heads turn, in a way that Kimberley always thought should cause whiplash, and the material was fine enough to erase any doubts as to whether or not she was wearing a bra. Barbara always looked gorgeous in it.

  Kimberley did not like that dress at all. “Absolutely certain,” she replied. “We’re just going to dinner, not to a nightclub.” She pulled on her other boot and began lacing it up.

  “We could still look nice,” Barbara almost whined. “But you didn’t bring any dress at all, did you?”

  “Not a one,” Kimberley agreed with a grin. “Just clothes for the trail, and that’s how I’m going to dinner. Any man who sees me tonight will know what I’m here for. If you wear that,” she pointed at the dress, “They might get the idea that you were just looking for some action tonight.”

  “Well, so what?” Barbara rejoined. “You might like the attention, too.”

  Kimberley stood up and smiled. “I think I’ll get plenty of attention as it is. Look at me.” She did a pirouette. “I’m dressed for the trail, obviously. How many guys are going to look at me and get curious about me? They might even come over to our table, try to strike up a conversation, try to learn something about me that might help them catch me later. Think about it.”

  Barbara held her dress out at arms’ length and looked at it wistfully. “But I carried it all the way here!”

  “You can still wear it if you want. I’m not telling you not to.”

  In the end, Barbara left her dress hanging in the closet of their suite and complained about it all the way to the hotel restaurant.

  “Stop whining,” Kimberley told her after they were seated in a booth. “I already checked, and there’s no dress code for this place. Anyway, you look fine.” She cast an eye at Barbara’s denim-sheathed legs. “I just hope you aren’t planning to wear those tomorrow. They look good, but they’re kinda tight, aren’t they?”

  Barbara laughed. “More than ‘kinda’,” she admitted. “But don’t worry. I know better than that. Loose-fitting clothes for the trail.”

  “You have learned well.” Kimberley chuckled. “Now, let’s see what’s on the menu.”

  The food here was good. The service was excellent. Kimberley greatly enjoyed her broiled salmon, while Barbara tore into her steak as if she’d never had lunch that day or anything at all to eat yesterday. Between bites, they scanned what they could see of the restaurant, nudging one another as they spotted some man giving them the eye. While they attracted a fair amount of attention, none of their admirers tried to approach them. Kimberley wondered about that. Maybe it was another one of the rules that they had here. Well, it didn’t really matter. She was sure that they had gotten enough notice so that some of them were already trying to find out more about them. There was bound to be some way for a curious, imaginative and determined man to get information here. She was sure of it, and smiled to herself at the thought of how much buzz they might be creating tonight.

  They had finished dessert and were enjoying their last cups of coffee when Barbara nudged Kimberley particularly hard in the ribs, almost making her spill her cup.

  “What?” Kimberley hissed angrily. “What is it?”

  “It’s her. She’s coming over here,” Barbara murmured.

  “Her who? Joanna?” Kimberley scanned the room. “Oh…her…”

  Cat waved happily at them as she approached. She was wearing a very short black dress and low heels, and she definitely did not have “cheerleader legs” as Kimberley had surmised. She looked tiny, doll-like, even fragile.

  “Hi, guys,” she grinned as she reached their table. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on staying. I just happened to see you two on my way out, and I wanted to apologize for bending your ears half off this morning and for dragging you all over the town with me.”

  “Oh…hey…no problem!” Barbara smiled back.

  “No problem at all,” Kimberley chimed in. “In fact, you were really kind of helpful. You told us a lot of stuff we didn’t know about before.”

  “Oh, good!” Cat leaned closer across the table. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “To tell the truth, I go on talking jags when I’m nervous, and I’ve been nervous all day. Can I ask a small favor of you two?”

  “Uh…sure.” Kimberley shot a quick glance at Barbara, who shrugged. “What is it?”

  “Well, they’re taking me to the slave market in the morning. I was thinking…I’d kinda like it if you two could go with me…not to be slaves yourselves, of course! Just for a little…moral support? I’ve already checked, and it’s okay with them. You can be with me until I’m taken upstairs…I know it’s a lot to ask, but…” She didn’t finish the sentence and looked at Kimberley and Barbara hopefully.

  She looked even tinier and more fragile that way, and Kimberley couldn’t find it in herself to say ‘no’. She looked over at Barbara again. Barbara only raised an eyebrow and shrugged again.

  “Well…sure…I guess we could,” Kimberley said. “We were planning on an early start tomorrow, but I guess we could put it off for a little while…”

  Oh, thank you!” Cat beamed. “I’m a little scared…well, actually, I’m a lot scared, but I made up my mind to go through with it. Having you two go with me, even only partway, will help a lot! Thanks again! They’ll come to get me at 6:00 AM. Can you still make it?”

  “Uh…sure. Why not?” Kimberley gulped. They’d already agreed. How could they back out now? But this meant a wake-up call for 5:30 at the very latest. More like 5:00 AM, given how long it usually took Barbara to get moving in the mornings.

  “Thanks,” Barbara muttered sourly after Cat had left.

  “What, ‘thanks’?” Kimberley retorted. “You could have s
aid something at any time.”

  “I was hoping that you would.”

  “Well, I didn’t. We’ll just have to get to bed early, okay?”

  “Okay,” Barbara sighed. She shook her head sadly. “I hate mornings.”

  Chapter Four

  It took Kimberley a while to realize that the telephone in their suite did not have a snooze button. She was ready to smack it with her hand one more time when her sleep-fuddled mind concluded that perhaps this was not an alarm clock. Yawning and blinking, she picked up the receiver, “Yes?”

  “This is the wake-up call that you requested.” The voice at the other end was male and bland, as if he were little more than a machine performing an appointed task.

  “Oh…” Kimberley yawned again. “Thanks. What time is it?”

  “It is now 5:03.” Still bland…or should it be called ‘professional’? Why was she wondering about such things at such an unholy hour?

  “Got it…thanks again.” She mumbled into the receiver before fumbling it back into place. She very much wanted to just go back to sleep, but she’d made a promise last night, hadn’t she? And Barbara had promised as well… Sleepy as she was, Kimberley managed to smile wickedly. It was time to wake Barbara up!

  “Couldn’t we at least get some coffee or something first?” Barbara yawned as Kimberley shut the door to their suite behind them.

  “We could have if you hadn’t taken so much time to get moving,” Kimberley snapped back. “We can always get some later, when we come back.”

  “Uh-huh…” Barbara yawned again. “And you still intend to go out to play in the woods today?”

  “With you or without you.” Kimberley grinned. “I also told you to turn in early last night, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Barbara waved a hand. “You tell me a lot of things.”

  “And you hardly ever listen.” Kimberley laughed. “Come on, now, we made a promise. We’re supposed to meet her by the front entrance.”

  “Is the sun even up yet?” Barbara whined as she followed Kimberley down the hallway.