Origins (A Black Novel, #1) (20 page)

“Now, hold still. This is going to hurt.” Her lips pull back in a snarl to reveal blindingly white teeth as she leans in towards my throat.

I can feel her breath hot against my neck as she inches in closer. She roughly tilts my head to the side with the hand still holding my throat and opens her mouth, biting down harshly into the flesh at my collarbone. White hot pain explodes behind my eyes and a primal scream instinctively erupts from my throat. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to stay awake, to fight back. I feel her hold on me relax slightly and I clench my jaw before jerking my head to the side to collide with hers, stunning her momentarily. She takes a step back, vehemence coloring her expression.

Before she can react I gather the last of my strength and spit in her face, spraying her with a combination of saliva and frothy blood.

“You bitch!” she trills, nostrils flared before throwing me backwards.

I crash into the wall and slump, unmoving, onto the floor below. My arms hang limply from their chains, dislocated, and my head throbs as flashes of white and red obscure my vision. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that!” she bays before kicking me in the stomach repeatedly. “
Look at
me
!”

She stops kicking me and I hear her footsteps shuffling away. A moment later I hear the unmistakable rattle of a chain and I force my eyes open to see her dangling Sera in midair. “I thought that’d get your attention,” she snarls.

“Now, I want you to apologize to me or I’m going to make your mom pay for that one.”

Fear grips me as I stare at Sera, lifeless in her embrace. “I’m sorry,” I call out panicked.

“No, you’re not, but you will be.” She rips Sera’s head backward and sinks her teeth into her jugular, gorging herself. A high pitched wail erupts from Sera, still unconscious.

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I promise!” I lament as terror sets in. “Please, stop!
Stop
!
I’m sorry
!” She releases Sera and turns to me, eyes flashing. “There, now you’re sorry. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I watch in horror, my eyes blurred with tears, as Sera drops to the ground in a heap, covered from the neck down in her own blood.

I choke back another sob. “I’m sorry,” I announce again.

“Please, don’t hurt her anymore.”

“It’s not like it’s going to kill her,” Eris replies with a roll of her eyes. “I’m just having fun with her, but since you don’t want me to play with her, I shall have to play with you instead.”

She moves to stand in front of me, swaying gently from side to side, as she stares, unblinking, at me. “You know, I don’t know what he sees in you. You’re so plain and boring.” I bite my tongue on a retort choosing to simply gaze back at her, seemingly unaffected. “Maybe,” she continues, “he likes you for your innocence. He always was a sucker for the helpless types.”

She steps up and clenches her fist in my hair, yanking my head back to stare menacingly in my eyes. “When you die, which you will do tonight, I want the last thing you think about to be how I’m going to be the one by Vraiden’s side for the rest of eternity….You are nothing but a blip on the radar.”

“If you’re so sure of yourself then why’d you go to all this trouble? Why kill me?” I spit out, enraged. “Worried he’s not going to pick you as long as I’m around?” Her eyes flash and, in the time it takes me to blink, her mouth is at my throat again, tearing painfully into my flesh as she deepens her agonizing hold on my hair.

I scream out as she brings her free hand up and rakes her fingers into my arm from elbow to shoulder, making an audible clawing sound as her fingernails penetrate the skin.

The pain slowly begins to ebb away and my eyes close of their own volition, welcoming the blackness that has begun to creep over me.

“
E
nough!”

My eyes snap open and I look around, unseeing, for the cause of the interruption. Eris releases her grasp on me and I slump heavily to the floor, my head lolling backwards as I struggle against unconsciousness.

“Vraiden!” Eris exclaims happily, clapping her hands together.

“It’s about time you showed up!”

The unmistakable sound of Vraiden’s voice cuts through the fog and I lift my head to get a look, trying to make sure he’s really here. “Let her go.”

“Oh, Vraiden, don’t you want to play with me? We used to have so much fun together torturing all those innocent girls,” she coos.

“I said enough. Leave her alone.”

“You know that’s not going to happen, Vraiden honey.”

“I’m prepared to make you,” he threatens. He takes a step further into the room, never once taking his eyes off Eris, who remains standing in front of me, blocking his access.

“I don’t think you’re going to want to do that,” she advises.

“See, not only do I have your darling Adelin and her mom chained up in here, I also have a surprise guest in the other room…..and I’ll make sure none of them make it out of here alive. Vraiden, would you do the honors of bringing my other guest in?” She flashes a sweet smile and points across the room to the door sitting directly across from where I’m chained.

Vraiden’s steps falter as his brows knit together lowly. His eyes flicker from Eris to Sera before resting momentarily on me, a torn expression masking his features. His shoulders drop and he quickly strides across the room to open the door as Eris had asked. “What the fuck? Who’s this?” he asks over his shoulder.

“Just bring him out…… Adelin will know who he is.” Vraiden disappears into the room for a moment before reappearing in the doorway, a body cradled in his arms. He looks at Eris, perplexed, and she gestures him to the wall behind him. “Chain him up there on the wall,” she instructs.

Vraiden walks over to where she directed and sets the person down and begins to restrain him to the wall, the chains clanking loudly as he steps back.

“Dad!” I gasp, shocked. I sit up automatically, straining to get closer, a fire burning in my arms as I fight against my shackles. My dad sits, propped in the same position as Sera and I, with his arms chained over his head and his legs bound together with rope. He looks worn and slightly battered, his clothes torn in a few places, but other than that he seems relatively unharmed. A thick swath of duct tape covers his mouth, effectively silencing him.

Vraiden looks at me, horrified, as he realizes the new prisoner is my father. He steps back, arms slack at his sides, helpless. “Eris? What are you planning?” His voice is smooth, controlled.

Eris’ eyes light up with excitement, “Why, do you want to have some fun too? I’ll tell you what- if you can be a good boy I’ll let you play with the mortal for a little while.”

“No one needs to die,” Vraiden says with conviction.

“Of course they do!” Eris shouts, enraged. “What has she done to you?! She’s ruined you!” She turns to me, eyes blazing. “I’m going to make you pay for ruining my Vraiden!” she snarls as she steps closer.

Before she can reach me Vraiden is behind her, gripping her shoulder firmly to spin her back around towards him. His eyes flit wildly from Dad to Sera to me before focusing resolutely on Eris. In that one second his entire demeanor changes, his expression hardening. “I want to go with you,” he says stonily.

“What?! No!” I scream out, shocked. How could he want that? “I won’t let you go,” I reply, jaw tense.

He focuses on me, eyes narrowed. “I can make you let me go.

I can influence you whether you want me to or not.”

“How’s that?” I ask, stubbornly.

“The same way I influenced you into thinking I loved you,” he replies coldly. “It’s one of my gifts. I can make anyone do whatever I want. This,” he continues, gesturing between himself and me, “was nothing but a game. I don’t love you.

How could I ever love you?”

I gape at him, shocked silent. Was that true? Had I just been another of his playthings?

Eris claps her hands together and jumps up and down delighted. “Oh, Vraiden, you did that all for me? I knew you loved me!” She throws her arms around Vraiden’s neck and kisses him. His eyes remain locked on mine tauntingly as he wraps his arms around her and deepens the kiss.

By the time they finally break apart I am resolute. I force myself into a standing position, numb against the pain screaming through my limbs. “You fucking bastard!” I scream shrilly. “You better fucking kill me because if you don’t I’m going to hunt you down and cut your goddamn head off!”

“I look forward to seeing you try, Sunshine,” he replies cruelly.

“This one,” he says, pointing to me while facing Eris, “isn’t meant to die yet. I plan on having more fun with her later.

Now, are you ready to get out of here?”

“But I’m not done playing yet,” she whines.

“Don’t worry, I have something planned that I think you’re going to like.”

“A present? For me?” She beams, clapping her hands excitedly.

His blue eyes, once so full of heat, focus coldly on me. “You had to choose between humanity and Immortality and you chose the former- to remain human. That,” he remarks, “was the wrong choice. I’m going to give you another choice right now to see how you fare.” He points first to Sera, then to my dad. “Which one?”

“Huh?” My eyebrows scrunch together. Which one what? Is he making me choose which one got to live, or which one has to die?

“Which one?” he repeats. “If you don’t pick one then I’m going to kill them both.”

Panic sets in then, causing my heart rate to quicken and thump thunderously in my ears. Does he really expect me to be able to pick one? Is he really going to kill them in front of me?

“PICK ONE!” he yells. “Now! I’m not joking, I will rip both of them apart and you’ll have to live the rest of your life knowing that you alone could’ve spared one of them the pain.”

He turns and stalks over to where Dad is chained, bending down to knot his fingers into his hair before ripping him up off the floor. Dad hangs there, vulnerable, his eyes wide with fear as a muffled scream reverberates from beneath the duct tape. Vraiden reaches up and rips the tape off.

“I want your daughter to hear you suffer,” Vraiden snarls.

“It’ll make this a lot more fun.” He reaches into his pocket and produces an all too familiar pocketknife. Flicking the blade open he presses it to Dad’s neck, holding his hand steady while peering over his shoulder to look at me. “You ready for this? Do you have a good view? Want to pick one now?”

Tears well up in my eyes, spilling over the rims, and I bite down hard on my lip. I shake my head in response, “No.

Please, no. Don’t make me choose. Kill
me
,” I beg. “Please, kill me instead.”

“That wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, Sunshine,” he replies with an evil half grin.

Dad opens his mouth, expression solemn. “Adelin, don’t look.

Close your eyes,” he whispers.

“Going once, going twice…..” Vraiden calls out. Quick as a snake he coils back his hand and strikes, cutting into the side of Dad’s neck and sending blood spraying outward in a macabre red arc. Against his will a scream erupts from Dad’s lips and I watch in horror as Vraiden loosens his hold and Dad slumps to the floor. Blood rapidly begins to soak through his shirt and pool around beneath him.

“I warned you,” Vraiden taunts as he walks over to Sera and rips her up from the floor. He yanks her forward, hard, ripping the chains straight out of the wall. Holding onto her still bound arms he drags her behind him across the floor to where Eris stands. “Sera’s coming with us. We wouldn’t want Adelin here to give up all hope of life. She won’t be very much fun if she’s completely broken. It’s better to let her suffer from this experience for a while first.”

“You always were one step ahead,” Eris replies sweetly as she smiles up at him. She puts her hand in his and leads him out of the room, neither looking back as they disappear through the doorway. I watch them until the blackness swallows them completely. The last thing I see is Sera’s slippers fading into the darkness.

My eyes focus once more on Dad and a primal scream rips, unbidden, from my lips as he begins to choke on his own blood. I strain against my bonds, my shoulders howling from the pain of my dislocated joints. Desperate, I clench my teeth together and yank with all my remaining strength, effectively cleaving the shackles from the wall, sending me face first to the hard ground. The impact forces my right shoulder back into the socket, the sharp pain causing me to gasp before the throbbing ebbs away. I stumble to my feet and, bracing against the agony pulsing through my other arm, I grip my left hard and yank it forward, slamming the socket back into place with a loud scream.

I race across the room and grab Dad’s shackles, wrenching them out of the wall, sending him crashing to the ground to slump in the bloody puddle beneath him. He lands with a smack, groaning and lifting his head to peer up at me. Blood continues to pour out of the wound in his neck and I reach a hand out to access the damage of the wound, noting that, although it looks bad, it doesn’t appear to be fatal unless it’s left untreated. A wave of relief washes through me and I deftly rip a strip of fabric from my shirt to cover his wound, pressing down firmly.

He winches when I make contact and reaches up to wrap a hand around my wrist. “Adelin, you can’t let him hurt your mother and neither one of us is strong enough to stop him.”

“I know, Dad,” I reply, tears streaming freely down my face.

His expression is hard, voice adamant. “You have to become Immortal. You have to stop him.”

“Dad, I can’t. It’s too late and I won’t kill an innocent. I refuse to become like him.”

“I’m not asking you to kill an innocent,” Dad states. “I’m asking you to kill me.”

“What?! No! How can you even suggest that?” I ask, horrified.

“It’s the only way,” he says. “Please, do it for me, for your mom. Don’t let him hurt her. I didn’t give up everything so she could become Immortal for her to die now. If you don’t do it then I’ll go after him myself and we both know I won’t stand a chance in a fight against him.”

“Dad, no. Please! We’ll find another way. We have too. I can’t lose you! Please!!” I fall to my knees, terrified of what he’s asking. There’s no way I can do what he’s asking. He is supposed to live. We’re supposed to live
together
. He can’t leave me!