Fighting For My Undead Soul

Chapter 6

Lena's POV

I sat slumped over in my chair, my chest heaving up and down rapidly. Both of my eyes felt like they had been burned out of their sockets. The fingers on my right hand were bent crooked, all going in different directions. The madman had left the room. Apparently, he needed a break to relieve himself. Cassie spoke to me quietly; the guards were still behind us. "I'm so sorry Lena. Hang in there. I'll tell him whatever he wants to know. Spencer knows where we are, and I'm supposed to check in every thirty minutes. He's probably already on his way." I didn't respond and she stopped talking when the door behind us opened and slammed shut. "Ah, I feel much better." He stopped next to me and lifted my head up to face him by pulling my hair. He chuckled at the sight of my face and let go. My head slumped back down. I gritted my teeth, wishing to be free of this god damn chair so I could regain my strength back and possibly heal faster.

"So, tell me about your missing friend?" He stopped in front of Cassie. "You know her name," Cassie responded tightly. "Do I?" he responded with interest. "Let's see. It's not that pretty, little blonde, is it? The one who killed my grandfather?" I saw Cassie stiffen slightly in her chair. I watched her through a curtain of my hair. She knew his grandfather of course, but she didn't know he had a grandson. This was concerning for her. "Well, almost killed my grandfather," he chuckled again. "I guess her brother finished the job for her. Now, why would we want to take little Artemis?" he asked. I recoiled at the sound of her name rolling of his tongue. It was a beautiful name, and it didn't belong coming out of his mouth. Though my reaction was subtle, he caught it.

"Do you not like me talking about her?" he walked up to me. Leaning down in front of my chair. "We know about her, of course. We might've called a cease fire, but we still watch. I know she's your lover." He moved the hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. "I know she's been really lonely since you stopped fucking her so often." I spit in his face. He didn't even flinch, but all signs of humor at the situation had left his face. The face staring back at me now was devoid of human emotion. My eyesight was still blurry, but I didn't need to see fully to know that I was seeing someone capable of true psychopathy. Within seconds he had stepped back to his toolbox and pulled out a handful of sharp, wooden stakes. He handed them to one of the guards behind me. "I'm going to ask this one some more questions," he nodded his head to Cassie, "every time I don't like her answer, you're going to stick one of those stakes into the other one. Like this." He plunged a stake deep into my left forearm. I screamed as I felt it hit the arm of the chair and he left it sticking in my arm, not allowing the hole it created to even start the healing process. Blood had spurted out and trailed down to the floor.

From what I had learned from Art's mom, vampires can bleed out. And if they aren't going to pull these stakes out of me, then Cassie better give some damn good answers to his questions. "Just fucking ask me already," she said through gritted teeth. "Mhmm mhmm, Cassandra," he smiled and nodded his head to the guard with the stakes. Another one entered my body with a sudden force. I gasped; the scream not capable of leaving my body at the amount of pain I felt. My right shoulder sagged at the weight of the stake pushing through it. My breaths were ragged, and I had the slightest feeling that I may faint. "New rules, if you say anything I don't like, she's getting a stake driven into her body," the madman said to Cassie."

I managed to turn my head back in her direction and watched as her strong mask of indifference slipped slightly. She didn't speak again as we waited for him to ask another question. "Good girl," I wanted to bite the smirk off his face. "So, you thought that Miles had Artemis?" he asked after a minute of pondering. Cassie nodded her head. The madman didn't hesitate nodding to the guard. I had a half second to brace myself before another stake tore through the flesh of my right thigh. "Motherfucker!" I screamed right as Cassie yelled, "What the fuck?!" Another nod from the madman and another stake was rammed into the left side of my rib cage. Blood was everywhere. I gulped down as much air as I could, but blood was dribbling out of my mouth with each exhale.

The madman walked up to Cassie and bent down in front of her, eye to eye. "Do not lie to me and do not curse at me again." I knew the feeling as I saw Cassie's head twitch forward. I knew she was itching to throw it right into his god damn nose, but she restrained herself for my sake. He backed up again and crossed his arms as he spoke, "You're not here because you think that traitor took, Artemis. No, you think WE took her. Unfortunately, we don't have her. I'm curious though, who do you think took her?" Cassie shook her head, her brows furrowed in concern, "I don't know." The man's eyes shifted to the guard; his head ready to give the signal. "Really! It's not a lie!" Cassie exclaimed. He paused, his gaze meeting hers. "This compound was the first place we thought of," she explained, "we haven't had time to come up with other theories."

I relaxed my body as he didn't shift his attention back to the guard, satisfied at having been forgotten for the time being. I still couldn't quite catch my breath, and the feeling of light headedness was growing. He opened his mouth to ask another question but was interrupted by a different guard opening the door and signaling for him to come out. "Excuse me ladies," he said before following the guard out of the room. I strained my ears to hear what they were saying outside of the room, but I couldn't hear anything. I didn't know if I was so out of it that my senses weren't working or if the room was designed to be that way for vampire interrogations. He came back to the room quickly, more guards following suit.

"A friend of yours is here, and since we have nothing of yours, we don't want to be held responsible for anything of his." I didn't quite understand what was happening until a blindfold went over my eyes and the clasps on my hands and legs were released. My arms were quickly tied behind my back and my winces turned to screams as each of the stakes that were buried deep into my body were yanked out. I still didn't lose consciousness as I was dragged to my feet. I couldn't move any of my limbs as we started moving. The guards flanking either side of me didn't seem to care as they pulled me along, my feet limp and scraping along behind me. My brain couldn't keep up with the turns we made or how long it took for us to get outside, but only a few minutes seemed to pass before I felt fresh air hitting my face. The blindfold was roughly removed, and I caught a glimpse of Spencer on the other side of the compound gate as my head rolled around on my shoulders.

He was parked about a hundred feet away from the gate and was as still as a statue as he watched us coming out. The gate was opened partially, and I felt the ropes around my wrist being cut. I was shoved out of the gate, falling to the ground miserably. My body was healing rapidly now, but the other effects of the chair paired with my wounds still hadn't worn off. I grunted in pain and gagged at the taste of dirt filling my mouth. Seconds later Cassie was at my side, lifting me up. I didn't shrug off her touch this time, thankful for her help. The gate closed quickly, and guns were pointed at us until our backs turned and we walked to Spencer. He sprinted to us, meeting us halfway and moved to my other side to help support my weight.

We made it to the car quickly, wasting no time in peeling away. "What took you so long?" Cassie asked. She was sitting in the back next to me, giving me some antidotes to counteract the spell infused wounds. My eyes still burned, and I couldn't see clearly, but the medicine should clear everything up within the next few hours. "I'm sorry, I was following another lead. Obviously, the hunters are a dead end?" Cassie snorted, "Yes, but I think we made a big fucking mistake showing up there. That guy is a maniac and I think he's just getting started. All we did was just make him interested in us." Spencer's face was cold as ice as he looked at me through the rearview mirror, "Art would kill me if she saw you like this." I didn't respond, not wanting to know what I look like and even more worried that we still didn't know where she was.

"Where are we going now?" Cassie asked. I perked up at Spencer's words, "I didn't get to follow through on my lead before you guys called, so we're going together. No more splitting up. Lena, are you up to going?" I sat up straighter, terrified at the thought of sitting at home not knowing what was happening. "There's no way I'm not fucking going." "Right," he nodded, and the car sped up as we raced down a highway. I watched the outside world blur by. I felt around on my body, finding that the holes from the stakes had already cleared up. Hopefully my eyes would be clear enough by the time we reached our destination because I didn't know what the fuck we were walking into. My mind wandered back to Artemis, wondering how she was being kept. If it was anything like what I just went through back there... my fists clenched up and tears filled my eyes. I would take a hundred stakes to my body and needles in my eyes to get her back. And I will. I will get her back.