Dark Fangs: Forbidden Fugitives

Chapter Forty-One

She screamed--a strident expression of the pain her nerves were undergoing.

"Maybe...he'll go away if I just kill you now," taunted the girl, after cutting into Jae's forearm with a jagged cave stone. The narcotic had worn enough to allow Jae's body some movement, so she was bound to a stalagmite in thick vines.

     Pain blurred through her body, her muscles straining, tendons stretching, and sinews twisting as Jae tried to manipulate the tendrils of vines coiled around her body—an effort of escape. Her mind perplexed by the physical agony of her capture, Jae's sense was inattentive. Of what little her muscles could move, she writhed, eyes clouded by the wearing narcotic, and mind reeling in anarchic affliction.   

     I'm going to die down here, and no one will find me. Mom and Dad...Angel...For a moment, the physical pain in Jae's body was numb, overwhelmed by desperate grief, and the sorrow created a stabbing agony in her gut that was a hundred times more painful than the throbbing sting in her nerves.

     "Wait." The blonde girl stopped suddenly, her nostrils pulsating. Jae gasped, her physical discomfort returning. The girl cocked her head eerily, eyes pinning Jae still. "...you smell of...horse..." Her pupils narrowed evilly, and realization made Jae blanch. 

     "No. No, don't you dare!" Jae lashed out as furiously as she could in her torture-caused state of exhaustion. She bared her teeth at the older teenager in a foaming snarl of rage and absolute fear.

     No. NO, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! Jae's heart galloped chaotically in her ribcage, leaping into her throat. "...no...." Her voice cracked, making the word barely audible--now only a weak croak.

     "There's another pet with you. Your horse. Blue!" She lunged to her bare feet, snapping her fingers. The dark pale blue Allosaurus screeched a response, his head snapping up and eyes darting to lock on his owner. The girl smiled, and cruelty reflected in her visage, bright enough in the torchlight to cause Jae further alarm. She faced her Bonded and pointed behind her, directly at Jae. "Scent."

     Tossing his head, a snorting grunt echoed from Blue's jaws as his eyes locked onto Jae's tied frame. He stalked toward her, reptilian eyes narrowing.

     Jae scowled, fighting against her vine restraints, until the gash in her arm gored her nerves again, and she cried out, relaxing to ease the pain. Blue inched closer, his hot, fishy breath on her face as he sniffed at her head and bloody forearm. Jae coughed, pressing herself against the stalagmite in a futile attempt to get away from the dinosaur. Her lungs were on fire with how hard the agony was forcing her to breathe, and her eyes watered with tears of pain, and Blue's harsh breath. She squeezed her bright eyes shut, and allowed the tears to seep out slowly through closed optics.

     A snort of satisfaction notified Jae when Blue was done ascertaining Midnight Moon's delicate scent. 

     She started sobbing, her loud, raw cries of misery resounding off the high, soaring cavern walls and ceilings. The awareness of her loving horse's death impending was just too much for her to take. With everything that had happened in the last few days, her stronghold of endurance had finally given in. The dam had broken, and all of her pain, fear, rage, and despondency came flooding out in her gasping cries and weeping pain. 

     Oh, God, please, just take me too. I can't live through this.

     "Come on, Blue." The blonde female called to her Bonded, glancing back once more at the prisoner. Her expression changed for just a moment, and though Jae missed it--her eyes closed and glassy due to a river of tears--the blonde girl's sharp lavender eyes flashed fugaciously with viable regret. It was hardened almost immediately after, however, as if a thought had regained its place in her mind, shooting down any sympathy.

     Blue growled affectionately while lashing his long tail in a playful display, nudging his Bonded softly against her bare shoulder. The teenager placed her hand on the Allosaurus's lips, bent to pick up the torch, and hefted herself up onto his withers as he crouched to let her up. She gave her weeping hostage one last guarded look, which Jae still did not notice, and clicked some complicated command to Blue. 

     The willowy teenager and her Allosaurus rode off into the massive subterranean canyon, seeking out Midnight Moon, and left Jae crying in the dark as the torchlight retreated with them.