Chapter Thirty-Nine
Desmond didn't kill me like I thought he would. He kept me only just alive, so much so that I lost consciousness. When I awoke, my body was weak and my eyes struggled to take in my surroundings. All I could see was that I was in a dark, empty room, left unceremoniously on the floor.
Around my wrists were thick bracelets. They might as well have been the same shackles Sebastian had put me in not too long ago. It held the same markings which summoned the same curse to keep my abilities captive. My magic was weak; most of it stolen and the rest suppressed while I was left to gain my strength. I touched my neck, feeling the dried evidence of Desmond's attack, and the reality of my situation left me terrified.
He found me. More than that, he caught me.
Time passed by excruciatingly as I felt my body regenerate at a slow pace. My powers were returning and my wounds were healing. I would survive. If I could gain all my powers back, the bracelets wouldn't be enough to keep me from teleporting home. Then I could search for Sebastian and Jax. I didn't know what happened to them. I needed to know they were okay.
I passed out on the ground. When I awoke, it was to the sound of the door opening. I blinked through the darkness, my breath shortening as I saw a tall figure approach me. I scrambled to get up, to move away, but my body was still slow from recovering.
Desmond lowered himself to the floor, grabbing me firmly before pulling me to him. I whimpered in fear, quieting when his hands found the flesh of my arms. He stared at me for a moment, a silent dark shadow of a predator mocking its prey.
"Please don't," I whispered, tears beginning to build in my eyes.
"You've already regenerated so well," Desmond stated, inspecting his previous bite with pleasure, "I had your magic for most of the night and a bit into the day. Far longer than I thought I would. I've seen the sun again. When I've taken you completely, I will be the most powerful being in this world." Desmond's eyes shined with the pleasure of the thought.
"Where's Jax and Sebastian?" I asked fearfully. If I couldn't be saved, then I wanted them to be.
"Don't worry. They'll all be dead soon," Desmond responded emotionlessly. He gripped my hair in his fist and pulled my head back. I wanted to scream, but my body betrayed me with that instinctual anticipation. Desmond struck, tearing his fangs into my throat once again and feeding from me hungrily. I could only manage whimpers, tears falling from my eyes as he took from me. The light on my skin shone bright and then traveled over him until I was left in darkness, nearly dead once again.
I couldn't tell how long this went on. Desmond kept me at a constant cycle of near-death, recovered just enough, and then fed from my power before leaving me near-dead once again. My body struggled to keep up and my magic couldn't break past the bracelets that kept it captive when I did wake. I thought at some point my body would refuse to recover, but it always did. It was as though this was what I was meant to be; a power source to tap into whenever Desmond pleased.
I wasn't sure what kept him from taking it all, but whatever it was it couldn't be good.
Sometimes, the Exodus witch would visit me. As I came to learn, her name was Leanna and her visits were horrible. She would force water and soup down my throat with much joy as I choked. Then she would sponge-bathe me with little to no effort, mocking my pitiful state the entire time.
"Poor little Phoenix," She said on one such visit, mocking me. She grasped the rag she had been using to dry my skin and held it over my mouth and nose, preventing me from breathing. I struggled weakly, grasping at her hand as my lungs burned in my chest. And then she abruptly let go, laughing gleefully. "Look how weak you are."
Leanna liked to punch, kick, and pinch me. She was pleased by the temporary bruises she left. And she liked to talk about Desmond and my vampires a lot.
"I've seen the way he feeds from you," She said on one such occasion, "You get off on it, don't you. No wonder you enjoyed those Genesis boys so much. I bet they were biting you every night."
I didn't respond.
"But you love your boys, don't you," Leanna mocked me, pinching me viciously so that I whimpered with pain. This pleased her. "How many of them have you fucked?" I ignored her, turning my head into the ground with my heart thudding in my throat. I just wanted her to leave. I almost preferred Desmond.
"You fucked all of them, didn't you? Like some vampire slut," Leanna hissed with disgust, "You can forget about adding Desmond to your list. Not that he'd want to anyway. You're not even attractive."
Leanna pulled my hair then, causing me to cry out. She liked to mock my morals. She didn't believe I loved any of them. She considered me some thing, and that thing was subhuman. She liked to make me feel horrible about myself.
"I bet they told you their sad little stories of how they came to turn into vampires," Leanna sneered as she choked me with water. "When they told you how they hurt people and killed people because they had to or didn't mean to, how many tears did you shed for their victims? Admit it, you pitied the evil and forgot the dead."
I hoped over and over that Desmond would skip a feeding; that I would be able to build enough power and strength to break out of here. At a certain point, his touch didn't hold the pull it had before and yet I couldn't fight the physical weakness he'd trapped me in. He was persistent and Leanna was cruel. If they wanted to, I could survive years under this abuse.
One night, Leanna's cruelty reached a new high. She slapped my face until I awoke, having only been recovering for a couple of hours since Desmond's feeding. I blinked painfully as I took in her dark face. She was smiling dementedly at me.
"I have a surprise for you," She announced, stepping away. When I tried to sit up, my arms were too weak to hold me. I remained collapsed on the floor, but angled my face to see what it was she would torment me with on this night.
There was a petite woman unconscious on the floor not far from me. From what I could sense in my state, she was a normal human. She had light blonde hair, though not as white-blonde as mine, and her body frame was similar to mine. I felt a wave of nausea and fear as I took in the scene.
"Now that Desmond has witch magic he doesn't need me to remain as I am," Leanna told me gleefully, "I obviously am not allowed to kill you myself, but being that you're not even human, it wouldn't turn me to kill you anyway. This girl, however, will do."
Leanna gripped the girl by her hair, lifting her head painfully. The girl was coming into consciousness and cried out in pain. My breath shortened and I struggled to move. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I had to stop her.
"The witches' curse is so literal, you know, but so vague at the same time. You have to kill an innocent human, but at the same time the witches only viewed you as tainted if you killed someone," Leanna said before addressing the girl below her, "Tell me, you've never killed anyone, have you?" She laughed mockingly.
"Don't," I whispered; my voice scratchy from underuse.
"See you on the other side, Phoenix," Leanna sneered dangerously, reaching around to slice a sharp blade across the girl's neck. I cried out with terror, adrenaline allowing the sound to escape me clearly. The girl choked with a look of fear and surprise, and then Leanna dropped her into a puddle of her own blood.
Nothing happened until the girl stopped moving entirely, the life fading from her completely. Then Leanna dropped her blade, beginning to pant loudly before grasping at her head painfully. She screeched loudly, falling onto her knees in agony. She screamed again, reaching out to land on all fours. Her mouth opened widely as she cried out and I could see fangs being formed in her teeth.
It was a quick curse initially, but then Leanna collapsed onto the floor uselessly into unconsciousness. I closed my eyes, trying to avoid seeing the corpse of the girl and pleaded for anyone to remove me from this place.
Hours passed before Leanna stirred. She sat up, grasping her head as if she had a headache. And then she sniffed the air, growling low as she caught the scent of blood and live prey. She turned to me, her eyes blackened into the night.
"You smell delicious," Leanna stated hungrily.
"Get out," Desmond demanded abruptly and I wasn't sure if I was relieved or dreading what came next. Leanna snarled at Desmond and lunged for me. He easily caught her, throwing her to the ground. "If you go for her again, I'll rip your heart out."
"Fine. I'll get my food elsewhere," Leanna growled before disappearing through the door with supernatural speed. Desmond looked from the door to the dead woman on the ground before making a displeased sound in his throat.
"Messy," He simply stated. And then he moved towards me, bending down to grab me once again. I struggled in his grasp, not even his touch enough to stun me anymore. He rolled his eyes, pinning my hands out of the way. "You won't suffer much longer. I will kill you soon. I can feel the imprint trying to take hold."
"Please, let me go," I pleaded, knowing my words didn't move him as it would the others. There was something different about him; darker.
"Begging is useless. Your tricks only work on those who had humanity before vampirism," Desmond told me emotionlessly, "All I want from you is power. The others have served their purpose. Now they're only competitors. I will kill them to prevent the possibility of them stealing my power. And I will kill you in front of them just to watch their newfound humanity fade into nothing."
He looked in the direction of where Leanna had disappeared.
"I like taking away their humanity," Desmond muttered quietly, "I wish she had let me watch." I swallowed painfully, my fear only escalating as he spoke. But he'd reached the end of his lecture. He abruptly turned and bit into me, taking my magic for his once again.
~...~
I was awoken by Desmond, whimpering as he bent down to lift me from the floor. His skin still glowed with my power. It was unusual for him to come back so soon after a feeding. But then, it was unusual for him to carry me from the room.
I wanted to feel a sense of relief; that for whatever reason he was going to let me go. But instead I felt a rising dread. I was unable to move after so much blood loss. I could only open my eyes briefly, struggling as they rolled back into my head uselessly.
Desmond lowered me onto the floor once again, only this floor was cold, smooth wood. I remained unmoving as he released me silently, disappearing from my proximity without harming me further.
"They'll be here soon," I heard Leanna hiss at me quietly, though I couldn't see her. "Now that my shielding spell is no longer up, they're going to come a'running." She giggled, pleased by the thought. I wanted to respond to this; to sneer back at her that she wouldn't be so happy once my vampires did come for me. But at the same time, my dread only rose.
Leanna disappeared from my surroundings as well. I blinked away those blackened spots, trying to take in where I was. From what my fuzzy mind could detail, it was a large abandoned stage theater. And I was lying in the center of the stage like some dramatic scene in some unknown play.
I reached weakly for those cursed bracelets as though I could remove them after so many sad attempts at it. My arms fell useless beside me and I closed my eyes, falling back into unconsciousness on that cold floor.
When I next awoke, it was to the feel of arms reaching under me to lift me partially. Convinced it was Desmond, I immediately whimpered with fear, attempting to struggle in his grasp. My limbs were still heavy. It was too soon for a feeding.
"Please don't," I could barely manage a whisper, but still I tried to plead.
"Katia," Sebastian's voice responded with concern. I felt an immediate rush of shock followed by relief. I opened my eyes weakly, my sight greeted with the image of his stricken features. I reached for him and he didn't hesitate to lift me further, catching my lips with a nearly desperate kiss. I gasped as he pulled me closer, releasing his kiss to hold me to him in a protective hug.
The moment was interrupted by my sudden dread.
"You need to run," I whispered against him. "He's going to kill you."
"I'm not going anywhere without you," Sebastian declared angrily, reaching to lift me from the floor. Before his reach could extend under my legs, he was suddenly torn from me and sent airborne. I cried out in fear.
"Hello, Seb," Desmond announced himself with pleasure. His hand was raised easily, holding Sebastian firmly against the far wall. "I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere at all. Did you bring the others?"
There was sudden laughter as Leanna ran into the theater, just barely avoiding an attack from Jax. He aimed to kill her, but as he lunged Desmond lifted a barrier from between them, knocking Jax back powerfully. The others were right behind him, attempting in their own ways to break past the magic that kept them from their prey. Leanna smirked, turning to look at Desmond.
"Seb!" Oliver called before his eyes fell on me. The others noticed me as well and suddenly there was a collective of anger and desperation on their faces.
"Let her go," Theo snarled furiously, hitting the barrier with all his weight.
Desmond smiled slowly, amusement lighting his features.
"All here. Just how I wanted it," Desmond mused, obviously pleased.
"There was no summoning artifact, was there?" Sebastian snarled, glaring at Desmond as he struggled against the magic which pinned him so firmly to the wall.
"In a way, there was. I was able to summon the Phoenix, wasn't I?" Desmond answered sarcastically, but the fact rang true. He had planted the tip about the artifact just so I would show up there and walk into his trap.
"Why'd you let me and Jax go? You could've killed us then," Sebastian continued, attempting to delay Desmond's plans.
"I wanted you all here together. Look, Seb, I was never much of a talker. You can talk to my ex-little witch, she's quite the conversationalist," Desmond waved an absent hand towards Leanna who smiled dementedly in response. He began strolling towards me slowly; dangerous. The threat was clear in his walk. He had the audience he wanted and now all he needed was to become what he desired most.
"Desmond," Sebastian snarled furiously, making Desmond pause momentarily. "Did you ever really get attacked that night? By Genesis? Did they really find us?"
Desmond seemed to have to think over what Sebastian asked, as if he didn't recall the specifics of what he was talking about. He turned towards him curiously, before lifting his hands slightly as though to say 'oh well'.
"So I may have lied a bit," Desmond answered simply, "I gave you that Heart of the Phoenix I went through all the trouble to steal and you didn't want to do anything with it. You needed more of a push to get rid of that dreadful coven you used to care for so much."
"And Shiloh knew more than he should've, didn't he?" Sebastian growled, low and angry.
"Shiloh.... Shiloh...," Desmond tasted the name on his tongue curiously, "Oh yes, Shiloh. He was quite a nosy little brat vampire. He may have overheard a few things about my plans for Genesis and the Phoenix. Couldn't let him run off telling his favorite big brother, could I?"
"You weren't even wild, were you?" Sebastian continued, making Desmond smile slowly.
"You're hoping the magic wears off," He said, looking down at this skin where the glow still pulsed across his flesh dangerously. He continued towards me, bending down to pull me to him as he had done so many times before in his captivity.
"Don't even think about it," Miles snarled loudly above the protest of the others. Desmond turned his gaze almost boredly towards him.
"I gave you the chance to share the power with me, Miles," Desmond told him simply before shrugging halfheartedly, "I probably would have killed you before then, but still you had the option. I'll reiterate your own message back to you... what was it? Oh yes, 'Go fuck yourself'."
I turned my head to look at them; the faces of those I loved. The men I wasn't able to protect. But just the sight of them was enough to flourish a warmth throughout me. I had never felt happier than when I was with them. Even trapped in Desmond's arms, he couldn't take away that feeling.
"Any last words, Phoenix?" Desmond asked teasingly. I opened my mouth to answer, but the words were cut off by his fangs abruptly ripping into my neck. I yelped weakly, knowing already it was far too soon for another feeding. My limbs were still heavy and my heart was thudding so slowly. I couldn't hear the shouts of my men over the roar of the ocean in my ears. I could only see their panic.
What remained of the sunglow on my flesh was being pulled determinedly from me. I closed my eyes in pain as the cold washed over me. The last flicker of light was taken from me and all that remained was a silent darkness.
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Music: Deep End by Ruelle
.I.(-.-) Leanna
Sorry for the cliffy #2. :(
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