Coven & Claw

CHAPTER #7

"Water.."

"I need water please." Her bruised dry throat makes Verena's request sound like a whisper.

She can't take it anymore. The level of torture her battered body has endured has her wishing she were dead. And clearly no one is listening to her because not even a single drop of the liquid she has been thirsting for comes her way.

"No, no, no. Not again." She begs with her voice that is so hoarse she wonders if it will ever return to her beautiful natural one. That is, if she survives whatever this is. She can't even call it torture because it's worse than all the torture she endured back at her coven.

She had longed for light in the tiny cell but now she wishes she were right back in her silent darkness. She woke up in chains that are kind of stuck to the table and chair she is sitting on, forcing her to sit upright. It didn't take her long to wish she was still sleeping on that uncomfortable damp cold floor or better yet locked up in a filthy mystical dungeon back at the spring coven.

The cell is flooded with light and there is a man sitted right across from her. She hasn't seen him before. And for some reason something is keeping her away from looking around the cell that has been her home for the long hours she's been here. She didn't even get to study his features except his fear inducing  emerald eyes. The eyes she has tried to stop herself from looking into and failed every time. 

She shifts in her seat when she gets another familiar urge to look into the stranger's eyes and no matter how she wills herself not to, her chin just tilts itself and she finds herself looking up again. She has tried closing her eyes to keep from looking but strangely, even that is not working.

Once more with everything in her, she tries to put up a fight but loses when her eyes hold the gaze of the stranger and the most excruciating pain rips through her entire body yet again.  It's as if those emerald eyes are dripping with molten lava that's burning her insides and scorching her very soul. She thought her battered body was killing her before, but this makes her earlier aches and pains seem like nothing. Right now she feels like someone is dangling her soul on hell's door but won't let her die. She wants to scream but her now charred throat is failing to grant her that simple wish.

After a few more seconds that seem like an eternity because of the intense pain, her source of torture let's her go. And she takes this chance to take in a deep breath that also feels like she is breathing in sticks and stones, making her choke on it. 

Everything in her feels broken or burned, scorched beyond ashes. But when her eyes drop to her body everything seems intact. Apart from the dirt and blood from the attack, she seems to be fine on the outside. But the inside is a whole other matter entirely. She has no idea what the man before her is doing to her. He has his hands to himself, lips shut and only looking at her innocently. She wonders what he is, because clearly he can't be human if he can cause her so much pain just by a simple look. He is no witch either, that much she can tell. Just because she would tell just by the energy surrounding him even if he belonged to a different coven.

She manages to look around and for the first time she realises there are other people in the cell. Two individuals wearing two distinct expressions on their faces. She doesn't linger on that but her eyes concentrate on one of them.

He is here. His amethyst eyes are glowing, filled with emotions that are a mix of danger, hate, rage and something else that on any other day would seem like concern for her. He seems like there is a battle raging within himself as his eyes keep on twitching every now and then. 

She wonders how she didn't see him before, when he is right behind the man she is facing. 

Again, something within her starts clawing at her insides. But only this time she doesn't feel like running to him, on the contrary, her heart feels like it's breaking in a million pieces. The pain she is feeling is so intense it makes what she just endured feel like a simple scratch on her soul.

"Why?" 

The question leaves her mouth without thinking. It's just a whisper but he seems to hear her regardless. In a way she knows it's because of him that this is happening. Her earlier desire to run to him flashes before her eyes and she swallows painfully. Her once moist lips feel like they are severed in places, making her regret the action when more pain erupts from both her lips and throat. 

She has never cried before her tormentors, but a warm stream of tears has already found its way. All the way from her eyes, down her cheeks and is now drenching her tattered dress. With it bringing a fresh stream of deep anguish that has her gasping for air. 

"W...why?"

She repeats herself when she doesn't get an answer. For some reason she has a feeling he is supposed to protect her or at least not be the source of her pain. It's weird but the feeling is there. It's something she never felt even with her own mother. She doesn't understand why she feels like that or why he is just standing there as she gets inflicted with gut wrenching pain that's got her insides crashing. 

"You don't get to ask any questions."

His amethyst eyes darken while he contemptuously dismisses her.

That seems to get her out of her daze. She blinks before turning away from him as her heart feels like it's been pierced by a thousand needles. She is clearly mistaken. Suddenly she seems to be aware of her surroundings and her status once more. She is nothing but a lowly prisoner of a war that she has no knowledge of. The only thing she is aware of, is the fact that it has changed her life completely. It has taken away the little happiness she could afford in her miserable life. So why would she be sitting here feeling like her enemy owed her anything? Why should her captor care about anything that concerns her, let alone protect her?

She is alone, all alone. And to her surprise that reality doesn't sting so much like she thought it would. Maybe accepting it has everything to do with it.

She looks up to the man with emerald eyes and gives him a smile. The shock on his face gives her a wave of satisfaction and the strength she needs to do what she is about to do. It's time she changed her world and this time she is determined not to come back. She takes one last look at the source of her torture as if wanting to remember this experience vividly before closing her eyes. She takes a deep breath as she embraces a sense of peace around her before diving into the abyss that is her own mind.

                         ….

"She blocked me out!" 

Krishun hears Dylan exclaim before going round to face him. 

"What are you saying?" He growls as his eyes dart between Dylan and his mate who seem to be still holding each other's gaze except his mate's eyes are peacefully closed.

"She simply blocked me out.." A very shocked Dylan faces him this time. Which is a very rare sight for someone like Dylan who has seen the worst of things.

"And?" Krishun is both nervous and surprised after seeing Dylan's shocked face. This has never happened before. He is very aware no one can escape Dylan no matter how much they try.

"And nothing." Dylan replies while his face turns to the girl sitting across from him. 

"You are telling me after all that, you got nothing?!" Krishun's massive growl makes the tiny cell shake. Dylan is not paying attention however as his eyes are still glued to Krishun's mate which makes Krishun eye him with murderous intent.

"You put my mate in all that hell for nothing?" Krishun pulls Dylan out of his seat and away from his mate in a flash. His hands wrap around Dylan's neck while his canines elongate quicker than ever before.

"No. You put your mate in all that pain. Stop blaming others for your mistake." Caesar hisses before tackling Krishun to the ground.

Krishun half shifts before letting out a very ferocious growl. His eyes fall on Caesar who is looking at him with extreme anger as if daring him to attack. 

"It wasn't exactly for nothing." Dylan quickly says and they both turn to him in surprise.

"But you just said..."

"I know what I said." Dylan cuts Krishun off and his alpha wolf doesn't like it.

"What is that supposed to mean then?" Caesar asks confused.

"It means I didn't find anything." Dylan replies.

"You better make some sense fast before I lose my patience." Krishun snaps.

"What I mean is, I found nothing. At least not what you wanted or expected. But there is definitely something there. Something hidden in a way not even I could uncover. And whether it's meant for your good or destruction, I can not tell."

"And for the record, she is not as useless as you think her to be." Dylan says quietly.

Krishun looks at Dylan stunned, unable to make sense of his words when he has seen his mate.

"What is that supposed to mean exactly?" Caesar speaks first while Krishun just keeps staring at his mate.

"No one can block me out that easily. Especially this way." Dylan spills a fact known by everyone.

"And I suspect whatever she is, not even herself is aware." Dylan looks at her thoughtfully, making Krishun do the same. 

The alpha doesn't know whether to be happy or not about Dylan's discovery, because either way today just made everything worse.