Blaine's mouth was itchy.  He wanted to be able to rub his lips and jaw over, but his hands were still tied back, now raw and broken around the wrists where he had tried to fight off the ties on them.  Unable to see them, Blaine could feel that he had bled from when he had tried to use strength to pull himself out of them, and his hands alternated between a buzzing numbness and scream worthy pain.  However, screaming wasn't going to happen because his mouth had been taped back with not one but two layers of duct tape which was a contributing factor in the itchiness around his mouth and jaw, and while he had tried to scream on a few occasions through the adhesive covered fabric, all that happened was that saliva accumulated in his mouth and his throat ached from the effort.

He had screamed against the tape a lot when they had held him down against the hotel bed.  His first screams came from seeing the switchblade used on him approaching his head, and in a frantic struggle to get away he had been punched and held down long enough for him to scream again in agony as the blade sliced a line behind his ear and the tip of the blade was dug in by his skull to pry out a small piece of metal which was flicked down in front of his eyes.  Blaine assumed it was the thing that stopped him from leaving the apartment without an escort, and while he should have been glad to see it removed, he was in too much pain to acknowledge what getting rid of it represented.

Besides, his captors weren't interested in freeing him.  Rather they were intent on stopping Kurt from tracking their movements even though Blaine watched, with tears of blood leaking from behind his ear to over his cheek where he was being held down still, as they wrote a note indicating a time and a place.  

He was dragged out of the room then, and again he tried to fight back only to have another punch land in his stomach and take all the air out of him and the fight along with it.  His assailants used the back staircase, carrying him along like a bag of potatoes between them, and tossed him into the back of an old van before speeding away to where he was now - some kind of butcher shop, complete with the back room with hanging carcasses of animals that had been skinned.  Blaine was tied to a pole right beside the entrance to that room, and the smell made him queasy, as did seeing all the animal corpses strung up like that.  If he somehow survived this, vegetarianism would be considered.

There were more men in suits there, and not one of them bothered to wipe him off or tend to what felt like a gaping wound behind his ear.  Thankfully it had stopped bleeding after a while, but only when the loss of blood made Blaine lose his ability to stand up straight and have to slump down against the floor no matter how defiant he wanted to present himself as.  That was when he struggled against the bonds on his wrists until he determined it was futile, and while the pain on his wrists helped draw away some of the pain in his head, it just served to make his whole body burn and ache.  

He didn't immediately recognize any of the men who had gathered around the butcher shop, drinking hard liquor like it was water and smoking cigarettes as freely as Kurt used to, yet when one of them spoke, Blaine knew immediately who he was.

The guard that Kurt had muffled after he made jokes about Blaine's pet status back in the apartment.  The guy was clearly a turn-coat.

“What're we supposed to do with him if Hummel doesn't show?”  One of the guys grumbled, gesturing at Blaine after they had spent a good amount of time talking about their mistresses and wives.

“Hummel will show.”  Kurt's old guard insisted smugly.  “He's got a soft spot for that one.”

“Never figured Hummel to be soft about anything.”

“Except maybe when it comes to seeing a hot naked bitch.”

They laughed at that, and Blaine rolled his eyes as he looked down at the floor.  Society had come so far in accepting sexual minorities since he had been a child, but clearly the mobs still had a primitive outlook on it.

“If Hummel doesn't show, then you do what you want with that little squeaker and then cull him.”

Blaine tensed up at that, the motion making his whole body fire up with renewed aches.  He didn't know what they meant by squeaker, but he sure as hell knew what they meant by cull, and Blaine wasn't in the mood to die that evening.

“We should screw him now, before Hummel shows up, and show him what happens when he crosses this family.” One of the men growled, prompting Blaine to back himself against the wall to protect what little virtue he had left.  For guys that seemed to like to poke fun at homosexuality, they sure didn't seem to mind the idea of giving it.

“No.  We save that option for if Hummel gets here and doesn't want to bargain.  That way he can watch… and if he is as valuable as buddy here says to the man, then he'll cave.”  The guy in charge dictated, silencing any dissenting murmurs.  

Just an hour ago, Blaine had been fuming about his situation and about Kurt, and now he wanted nothing more to have that safety and that man by him.  It was hardly ideal, what he had, but now that he knew what kind of men could have purchased him at that auction, he was relieved for the situation he did end up in.  Kurt was definitely the lesser of two evils.

Waiting for Kurt seemed to take an eternity, and during that time Blaine worried that Kurt wouldn't show, that his insecurities would be affirmed and he would discover that he was just the throw away whore he thought he was to Kurt.  Even if he wasn't though, Blaine didn't trust that Kurt valued him more than he valued his money and power.  Blaine might just be a sacrifice that no one would ever know about, lost to a cause that only the sinful cared for.

Minutes ticked away on a loud clock hanging nearby that Blaine could hear but couldn't see, and as the hour passed, the men got antsy.

“He ain't coming.  Let's end this bitch.”  One of them snarled as he came over to Blaine.

“We should fuck him ‘til he bleeds and leave him on Hummel's doorstep.”  Said another, moving to Blaine's other side and effectively trapping Blaine between two options he didn't care for at all.

“We could sell him to the russian whore house.  They need a new twink.”  Another suggested, and Blaine held back some bile threatening to rise up his dry throat as he realized that was the best idea thus far.

“You'll do none of those things.”  A familiar, light voice commanded, and Blaine lifted his head to see Kurt step out of the shadows and towards the group of men who angrily muttered and mused over how he had gotten in without being heard or seen.  “You'll be letting him go with me.”

“Hummel, Hummel, Hummel…” the lead man chuckled and stood up to offer Kurt his hand, which Kurt looked at and didn't take, forcing the man to shove it back into his pocket.  “I see you got our message.”

“I got your threat.”  Kurt hissed, and the men by Blaine went to stand up behind their boss, save for own who flicked open a switchblade and stood beside Blaine.  It was a non verbal threat that Kurt saw, and Blaine watched as his owner narrowed his eyes at the action and tightened his grip on a briefcase he held in one hand.  “I have assumptions about what you want, but perhaps you'd do best to clarify them.”

“First, we want to know where your guards are.”  The boss noted, waving a hand to two of his grunts who went to check around the building.  “Though I'm assuming you're smart enough not to try and ambush us.”

“You'd be right.”  Kurt uttered plainly, gesturing to the table and getting a nod from the boss before he sat himself down and opened up the briefcase to reveal a laptop which he opened up and turned on.  “Which is why my guards have been discharged for the evening.”

“Smart boy.  No wonder you rose so high in this business so young.”  The man said, sitting across from Kurt and looking to his returning grunts as they nodded to him.  Kurt really hadn't brought any back up.

Which meant that if things really went sour, not only was Blaine dead, but Kurt probably was too, and even though Blaine wasn't exactly happy about Kurt owning him, he had to admit then that he cared enough not to want to see Kurt hurt or dead.  

“So here's what I expect Hummel.  You're going to transfer us all the investment paperwork, ownership, all that, plus a good ten percent of the deal from your own finances as a show of good faith.  We all walk away happy.”

Blaine didn't know what the investment was, nor did he know how much Kurt really had, but Blaine did know that Kurt owned an apartment that had to be in the millions as far as worth went, and that any deal big enough to cause this much drama had to be worth quite a bit as well.  He was sure there was quite a lot of zeros that would be attached to whatever the guy was asking for, and Blaine wondered if Kurt would think him worth that much.

“Except we don't….”  Kurt muttered, tapping away on his laptop as it lit up.  “... you see, that investment was between two parties - namely yourself and Mr. Badry.  Mr. Badry would not only not be pleased, but I imagine he'd go after you for it since he knows my reputation is sterling.”

“Which is why you're going to compensate him out of your own pocket too.  See?  Everyone leaves happy… or at least alive.”  The last part was uttered flatly, another threat.

“No.  Actually some people don't leave alive.”  Kurt huffed, spinning the laptop towards the boss with enough angle for Blaine to see the screen.  On it was a video feed of someone's house, and a woman in front.  “Like your wife for instance.”

“What the hell is this!”  The boss snapped, standing up quick enough for the chair to flip out from behind him and clatter to the floor as he drew his gun and pointed it directly at Kurt's head.

Kurt never flinched.

“How DARE you threaten my family!”

“How dare you threaten MINE.”  Kurt said back, voice only rising on the last word, along with his body.  “And it doesn't end there.  Flip through the channels I have.”

The man tensed, and a glance to his minions had them all pulling their guns out on Kurt while he reached down to tap on the keyboard, scrolling through feeds of different homes and people.  “... the fuck?  Marley's wife?  James' kids?  How the fuck did you do this?”

“Mr. Badry will be taking over the entirety of the investment.”  Kurt explained, as if he didn't have an execution squad around him ready to fire.  “You will back off completely.”

“The fuck I will! We'll kill you and your little queer pet!”

“No.  You won't.”  Kurt again said quiet levelly, Blaine apparently panicking enough for the both of them despite being muted and tied up.  “If I don't check in every minute, they fire.  If my heart rate tracker stops, they fire.  If Blaine dies, they fire.”

“This is bullshit.  This is not how business is done!”

“This is how I do business.  You had your chance to act peaceably, now you will release Blaine to me and you will be letting us leave.  The guns stay drawn until we are clear of here.”

There was a long, hesitant pause, and Blaine watched the boss glance from the screen, to his men, and then to Hummel before finally looking towards the guy by Blaine and nodding.  The blade came down then, but not to Blaine's flesh, which he tensed in fear, but to the ties holding him in place against the pole.  The instant he felt himself be freed, he scrambled towards Kurt, though stumbled a little because he was still finding it hard to balance.  

Kurt wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist to help support him, slowly turning them and moving towards the front door while the mumblings behind them grew, and as they reached the door, the boss snarled out “You know I'll just find and kill you both in the worst way possible as soon as I can!”

Kurt pushed open the door, and that was when Blaine saw the silhouettes of men clad in black rushing around the building with guns drawn and aimed to the inside.  “I know… that's why I told Mr. Badry what you were doing.”

“Wha?!”

Blaine let himself be escorted out, not looking back as the fire of bullets shattered the glass around the business or as the screams of men falling to the ground filled his ears.  Kurt had orchestrated this all as if it were some great mafia movie, except that the people behind him were real, and they were being slaughtered.  He wished he could find the humanity within himself to care, but instead he only felt relief knowing that they wouldn't, couldn't come after him again.

With Kurt's arm around him, and death behind him, Blaine felt safe.