Today I took my mom shopping. As in, she got some nice clothes that she had no excuse to not wear because they aren't her expensive 'special occasions only' wear.
I'm so proud :3

On with the gruesome, horribly sadistic story that some of you love and others are totally scared of.

Enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. I do not have red hair.

The days blurred into nights, becoming minutes, seconds, hours, years. My hands had long since lost feeling and my body warmth. My body burned, begged to lie down, be fed, maybe get a drink.

But I refused to speak.

I knew depriving me of food and water was another tactic Victor created to try to get me to ask for something. And then he'd probably only give me food if I did what he wanted me to do so… what was the point in making him happy with gracing him with my lovely voice? At this point, though, it was probably only going to be a scratchy, uncomprehendable noise. And in all of Victor's chatter, there was not a drop to hint the name nor whereabouts of the person I was suffering so much for.

A light scuffling above me indicated I was in for another round. Everyday was like this. I would be left alone for god knows how long to sleep, recuperate, whatever, and then they would all come down. I would get beaten, cut, burned. My limbs would be pinched and clamped with almost unbearable pressure. Even whips. The whole shebang. Honestly, I didn't think I could bleed out anymore. But sure enough, with every new cut or every old cut reopened, blood spilled out, filling the room with a cold, metallic like smell. This is what I imagined slaughter houses to be like. Blood, blood, everywhere but not a drop to spare.

At some points, I think I lost consciousness from the pain. But maybe it was just wishful thinking, my mind wandering to what it might be like to leave the torture for just a moment. And, of course, it was always just a moment because I would be soon awakened with ice water, adding to my already frozen limbs. Each time I would try to claim a few drops with my tongue but it was never enough. Sandpaper tongue.

I could feel myself giving up, not on my silence but on life. Nothing held me here. Only sometimes did I remember I needed information, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. Not even for something so important. My spite was too big. My only hope was that Adrian and Abe and Dimitri would find out where I was in time to beat it out of Victor. Too bad I probably wouldn't even be alive to see it. Maybe hell would be merciful on me to watch from some paranormal state. Maybe I was already in hell, doomed to relive this again and again. For eternity. The thought made me swear to be nicer to people for now on, anything to avoid such a fate. Psh, what am I thinking? I'm Rose Badass Hathaway. Not Rose Kindass Hathaway. Fire enveloped again, chastising me.

My mind kept wandering away, coming up with pretty forest pictures. Peaceful lakes. Sometimes just blank canvas. But a voice always accompanied. It was soft, kind but always in a hurry. It would always leave so soon, leaving me alone to suffer in this world. It whispered reassurances that it was coming. I was hard pressed to believe it, seeing as there had been no mercy on me. If God was on his way, why the hell was he taking so long? Guess that's what I got for abusing my Sundays sleeping in and using them as excuses to see Lissa. Karma. What a bitch.

A stinging sensation across my stomach pulled me out of reprieve. "Rose. Would you like a glass of water?" I ignored him, my head lolling forward. "How about if I let you down and let you sleep on the bed? I got a comforter brought down for you. Just ask and it's yours." Oh so tempting. But no. I'd rather you went to hell. We can hang out together. Best buds forever. "How about I sate that curiousity of yours? I tell you a certain name, you give me a certain sentence? I'll have to kill you of course but, you already knew that." My curiousity was indeed peaked but I didn't think acting like I was interested was really going to help. Plus, I don't think I had much neck muscle control. I tried lifting my head. No go. A hand jerked it up for me. Victor's hand of course. His nails lightly grazed my cheek, sending pain rippling through it. I stared blankly at him. "Hmm? How about I told you anyways? You'll owe me afterwards." A laugh slipped through my lips, surprising both Victor and me. "Is that funny?" My first speakage in… I dunno, days? Weeks? He wasn't too pleased with it I guess since I was feeling the all too familiar flesh tingling hotness on the back on my ankle. Still, I nodded. No tears escaped anymore. Not enough water to spare.

Now, this was just too ironic to let past. Maybe it wasn't but I was too far gone to care. And at least my few choice words would probably piss him off or something. "I," I managed to choke out, "freed you from jail." I swallowed hard, my throat not used to such things. "You owe me." I think that last little bit of speech used up all of my strength. I sagged a bit more, my head leaning into Victor's repulsive hand.

He nodded. "Very true." He breathed deeply for a moment, his face thoughtful. "Alright. After I tell you, we'll be even and you will have to abide by our deal." He smiled, like it was actually going to get me to do something he wanted. Well, I guess I spoke… My eyes flinted closed fractionally. "You know that cute little girl? Ji-" He was cut off by a sudden loud thumping, rushing towards us, shaking the roof and sending dust down into my hair. Why is it when things start going right for me, something goes wrong?

My eyes gave up, closing on me to protect them from the dust. I tried opening them again but only got slits. First they flicked to Victor who dropped my head with a shocked and… scared? look on his face. The others quickly positioned themselves in front of him, preparing to attack the unknown threat, hot pokers, knives and whips at the ready. Hell, one of them held an awl. I held back a laugh at the hilarity of it all. It was so… medieval looking. Maybe this was all just another trick of my mind, easing me into my perish. Obviously, Victor killed me before he told me anything of importance. Maybe that was just a scene made by wishful thinking… I had to be dreaming, dead even, for when the door flew open with a crash, I saw a face that I hadn't thought I'd see again. A face I had been prepared to leave with mere memories. But, even in a dream, I was drinking in the features. I recalled the way it felt to be kissed by those lips, now held in an angry grimace, to be held by those arms, now bulging under a golden tan. I waited to feel the eyes, the luscious brown eyes, sweep over me like they always did but they didn't. They never even looked at me as he charged in, beating everything that moved to a pulp. Disappointment weighted me down.

Instead, I was lowered from my wall by smaller hands attached to thinner, yet still defined, arms and a slimmer frame. I was slowly placed on the ground, resting on my back as Adrian's face hovered worriedly over mine. His hand gently caressed my face where there were no injuries. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry we didn't make it sooner."

I ignored whatever nonsense he was saying and instead used whatever I had left in me to croak, "Lissa. Sister." I took a scorching breath. I needed this. "Name. Victor."

His eyes flicked away from mine for a second before answering, "We'll get that, if Dimitri doesn't kill him first…" His eyes slowly raked over my body and became much more shinier as they filled with tears. "Oh, God. I can't believe…" His voice started to crack so he stopped talking, instead putting his arms under me and slowly scooped me into his arms. I let out a moan as it shifted everything, causing everything to feel as if it was being staked and electrocuted. "Sorry, sorry." I closed my eyes, willing sleep or death to take over to stop this unending pain, even in the arms of someone I loved. Finally, everything was gone and I was floating in soft, fluffy nothingness.

XXX

I woke to such a mysterious yet familiar sighting. The white ceiling of a hospital. That sterile smell, filling my nostrils, didn't burn on its way down. Too soon, the rest of my body became conscious and started throbbing in places I didn't even know I had. I let out a moan and closed my eyes again, trying to will it all away again. The lights, the beeping, the pain. I want the good old oblivion back. It's so much better than reality. The only thing good here was that it was warm.

But it all stayed and when I finally gave up, I moved my arm up give my aching face a rub. Instead, I felt a gentle pressure, moving my arm back down. I opened my eyes to see a smiling Russian God above me. "You'll rip your tubes out and we don't want to die from blood loss again."

I raised my eyebrows, winced as pain shot across my face, lowered them and asked, "Again?'

"Well, you didn't technically die, but you were close to it. And you were deeply dehydrated. Good thing you were only there for a week before we found you." Only a week? It felt likes years. "Did you know we had charged four other houses before we found you?" I chuckled at the thought of a gazillion burly men running into the living rooms of oblivious civilians eating dinner. Even that little motion sent me wincing. Dimitri's smile left to be replaced with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I was burned, whipped, beaten and cut. Of course I'm okay," I said sarcastically. Idiot.

His face softened. "Guess that's right. You want some pain meds? It'll put you to sleep again… Not that you don't deserve it for being such an impulsive idiot."

As tempting as the offer was, and as much as I loved it when Dimitri got angry at me, I still needed some information. "Did you get the name?"

He nodded. "Jill Mastrano. Lives in Denver with her mom during breaks. Someone's going to inform her and do all the necessary proceedings." Jill? Woah. I never would have guessed that but I guess she did have green eyes, though much paler than Lissa's.

"Did you kill him?"

"No, sadly. He's in critical care right now though. Heavily guarded," he added at seeing my stricken expression. "After he can breathe on his own, he's off to jail." I let out a sigh of relief. "And as soon as most of your injuries are healed, you can get out too. Nothing was too serious after the whole blood loss and dehydration. You had some third degree burns, a couple broken ribs etcetera. But Lissa and Adrian managed to heal or at least help all the bad stuff." I nodded, not wanting to speak. If I did, I was going to burst into tears. "They avoided all the main arteries so there's no damage there. You'll be pretty stiff and sore for a while but you'll heal. And you'll have some pretty awesome scars." He tried to say it to make me feel better but his completely distraught expression kind of ruined it. His hand found mine and I gripped onto it.

I smiled slightly but it hurt my cheek too much. "Am I still a convict?"

"Sadly, yes. We don't know who the real murderer is yet."

"Wait? What?" my voice rising, needing to be heard, "Victor's the murderer, dipwad. Told me himself."

"Well, we'll have to wait for him to go on trail then," he said softly. Maybe he was surprised, but he didn't show it. "They're not just going to take the word of the escaped criminal who was going to be found guilty on that case."

I closed my eyes briefly. I wasn't in a state to think this all through. I just needed one more thing answered. "Was it a drunken kiss?"

Silence. I didn't look at his face. I didn't want to see it saying how he was so hammered he probably would have gotten in anyone's pants. "No. I still love you. But the alcohol did lower my walls in letting you know."

"Okay, that's all I needed to know. Press the happy button."

School for me starts in a week. I want to have this finished by then because I have no idea how often I'll be able to update. God knows how much homework I'll get this year. But if you guys reallllly want me to keep it going, then I'll have to update weeklyish instead of well, daily(ish). And I have no idea what kind of plot to keep going with after this besides the obvious. So, now that you all know what's happening and I've got the main plot attacked and killed, any ideas on how to keep it moving forward? Just a little?

Did you know that my older brother's name is Victor? Yeah. And here I am writing about a Victor being an evil sadistic bastard. I bet if he ever started reading my writing on my computer he'd be all "Um, Darla, I wasn't aware that you thought about me like this. I mean, you've been in your fair share of head locks and been upside down for hours but… really?" And then I'd be in another head lock, a head lock I've managed to avoid for quite a few years now…

And I guess this is a little late (my fault) but…

CondomAtTheCrimeScene:

With Jas I would hurt him slowly… I would drip acid
on him little by little and snip little pieces of him off then put it in a
tub of acid and once he is all human goop feed him to the pigs.

Scary. I do not wish to take Jas's place

Review or Darla will be sad D: