Blood Brothers

Rescues and Bandages

I focused on breathing. It was necessary for survival, difficult to achieve with the bag over my head, and much more pleasant than focusing on the pain. There was a calming simplicity about controlling my breathing to be deep and even.

In... Out... In... Out... In... CRACK!

I flinched but it was Ciro that screamed. I tried not to think about what had broken. How badly he had been damaged and how long it would take to heal. I grit my teeth and shifted on my toes. They had strung me up with a chain wrapped around my wrists, and taking as much weight off of the chains alleviated the pain in my wrists. But that meant my toes and legs were getting tired.

The hood dulled my senses, in addition to making it harder to breathe. It was mildly claustrophobic too, making me shift again as I tried to refocus on breathing.

"The longer you refuse to talk, the longer you're in pain. You really want that?"

I wasn't sure which one of us he was talking to. I was fairly certain both of us ignored him. The minute we gave up something useful, they would kill us both. I wasn't a big fan of pain, but I liked the prospect of dying even less.

I strained to hear when I heard the sounds of pain, but not from Ciro. It couldn't possibly be Le'Roy, could it? Katherine had only left... I wasn't actually sure. But it hadn't been long enough that she could have gotten all the way back to the Victorian, mustered her father's troops, and made it back here.

There was another sound of pain and they started speaking rapidly to each other in Russian. There was a sharp order before I made out feet moving away. Not enough to make me feel I could relax and take a break. Sure enough, I gasped as I got a heavy fist in my gut. Someone hissed against my face.

"Where did she run to? Who would she go to for shelter?"

"Fuck you."

I grunted when he reached up and broke my finger. I whimpered when he broke another. Then screamed when he broke a third.

"You've got five more. Should I keep going?"

I grit my teeth. "Not my thumbs too?"

"And have you wiggling out of those chains? I don't think so. But I could be convinced to break your legs if you like. Maybe a few ribs."

I shivered when the tip of a knife went tickling down my side.

"Maybe I'll just slide this blade in between them and poke a hole in your lung." The knife pressed a little deeper before sliding up my ribs and around to just beneath my shoulderblade, digging in enough to make me hiss and struggle to pull away. "You know what a bloody eagle is?"

Ciro muttered something in broken, halting Russian. Whatever he said, it had the knife pulling from my back and quick steps going towards him. I struggled for freedom as Ciro screamed again. I roared as the screams grew weak and turned to stuttered grunts and groans. I took in a breath and screamed in denial when Ciro went quiet.

I ran out of air and panted harshly. Everything was quiet. I couldn't hear anything. Just a single heartbeat. I fought not to cry as chains rattled and I heard shuffling. There was a long moment of almost silence before I heard a sharp inhale and a second heartbeat started, weak, but there.

The chains holding me up suddenly went loose and I thumped down onto my heels. I would have gone all the way down to my knees except that there was suddenly a slender frame beneath me, holding me up. My arms dropped around strong shoulders and an arm wrapped around my back to keep me steady while a hand grabbed at the hood over my head.

I gasped in a breath of fresh air, laced with the sweet scent of sugar, as the hood was removed. My arms tightened around the body holding me up as Katherine whispered in my ear. "Can you stand?"