Tainted Crimson (22 page)

"Good morning, Ariella," Marco greets me. "Welcome to my headquarters."

"Good morning," I reply and force a smile.

"I'm glad that you are cooperating. I wasn't sure if you would," he approves and clears his throat. "I'd like to start off by explaining myself. I'm sure you're wondering why it is exactly that I've been trying to find you. I've been looking for you because I think you'll be a wonderful addition to my team. I feel that you may even have the potential to be my right hand woman and second in command. Would you like that, Ariella?"

I nod. "Of course," I lie.

"Great. Then we should begin with some tests of your power. I assume you've done a bit of practice?"

"A little. Not much," I admit. This is the truth. I mean I’ve practiced a lot but not gotten far, that is, if you don’t count that freak incident with the storage container in the clearing with D.

"That will work for now. Lyndsay, one of our magic trainers, will take you down stairs to practice shortly." He nods curtly and stands up from his seat. "By the way, my dearest Ariella, have you any clue where my light witch-vampire hybrid Daymon has gone off to?" he asks in wonderment. So he hasn't found him yet.

"Uh no but thank you for sending him to show me my potential and present my...er options," I muster. Maybe saying this will save D's life
when
Marco finds him. It's only a matter of time. At the very least, maybe it will spare D from being cursed againby Marco.

"Pardon me? Your options?" he questions.

"Yes, he's the one who convinced me to come to you. He also taught me how to summon my power." The second part is true. The first part, not so much.

A light appears in Marco's eyes. Surprise? Hope? I'm not sure.

"You're sure you know nothing of his whereabouts?" he asks again.

I nod. "He disappeared a few days ago without much explanation."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ariella. Lyndsay will take you to train now and then Nathan will take you to your new room. You must've grown on him. He wishes to stay here while you are here as well. He's never shown much interest in the cause," Marco says almost in thanks and I wonder what exactly 'the cause' is. I assume it involves murder.

When Marco swings the door behind me open, I meet the beautiful blue eyes of a young, petite, blond woman. Are they all the supernaturals drop dead gorgeous?

"Nice to meet you, Ariella, I'm Lyndsay. We have a lot to go over and little time so follow me." She motions me out the door and I follow quickly. What should I expect? Is it going to be like my training with D? Somehow I doubt it. I follow her down the same bland halls I just walked through. She leads me to an empty concrete room downstairs. Okay, it's not empty, there are cameras all over the roof. I wonder if anyone is looking through them right now. Creepy.

"This is how this works. I'm going to attack you. You're going to defend yourself as much as you can. Don't worry about hurting me because I'm not going to worry about hurting you so long as I don't kill you. That will have me fired." She smirks but her smirk is nothing like D's, hers is dark and devilish. I've been placed in combat positions before with my dad, Jacob, and D and they were never too scared to hurt me but I have a feeling that this is going to be much worse. I'm going to get my ass kicked. I don't mean that I’m going to be thrown on my ass though, I don't doubt I will be, but I mean I'm going to hurt after this. Really hurt.

She doesn't give me any time to prepare. She leaps at me, grabs my arm, and twisted roughly. I react as fast as I can and try to use her move against her. She yelps in pain and jumps back. Then she's on me again. I swing my left foot up and catch her square in the ribs.

"You've had some combat training I see," she approves. "Good. Let's throw some magic into the mix."

Great.
This, I’m not practiced with. At all. In fact, I realize that I know nothing about magic. At all.

An orange ball flies towards my face and I leap out of the way. I realize she's throwing fireballs at me. Lovely. She starts hurtling them at me faster and I know she's waiting to see if I react with my own magic. I dodge them as best as I can until one finally hits me in the shoulder and singes me. I cry out in agony and swat at my shoulder as if trying to put it out. Another hits me at my waist and I stumble back with a few curse words.

Now I'm raging angry. That fricken hurt, bitch. She doesn't stop. She continues to throw them at me. I feel like I'm about to explode with anger. Not only anger towards her or Marco but anger towards my life right now in general, towards D, towards everyone and everything. I'm just
so
angry. I've never been so angry in my life. For once, I unleash this anger and it comes out of me in waves. Literal, electrified waves. Lyndsay is knocked backwards into one of the concrete walls and blood gushes from her scalp. Pity doesn't pass my mind nor does any sort of sympathy. She deserved that. I wait for her to heal enough to come at me again only she doesn't move. She doesn't even blink. Have I...no. No way have I just killed someone. No way was that me who sent that wave of sheer force into that girl. Days ago, I could hardly move a piece of paper. I stare down at my hands in wonder.

Suddenly there's a voice that comes from nowhere. The walls? I look around for its source and see an intercom on one of the walls. "Congratulations, Ariella, you've passed you first challenge with flying colors. You may exit through the door on your left when it opens. Nathan will be waiting for you outside."

I gulp. I should be feeling some sort of regret. This is wrong. So very wrong. I look at the limp girl on the floor and wait for it to hit me but it doesn't. The doors open on my left and I follow my instruction. I exit the room and leave Lyndsay’s body lifeless on the ground.

Nathan meets me outside of the room, a grim look on his face. "Are you okay?" he whispers.

I nod. Surprisingly, I'm
fine.
He looks at me apologetically and it confuses me. Something feels wrong. I just killed someone, why am I not hyperventilating?

"I'm supposed to take you to the lab. They want to run some tests," he says blankly.

"Tests?" I wonder. Great that sounds like needles. I hate needles.

"Yeah. Probably just need some blood. I assume they'll take your blood pressure and stuff too," he reassures me as if that’s minor. I realize it is. They could do far worse.

He leads me into a new room. This one has windows and I'm delighted that I get to see outside. Even if the only thing I can see is the sky. I wonder where on earth we are.

"Hello again, Ariella," Marco chimes as he steps out from around a corner to face me. He extends a hand and I take it reluctantly. "We just need to take a little blood if that’s alright?" he coaxes me as he has me sit down and a woman in a white jacket approaches me with a needles and some vials. I try to keep my heart from racing. It's just a needle, Ariella, you're fine. I'm freaking out more about the needle than killing someone five minutes ago.

"We were very impressed by your performance." He grins. It's not a friendly smile, it's terrifying. "Do you draw your power from your surroundings or do you take it from others?" he questions.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I reply truthfully.

"Do you drink blood like a vampire, child? Do you pull power from others like the black witches? Or do you pull it from around you unintentionally?" he tries again.

"I guess, I pull it from around me," I gather.

"Interesting. Do you find yourself getting tired quickly?"

"No, not really. I'm not tired now." I assess myself.

"That is good. After this, I'd like to do one more test, it's an easy one, then Nathan can show you to your new accommodation if all goes well," he promises.

I merely nod.

"All done," the lady says, and I glance over to see all of her once empty vials now filled. I didn't feel a thing. What is going on with me today? I feel like I'm in some sort of daze where everything around me is numbed or dulled.

I'm ushered down another hall to
another
room. This building seems huge and I doubt I'll ever be able to navigate it on my own.

In this new room is only a desk with paper and a pen, and a large screen. I'm reminded of high school film studies.

Once I approach the desk, I realize that the paper has writing on it. It looks almost like a multiple-choice test.

"Sit down. For each picture that comes on the screen, pick which emotion matches your reaction to it most clearly," Marco instructs and hands me a remote. "There are fifteen pictures. To flip to the next one push this arrow key. When you're done flip over your paper and someone will let you out," he directs me. "When you're ready, push this button." He points to a large red one.

"What is this for?" I find myself wondering out loud.

"I'm curious as to how much darkness is within you, my dear. This will help me understand."

I wonder what these pictures are of. Do I want to know? Once the door closes behind him I push the button that he told me to. The first picture takes me a while to comprehend. At first I can't understand what it is. Then I see that it's a man without any limbs lying face down in the dirt. I look down at my options–Sad, Terrified, Irritated, Happy, Amused, Confused, and Disturbed. Do I feel sad? Not particularly. Terrified? No. Irritated? A little because this test seems stupid. Happy? No. Amused? Definitely not. Confused? Yes. I'd love to know how this guy ended up missing all of his limbs. Disturbed? I know I should be, but I'm honestly not. Anyways, if I'm trying to suck up to Marco, then the most likely answer to this question is confused. I circle this answer and push for the next picture and then the next. All of them are morbid. They're all of death or something close. When I'm finished, the lights flip on and Nathan enters the room.

He grabs my hand and pulls me from the room. "You've again pleased my father," he states.

Good. Wait, is it good? Suddenly I’m not sure if I’m ‘pretending’ anymore. I answered all of those questions honestly, of course with Marco in mind, but still honestly.

He takes me down a new hallway that I've never seen before and gives me a key. "This is your room key. You have access to this entire hallway. There's a kitchen, living room, exercise room, all kinds of stuff. Your room is room 209. Every day when the buzzer goes off you are to come to this spot where someone will lead you to your daily training activities," he explains and hands me my key. It's small and silver. On it is a small pink keychain that says my name and room number.

Nathan exits through the door we came in and I'm left alone. Free. Well, freeish.

This accommodation is far better than my last. My room has life and color. I even have a TV and my own bathroom. The other people staying in other rooms like mine in this hallway, don't leave their rooms much, other than to eat or exercise, but I've seen a few of them. I find myself getting too comfortable here. I shouldn't be comfortable but for the first time in months, I'm not running or hiding. I’m no
t
scare
d
.
I spend nearly a month in this space while attending daily training. The training consists of mostly practice but the odd time, maybe twice a week I'm put into a room like I was with Lyndsay and I fight. I haven't met my match yet.

Marco says that the more I cooperate, the sooner I'll be let loose back into the world under his direction. I miss the sun. I wait excitedly for the days that I get to visit the lab and see it, if only for a few minutes.

Nathan seems to come and go. He's not around much anymore. I get lonely but I have a couple friends inside. They seem nice enough. They're young black witches who are in training like I am. They teach me cool magic tricks in our spare time. They know much more about the whole thing than I do. They teach me control, which is something that will only make me more powerful. Right now, Marco says, that I weild my power with my emotion which can be deadly, but unstable. I'm learning.

At times I wonder where my father and Jacob are. Have they given up looking for me? I know I should miss them. I know that I should feel something toward them, towards anything, but I don't. My emotions are completely numb. I feel nothing. I wonder if this is something Marco has done to me. It has to be. I can't say that I miss feeling things though, because I don't. I don't miss being in pain. I don't miss being scared or getting hurt. I think of D. Where is he now?

This place isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It isn't nearly the terrible place that D made me think it was. I'm safe here. The white witches can't get me behind these walls. I wonder if they know of my existence yet. I’m comfortable here. As long as I follow the rules and train then I'm free and protected. I don't have to run or hide anymore. I don't have to constantly be scared for my life. I don't have to feel pain.

Eventually, I begin feeling nothing but anger. I have no emotion except anger and sometimes even jealousy when I see Nathan by Marco’s side. I want that. What makes Nathan more suited to stand by Marco’s side than me?

Today I will fight in the concrete room one last time. If I please Marco, then I will be given a penthouse like his most prized warriors have. This is the highest level of award we can receive before being let out into the world under his direction.

"Ariella, you may enter the room when you're ready," one of Marco's servants says and motions to the familiar door outside of the concrete room. I don't hesitate. I swing open the door and enter. None of the opponents he's thrown at me have been much of a threat. In fact, he's warned me not to kill them because I've been ending the lives of some of his best fighters. Of course, none of my opponents know that I've been told not to end their lives. It's more challenging that way, if they think they're fighting for their lives.

My opponent is standing with his back to me. I ready for his first blow, but it doesn't come. I wait there impatiently, a fireball ready in my hand. This is one of my favorite new spells.

"You're going to need more than that fireball to kill me, Ariella," the man says in a vaguely familiar voice. Confused, I hesitate. This gives him enough time to turn and face me. My opponent is D. I swallow hard. How is he here? Why is he here? Has Marco caught him again? If so, why is he still alive?

I'm stronger than I was the last time I seen him. Much, much stronger. He has no idea how much stronger, but yet something in me tells me that's he's still far stronger than I am.

"Are you going to kill me or what? I've heard that you're some bad ass, but I'm not seeing it," he mocks with the smirk that I haven't seen in so long. Something deep within me stirs at this but for only a moment. I have to fight him until he begs for mercy so that I can get my penthouse, the sooner I get my penthouse, the sooner I get out of this concrete building. I need out of this building. This is not the only reason I want to fight him though, I have to admit that I'm also curious. How strong is this man really, now that I'm not a weak little girl?

I snarl inhumanly and release my fireball towards him. He catches it and throws it back at me. No one’s ever done that before. I don't expect this and the hot ball of flames hits me in the chest. I stumble back into the wall. Another fireball appears in his hand and he throws it at me. This time I’m prepared and evade it.

I muster up enough voltage to kill a t-rex and aim it right at him not sure what is about to explode from my fingertips. An electric blue line shoots out from me and hits D right in the chest, knocking him to the floor. While he’s down I kick him in the side with my foot.

“Is that all you’ve got? I thought
you
were a badass vampire-witch,” I taunt and kick him again.

Suddenly I’m being lifted above the ground, I’m flying only I don’t know how. I see D smirk for only a moment before I fly into one of the concrete of the walls and slump to the ground.

“I am,” he sputters and then forces my body into the wall again. I cough and find blood spewing from my mouth. That bastard. I’ll
kill
him. “I could kill you right now, right here in a mere instant without blinking an eye.”

“Try it then, why don’t you?” I spit blood from my mouth at him.

He gives me a strange look that I can’t place. Guilt? I manage to break free from his hold and tumble to the ground painfully. I know he’s let me get free.

“Ariella, snap out of it,” D snarls, after a quick glance at the camera as I stand up. I’m raging furious with him. He thinks he can throw me around like that? “This isn’t you.”

“Isn’t it?” I argue and then release another wave of hot blue energy at him. He doesn’t seem to be able to stop these kinds of strikes because this second one hits him as well. It strikes him in the chest and he tumbles back. A bright red line emerges where it hit him and he cusses.

“Will you stop that? It hurts,” he whines, sounding annoyed.

While he’s down I send a wave of force at him and send him flying into a wall so hard that chunks of cement fall from it. He groans but jumps up again. This guy just won't go down.

Suddenly I’m soaring through the air. My back makes impact with the wall harshly and I scream in pain. Then he’s in front of me, his hand around my neck squeezing tightly. I gasp for breath but come up empty.

He gets right up in my face, his face only inches from mine. “Ariella that is enough,” he snarls venomously. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I struggle to get out from his grasp, but I can’t move a muscle. I try and summon my power, but it’s like it’s being blocked.

“Ariella, what’s wrong with you? Snap out of it,” he begs and I can’t understand what he’s saying. Snap out of what? We’re supposed to be fighting, not chatting. I want to hurt him. I want to
kill
him.

“Ariella, don’t let the darkness get to you because it’s the easiest path. You’re stronger than the darkness,” he whispers. “I can help you get out of here.”

“I don’t
want
out of here, you idiot,” I manage.

“When Nathan found me and told me you were sucking up to Marco and that the darkness tainted you, I thought you were faking it. I told him he was wrong, especially after he told me that you said I helped you find the darkness. I thought there was no way that innocent, loving you would hurt a fly. Let alone
kill
people. Ariella, you could hardly keep it together when you found that young girl in the field and you didn’t even have anything to do with it. This isn’t you. Be strong, fight it,” he pleads, and shakes my shoulders.

He’s interrupted by the intercom speaker blaring. “Have you hurt her? Why isn’t she moving?” the voice demands.

“No, she’s fine. She’s just lost the battle. I have her frozen here and she obviously doesn’t know how to break free from the spell. I could end her right now, but I doubt you’d appreciate that,” D grumbles. “Let me out, give me a harder task than this,” he suggests sternly.

“Daymon please return to your penthouse, Ariella please return to the apartments,” the voice instructs, and the door clicks open. This means that I’ve failed the challenge. I’ve
lost
. I’ve never lost before and of all the people I could have lost to. Not to mention that he is somehow in a penthouse while I’m in an apartment. I’m so furious that I want to explode. Fury, anger, hate, and jealousy seem to be the only emotions that I ever feel these days. I know it’s wrong but I can’t make myself feel anything else. Could D be right? Could the darkness have tainted me?

“Ay, ay,” D says and salutes towards the camera.

I feel myself be released from his hold and I immediately lash out in hatred towards him. He doesn’t seem to expect my blow and his head whips to the side in a way that shouldn’t be possible. There is loud crunch and he falls to the ground.

“Ariella! Enough! Would you like to be put into solitary and demoted to the dungeon?” a voice over the loudspeaker demands. It’s Marco. The dungeon is not a place I want to be. I have to force myself not to finish the man on the floor.

“I knew he wouldn’t kill me. I was only waiting for him to think he won,” I shout back at the voice. The voice doesn’t return to the speaker right away, but then when it does, I’m filled with satisfaction.

“Good tactic, Ariella. You’ve been promoted to the penthouses,” the voice says. I spit on D before exiting the room. It’ll be a few more minutes before his neck heals enough for him to move. I plan to be settling in my new home by then.

The freedoms that come with having a penthouse include, free full range of the entire headquarters building, internet, cell phone, occasional outside outings, no cameras in the homes, and capability of overseeing others train in the concrete room. It is the last step before we are released back into the world to complete tasks for Marco. There are a lot of people in this building who have been here a lot longer than I, and haven’t progressed from the dungeon thus far. The dungeon is where I spent only my first night here, back before I knew what I was capable of.

I glide through the halls by myself for the first time, I do not have a guard or servant watching me and leading me around any longer. I feel nearly completely free and it’s nice to be on that final stretch to success.

When I reach the doors that separate me from the sun, I use my power to open them for me. When the sun hits my face, I expect to feel some sort of relief or joy, but no emotion hits me. I am still only numb. I’m perplexed by this, although why was I expecting to feel something after all of this time not feeling a lick of positive emotion? I jog to the building outside of the penthouses and give them my name badge. The lady at the counter scans it and then assigns me a key to my new place.

When I’m inside, I sprawl out on my king-sized bed and flip on the TV. It’s not long before there is a knock on my door and I run to open it, expecting it to be Marco here to congratulate me, but it’s not. It’s D. I move to shut the door. I’m furious that he nearly lost me my penthouse.

“Wait, we’re on the same side here,” he says, while blocking me from closing the door.

“I have a feeling that we’re not,” I admit. If he were on our side, he wouldn’t try and convince me to get rid of the darkness within me. Marco will be hearing about his loyalties later.

“Can I come in?” he asks hopefully. “Only for a second. I promise”.

I contemplate, but decide to allow it. If I can find proof that he’s not on our side, then I can report it to Marco and have him dealt with. How’s that for revenge? Maybe Marco would even let me finish him off himself. I notice that he still isn’t wearing a shirt and he’s bloody. He hasn’t washed since we fought. I nod for him to come in and he glides through the door.

“I will answer anything you want to ask me, but first I want two questions of my own answered,” he negotiates.

I agree, not seeing how this can harm anything. “Alright.”

“How long have you been immersed in the darkness?” he asks firstly.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Ariella, I’ve been there. I’ve felt the darkness too, but I’ve overcome it. How long have you felt numb like you do?” he tries again.

“Since the moment I killed a girl in the concrete room on the day after I arrived here,” I admit truthfully.

“That was weeks ago,” he says sadly.

“What’s your other question?” I demand losing patience already.

“Do you still think I’m incredibly sexy?” He smirks and leans against my door frame.

I don’t know what comes over me, but I smile. I genuinely
smile
. A small laugh even escapes my lips. As quickly as it comes, I hide it. Interest sparks in his eyes and he tilts his head in wonder. My mind whirls. What was that, Ariella?

“I have a question,” I blurt, before he can say anything else.

“Shoot,” he says.

“How did you get here?” I decide is my first question, I actually have more than one.

“Well, after I took off in Sweden, I went to hide from Marco and your father and Jacob. Nathan found me after you went missing and told me about what you said about me to Marco. He told me that Marco would probably welcome me back with open arms if I agreed to help train you. So I made myself present and gave away my location. I don’t think he was looking for me too hard because it took him quite a while to find me. Anyway, he did and I asked to come back. He agreed to have me,” he explains.

“Why did you come back?” I wonder. Could he really want to join Marco again?

“I came here to sneak you out of here, Ariella. I’ve been jumping through hoops for the last few weeks trying to prove myself to Marco, so that he would trust me again one hundred percent. I came back to get you out,” he answers.

“I don’t want out. I mean I do, but I want out under Marco’s protection, not running from it,” I say as if it’s obvious. “The cause needs me anyhow. It’s not safe for me to even exist while the white witches are still breathing. Why would you risk your life to come get me out of here?” I ask finally, in confusion.

He looks at me as if it’s obvious. “Because I love you, Ariella.”

The shock of this rattles me and the thing that stirred in me while in the concrete room with him, stirs again only this time it’s more forceful.

“Why wouldn’t you want to stay here for the protection? You’re part vampire, the white witches will kill you. The immortals will kill you. You’re safe here,” I continue my questioning.

“I may be part vampire, but I’m not dark. At least I try my hardest not to let it take me,” he answers honestly.

“You can’t tell me that you don’t want to kill every single white witch and immortal on this planet just for the simple fact that they would kill you in a heartbeat if they had the chance,” I spit vehemently.

“I don’t. There are children, Ariella. Killing isn’t something you just do for your own enjoyment. You’ve always been against murder and killing,” he pushes, while taking another step inside and closing the door behind him. Maybe when I was weak. I’m not weak anymore. I don’t let petty things like love, sympathy, or guilt control me anymore.

“You killed all of those kids in the school,” I recall.

“I was tainted,” he admits sheepishly, and I don’t understand what he means. At my look of confusion he continues, “I was tainted by the darkness. It’s called having tainted crimson. Crimson meaning blood. Those like us, who are born with large potential for darkness, are easily pulled into it. You and I both have light. Nathan, has light. We are capable of good, unlike Marco.”