The cold

Pain

The boy woke in a daze trying to get up only to fall painfully on his face. He panicked feeling the burning bindings on his hands , eyes wide open only to see and endless  black, realizing  that he was blindfolded too. He struggled for a moment or two, muffled noises coming from his mouth,the sticky tape on it stopping him from screaming out loud. He felt like a lamb that was going to be slaughtered, no worse than that, sacrificial lambs weren't blind and they probably weren't scared of what was going to happen to them because they didn't even know they were in danger. Neil found it hard to breathe, he felt like his heart was trying to jump out of his chest. He felt claustrophobic, he could't see anything and it made him paranoid, made him feel like he was drowning in the middle of no where. Neil jumped when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, the person walking in a very calm way, like he or she had all the time in the world. He heard a deep chuckle before his pendant was ripped off his neck, making his neck ache badly. He jumped at the rash action, trying to talk through the tape, perhaps to reason with his abductor, whoever he was, because he was quite sure the abductor caught the wrong guy. 

He was thrown to the floor by a powerful slap, in shock because it was completely unexpected. His head hurt badly and he was pretty sure he broke a rib or two because of  the force with which he hit the floor. His breath came out in short gasps, it hurt. He started shivering violently , a traitorous tear or two falling down his cheek, this person might use him as a glorified punching bag, and all he could do, tied up like this, was to just lie there and take it and hope he made through the day alive. He waited for the next blow to come, tensed, not moving a single inch. He hoped the blows would be weaker if he didn't resist.

The person dragged him by the shirt and threw him against the wall, making his chest feel like it was bleeding  fire inside. The person pulled his head back by his hair roughly, exposing his neck. Neil absolutely stilled when he felt a knife pressed against his throat , the assailant slowly tracing lazy circles with his knife. Neil felt his knife press against his skin lightly, a very small bead of blood seeping out. It was horrible, it was like the person was playing games , like he was in the hands of someone psychotic. 

He heard the person get up and walk away chuckling, leaving him scared and confused against the wall, wondering what the person would do to him next. All sorts of terrifying possibilities raced to his head, will he cut off his fingers one by one, slowly torturing him till he bleeds out? Will he be made to starve to death, he was hungry, his stomach reminding him of the lack of food painfully. He felt utterly alone, he was far too young to die, he hadn't even finished reading his newly bought copy of Good Omens.

********

Damien felt frustrated, he was searching for the boy since the night before, immediately after noticing the fact that the boy was missing, to no avail. He and Nerezza had left no stone unturned, pulling in favors from other fey, employing search teams, going to every place they thought Neil could go, sparing no expenses. It was his fault that the boy was missing, he should have payed better attention, in fact he shouldn't have even let the boy come to the first breeze, the boy was so new to the world, so weak. Damien gulped before knocking Abbadon's door, this had to be done, he needed his brothers help. Hissana opened the door to his brothers office, moving aside to let him in.

His brother smirked at him, sarcastically asking him what he needed. Damien clenched his fists, counting to ten, he couldn't take the bait, not when Neil's life was at stake. For the first time in his extremely long life, he asked his brother for help, no mirth or sarcasm in his voice.

Abbadon blinked ,surprised. He knew just how much Damien hated him, with good reason too, so it shocked him that Damien had come to him, asking for help. The boy must mean the world to Damien if he'd sink so low. He felt like taunting Damien, making him feel weak and pathetic, Damien was surely a fool to even think he'd consider helping him for a second. Hissana shook his head quitely telling  Abbadon to lend a hand. Hissana had always been a gentle soul,  Abbadon didn't know love existed till he found Hissana, hurt and huddled in a corner crying. Abbadon had always had a soft spot for the man, he knew how much it disturbed Hissana when he did something bad, the man's heart too good for this cruel world.  Abbadon sighed looking at Damien, who looked so very vulnerable sitting in front of him. "Are there any reasons as to why this boy would be taken?" he asked Damien , agreeing to help just this once. Damien breathed a sigh of relief before telling him that Neil was Balladur's son. Abbadon huffed, that didn't exactly lower the list of potential kidnappers, in fact just about any noteworthy fey had a grudge against that vermin. Damien hesitated, before adding the fact that Neil was a blood fey, newly come of age. This surprised Abbadon, blood feys were rare and quite powerful, a blood fey that has just come of age was almost unheard of, and would be quite helpless even compared to the minor feys, especially with the aid of iron, no fey was in fact immune to iron, the trick was to avoid it, to sense its presence and keep away from it before it drained one of one's energy. Abbadon looked at his brother and sighed,it was time to bring back a few feys that had fallen off the radar, their intervention would make the affair a lot less complicated.