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Their gazes meet.
Orion barks a laugh. “Ah! I understand now.”
The magical attack on Maddy disappears.
Then he turns to Caleb and wiggles his fingers. “The way to extricate her compliance is through you.”
“No, no, no,” Maddy whispers. “Please. No.”
Caleb shoots her a warning glance. Inside, she feels as though she’s screaming, convulsing, and begging Orion to let him go. But Caleb’s whole body tenses, his hands become fists, fastened to his sides. He clamps his teeth shut with a snap, but a pain-filled groan works its way out of him.
Orion places the metal stake at the end of the cot, near where the tortured supernatural’s feet had been.
Caleb’s eyes widen, and his teeth chatter as Orion whispers a spell which lifts Caleb into the air, carrying him to the cot and holding him down on it. The fasteners latch around his body, and his grimace increases, his lips peeling back and exposing his teeth.
Caleb convulses, shaking the small bed from side to side, and he cries out as the torture increases. A long series of expletives escape between his clenched teeth.
If Maddy had been crying before, her tears are now gut-wrenching sobs. It’s positively agonizing to see Caleb in so much pain of his own.
“Please, let him go,” Maddy begs, moving her lips as much as she can.
“Don’t,” Caleb snaps. “Maddy!”
“Let him go, Orion,” she whispers through clenched teeth. “It’s me you want.”
Orion smiles, a sickly, ugly expression. “The only way I’ll let him go is if you use your power to help me and destroy that weapon.” He takes a deep breath as though warming to his subject. “Once the weapon is destroyed, I’ll achieve my vision of monsters filling the paradise I imagine—monsters of my own creation.”
Maddy blinks away another rush of tears. “Like the beasts in the valley?” she asks, finding the hold on her has lessened.
“My magnificent creations,” he murmurs. Then he whirls toward Maddy. “And you will help me reshape the world’s destiny and remake it in the image of the glorious Eldritch.” He twists his hand in Caleb’s direction, and he arches on the cot as another scream seeps from him. “Once I succeed, no one will stop me, and you have the ability to join me in the creation. You could be my queen.”
“Impossible,” Maddy hisses.
Caleb moans, rocking back and forth as the bed creaks beneath him and the fastener straps pop. “Don’t help…him, Maddy.”
“Shame you cannot move at all,” Orion sneers, then turns, moving closer to Maddy. “ Agree to help me, and I’ll let you go right now. Perhaps I’ll retrieve the entire obsidian and merge it with Eldritch once again. It will be whole again.”
Maddy glances at Caleb. He’s still writhing in pain, and she can’t do anything about it. She’s rooted to the spot, unable to move. Maddy leans to the side, trying to break free of the spells Orion keeps casting.
Orion turns toward the remaining maps on the walls. “Eldritch will spread through this realm…” he murmurs excitedly. “I’ll continue fashioning my creatures.”
The weapon rests beside Caleb’s leg. It’s not that far. If Maddy can break free of the magic, in a blink, she could reach the stake and drive it into Orion’s heart. As Orion gestures to one groupings of pins on the map, Maddy’s able to take a tiny half-step toward Caleb.
Caleb glances at her, blinks, then groans a little louder. The pendant around his neck turns bright red as though it’s been heated in a fireplace. He must be trying to tap into his Van Helsing powers.
Orion turns toward Maddy, and he flicks his wrist again to send another rush of torture through Caleb. Caleb’s legs and arms jerk against the straps. His teeth chatter.
Orion nods toward her mate. “When you’re ready to help me, I’ll release him. All you have to do is destroy the stake.”
Maddy chews her bottom lip. “If I can’t reach it, how am I supposed to destroy it? I don’t know how to use my powers like that.” More to the point, if she can reach the weapon, how will she be able to free either one of them without magic? Caleb can’t use his, and she can’t use hers.
Orion sniffs. “Don’t be silly. You’re a warlock with powers. You only need to send a burst of magic into the stake, expand it, and shatter it.”
Maddy adopts a thoughtful look, trying to convince Orion she’s considering his offer. “What if I help you? Will you contort me into something awful? Or kill me?”
“Not if you agree to help me.” He gestures to the map, pointing to the mountain range where they are right now. “Eldritch will spread across from here, slowly taking over the realm.”
Footsteps echo in the outer rooms of the bunker, and a woman with long, matted hair bursts in. “Orion! You will pay.”
