The Risen | ✅

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dorian whipped around, his eyes blazing with anger. "You!" He hissed. "You knew they were coming! You lead them right to us!" He was on top of me in an instant."How? How did they know where we were? Did you have some sort of communicator?" He demanded, choking me harder and harder with each word.

I desperately clawed at his hands to no avail. My vision grew spotty and I tried to rasp out words, but I couldn't. Dorian growled in anger, He realized that this was going nowhere and yanked me to my feet using my hair. "Let's go." He huffed. He roughly grabbed my forearm and practically dragged me along behind him. The once dark and silent hallways were now flashing red and alarms blared around us. I coughed and tried to catch my breath as Dorian tugged me with him.

"You just made a huge mistake." Dorian seethed. "I don't know what made you think that you were going to get away, but you won't"

"I... I had n-no clue they were coming." I rasped. Dorian whipped around and punched me in the nose.

I cried out in pain and would have fallen to the ground had Dorian not snatched me upwards and continued to walk. "You manipulated me." He breathed. "You took the trust that I had in you and you twisted it!"

He slung me into a wall and I was too weak to get up. As I realized where we were, however, my hart froze in fear.

Dorian turned the knob to the door. "Now your boyfriend has to pay the price."

"NO!" I yelled, attempting to get up and stop him. But Dorian already had the door open. I shot to my feet, ignoring the dizzy spell that had overcome me and stopped in the doorway when I saw Dorian's shocked face.

The room was empty.

Alex was gone.

I couldn't stop the smile that rose to my lips at the sight of it. Dorian yelled out in anger and slammed his fist into the wall beside him, making a spider web of cracks branch out from the impact spot.

"DAMN IT!" He exclaimed.

He grabbed my forearm and yanked me along behind him. "Well, it seems as though NOTHING is going according to plan today." He stated coldly. "So, I guess we'll just have to formulate a new plan. Now, let's start by giving your friends a welcome party."

                                                                                        _ _ _ _

I was practically stumbling along beside Dorian now. I was tired and weak. There was nothing more that I wanted to do than just collapse. But I couldn't. Every time I slowed down, even just a little, Dorian would pull at me roughly. He'd done it so many times now that my arm felt as though it had been pulled out of its socket.

Suddenly, I heard it, the sound of fighting not that far away.

My friends!

Dorian's eyes began to glow and suddenly a curved blade formed in his hands out of thin air. He shoved me in front of him an placed the blade to my throat. It was so sharp I could already feel it piercing my skin.

"EVERYONE STOP!" Dorian yelled as we turned the corner.

They all did as they were told. I looked up and my eyes met Victor's. His brown eyes widened and he seemed to be taking in all the damage that my face showed. Evanora was behind him, her eyes glowing brightly and a scowl gracing her features. Her fists were clenched and her usually happy demeanor had darkened.

"I want all you House runts to take a few steps back, or I'll slit her throat!" Dorian threatened. He was desperate. I could hear it in his voice. He was desperate and scared.

The kids from Eros all did as they were told, stepping back a bit.

Dorian's cool composure came back. "It's so very nice of you all to drop by." He began. "It is an unexpected visit, but a welcomed one nonetheless." His eyes scanned over the kids, taking them all in.

Suddenly I saw Alex in the crowd. Our eyes met and a warm feeling spread throughout my chest. He was safe. He was okay.

For now.

"I know that you all think you came here to perform a valiant rescue mission, but I suppose fate had other plans for you." Dorian droned off on some stupid speech, but I tuned him out. I was only focused on Alex.

He slowly motioned to his hair and made a cutting motion with his hands. I quickly realized what he meant. Dorian was holding me towards him using my hair. If I could cut it, I'd be free.

I mouthed the words 'How' and winced as Dorian's blade cut my throat a bit more. 'Claws' he mouthed back.

Was I strong enough to summon them though? I was tired, both physically and emotionally. Summoning my claws would take an enormous amount of energy.

I looked up at Alex. But I knew I had to get out of this, not only for him, but for Evie, Victor, and Grace. We'd come way too far for everything to collapse now.

I steadied my breathing and closed my eyes. Dorian's voice became muddled as I blocked it out. There was nothing except for me and the darkness and that was all I needed.

My eyes shot open and in one swift moment, I summoned my claws. Before Dorian had time to react, I kicked him in the groin. Though he lowered the knife from my neck, he kept a firm grasp on my hair. Before he could recover, I chopped off my hair.

My scalp felt ten times lighter as I scrambled away from Dorian's grasp and into Victor's open arms. He held me close as I steadied my breathing again and glared over at Dorian, who had fallen onto the floor. He looked at his fistful of white hair and growled in anger, tossing my hair aside.

I stood up straight and tall and I felt my hair brush my neck. I had nothing to tie me down now. I had no weaknesses. Alex was free. Victor and Evie were okay and I was pissed.

Now I was going to give Dorian hell.