For Ransom

Chapter 21: Blood-Stained

Soraya

"Elora," Soraya choked out, reaching for her dagger. Elora's finger tightened on the trigger.

"I wouldn't do that. I'll shoot your precious prince." She pointed her pistol at a livid Remus.

"Where did you get that?" Pistols were rare to come by and extremely expensive, gunpowder no easy commodity to afford. Soraya herself owned very few and they were old models, far too loud and abrasive for stealth missions and nowhere near as classy as the one Elora carried.

"Oh, this pretty thing." She twirled the weapon casually, the opulent metal dazzling beneath the daylight.

"Hermes gave it to me." Elora sneered at the start of shock that shook Soraya. Of course. Only he could afford something so expensive.

"You thought you could get rid of me forever. I'll never forget what you did to me. I loved you like a sister, Soraya. And you still disposed of me like trash, abandoned me," Elora seethed, the wound that she had left many years ago still festering.

"I'm sorry, Elora-" The girl didn't listen and instead, wrapped a gloved fist around Soraya's throat, slamming her so forcefully onto the wall that she felt the air vanish from her chest. Remus lunged towards Elora, but the pressing of her pistol to Soraya's head halted him.

"Oh don't be. Without you, I never would have dreamed of a better life for myself. The day you left me, I realized how much better off I was without you." Elora hadn't changed since Soraya last remembered, still had that thick, mousey brown hair and those enormous, almost doll-like eyes. She had grown so much yet so little, Soraya still seeing that impressionable child struggling to cope with her turbulent emotions beneath the facade of adulthood Elora presented herself in. Soraya smiled sadly to herself, recalling how young she had been when she took in Elora.

"And how did Hermes manage to catch you in his snare?" Soraya sputtered, dots of black already spotting her vision.

"Oh, I went to him. I heard that you had visited him earlier this year and told him to spread the word of your mission. I said that whatever promise you gave him was all a lie because someone like you never follows through with her promises. He hired me to come find you and your prince and bring you to him and tell him your plans. So he may take the Land for himself. And I will be the one to kill you, so no one else can have you, so I can keep you with me forever and ever."

That despicable man. Damn him and his untouchable power.

"Elora, please." Soraya heaved desperately, hanging onto her consciousness by a thread.

"Are you going to beg now? Like how I begged for you."

"What I did to you was wrong. I regret it now. Please don't do this. Hermes is not a good man." Elora squashed her harder against the wall, her biting nails constricting her airways further.

"And why should I listen to you, Soraya?" Elora screamed; there were tears in those eerie, doll-like eyes. The sight crushed Soraya.

You did this to her. You hurt her like this.

"Because I still love you. You will always be my little sister to me. Always, Elora. So please..." She begged.

"You're lying! You're trying to trick me!" Elora's fingers began to tremble, the assured confidence marking her demeanor before long gone, replaced by that manic, deranged mien that Soraya had come to associate with the girl.

"Why would I do that to you, Elora? I did what I did to save you. A child was never meant for my lifestyle. I knew if you stayed with me, you would've been killed one day. I didn't want to see your life shortened by the hands of monsters." It was partially true.