This is my FIRST and English is not my mother language, so please be kind!
More than 300 hits and only 4 reviews - you don`t have to be that kind !!!
Edited for reasons of logic and for the credibility of our beloved hero
Chapter One
Noise...footsteps...a sound like someone was moving furniture.
Somewhere in the depths of his unconscious he realized, that for the first time in what felt like years, there was something living and breathing around.
He refused his tortured body to react. His brain might be close to insanity, but whatever was left of his mind knew that calling himself out from the peaceful abyss he had imprisoned himself, would probably kill him.
But the beast in him wouldn`t listen. His screams just answered to the thundering heartbeats of the living prey that was so close, yet unreachable.
He felt the hunger rushing in. A hunger, that hadn`t been saturated for weeks… months… an eternity!? Without mercy it gnawed at his seared until he almost felt blood floating his mouth.
Humans. Breathers. Blood. Freedom!
His eyes snapped open. And the pain rushed in.
A voiceless cry erupted from his dried lips and his fangs flashed, as reality sat in.
Thick and heavy silver chuffs still tied him to a wall burning their way through the rest of what was left of his skin. Whoever had bought him here, made sure, he had no chance to break the chains.
He could have dealt with the pain and the starving, for at his age he not really needed that much blood anymore. But he had never reacted well to humiliation.
His torturers had worn masks and never uttered a single word, but he knew they`d enjoyed every moment of watching him suffer.
To carry it to extremes, they had started to keep him awake during the night time to start the bleeding. And to worsen it, they`d driven pieces of wood trough every accessible part of his body. The pain and the blood loss had driven him over the edge.
For the first time in his life and non-life, he had come close to begging for mercy.
It had cost him to ask for the why, but they`d refused to answer.
Instead they had prepared their final blow. He had never been a man to fear anything. But the moment they entered his dungeon with what turned out to be a sort of silver chain mail, he tried to back off.
He tried to fight them off, as they put it over his head. He screamed as the silver covered his upper body. But he didn`t stand a chance.
The pain had been excruciating, driving him to shut down completely.
Until now!
Through the waves of agony and hunger he reached for his higher powers.
And felt a woman!
She was spent. The last eight hours had probably been the most exhausting of her life. She would have never guessed that moving a complete household could finally put her over the edge.
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. She would not give up. Not after all she had been through to survive what had happened in the States.
Vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, faeries… America might have accepted not only their existence, but also living close to them in the open. But here in Germany, this was a totally different story. She doubted that most of her fellow citizens even knew these creatures were more than just a fairytale.
During her vacation she had been hunted, bitten and nearly killed. The only reason she had survived was the fact that she was a born witch.
But her witch powers were drained right now and so she had to open four boxes before she finally found her coffee machine. It took her two more to get the coffee.
The steaming pot in her hands she sat down in the middle of her new living room and tried to calm her mind, casting a protective circle with what was left of her power.
She could feel the tension leave her aching muscles and a few seconds later, her mind went blank.
No thoughts, no pictures, no fear, no nothing. She relished that peaceful state of mind where she could simply be herself.
Come to me!
The pot in her hand crashed on the floor, spilling coffee all over the polished wood. It felt like her heart was missing a beat. No one had ever managed to break her safeguards. Maybe it was because of her weakened state, but the male voice had sounded so clear, as if the man was standing right beside her.
Taking a deep breath, she carefully opened her mind to the intruder.
Come to me!
The voice was loud and clear in her head, but it sounded raspy and weak, like it belonged to a tortured creature in desperate need for help. She opened up even more, reaching out to see whom it belonged to.
Anger... pain...blood...a seared body... the smell of burned flesh...and a pair of piercing blue eyes that met her gaze.
Her eyes snapped open and panic rushed in.
He was here! Here in her house! Imprisoned somewhere where there was pure darkness, like he had been walled in.
Slowly she rose to her feet. She had paid the house only a short visit before signing the contract. Never once did she have a close look to what was there in the cellar.
There was a part in her that called her a fool, cause after all she`d experienced, only a fool would go for a search in an unknown territory in the middle of the night.
But that voice had sounded so broken, so lost, so filled with pain that her protective side took over.
Slowly she opened the door to the cellar and tried the light switch. Only a single bulb flashed, bathing the huge anteroom in a dim but warm light.
Back to the right was the door that led to the storing room, one of the rooms she hadn`t looked at during her visit. The agent had told her that it was huge, with a small extra room that was located underneath the garage.
Her heart was pounding so hard, she felt the vibration in her ribcage. She opened the door and fingered for a switch. Another single bulb flashed to life.
The agent had been right, the room was huge. As huge as dirty. Nearly an inch of dust covered the floor and the spiders responsible for those webs must be huge and numerous. No one had paid this room a visit for a very long time.
Taking a deep breath she lowered her safeguards once more. The headache crashed in with a violence that made her sway and she felt her nose starting to bleed.
A bodiless gnarl filled her head, leading her left to an iron security door.
Just one bar, but five extra bolts. She couldn`t recall the agent telling her that there was a panic-room installed in her cellar. Less she recalled him handing her extra keys that were nowhere in sight. To her this looked like someone desperately tried to make sure, no one would ever get out from behind.
Well, as crazy as it sounded, a part of her desperately wanted to get in.
Taking a deep breath, she summoned her powers while her splayed out on the cold metal of the door.
Before the bars and bolts jumped open, she realized that it was not made of iron, but pure and heavy silver.
Silver was the most loved metal of a witch. But lately she had learned that it was also used to trap and kill one other species.
Vampires!
Curiosity killed the cat – she reminded herself. But although her mind was ordering her to run, she felt her hands slowly pulling at the handle.
It took a lot of her strength to move the thick and heavy silver door, but finally she managed to carefully squeeze herself through the opening.
Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness that was only poorly penetrated by the amount of light that crept through the slit of the door.
"Grrr!"
This time, the gnarl was not in her head, but right in front of her. Frozen in her step, Cassandra reached for a switch next to the casing. A blinding light filled the darkness as a dozen headlights flashed to life.
As Cassandra`s gaze went to the wall across the room, she couldn`t believe her own sight.
Chained to the wall, his body nearly completely covered in silver, knelt what was left of the so called Sheriff of Area 5-
Eric Northman!
Eric couldn`t find the strength to lift his head but something in his pain-twisted mind recognized the smell.
A smell, that definitely meant trouble.
The smell of a witch!
"Did you finally come to finish, what your bloodhounds have started?" His voice was barely more than a whisper but his tone was still dripping with cynicism.
Silence. Seconds seemed to pass like hours, before he was rewarded with an answer.
"Although I really wish you`d rot in hell, I have no idea what you`re talking about."
His sensible hearing winced. After, what felt an eternity, even the soft sound of her voice echoed like thunder through his head.
Her voice! He knew that voice! He knew her smell!
The realization hit him with the force of a tsunami.
He had tasted her blood!
It took all of his willpower to fight the burning pain the chain mail caused with even the slightest movement, but finally he managed to look up.
Cassandra Stark!
Hell seemed to have no mercy with him. Hands on her hips, in a pose that was ready to strike stood the only witch he`d ever tasted.
Damn, he was so screwed!
Cassandra still tried to take everything in. Chained to a wall in her cellar, burned and bruised, nearly starved to death, knelt the epitome of her nightmares.
By the look on his bloodstained face she could tell, that also he had realized who he was talking to.
Last time she`d seen him, the 6`4`` viking was pinning her to the ground of his office, mercilessly going for her throat. She remembered her fear, remembered the pain. This unbelievable pain, as his fangs had ripped her open. Then, the merciful goddess had taken her to oblivion.
Next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital, the high-priest of her coven sitting right beside her with a sad look on her face. That afternoon her whole world had been turned upside down. She had been filled in with everything there was to know about those shadow societies that shared this planet.
Her coven sisters had treated her with incredible caution, trying hard not to stare at the ugly scars that covered the left part of her neck.
By that time she already knew that her attacker could have closed the wound, but obviously hadn`t cared. He had just dumped her in the forest like a piece of trash.
Although her vacation was planned to last four weeks, she took the first plane she could get, after the doctors had given her a go.
This had happened more than six months ago, and a part of her still hadn`t fully recovered from this incident.
But she would never forget the face of the man responsible. A face she dreamt of nearly every night. The gorgeous face of a fallen angel, turning into the antic of a demon.
The face of Eric Northman!
A stake!
All she needed now was a stake. She could finish him off so easily. Could take the revenge she so longed for.
Hell, this was more than tempting!
"One good reason…" She couldn`t stop trembling as pure rage floated her body. "…just give me one good reason, Eric Northman, why I shouldn`t finish you off? Right now! Right here!"
Seconds went by like hours. His piercing blue eyes held her gaze, with an honesty she`d never expected.
Deep in her wounded heart Cassandra heard a tiny voice that told her, no one deserved to suffer like that. Not even a bloodsucking bastard like him.
"I can`t." he whispered. "You have every right to take your revenge."
Cassandra couldn`t help it, but the voice in her heart grew louder.
All she`d learned about Eric Northman was, that he was an a thousand years old brutal and arrogant son of a bitch who despised humans unless they served as food.
Right now he looked more like a picture of misery. Though he might have suffered before in his non-life, she doubted he`d ever been in a worse state.
The woman in her wanted him dead. But the witch in her could never go for someone who already was on the ropes.
She made a decision. Without another word, she turned on her heels and made her way back upstairs.
Eric watched her leave with a look of utter disbelieve on his face. He had felt her anger. But he`d also felt her struggle. Unlike than with humans, he wasn`t fully able to read her emotions, although he had tasted her blood.
What was she up to? Did she go for a stake? Would she simply let him rot in this filthy hell? Or was she trying to think about new ways to prolong his suffering?
Hell, he so hoped it would be a stake. Although he would never admit it, he knew he was finished. He couldn`t take more. Even with his non-human powers there was a limit to what a creature like him could endure.
He tried to relax his body, waiting for the inevitable. This was how it would end. He never would have thought he would finally end his existence by the hands of a woman. Much less by the hands of a witch.