Hellfire

Interval Eight

Lucius sat behind his desk, tilting the vial of Susan's blood between his fingers. Fury was burning in him nothing like he'd felt before. It lanced through him like shards of ice, clawing at his chest and aching his teeth. His witch was gone. Poison was in her blood. One that was destroying her, ripping her away from him. Her skin was dead cold, her eyes blank, and she couldn't do a thing without instructions.

Who had done this to her?

'I'm not sure what concoction it is.' Doc said as he prowled about like a caged beast, his motions frenzied and earnest. 'But it's magic, possibly lamia or elven by the earthen scents, but I need to confirm it. I don't think it's a curse though, and I still go by this being something different to Frederick's plague.'

'How long until you can be sure?' Arnold asked, standing tall and keeping his hands clasped together to ensure his claws didn't slide out. The heat of rage washing from him was nearly as thick as Lucius' cold.

'I don't know.' He uttered honestly. 'But I know we don't have long. Both Lucius and Sam claim her mind is empty.'

Empty. She wasn't there anymore. Her raging fire, her glowing flames, her defiance and temperament, her opinions, stubbornness and sense of self. It was all gone. She was gone. Despite holding her, his body surrounding her and keeping her close, it was like she wasn't there; limp and unresponsive to his touch.

Lucius flexed his body to keep himself restrained and watched Doc intently, hoping he could give him some direction to focus on.

'There are two scenarios.' Doc continued firmly and held up a burnt finger. 'One, her soul has been taken. Some spells require ingestion for a soul to be peeled away and can leave residue within the blood. I can't ignore this option. The Beaumonts are keen to make you bend, Lucius. If they can't prove Susan is a witch, they can instead use her to bargain with you; return her soul for your obedience. They know she's important to you.'

'The Beaumonts haven't been present.' Lucius commented with a dead-calm tone. 'And they don't align themselves with anyone else and insulted too many people to make allies.'

'We've no idea what they'll do when desperate. And they are, enough to directly harm Susan right under your nose twice.' Doc pointed out. 'We can't rule out that they hired a sorcerer to rip away her soul, but this sorcerer would have to be strong. Very strong. Lady Eva struggled with being in contact with Susan's soul for long periods of time, it made her unwell, feverish and caused discomfort. Even if Susan were unconscious, to push through layers of hellfire and to physically grasp her soul and pull it out would cause great pain, possibly even burning their flesh and leaving behind scars. If this is what's happened, her soul would last longer than most outside of her body, but I can't say how long.'

Lucius found himself growling softly, his teeth baring at the thought of her soul taken. Locked up someplace to be used against him. He felt the male in him rising, eager to hunt and shed blood. Eager to protect her.

'What else?' Lucius demanded icily.

He needed to focus. His instincts were useless to Susan right now. Running rampant would do nothing to bring her back.

'The second option, and the more likely one, is that her emotions are being stifled.' He breathed heavily, coming to a stop to gave Lucius gravely. 'If her emotions are cut off, returning them will be difficult. She struggles enough when she's used to them, the last few days have shown that clearly, she'd been feistier than usual, but if they rush back too fast and too intently, we run the risk of creating a detonation for her.' Doc said swiftly. 'The longer its left, the chances of her surviving her emotions coming back lowers.'