Chapter Twelve
Tests
Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies.
Darien rolled over and a sharp pain brought him from his sleep. For a second, he thought that he was back in the palace in bed, having lost control of his beast, but on opening his eyes he realized that that wasn't true. Seeing the darkened room in shades of gray and white, he knew that he was still in half-wolf form, and even worse, in a cage. Slowly, memories from the night before filled his fogged brain. He remembered seeing Andrew being shot and wondered for a moment if he was all right.
A muffled groan to Darien's right, told Darien that Andrew was with him. The smell of blood filled the darkened room, and Darien found himself fighting his beast to keep control. Andrew sat up, immediately placing a hand over the hole in his shoulder, which was not healing normally. Darien knew that because of the werewolf blood, almost every wound received healed abnormally fast, except for cuts received from other werewolves or shots received by silver bullets. Guessing from the way that the bullet hole in Andrew's shoulder was still bleeding, someone had had silver bullets the night before.
Andrew glanced at Darien, his eyes widening slightly in fear. He seemed to realize that Darien had managed to keep control of the beast because the panic left Andrew's eyes after a few seconds. Darien would have shrugged if he had figured out how to do so in the strange body he was in. Instead, he turned his attention on the bars of the cage. Experimentally, Darien rammed his shoulder against the bars to see if they had any give, but they only groaned in protest. He growled, grabbing the bars with his clawed hands intent on bending the bars. Pain seared through his claws. He released the bars and stepped back.
The scent of blood teased him again. Andrew had removed his shirt, ripped off an edge of it, and tried to mop up the blood before he tossed it from the cage. Darien's eyes followed the shirt as it landed about ten feet from the bars. Motion brought Darien's attention to Andrew, as he tried to tie his shirt in a way that would stop the bleeding. He wanted to know what they were going to do, but he knew that Andrew couldn't understand him, and with his hunger growing stronger, he couldn't think very well either.
"Darien." Andrew stated, looking worried. "Darien, can you still hear me?"
Darien nodded his head and neck moving awkwardly.
"We are going to get out of this. I promise you."
"I wouldn't promise him anything, he's just an animal." A cruel voice said from the shadows behind Andrew. "And from what I would wager, a very hungry one."
Inside the dance hall, Serena looked around. All of the lights were off, except for those that hung above a long, rectangular, table. The table looked old, like one you would have seen in an older castle in Scotland. The top was scarred from the cut of endless knifes and other cutlery. It looked like it really needed to be refinished, even if it was antiquated. There were no dishes or silverware anywhere on the table.
Around the table were several chairs, their backs were tall enough that they would have reached Serena's forehead if she stood directly behind them. The ones facing her were covered in crimson red velvet and padded. They looked to have been redone recently, even though the wood itself needed work. They were also scarred in various ways.
It was what was at the center of the table that had captivated Serena's attention. A young woman had been tied nude to the ceiling above the table and dangled, apparently unconscious over it. Serena flinched at the sight of blood seeping slowing down the woman's arms from her wrists. The rope had rubbed the woman's wrists raw. Serena took a step toward the woman, fully intending on letting her down, but Guy grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back.
"I wouldn't." He said staring at the woman with a mixture of disgust and interest. Serena shrugged him off, and pointedly walked up to the table.
"Miss?" Serena asked. The woman's eyes opened, but she didn't seem to focus on Serena. The calm expression on her face made Serena want to slap her. The woman giggled drunkenly as Serena turned to face Guy.
"Let her go." She snapped.
"I will." He said looking at interestedly at Serena.
Glancing around for backup, Serena become conscious of the fact that they were alone in the building. "Where are Nikolai and the others?"
"Outside." Guy responded almost lazily, moving to lean against one of the darkened walls so that he was half in shadow, and half out of shadow.
"I thought they were supposed to come in with us. Isn't this supposed to be some kind of test for Nikolai and myself?" She asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.
Guy shook his head. "They can wait outside until we are ready."
"Ready for what?" Serena demanded.
Guy laughed, pushing away from the wall and starting to approach her. "You have posed a very unique problem, Serena. One that we all wish to rectify."
"What do you mean?" Serena asked, forcing herself to stay still.
Guy stopped just short of her. "You are no one's servant. And that is a very big problem. You see, if you don't become a servant to a strigoi, you are to be killed. You don't want to be killed do you?"
Serena finally stepped backwards, but stopped when she realized that the table was behind her. "No."
"Then we have to rectify the situation." Guy said.
"What do you mean?" Serena asked, starting to feel like a broken record. She glanced at the door wishing that Nikolai, or someone, would come in.
"You have to become Keagan's servant." He said calmly.
"Oh, no. I don't think so." Serena stated. "I wont be anyone's slave."
Guy tilted his head to one side. "Not even Nikolai's?"
She shook her head. "I would rather die."
"Then we will oblige." Guy stated, grabbing her arm.
She balled her hand into a fist. "Let me go." She growled, her voice going cold.
"You have chosen-." She swung, connecting squarely with his nose. Blood squirted out of both nostrils as a loud crack echoed in the hall. He dropped her arm in favor of grabbing his nose. Serena snap kicked his knee, let him fall to the ground with a small groan, and then dropped on top of him, positioning her knees on his upper arms, while twisting her ankles around his thighs and forcing them apart. She wrapped her arms across his face, preparing to break his neck.
"Stop-wait." He blustered thickly, trying to speak around a mouthful of blood. Serena stopped, hoping he would beg for his life.
Suddenly, she found herself flying across the room to land in a heap about ten feet from where she had started. Pain exploded in her head as it cracked against the floor. Trying to ignore it, she climbed to her feet, but immediately regretted the movement when the room swam ominously in front of her. She stumbled, trying to peer through the liquidy room to find out where Guy had gone.
Hands touched her back. She whirled to face her attacker and promptly fell over when the room shifted completely around her.
"You shouldn't tempt me." Guy's voice was right in her ear.
"What are you? Humans aren't that strong." Serena gasped. He answered with a laugh.
"Here come your friends." He whispered, his breath hot against her ear.
Nikolai was the first to reach Serena, who closed her eyes to stop the feeling of nausea that was threatening to overtake her. Nikolai's hands were like cold fire on her scalp as he tried to locate the problem. "You are bleeding pretty bad." He commented.
"Tell me something I want to know."
"You have a slight concussion."
"That will not release her from this night, Nikolai." Guy growled.
"Give us a moment to compose ourselves." Nikolai responded, "she needs medical attention."
Guy laughed, cold and cruel. "If she is your servant, she should be almost healed."
"You know that she is not." Nikolai stated.
"Then this will be only a memory for you." Guy laughed.
"He said I was to be Keagan's slave." Serena moaned, forcing herself to sit up. She missed the look that passed over Nikolai's face, as she tried to stop the room from spinning.
If she had seen the look on Nikolai's face, she would have seen the pure terror in his eyes.
AN: -Smiles apologetically- Sorry peops. Got really busy the last few weeks. My hubby and I are starting a business and its taking more work than I had originally planned on. I now have over 25 book on the project, about 500 links to internet sites, and have to go through all of them for the information I need. Then I have my house to clean, some animals to take care of, and the rewrite of my series... Btw, I am proud to inform y'all that I have extended the prologue of book one, from 1400 + words (Cant remember the exact number) to 6285. Smiles indulgently. So be prepared. And I am seriously surprised at all of you. I went through the first three chapters, and rewrote them, then I went through it again and am now starting the final rewrite... and I am surprised that you all actually like my work. LOL I started crying last night because I thought I was letting you all down and everything. So I'm gonna go ahead and finish posting this story, then Im going to sit down and completely rewrite the series... I am dumbfounded at how "quick" book 1 ended and didnt realize that it was so horrible. -Smiles.- But I thank you all for giving me the belief in myself to keep writing, even after I started learning that I was posting stories that looked like a two year old wrote them. I really appreciate all of your support and promise to do better with all the stories. And I sincerely apologize to those that tried to get me to realize that I was not writing to my best ability. Please keep up all the support and keep me going. You guys are GREAT!!! And please keep posting reviews, now that I am going through the series for the final rewrite, any ideas, even flamers, will be appreciated.
To TotalEclipseoftheHeart2114: -Smiles...- I cant help cliffhangers. I love books where its hard for me to put them down, and they usually have some kind of cliffhanger at the end of the chapter. -wink-
To ffgirlmoonie: I am moving from Klamath Falls, Oregon. My husband and I have always wanted to move to Montana, so we decided that when the new business lifts off, we're gonna jump into moving. Cheers happily We're hoping to go up there this summer to check it out for a couple weeks.
Thank you Frosty, I am glad you like the story! -smiles- have you read the others in the series. I dont remember if you posted on them or not, so I thought I had better ask.
To Sakurawolfblossom: -Holds hands abover her head- Ok! Im posting! Im posting!!! I swear I am... (sits back and stares at tv for several hours... jk)