Ruby Redfort Fanfiction: Look Into His Eyes And Take Your Last Breath

FINALE (PART THREE)

Ruby was rudely awoken from her troubled sleep by furious bumping in a dark enclosed space. She was immediately alert. Instinctively, she held her arms up to feel the perimeters of her her dark, painful prison. Then she realised that the bumping was in fact car wheels, the car was in fact climbing a hill and her prison was in fact the boot of a car. Ruby took a deep breath. This was bad. At least Spectrum would be one of the first places Hitch would look for her when he found out she was gone. But now, in a place that even Ruby couldn't pinpoint, Hitch would never even get here to save Ruby on time, let alone Clancy. Clancy! Ruby started banging at her prison with all the strength she had. He was certainly unconscious, and probably hurt. In fact, he could already be dead. He wasn't in the trunk with her so where was he? Ruby rocked back and forth in boot, her only consolation being that the Count loved drama too much. He would never intentionally kill Clancy without Ruby being there to watch it. The Count almost enjoyed seeing Ruby escape and try to save him, so there was no way... But Ruby couldn't shake that bad feeling she had. Here, with no Hitch, no weapons, no communications, the situation was bleak. But it wasn't over. Ruby would just have to see where her captors were taking her. As if on cue, the car came to a jolted stop. Ruby sucked in a breath of air. Finally. It was getting a little hard to breath. She heard whispered voices outside the car and immediately went limp and closed her eyes, furiously trying to slow her breathing. The trunk door flew open and Ruby felt moonlight shine onto her face. She felt hands close around her and lift her out the trunk. Ruby had been praying that whoever was carrying her was not the Count, when she smelled LB's sweet perfume and nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she heard a piercing cry that almost shattered her. It was Clancy.
"What have you done to her!" He yelled, his voice uneven with his sobs. Ruby could almost see the Count sneer.
"Oh, she's just unconscious you tiresome boy! Take her to the chair LB." Ruby felt herself being carried over to what must have been a conveniently placed chair and Ruby felt bonds tighten around her chest again. As soon as LB had put Ruby down, she breathed in as quietly as possible through her nose. She was following Spectrum's number one rule for getting your bearings. Use your senses to gather clues to what sort of environment you are in. Sam Holt was literally whispering in Ruby's ear, and she breathed in to sniff the air and to try and disentangle the smells. Ruby could certainly smell pine, Miss Drisco smelt of it all the time and she had no problems identifying it. So she was in a pine forest. Ruby couldn't risk opening her eyes just yet, so she tuned out of Clancy's whimpers behind her and just listened. She could make out a faint owl hoot and and there was none of the usual traffic noises. Ruby was 99 percent sure she knew where she was and hoped sincerely that she was wrong. Ruby opened her eye just a slit and her heart sank. She was in the forest. Where the wolves were. Uh oh. Dan was sitting opposite her, doing what Ruby considered a poor attempt to sneakily glance at the Count. She almost snorted. Suddenly the Count walked into her field of vision. Ruby immediately shut her eye.

"Now come on you two, you've been awake some time, there's no fooling me. I must remind you that I took the same course as you Redfort. You must have already established where you are based on your surroundings." Ruby opened her eyes and the Count wagged a finger, "Don't try to beat me at my own game, dear." Ruby grit her teeth.

"Count- Bradley. Please don't kill him. What has he done to you?" Ruby was grasping at straws and the Count knew it. He grinned and winked.

"In a fair courtroom, your arguments might stand a chance at being justified." He paused and looked at the both of them. "But we are not in a fair courtroom."

"Give us a few months and a good lawyer and they might." challenged Dan. Ruby knew he thought he had nothing to lose. But she was playing for time here, though she wasn't exactly sure if it would be any use if she got it. But luckily, this brazen statement tickled the Count's funny bone. He was in a good mood. The Count was mostly in a good mood because all was well.

"Nothing to lose, eh boy? Well, you have plenty, though I am sure you will leap at the chance at being Miss Redfort's newest partner." Ruby pretended not to hear. Dan looked away. Ruby heard Clancy sigh disdainfully behind her. Meanwhile, the Count clapped his hands together. "Shall we continue? Good. LB, bring the scent." LB walked stiffly over to the Count with a bottle. Unscrewing the cap, the Count grinned like a child receiving their birthday presents as LB walked Clancy towards him. Clancy had his head held high, Ruby knew he was not going to quail in the face of death, instead take it face on. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her head drooped. The Count poured the exquisitely scented liquid all down Clancy, drenching him from head to toe. A wolf howled in the distance.

"Look at me." Clancy said, and Ruby raised her head to look at him. She could see his furious attempt to hide the tears rolling down his cheeks, but his voice was calm. "I love you." He said loudly. Dan, surprisingly, was crying. The Count looked delighted.

"Oh this is too good. I wish I was taping this." LB seemed frozen still. She had an expression of terror and horror on her face. You could almost hear her regret screaming from the inside. Ruby made no attempt to hide her sorrow.

"I love you too." She sobbed, finally breaking down. The Count looked thoughtfully.

"After all my attempts to break you down, you've stayed as brazen as ever, but when a mere boy says three little words, you look like you await your death with baited breath. Interesting." LB was now crying quietly. Clancy, who was standing in this little arena fashioned naturally out of rock, smiled a bittersweet smile and his eyes glistened with more tears.

"That's all I ever wanted to hear you say." He whispered.

That was when the first wolf broke through the trees and into the clearing.

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9 days. Just 9.