Playing with Fire [COMPLETED]

5 ~ kidnapped by who?

When I wake up, I find myself in a new place I have never seen before. The walls, floor, and ceiling are gray, and I see a man sitting in the corner, facing me as he sits on a chair and stares. He shifts in his seat, and I realize where I know him from.

"Anders? What the hell?" I demand.

He grins at me, his eyes turning black. His throat is still ruined, and I can't help but find some satisfaction in that. He sneers as he stands up and walks over to me, then leans forward and looks down at me.

"You are my prisoner," he says.

"No, she isn't," says a female voice from behind me. I turn and see a woman resplendent in golden and blood-red armor as she walks in. She has short, messy red hair and pale skin speckled with blood. But it's her eyes and wings that draw my focus.

Her eyes are orange, and her wings are white and red, tipped with black feathers. She sweeps into the room, carrying a golden staff encrusted with red rubies and a silver spear like tip. She looks at Anders, and he vanishes into thin air.

She walks over to the chair Anders was sitting on, and sits down heavily, dropping her staff-spear on the floor. She looks at me, her wings rustling a bit as she inspects me like a concerned mother. The woman, the demon, looks at the ceiling and walls with obvious disdain. She sighs and shakes her head, those orange eyes sparkling with flames from within.

"I told him to give you a good seat," she says.

"Why?" I ask. "I'm not of your Court."

She laughs, the sound strange, like stone on metal. Propping her arms up on the back of her chair, which is covering her chest, as she's sitting in it backwards, she smiles. Her huge, feathered wings twitch and wrap around her, and when she speaks, her tone is unnaturally soft.

"I am Raava, but I'm sure you're aware that in most Demonic Courts, we do not trust each other with our true names. Here, within my Court, we all trust each other. So, you may call me Raava, but if you're more prone to respecting my brother's ridiculous rules, then call me Pain."

Dread wraps itself around my heart and soul. I'm in an enemy Court. A place where Ruin won't know where to look for me. I'm stuck in an unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar person. And I have no way out.

Pain shifts in her seat, looking at the bed I am still in. "We do not treat our guests so poorly, so for that, I must apologize. Anders gets this .... superiority complex of his going crazy, and he's rude to those he should be kind to. I must talk to him about that, but for now ...."

"I want to go home," I say.

She quirks an eyebrow. "Home? Or do you mean my brother's Court?"

I don't know what to say, but then I feel my response in my soul. Ruin was right. My true home isn't the Village I came from, it's his Court. Because my old home is not safe for me anymore. If I were to return, I'd watch as they killed my family one by one. And I could not do anything about it. They would butcher them all, my mother and sisters would die because I was a traitor.

"You hesitate," Pain says. "Why?"

"My home is in Ruin's Court."

"And why did you hesitate to say such a thing?"

"I don't have to justify my actions or words to you."

Pain laughs. "Oh, I see why he's so smitten by you."

"Who? Anders?" I ask.

She laughs again, slapping the chair. "You mortals are so clueless."

"Don't mock me," I hiss.

She snarls. "You do not command me, girl."

"And you can't command me, I'm aware of Court laws," I snap. "You have to return me to avoid a war."

She leans closer.  "Who says I want to avoid war?"