Wingless ~Book Two of Winged~

Torture

I am in and out of consciousness several times before I notice that my arms are restrained against a hard slab that I am laying on. I open eyes immediately and try and sit up, but the restraints around my wrists, ankles, and the rope around my waist keeps me down against a hard slab of stone. That slab has small grooves that all lead off the side of the slab. High above me is a large circular glass window that looks up at the half moon in the sky. I struggle against the restraints slightly, trying to loosen them, but to no result. I continue looking around the large empty room I am in. Eight large columns surround the open room. My eyes land on Malachai. His wrists are bound over his head and he is hanging by his wrists. His feet, also bound, dangle about six inches from the black marble floors and his head hangs low. A single footsteps echoes off the walls and I look around as they continue. Eli walks over slowly, taking in his accomplishment. He stops by my side and his fingers lightly trail over the veins in my arm.

He laughs to himself, finding something amusing. "Finally... What I have been waiting for." He reaches back and slowly pulls out his golden demon blade. He lightly drags its cold metal up my arm and down my other.

"I want to make this last... I want to make you suffer." He talks calmly and twirls the knife around on my wrist.

"Please, don't do this." I whisper and he narrows his eyes at me. He sighs, looking away before looking back and stabbing the knife straight through my palm. I cry out and squeeze my eyes shut. "Please!" I cry and tears fall out of my eyes. He makes a tsk sound and pushes the knife into my wrist, drawing blood. Tears continue to fall and as he pushes it deeper into a vein I cry out again. He removes the knife from the new hole and watches as it bleeds onto the slab and slides into a groove.

"Oh... I almost forgot." Eli leans down and picks up a large stone bowl and brings it around the slab to where all the grooves lead to and puts it on the ground to collect my blood. Eli comes back to my wrist and leans down, resting his head against his palm, watching the blood leave my body. It's not bleeding enough for me to worry about it yet. He sighs again.

"This is taking too long."With his other hand he jabs his finger into the cut, making me flinch and whimper. He stands up straight and leans forward against the slab, his eyes shifting to my face. He picks the knife back up and walks to my other wrist. Without slowly pushing the knife against my vein like the last one, he stabs it into the vein and I jerk in my restraints, a scream escaping my mouth. My blood spills into a groove and makes its way to the drop off. My eyes flicker to Malachai and I begin to worry since his hanging body is completely still. Eli looks over at him and lets out another sigh.

"He's fine. In fact... Malachai!" Eli turns and shouts across the room at Malachai. I shake my head, he can't hear him. "I know you're not out still. Stop pretending. I know you can hear me." Malachai's head continues to hang low and he doesn't move. Eli shakes his head, glances at my wrists then stalks over to Malachai. He grabs his chin and forces him to look up at him even though Malachai is taller than him since he is hanging by his wrists. Malachai stares intensely down at Eli before his eyes flicker to me. Eli shoves Malachai back and Malachai begins to swing around, pain obvious on his face. Eli turns back to me and begins to walk back.

"Why don't you tell Trinity the truth, Malachai?" Malachai continues to stare at me. Eli rolls his eyes. "I know you're not deaf. Stop acting like you are." Eli raises his voice. "Now, tell Trinity what you are." Malachai grits his teeth as he slowly stops swinging.

"Angel." He responds and I stare at him. He heard Eli... He lied to me...

"Yeah, yeah, Angel. What kind of angel?" Eli asks and Malachai looks up at his bound wrists, trying to get out of the rope.