Chapter 2

"Now, Moonblood kid... Do as we say, and the old woman will stay alive for a while longer." A man dressed in black demanded, pushing a kunai knife against my Grandmother's throat.

I was paralyzed with fear and anger. I could barely breathe. I felt like everything was covered with mist, the objects around me were blurry and unrecognizable. My feet felt like they were melting, my knees were bending and my hips were unable to bear the weight of my body. I gasped and covered my mouth with a shaking hand.

"This is not happening. This is a bad dream, just a dream... "I thought.

The man in the mask was getting impatient.

"Hey, kid, snap out of this or I'll slice her head off right now!" he growled.

I finally managed to gather my thoughts together.

"What's going on?!" I wanted to yell, but whispered instead.

"Did you just say something, you little brat?" the man on the right of the door wondered.

I started getting angry.

"What the hell is going on?!?" I screamed like never before.

"Now that's more like it," the kunai man grinned. "Just follow our instructions and you and your worthless bag of dirt that you call Grandmother will not be harmed. Now, will you cooperate, you slug?"

"No! Grandmother, what do I do?!" I wanted to kill those men. Here and now. But it is obvious that they will outplay me - they are stronger, smarter, there are a lot of them, and those bastards got Grandmother.

"Anita... Don't rush anything, just do as they say and we will be all right..." Grandmother whispered.

"But Grandmother..."

"Do you want this b die or what?!?" the kunai man was getting mad. He might as well kill both of us right now if I don't act.

My chest was going up and down, as I breathed heavily.

"Fine." I cut short. "What do you want from me?"

"Good girl. Now listen: Go up to your Granny's room and get to the table beside her bed. Pull out the bottom; you hear it, BOTTOM knob. There will be a small rosewood box in the far right corner of it. Open it, take out whatever you find in there and take it up here. TAKE EVERYTHING YOU'LL FIND IN THERE. If I find out that you took something out without showing me first, you and your little Granny will die."

I was puzzled. Grandmother's room? Rosewood box? And how did he know the directions? Something is way, way not right...

"Now, Aki, you will go with the brat and make sure she does as I said!" the man that held Grandmother ordered.

A man to the left of the door slowly moved towards me. He moved quietly, every step was greeted by cold and frightening silence.

"Just like the lions do when hunting..." I thought.

"Move it." he growled, and pushed me towards the stairs.

I barely made it on my shaking legs up to the second floor.

"Ninja..." I thought with disgust. "What kind of ninja am I, shaking like a newborn kitten?"

"Will you hurry it up?" Aki moaned.

I couldn't help it. It was like a nightmare I will never wake up from.

"A nightmare? This? Ha, your 'nightmare' just begun, Moonblood..." the man chuckled. "NOW HURRY IT UP!"

Was he reading my thoughts?

Finally, I made it to Grandmother's room. I solemnly walked to the table an pulled the bottom knob shaped like some wonderland flower.

But there was nothing in there.

No rosewood box, nothing. Thick layer of dust covered the bottom of it.

"There... There is nothing in there, sir." I said. Great. Now they will kill me.

"What?!?" Aki jumped up to the table and knocked me away from it.

"It can't be... It can't be..." he whispered, carefully checking the rest of the table, cursing and swearing. "Damn it... Let's go, kid. MOVE IT, I SAID!" he pushed me towards the stairs.

The kunai man glared at me with hatred. I shivered.

"Hand it in, Moonblood."

"I don't have 'it'" I smirked.

"WHAT?"

"There was nothing in there."

"You better explain yourself..."

Aki man came down, soundless as before.

"Now, Bato. The kid is right, there is no rosewood box. Although I noticed that the layer of dust in the far right corner is somewhat thinner than the rest... Looks like somebody took it before us a while earlier."

"But no one can even touch it unless he or she is a Moonblood and unless it's..."

"Listen, Bato, let's just shut up and take the kid to the boss. It's the best we can do for now."

"And the old woman?"

"Keep her. The kid won't listen to us unless her life is endangered, trust me." Aki chuckled. "Hey, little brat, looks like you are coming with us." he said.

I felt something hit me in the neck and fell down unconscious, almost happy to let go the weight off my legs.

"Ahhhhh..."

I finally woke up. I was cuddled up on the floor, and shivering because of cold... Did I fell from the bed again?

I rubbed my eyes with my icy hands and tried to lift my head. Hell, it felt like it weights a ton! I carefully touched my neck, for it felt like a snake was slithering around it, it felt so cold and heavy...

Oh my god.

It was a metal ring. An enormous metal ring. A metal ring wrapped around my neck.

"Wha... Why?" I felt scared and cold.

I somehow managed to get up and look around.

"Where in the world..." I whispered.

I was inside a cage. Thick metal bars, every one of them as big in diameter as a palm of my hand surrounded me. I touched the ring on my neck again; my thin and shaking fingers found a chain attached to the side of it. I turned around, and noticed another ring around my left ankle.

I was chained to a wall.

Both rings were too big for me though. I could easily slip them away, what I tried to do, but...

"If I was you, I wouldn't do it." I heard a familiar voice.

Aki?

Memories of today (or was it today?) flashed inside my head.

Grandmother, at the edge of death. A group of men with masks. A missing rosewood box. A tranquilizing dart in my neck.

I have been kidnapped.

I growled, and started to take off the ring on my neck.

"Kid, I mean it, don't do it. All of us will die, including you."

"What is going on?! Why am I chained up in a giant cage?! Where is Grandmother?!" I yelled furiously, my eyes filling up with tears.

"We will explain everything to you later. Now relax, and enjoy the view..." He said, opening the curtains on an enormous window right in front of me. He chuckled and left.

I growled and looked around.

I was inside of some sort of... castle? The walls as well as the floor were made of stone. It was cold and wet; the walls were green of fungus. And it stinks... Of what?

The smell was sour, fresh, and somewhat metal. But it was not the rusty bars, it was something else, something that made my head dizzy and my blood boil...

Blood.

It was the smell of blood and death. This place was filled up with its odour, crawling up my nostrils and making me fall down once again.

I fell on something soft and wet, hearing a loud 'smack!' as my head hit the floor.

I shrieked and jumped away in horror as I opened my eyes and glanced at what I was lying on.

The corner of my cage was filled with giant chunks of meet. It was quite fresh... Streams blood run across the door, several rats already feasting on them. Disgusting sound of flies buzzing around the stinking mass of flesh made me throw up.

"What is that place?

Why am I here?

Why do they keep me like some sort of animal?" I thought, crying and sobbing loudly, my limbs numb and my head getting heavy again.

The sun was slowly starting go set, leaving me in the room of dark and horror.