Will & Tessa \ Wessa

Captured \ 2

{This is Part 2 of a 4 part short story for Will and Tessa called Captured}

When Will came around he was chained by his wrist to a stone wall in a small dimly lit room. The walls had no windows to tell him if it was day or night.  He tried to think of where he could be, and why.

His head was in a fog and he tried to gather his thoughts amidst the pounding headache.

He tasted blood in his mouth.

Will glanced at his arm, the strange mark was still under his skin, coiled around his wrist tightly, pulsing, moving, alive and causing him incredible pain.

He rubbed at it with his thumb and hissed from the unexpected shock it gave him.

"Don't bother." Said a man chained next to him. "It's the devil's work."

Will glanced at him. The other man was young, like him, and finely dressed. A light bruise decorated his chin. His cheeks were red, his large brown eyes wide and fearful as he looked at Will.

"The devil's work." Will repeated. "Indeed. Do you know where we are?"

"Northern England, maybe, as the city fell away the trees appeared with a few scattered hills."

Will sighed. Trees and hills. They could be anywhere in Britain. The pain in his head was a dull ache now and one singular thought overtook all other thoughts.

Tessa.

James.

Jem.

His family.

They were back in London and they were safe. That was all that mattered to him, that they be safe. 

"Never in a hundred years would I have believed in sorcery." The other man went on. "But this... this thing..." He held out his arm to show Will the mark that also coiled around his wrist. "You don't seem too surprised."

The room they were imprisoned in was damp and it reeked. Three other men were chained to the wall looking worse for wear, dejected as anything he had ever seen.

Will remained quiet. His runes were reacting wildly to whatever magic had been used on him. He felt the Angel fire tingling through him, trying to counter the foreign spell but failing.

The man next to him lowered his voice further, "They've been in a fight. Pray you're a good fighter, my friend, they mentioned that it's the only way to get out of here."

"My name is Will. A fight?"

"Will, I'm John. And I hope we live long enough that our names matter."

Will stared at the mark, his mind working.

It was a holding spell, the spell of a warlock with great power. A spell that generated nothing but agony while it controlled the captive.

He looked up as the door groaned open and a figure strolled in.

The woman regarded him with no emotion except the slightest wisp of a smile. The same woman from the park. 

Except that that woman had appeared distressed and helpless. 

She had discarded her vulnerability like a cloak now and replaced it with a look of shrewd cunning.  Her eyes flashed hungrily as her gaze took in Will and he knew in that moment that he was in more trouble than he had been in a long while.

He all but heard her thought: Angel!

Shadowhunter.

His runes flared within him in defense, a spark of hope, but faltered again.

He thought of Tessa again.

Tessa was safe. James was safe, and Jem, and he recited their names like a mantra. It was all that mattered now.

"Get up. All of you."

A sudden pain took over all his thoughts for an instant when he hesitated to rise.

"What I say, you do, and quickly."  The warlock said.  "Do you want my pain to stop, beautiful one?"  She smiled.  And Will noticed that although she had him in her control, she maintained a respectable distance between them. Shadowhunters, she knew from experience, were deceitful tricksters.

She twisted the pain in Will tighter.  Fire burned through every inch of him.  The pain of the magic consumed him, took his breath from his lungs in a rush.  His blue eyes widened. 

"No." He managed to reply with all of his strength. "This is just fine."

She laughed mirthlessly but the pain let up the smallest bit, and Will gasped for air as she relaxed her power.

"Children of the Angel." She said in distaste. "Arrogant till the very end."  She snapped her fingers, the metal chains falling away from each man. "All of you follow me."

The other men followed quickly, but John hesitated, "Are you alright, friend?" He asked Will.

Will nodded.

"You're bleeding." John pointed out, alarm in his voice.

And Will glanced down at his arm.  The warlock's mark had cut him, deep enough that blood run down his finger and dripped onto the floor. 

He did not react, instead Will said,  "Better follow her then, John."

Will's mouth filled with more blood and he coughed in surprise.  A sharp pain in his side caught his breath when he tried to inhale.

Yes, he was in more trouble than he had imagined. 

{Part 3 will post soon}