Archaic

by Regan Ure

  Jared backed up until he was standing just in front of the bedroom door. I watched him carefully. I was nearly within reaching distance of the frame as Jared kept a watchful eye on me the entire time. He didn't have any idea of what I was about to do because if he had, he would have kept me well away from the desk.

  As I got close enough to the desk, I backed up, my eyes glued on Jared. Behind my back, I reached for the frame. Although he saw me reach for the frame, he still hadn't realized what I was going to do with it. Maybe he thought I was going to throw it at him. He would know it wouldn't really inflict any real damage to him, so he stood his ground.

  He didn't realize that I wasn't going to throw the photo frame--I had a completely different idea. I smashed the photo frame against the desk. Glass embedded in my hand that now held the broken photo frame. With my other hand, I reached for a piece of jagged, broken glass.

  "No," Jared pleaded desperately as he took a couple of steps forward. He'd finally figured out what I was going to do, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do to stop it. I held the jagged piece of glass in my hand tightly and held it to my wrist. That was enough for him to stop his approach.

  "I still can't let you out of this room," he stated with a steeliness in his voice, knowing that he would do everything he could to keep me from leaving.

  I glanced down at my wrist where I held the glass. He wasn't worried because he knew he would be able to heal me if I did cut myself.

  I needed to do something more drastic.

  Calmly, I held the makeshift knife to my wrist. Maybe if he saw me inflict a cut on myself it would make him back down, so I pushed the ragged edge of the glass into my wrist and pulled it across my skin. The cut was deep and began to bleed as I watched the horror in Jared's features. Even though the cut was deep, we both knew it wasn't life-threatening.

  "If you don't let me go, the next cut will be much deeper," I threatened calmly, trying to negotiate my way to freedom.

  He got a determined look on his face as he pressed his lips together. Then he shook his head.

  "I'm not letting you out," he said. His eyes were hard and determined.

  My plan wasn't working. The only way he would let me go is if he truly believed I would kill myself.

  My mind raced through ways to do more damage. The only other place that I believed I would bleed faster was my neck. I lifted my makeshift weapon to press it against the front of my neck.

  There was no change in Jared's expression.

  I pulled the glass across the front of my throat, just deep enough to let the blood seep from the skin. The flicker of concern in his eyes was enough for me to know I now had a way out.

  "Do you want to take the chance that I might bleed out before you can heal me?" I asked. I pressed the glass against the cut, intending to deepen it. "It would take at least a few minutes to heal me, wouldn't it?"

  He remained silent.

  "What if I didn't have those few minutes? What if I cut my jugular? Wouldn't I bleed out before you could save me?"

  He studied me for a few moments and, for a moment, I thought he would stand firm.

  "Don't do it Ava," he pleaded.

  "Let me go," I demanded.

  Slowly he backed away from the doorway.

  I didn't take my eyes off him as I slowly made my way to the doorway. I kept my back to the doorway as I watched him to make sure he didn't try and grab me as I edged past him. He held his hands up and watched me back out of the doorway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Once I'd backed up into the hallway, I turned and ran for the stairs. Without a backward glance, my weapon still in my hand, I rushed down the stairs. It was only when I got to the landing that I saw Tyler enter the hallway from the kitchen and he was surprised to see me. I held the glass tighter in my hand as I put the edge against the shallow cut on my neck, which was dripping blood.

  Tyler's features turned from surprised horror to realization and he glanced behind me. I turned quickly to see that Jared was behind me. He hadn't made a move to try and disarm me. He kept his hands up. I turned back to Tyler and he held up his hands as well.

  He stood between the front door and me. The need for Mason had become a pulsing pain that was pushing me to find him. The small cuts from smashing the photo frame in my one hand and the surface wound on my other wrist felt like nothing compared to the pain that was growing within me. I needed Mason.

  Tyler didn't move away from the door. He knew if I made it out of the door and got away that they wouldn't be able to find me again, and then I would be gone forever.

  "Move, Tyler, or I will kill myself," I threatened him. He knew I wasn't messing around. I pushed the glass into my skin again to get my point across. This time it was deeper and I felt the warmth of my blood. My dark red blood flowed freely.

  Tyler looked horrified.

  "Let her go, Tyler," Jared instructed, panic seeping into his voice. I confirmed that they wouldn't be able to heal me if I did enough damage.

  Slowly Tyler shifted out of my way as I etched around him. Blood dripped from my cuts onto the carpet. When I got to the front door, I turned my back to it so I could keep an eye on Tyler and Jared. I held the jagged piece of glass out in front of me as I used my other hand to open the door.

  Mason. He was all I could think about.

  Once the door was open, I was out the house. I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the two guys in front of me as I backed and onto the front porch. I turned to the side so that I could still watch them as I navigated my way down the few steps down the front of the porch to the short pathway that led to the pavement.

  I was so close.

  I looked back to Jared and Tyler. They both still had their hands up and they both stood side-by-side on the front porch just in front of the doorway. Still facing sideways, I shuffled farther down the pathway.

  Where is Mason? I thought to myself as I glanced back to the house. Tyler and Jared were now halfway down the stairs. They'd dropped their hands to their sides and I noticed they weren't watching me anymore. As they both looked past me, I could see the anger on their faces.

  I glanced to the opposite direction. Mason and Caleb were waiting for me across the street.

  He'd come for me. I was comforted by the thought that I was nearly with him.

  The sight of him gave me the determination to move faster.

  Glancing between the two groups facing off between each other I could feel the tension starting to build. I looked back to Jared to see the struggle inside of him. His eyes held mine for a few seconds before he glanced to his brother. It was torture for him to watch me walk toward Mason, and there was nothing he could do.

  I took another step toward Mason.

  "Ava, behind you!" Mason shouted at me. I was about to step onto the sidewalk when I felt hands reach for me from behind.

  No!

  I tried to cut my throat, but the person who grabbed me from behind was too strong. They pulled my arms back and held them behind my back. I began to feel weak. My energy was being drained from me, flowing from the connection where the hands held my arms.

  A flash of white energy shot past me and I heard a commotion. My knees buckled and the person who had restrained me laid me down gently on the ground as they continued to drain my energy, enough for me to be too weak to fight. I looked up to see Danny. His eyes were glazed over with silver. I could do nothing to stop him while he slowly drained my energy.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw flashes of white energy back and forth.

  Then it went quiet. I heard footsteps as I felt my eyelids close, and I lost consciousness.

  I felt so ill I wanted to throw up. I was unable to move. The muscles in my body ached. It felt like someone had driven over me with a truck and then backed up over me as well. All I could do was moan. My mouth was dry and my throat hurt. The softness beneath me was a bed. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't, my eyelids were still too heavy to lift.

  "Ava," I he
ard Jared whisper beside me.

  "I..." I tried to talk, but I was struggling to form the words I wanted to say. I felt so weak.

  "Don't try to talk," he soothed. The soft touch of his fingers brushed my cheek.

  I tried to remember what had happened. I remembered trying to hurt myself so that Jared would let me go to Mason. I remembered Danny grabbing me from behind and draining my power. It was probably why I was feeling so bad. The last time Jared had drained my power, he'd healed me.

  Why hadn't Jared healed me? I moaned again as another wave of pain and nausea hit me.

  "I'm sorry, I can't heal you. We need to keep you weak so that you can't try and hurt yourself again to try and get away," he explained. I felt his lips press a small kiss to my forehead.

  "I also can't take the chance that there will be another fight in the open. We were lucky--we don't believe that anyone saw anything," he said.

  That hadn't even crossed my mind. I remembered the white flashes of energy. That had been outside in broad daylight, out in the street. He was right--we were lucky nobody had seen anything.

  "We are making preparations today to do the altering," he told me as I felt his hand hold mine.

  Today? What day was today? I wanted to ask the question, but I couldn't form the words.

  "Nathaniel is convinced that we need to perform the altering when you're in an emotionless state because your Hue energy is more intense. It's still going to be dangerous. I know you're scared, but everything will be okay," he assured me before he pressed another kiss to my forehead. "I won't let anything happen to you."

  I knew how much he cared for me, but there were some things that just weren't in his control. He was trying to ease my worrying, but his attempts didn't help. I was scared that I wouldn't survive, and I didn't know if I would be able to cope with the pain. I moaned. I didn't want to think about what was going to happen, but I couldn't help myself.

  "You can do it. You're strong enough," he whispered to me.

  Was I? I didn't feel strong enough. I wanted it to stop. Did that make me weak?

  Remembering the pain Mason had inflicted on me brought a new wave of fear crashing over me. I had thought I was going to die. It was hard process the fact that I would have to endure pain that was worse than that. I wanted to run and hide. I didn't want to have to do this.

  Tears formed in my closed eyes and slid down my face.

  "Shh, Ava," Jared soothed as he wiped the tears away with his fingers. "It'll be okay. I'll be there with you every step of the way. I wish I could do it for you. You don't know how much I wish I could do it in your place, but I can't."

  I knew he would be there and he would help as much as he could, but he wouldn't be able to take the pain away. I would have to endure that on my own. Even if he could do it instead of me, I wouldn't let him do it. It would kill me to see him go through that much pain for me.

  First, I had to survive the draining of the Hue energy. If they drained too much energy I would die, but if they didn't drain enough the altering wouldn't succeed and I would be dead in a few days anyway. There were so many things that could go wrong.

  "Promise me you'll fight to survive," he pleaded with me. I could hear the desperation in his voice. "I need you to promise me that you'll fight as hard as you can to pull through."

  More tears slid down the side of my face. I took a deep breath as I tried to keep my emotions under control. My chest burned.

  The reality was that the odds were against us. I wanted to be able to wrap my arms around him one last time. I wanted to thread my hands through his raven-black hair and kiss him. There were so many things I still wanted to do.

  "I want to tell you how we've planned the altering," he said softly. "I want you to know so that you are prepared when it happens. We decided to perform the altering out in the clearing as soon as you enter the next emotionless state. Nathaniel will be the one to drain the energy from you. We chose him because he has had more experience than anybody else, and I can't drain you. I don't want to take the chance that draining the Hue energy from you might taint my Archaic energy. I'm worried that if my Archaic energy is tainted the altering might not be successful. We're taking every precaution to make sure we do it right."

  A pity there wasn't a manual that came with instructions about this whole thing. It would take the guessing out of the equation. A checklist would be even better. I trusted Jared's judgment, though, and if he thought Nathaniel was the person to drain me, then I trusted Nathaniel to do it.

  All of my muscles ached; I felt battered and bruised. Jared couldn't heal me, but surely my body would have started to heal itself already. Within all of my pain, I felt hunger. Maybe my body was struggling to heal because I was low on energy.

  "Once he's certain he has drained you to the brink of death, I'll push all of my energy into you. It's going to be crucial that we get it right. I know it's going to be painful," he said, his voice hoarse with emotion, "but I need you to pull through."

  He paused.

  "I need you to survive."

  I squeezed his hand. The pain increased, and the last thought on my mind before I gave in to the darkness was that I didn't want to die.

  The agony the next time I woke up was worse. Emotionally, I was numb; I'd entered an emotionless state. Mason. I needed him like my life depended on it. It was agony, the burning desire to find him and touch him.

  I was too weak to move. All I managed to do was moan. My eyelids felt like they were glued closed, so I couldn't open them.

  A hand reached for mine. As the fingers touched my skin, I could feel my skin burn beneath the touch. It was so painful. It took all my strength to pull my hand away as I moaned louder.

  I heard a shuffle in the room.

  Someone wrapped me tightly in the comforter from the bed. They were careful not to touch my skin.

  I knew what was coming, but I was too weak to fight. If I couldn't even lift my head, how could I possibly try and escape? It wasn't an option. The burning need increased. It got so bad that I gasped out loud from the pain.

  Someone put their arm under my shoulders and another arm under my knees and lifted me off the bed. I heard multiple footsteps as they carried me down the stairs. They were taking me to the clearing for the altering. I felt the cool air brush my face as I was carried out of the house. It probably meant that it was early evening already.

  I felt them lay me down on a cold leather seat. They'd put me in the back seat of a car. The only sound came from the constant moaning escaping my lips. I was in agony, and it was getting worse.

  Nobody said anything. I knew from the sound of footsteps and the sound of activity in the car that there was more than one person with me. I couldn't do anything else but lie on the back seat and moan. Someone started up the car and I could feel it pull away and drive. I knew where we were going.

  Everyone was silent for the journey to the clearing. I didn't know why no one was talking. Maybe they were too nervous to try and make pointless conversation. Once the car stopped, I heard someone open the door and I felt someone lift me up off the back seat and carry me out of the car.

  From the smell of the trees and the dampness of the grass and soil, I could tell that we were headed to the clearing. Still the only sound was the soft moan that was emanating from me.

  We walked for a little while and when they stopped I was put down on the ground. Someone unwrapped the comforter. I lay on the comforter on the ground in the clearing, moaning as they prepared to start the altering.

  "We need to start," Tyler announced. I remembered Jared telling me that they needed to perform the altering when I was in an emotionless state. They couldn't waste any time, then, as the altering needed to be done before my emotions returned.

  "I just need a minute with her before we start," Jared said.

  I heard Jared crouch down beside me on the grass in the clearing. I then felt Jared's breath brush over my face.

  "Remember your promise," he whispered to me
. No one else could hear what he was saying to me. I knew he wanted to touch me, but he knew that if he did he would cause me physical pain.

  But I felt nothing for him; I only wanted Mason. The agony of the separation from Mason was increasing in intensity. I needed to touch him, and I didn't know if I could cope with the pain anymore. If it got any worse I would beg them to kill me. I couldn't take it much longer.

  As I lay on the ground in the clearing, I knew they were about to begin with the altering.

  I only wanted Mason at that point. I wanted to feel his hand holding mine. The pain needed to end. He wouldn't be able to find me. I knew this. I was too weak. The signal from the Hue energy we shared was too weak. This time he wouldn't come. This time I was alone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  I lay on the ground in the clearing, waiting for them to start.

  "Tyler and Danny, hold him and don't let him go until I tell you. I can't take the chance he will try to stop me if he sees her get worse," Nathaniel instructed.

  "We've got him," Tyler replied.

  In that moment I hated the Archaic and what they were doing to me against my will.

  "I'm going to start to drain you, Ava," I heard Nathaniel say to me. Didn't he know that I didn't care? I felt nothing. None of this mattered to me. All I wanted was the connection I had with Mason. That was the only thing that mattered to me.

  I felt Nathaniel place his one hand on my forehead, and the other hand on mine. My skin started to burn, and then I could feel the gentle pull of energy through the connection of our skin. Unable to pull away or struggle, I groaned as I became weaker. As I weakened the moaning stopped. As the energy began to leave my body so did the pain and the burning need for Mason. I was entirely numb. The desperate need slowly vanished with my energy. I didn't need him anymore, and for a brief, relieving moment there was no pain.