The powerful

Prologue-

There was complete darkness that night.

If Rick had been around he would have been delighted, but he wasn’t there. None of them were.

And the darkness had always frightened her…

A sniffle breached through the silence. Followed shortly after by another and then the quick and frightened breathing of a girl who was undoubtedly in danger. The girl in question was curled into a little ball in the corner of her cell. Her dark hair greasy and tangled covered her face as she rocked to and fro, hiding her mind away from the darkness that touched every surface around her.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. She wasn’t supposed to starve to death in a little cell that she couldn’t even see; no bed around for comfort, no window for light. She was supposed to graduate, go off to University, fall in love, start a family and then grow old surrounded by people she loved and cared about. Not here. Not like this. At this rate she would be dead by morning (unless it already was morning, it was hard to tell without a window) and no one would ever be the wiser.

Her stomach growled and her body hunched in a little further on itself, fighting off the pain of the organs that were screaming for the nutrients they needed to survive. Tears slipped down her cheek, marking new tracks in the dirtied skin of her face. A gash from her right cheekbone to the skin just below her ear was still open slightly, the crust of the dried blood still smeared across her face. Her tears slid past the wound pouring fresh salt into the gash and her stomach twisted with the pain, adding on to her torture. However, she refused to make a sound, the silence of her tears were enough. The fucking bitch wasn’t going to get anymore out of her than that.

Footsteps suddenly echoed in the distance. The girl didn’t look up but instead huddled in on herself just that much further as the slightest light of a torch crept closer to her. She closed her eyes tight when the light was close enough to reveal the person’s face, for she didn’t want to see it, would even give anything not to see it again. Ever. For the rest of her life –

-Which admittedly at this point didn’t look like it was going to be too much longer…

The sudden screeching of metal against metal made her wince as her cell door was pulled open, but still she kept her eyes closed. The footsteps were coming towards her now, sharp and piercing in what had not long ago been a silent night. They stopped mere feet away from where she sat.

“You look as cowardly as a mouse in that position dear.”

That voice. It raised hairs on the back of her neck, sent chills down her spine and hatred through her heart, but she didn’t give into the taunt. She would not face her.

“Tisk tisk, playing the hero isn’t as fun as you thought it would be? Poor little spell caster. There’s no need to mope about it.”

“Stop…” The horse whisper that broke from her throat sounded nothing like her own voice and she winced at the sound, swallowing thickly and wishing desperately for a glass of water.

The footsteps started again, one, two, three, stop. That bitch must have finally gotten as close as she could. Or at least enough to grab onto her arm and yank for suddenly she was being hurled to her feet. Her head spun and her legs wobbled, her stomach protesting heavily against the sudden change in position and forced use of her sore, tired muscles. The tiniest of gasps escaped her lips and a tear slipped, but that was all, she kept her head low, eyes focused on the filth of the floor and her tattered and blood stained shoes beneath her. She never found it hard to fight back and rebel against the devil that wanted her death.

It was a lot harder to resist when boney fingers curled around the back of her neck, squeezing against her skin and yanking her head backwards and suddenly they were face to face yet again. Those cold red eyes that looked like blood and whispered promises of pain and suffering and held power, so much power, stared down at her in sick amusement. She enjoyed this display of weakness and she had no future plans to put the suffering young girl out of her misery.

She was content to watch.

Chapped lips broke into a twisted little smile, the perfect match to those cold eyes and a dry little laugh broke past them easily. “Edith, Edith, Edith… Why do you continue to fight me?”

Edith Samson, for that was her name, stared back at the devil herself with cold green eyes blazing. “Because I’m not as weak as you think I am.” She wheezed and maybe had her throat not been dry and cheek not been bleeding would her words made more of an impact. As it were the other just smiled wider, revealing four rows of sharp teeth. Like a shark, Edith noted, reaching up to try and pry her fingers away from her neck.

This only seemed to amuse the other even further, “No Edith, it’s time to give up now. Your friends wouldn’t want you to suffer after all that you’ve done for them.”

“Fuck you!” The words were less raspy now, clearer with the hatred that was running through her as she struggled against the grip on her neck. Though this was made difficult with the weakened state of her mind and body. The bitch grinned and there was only time for one last glance of that shark toothed smile before the grip on her neck tightened, cutting off her air and sending shock waves of pain down her spine where the magic of her skin merged with the magic of her torturer.

Once she had finally gone limp and her limbs had stopped struggling for freedom she was thrown to the floor of her cell. Her head whacked hard against the cement and the wound on her cheek re-opened fully, gushing blood down her cheek and past her lips. She spit the coppery liquid out of her mouth quickly, coughing on some of it that remained in her throat before turning her head slowly to watch as her torturer picked up the torch that she had set against one of the other walls. From behind she almost looked like a normal woman it was the face… those eyes that would always be her downfall. She walked briskly out of the cell, not even sparing Edith a passing glance as she pulled the door shut behind her, the screech of metal on metal once again filling the night, this time accompanied by the dull thud ringing inside Edith’s skull.

She watched as the only source of light in the entire place began to disappear, the footsteps growing quiet and she coughed again turning onto her back as the shadows crept forward once again.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

None of this was supposed to happen.

But she supposed, if this wasn’t to happen then she probably would have never met them either.

The darkness encircled her, zapping her thoughts into nothing as her eyes fluttered shut and her breathing began to shallow.

By the time a soft hand pressed against her cheek and urgent whispers filled the normally silent cell she was already assumed to be dead.