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I hit the creek bed, the rocks hard and slick against my hands and knees, freezing water drenching my clothes. I blinked back tears, my head throbbing, heart racing painfully. I crawled forward, grabbing onto a downed tree branch, gasping for air as the shock of the icy waters overtook me.
Everything in me screamed to get to my feet, to run, and I struggled to push myself up against the broken tree limb. Before I could recover, he grabbed hold of me once more.
“No! Stop!” Panic flooded all rationale in my mind as he hoisted me into the trees. I lost sight of Damien. What were they planning to do to me? I needed to get back to him, now. I needed to call for help; Barrett and the others needed to know what was happening. If they could get here, they could help Damien fight off Marcus’ men.
I screamed out in frustration.
“Shut it, girl.” My abductor threw me to the ground, and I grunted as I lifted my head to look up at him. He swung his foot into my face.
* * *
A gentle lull washed over me, like I was floating on waves. As my eyes flickered open, all I could see was dirt and vegetation on the forest floor passing below me. I couldn’t tell how long I’d been out, but my nose burned, and a headache throbbed from every inch of my head. A metallic scent filled my nose; dried blood caked my face from my nostrils to my chin.
My body shivered in the cold, my clothes soaked through entirely from the creek. Blood had pooled in my mouth and was dripping from my lips onto the ground, leaving a broken trail of blood on the forest floor.
Eyes fluttering, and barely holding onto consciousness, I muttered. “Damien…”
“You gonna cooperate now, little songbird?” I stiffened. Marcus was here, walking with us.
What happened to Damien? How long had I been unconscious? Where was I? The person carrying me stood me up on my feet. My legs bent and buckled under me, barely able to hold my own weight. The forest tilted and shifted around me as I tried to regain my bearings. I groaned, biting back the pain from what was turning into one hell of a head injury.
I licked the blood from my lips and brushed the back of my hand across my jaw to wipe some of it away. Blood continued to pool in my mouth, dripping out over my lips, and I spit it onto the ground. That guy sure as hell hadn’t held back when he kicked me, which made it clear that they didn’t care to hold anything back. I didn’t know what they wanted, but knowing Marcus, I feared there was no limit to what he would do to me.
“I’d hoped we could have kept that pretty face untouched, but you left us with no choice. Be a good girl now and come quietly,” Marcus reiterated, walking toward me.
I’d rather die than let him have his way with me. My blood boiled and I spit blood on his jeans in defiance, sick of this cruel game. “I won’t be your victim, Marcus.” I feigned the urge to fall over. “Where’s Damien? What did you do to him?”
He stopped, eyes falling downward to his jeans before lifting his eyes to me again. He worked his jaw, and his tongue slid over his teeth as he grinned at me. I struggled to maintain my composure as I swayed, blinking to stay aware of my surroundings. He grew closer to me, leaning down beside my ear.
“Oh, I’m going to have fun breaking you until you sing for me,” he said through his teeth before stepping back, ignoring my question about Damien. His eyes locked with mine, and I blinked.
Our surroundings melted away, reality dripping into oblivion like trickling paint. Only him and I remained, and the blur around me began to contort and twitch. Saliva flooded my mouth as nausea swept over me and I panted, swallowing as I tried to maintain myself.
Something icy climbed over my skin, wrapping me in a frozen grip. Faint voices crept into my mind, speaking unrecognizable whispers of some unknown language. I blinked, fighting to stay conscious, my hands shaking and twitching. The light around me faded, darker and darker, until I could see nothing, and I heard a loud thud as my body hit the ground.
* * *
The darkness clung to me. I was weightless, my body floating as if I were underwater, but it seemed I didn’t have the need to breathe. From the darkness, I heard Damien’s voice calling to me, but his words were a like a rippling image in a pond, there but unclear.
The pitch receded in a rush, the ground rising to meet my feet, and I was standing in an open field. A sliver of moon glinted in the sky, barely lighting my surroundings. My lungs burned as my chest heaved, pulling in any air I could get. The weight of cold steel hung heavy in my hand, and I looked down to find an ornately decorated short sword firmly gripped in my palm. Black blood dripped from the edge of the blade and my hand quivered as I held the handle.
The air was heavy with freshly spilled blood and the putrid smell of darklings. I looked out across the clearing, chest tight with sorrow. Smoke and bits of fire rose from embers and ash on the ground, remnants of a great battle surrounding me. The taste of blood filled my mouth and my eyes fell to the men and women littering the ground, dead or dying, some trying to resuscitate fallen comrades. Cries of agony and despair floated on the air, the foul smell of burning flesh filling my senses.
“Lucia!”
I turned to find Damien running toward me; only, he looked different. He was dressed in strange black leather armor and his hair was half pulled back out of his face. He was as much a mess as I was, covered in dirt and blood, both darkling and immortal.
He rushed to my side, cupping my face, looking me over. “I couldn’t find you. I thought I’d lost you,mea luna.” He kissed me deeply, the feeling of his hands against my skin easing my own worry for him.
Confusion gripped me, and yet, my subconscious didn’t seem to see a problem with it. I couldn’t form words as he released me, kneeling low and grasping my stomach which I could now see looked swollen under my leather armor. He pressed a kiss to my stomach between his hands.
“Thank the Gods you’re both ok.”
14
The faintest sound of metal dancing against metal woke me. My wrists ached to the bone, and my shoulders felt like they were going to pop out of place. The numbness in my body receded and I could feel my knees pressed against a hard, cold surface. My nose stung, and I suspected that it may be broken.
Where was I?
