by C. R. Jane
Just breathe Alyanna, try to calm down, figure out how you got here. I thought as I focused on what I could remember from last night. Everything was just so fuzzy. Wait! We went to a halloween party, me and Gwen were dancing. Why can't I think past that? I thought before I heard the metal door scrape open. Watching the door, a tall blonde man walked in.
"Well now, you're not supposed to be awake yet." He said before shooting me a look of disgust. When I saw his eyes my whole body went cold with fear. He had shining black and white swirling eyes and was wearing a crisp white suit. That meant that I was now looking at a Archangel. You are so fucked. I thought to myself as I tried to formulate a response to him unsuccessfully. "No matter, we can just get started a little earlier than I had planned."
"What do you want?" Real original Alyanna. I cringed as I said it. Of all the things I could have come up with, that was what spewed out of my mouth.
"Ah, it speaks. Vermin, that is what you are. You are going to tell me about the human that got turned into one of you. She was meant for a different path, and you Vermin stole her from us." He replied before snapping his fingers, causing me to jump. Three men walked in the room and unlocked the cage. They moved towards the chair I was tied to.
I started pulling at the chains and jerking myself from side to side trying to get away as one man grabbed the back of my chair and wheeled me out of the cage. I stopped and tried to teleport again without success so I went back to struggling. They stopped right in front of the Archangel who reached out and backhanded me across the cheek. Making my head snap to the side, my entire face throbbed instantly. I could taste the blood starting to pool in my mouth which I spat at the angel, earning myself another slap. This one was worse than the other. I felt it all the way down to my toes, even my ears were ringing.
"You will behave Vermin or you will not like what is done to you. Now tell me about Gwendolyn Taylor. She was one of ours, and you stole her. I want to know how, and if she has completed her transition." The angel commanded, leaning down to stare into my eyes. He was shit out of luck on that one, I would never give up Gwen.
"I don't know who that is. I think you have me mistaken for someone else. Can you tell me what day it is?" You could hear the lisp in my voice from where my lips had started to swell. I knew without a doubt that this was not going to be fun for me.
"Lies, I saw you with her earlier. You will tell me and you will do it now." He said, gripping my jaw and causing me to wince from the pain. He thought he was going to break me, but if Bael didn't break me all those years ago there was no way that he could.
"The blonde girl? Do you not know what I am? I am a succubus. She was just an easy mark." He had no clue that today was my birthday. So realistically, she could have just been a mark for me.
He stood up and walked around to the back of my chair leaning down to whisper in my ear, "How much do you know about angels Alyanna?" He asked once again leaving me trying to fall into a pit of terror.How in the hell did he know my name? "When you were in your lusty moments, I could see into your head. You care for Gwendolyn or Gwen as you vermin call her. She is important to you. I tried to see how she became one of you, but you broke apart to fast and forced my hand. I am not allowed to reveal myself to her yet, but nothing was said about you. So tell me what I want to know."
"How about you go fuck yourself? You won't be getting shit from me." I said before starting to struggle again. I had to get away. No clue how I was going to accomplish that, but I had to do something.
"Be that way. I would say it was sad that you chose this path, but then I would be lying. I am looking forward to listening to you scream vermin." He replied as he snapped his fingers again. The three men came back in the room, but this time they had a metal gurney and what looked like a surgeon's table that held all his supplies.
Yup, I was right. This was not going to be fun.
Chapter Five
I had tried and struggled as hard as I could, however I still found myself chained down to the metal table with the angel above me. He really was going to enjoy this. He looked like a kid in the candy store as he looked over all the many torture contraptions that were laid out on the table beside him.
"The funny thing about this is while you are in pain, I can get into your head. There's no way for you to keep up your loyalties. Your brain will tell me all I need to know. The best part though, is that you won't remember any of it. Not who you are, where you are from, or your precious Gwen." He laughed before picking up a serrated knife and bouncing it as if he was testing the weight.
"Fuck you!" I screamed right as he took the knife down my exposed thigh, ripping the skin more than cutting it. Trying to hold in the pain, I slammed my eyes shut as he repeated the action to the other side.
"You can't keep me out Vermin. We are just getting started." He laughed as he cut my legs and arms over and over. My body was burning, and in a whole nother level of pain, but I couldn't let go. I knew enough about getting into someones head that I had to let go before he could get in. "These utensils are all dipped in the waters of heaven. Do you know what that means Vermin? It means that until the wounds are cleaned they won't heal. This will also scar your perfect skin. How will you feed when you are hideous" He bent down by my ear and whispered, "You may not die from bleeding out, but I intend to bleed you dry."
Standing back up, he moved the blade over to my chin. "No, please don't." I begged in a moment of weakness before screaming again as he cut in an angle from my chin up to my forehead. I cried then, between the burning and the fact that he had just ruined my face, I couldn't help myself. My whole body was on fire, but my face was the worst. It throbbed with every beat of my heart. I had to close my left eye, because I couldn't see out of it anyway due to the blood that was dripping down into it.
"Let's see, what do we want to use next?" He asked out loud. I knew that he was just talking out loud. He seemed to be enjoying this way too much.
I just closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. I had to find a way out of this. Even if that meant dying. I couldn't give Gwen up.
I opened my eyes just as I saw him pick up the pliers. I knew what he was going to do before he pulled the first nail off. Even though I tried, I couldn't contain my scream of pain as he continued to take off the rest on my right hand. Black dots in my vision let me know that I was running out of time.
He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut a huge hole in my jumper over my stomach. Setting them back down, he picked back up the serrated knife. "Do you know why this one is my favorite? No, I didn't think you did. It's because its messy, ripping through the skin instead of just cutting. Leaves nice jagged scars." He was a psychopath. What kind of person enjoys this kind of thing?
I screamed again as the blade ripped into my stomach. I couldn't stop the tears that flowed, the pain was unbearable. It exploded in my head with a blinding whiteness making me dizzy. I had become a writhing body of pain, knowing nothing but the agony of the blade on my skin.
The more it penetrated my skin, the harder it was for me to hold on. I was fading, and fading fast. The obliterating pain that I felt was just too much. I heard a movement and went to open my eyes, just to see him picking up a butcher knife.
"Are you ready to forget Gwen and everything about yourself?" Asking in a quiet voice, before running the knife down my body. "I just want you to know that I will take great pleasure in sending her to hell and that it will be all your fault. However, you won't even know what you've done, but I will bet that you will feel it."
"Please don't do this. This isn't right. You are an angel for fucks sake." I tried to scream, but it came out as a raspy whisper. My ravaged body was on the brink of giving up. The tears still fel
l from my eyes, so I closed them as I pictured Gwen one last time. I saw her blue eyes sparkling with a smirk on her face the first time we had been together. The look of devastation on her face when I saved her from her guilt that she felt over killing the mortal. Our first kiss that had happened in her mind as she asked me if I needed her to. Our last moments, kissing on the dancefloor in our own little world not caring who saw.
I tried to sear her blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and her amazing smile into my brain. My heart clinched at the thought of not being able to remember her or her smartass attitude. I was at least lucky that I had gotten the two weeks of pure happiness that I had gotten with her.
I heard a click and looked over to see that the angel had taken a picture of my broken body. "This way she knows exactly what happened to you."
"Fuck you! You will pay for this! I will fucking end you!" This time I was able to scream. It was just to much. I kept screaming until he cocked his head to the side and plunged the knife deep into my chest.
The obliterating pain was to much, and I let go.
Chapter Six
Gwen:
"You didn't have to say it like that. Now she's going to worry about things as bad as y'all do." I snapped at Draven, more than a little pissed that he had ruined my moment with Ally.
I didn't want Paraoffice to find out what I was, but It was coming either way no matter what we did or how we acted. All of those kids were teleported out by me, eventually they were going to slip up and tell the wrong person.
"Got your drink love muffin. Where's Ally? I got hers to." Ethane said handing me a red solo cup with some sort of foamy beer in it.
"Draven scared her, so she went to the bathroom to cool down." I replied pinning Draven with a look. At least he looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry, but everyone was staring and it was drawing unneeded attention to not only you but her too." Draven grabbed my hand as he said it as if he was trying to get me to see his logic, which I did, but still I was now hot and bothered. I was beginning to think we should have just stayed home.
"Welp, now that we are done with that. Let's go have some fun. Who wants to go bob for some apples?" Donovan asked before laughing and grabbing my hand, pulling me into yet another room that had a giant kiddie pool in it filled with apples.
This was one of the reasons I wanted to come tonight. I always loved Paraoffice's halloween parties, because there was so much to do and not all of it was just centered around drinking.
"Bet I can get the most apples." Ethane laughed out before dunking his face in the water missing an apple.
I lost track of time as we all giggled and tried to get the most apples. What shocked me the most was the fact that it was Barrett that got the most. I thought it would have been Draven. Looking at the wall clock, I saw that a whole hour had passed since Ally had went to the bathroom.
"Hey, have any of y'all seen Ally?" My question was met with silence, then they all shook their heads. "I am going to go check the bathroom. Maybe she got lost or something, but something feels off." I couldn't feel her in the sense that I could tell where she was or anything like that. It was more that she was always there in my head a small spot unless she was feeling high emotions then it was different. When we were together I could feel my pleasure, but also hers. This had started when she came into my mind and pulled me out.
Making my way to the bathroom, I saw that she wasn't there.Maybe something had come up and she left. I thought, but she would have told me if something had happened or come up.
"Split up and search the house. Meet me back by the door when you are done. I am going to stay with Gwen. Something doesn't seem right." Barrett commanded before leading me to the door.
I was waiting for the guys to get back when I felt a wave of pain that brought me to my knees. I had to clinch my jaw to keep from screaming out.
"Ally's hurting bad. Find her now." I said through gritted teeth, and walked out the door to teleport to the house.
I landed in my living room floor, as another wave hit. This time I couldn't hold in my scream as I felt the blinding pain. I wasn't sure how long I lay there in utter agony, before the guys got to the house.
"What's wrong?" Draven asked moving the hair out of my face and picking me up.
"It's Ally. I feel her pain." I ended that on a scream and didn't stop as the pain intensified to the point that I thought I was going to pass out.
I was laid on the bed, and the pain stopped for a second. "Please find her. Something is very very wrong." I got out before I was hit with a sharp pain to the middle of my chest that had my back bowing. Then there was nothing.
This time I screamed for a different reason. Ally was gone.
***
Alyanna:
"Miss, are you okay?" A voice said as I struggled to open my eyes. Everything was muffled and my body felt like lead laying on whatever I was on. I knew it wasn't a bed, because it was hard and cold on my back.
Finally, I was able to open my eyes enough to see a older woman standing over me. Struggling to sit up, I was able to croak out "Where am I?"
"You're in Biggs honey. Can you move? What is your name?" She asked seeming to be very concerned about my state.
After a few minutes, I was able to pull myself up to a sitting position. I took stock of my body. I was in a pair of grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It didn't look like I was hurt even though my body was so sore.
"Where is Biggs? Like the state. And I can kind of move. I don't know why, but I am so sore. My name is…" I trailed off. What was my name? Why couldn't I remember? I tried to think of anything about myself and drew up a big blank. My breathing started to pick up as the panic set it. "I don't know my name, or anything about myself. What has happened to me? What day is it even?" I cried out hearing the breaking in my voice with every word.
"Why don't we get you to the house? Then we can try to figure this all out. Oh, and today is Halloween dear." She replied back to me.
Nothing she said meant anything to me though. I was lost, not knowing who I was. I took a second and closed my eyes trying to think of anything at all, but all I saw was a woman with blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and full lips staring at me.
Who are you? I thought as I struggled up to follow the old woman back to her house.
I would find out who I was again, no matter what.
About the Author
Beth Hendrix
Beth is a single mother of two, who has worked in a custom cabinet shop since she was young. She always has so many ideas flowing in her head, but never thought that writing was a reality until some other amazing authors pointed out that she could. She loves all things paranormal, and has a very unhealthy obsession with chocolate and doughnuts. She can usually be found chasing after her kids, typing like a mad woman or lost in a book.
If you would like to stalk..I mean follow Beth and her crazy antics, she can be found here.
https://www.facebook.com/BethHendrixAuthor/ Facebook Page
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[email protected] Email
Www.bethhendrixbooks.com Website
Other Books by The Author
Demon Exchange Series
Hoodwinked
Rise of the Morphlings
Of Blood & Twisted Roots
Underworld Falling
Nightmare (Can be found in the All Hallowed Tales Anthology)
Samhain Goddess
By Skye MacKinnon
A Daughter of Winter spin-off
Chapter 1
The
y're waiting for me to take off my clothes. Pity, they're going to have to wait a while longer.
"You look beautiful, Wyn," Crispin says with a wide smile. "The orange really suits you."
I grimace. "It makes me look like a pumpkin," I reply. "An oversized, frilly pumpkin."
Frost laughs. "A cute pumpkin though. Never seen a pumpkin this cute."
"Could we stop talking aboot pumpkins? It's making me hungry," Arc complains in his broad Scottish accent. He's sprawled out on the bed, his kilt has shifted upwards and I can almost see underneath it. Almost. It's very tempting to take a closer look.
"Well, it's at least another hour until we can eat," I tell him, frowning at myself in the mirror. This dress is an abomination. I'm not going to wear it to the ball, no way in hell. This may be the end of my already frayed relationship with the head seamstress, but this isn't a costume party. I'm not supposed to look like a vegetable.
"Maybe you should take it off," Frost suggests with a wolfish grin. "We could even help you."