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I only allow the barest movement of my throat, although my heart is racing so fast inside of my chest I may die from a heart attack before he killed me.
"Where is the fun in that?" I asked, attempting to keep my voice light.
"She's right. There are lots of things we can do before she dies. She deserves them all for killing Lance," a woman stepped forward.
At least I was pretty sure it was a female, she had the right shape, even if her face was a Picaso of pieces all in the wrong place. Her nose was in the center of her forehead and three eyes took up her entire chin, while her toothy mouth was in the center of her face.
"Silva is right. She deserves all the pain we can cause before she dies. Maybe we should hold her captive and torture her. Draw it out," another demon said from the back of the group.
"I deserve all the pain. You wouldn't want to kill me too fast," I joked. It earned me a hard backhand to my cheek, making my head spin.
Fuck.
I blinked, and the demons doubled. The tang of blood from my busted lip coated my tongue as I tried to moisten my dry lips. Laughter sounded around the space and bounced around inside my head. My jaw throbbed, and I wasn't sure if it was because one of them just hit me hard enough to feel like a brick hadslammed into my cheek or if it was the clenching of my teeth. They pressed my dagger into my skin, and I could feel a bead of liquid roll down the side of my neck as soon as it pricked me.
My stomach quivered with unease, even as anger rushed through my veins. The two emotions warred within me for dominance. As his fist crashed into my face hitting me a second time, my scalp prickled and my vision swam. I shifted away from him as much as I could. I needed my senses about me if I was going to escape, and if he kept hitting me, I would be unconscious again.
"Gavin, stop hitting the hunter," the demon that captured me said as he stepped forward. He gripped my chin in a bruising hold as he knelt down in front of me. "If you keep hitting her, she won't be awake for any of the fun stuff."
My stomach dropped out of my ass as terror took the place of unease and anger. Even though I had prepared myself my whole adult life for this moment and kept everyone at arm's length so they didn't hurt too much once I was gone, it didn't stop the tremors I could feel traveling through my hands to the tips of my fingers. At least they couldn't see that. I squeezed my eyes shut as he loomed even closer. His rank breath filled my nose, and I gagged. He laughed, forcing the smell of death further into my lungs.
If I didn't get out of here soon, I wouldn't be able to. When I blinked my eyes back open, black spots formed on the edges of my vision. The sounds were louder, even the shifting of bodies against fabric echoed in my ears. My skin was clammy in the cool morning air as mist coated the forest floor. I could feel the brush of the dew gathered on my arms as I became aware of my limbs tied behind me. There wouldn't even be anyone that knew I was missing until Friday evening when I didn't show up at home for the weekend. I was on my own for this.
The pressure increased on my jaw, and I was pretty sure his fingers digging into my skin were enough to shatter my bone. A shiver feathered over my skin as he sniffed. His hand dropped away, and he backed up, eyes wide.
"The Prince—" the demon murmured. "He marked her."
The fuck?I was positive he didn't bite me. Hell, he hadn't even hurt me at all. Not like these brutes. Gingerly, I moved my jaw in a small circle, making sure there was no lasting damage.
"That isn't possible," Silva replied, as she took a step forward. The nose in the center of her forehead inhaled deeply. How did that work, anyway? Did her throat go behind her eye?Focus, Sam. She let out a hiss that had me pressing my head against the tree behind me. Those teeth were jagged and sharp up close. "We have to release her."
My eyebrows shot up in surprise as I watched them silently, and they argued around me, their voices mixed and the demon that slapped me got near enough to sniff me too. He paled as he backed away.
"If we let her go, she will kill us all, and the boss will finish the job if she doesn’t," he said.
I would, their boss wouldn’t even find their bodies.
I rolled my lips into my mouth, not adding to the conversation. At this point, I wasn't sure which side was winning. The release her or the kill her quickly. They acted like I didn't have ears that could hear every word they said. If they thought Bellamy marked me, I could use that to my benefit, right?
"He is waiting for me. If you let me go, I won't tell him about this." I finally broke my silence, and all eyes turned my way. "But if I don't show up soon, he will come looking for me. You know how he can be—" I trailed off, hoping that he had a temper or something that warranted the fear I saw around me.
"We should leave her. She won't be able to kill us, and he will find her when he comes for her," an Imp said as he eyed me. "Leave the dagger. If Prince Bellamy finds us with it, he will know we are guilty."
Silva yanked the blade out of Gavin's hold and dropped it at my feet. The eyes on her chin watched me as she backed away. Gavin stepped forward with a wicked grin.
"Can't have you watching which way we go," he said a moment before the back of his hand cracked into the side of my face, making my world black. “This isn’t the end.”
I blinked my eyes open against the late afternoon sun shining through the burnt trees in front of me, making the insane pounding in my head worse. A pain in my neck shot down my back as I lifted my head more fully. The abuse swelled one of my eyes shut, and I could feel dried blood caked into my clothing. My hands were asleep from the circulation being cut off for so long. I wiggled my fingers to wake them up. The forest was empty, and with how burnt the area was in front of me, I wasn't even sure hikers would find me.
Voices carried through the trees. Familiar voices. "Ty, Rai!" I called out, my vocal cords stiff from not using them for who knew how long. They stopped talking and moving from the sounds of it. "Tyler! Raiden!" I screamed. Fear made my voice crack. What if they didn't hear me and they left me?
Crashing sounded, and then they were in front of me. Tyler's eyes went wide as he took in the mess I was. Raiden knelt in front of me. He gently touched my cheek, and I hissed in pain, jerking away from his fingers. Fuck, that hurt. They were both in their firefighter outfits. A yellow hard hat on each of their heads, and wearing heavy fire jackets and pants. Although Raiden left his coat unzipped and hanging open, his dark blue shirt underneath the uniform was a contrast to the bright yellow of the helmet.
"What happened to you?" Ty spoke first, asking the obvious question.
Raiden's nostrils flared, and a glower appeared on his face. He shot to his feet and looked at my brother. There was no way he could smell Bellamy on me. He was human. I probably just smelled because demons dragged me through the forest, then beat me, before they left me tied to a tree. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as his jaw worked. He sure looked upset.
"Did the Prince do this to you?" Raiden growled, a puff of smoke seemed to come from his nose as he breathed out.
