ALMIRA THORN- Knowledge of Another Kind. [Editing]

Chapter 14- Part 2!!

“I apologize about them.” He grunted as he led on into the hallway. I bit back a smile and tried to keep my voice normal, remembering the way he’d asked when I would be leaving. “Do not apologize, their company is better then some.” As if understanding my meaning, he moved faster, his gaze intent on the halls. It wasn’t until we reached stairs that he slowed his pace so I could walk alongside him, his arm brushing mine before he snapped it away and kept his eyes locked on the room doors, trying to find the right one so he could run away again probably. I kept my distance and when the door to my room came in sight, he stopped by it and looked up. His eyes huge as he looked at me, my instinct had me wanting to brush my fingertips over his cheek, to take away the pain his eyes showed but I kept my hand solid by my side. Before I could speak he cleared his throat to get there before me. “Why are you so certain your father is alive?” The words were like a hit to the gut and I sucked in a breath; was prepared to give him insults, but I could see in his gaze that he meant not to hurt me, but to see where my confidence seeped from, half the time I never even knew myself, but I settled for the truth. “Because he would find a way of letting me know he was dead. He’s alive and I will search for him until the end, to have only one blood relative left is hard Raymond, but knowing you have none is harder beyond comprehension.” I used his full name on purpose and saw it flash in his eyes. I couldn’t help it anymore, I looked into those eyes with everything I had and said what I was thinking. “You have such pain in your eyes, do not let that pain eat you out.” His jaw clenched as he nodded his head, mumbling “good night” and strolling down the hall a little way, before walking through a door I presumed was his own suite. Ignoring the thoughts of him, I walked through my own door and kicked off my shoes, grabbing a blade I’d found within the wardrobe and beginning to entwine it through my fingers, spinning it and watching the flash of silver in the sunbeams.

It was only as my eyes grew heavy that I set it aside and pulled the curtains, allowing sleep to consume me. Crying in the distance, following I found myself walking up to a woman who was kneeling in the dirt, her hands over her face as she wept into the mud. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up, her eyes swollen and her cheeks red from the efforts it had taken, but she gripped at my skirt and buried her face into the fabric, weeping until her body shook. All I could do was stand there until finally she stood and I could see the blood on her hands, the blood now on my skirt as I realized she was crying tears of blood. My own blood ran cold as she pointed a crimson finger into a ditch. I followed her gaze and saw piles and piles of clothing, all muddy and also covered in blood. I squinted and saw that it wasn’t clothing, but bodies. Running I knelt by the edge of the ditch and looked down. Saw the silver of Tom’s eyes as he lay unmoving and unseeing, Lizzy beside him as her long hair was a mass of knots. Michael and Lucy lay screaming, their eyes black pits as their hands lay limp along the mud. Ray and Lucian were the only ones with their eyes closed, but it made it all the more horrifying, their faces pale and bloodless. And then I saw the familiar suit that he loved, his eyes gone and his face screaming as his mouth dripped blood, Papa looking cold and fragile. It was enough, I began to scream, my eyes a blur from the tears as arms went around me and I fought back, my arms lashing out as they gripped tighter, there was nothing but those arms, my screams and the pile of bodies that were my life….

“Almira!” A voice sucked me out of the nightmare and into my new room, Ray was above me, his lip split and bleeding down his face as he pinned my arms down. I focused my eyes more and sat up, unable to comprehend the morbid image that I’d just seen, without thinking I fell against his chest and gripped him as if my life depended on it. I inhaled the scent of him, spices and steel filled his shirt and his arms gently began to wrap around me, protectiveness in his grip as he soothed my hair. I pulled away after what felt like a minute and stood, realizing I had fallen asleep in my dress and brushed it down, looking at Ray’s cut lip and mentally cursing myself. I quickly ran into the bathroom and wet a flannel, bringing it back in and kneeling near him. He raised an eyebrow and pushed it away, “It’ll heal within a few minutes. You don’t need to.” I shook my head and met his gaze, “Please, I feel terrible.” He shrugged and allowed me to continue as I gently pressed it to his lip, hearing him hiss with the sting and clench his jaw.

                  Ray’s P.O.V

There was no doubt Almira was a girl of mysteries. Never before had I heard the screams of nightmare so raw and vivid then what I’d heard a moment ago. After the awkward departure in the hallway, I’d yearned to go back and finish what I had to say; only as I finally built up the courage did I go to her door and hear the screams. It was one filled with emotional pain, one I’d heard from Michael, but nobody would hear his reason from me, I promised it with a blood bond brothers would envy. Staring at her now, with hair of black and eyes of lush green, filled with worry as she dabbed the flannel onto the cut, I felt my heart clench at what I was going to say in the cellars, get a control on yourself. I’d never been hit by a girl, and certainly wouldn’t like to experience it again; she had the spirit of a lion and I’d seen the flash of it at the table. I’d never had the intention of hurting her, only to say that she stay with us instead of venturing into a world of horrors. But she was a girl whose skill would mean she’d be at the center of chaos, and judging by her determination, she’d enjoy it.

Back to Almira’s P.O.V

Staring into Ray’s face, his eyes looking deep in thought, making his expression seem softer. Pulling away I moved the towel to the bowel in the bathroom sink and walked back to him sitting on the edge of the bed, his expression blank.

“Thank you.” His voice was clipped and distant, his mind elsewhere as I walked into the center of the room.

I nodded, “A pleasure, but I’m sorry about it happening in the first place.” The memory of the ditch piled with bodies, unseeing eyes filling my vision, flashing fast and hard across my mind as I slammed it away, burning it away like paper to a flame. “It won’t happen again.” He chose that moment to stare up, his expression impossible to solve, but the emotion flashed like candlelight across the walls, his new emotion showing dread and I could already tell what his words were going to be before they left his mouth.

“It’s time.” His voice stayed clipped, genuine pain at delivering the words but I knew now what I faced, could still remember the echo of burning that swept through my body. I could handle this; I had to if there was any hope of finding Papa. I slowly nodded in agreement, not trusting my voice to speak as I rose from where I perched, letting him lead me back down the corridors to the underground hell where I’d spent the previous night, only this would be my last visit.