Taken (Breaking the Darkness) (15 page)

Anton stood over me, breathing heavily. I could hear his breath streaming in and out of his nostrils. He used his foot to kick me over onto my back, careful not to scuff his shoes. He sat on top of me and leaned in toward my face, sniffing me once again. Lucky for me he didn’t press all his weight against me this time.

I lay as still as I could. For some reason he decided against restraining my arms. That worked for me because I wanted them to remain free. I prayed he wouldn’t reconsider and hold them down. My preference wasn’t to keep my eyes locked in on him, but I needed to watch for his every move. His eyes glowed back at me, reflecting my own fear, and his hunger shone through.

I was surprised he allowed himself to salivate enough that his acrid saliva seeped from the corners of his mouth. Maybe he couldn’t control it or he was unaware because he seemed way too OCD about his appearance otherwise.

Tears flowed at an even pace down the sides of my face. The cool salty water pooled in my ears. I welcomed both the coolness and the sound barrier. The sound of his every breath made my skin crawl.

He watched the tears roll away from my eyes and basked in the glory of the pain and suffering he inflicted upon me. “Mmmm,” grumbled from his taut, scaly lips. He leaned over the side of my swollen and battered face. His hot, skinny tongue lapped up my tears, removing my would-be screams.

An eye,
I thought to myself. I slowly moved my opposing hand as close to our heads as I could without distracting him from his vulgar task. I continued to squirm under him, feigning to move out of his reach. He found my apparent level of unease amusing; I could hear him laughing to himself. It was just enough of a diversion for me to make a move of my own. Just before he realized my intent, I plunged my fingernail into his eye.

One drop of blood fell from his scratched face. I watched it land on the back of my twisted amulet.

He grabbed at his face and before rising to his feet, he pelted me across the cheek. Anton backed away from me, possibly in shock that I managed to sneak in a successful blow. I was under the impression that never happened.

A smile crossed his face. He lifted his hand to his head and stroked it forward repeatedly. His face was again smooth and well-polished. His hand was that of a human once more. Without taking his eyes off me, he lowered his sleeves and reattached the cuffs of his shirt. He looked over at his jacket, but before reaching for it, he came at me.

“You are a tasty treat, Red. I will enjoy returning to you for our next visit. I will make sure they let me finish you. Morsel by morsel.” He swiped his finger across my face, gathering the salty fluids. Putting his finger to his lips, he slowly rubbed it in a circular motion around his bottom lip and then his upper just before sucking my tears from the tip. ”I think I might even let you enjoy a taste of me upon my return.”

He slowly strode back and lifted his coat without a second thought. As I crab crawled to the farthest corner of the room, he opened the door. Just before he closed me back into my solitude, he blew me a kiss.

AT THE MOMENT Anton Leviath’s blood hit my pendant, something changed. I could feel the pendant instantly pressing against my chest. It was almost hard to notice amongst the overwhelming amount of shooting pains firing all over my body.

I sat with my knees curled up to my chest and my back against the wall. My head hung low, my tears an endless stream of defeat. I could hear them plinking off the metal and stone. I hoped they washed away the blood of the beast who now had declared claim over me.

The amulet started to cause a tingling sensation on my skin. I reached for it, glad there was still just enough light in the room to look at it again. I admired the beauty and technique that went into the hand-carved metal. The stones were wet with my tears and it caused them to glisten as I turned the pendant over. I ran my thumb across the back of the amulet and the etchings on the back illuminated in red. The writing became clearer but was nothing I recognized. It wasn’t in a language that looked remotely familiar, not that I was a linguist or anything. The image would forever be etched in my mind.

I let it fall and knew I needed to get back to Patience and Phaela. I could barely even move. Every bit of my body was riddled with pain. I was bruised and swollen in places I didn’t know existed.

A sudden surge of energy seemed to be released from the amulet. It was like I just got hit with lightning. My chest was both hot and freezing at the same time. It should have been painful, but my body was beyond pain. It was just an intense jolt.

I reached up to feel what had happened. I needed to check my skin and move or remove the necklace from my neck as quickly as possible. As I lifted my hand to it, I realized it was melding into me.

The amulet was sinking into my skin. I couldn’t grasp it; I couldn’t remove it. I threw both hands up and fingered at it. It was no use; it was gone. Only the empty chain remained. I looked down and saw the symbol embossed at the center of my chest. In that instant, the room faded back to darkness.

Oh boy! This would be hard to explain if and when Ziona or Anton noticed. How would I be able to hide this mark upon my chest? Why would something like this happen? What did he do to me? The questions kept piling up and the list of answers wasn’t nearly long enough.

I tried to will myself to the bed, but I just slumped down out of complete exhaustion and curled my aching, broken body into a ball. I think I closed my eyes, but it was possible I learned to sleep with my eyes open.

I WOKE FROM a dreamless slumber to the smell of greasy fried food. The aroma turned my stomach against me. My hunger was enough to conquer the pain that sprouted in every joint. I forced myself to where the smell came from. I felt around on the ground and found a half-crumpled bag.

I tore into it faster than a child ripping into gifts on Christmas morning. I found a container of fried chicken pieces and immediately started to shovel the salty chunks into my mouth before I cared to see what else was in the bag. It didn’t matter how they tasted; I was famished. I found a can of something and cracked it open, pounding it down so fast the carbonated assault fought back with a large belch.

There was also a bag of vegetable sticks that I started to munch on. I was eating so fast the food felt like bricks being shoved into an infant’s sock. I stopped before I made myself sick. My ribs couldn’t handle the pressure of this food coming back out. I horded the remaining food into the corner of the bed, hoping to finish the rest of it as soon as my shrunken stomach would allow.

I wanted to go back to sleep but was cautious not to lie back down just yet. That food needed to stay put. I rested my head against the hard wall and shut my eyes. What I wouldn’t have done for some sort of pain reliever or one of Gram’s magic teas.

A bag of ice might have been nice. I was cautious about complaining about the food, even if it was only to myself. It was long overdue. Even though my hunger pains were subsiding, the rest of my aches grew worse. The thought of what I looked like was so hard to imagine. I wanted to reach around and touch my back, but the sheer thought of it sent shivers up my spine. I was so grossed out and felt icky all over.

At least the bleeding stopped. I had to count my blessings somewhere. It was a repulsive reality that monster’s tongue cauterized the very wounds he inflicted on me. I was sure it was an early lesson on how he could easily cut me open and close up the wounds over and over again at his will or whim. He could dish out an endless supply of suffering.

Instead of reaching around to examine the extent of my back injuries, I decided to reach up for my chest. Just between my breasts my skin felt like a puffy tattoo. The shape was the same pentacle design of the amulet. I was freaked out that a piece of metal melted into my skin. Would I ever get it out? And if so, how?

I needed to know why this happened. What would happen to me as a result? I wondered if Ziona ever noticed I was wearing it in the first place. It was beneath my shirt most of the time. Now that my shirt was torn, she would most likely be able to see the branding. Fumbling in the dark, I did my best to tie the torn pieces of shirt together. If she asked me where it went, I could tell her that her buddy Levi took it. I can’t imagine there was much trust among those evil people. Were they even people? Anton sure didn’t look like a “person.”

I needed to get out of my broken body. I hoped the pain of my vast injuries didn’t carry over into my astral existence. I thought it was time to get as comfy as I could manage, or at least in a position that wouldn’t cause any added discomfort. I decided to go to Patience and Axel’s house first. Hopefully, they would be home. At least if they were there, they had access to a lot of secret documents. I wasn’t sure if Phaela lived there or if I’d been lucky with her visits. Hopefully she was there too. I would need her to help me communicate.

IT DIDN’T TAKE me long to find my way there. It was amazing how in an instant I was where I wanted to be. The rustic kitchen had really grown on me. I loved the way the pots and pans were hanging from the ceiling. If I weren’t in astral form, I’d have bumped my head repeatedly on them. Those people were so short and cute.

I did take note to use some of the techniques that Graven taught me, first and foremost making sure my body was covered. I wasn’t really interested in exposing myself to anyone else. Although, I hadn’t come across any other travelers yet, I would prefer to keep it casual if I did bump into anyone. I was practicing my entry to be discrete and tried to blend back into my surroundings.

Maybe I should have asked him about communicating with people that could see me or if there was a way to contact someone like Patience who could travel but in her physical state couldn’t see others’ projections. I was thoughtful to not make a scene in case there was anyone else there that could hear or see into this plane of existence. No one was making tea this time, so I couldn’t necessarily expect anyone to be sauntering into the kitchen.

Come to think about it, I hadn’t left that room when I visited their place the past two times. I wondered what the rest of their home looked like. They must have had so many great antiques. I could only imagine the stories Axel could tell me. He might bore me to sleep, but that would be a welcome change from the desolate life I was experiencing.

I tried to travel past the threshold of the doorway into the hall to take a look around, but as soon as I got to the entryway, it felt like I hit a brick wall coursing with electricity. I got zapped back into the kitchen. It was a strange sensation, not very comfortable, but I wasn’t sure if anything could really hurt me when I wasn’t in my physical body. What the heck was going on? I hoped I wasn’t a vampire. I couldn’t help chuckling to myself at the thought.

Moments later, Phaela strolled into the kitchen. “I thought I heard something. Kasha, we’ve been waiting for you.”

“Yeah, um, where’s Patience?” Before she could consider answering me, I added, “And what is up with the invisible electric wall?”