A Dance With Death

|| Chapter 49 - Uncovered ||

                           

"Ah, this is perfect!" Caius -- now, as Griffith -- chirps. I swallow and look up at him, my sorrow now replaced by anger. "Pretty boy here had some real courage in him, I must say. I think I'm gonna keep him with me for a while." He huffs. "You really thought that the Order break would weaken me? You keep forgetting that I'm not a reaper."

We stay silent. Nobody dares to look at him, everyone facing the floor. I can see Althea quivering, her jaw tightened. She has the ability to feel as humans do -- she can feel sorrow as much as we can, even if she can hide it well. But I've never seen her so miserable. Through the hair falling on her face, I can see her hollow and lifeless eyes, and how much pain they carry -- that pain of losing someone.

"Oh no," Caius says, sticking out his bottom lip as he bends forwards to meet Althea's gaze. "Why the long faces?"

Her eyes meet his, but she doesn't say anything. Neither does she show any movement. She wants to act, but something is holding her back.

Having no response from her, he stands up straight and smiles again. "We're all here. This is supposed to be fun! Well, mostly for me, but you get the point...oh!" He exclaims as he sees Niall. "Hi old mate! Sorry I let you go. Nothing personal, I swear." Niall just glares in response.

He then looks at me and narrows his eyes to thin slits, his smile dropping. He treads towards me, his hands behind his back. I want to back away, but somehow, I'm held in my place, unable to move. He stops right in front of me. The light green eyes that once had been something for me to look up to for comfort and understanding, are now shadowed by something so dark. It's like everything behind that face has been taken away and ripped apart, never to be returned.

"Zayn," he says, tilting his head to the side. "The best human I've ever met. Your consistency is commendable, I must say. You managed to keep me so occupied. And entertained, yes. It was fun being around you, messing with your mind." Lowering his voice, he hisses, "I enjoyed every second of it."

"Go to hell," I spit.

He raises his brows, amused. "Still feisty. I like it." He chuckles. "What was it that you said the time when our first official meeting had ended? Oh right. 'You will burn,'" he mimics my tone. "Look where you are now. You did give me a hard time, but it got you nowhere, did it?"

"You bastard."

"I could skin you alive right now." His voice reaches a threatening low. "But that'd be too inhuman for you. You don't deserve a violent death. You've been a good friend, that's it. You will die a slow painful death, though. Sorry."

"Go on then," I say. "I don't care anymore. Kill me."

At that, not surprisingly, something hold me by the throat, choking me. Pain shoots through my entire body and I let out a screech, falling to the ground. Caius backs away, looking down at me emotionlessly, his hands in the pocket of his coat, as I trash my arms about. My head starts throbbing and my blocked throat makes me feel pukish, muffling my screams.

"You son of a bitch!"

The pain stops, leaving me to cough my insides out. Not taking much time to get my sense back to normal, I look up and see Althea charge towards Caius. Before I could process what's going on, Caius stops her with one swift movement of his hand and slightly pushes her backward with invisible force, holding her in her position a couple of feet away from him. Shortly after, I see Ektor pounce at Caius. Caius ducks forward, taking Althea along with him, holding her by the collar of her jacket, in order to keep her from attacking. Ektor stumbles, but manages to keep his balance. He turns around to attack Caius once more, but Caius raises his hand, and another force hidden from sight pushes Ektor against the wall behind him, holding him there. He squirms, but his body remains stuck to the wall. I look at Niall, who also seems to be held in one spot by Caius.