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` “You might stop feeding now, boys,” he says. “The venom is well and truly coursing through her. She’ll be dead in minutes if the pretty one doesn’t come for her.”
I’m relieved as the awful vampire feeding on my arm stops, walking away somewhere in the distance. There’s a bonfire going nearby, illuminating the inside of this otherwise dank and dreary cavern. I’m reminded of a bayside grotto, and wouldn’t be surprised to see a pirate ship riding in somewhere nearby.
I remember everything Caspian told me about the amulet he gave me, and wonder how they’re still able to hurt me like this. I lower my chin, attempting to feel the necklace, when I realize it isn’t there anymore.
It’s been discarded in a pile of bones ten feet away from me.
The sense of hope that kept me going - it starts to exit my body, as I realize in horror that either I’m going to die in this cave without Caspian ever finding me… or he’ll find me, and be overwhelmed by Aleister’s forces.
I look up to the ceiling above me, and the stalactites that drip water from the ceiling at a regular rate. Green moss spirals around them, and I realize that we can’t be too far into this cavern.
If only I had strength to break free, or even to reach my cell phone, which I still feel buried deep in my pocket.
“Still plotting your escape?” Aleister moves closer to me, ready to dodge if the situation calls for it. “You might as well rest. There’s no way you’re breaking free.”
“What does Caspian have to do with any of this?” I ask.
He smiles, and I think I’ve said something funny to him, before his expression morphs again, and I’m faced with his putrid fury. He takes his long, wood-like fingernails and begins to jab them into my earlobe, as though trying to pierce me.
“Your boyfriend-” he says, carving into my ear. “He’s gotten himself into this situation, hasn’t he? I can’t help but retaliate when he gives me no other option.”
I attempt to conceal the immense pain, but fail miserably, as I feel him rending pointlessly through cartilage. The worry of infection immediately crosses my mind, before I realize that there’s literal poison coursing through my body.
“What-” I try to center myself, moving to a place in my mind where I’m safe from the immense pain. “What are you talking about?”
His eyes get bigger, and his expression suddenly looks insane or alien to me.
“I mean when your boyfriend-”
“Caspian,” I correct him. He speaks over me.
“When your boyfriend works for an organization that hunts my friends, either killing or incarcerating them, it’s up to me to set an example - it’s up to me to let him know that they don’t get to fuck with me.”
His words seem nonsensical to me. I shake my head, before realization hits.
“Wait a minute,” I reply. “Are you the ones behind the brutal murders all over town? The humans, completely drained of fluids?”
He snickers.
“If I was, do you really think I’d incriminate myself?”
“You said yourself,” I reply snarkily. “I’m going to be dead in mere minutes. What’s it hurt to tell me?”
He stands up and begins to walk away from me.
“I fear our conversation has come to a close,” he replies, trailing off. “Just so you know, the pain’s going to be immense! It’s the only reason we’re not bothering to torture you more right now.”
He walks over to the bonfire, which only casts light and shadow around the large stalagmite blocking my vision.
A white hot, fiery pain fills my head suddenly, as if on cue. I want to scream, but my throat is dry and painful, and the urge for any source of water overwhelms me.
My muscles feel like they’re frozen and covered in ice. I want to move them - shake my body loose - do anything to get energy moving through me. But I can do none of that, because as I try to writhe, neither the chains nor my muscles give.
I can’t give up hope. I don’t know what dying feels like, but as I start to feel dizzy, and my senses become so much more disoriented, I figure that this is pretty close to that sensation.
Caspian is going to find me. He has to. Because I can’t imagine that my life’s story ends with me dying in a cave, found months later by all of my friends and loved ones. It doesn’t make any sense.
But I can’t stay awake much longer. My thoughts are too heavy now.
