Lokesh

The smell of rust filled my nose and made it cringe. The cell was dark and damp and looked a lot like the cell Ren was in when Kishan, Kadam, and I rescued him. There was no bed just the hard rocky floor and nowhere to sit. There were chains on the wall where it looked like Lokesh probably tied people up for torture. There was no bathroom only a bucket which made me groan. I hate nature calls in the woods but what I hate the most is being locked up in a dark cell with only a bucket.

The door opened and I finally came face to face with my "gracious" host. He looked as menacing as in the visions and his black, cold eyes sent shivers down my spine. His black hair was slicked back and his skin was a bit darker than Ren's but not by much. He wore a black robe and had the amulet strung around his neck. When he saw that I was looking at his amulet he gave me a wicked grin.

"I see that you have taken a liking to the amulet. Speaking of which, your piece seems to be…missing." His eyes were piercing and he had a look of rage and danger in his eye. "Where is it?"

I was scared out of my mind but I couldn't let him see that. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me frightened of him or telling him anything about where the amulet is. I stood up, and tried to look strong and tall and put on a straight face. My hands were shaking so I clenched them and tried to calm my heart beat. He wasn't going to get the best of me, and he wasn't going to ever hurt my tigers again even if it meant him hurting me in the process. I took in a deep breath, "I will never tell you where it is. You can go to Hell." I spit in his face and realized that I had found a sudden burst of courage as well as adrenaline.

Lokesh calmly wiped the spit off of his slimy cheek and was even angrier than before. He chuckled darkly, "Oh, my dear Kelsey, you're going to regret that." He raised his hand so fast that I didn't even see it coming. He slapped me across the face and called for his guards. I fell to the floor and held my red cheek letting a tear escape from the sting. Two guards came up behind Lokesh and he gave them orders that I didn't quite catch but soon I felt strong hands grasp my arms tightly and pick me up to the chains and the wall. They roughly took my hands and fit the cuffs on my wrists painfully. I gasped when one of them pinched my skin and tried to kick the brutes but I kept missing. It was then that I realized what the guards looked like; Ren and Kishan. In fact, they didn't just look like them; they were them. But they were hurting me…they wouldn't do that.

I then remembered what Ren told me, that Lokesh caused hallucinations but I could feel them hurting me. Maybe it's a mask or something because this was not my Ren or my Kishan. I looked at Lokesh and he was staring back smiling.

"I'm going to give you one last chance. Where. Is. The. Amulet?"

"You're never going to find it."

I was surprised that my voice didn't crack and I actually sounded strong and even had a bit of venom in my words. Alright! I'm going to show him that this girl from Oregon doesn't play around.

"Pity, and you had so much potential of being my bride but we must teach you manners," he snickered and pulled out a knife from his robe as well as a whip with sharp metal arrows on the tips. They were frightening and I knew what was going to happen but I wasn't going to tell him where it was; no matter what. I can't betray the boys and I need to protect them. If I don't, who knows what Lokesh would do.

Lokesh started to creep forward and he had a sick gleam in his eye with determination of getting information out of me. I wanted to run but I was chained and I couldn't move back because I was against the wall. The two guards who looked like my tigers backed away and I was again face to face with Lokesh. He put the blade on my cheek but I didn't dare move. I still wanted to prove that he didn't scare me; that I'm stronger than he thinks. He slowly moved the blade down my cheek to my neck. I saw a brief flash of lust in his eye which sickened me. With his other hand he took a strand of my once nicely braided hair and brought it to his nose and smiled again with evil.

"Such potential," he whispered. He let down my hair and looked at me again with happiness and then gave the knife to the one who looked like Ren and the whip to the one who looked like Kishan.

"Show no mercy, boys," he laughed once more and left the cell.

The boys smiled wickedly and Ren was the first one to make a move.

"You know, you really hurt me Kelsey. All I wanted was for you to love me. Was that too much to ask?" His eyes were the same cobalt blue that I always got lost in but they were filled with darkness and scared me. He chuckled and continued, "Why are you so stubborn?" With that question he plunged the knife into my abdomen and I couldn't help but scream. The pain of the knife hurt but his words hurt just as much.

"You were right all along. You are a radish and I do deserve a buffet. You are always holding me back with your crying and your constant reminder that I should love you but I'll never really love you, I just needed you so that you could set me free so I could find someone more…my type."

I couldn't help but cry. I stared at him in disbelief. I knew that this was all Lokesh's doing but it still hurt. I sobbed and tried to plead with the one who was Ren, "Ren, I'm sorry..I'm sorry." That's all that I could say was sorry. I was sorry for everything. For pushing him to remember for crying every time I saw him or thought of him when we were together. I was sorry for everything.

He took out the knife and drew a thin line over my heart but I could barely feel it. The pain of what he said was hurting more than the torture he was giving. He moved away and then the one who was Kishan came into my view. His eyes were the same as well; dark.

"Why do you love him anyway? Aren't I just as good? I loved you and yet you still love him. Why can't you just choose and stop leading me on, huh? You don't even really love me so why do all of this?"

Kishan's words hurt just as much, "Kishan, don't say that I do love you," I sobbed. This can't be happening. "Kishan, I love you and I love Ren I know it's unfair to you and I know I have to choose…but I can't…" I couldn't stop the tears and the feeling of my heart breaking was hurting more than the torture. I felt terrible and I could feel my heart slowly falling apart by both of their words. My eyes burned hot with tears that wouldn't stop coming. Kishan raised the whip and it came down with a crack on my arms and a bit of my neck. I screamed again and he kept swinging the whip; down on my legs, my stomach, my arms. I was covered in slashes. I was screaming for them to stop but nothing stopped it kept going until the pain was too much. I sobbed and felt the warm trickle of blood slowly fall from the slash on my cheek down to my neck. I heard the boys chuckling and then nothing. That's when I blacked out.