A/N – Helllooooo everybody! So I'm really satisfied with how this chapter turned out! But I personally think it's pretty intense. So I hope yall like it. There's a chance I may not update for a while because my classes start on Monday and I already have homework. But we'll see.
And if you like this chapter at all, PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP PLEASE (gold star to you if you know what interview that's from ;) ) REVIEW!
Emily's eyelids felt heavy, but she forced them open. She tried to take in her surroundings but she was still slightly her head was still slightly clouded. She felt her arms stretched out above her and heavy metal shackles smothered her wrists. Her toes barely grazed the ground as she hung helplessly by the chains.
"Ahh I see our guest of honor has finally decided to grace us with her consciousness. Now the fun can begin." Deucalion said as he stepped out of the shadows. She could see the rest of his alpha pack surrounding her. Although Kali had a venomous look on her face, the twins looked at her with guilty expressions. Apparently, they didn't approve of what was to come next.
Emily refocused her attention upon Deucalion as he moved to stand next to a lever. He smirked at her as he pushed it up an inch. Emily whimpered as she felt a surge of electricity attack her body, but she refused to scream or cry. She wouldn't let him break her that easily.
"So you feel like being stubborn. Well that is just going to make this more fun for me. Let's see how many times I have to kill you before you break."
He moved the lever up a little more and electricity wracked her body once again. She felt the strength slowly drain from her body and it felt as if he kept the electricity on for hours instead of minutes. When he finally turned it off, her body went limp and she was on the verge of unconsciousness.
"Why?" came out in a broken whisper, but she knew he could hear her. He met her heavy eyes and smirked.
"Because, Emilena. I am simply sending a message. But to whom, well, I will let you figure that out. Now tell me, darling, where is Derek and his pack?" he questioned.
She let out a small chuckle with the strength she had left and glared at him.
"Like I would ever tell you." she spat.
"I don't know why you are protecting them. They don't care about you. Do you honestly think that if you meant anything to them they would let you suffer like this?" he taunted her.
"How would they even know I was here you dumbass?"
"Well because I told them of course. They know exactly where you are. After what happened last night, I thought I'd give them a little more reason to do what I want them to. Especially Scott and Derek. I've tried to lure them to my side for so long now, so I thought maybe they needed a bit of incentive. But I was obviously wrong. They don't care for you enough to come rescue you. So I must resort to torturing it out of you." He sighed.
"Well get comfortable because I'm not telling you anything." She sneered.
"Then I suppose we should get started."
With that, he picked up a knife that could rival that of the scariest murder movies. The light glinted off of the blade as he took a few steps closer to her until he was standing directly in front of her. He pressed the edge roughly against her arm and sliced deeply into her flesh.
Emily ground her teeth together and clenched her hands into fists. But she didn't let a sound escape from her.
Deucalion smiled a wicked grin and made another slice into her abdomen. Her breathing increased and her heart jumped. As she continued to huff, she looked right in his face and spat. But he kept his composure and continued to make deep slices into her skin until there was a large puddle of blood surrounding her. Her clothes were drenched with her blood and she was sweating with a fever.
"Do you feel like talking yet, Emilena?" Deucalion questioned.
She looked up at him and glared with whatever strength she had left.
"Go. To. Hell." Emily panted.
"So be it." Deucalion sighed.
With that, he plunged the knife under her ribcage into her heart. She let out a single gasp and her body went limp. Her cold, dead eyes stared off into nothingness. Shockingly, both twins started to move forward, but one look from Kali warned them to stop. Deucalion turned towards them all, wiping the blood off of his hands.
"She will be tougher to break than I initially thought. That is, if she breaks. Continue to try to get Derek and his pack to get here. All we need to do is break her trust and think they won't come for her. When they do, she won't realize she was wrong until it is too late." Deucalion stated with an evil grin.
XXX
Emily was trapped in a state of complete and utter darkness. Her body stung all over and there was a white hot pain radiating from her stomach. There was nothing more that she wanted than to just fade away and feel nothing ever again. The pain was unbearable. She didn't know how much more she could take.
The pain. The darkness. The struggle to breathe.
For once in her life, she truly needed somebody. Derek, Cora, Stiles, the pack.
But she was starting to think they would never come, and she would die.
Alone.
XXX
Aiden and Ethan had been waiting anxiously for Emily to come back to life while Kali went to try to hunt down Derek and his pack. Deucalion had excused himself and ordered the twins to alert him as soon as Emily came back.
The twins would never admit it to the others, but they felt somewhat sorry for Emily. She wasn't just a random girl that Deucalion had been torturing. They interacted with her in school, she saved Ethan, and they even started to become friends with her. But now, her dead eyes just stared ahead with an unnerving emptiness. It was a hard sight to see.
"You know this isn't right" Ethan told his brother. Aiden just continued to stare at Emily's cold body. "We both know we are starting to form relationships with these people, and now we are just murdering their friends. And for what? Power? A sense of belonging? Do you really believe it was Derek who killed Ennis? Because I know Deucalion would turn around and kill us if he had to. This is not what we signed up for."
Aiden knew his brother was right. He had been having the same thoughts. But he also knew that if they weren't careful, they would get themselves killed.
"You had better watch what you say. You know he can hear us."
"That's really what you have to say? What's happened to you?" Ethan asked in disbelief. Aiden turned to his brother with calm eyes and silently shook his head. He pressed a finger to his lips, then pointed up. Ethan immediately understood that his brother felt the same, but didn't want Deucalion to hear. They returned their attention to Emily's broken body.
Her wounds had healed for the most part, but a few cuts still remained. Her clothes were still drenched in her blood and her feet rested in the puddle beneath her. Neither of the alphas dared to go near her in the state she was in.
A few moments later, Aiden and Ethan heard a faint moaning and when they turned, they saw Emily begin to stir. She slowly started to regain her bearings and noticed them both watching her.
"Please" she whispered to them. They held her eyes for a moment longer before turning away to go inform Deucalion that she was awake.
"Shit!" she cursed when they turned their backs on her. She tried yanking the chains but there was no use – they were solid and tough. She tried to channel her energy into using her powers but she was too weak. She knew she should be regaining some of her strength, but it seemed there was something stalling the process, like an enchantment or spell. Suddenly, she heard footsteps echoing down the stairs.
"I see you have noticed there is something wrong with your powers, Emilena." Deucalion taunted. "You see, that knife I used on you was laced with a poison that neutralizes a witch's powers. Quite a curious concoction, actually. Not to mention I had Morell preform some spells, just in case. We'll have more fun with things like that, but for now…" He said while raising his cane and bringing it down onto her ribs with a sickening crack.
Emily gasped at the blow to her ribs, and started to cry out when he repeatedly brought the cane down upon her body. With every cry, the twins visibly winced and cast a sorry look towards her. They were starting to regret alerting Deucalion of Emily's state. Emily's cries turned to screams as Deucalion kept breaking her bones until he finally grabbed her head and gave it a sharp turn, breaking her neck and killing her.
"You didn't even try to question her! You just killed her without even giving her a chance!" Aiden yelled.
"Oh I know. That time was just for fun. Next round, we'll try to get information out of her." Deucalion said as he turned to the stairs. "You know what to do when she wakes up."
XXX
11 more times. Deucalion killed Emily 11 more times with an assortment of different torturing devices. The twins were forced to witness these murders with heavy hearts, and with each death, their resolve to not intervene dwindled more and more.
XXX
Emily woke up once again, panting and physically and emotionally drained. She couldn't help wonder where her friends were. She wondered why anyone hadn't come to help her and whether they even cared that she was missing. She had been killed more times in the last day than she could handle. She was starting to just want to give up and die forever.
Deucalion approached her for the thirteenth time that day. He had no knives or canes or other means to inflict harm. All he carried was a single syringe filled with a black liquid. She eyed it wearily, not knowing what else he could possibly have in store for her.
"Do you remember when I said I had another curious concoction for you? Well here it is. It is quite fun, actually. It targets your deepest fears and insecurities and attacks them. What are you hiding deep in your heart, Emilena? What scares you the most? How about the fact that the only people you have ever trusted in your life don't care for you at all? I feel like those feelings are going to come up a bit in the next couple of hours." He warned as he took the syringe and placed it against her neck.
Emily began to squirm, but he grabbed her head and held her steady. He thrust the needle into her skin and pushed down on the plunger.
"I'll see you in hell, Emilena." Deucalion smirked. With that, Emily's world faded to blackness.
XXX
There were footsteps and sounds of struggle coming from the staircase. The members of the alpha pack emerged from the shadows dragging Derek, Scott, Issac, Cora, and Stiles. Once their eyes fell upon Emily's bloodied and bruised body, they couldn't help but feel sick. Little did she know, they had been scouring the town searching for her. They spent hours discovering the truth about Derek's past, and they had no idea that she had been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in that time.
Her eyes held a dead stare as she looked forward into nothingness. Her friends tried to call out to her, but it was as if she wasn't even there.
"Ah nice of you all to join us. I was just telling Emilena that the serum I injected her with targets her deepest fears. I have a feeling we are all going to be in for quite the show – seeing as how I think I convinced her that you all didn't care enough for her to come rescue her. Chain them up. She should be coming to any second now."
Deucalion's alphas took their captives and chained them to the wall opposite of her. They all waited anxiously as she started whimpering and looking around her like she didn't know where she was.
There was nothing around Emily except darkness. Suddenly, a bright light attacked her eyes and she could suddenly see her surroundings. She was standing on a lone cliff surrounded by thin air. Her stomach dropped as a bought of wooziness struck her. Suddenly bits of the cliff began to chip away. She panicked and tried to keep her balance, but the cliff kept shrinking under her feet.
"No! No! NO!" she yelled as she withered where she hung. Derek, Cora, Stiles, Issac, Scott, and even the twins flinched at her exclamations and the horror that plagued her voice. They couldn't imagine what she was seeing, but there was no doubt she was utterly terrified.
The cliff continued to crumble until there was nothing left under her and she fell into darkness. She let out a bloodcurdling scream that made everyone cringe. She screamed and screamed until she couldn't scream anymore.
The werewolves and Stiles pulled at their chains with all their might at the sound of her screams. None of them had ever heard such a sound escape her lips. Emily, usually so strong and confident, never let anything more than a whimper fall from her lips.
But not even the werewolves could break the reinforced chains when they used all their strength. They were completely helpless and could do nothing to comfort Emily. Suddenly, her screams stopped. She was looking around the cellar, but her eyes passed right over them, as if she didn't see them.
She was back in the cellar, chained to the ceiling, and alone in the darkness. It was strange – Deucalion and his alphas weren't there to torture her as they were every other time when she woke up. She couldn't clear her mind enough to understand what had just happened to her. Suddenly, the light was slowly disappearing as the darkness became heavy and closed in on her. It was like it was taking all of the air out of the room. She gasped for breath, but it was no use. There was no air to fill her lungs. She felt as if she was suffocating.
Everyone in the room watched as Emily struggled to catch a breath. She was hyperventilating and they could do nothing to help her.
Stiles felt something deep in his heart as he watched Emily, remembering the panic attacks he used to get after his mom died.
Issac possessed a similar feeling, remembering how he would be locked in the deep freezer by his father. He remembered the suffocating feeling from those times, and when he closed his eyes, he was back in that freezer.
Derek watched as the girl he thought of as a little sister gasped for breath. She couldn't fill her lungs and all he wanted to do was make whatever she was experiencing cease.
Scott watched as his friend suffered, feeling as though he was completely useless. He knew she was supposed to protect them, but he wished he could protect her from what she was going through.
Cora allowed her weakness to show in the form of silent tears as she watched her best friend scream and suffocate. She wished she could wrench her best friend out of her nightmares and hold her tight.
No matter what each was feeling and thinking, they all knew one thing – there was nothing they could do to help Emily.
They spent the next two hours listening to Emily's screams, whimpers, and pained gasps. Every once in a while, they would hear her mumble incoherent words and sentences describing her nightmares. They all closed their eyes trying to block out the horrors in front of them, but it was no use.
After what felt like days, the suffocating darkness subsided and Emily's eyes adjusted to the room around her. Standing directly in front of her was her mother. She looked at Emily with a stern glare.
"I gave you a job, Emily. It should have been an honor. But you have disgraced the family name. You are a failure, and you disgust me. You call yourself a protector, but you are weak and worthless. How dare you?" she spat at her daughter.
"Mom! Please! I tried, I really did. I can still do this. Just give me a chance. Please!" Emily yelled at the invisible person. The group could only imagine what she was seeing.
"I wish you could just die for good so I could really give you a piece of my mind. But we will never get to see each other again. I just hope you know that I wish you weren't my daughter. I wish I had somebody who I could be proud of" her mother said as she slowly disappeared.
"No! Please come back! Please forgive me, mother! I'm sorry!" she whimpered.
Another figure started to emerge from the darkness, and she became excited when she thought it was her mother again. But she was shocked to see that it was Derek. He had really come to save her. But when he stood in front of her, she noticed he had a disappointed look on his face.
"You failed me, Emily. You said you would protect us, but you have been nothing but a burden to me. You made things so complicated, so I need to get rid of you now." He said as he extended his claws
"No, Derek, please don't." Emily whimpered. Derek's eyes flew open at the sound of his name, and everyone stared at him with wide eyes.
"Please, I'm sorry. I tried my best. I failed you, but please don't kill me!" she cried. Derek's face hardened, but there was an unmistakable pain in his eyes. His heart turned heavy as he imagined what must be going through her mind.
"I have no choice. I never cared about you. I've hated you since the day you showed up at my house eight years ago." Derek sneered. With that, he plunged his claws deep into her abdomen. She looked down as he lifted her slightly. Dark red blood gushed from her wounds.
The group saw Emily recoil and cry out, but there was no wound to be found. Derek couldn't contain himself any longer.
"Emily! Listen to me, Em! I don't hate you! You never let me down! Em, please! I would never hurt you!" he yelled to her. Kali responded with a sharp punch to the face.
"She can't hear you, moron. You might as well save your breath" she sneered. Derek gave her a murderous look as he tried to rip his chains out of the wall.
"Bite me." Derek spat.
"Don't tempt me. Now shut up."
They glared at each other before Derek redirected his attention to Emily. She had her head down as she panted, taking in shallow breaths. He couldn't imagine that Emily actually believed that he would hurt her.
"Look at you. You're pathetic." Emily's head jerked up as a new voice came from the shadows. Derek had disappeared, but Cora walked up into his spot. Emily's eyes widened at her words.
"Cor?" came Emily's broken whisper. Cora's heart jumped at her old nickname as she looked up at her best friend. Emily was staring at nothing that they could see, only the terrifying image in her own mind.
"You actually think you have a right to call me that? You're not my best friend. You never were. You're just a hopeless orphan that we wished we left out on the street. Everything I told you, I wish I could take back. You don't deserve to even be in the same room as me." Cora spat.
"Please don't say that. You're like my sister. I can't have you hating me, too. Please, don't do this." She whimpered.
"You. Are. Not. My. Sister." Each word was punctuated with a punch to her face. She then sucker punched Emily, aggravating her already broken ribs. Emily's vision began to blur as she fought to catch her breath.
They watched as Emily threw her head from side to side and cry out as she doubled over as much as she could with her hands secured above her head. She let out a cry every time her head was forced to the side.
"Emmy, please what's wrong?" Cora yelled, not caring that she was now crying openly. Derek gazed at her with sad eyes, understanding the pain she was going through. For some reason, Emily believed that they would want to hurt and kill her. Emily continued to try to catch her breath, when she began to wildly look around the room again.
"Here I thought you would be able to help us." Scott's voice came from one side of the room. "But you're weak. Who could you help? You're supposed to be a protector, but all you do is hurt people." His voice now came from the other side of the cellar.
Suddenly, he was standing right in front of her. He smirked at her dumbfounded expression.
"All I ever tried to do was help you, Scott. You have to know that!" She yelled and Scott suddenly turned his attention to the sight before him. Emily looked as though she was too drained to take much more.
"You mean nothing to us. Why do you think we never came to rescue you? You're going to spend the rest of your miserable, immortal life down here. And you know what? Nobody will ever come for you. You will be alone, forever."
Suddenly, the wolf took over Scott's face as he bared his fangs. His claws grew as he started to slash every inch of Emily he could reach. Emily could feel her flesh rip under his vicious claws. She started to scream every time his claws connected with her skin, blood spraying everywhere.
The group flinched at Emily's drawn out screams as her body thrashed against her chains. She screamed herself hoarse, but she said something that was impossible to miss.
"Scott! You're hurting me! Stop!" She yelled. All eyes turned to Scott, wondering what she thought he was doing to her. Scott had gone extremely pale, and closed his eyes. He knew it was all in her head, but her pain-filled screams were very real.
She started to calm down again, but her breathing was slow and shallow. All of the werewolves listened to her heart and heard it faintly beating.
"It's a shame. The poison will only last a while longer. This has been so fun, I don't want it to stop." Deucalion taunted. They looked from Emily, who was staring at nothing with an empty expression, to the Demonwolf.
"I swear as soon as I get loose, I will rip you apart. You will never do this to her again. Do you hear me?" Derek screamed at him. The rage was overtaking his body and he knew the wolf was clawing to get out. Everyone thrashed in their chains as they tried once again to get free. But it was no use.
"Save your strength. There is no way you will get out of your bonds. And when you eventually do, I will already be gone and a safe distance away from you all." Deucalion taunted. Stiles opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced when they heard Emily begin to whimper once again. They all turned their attention back to her weak body. She looked into nothingness once again as she began to cower.
Isaac stood in front of Emily and sneered at her. She looked up at him with sad eyes, her heart heavy as she was smothered by the look of hatred in his eyes.
"You stole something from me, Emily. You took memories that weren't yours to see. Those memories were my own, and you took them. I never would trust someone like you to see them. You are just a miserable person who doesn't deserve to hold anyone's trust. It feels like you stabbed me in the back when you took those memories. Do you know how that feels, Emily?"
"No, Isaac. Please don't! I'm sorry but I didn't have any control over it. I was only trying to help! Please I saved your life!" Emily yelled.
But Isaac didn't listen and started to walk towards her menacingly while brandishing a long dagger. He stood so close to her that she could hear his heartbeat. He reached around her and she could feel the tip against her back as she whimpered.
"Shh. I thought you were brave. I want you to hurt like you hurt me. Screw you, Emily" he spat as he drove the dagger into her back.
Emily's screams filled the room as she pulled against her chains once again. Isaac stared at her with a broken expression. He knew she thought he was doing something to cause her harm, and there was nothing she could do about it. He clenched his eyes shut and willed her to stop. After a few minutes, only the sound of her pants filled the room.
Stiles walked right up to Emily and stared into her eyes. He didn't have any weapons or other means to hurt her. Only a look of hatred in his eyes. She recoiled slightly from his gaze, but he grabbed her face and held it still.
"You betrayed me, Emily. That kiss meant a lot to me, but little did I know it was only a diversion. You only wanted to escape. Well look at you now. How could you have done that to me? I was actually starting to fall for you. We could have loved each other. We could have been happy. You can't say that you didn't think the same thing. But there's something you didn't think about. It's that nobody in their right mind would want you. Nobody cares about you. You will always be alone. You will never have me or anyone else. Then again, you don't care either. All you care about is yourself. You hurt me, Emily. And now, I will always hate you" Stiles said with as much hatred as his voice could hold.
"Stiles" Emily whispered, almost silently. Suddenly, streams of tears flowed down her face. Everybody froze where they were. None of them had ever seen her shed a tear, and now, she was openly crying. Stiles felt his heart shatter as he realized that whatever she thought he said was what made her break. He couldn't even bare to imagine what she witnessed.
"Goodbye forever, Emily" Stiles said as he turned and walked away.
"No! Stiles please come back. I'm so sorry. Please, you're right. We could be together. I do care about you. Please, don't leave me! Stiles!" The last word came out as a whisper. She sobbed as she fell limp against the chains and allowed her head to fall. Stiles watched silently as tears flowed down his own face.
Everyone in the room remained quiet as they listened to Emily's broken crying. Soon she started to quiet and began to stir. She looked up with a tear and make up stained face and, for the first time for hours, she could actually see. She looked at the other captives, utterly confused. She initially thought she was still in the venom-induced hell, but something felt different.
Her friends noticed something was different, also. They all started shouting apologies and were pleading for her to forgive them. Her mind was so clouded by what had happened in the last few hours that she couldn't comprehend what was going on.
"What the hell?" she asked as her voice came out as a hoarse whisper. The screaming and crying had taken a toll on her body.
"Emilena, welcome back to reality, my dear. Yes, I see you have noticed our other guests" Deucalion taunted. "Now I'm not sure what exactly you have witnessed in the last four or so hours, but we can all imagine that it was slightly less than pleasant. You see, your friends have actually been here the entire time. The truth is, they were out looking for you as soon as they realized you were in trouble. And you thought they didn't care about you. Well, now you know you were wrong."
Emily was exhausted, but she still felt her rage bubble inside her. How could he make her think these people, the only people she had ever cared for, hated her? Wanted to kill her! How dare he? Before she could say anything, however, Deucalion continued.
"Now, there are multiple reasons why I have set this plan into motion. You all must realize that I was trying to make two points. The first was to Emilena. Now, you have been a problem for the last few hundred years, and I have finally decided I wanted to put an end to it. Especially because I know the true strength you possess. Believe it or not, you are too much of a threat and I want that threat to be eliminated. So I decided to strike you while you were too weak to do anything about it, and while I still had help. And I decided to have some fun with it while I was at it. Now the second point I wanted to make was directed to Derek and Scott. I want you to channel the rage you are undoubtedly feeling right now and use it to join my pack. Kill your own and join me for unlimited power and freedom." He said as he finished his speech. Before anyone could say a word, he held a finger up to the group. "Now don't answer yet. I want you to feel such rage that it is almost painful."
Deucalion went over to a table and picked up a wooden stake that was so white that it almost glowed. It had intricate carvings on it and it looked very aged. He stood next to Emily and grabbed her hair to pull her head roughly back. He turned his attention back to the group with a wicked grin on his face.
"Now, we all know that Emilena comes back to life when she dies. Actually, she has come back 13 times tonight. It is quite remarkable, actually. To have been cursed to live forever until it could be broken by killing me is such a burden that I'm sure she has hated for her entire life. But she decided to come to challenge me tonight. And I must admit, she almost won. She was very close to killing me. But then she remembered all of you, and she got distracted. She really does care for you all. Some, more intimately than others" he said, sending a knowing glance at Stiles. Stiles just shot a glare back that held such rage and hatred.
"So I overpowered her, and with the help of my loyal pack, we managed to restrain her. Now, it is time for her to die. Not die and come back to life, but die forever. This may sound impossible, but there is something that I know that you all don't." He directed his attention to Emily who stared at him with exhausted eyes. "Do you know what this is, Emilena?" he asked, and she answered with a slight nod. His grin widened as he looked back at the others.
"She's a smart one, isn't she? This is a stake from the tree used to burn her mother alive. She stood on wood from this tree when she cursed her own daughter, so it is this wood that can end the curse. Something that was used to start this all those years ago is what will end it all. So, goodbye, Emilena. Don't forget, I'll see you in hell."
With those final words, Deucalion plunged the stake into Emily's heart. She let out a gasp as she looked up at her friends. Through blurred eyes, she could see them all thrash against their chains. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as a ringing filled her ears.
Derek was screaming silently as he pulled with all his might to break the chains.
Cora was sobbing and trying to call out to her, trying to tell her best friend she loved her.
Scott and Isaac were trying to reach out to her as they bared their fangs at Deucalion.
And Stiles. Stiles didn't move a muscle. He just stared into her eyes as the light started to fade from them. A single tear escaped down his cheek as he mouthed something to her. But she was too exhausted to understand what he was saying. She would never know what he was trying to tell her as she faded forever.
Then, she was gone.