Lyan
I woke up with a pounding headache. The wine had done it's job. Fuck, I was never drinking again, or at least not in the afternoon. I'd drink in the morning so that when I got the headache it would be dark and my eyes wouldn't hurt from the light. Was I a genius or was I a genius?
As I slowly opened my eyes the light hurt them and I groaned as I closed them back, but the pain in my head didn't go away. There was a constant pounding in the back of my head, as if someone had hit me hard with something, that wouldn't go away.
I took my hand to the back of my head and pain erupted wherever I touched. I quickly retreated, taking my hand to my side, where, through my half open eyes, I saw blood on it, red blood.
Adrenaline rushed through me as I got up, all the events of the night before rushing in. Fuck, just where was I?
I got up with my wobbly legs and tried to open my eyes, the faint light from the ceiling harming my retina.
When I opened them fully, fighting against the pain, I finally saw where I was.
I was trapped in a little cell, no longer than my bed, with no utilities. No bathroom, no shower, no bed. I could tell at a glance that this was just a place to store the captives for a while.
Fear rippled through me as I thought about it. Why had they kidnapped me, what did they want?
The dark gut feeling I had been pushing away all this time only got bigger when I noticed the blood stains all over the wall. Yeah, this wasn't good. I had to get out of here as soon as possible.
Maybe I would still have the gun Oscar gave me.
Oh, right, Oscar had betrayed me and I hated him now.
I pushed back all the hatred and hurt and focused on what was happening right in front of me.
I looked around for anything useful, but there was nothing. Even the door was made out of metal and for whatever reason I couldn't feel my magic.
I tried to cast a spell with all my strength, but nothing came out. Even my loyal shadows were gone. No matter how much I called them forth nothing came out.
Great, I was stuck in God knew where with no magic, no shadows and no way out. Just great.
I sat down on the floor and waited. There was nothing better to do.
When my ass didn't hit the floor as hard as I thought it would I looked down and saw that the light nightgown dad had created for me when I discovered him was gone. Instead I was dressed in a prisoner's outfit.
Both the shirt and the trousers were thick, making it possible for me not to feel everything as much. It was also the suspicions color of blood.
My heart raced placing everything together. Oh, God. I hoped I was wrong about what they going to do with me.
I didn't know how long I waited, my mind spiraling down more with each passing second. I wasn't a masochist, but for whatever reason I couldn't stop repeating the events in my mind. I couldn't stop seeing how Jack and Oscar laughed with me, cherished me and then betrayed me brutally.
I was in my own world, spiraling more and more when I heard a noise coming from the door.
I immediately got up and tried to hide, but there was nothing to protect me from whoever was behind that door. That was another mystery. Who had kidnapped me? Except for Jack and Oscar I didn't think anyone else wanted to harm me, but it couldn't have been Jack and Oscar. They didn't have this kind of facilities.
My heart raced and sweat ran down my spine as fear took hold of me. I got into a fighting stance, my legs slightly opened while my arms were left hanging from my sides and ready to strike.
The door opened with a crack and I stared at some woman I had never seen before.
" Who are you?" My voice was soft as I spoke. Partially because of the fear and partially due to the hangover.
" You don't need to know that" The woman's face was filled with disdain as she walked closer.
Fuck, I couldn't let her get close.
I tried to call for my shadows and magic again, but they failed miserably. So the artifact that was taking my magic away wasn't in the cell. At least now I knew.
I stood my ground as the woman got closer.
" I'm not going to let you get closer to me"
" Hah" The woman smirked as she took something shaped like a gun from her pocket. " I don't need your permission"
When I saw her raising her gun I dodged, moving out of the bullet's way. I felt pretty good when I saw something shiny passing right above my head. I had done it, I felt like a superhero as I dodged a few more.
I felt invincible until something struck me on the arm.
My mind grew hazy and I lost all my strength, falling to the floor.
" Sweet dreams"
Fuck.
Orus
I clenched my teeth as the torturer took yet another tool out of his haul.
" Do you know what this is?"
Like I had done since they had knocked me down in the forest and started torturing me I refused to speak. I was aware that my refusal was only making him angrier, but it was kind of fun seeing the vein popping in his head, and more importantly, I would never, ever, betray Lyan.
" Fine then, I'll tell you" The torture's smile was diabolical as he rose the device, it was shiny, that was all I knew about it, pride in his eyes." This is my masterpiece. It can get anyone to talk"
I snorted silently, trying to move, but the restrains tying me to the metal chair were too strong to break, I had already tried it, and even my magic was failing. I couldn't even shapeshift and the beast inside me was claiming for blood. I felt as my fangs tried to lower and my claws to show themselves, but something in the air pushed them back to where they belonged.
" I know, I know it may not seem like much, but I assure you it is"
The gleam in his eyes was so familiar that it only took me a second to figure out where I had seen it before. It was the same gleam Oscar always had when he killed someone and then took their eyes.
Shivers ran down my spine, fear I hadn't felt since I had first met Lyan's dad and later when I'd almost died in his hands, spread all over me. I didn't know the man, but I knew I wanted nothing to do with someone whose eyes shone like that in this kind of situation and wasn't my friend.
" Do you want to try it now?"
I scoffed. I didn't know how he wanted me to answer since he had covered my mouth with duct tape. The man seemed to just like my presence and nothing more. I was just a prop to him, a doll that he could harm as he wanted, as proved the blood all over the floor from where he'd stabbed me with his knives and punched me in the face, breaking my nose and making it harder for me to breathe, which I was eternally grateful for.
" This goes here" The man kneeled down on the dirty floor as he put the strange device in my hand.
I tried to shake it off, I had a gut feeling of how this would play out, but couldn't, the hold on my hand too strong.
" And now...." The man's eyes gleamed when he pressed some kind of lever. " This does that"
I screamed as my whole hand lit on fire, every nerve I had screaming at me to do something. My hand was completely crushed under the device, the white telltale of bones showing all over the bloody, pulsing piece of flesh that used to be my hand.
I kept my tears to myself, not wanting to cry in front of a monster, as the blood fell to the floor in a rhythmic clink, clink.
" Oh, that didn't break you" The man didn't even sound surprised as he went away, his steps light as he searched in his torture rack.
I took a deep breath with my nose, getting as much air as I could inside before he came back.
" Time to try this"
My heart grew cold when I saw what he was holding. I knew what that was.
The man took the whip and laid it on the floor as he changed my restrains from the chair to the chains dangling from the ceiling. I couldn't resist as he moved me, too out of it from the blood loss to do much. It was even worse now that my healing abilities weren't working properly.
I took deep breaths as my whole body weight rested on my shoulders, my feet dangling a few feet away from the floor.
" What a beautiful back you have, my doll" I wanted to puke and murder him. I never wanted him to call me that again.
I tried to growl at him but all that came out was a weird sound very close to a whimper.
" Time to make you remember me"
Pain erupted all over my back as the whip hit my skin, breaking it. The pain from my hand and the nose, and the knive wound in my tight combined with the new pain coming from my back was too much. I almost croaked. If he had asked I would have told the man almost anything, except for things related to Lyan, but the man never asked for anything. That was way scarier. He wasn't trying to get information out of me and that unnerved me.
The next strike from the whip overlapped with the last one. I whimpered when the air hit the newly formed wound. I hadn't noticed it before because I always healed so easily, but getting hit in the back was awful.
When the next strike came I was prepared. I took a big gulp of air and didn't even flinch as the whip hit me again.
" This is boring if you don't react" The man pouted, freaking pouted, and dropped the whip to the floor to go look for another tool.
By then my clothes were in tatters, as well as my skin. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard him. I hadn't reacted because I knew if I did he would keep at it forever, but the whip was the worst torture device by a landslide.
" Let's see if you're so tough after this"
As the man took another tool and walked closer I took a deep breath.
" Loki!" A woman bursted the door open, letting the outside light from the electric lamps enter the dimly lit basement.
" What do you want now?" The man looked annoyed as he spun, device still in hand, to face the woman.
" I have a new toy"
The man's eyes lit up as he looked behind her. Being dragged by the woman was a girl, my girl, dressed in the same clothes as I was.
I panicked harder than I had during the whole torture and looked all over for any signs of wounds, but besides from the one from where they'd knocked her out she was unharmed.
I trashed against the restrains, trying to get to her. I couldn't let them do to my mate what the had done to me!
No matter how much I struggled the chains barely moved, mocking my efforts.
" I'll keep her" The man, Loki, smiled his crooked way in my general direction and I paled.
" Remember you only have a few hours, they'll be executed at dawn"
" I know, that's enough"
The woman shrugged and let go of my mate, letting her pretty head hit the floor hard.
I trashed, trying to get to her and treat her, but all I got for my efforts was a smirk coming from Loki.
" Let's get you all set up"
Bile rose up my throat as I saw Loki grabbing my mate, unable to stop it.
" Mmm mm mm" I tried to scream for him to let her go, but all that came out was a sorry muffled sound.
" Don't worry, she'll join you soon"
My blood ran cold. That was exactly what I was worried about.
Lyan
I woke up with all my body tingling. I couldn't feel my feet or hands, or anything for that matter.
I tried to open my eyes with all my strength, but all I managed to do was make them flutter a little.
" You..... Better...." I could hear muffled voices, but I didn't know who they belonged to. I was on edge all the time, knowing someone out there wanted me gone.
" Oh, it seems you're awake" The sounds became more clear by the second, until I could make out a voice I didn't recognize speaking to me.
With all my strength I opened my eyes only to want to close them back.
Orus was dangling from some chains a few meters away from me, his nose broken and the skin from his back flayed. His whole body was a grotesque picture with blood all over the floor as the background.
I tried to move to help, but my muscles met some resistance. I snapped my head that way and found myself tied to a chair with multiple restraints and my magic still wouldn't work.
At least I wasn't gagged like Orus.
" Let him go" I put all the hatred I had in my heart into that one sentence, hoping deep down we would just listen to me.
" That isn't how this goes" The man crouched down and grabbed my chin. I tried to resist but there wasn't much space where I could ran to. " You choose" His smile was cruel as he looked back at Orus, who was thrashing and trying to get to me." who gets to play with me"
What?
I stared at Orus, my loyal love and then at the sadistic man. I thought I knew what this was about.
I looked at Orus, who always tried to defend me, who had loved me since the beginning, who had given me uncondicional love and the answer was easy.
" I'll take whatever you have"
The man's smirk turned even more diabolical as he punched me in the face, breaking my nose. I had to swallow a scream that wanted to escape my throat as the pain ran from my nose to my brain.
" Still think the same?"
I ignored Orus's thrashing and his begging eyes, pleading me to give it to him, and I nodded.
" Good."
The man got up and skipped to a rack filled with weird devices.
My eyes kept trailing over to Orus, who was trying to get my attention by looking at me with his penetrating gaze.
I looked at him and mouthed I love you.
That was all I had time to do before the man came back with.... Nail clippers? I relaxed when I saw that. Nail clippers weren't so bad.
" Mmmmmmm!!!!"
I spund my head to look at Orus, who was shaking his head with panic in his eyes.
I looked back at the device, it still seemed like nail clippers to me and then at Orus. My blood ran cold when I saw his reaction. Just what could this be if they clearly weren't nail clippers?
" Your choice?"
This time I didn't even hesitate. Orus was already hurt and I could deal with anything, I was strong. It was time I payed Orus back for all the times he had protected me. It was time I protected him.
" Me"
The man smiled as he leaned in, lowering the device until it touched my nails.
" This is going to hurt a little" The man didn't even warn as he pulled with the nail clipper on my nail, pulling it out.
Tears streamed down my face as my finger throbbed, the pain beating that of the punch.
" Wanna give up yet?" The man was smiling as he asked, red clipper in hand.
I shook my head. I had already endured abuse. This was nothing. I could take it and not scream. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. I wasn't going to cry either.
I blinked hard a few times as I pushed back the tears. He liked to play? Two could play that game.
" Is that all you've got?"
The man's eyes got wide when he heard my question before he began chuckling maniacally.
" That's it!" The man smiled as he lowered the clipper again and another nail went out.
I screamed silently as the pain overtook me, refusing to give him anything he wanted.
A few hours later
Orus
My heart cracked a little more each time I saw Loki coming closer to my mate with another one of his torture devices. He didn't stop as he chose one after another.
I wanted nothing more than to kill him in the most horrifying way there was, but I was powerless as my strength went away, the blood loss too much without my regenerative ability.
I tried to get Lyan to save herself, but she wouldn't listen. I hoped she wouldn't be so stubborn for once, but on the other hand I felt proud. She was willing to protect me. The two emotions battled inside of me as I watched Lyan get yet another scar.
By now all her nails were gone and her nose was broken, as well as her left leg.
Loki liked to take his time to torture and I hated that. I hated him. He was going to pay three times in blood what he had done to the love of my life.
My thrashing did nothing except waste my strength and make Loki laugh, but I had to do something, anything. I couldn't just stare while he killed the person I loved the most little by little.
" It's time"
My rage surged even more when I saw the woman that had brought my girl to this hell coming in. She was also done for. I was going to kill her so horribly that she'd beg for death, just like that Loki.
My fangs and claws threatened to get out, but something pushed them back in. I tried to growl and do something, but I couldn't even do that.
My body was a big pain zone by now. There wasn't a single strand of hair that didn't hurt, but I ignored it all, focused on my bleeding girl. I would kill them all for daring to touch my mate.
" Oh, God. I forgot" Loki smiled at the woman as he took his torture devices away.
Was this the end? Had we made it?
The hope didn't last long.
" I would have liked to keep them"
" I know, but orders are orders. They are going to die"
My blood ran cold when I heard them. This couldn't be it. We weren't going to die.
I thrashed even harder but couldn't stop them as they injected something into Lyan that made her eyes, which had been looking at me all the time, fall and close.
They were dead.
" Mmmmmmm" I tried to speak but couldn't. I wanted them all dead.
" How impatient!" Loki chuckled as he approached me. " Now it's your turn"
When the cold siringe came into contact with my burning skin everything went blurry and then white. All I last heard was Loki's laughter.
He was dead.