Chapter 3
The black van drove in near silence over the concrete roads surrounding my home. My hands were cuffed together and the cuff was secured to the wall of the back of a van. The van had seats cutting off my view of the front.
I was sitting in the very back like an animal, getting rocked and slammed into walls or the row of seats when the van moved. It was degrading, and angering. I suddenly didn't care if I lived or died. My father's last words to me echoed, "you will not lose yourself. You will not lose who you are. And you will not let them take it from you. Promise me Victoria."
I never broke promises.
The van rocked and I was slammed forward, the cuffs preventing me from face slamming a wall but they painfully strained my arms back. I winced and brought my knees under me.
"God," I prayed in a nearly inaudible whisper, "let them kill me. Let them kill me and set me free, then go rot in hell where they belong."
The van rocked again and I jerked, getting thrown into the seats.
For hours it continued like this, getting thrown and rocked and tossed about by the van, the driver apparently paying no heed to the girl in the back chained to a wall with nothing to hold her steady but handcuffs and her own arms.
After seemingly days of being bounced around, cuffed and in pain, the car finally came to a screeching stop. This had the added effect of throwing me into the seats then back into the back of the van giving me a few new bruises.
The back of the van opened showing the mercilessly cold looking men glaring down at me. One grabbed my shoulders and the other reached around to undo the chains locking me to the van.
I saw my chance.
My foot, well aimed and fast, harshly slammed into the nearest guy's nuts. He was big, he was tough, he probably could have broken my neck, but he wasn't invincible. He crumpled holding his balls panting heavily. Before the other could react my foot had slammed across his jaw and I shoved him down making a run for the road away from the van.
I leapt, bringing my feet through my cuffed arms and continued running struggling to attempt to undo the lock.
A strong hand closed around my forearm and I was abruptly, the speed of the action causing my neck to ache with whiplash.
I was brought abruptly to face the lead man, his suit ruffled and pants apparently dirty from chasing me.
A spark lit up in my chest seeing him standing there, black hair gathered back at a ponytail by the nape of his neck. The spark steadily grew, fueled by confusion and vengeance staring at the familiar face.
"What did you turn into?" I snarled spitting at him.
The man's eyes darted away for a fraction of a second but the same emotionless expression was plastered on, "you were a lot more shy back then. I think I'll miss that."
I glared venomously at my childhood hero. The boy who had saved me had turned himself into a monster.
His grip on my arm tightened and he turned both of us, dragging me back towards the large manor that stood at the end of the road surrounded by pines. Mountains stood in a large concave dome around the manor, a wall of mountain tops behind it. Five, thick based trees stood tall around the manor. Gods they were huge. They had to be hundreds, maybe thousands of years old.
I was shoved inside and I staggered to catch my balance. I whipped around to face my enemies, keeps my knees bent and my feet based. Nervous habit I suppose.
My new "master" walked in after me locking his fist around my forearm and dragging me again. He shoved me into a brightly lit room and I felt my blood run cold.
I'd never seen my father's branding chamber. I was always thankful for that. I has seen my mother's brand often. It stood just below her collarbone over her right breast, a simple bird shape.
The room looked like a hospital room with white walls and a tiled floor. a furnace roared on one end of the room, an iron rod protruded from it. The look was complete with a white hospital bed with iron manacles hanging off it.
What scared me was the pure simplicity of it. And the brown stains littering the table's surface, the worn look of the manacles. Clearly this room had been used before, but not necessarily for branding.
My legs didn't allow me to move. My "master" grabbed me and dragged me forward shoving me down on the hospital bed.
Halfway to the bed my "fight or flight" reactions threw my body into motion. I flailed, I screamed, I bit, I kicked I did anything I could to escape. It was all in vain. I was strapped face down to the table, dress being dragged up to expose my lower back and hip bone. I could barely move once the rest of the restraints were put on.
I heard the sizzle of iron being lifted from the furnace. My whole body tensed.
A finger traced lightly over my hip bone in a circle and I braced myself for the pain.
I felt heat radiate onto my skin just over my right hip. I sucked in a breath as it was pressed down.
Have you ever been burned? Say touched an oven with an uncovered part of your body, or brushed a stove top with your bare skin? The pain isn't immediate. It wells up, your cells scream at you and you lurch back, feeling a tingly, needle stabbing pain that spreads through the limb in question. Then the pain is searing, getting steadily worse. Your limb becomes shaky and the burn becomes itchy and red and blisters. The itching becomes a steady, lingering, throbbing stab. Imagine that but about twenty times worse.
My back arched with the blinding shot of needles through my torso all centered on my right hip. I screamed silently, breath forced from my lungs. I heaved empty air
Ice was forced on the burn and it first ignited then stunned then numbed the pain. I slumped, beads of sweat rolling down my forehead. The steady ache began on my hip, a dull throb rising to a needle sharp stab that seemed to penetrate clear through my body.
I slumped, feeling the exhaustion. I couldn't fight. Not like this, in pain and barely able to move, exhausted and was probably going to pass out after I stood.
The restraints were removed and someone dragged me out of the room. I could barely focus my eyes, let alone resist.
Silently I prayed that this was the end of it.
My gaze traveled down my exposed body to a bloody red, blistering, burnt corner of my hip. In the center of it was a rose in blackened flesh. The rose was the only clear form able to be made out among the redness.
Hey guys!
Over Due chapter, the end's kinda detailed. Sorry -. So sorry this took so much time, but I think it's a pretty good chapter! School's insane. Review, as always! Love you all!
~HellanTroy