Etched In Stone

Chapter Three

The knife is pulled away from his throat and the man looks around wildly for the source of the commotion.

"Someone get in here!" He roars, storming out of the room. Through the door, illuminated by the dim light in the hallway, the man is slammed into the floor by someone Jake can't see. He lies there, motionless, and a pair of legs step over him. There are more shouts, more footsteps, the sound of someone hitting the floor. He tugs at the ropes binding his wrists, desperate to get free. He strains to see outside the door but he can barely move, still bound to the damn chair.

The door is pushed open completely and a man different from the last steps into the room, but Jake can tell he's not with them - no formal suits. The man drags a hand through tangled blonde hair, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion, looking around the room carefully until he lays eyes on Jake and his expression relaxes.

"Jake." He says as he makes his way over. "Found you."

"Who the hell are you?" Jake asks, more aggressively than he intended.

"Whoa, calm down there, sunshine," the man quirks an eyebrow, "I'm the one helping you out here."

"You - you're going to help me?"

"Why else would I be here?" The man pulls out a knife from his pocket and Jake can't help but flinch away when he holds it near him.

"Don't worry," the man fixes him with a golden-eyed stare, "I'm not about to start cutting into you." He taps Jake's forehead, "But you should probably clean that."

He brings the knife behind the chair and starts sawing the ropes off his wrists. Jake rubs his wrists as the man unties his ankles, too, and straightens himself up.

"Come on. Let's go." He gestures towards the door, "Oh, and I don't suppose you remember me." He glances back at Jake and offers his hand, gripping it in a quick, firm handshake. "Ian."

"Uh, Jake." Jake utters, "But I guess you knew that."

"Ian?" A female voice can be heard outside, calling out. A few moments later, a woman appears around the doorway, peering into the room and pulling herself inside fully once she sees that it's just Ian and Jake in there. Her hair is so blonde it's almost white, straight and cascading over her shoulders, and her eyes are icy blue and glow in the dark like cat's. She places her hand on her hip, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to gesture behind her.

"Taken care of." She says. An almost mischevious grin plays at the corners of her mouth.

"Saren," Ian greets, his face breaking into a smile despite the situation. It's easy to tell the relationship between them. "Where would I be without you?"

"Probably dead." She shrugs. "Is this him?" She points to Jake, squinting at him as she moves closer. "Holy mother of God. It is him."

"Changed, hasn't he?" Ian remarks, looking Jake up and down once again.

"Absolutely." The woman named Saren whispers, surveying his face with a potent gaze. "Then again, we were both just kids ourselves the last time we saw him."

"What are you two talking about?" Jake speaks for the first time in a few minutes, looking between them both with a confused expression on his face. He wipes the blood from his forehead absently to stop it from trickling into his eye.

"We'll explain later." Ian promises, "Saren, take care of that, would you?" He points at Jake's face and then shoulder, "I thankfully got here right before they slit his throat."

She rolls her eyes skywards, taking a step closer to Jake. "It's just like Colton to go for such a dramatic solution. Here..."

Reaching up towards Jake's face, she presses her two fingers to his forehead, right on the cut above his eyebrow. He winces, but she holds her hand there for a few moments, eyes steely with concentration. When she pulls her hand away after a minute, the stinging pain has disappeared. Jake reaches a hand to his forehead to find that the damaged skin has been completely healed over.

"H-how d-did - you - the cut, how did you -?" Jake stammers, at a loss for words to what she just did.

A smirk stretches across Saren's face as she places her hand on his shoulders and does the same as before.

"We really have a lot of explaining to do."