Breaking Point
Chapter 9: Blinding
"This is it?" Caroline glanced around the room, if one could even call it that. There was a bed in the center of the room that looked like it would barely fit two people, and a window towards the back with old, stained curtains that were handing crookedly to the side. The walls were painted an old musty yellow color and the odor of the room was stale. She looked at Scabior with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you expect something else?"
"Maybe something…clean," she responded, taking in the dirty floors and the bed whose sheets were wrinkled and collecting dust. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Disgusting.
Absolutely fucking disgusting.
"Well, princess, this is the best I can do," Scabior muttered, shoving her inside. She backed away from the door into the corner by the window (which she could hardly even see out of) and tried to get as far away from him as possible. Scabior, who was extremely broad shouldered and was at least six foot two, seemed to take up the entire room. Caroline was already beginning to feel suffocated.
"Where will I be sleeping?"
He looked at her like she was stupid. "The bed."
"Um….no," was all she could think of to say. Apparently her intelligence had decided to take a vacation.
"Where else would you sleep?"
"Somewhere that does not involve being within ten feet of you." Scabior rolled his eyes, not amused by her antics. Caroline noted with dry amusement, and slight horror, that the room wasn't even ten feet wide.
"I won't even be here the majority of the night," he said, looking down at her, his gaze mocking. "We haven't been out of the woods for at least a week, and there's far too much fun to be had here."
"What kind of fun?" Caroline questioned instantly before she had even realized that her mouth had opened to speak, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to care about what he did, as long as he didn't do anything to her. Scabior eyed her dryly.
"I'm a man. Think about it."
Caroline's eyes widened, before they narrowed in abhorrence. "That's revolting."
"It's actually quite pleasurable."
"Not with you, it wouldn't be," she spat out, crossing her hands over her chest. She shuddered mentally at the thought of him doing…that with her. Or him doing that with anyone, for that matter.
"If you're jealous, I can always stay here," he suggested, winking at her. Caroline immediately blanched, her eyes taking in the look he was giving her and hating it.
"No, thank you," she barely managed to grit out, her teeth clenched so tightly that they hurt. Her hands bunched at her sides, repulsed that he would even suggest such a thing. Scabior eyed her up and down before taking a slight step forward. Caroline followed his action by taking a step backwards herself, only to end up back against the wall.
"Oh, come on, beautiful. I think you'd enjoy it," Scabior voice was teasing, but his eyes were anything but. They had taken on a predatory look, one she had, frighteningly enough, gotten used to. He reached out to touch her, but she swatted his hands away and took a quick step to her right, effectively putting herself out of his reach.
"Don't you fucking touch me," she growled, her face red in anger. "If you seriously think I'd enjoy it, then you're dead wrong. How could I ever enjoy the very same hands on my body that have killed so many people?" Scabior froze, his eyes darkening until they were almost black. The smirk on his lips vanished as they thinned into a tight, white line. Without warning, his hands shot out and grabbed her by the shoulders roughly before thrusting her back against the wall once more. Caroline let out a surprised scream.
Scabior pressed his body up against hers, effectively trapping her between the wall and his body.
"You don't know anything about me, or what I have done," he seethed, the last portion of his sentence coming out in a hiss. Caroline's eyes glared up at him in hatred as her hands clutched the wall behind her.
"I know that you go around hunting people simply because of the family they were born into. You're a monster." Scabior let out a bark of laughter that was anything but humorous.
"You're awfully young to be passing out such judgments, aren't you?" he asked, mocking her. "What are you? Sixteen? Seventeen?" Caroline raised her chin in defiance.
"I'm twenty."
"That's hardly any better," Scabior responded. "You're too young to know anything about the ways of the world. Things happen for a reason, but I suspect that's all above your head." She squared her shoulders in offense.
"I'm not a child," she snapped. "And you don't know anything about me either, or what I have gone through. So don't assume anything about me."
"Oh, forgive me," he said sarcastically. "I must have forgotten my place. But I may be a monster, but at least I'm not a traitor."
"Traitor?" she gasped. "Who the fuck have I been betraying?" Scabior scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"I've had it with you pretense, love. You either own up to your little game, or I'll have to force it out of you. What's it going to be?"
"It's not a pretense!" she shouted, hands shoving at him again. Her hands collided with his chest forcefully, but it didn't have the effect she desired. Instead, he grabbed both her wrists in one hands in raised them above her head, locking them against the wall. Caroline squirmed, trying to force his body off of hers, but he just pressed her against the wood even harder. She let out a shriek of outrage.
"Let go of me!"
"No," he growled, his other hand coming to rest on her hip in a grip that was sure to turn into bruises later. Caroline reacted immediately. A well aimed knee came crashing upwards between his legs, causing the man to instantly let go of her and hunch over as Caroline ran for the door. However, Scabior, through his pain, still managed to grab hold of her long hair and drag her backwards, forcing her to land harshly on her back.
In an instant, Scabior was on top of her.
Panic filled her.
Lashing out in any way possible, Caroline's knees and hands collided with multiple parts of his body, but to no avail. The man simply weighed too much. As before, one of his hands encircled both of her wrists and thrust them upwards above her head. His legs pinned hers to the ground and his other hand came up to cover her mouth, forcing her to swallow her screams.
They were nose to nose, and Caroline would swear that she had never known eyes could be so full of malice.
"Try that one more time and I will kill you, do you understand me?" he hissed in her ear. Caroline didn't respond. "DO YOU HEAR ME?" he roared this time, his fingers biting into the skin of her cheeks. Her eyes watered as she nodded as quickly. "My patience is wearing thin, girl, and I will no longer tolerate your disobedience. I am leaving for the night, but when I come back, I want all of my questions answered. Do you understand?"
Shakily, Caroline agreed, her head bobbing once.
"Good. Until then, you are not to leave this room," Scabior growled. He abruptly released her mouth and got off of her. With a small note of satisfaction, Caroline watched as he winced as he stood up, the place between his legs still obviously hurting him. From her place on the floor, Caroline let her eyes follow his form as he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Once she was sure he was gone and not coming back, she slowly sat up and backed up against the wall. She hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes not leaving the door as she stared unblinkingly ahead of her. She didn't how long she sat like that, hands tightly clutched around her curled up legs, but when a knock sounded on the door, she was surprised to find that the sun had already begun to set. The room was cast in an eerie light, the few pieces of furniture in the room littering random shadows across the floor.
With shaky knees, she stood up and slowly made her way over to the door. Her hand twisted the door knob hesitantly, as if it was going to bite her, before she turned it all the way and opened up the door, revealing Leo's grim face.
"You alright?" his gruff voice asked, surprising her.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she questioned. He looked at her incredulously.
"We all 'eard ya and Scabior fightin'. It's been a few hours, and I wanted to make sure ya were okay," he replied, looking at her strangely. Caroline's eyes widened.
"A few hours?"
"Yes," Leo answered slowly. "It be just about dinner time. I came up as soon as the others left. Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Caroline answered. Her hand reached up to scratch her forehead in confusion, as if she wasn't sure which way was up and which way was down."I didn't know it had been that long, I guess."
"Oh," was all Leo replied with. They stood there awkwardly, looking at each other. The man was fairly short, only a few inches taller than herself, but he looked like he was carrying the world on his shoulders. His posture was poor at best, and there were large creases of worry and stress on his forehead. His mouth was sit into a grim line, and his eyes were sad. For the first time since she had been taken, she felt sorry for someone besides herself.
Caroline could tell that he was deeply unhappy with what he was doing, and though she understood that she didn't know everything about him, he couldn't be that horrible of a person. He was the only one who had befriended her (though she hadn't expected anyone to, quite frankly) but he also seemed genuinely sorry for everything that had happened to her. She wasn't about to condone the things she knew he had done in the past, but she was almost ready to admit that maybe he really didn't have a choice.
Caroline wanted to know what had pushed him to live this life.
With a sigh, Leo ran his hands through his thin hair before lowering his gaze to the ground.
"Are you hungry?" he questioned.
"Starving, actually."
"I'll be back with some food."
Mere minutes later, Leo and Caroline were sitting on the bed, a small lamp on the desk across from it lighting up the otherwise dark room. Silence rested between the pair as they ate the questionable-looking turkey legs. Caroline tore her bread into tiny pieces before nibbling on it, grimacing at the stale taste. But she supposed that she would take whatever she could get.
Leo sat across from her, sipping from a mug of water. He gulped it down loudly before taking a large bite of the turkey, his mouth not closing completely causing Caroline to scrunch up her nose in slight disgust.
"Why do you do it?" she questioned suddenly, setting down her own food. Leo paused, looking up at her. He swallowed quickly.
"Do what?"
"Do what you do," she responded. "You know, follow around with Scabior and the others."
"Caroline-"
"Please tell me," she said quietly. "I won't judge you."
Leo merely raised his eyebrow.
"I mean," Caroline quickly amended, "that I just want to hear your story, is all." The man sighed, pushing his plate away from him, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to finish it. He lowered his head for a second, eyes focused on his lap as if embarrassed.
"It not be a happy story, miss," he said quietly.
"I'm not expecting it to be," Caroline responded gently, encouraging him to continue. She scooted backwards on the bed towards the pillows, tucking her feet beneath her. Leo looked up, eyes staring deeply into hers.
"The Dark Lord killed my eldest daughter."
Caroline gasped in horror, her hand flying to her mouth. Whatever she had been expecting, it clearly wasn't that.
"Why?"
"Because I 'ad wanted to be neutral in this war," he replied, his fist curling. "I come from a long line o' purebloods, and to him it be unacceptable to be neutral. So he killed me daughter to put me in my place."
"Who gave him that authority?" Leo's head snapped back up, eyes locking with hers.
"No one gave 'im the authority," Leo said darkly. "He took it. He's the most powerful dark wizard there 'as ever been. He rules with fear alone. He does what he wants because he wants to. No questions asked."
"Is anyone trying to stop him? How can people let him go on like this?" she asked, both fear and anger lacing her tone.
"Of course there be people tryin' to stop 'im," Leo replied, still upset. "But it not be that simple."
"Leo, he killed your daughter. Why are you fighting for him? Why are you helping him?"
"Because he's threatened to kill my wife and son," he said quietly. So quietly that Caroline could barely hear him. But she did. And then she understood. She understood what was driving him to do what he was doing. "I'm not a powerful wizard, miss. Not like Scabior or some o' the others that be fighting for 'im. I'm not strong enough to stand up to 'im. But I can't let him kill them too. I just can't." And with that, he burst into tears.
Dumbstruck, both by his story and sobs, Caroline sat there as his body heaved. Then, springing into action, she moved over to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. She held him as he cried and rubbed her hand gently down his back. A few minutes passed and his cries settled, turning into quiet hiccups. Leo lifted his tear-stained face, his gaze turned downwards, as if he was embarrassed.
"Thank you," he whispered quietly.
Caroline merely nodded silently, releasing her hold on him as he hastily wiped his face. She quickly realized that the man was uncomfortable to have been seen in such a state.
"Do you know where a restroom is?" she asked, hoping to be able to give him a few minutes to collect himself. The man nodded.
"There be a loo down the hall to the right. It's the only one on the floor," he said, trying to compose himself. "There be a shower and a few towels in there if you wish to bathe." Forgetting herself, Caroline's eyes brightened.
"Really? I can take a shower?" she asked excitedly. For a moment, all she cared about was getting clean. Leo smiled despite himself, and with a flick of his hand, shooed her out of the room. Caroline quickly left, forgetting about Scabior's demand about not leaving the room, and made her way down to the restroom. She found it easily enough, and once inside, she barely noticed the stains on the floor, the mold on the wall…
There was a shower.
A real life freaking shower.
Thank God.
Locking the door behind her, she hastily stripped, noticing with relief that there were a few towels that appeared to be clean. At least she hoped they were.
But she found that she didn't care when she stepped under the spray of the nozzle, pleased when the water was warm. She hadn't expected it. She closed the curtain behind her and closed her eyes as the steam pooled around her.
Caroline sighed in bliss as the water streamed down the skin of her back, allowing herself just a few minutes to be somewhat happy. She had been kidnapped, threatened, damn near tortured, beaten up, nearly choked to death…
But the warm water was quickly making up for it.
Caroline noted with surprise that there were two large bottles on her right; one labeled shampoo and the other conditioner. They didn't smell as good as she would have liked, but she supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers. She quickly rinsed the dirt, and God only knows what else, out of her hair, and proceeded to scrub down her scalp and the rest of her body.
She didn't hear the door open.
Allowing herself just a couple of more minutes, Caroline relaxed under the spray. She closed her eyes and pretended that she was somewhere else. She imagined that she was in her aunt's house, taking a long shower after dinner. Her aunt would have been cleaning up after the pair, making cookies, and getting ready to decorate the Christmas tree.
Or maybe she could have been in Mexico, rinsing off after a long day down at the beach. Watching children make sandcastles, couples stroll hand in hand down the coast, sipping on a large fruity drink with one of those frilly umbrellas in it…
Cursing when the water suddenly turned ice-cold, Caroline turned around and shut off the nozzle. Wiping the water from her eyes, she reached above her and grabbed the towel she had placed over the curtain bar. She dried herself off as best as she could before wrapping the towel tightly around her. Sad that her fantasy had been so short-lived, she slowly pulled the curtain back.
A scream caught in her throat when she realized she was standing toe to toe with none other than Fenrir.
He growled.
A/N: Sorry that it took so long. School's my main priority, and work comes second. On top of that, my brother was in the hospital Saturday night because he took a baseball to the eye, and I've been sick. Add a choir concert to that and a few essays and life gets really stressful. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try to have the next one up by next week at the latest, but if it's any longer, I apologize in advance.
As always, thank you so much for reading and please PLEASE review!
-courtneylove15
This chapter's title is "Blinding" by Florence + the Machine
