Silently Hunted

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Nathaniel could feel her. The pain diminished under that feeling. She was with him though he could not understand how. He could smell his flesh as it was burnt from his bones as he hung from the chains above. The angels here stony faced, but he could feel their glee at having him within their dungeons. He had pushed the pain into a compartment in his mind, allowing him to function on a level beyond it.

Only Anya had managed to find and unknown doorway into his mind. Right into that compartment, he knew she could feel the pain he was under. He tried to swap the compartments. He had no issue undergoing pain. Had been through much in his eon of life. And yet the thought of her even having a moment of that pain was the more unbearable than anything the angels could do to him.

He could feel her confusion. Almost see an opulent bathroom, but from an odd angle. Was she on the floor? Was the pain that strong for her? He had never heard of such a connection for a vampire. A spark occurred right at the back of his mind. Only for a red hot poker to be thrust against his skin at that point. Breaking all concentration as the burning continued, his right foot no more than blackened bone at that point. The poker did not enter his skin, more sat atop his ribs, burning through layers of flesh.

His fangs had descended long ago. He bit into his tongue so as not to roar out his displeasure at the injustice. He was a leader among his kind, and here he was unable to protect the woman whom his darkness had claimed. She felt the pain more than he did. She was younger than him, still fragile from the power surge. She may hold such power within her that has not been seen in many a century, but she had no idea how to yield such as yet.

That allowed him to shift the pain. Compartmentalise in another mostly unused section of his mind. Seeing as he did so the red hot glow of a new poker being prepared. He knew he had to reroute the path towards that compartment. While at the same time, he could feel Anya regain some strength. An almost image of her righting herself, or rather of the awkward angle of the bathroom changing. He was not sure how it had happened. But he was not about to allow that connection to close.

The angels had deemed his torture sufficient to ask questions now. With the threat of glowing red waving around in front of him. Close, so close he could feel the heat pulsing from the metal. And yet he ignored the questions. He would not answer them anyway. So instead he delved into his mind, allowing the pain to flow through certain channels he took care to stay clear of, allowing him to function within himself.

He needed to find the cause of this connection. If he found the cause, he could try and block it from closure. Diving deeper and deeper, he was aware only of a slight prick against his skin, more and more, taking some of his attention. Mentally shaking himself, he went deeper than he had safely done before. He knew the dangers, knew he could get lost within his own mind. He only knew that Anya somehow would not let this happen. That she held within her the ability to keep him sane within himself.

The doorway was small. Created unawares by the woman on the other side. And that was when he realised, that vampires may not be able to have telepathic communication with other vampires, but with an angel. It was possible, their minds were compatible in ways neither species had realised, he suspected since eons before he was born. They had been at war for so long, they had forgotten. They all came from the same place at the beginning. This gave a whole new meaning to the war. But right now, he needed to learn more of this connection, and kill the angels taking such pleasure in their torture.

Anya sat up, leaning against the marble counter behind her. Her breath coming in laboured gasps. She could feel him. Inside her mind. He was still there. She could feel him, closer than before. But that made no sense. How could that be possible?

She knew he was in agony, and she had to get to him. But she had no way out of this room. Her simplest way of slipping out may be at this meal her grandmother had mentioned. If that was the case, then she had to find a way out. Had to find her way to Nathaniel. She could understand how the connection had come into being in the first place. Therefore any pain he had could come through to her. That she did not want. But a part of her also did not want him in place at all.

With that as motivation, and him close in her mind. She laboured to stand, and started to ready herself. She needed to be ready. For anything.