Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Nine

It wasn't long after that, that Johnathan asked one of his henchmen to show me to my room. I'd asked a few minor questions here and there, but I didn't really have the strength to listen to the answers. I followed the young woman in silence, she told me her name was Ife and that was strange enough for me to ask her what it meant.

She smiled at me, her teeth vividly white against her swarthy skin. "It's an African name," she told me. "Means 'woman of love'." I noticed something about the way she spoke, it wasn't as though she had a strong accent, but I felt like there was one there.

"That's pretty," I mumbled, I felt her bony hand grab my wrist gently as she led me down a different hallway.

"I've always liked it myself." said Ife with a grin. "You have a nice name too by the way, unusual, but nice."

"Thanks," I muttered and we again lapsed into silence. After a few more minutes Ife stopped at another door and led me inside.

"Here we are," Ife said and I followed her inside and against my will, I gasped. This room was bigger than my entire apartment. The walls were the same creamy white color as the rest of the manor, another ornate light fixture hung overhead, a lone, large window was covered by thick black curtains and I wondered why. Was it not tinted  like the rest of the ones I'd seen?

A large queen sized bed, draped over with a white canopy rested in the middle of the room as well. Across from it was an entertainment center that housed a large TV.  I spotted two doors on the opposite wall and found myself wondering where they led to.

"It's a bit plain right now," Ife apologized. "But if you decide that you want to add a few things all you have to do is tell someone and we'll arrange for it." I wandered over to the entertainment center while Ife chattered one with ideas about how I could customize this space, make it feel more homey. I opened one of the doors on the center and found myself face to face with what had to be hundreds of DVDs. I pulled one of the titles back, not bothering to see what it was and saw another row of DVDs behind it. I returned the case to it's proper place and stood up straight.

"If you'd want any help," Ife continued. "I can give you a hand, I studied Interior Design a few years ago, I consider myself good at it." She nodded modestly and her curly hair bounced  a little at the motion.

"Thank you," I said as I removed the bloody overcoat from my shoulders and draped it over the wooden center. I looked down at my clothes, which as Doc had told me where in terrible shape. My jeans were shredded at the knees, covered in grass, dirt and blood. My shirt looked much the same way and I knew then and there that I was not going to go to sleep in this. I still had the scrubs Doc had given me before I left his office, these would have to do.

"There's a bathroom right through there," Ife pointed at the lone oak door a foot from the two sliding doors-those I assumed belonged to a closet. "If you'd like to clean up, a hot shower I've found can be helpful when you're feeling rough."

"Thanks," I said. "That's a good idea."

"I'll leave to it then," and Ife walked away, the sound of her heels clicking on the wood faded entirely before I moved. I walked across the room and opened the door she'd indicated and gasped when I saw the bathroom. I'd been expecting just a toilet and a shower. What I got was entirely different. A large claw-foot tub was across from me, a double vanity made of what looked like black marble was nearby, a toilet of course and a large, walk in shower.

This did not seem like a bathroom to me, this looked more like a spa. I stripped out of my filthily clothes and tossed them into the wicker basket that stood near a closet, opening the closet, I grabbed a bar of soap, shampoo and some fluffy white towels. I slid open the door to the shower, wondering how many people I could fit into and fiddled around with the knobs. The inside of it, like the vanity was also made of black marble.

After some trial and error, a steady stream of hot water poured from the rain shower head and I stepped into it. Ife had been right, the shower did feel good. The grime and mess of the attack hours before melted away as I scrubbed at it with a washcloth and as I was scrubbing at the dirt and blood underneath my nails I spotted my birthmark-no, the scar. A bite mark.

Suddenly the shower didn't feel so good anymore and the dam I'd built up to keep my emotions in check broke apart. I collapsed onto the floor of the shower, tears mixing with the water. All of this, all this had happened because of a half a second eighteen years ago. I had a price on my head for actions someone else committed, I'd been ripped away from my home, family and friends because someone had turned me into a piece in their game.

"Mom," I whimpered. She was the one person I wanted to see right now. I wanted her to hug me tightly, tell me it was going to be okay. That we'd get through it just like we always did. But she couldn't and I knew it. Whoever had a vendetta against Damon was going to go after people that seemed to have connections to him, like me.

Right now, my mom was safe, if I tried to reach out to her, contact her in some way that would all change. If she stayed ignorant about what happened to me, she'd be safe. The message it would send would be enough for whoever was playing this game, I didn't know what was going on either. Going through her wouldn't get to me.

She was safe so long as I stayed away, but that knowledge didn't comfort me right now. Right now I just wanted to be some place I felt safe, I wanted to be home with my family.

I rinsed the suds out of my hair and turned off the shower (though I managed that after I did it wrong and sprayed myself with cold water.) Steam floated after the bathroom and I wiped away the fog from the mirror and cringed.

I had a huge purple bruise on the side of my face, as well as one peeking out from under my towel. Two others marked my upper arms. Several cuts and scratches lined my face and hands, my eyes were bloodshot from crying. I looked better than I felt, that was something but it was still pretty bad, I had a feeling that I would be feeling all of this a lot more tomorrow morning.

I reentered the bedroom, dried off and threw on the scrubs, I wished I had some clean panties but there wasn't much I could about that now. I could not go commando, just too weird. Cautiously, I approached the bed and pulled back the grey covers. I jumped when I saw nothing on the white sheets, I don't know why. Perhaps I expected to see the Boogeyman laying there. After everything that happened today, even that didn't seem so far fetched.

I crawled onto the mattress and sighed, I didn't want to admit it, but it was probably the most comfortable thing I'd ever laid on. The mattress folded around my shape and I pulled the covers up, one of which seemed to be a down filled comforter, and for the second time that night I'd cried again. This time it wasn't just my mom, it was everything. Every moment I'd been afraid today, all the frightening things I saw, the impossibility of my situation, the knowledge that I was in a prison, a nice prison but a prison nonetheless-and had a bunch of supernatural creatures aiming to kill me. That to the rest of the world, to my human world, I was going to be a missing child, probably dead. My mom might even have to hold some kind of vigil for me.

All of it crashed down onto me then now that I was alone. I was supposed to be safe here, but I didn't feel it.

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So Ember is now in the know, and I'm amazed she held together this long. I for one think she was being a bit harsh with the "henchmen" comment but that's me. What do you guys think? Any predictions on what might happen next? I'd love to hear it so please do COMMENT and VOTE if you enjoyed the chapter!

Write on! =D