Redemption (Book 6)

19

Ansel and Isaiah hadn't come up with any brilliant ways to get me to turn it back on, so I went back to school that week with Ansel. He was my watchdog, my guardian angel, all of the above. Sometimes it was fun, even adorable, and other times it was simply annoying. He was like the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, constantly watching everything I did. One day, I decided to give him something to watch.

I took this girl I didn't know and compelled her not to scream. I drank her blood. And drank and drank and drank until she crumpled into a heap next to the tree I had concealed us behind. Wiping the blood from my lips, I watched as Ansel stalked toward me.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded.

"I do whatever I want, Ansel," I said flatly. "You know that. I don't need any other reason than that."

"Come on," he said. "We're going to clean this up."

We drug the girl's body out to the woods and buried her.

"You need to stop this," Ansel told me.

"Or what?" I asked.

And I did the same thing the next day. This time, after we got rid of the body and went back to the house, Isaiah was standing there. He did not look pleased. Suddenly, he was next to me, gripping my body tightly ensuring that I couldn't get out of his hold.

"Let go of me, Isaiah," I said through clenched teeth as Isaiah grabbed my wrists from behind me and held me even tighter.

"If you don't stop hurting people, I'm going to have to do something drastic," he threatened.

I just laughed. "No you won't. You love me, so you can't hurt me. You said it before; you're weak when it comes to me. I'd like to see you try and really hurt me."

Suddenly, he yanked off my ring and threw open the curtains. The sun hit me and I let out a blood curdling scream. I've never felt pain like that in my life. It was searing, ripping, tearing, unbearable pain on every inch of my body. It was like I had been drowned in a sea of scalding needles. Then he shut the curtains. I was curled up in a ball, my skin boiled and pain wracking my body. But I looked up at him and laughed as they all began to heal.

"Is that really the best you can do?" I sat up as I felt the wounds healing completely.

"You aren't as strong as you pretend to be," he squatted down in front of me.

"Do you want to test that?" I asked.

"Not really," he shrugged. "I thought we made some progress when you were in pain. Maybe not, but it's worth another try. I don't' want to do it, no, but I know someone who does. Apparently, she's found some reason to get incredibly pissed and you, and that works for us."

He turned around and waved someone in. That is when I saw Trinity with a cold smile on her unfeeling lips. My heart nearly skipped a beat when I realized that Trinity would do anything to me and enjoy it.

"So," she smiled broadly. "I heard we're trying to scare and torture your emotions back on."

Isaiah kept his eyes on mine, but talked to Trinity. "She's all yours. Have at it."

The three days that followed were the worst of my life. I thought that slowly being turned into a living corpse was the worst that could happen to me but I was, quite frankly, naïve and wrong. Trinity's particular brand of torture was the perfect cocktail of physical and psychological, just enough to push you to the edge of truly wanting to die, then pulling you back. She reminded you what feeling good was like just long enough to make it feel all the worse when she took it away again.

I have no idea where the boys were during this time, but they certainly weren't in the house. They weren't leaving anything up to chance that, because they cared about me, Trinity's torture might fail. And in the worst, darkest moments of what she did to me, the thought of turning my emotions back on crossed my mind. But when it wasn't at its absolute darkest, the slight temptation in the back of my mind was easier to resist.

"You ready to turn 'em back on yet, Princess?" she would ask me.

And all I would do was laugh. There was a tangible competition between us now, something we could hold onto, something we could sink our teeth into. Every ounce of hatred I carried around for her before that moment came out in my desire to win. Whoever held out the longest, they were the winner. Both of us were sure we would win, but it could have been anyone. I had more patience but she wasn't the one being tortured.

After four days, the boys came back. They only lasted a couple of hours before they were talking about what to about this once again. I had known as soon as they came back that the suffering was almost over, but now I knew it. They yanked Trinity out and told her thanks, but they were done with her brand of trying to get me to turn my emotions back on. I smiled. This is exactly how I thought it would play out.

It was kind of ironic, really, the fact that their emotions were keeping me from getting mine back. There was a poetic symmetry about it that I couldn't help but like. Now I was in the clear and I could appreciate that now.

"Well Princess," Trinity said to me. "I guess I'm not wanted anymore."

"I would say that I'd miss you, but..." I shrugged and watched her go.