PANACEA-Book One-By Hell or High Water

26. Storm

I wasn't sure what cadela meant, but given his tone and the way he spat it out, I could only assume it was a derogatory title of some sort. I had been about to say something back, but I noticed it was directed at Nyx. It took me another moment to register the new cuts and bruises on his face, and another to see the locked chains around his chest.

They went back behind the column and wrapped around a few times before holding his wrists together. He had an irritated look, as if this were only a mild inconvenience. I took note of the other man's positioning. He stood over Nyx, blood dripping from his lip. I assumed Nyx had done that. He kept a foot pressed against one of Nyx's legs. It had been broken. I could see a large chunk of debris nearby, and hoped that hadn't been smashed over his leg. That was probably what had happened. How such a scrawny looking guy had thrown that before Nyx could react was beyond me. Nyx looked to be in a lot of pain. The man held a key above Nyx, presumably threatening to throw away his only release.

I took a step forward a grabbed at my whip. Fighting him would be easy, as long as I didn't slip up. I accidentally kicked a stone, alerting both of them that I was present.

The man brushed a curl from his forehead, and his lips parted into a slanted smirk. I disliked the malicious look in his dark eyes. They were taunting. He seemed to be inviting me to play a game with him. Like a bratty child who intended to pull your pigtails during a playground game of tag.

"I see we have a guest," he said. He stepped off of Nyx's broken leg and tucked the key in his baggy pants pockets. "Care to sit down with us? We were just about to have a drink." He lifted a bottle of alcohol with his other hand. Its contents sloshed around. It was half full.

I kept walking towards them. He raised an eyebrow and took a sip from the open bottle. "Hold on, don't make any rash decisions. Be smart, sweetheart." I skidded to a halt as I watched him raise the bottle. Before I had even come to a full stop, he had swung it down on Nyx's head. The glass shattered, and alcohol sprayed everywhere. The man still had the neck of the bottle in his hand, and snickered at the scream Nyx produced. The top of his head bled a red deeper than his hair, and he cursed under his breath, eyes shut.

My face contorted into a look of horror. After getting over the shock of the sudden act of violence, I kept going. What was that supposed to do other than make me angry?

I saw the man frown, and drop the broken bottle. It rolled away, and he stuck his hand in one of his back pockets. Faster than I could see, he had a hand held gun out and pressed to the side of Nyx's head. I froze again. I had never had to deal with something like that. I did know it wasn't necessarily good to be shot in the head, though. Even if I wasn't concerned about Nyx's wellbeing, I also didn't know what sort of damage that could do to me. I could die, for all I knew.

His face was stone cold, and unmoving. He would do it. "Sit down against that column over there, and drop everything."

I looked to Nyx, who didn't appear to be focused on anything other than the pain he must have been enduring. Knowing that even if I managed to avoid getting shot, it wouldn't do any good if Nyx was immobilized. I didn't want him to get hurt any further. He hadn't done anything to deserve this, at least not that I knew of. I shrugged my bag off where I was, and let my whip dropped. Without any other hesitation, I sat against the column closest to Nyx. He didn't acknowledge me.

The man watched me go, and picked up my whip. He turned it over in his hands, before going over to me to wrap the thick rope around me. He made sure my hands remained behind the column, bound with the end. He gave me a little pat on the head before he stood up.

"Nice and snug, eh?" I had a good view of him like this. He was mostly scrawny and not very tall. He had a bit of muscle on his arms, but that still didn't explain how he could have overpowered Nyx. I took note of the gold chains that hung around his neck, as well as his abundance of bracelets and bejeweled rings. Those probably didn't feel good when he punched. His lip had mostly stopped bleeding, but the small amount of facial hair he had below it was stuck together a bit with it. He turned around and went back to going through the large hiking bag Nyx had brought.