Author's Notes: Hello dear readers!
It has been far too long…yet again. Lol.
So I wrote this chapter fairly quickly because I have like two other stories I am trying to update tonight. I doubt it will happen. *sigh* Forgive me for grammar mistakes and whatnot.
***WARNING: There is torture in this chapter. It isn't written totally graphically, but there are some parts like that. If you cannot handle torture minimal or substantial, I suggest that you don't read this chapter.
Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback! You are awesome!
Also, I am sorry for the three updates for this chapter you are about to have in your email. *sigh* It isn't copying right.
I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!
XOXO-SharaMoon
I felt oddly heavy and I couldn't breathe correctly. What was happening? What was the last thing I remember?
Seeing Sookie lying on a table in an unknown room. I remember…getting hit by something heavy and then everything went dark.
Sookie screamed somewhere beside me, breaking down into deep sobs that racked from her heart. Something was different with her scream. It was as if something was blocking her airways at the same time. Terror ran though me and I tried to sit up, only to be brought back down again. I couldn't move an inch; I was locked to a table where I was laying…by chains.
I thrashed harder, the clanking of the chains echoed and Sookie stopped screaming. Everything had gone quiet, dead silent for a second. I turned my head to see her staring right at me. She was bleeding heavy, her clothes nothing but shreds. Her legs, stomach, arms, and face were blotted with deep gashes that were still bleeding. Her eyes were held with tears, they streamed down her face heavily. I couldn't take my eyes off of the look she was giving me. Fright began to bubble within the pit of my stomach. What kind of trouble are we in?
"Oh, lookie lookie Neave! Our other guest has finally awoken." An eerie man's voice echoed in the darkened room. That voice…was familiar. I shook the chains, closing my eyes to try to get out of them through teleportation. He chuckled at my failed attempt. "Don't try to teleport either. There are barriers around here. No escape for you." His voice was scolding.
Sookie began to whimper and I looked around, shaking the chains that held me stiff. I needed to get Sookie the fuck out of here.
"Yes, I do see that she has woken and tried to teleport, Lochlan. She doesn't seem to remember us though." A woman answered.
A face appeared beside me then and I saw something I didn't ever expect to see again. Sharp silver-tipped teeth of the female fairy that killed my parents so many years ago. I stared up in shock, confusion and fright. I thought she would have died by now, I thought they both would have.
"Look at her, Neave, all grown up isn't she?" The other fairy, the male came to me now, stepping beside the other. "Such a pretty half spawn."
"If anything mixed could be 'pretty'." Neave sniffed, looking down upon me. "You escaped last time, Sofia. Do you think you will this time?"
"How about you go to hell?" I answered, my voice staying strong.
"Oh, she's feisty! I've heard rumors about you, you know. 'The great assassin'!" Lochlan smirked deadly. "Too bad that you won't be able to do that anymore."
"Sofia! D-Do you know them?" Sookie's voice wavered, she was still crying. The pain she must be in, the fear she must be going through. I knew it all too well and yet, I was chained and couldn't protect her from the pain that I went through years ago.
"You want to join in the conversation froggy?" Lochlan started toward Sookie. He was calling her froggy? Why? I didn't have time to ponder useless information, he was edging toward Sookie.
"Leave her alone!" I growled.
He stopped and came back to me. "What was that?"
"You heard me, keep the fuck away from her." I shook the chains.
"You should watch your tongue for your betters." Neave shouted. "We should punish you."
"We shall punish you." Lochlan correct. "We might not be able to kill you because we are on orders, but we can make you very vulnerable for when Breandan comes for you."
I saw the gleam of a knife and Sookie screamed again, but I didn't look at her. My eyes were on the weapon at hand. I couldn't move my arms; therefore I couldn't stop the knife as it was pressed against my skin and began tearing through my flesh.
I choked as he slid the knife, starting at my navel and working his way up, catching on the hem of my shirt and tearing it slowly. The tip of the knife was cutting through my skin, while the blade sliced away my shirt. He didn't stop until he was in the middle of my breast, leaving a thick red line where he carved.
"Aren't you going to scream like our froggy did? We love when they scream." Neave sneered.
"Won't give you the satisfaction." I spit in her face. Trying anything I could do to keep them away from Sookie.
Neave was in outrage from what I had done. Grabbing the knife from Lochlan, she barreled the knife into my stomach. My body jerked with the initial hit. I felt her twist the blade then. I gasped, but I did not scream.
She turned and looked at me. Her voice took on a haunting edge as she said the next words. "You will scream…at some point."
They kept at it, slicing into my skin over and over again. Sookie screamed, pleading with them to stop, but it was a useless effort. I couldn't listen to her much; there was a booming in my ears. My heart was beating so fast, so hard. It was proving to me how much alive I really was and for the first time in so long, I wished for death.
Eric…
I have called for him a million times, but I knew for a fact that we were too far away for them to make it here quickly. I just wanted to see his face; that is all I wanted. I knew that the premonition was starting. I knew I only had so much time left.
The fairies might not be able to kill us, but they could slip. There has been cases where they slipped up and killed when they should have only tortured. They told us that as Neave cut into my legs. She could have been lying. She could have said those things to just scare Sookie and me, but something told me she was telling the truth.
Neave used her teeth at some point, cutting into my skin. "I will bite you the way your vampire does, maybe you will enjoy this part." She said sarcastically.
I was becoming faint now. I couldn't move my arms, there were too many gashes on my skin, and too much blood had been lost. It was just like that with the rest of my body as well, every time I moved, the pain would spike at least ten degrees. Neave and Lochlan moved away, kissing in the heat of the moment. I heard their footsteps as they backed away out of the room.
Sookie was sobbing hard now as I laid lack on the table. It reminded me so much of myself when I watched these fairies kill my parents so many years ago. I couldn't comfort her, couldn't tell her that it would be okay when I wasn't too sure myself. I knew exactly how my mother felt right before she died. When she looked over at me, the fright in her eyes for what they were going to do to her daughter after she died. I knew that all now, because I was Sookie's protector, I was supposed to keep her safe, but I couldn't do that when I was in worse shape than she was.
My barriers broke, leaving me open. My mind was wavering on me and that is what it took to just break my shields and leave me open. I was too weak to put them back up at the moment.
"I'm so sorry…" Sookie's voice echoed in my mind. Even in her thoughts I could hear her cries.
"Don't you dare apologize. We will get out of here. I will protect you." I thought back sternly, or as stern as I could in the state I was in.
"But…Sofia…"
"No buts. Be strong, Sookie."
Neave and Lochlan came back from their 'little break' and started to head to Sookie. I threw up my shields as quick as I could. I couldn't have Sookie inside anymore. She gasped and stared at me, pleading with me in some way.
"Don't touch her." I whispered out, unable to go much higher than that. "She really isn't what you want. You want the one fairy that got away from you. Here I am…for the taking."
"Still kicking over there are you?" Lochlan asked.
"I don't give up so easily." I whispered. "You have me defenseless, take your chance. You will never get another one like this."
"Sofia! No, please no!" Sookie screamed at me.
I was already in worse state than Sookie, but I simply couldn't let her be tortured anymore. I couldn't. The prophecy wasn't supposed to happen this way, was it? No, Claudine said I would get to choose if I wanted to save Sookie's life. These fairies weren't meant to kill us in the first place, they aren't allowed to. They knew when they needed to stop, it was orders; strict orders because of who we are. So this wasn't the prophecy. I was certain of that, but I just couldn't let Sookie deal with this kind of pain. It would scar her worse than it would scar me. I was already a broken person to begin with. I also didn't have much time left in the world; therefore I would take this pain and mental scarring for her.
Neave and Lochlan stepped back toward me. "Never get another chance?" Neave asked.
"You're not allowed to kill us, you fools. You are trying to hurt an innocent girl," I nodded to Sookie slowly. "One that doesn't know how to defend herself. What kind of warriors are you? Chaining your victims down so they don't have a chance? You might want to hurt me even worse, so bad that I won't be able to move ever again. Because when I get out of here and kill your leader Breandan, I will then hunt you both. I will find you, make sure it hurts ten times worse and I won't stop until I kill you."
I would do that, but mostly I was just putting on a show. I was doing anything for them to forget Sookie who was trashing and pleading with me to stop 'that I couldn't take any more pain'. I am strong and I will get through this. I am doing it all for her anyway.
They turned back to me with grins on their faces and proceeded to cut me open. Inch by inch they cut into my flesh; the nerves and veins so I would bleed heavily, be unable to move. My head was fogging up. I couldn't see well.
Sookie's sobs probably hurt me more than the actual pain. It hurt me to my core, because she wished I wouldn't take on this kind of responsibility. She told me it wasn't my choice to die for her, that I shouldn't die for her. If only she knew the prophecy, something that only Claudine, Niall, Ancient Pythoness, Eric, Pam, and I knew about.
Sookie was kept in the dark. It was meant to be that way after all. I knew her well by now and I knew that she would have forced me away if she knew that dying for her was my destiny. I never could chose my own path, never was I supposed to. Sookie was more important, that is what the prophecy said, or at least I think that's what it meant. I was always a placeholder, a child born to be killed for the greatness of good. I was becoming to accept it more than I ever had before while laying here.
I knew now that Sookie was the better person between her and me. I was always jealous of her in some way looking back on it. If it wasn't something to do with Eric, then it was about the prophecy and how she would live and I wouldn't. I seemed like such a bad person right now to myself. Jealousy and enviousness always ran through my veins when it came to Sookie. That isn't how I wanted to be, it wasn't how I wanted to end.
Maybe that was the reason Sookie deserved to live and I didn't. She was the pure heart, the one everyone cared about. I didn't know nor I doubted I would ever know, time was not on my side any longer, I knew that.
Neave and Lochlan pulled away, dragging the knife out of my stomach before they attached their lips together and began to make love on the floor, rolling in my blood as they began to fuck like wild animals. I was too far gone to pay much attention regardless.
Over the sounds of Neave moaning and Sookie's crying for me, I could faintly hear my blood dripping off of the table I was chained to. That wasn't a good sign, if I could hear my own blood splashing to the floor and creating a pool on the ground. I was pretty much fucked and I knew it. Neave and Lochlan would fail their mission if something happened to me and that would also mean that I would fail the prophecy, because this simply wasn't how I was meant to go.
I didn't know if we would be saved. I didn't know if I would be able to somehow get out of here. It didn't seem likely for the latter because my eyes felt really heavy. All I could think about is Sookie dying somewhere else, without me to be there to take the fall. It would all be in vain because these fairies cut me too deeply and I didn't see that I would get out of here. I couldn't do it on my own.
I turned my head slowly at the sound of Sookie's chains shifting. My eyes drooped just a bit as Sookie looked at me. Her face was so red from crying. Our tables were closer now, since they pushed Sookie closer to watch how much pain I was in. She reached over and touched my shoulder, I winced. Neave and Lochlan were too busy getting it on to notice us.
"Sofia…" She whispered miserably.
"Don't worry." I whispered. "Im fine."
"Your blood…it's everywhere." Her voice was horrified, trembling.
"You'll make it out." I promised her, not really knowing what would happen anymore, but I didn't want her to be scared.
"Not without you." Her voice held so much horror.
I didn't answer right away and I felt a lump in my throat. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe correctly anymore. Tears pricked my eyes as I looked over at her.
"Sookie…I failed you."
"No! Don't say that! This isn't your fault."
She had no idea what I was really talking about. Poor girl.
My eyes drifted closed.
"Sofia, stay awake!" She yelled to me.
"I'm awake." I mumbled.
"Please…" She began to pray softly.
As if praying would save me from what there was to come. If I didn't die right now-and truthfully I felt like I was going to-, I would still die. It didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that Sookie needed to stay alive and that meant I couldn't die…yet.
Did I have a choice? That was the question I always seemed to fall back on. That was a stupid one at that. It was a question for cowards and that is something I wasn't. I wasn't afraid of death, or I shouldn't be. No, I have been staring at death; I have been seeing the edge ever since I was told of the prophecy. I knew now, that I wasn't afraid. I had a choice, but I wouldn't choose the coward way out.
I opened my eyes and looked around the room, we weren't alone anymore. I didn't know if that was a good or bad sign. I looked up in time to see…a shadow of a man and then another one. Sookie remained quiet as they stalked in the room and I looked up in time to see blue eyes locked on to mine.
He came…
Live to die another day. I can't tell you how true that is for me.
I fell into the blackness.
