Newborn Eyes

Crimson Body

Tyler's POV

***

Blood. So much blood.

This is what I wake up to see as I open my eyes. I quickly strain my head to look at my body, checking to see where the blood is from. I see no open wounds on my body or blood stains on my clothes. I decided that it must be coming from my head, where that terrible machine tried to rip my brain apart.

The door creaks open and the man in the cloak steps into the room. "You're probably wondering how that blood got there on the floor," he announces, "You see, one of my henchman tried to mess with the machine. I think I broke him."

I realize that there is a foot sticking out of the corner of the room. The man walks toward me which allows the light to reach that corner. A crumpled body lays in the corner with blood inching it's way across the floor toward me. I lift my feet off the ground hoping to avoid getting blood on my body.

The man gives me an angry look at this action and continues toward me, reaching out to the machine on my head. He clicks a button and the machine whirrs to life, projecting a screen out in front of me. Assuming that I want to know the information, the man speaks aloud, explaining the statistics.

"So this is your powers that I have drained from you," he says, pointing to a fraction reading 23/100, "and here is the amount of time that you have before I do it again. Don't want you dying on me before I take all of your powers."

The number that he points at reads 3 hours. God I hope Constance is looking for me, I think as the machine turns off again.

I close my eyes as he leaves the room and listen to the iron door clang behind him.

***

Constance's POV

***

"She's just warming up," I hear Cain explain from the front of the car.

After failing to find Ty around town we realize we need to ask my brother for help. If he was captured we need someone who knows all of the hideouts where the man in the cloak could have taken him. As much as I hate to admit it, Leon could actually be useful to us. I still hate him though.

According to the last court order, he is being held in The Thief Pits, fitting for what he has done. The ride to the dungeon is about two hours which I spend staring out the window and cursing my brother and the fact that we need his help again.

As we arrive to the gates a guard stops the car and asks for verification for our visit. Apparently there are a lot of criminals that have done a lot worse than my brother here. Hopefully we won't have to meet any of them. After making sure everyone in the car is who they say they are, the guard waves us through the gate and we pull into the visitor parking lot. There are about three cars in the lot as well as ours. Obviously no one really wants to visit anyone in this dungeon.

As we get out of the car I look up at the fortress that we are about to enter. The walls seem to reach to the sky and they are black as night. As well as the huge walls, barbed wire walls reaching fifty feet hang above us as we walk through the gate. The door looks like it weighs a thousand pounds and my assumption is proven correct as ten of the guards have to push it open.

The inside of the dungeon stinks of blood and flesh. I shiver as a cold chill runs through the hall. "What a lovely place," I state sarcastically.

We continue down the hall and reach a desk at the end, where we have to check in once again. Down the hallway to the left a clang is heard and a man is dragged through a door. He has chains holding his wrists and ankles together. He struggles against the guard holding him and screams profanities as he is dragged down the hall. He turns his wretched head toward the desk and looks straight into my eyes. With a sickly smile he is pushed through another door at the end of the hall.

The woman at the desk finally checks us in and we are led down the hallway to the right, toward the visiting room. As we enter the room I see Leon behind about five inches of glass with a phone pressed to his ear and a gun pressed to his head. The guard presses the gun harder against him as he waves at us. Cain sits down in the chair across from him and picks up the phone. "Leon," he announces, "We need your help."

"Well I hope this means you're getting me out of this hell hole," Leon responds, staring at me.

His eyes bore into my skin as I look away, focusing on the scraped up walls. They continue their conversation and Cain negotiates with Leon about what he expects of him. After Leon agrees he is taken out of the room to collect his things and meet us back by the desk.

Just as my luck would have it, the man I saw being dragged when we entered the building is now at the front desk with his guard. When he sees me he smiles and I see blood in his teeth. The guard pushes the man's head down and continues to talk to the lady at the desk. According to their conversation, this man has been sentenced to death by electrocution. He is scheduled for the chair in a week. I see a glint of fear flash through the man's eyes as he hears his fate.

The guard takes the man back down the left hallway as the prisoner screams and tries to run back the way he came. I wonder what the man did to deserve such a terrible fate. Before I have too much time to think of possibilities, Leon is brought out from a door in the right hallway. He is dressed in cleaner clothes and his handcuffs are gone. The guard's gun is back in it's holster but he is still looking at my brother like he wants to kill him. You and me both, I think.

The guard pushes my brother toward us and Cain catches him before he falls. "Let's get you on your feet," Cain says as he helps him up.

I roll my eyes at this act and start to walk out of the building. Cain and Leon catch on that I want to leave and trail behind me. My uncle brings up the rear as we exit the "hell hole" as my brother called it. I hate to admit it but I couldn't agree more. That place is the closest thing to hell that I have seen, and I've seen hell.