My Darkness and My Light (Little Star)

Chapter Six: My Capture

I found myself in a cage in a basement made of cold stones, the torchlight throwing ugly shadows on the walls. The cage was too small for me to sit down or move around in, so I just slumped against the bars, defeated. My captor came in to check the many locks on my cage. "We can't have you continue to just waltz through our armies," he said. "I think you'll find tonight that no magic will be available to anyone in this quadrant of the city. Tomorrow we'll have you moved and the general can decide whether we kill you or if there's some use for you." He left me then to my misery.

Not even an hour had passed when the door across the basement swung inward and Astarion glided into the room. He made a quick scan of the area before rushing to my cage. "Of course you're behind this," I spat. "I suppose you can't be blamed for jumping to that conclusion," he quietly replied as his fingers deftly worked the locks and one by one they clinked open. "Oh you're here to rescue me is that it? Alone? You were the best and only option!?" "In fact, yes" the beautiful elf replied. "Tav saw you leave the bar and followed you. They caught up to your kidnappers and got injured, but made it back to us. We tracked you, but there was no magic available to any of us after we crossed under the bridge. I don't need any magic to infiltrate and disappear into shadow, and it's much easier for me to do it alone. So here I am, your hero." His voice twisted on that final word as the last lock opened and my cage door swung open. "I think I'd rather be dead," I replied, still stepping out of the cage and allowing him to access the lock on the collar around my neck. This one seemed to give him more trouble than the others, and I could see the concentration on his beautiful features as he worked. Every time his cool fingers brushed against my neck, I felt a fluttering in my stomach that I would have attributed to nausea if it weren't for an icy heat that accompanied each touch. I blinked my eyes rapidly trying to clear away the haze. "I don't intend to show back up to Halsin without his little kitten in tow," Astarion quipped. "I'm not Halsin's anything," I snapped. "In fact, it seems to me that you're Halsin's little pet." The vampire's ruby eyes met mine . "He loves you," he replied softly. "Yeah, well maybe I don't want love from someone who loves my murderer," I mumbled back. Astarion looked visibly pained at my words, but just then the collar's lock popped open and he turned away. He led us through the basement and then the halls of the large compound, stepping over the bodies he had silently made on his way in.

We were halfway down a long stone hall when the noise of conversation came from ahead of us. I looked to Astarion, or more specifically where Astarion was a fraction of a second ago, but found only shadows. Two pale arms shot out from the shadows, one wrapping around my waist and the other covering my mouth, pulling me into shadow. My back stopped hard against his chest. "Quiet," he whispered, mouth against my ear. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and felt sure it was echoing down the stone halls. I needed out of his grasp now. His skin emanated coolness from those arms and hands around me as well as his hard body at my back. The smell coming off his clothing was all citrus and herbs. My mind couldn't handle his nearness. The smell and feel of him was intoxicating. I momentarily wondered if any of his intended victims had ever escaped these arms. Who would even try when the elf's nearness produced such pleasant sensations, all tingles and fire. I started, realizing the voices had long passed us and rounded the corner at the far end of the hall. Yet still he held me firm, the hand around my middle like granite keeping me crushed against him, his lips still parted against my ear. I started to pull away from his grasp and then just bit down hard on the hand covering my mouth. "Fuck," he hissed, "That's supposed to work the other way around with vampires, you know," he whispered as we fell apart and stumbled out of shadow. I shoved him hard away from me. "Get me out of here," I hissed.

We made our way uneventfully through the remainder of the compound and out into the cool midnight streets. Once back at the tavern, we joined up with the group and Halsin ran to throw his arms around me. I let him, but stiffened slightly against his body. He felt it and dropped his arms from around me, concern marking his face. "We're going to need more knowledge of magic than we have now to fight whatever's lurking under this city," Gale was saying as I turned to listen. "I have a friend who may know what we're dealing with," he continued. "Elminster will be willing to help us, but the journey to him might be a long one. We can use the traveling stone near the next town to get us most of the way there, if there are no objections?" There weren't, and so we agreed to head out just before first light hoping to avoid any more run ins with the magic thieves while leaving town. I stacked up three plates of food and headed for my room. Halsin was waiting near my door, but I breezed past with a curt goodnight and shut the door with a click. I ate quickly, near starving though wishing I could be feeding my panther tonight instead. Then I curled up under scratchy covers hoping to get a few hours of rest before the coming long day. Sleep did not come. I kept smelling the citrus and herbs of that damned vampire. My mind wouldn't stop thinking about his lips against my ear, just resting there unmoving. It was driving me crazy thinking these thoughts about that fucking monster. Halsin's lips on his, his tongue in his mouth kept playing through my thoughts, the vampire's enthusiastic return of his kiss stirring things to life in me that I most certainly wanted to stay dead. I felt wound tight. My mind and body pushed beyond sense. I finally just got up, gathered my things, and went downstairs to pass the next few hours until we headed out. I slid onto a bench at a table and dropped my head into my hands. A cold sultry voice spoke from the corner shadows. "Not resting up?" "Don't fucking talk to me, I snapped." And so he didn't.
We got to the standing stone in the twilight just before sunrise and approached it, readying ourselves for teleportation. As we reached for the stone to touch it though, there was a moment of absolute silence followed by a roar like all of the air was being sucked out of the world. I heard the boom of an explosion as if the entire world were collapsing in on itself, saw a flash of blinding light, and then I was hurtling through empty space.