Please see extremely apologetic A/N at the end...

Chapter 20

The plan had been made; all we needed was time, as well as a healthy dose of luck. There was just one problem left; Maggie. We knew she and Caleb would be looking for us by now, but we needed them to not find us in order for the plan to work, but there was just no telling how soon they would be able to locate us. I had a feeling that she wouldn't have access to our minds since I had no access to Luc's and vice versa, so that would make it more difficult. Add that on to the fact that both of us were, by now, in serious withdrawals, as well as Maddie, and we were relying a little more heavily on luck than I wanted to.

Okay, so there was more than one problem left. In addition to Maggie coming too early and our withdrawals, there was the task of freeing Jacob. We were banking on him being held somewhere in the building, since that was what normally happened. But we couldn't be sure because Luc's grandpère always made sure his mind was blocked from Maddie's so that they couldn't communicate or, more importantly, find out where he was.

"Okay," Luc said as Maddie took a deep breath to steady herself. "You ready to do this?" She nodded in reply and stood up, looking a little pale, but determined. I remained on the floor in a foetal position, holding my stomach. It was the least painful position; although Luc had been constantly touching me, nothing was working and we were still in withdrawal, withdrawals which were getting worse with every minute we spent planning our way out of here. We had to act now, before both of us became useless because of the pain.

"Go," I urged Maddie, who took another deep breath and left the room. The heavy metal door clanked shut with a loud bang, but no click of a lock was heard. Maddie was going to wherever her grandfather, Marcus and Sikes were before going to find Jacob. Meanwhile, we were going to escape and try and make our way back to find Maggie and the Council, whilst Maddie and Jacob dealt with grandpère.

"Okay, now are you ready?" Luc asked softly as he helped me sit up.

"No," I replied honestly. I couldn't stop thinking about the 'what if's' of the whole plan and about how much we were risking if it all went wrong. I didn't care about endangering myself, but if it did go wrong, Maddie was going to be the one who would take the fall. And along with Maddie, Jacob would be hurt, and whilst she knew what it felt like to lose her Significant, I wasn't sure she could recover this time.

"It will work, it has to work," Luc whispered, sensing my worry.

"Well that's encouraging," I joked half-heartedly.

Luc said nothing, just gave a wry smile and watched the door.

After a minute more had passed, he helped me up silently and I limped to the door, pressing my ear against it to listen for any noises. I heard nothing, so as silently as possible we both grasped the heavy door and turned the handle. Moving millimetres at a time, the heavy metal door slid open. As soon as it was open enough to squeeze through, Luc stopped and wedging the door open with his shoulders, he listened for any noises once again. There was still nothing, so he crept out. I followed behind, and then slowly began to let the weighted door swing back to its original position so our escape would remain unnoticed as long as possible. It was just a few inches from shutting when the worst happened. My arms gave out and the door slammed shut, making a loud bang that echoed down the cement corridor.

We both froze and stared at each other for a second, wide-eyed, before Luc came to his senses and grabbed my arm, pulling me away. It was pointless to hope we hadn't been heard, the sound had reverberated all around and there was no material to absorb the echoes.

"Come on, run," Luc whispered, pulling me to where the Maddie had said the main entrance would be.

Right from the prison, left at the end, right up the stairs, last door on the right, I chanted to myself as we moved as silently and quickly as possible. They might have heard the door, but there was still a chance we could get away, as long as we were quiet and careful.

We turned left, hearing footsteps behind, closing in fast. The stairs were just around the corner.

"Going somewhere?" Right in front of us was Marcus, who stood with arms folded and wore a satisfied smirk, blocking the way to the stairs. Behind us, Sikes rounded the corner, breathing heavily, but it made no difference because there was no way we could fight our way out of this. But I was not going to just give up this time even though I was at breaking point, even if it was a lost cause, because this was our only chance.

Luc sensed this too and we stood back-to-back to face the two Watsons, him facing Sikes and me facing Marcus.

"Yes. We're leaving," I said, sounding braver than I felt.

"Oh are you now?" Marcus said condescendingly. He turned to Sikes with a sad look. "Uncle, these two want to leave, isn't that rude?" he asked innocently.

Sikes sighed. "Stop playing and get on with it," he told Marcus, whose smile dropped and was replaced with a sour look. "You never let me have any fun with it," he muttered, drawing a gun. "Now," he said in his normal sneering voice, "I suggest you turn around and walk back the way you came, little human," he said calmly.

What could we do against a gun? If one of us was shot, I'm not sure we could heal each other. Our whole plan failed because of a stupid door. To be fair, it wasn't the most well-thought out plan ever invented, but time had been of the essence and we needed to do something quickly. Maddie and Jacob would be caught and punished and it was all my stupid fault for not being more careful with a door, not being strong enough. It was too late.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Luc, staring hopelessly at the stairs, just a few metres away from freedom.

"You have five seconds to start walking back to the prison before I start getting nasty," Marcus said lazily.

"No," Luc whispered, turning me to face him when I turned around. "I love you, remember that," he said intensely, holding my face and staring into my eyes.
"Five."

"Don't you dare!" I whispered fiercely, knowing what he was saying. "I can't lose you, not again." I closed my eyes.

"Four."

"Please," I whispered, my voice breaking. Luc leaned in and kissed me, his hands holding my face so gently and yet his lips attacking mine with desperate force.

"Three."
The kiss told me everything his words couldn't. It showed me his desperation, his love, and most of all... his goodbye.

"Two. Do you guys mind kissing back in your cell? Your public display of affection really is sick-inducing," Marcus sneered.
"Please," I whispered one last time, my tears making tracks in the dirt covering my face.

"One. This is your last chance."

"Fine," Luc replied to Marcus over his shoulder, not looking away from me. He released me, but held my gaze for just a second longer, telling me everything. "We're going."

He turned towards Sikes, to where the cell was, and began to walk. As we walked, Marcus came behind Luc and held his upper arm in a tight grip, whilst Sikes did the same with me. Somehow, he wasn't giving me offense marks. This was not good. He had been before, but now even that part of the imprinting wasn't working. What was happening to us?

As we reached the door to the cell, Luc's hand briefly brushed mine. I glanced at him just as he stopped abruptly and twisted in Marcus' hold to free his arm. For a moment, it seemed to work. The surprise of the sudden attack had given Luc an advantage and he was overwhelmed. As soon as I saw what was happening, I began to struggle in Sikes' arms as well, with less success. But I was still managing to distract him from reaching the gun, which was my aim, since I knew I would never be able to fight my way out. All we could do was stall them until Maddie had freed Jacob.

It wasn't working. Despite Luc's strength, he was quickly being overpowered and so was I, buckling under the pressure from Sikes' hand on my arm.

"No!" I shouted desperately as Marcus landed a punch to Luc's face. I didn't feel it this time; I felt no pain rebounding across our mental link, just the emotional pain of knowing we had failed, again.

Marcus dropped Luc, who was slow to get back up, and grabbed me instead, holding me by the neck and turning to Luc with a triumphant smile. I clawed pathetically at his hands, but I was too weak to make any kind of impression on him; in fact, he was holding me with one arm with barely any effort at all. With his other hand, he grabbed Luc's arm, and Sikes did the same on the other side so he was restrained, both physically from their grips, and mentally, because if Luc tried anything, Marcus had my windpipe in his hand.

"Let. Go. Of. Her." Luc said in a hard, cold voice. His eyes were the same, boring into Marcus as if he could see right into him.

And Marcus' hand flew from my neck as if it burned him. We all stared at his arm in shock, Marcus included. What just happened? Had the offence marks come back, just when I needed them most? No, because I had felt no pain from his touch, so that couldn't be it. After a few seconds, it seemed Marcus got over the shock of his body responding without him telling it to and he reached for me again. This time Luc was ready and threw himself in front of me, pulling away from Sikes' hold easily and grabbing Marcus' reaching arms.
"Don't touch my Significant!" he said fiercely. Again, Marcus stopped, staring at his hands, which, just a few seconds ago, had been reaching for me. He lunged for Luc this time, and was once again overpowering him, when I suddenly realised what had happened.

"I am extremely mature!" Damien protested, grabbing Luc in a headlock.

"Yes, and the sky is green," Luc replied sarcastically from the cage that Damien's very muscled arms made around his neck, pushing at them without success.

"Yes, the sky is green," Damien replied in a monotone voice.

"Right..." Luc replied, looking at him weirdly.

It was his ability. Luc could compel people with touch. That was awesome, but I had no time to think about that now, especially since Sikes had me, once again, pinned.

"Luc! It's your ability!" I shouted, desperately struggling, but to no avail.

"Shut up, bitc-" Marcus began, but was cut off by Luc's roar.

"Don't EVER call my Significant that!" he shouted, somehow finding the strength to give Marcus a punch powerful enough to make Marcus fall to the floor. Right next to the gun that had been dropped in the fight. Luc saw this just as Marcus reached for the gun and dived for him, grabbing his face just as Marcus' fingers closed around the grip and he began to lift it.

"Let go of it!" he said in a commanding voice that seemed to resound longer than usual in the air, just as a shot rang out, the bang deafeningly loud in the echoey corridor. Marcus' fingers went limp and the gun clattered to the floor. Immediately, Luc picked it up, before Sikes could grab it, and pointed it at Sikes. "Let her go," he said, breathing heavily.

"Make me," Sikes replied smugly. Unfortunately, my body was right in front of his, meaning that Luc wouldn't be able to get a clear shot without the possibility of hitting me. And I wouldn't heal this time.

We were at a stalemate. What could I do? Sikes was holding me with one hand in my hair, pulling excruciatingly at the roots and forcing my head back so I couldn't see Luc standing in front of me, and the other hand holding me by my waist, also trapping one of my arms. The other was free, but it was occupied trying to relive the pulling on my hair as I struggled to stay upright and force my legs not to collapse from under me.

My brain whirred as I thought. What could I do? Desperately, I let my body go limp and I fell as Sikes struggled to support my body, having been successfully surprised. I felt as if half my hair had been ripped out, but it was just enough of a distraction for Luc to jump forward and grab Sikes' arm.

"Let go of her," He commanded in that resonant, quiet voice of his. Sikes complied immediately, and Luc, with his other arm, grabbed Marcus by his arm. "Now," he began calmly, "I want you both to take off your keys and give them to me. Then, I want you to walk into that prison and stay there." Giving Luc hateful glares, both men complied.

As soon as they were past the threshold, Luc pushed the door shut and locked it, breathing heavily. There was no way of telling how long the compulsion would last before it wore off, so we had to take no chances. Just then, he gave a groan of pain and clutched his stomach. He had been hit.

"Luc," I cried, rushed forward and breaking his fall as he collapsed to the floor. I pulled away his hands to see a wound in his side, oozing blood. I stared up at him for several seconds, wide-eyed, before coming to my senses and realising that I had to do something.

"Okay, let's take a look, don't you dare die on me," I began, trying to calm myself as I looked over him. He was lying slightly on his side, so I could see the exit wound at the back. Apparently, exit wounds were good. Breathing heavily, I replaced his hands back over the hole and pressed my own hands over them to try and stop the bleeding. "You'd better stick around, I'm no losing you," I whispered fiercely to him, ignoring the rational voice in my head telling me that I could do nothing.

"I'll... do my best," he managed to whisper, giving me a sad smile.

He knew. He knew that without proper medical attention, he was going to die within a few minutes, he knew that I couldn't heal him and there was no way to call an ambulance. Tears were already streaming down my face again, but I ignored them and focussed all my energy on keeping pressure on the wound. "You better do more than try," I growled. "You will not die, do you hear me?" I commanded desperately.

"Anna..." he said weakly.

"No. I told you, you're not dying," I said fiercely, not taking my attention from the hands pressed against his, which were getting slick with his blood. The déjà-vu was strangely ironic.

"Anna, look at me," he whispered.
"No," I hissed, pressing down even harder, trying to make the blood stop seeping out from beneath my fingers.

"Anna, you have to go find the Visionary."

"No! I am not leaving you!" I cried, shaking all over now, the tears blurring my vision until all I could see on Luc's torso was red.

"You have to," he said, more urgently. He took away one of his hands from his side and gripped my arm. "Anna, please, just go. The fate of the whole race depends on this. You have to leave me."
"No," I whispered again, sniffing and blinking furiously, but I was shaking so much I could barely hold my hands in place any more. "No," I said more determinedly. "I am not leaving you. Call me selfish, but you are the most important person in my life. I literally cannot leave you, Luc. I can't, no, I won't do it."

His eyes closed in sadness. "Then," he whispered, "I have no choice". I realised what he was doing a second after he held my hand in a surprisingly strong grip, not letting me go. "I'm so sorry, but it's the only way," he choked, sounding tortured. I wriggled, trying frantically to free my hand from him, but just as he began to speak, I caught a flash of movement in the corner of my eye and looked up just in time to see Maddie run over, her eyes full of fear.

"Luc!" she cried, collapsing next to me and placing her own hands over the gunshot wound, which was still oozing blood.

"Maddie, le-laisse." The voice sent chills up my spine and I turned to see Luc's grandpère, holding Jacob in a tight grip, with a knife to his throat.

It was stalemate again.

Okay, I am so sorry for many reasons:

1. It was a week late

2. It was a rubbish chapter

3. I left you with another cliffie

The explanation for both is simply writer's block. I kept trying to write and it just did not come naturally, so I decided the only way to go was just to power through it and carry on instead of just making you wait even longer. I may go back and re-write this chapter, but at the moment I just can't bring myself to proof-read it because I'll get all depressed about how awful it is. I understand it's probably a bit frustrating to have late updates, especially at this important plot point, but trust me, I am also extremely frustrated at myself.

Sorry, but unless my block (and work) clears up a whole lot more, I'm gonna go with 3 weeks being the next update date.

Don't be silent readers, any feedback (even negative) motivates me more to update quicker!

Again, I'm really sorry. See you next time :/