My head throbbing woke me before I was ready to even be awake. The bright lights in my face burned my eyes as I began opening them.
How long had I been here and where was I?
I tried to move, but my wrists were firmly anchored to the wooden support beam in the ceiling. My arms burned with the need for circulation, my shoulders twitched and ached from holding my dead weight in one position for who knew how long.
I took slow, steady breaths through my nose and tried not to think of the itching area under the tape around my mouth.
I thought back to my last conscious memory, of Zinnia standing over me and the strong punch she had laid on my head. Was she here? Were there others?
What could she possibly want with me? I was the weakest in the group, and no one even knew that I was gone. Perhaps I was going to be a bargaining chip.
I tried to move again, anything that would soothe my sore limbs and enable me to get out. I kicked at a nearby table, but nothing was there, and I only made noise by knocking it over. Great, now she'd know I was awake.
I heard movement above me, which meant the place I was in had at least two stories, and based on the fact that the floor was concrete, I guessed this was a basement.
Even brighter light shone down on me as a door opened at the top of the stairs I hadn't been able to see before. Zinnia stepped into the room, wearing clothes that represented a much older time.
She had been planning, waiting for this, for a long time.
"Good, you're awake," she signed with her hands, then snatched the tape off my face.
"Zinnia, please, whatever it is you want, we can find a way around this. Isn't it enough, all the people you've killed?" I asked her.
She turned slowly from where she was, giving me a look so fierce, so angry and hateful, that I wished I hadn't said anything at all.
"No," she angrily signed, "it's not enough! You humans destroy everything. Nature, the planet, even your own kind. Anything that's different from you, you kill it." "That's not everyone, Zinnia-"
She jumped forward and punched my injured side, bringing forth a gutteral, combined scream and cry. I felt the blood begin to drip from under the bandage and soak into my clothes. Pain radiated throughout my hip, back and abdomen.
I bit my lip hard to stop the tears that welled up in response. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
"Those murderers that you sought out for help will die," she signed, once I looked back up at her, "They will pay for every drop of blood they spilled with my family. I've waited three hundred years for this day."
"Why after all this time?" I grunted, "Why now? You could have proven your point decades ago! The people you killed here didn't deserve it."
"I could never be sure of their position, they're an elusive bunch. They were harboring their young until they grew up all this time, but I will hunt down each and every one of them." She signed, a dark smile coming over her face.
She already had a taste for their blood, and my friends as well. They needed to get out of the line of fire.
"What was the whole point of bringing me here?!" I asked angrily, "I won't do anything for you!"
"Oh, but you will," she motioned, "Killing you will bring the fury of your friends. Don't worry, it won't be quick."
With that, she headed back to the stairs and disappeared behind the door.
~Theo POV~
"I don't give one single fuck about what new fact you found, I want to find Cassia!" I snarled at the bunch of idiots in front of me.
I had gone and woken up everyone hours before, directly after the video had found its way to my phone. I was panicked, and everyone seemed worried, but I felt their need to distract me hitting like bullets.
"Theo," Cora said, somewhat softly, "This thing has been hiding out for months, and we haven't found it once besides when it was out and about. We're going to do everything, but without any hints, our chances of finding her...are slim."
"You don't seem to understand. We have to find her. If I have to go without you guys, I will. She can't die, not like this. I refuse to let her."
Their expressions angered me beyond words, making me want to wage war on each of them. "I think this thing knew we were planning to attack." Liam said then, "Why else would it have timed it so perfectly? Tomorrow was the day, and now she's got Cassia. She knows that we won't sacrifice her on purpose."
"We won't be sacrificing her at all!" I yelled, "You tried every which way to save this creature, but you are giving up on your friend! You've actually begun to disgust me."
"We're not giving up on her," Cora replied icily, "we will find her, but none of us, including you, can afford to fuck it up, even a little bit. We are a slave to this creature's wishes, or we will lose her. Now calm down."
I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair, willing myself not to lose it. I hadn't fallen to pieces in front of these guys before, and I wasn't about to start, but the thought of Cassia suffering to this creature's hand...made me want to kill it all the more.
I glimpsed at the shiny golden arrows on the doctor's desk. They had been brought here so that we could make sure the creature didn't find them. If it took our only line of defense, there was no saving Beacon Hills or it's people.
I snapped out of my daze when, simultaneously, all of our phones began going off with messages.
From the look on everyone's faces, I knew they had received what I had: another video message. Dreading the act, I punched the open button, and the others followed suit.
There she was again.
My Cassia, bound up, but this time, the tape was gone. My stomach roiled and my eyes brightened in anger as I watched her face scrunch up in pain, and I saw why.
Her side was exposed, and raw again. Recently fresh blood was caked and dried on her skin and torn clothes, the bandage nowhere in sight. Her wrists, still tied to where I'd seen them previously that early morning, were raw also. Her hair was glued to her face with sweat, and she looked so hurt and tired...
"Guys," she croaked, just loud enough for the microphone to pick up on whatever device the creature was using for her to talk to us through.
"Cassia," Cora said, worry colored her voice.
Cassia cleared her throat, "Guys, you can't search for me. You won't find me." She went on, looking into the camera, "She's telling me what to say, please, listen to her, okay?"
Like hell.
"She says there is a way to save the town, but only if you abide by her rules. First, she wants you to surrender all weapons of gold. She says to place them outside of the hospital, in the dumpster where she'll retrieve them. Second, she wants the location of the Dorados."
She gulped, breathing heavily.
"You have twenty-four hours."
And just like that, the video stopped and left us all breathless.
"Twenty-four hours," Liam whispered, "If we don't get these things done, she's going to kill Cassia."
I actually felt tears well up in my eyes, but swallowed hard and shook my head. I walked over and grabbed the four golden arrows.
"Where is the spear?" I demanded. "We can't just give them to her!" Liam cried, "If we do that, you know as well as I do that she's not going leave the people of Beacon Hills alive! We have to find a way to hide at least one thing."
"I don't give a shit about any of those people, or about any of you," I said fiercely, "but I am going to save Cassia. Where. Is. The spear."
Liam stared at me, a sullen, accepting look on his face. "Now I know for sure." He said.
"What?" I asked.
"You truly love her. Do you have any intentions of telling her?" "As soon as I get her out of that damned hellhole she's currently in, I will."
"Okay, here's the plan." Liam said after a pause, "We hide one arrow. A single arrow. That means we only get one shot. We take the other three, the spear and the little remaining dust to the dumpster, make it appear that we've surrendered. Two of us will take care of that, the rest will search for Cassia, using scent, vision, whatever you have to."
"How are we going to do this without alerting her? Who's to say she won't discover our plan and kill Cass before we get there?" Cora said.
"Corey and Mason will take the arrow, go invisible and walk to Argent's house. If she can't see the arrow, she won't know we have it. Once we have her where we want her, Argent will take the shot and hopefully, kill the creature."
"Mason," Cora said, taking one of the arrows from my arm and handing it to him, "be careful. Cassia is depending on us. Beacon Hills, and the Dorados, are counting on us."
He nodded, then took Corey's outstretched hand. We watched them melt into the background and heard them exit the door. After that, they were alone.
"Now our part for the night. We have to find Cassia, and hope she's not already dead."
**Thanks for reading! Hope you're all enjoying!**