Chapter 1 - Who likes surprises?
The world Vayne opened her eyes to was a blur, and for the first two blinks it seemed like a thinly woven veil had been placed over her eyes. By the third, it had cleared away. Her eyesight, now free of obstruction, was able to roam her surroundings slowly, picking up what little she could see from her position. She was flat on her back, and could only make out the top of a few pieces of furniture, a shelf and a chair, and two doors. All of this was unfamiliar to her.
She tried to move, to sit up so she could further investigate. But her body resisted her, her attempts to straighten herself manifested in pathetic lurches as she struggled to pull her body upwards - needless to say, she was met with failure.
She could feel the gentle firmness of a mattress below her and the fluff of a pillow below her head, as well as the thin protection of a blanket over her, but nothing else. No chains, no shackles. It was her own grogginess keeping her pinned.
Vayne inhaled deeply and attempted to sit up again, this time forcing herself to fight through whatever weak form of paralysis had overtaken her. She could feel it breaking as she took a sitting position.
It must have been a mistake to force herself to move so quickly, because she felt dizzy as soon as she was up right. She leaned forward holding her head in her hands hoping to stop her surroundings from spinning. She groaned aloud, and the movement of her mouth and the passing of her breath revealed to her just how dry her mouth truly was. It felt like she had slept with it wide open the entire night and that there were spider webs being spun in her throat.
Spider webs…..
Vayne's eyes widened and her body shot straight up the previous night's events slowly coming back to her.
She looked around the room with a new found urgency, but still it revealed nothing to her now that she could see more of it.
She checked herself next, kicking the blanket off of her and roaming her body with her eyes and hands. The clothes she wore were still her own, but there were a few items missing. Her boots, her arm guards, and of course, her weapons had been taken from her as well. Being without her gear made her feel almost naked. It was a feeling of vulnerability that rivaled the one she felt moments before Elise had sunk her fangs into her neck.
Vayne winced at the memory raising her hand to her neck to feel for the bite mark she knew would be left behind. However instead of feeling scarred flesh or even flesh at all, Vayne's hand was met with a silky patch that stuck to her skin.
Elise had bandaged her? Vayne initially doubted that Elise had it in her to perform any acts of kindness, but as of now it seemed the only possible explanation
Vayne continued to play with the strange bandage on her neck, running her fingers along the edge where it seemed to be spread more thinly to anchor itself to her neck sort of like a … oh.
Vayne made a sound of disgust as she realized what it exactly it was patching her neck. She had to force down the urge to rip the webbing from her skin but she resisted it. It served a purpose no matter how it made her skin crawl.
Vayne scooted herself to the edge of the bed and swung her legs off of it. She paused as her toes touched the floor, before she set her feet down onto it. She was surprised to not be met with the feeling of dust and other dirt pressing into her soles when she did so. She had this picture in her head that the home of a kidnapper would be decrepit, but going by this room alone the upkeep of the home was almost immaculate.
Vayne stood and once again looked around the room, this time searching for her boots or any of her other items that happened to be missing. Alas she saw nothing to be recovered and thus nothing to keep her in this room any longer. She had wasted enough time trying to get oriented, now she needed to try and escape. She moved quickly over the door and knelt before it, pressing her ear to the wood. She closed her eyes, and as she did so, listened closely for sounds that would let her know if the door was unsafe to open. All in all, she couldn't hear anything but the faint sounds of her own breathing and the steady beat of her heart. She leaned back from the door slightly while reaching for the handle, twisting it. She was a bit surprised to find that it was unlocked. She wondered briefly if it was overconfidence by her captor or that perhaps it was just a simple oversight. Either way she intended to make Elise pay for the mistake.
Vayne pushed the door open just enough to be able to peek out of it with her face pressed to the wood. The one side of the hall she could see looked clear. From her position she could see two more doors along the right wall, same as her own. She could see that the hall stretched onwards, her vision being cut by a turn in it that lead off to the right. What she could see to her left was a handrail and s a space between the wooden supports that led to a bit of a drop off, letting her know that she was on the second floor of this house. Slightly more confident that her room wasn't being watched Vayne pushed the door further open and peaked behind it and had her suspicions confirmed.
Perhaps Elise expected her to be unconscious longer. That was the only explanation Vayne had for this because otherwise she couldn't see any reason for her to have been left unattended She didn't have time to question her lackluster security however. She didn't know when Elise or whomever would be coming to check on her.
She had to move.
As soon as Vayne pushed the door open and stepped into the hall, she felt like she was stepping into a trap. She couldn't figure it out but for some reason it felt as though she were falling in line with steps that were previously planned out for her. The spider that skittered atop the banister before stopping before her and turning in her direction only solidified this feeling. Vayne kept her eyes on the spider as she moved down the hall towards the staircase, and it did the same to her. She wondered If Elise could see her through the spider's eyes or if it was her mind playing tricks on her.
She tried not to feel hurried while she moved down the stairs, she didn't want to let the fear cause her to move too quickly and get herself caught. As it was, when she reached the bottom floor she still saw no signs of life outside of the arachnid so she had no choice but to assume that she was in the clear. She moved towards the door and reached for the doorknob, hoping to find it unlocked. However she was never given the chance to find out because before her hand made contact with the knob she heard an all-too-familiar voice behind her.
"Leaving so soon? Without saying goodbye? My my, how...cliche."
A chill shot up Vayne's spine as she turned to lay eyes on, none other than Elise. The spider queen was standing atop the stairs leaning with her arms on the banister, hands folded together before her. She had confident grin, and Vayne was willing to wager that the woman was fixing her with a taunting gaze. She could only assume, however, because she couldn't see Elise's eyes; as the woman was wearing Vayne's very own opaque shades over her eyes. The shades only served to make Elise look even more like a smug prick. Vayne wondered if they looked the same when she wore them.
"Going with the flow now..."
Elise patiently prodded her long fingers against the length of her arms, continuing to stare straight down at Vayne.
"...This is the part where you glare at me in contempt. After that...you slowly resign yourself to the fact that I have you right where I want you."
Vayne didn't attempt to remove the sneer that had set upon her lip as Elise began to move down the stairs, shaded eyes glued to Vayne the entire way down.
"Not physically, not yet at least. But in your mind I know you feel trapped, and that's good enough for me."
She paused, seemingly for effect.
"The Door is unlocked by the way."
Vayne turned back to the door looking down at the knob, but she didn't reach for it. Another spider had settled onto the door, this one much larger than the one that had been sat upon the handrail. The arachnid that was in front of her larger than Vayne's hand, both hands put together even, and with the way it hovered around the knob let Vayne know that reaching for it might not be the smartest thing to do. Left with no escape, Vayne turned back to Elise, who had stopped about a foot away from her, taking up her glare once again. Elise's response to the look was to push her stolen shades back into place with her middle and ring finger.
"Where is the rest of my equipment...!?"
Vayne didn't actually expect to have the whereabouts of her items revealed to her, but she felt vulnerable without them so she had to ask.
"Here and...and hmmm.... there. Intact mind you, but as I've said before. I know what you do Vayne. Don't take me for a fool."
"For the time being I think I'll keep your toys hidden away from you. At least until I trust you are no longer dangerous."
She seemed to hold that thought for a moment, before fidgeting with the glasses once more.
"You can, however, have these back if you want."
Elise removed Vayne's shades from her eyes, holding them up for the Night Hunter. However the shades didn't interest Vayne. She was more interested - or really insulted - by how harmless Elise thought her to be.
"What makes you think I need my weapons to be a threat to you?" Vayne muttered bitterly.
"I don't like repeating myself Shauna, But I'll say it again. I know what you do. I've seen you kill plenty with your silver bolts, I've yet to see you replicate that feat with your fist."
Elise sounded confident, but she was in the same boat as Vayne, as a human the woman was a mage flinging magic meant to weaken her opponents to open them up to her much more potent bite as a spider. Vayne knew that Elise could make the swap from human to spider effortlessly and within seconds and that she didn't stand much chance in a fight with Elise, but with the spider queen less than a foot away now, this was the only chance she saw at a possible escape.
Vayne's response to Elise came without words, instead she stepped forward and shot her left arm out aiming to shove her palm into Elise's nose hoping to disorient her. However her hand never made contact, or at least not with its intended target. Elise used her own palm to easily brush Vayne's hand off its intended course, before locking onto her wrist and pulling Vayne forward. Shauna felt her arm being bent at the elbow, and her forward momentum suddenly being stopped before she was twisted, and shoved forward again, this time being painfully into the door. The contact knocked the wind out of her.
"I'll make the calculated assumption that you are no masochist Shauna."
Vayne gasped for breath and tried to push off of the door, she was rewarded for her efforts by Elise pushing shoving her harder against the door.
"So," Elise continued, flatly, as though nothing had happened. "I'd like to not have to treat you like one. I don't want to hurt you, but that doesn't mean I won't hurt you if you keep trying my patience... Night Hunter." Vayne could hear Elise's voice coming closer and closer to her ear, and she could feel the woman pressing into her, but it was impossible for Vayne to press into the door any closer. Being sandwiched like this was making it hard for her to breath. She wasn't claustrophobic, but she was started to understand fear of tight spaces.
"Do I make myself clear?"
Vayne took another sharp breath before trying to respond. "Fuck y-."
Vayne was cut off by her own exclamation of pain as Elise yanked her arm upwards in a way that had Vayne convinced that her shoulder had just been dislocated.
"Do I make myself clear?" Elise's voice came out in a hiss as her words were whispered directly into Vayne's ear. Her tone was dangerous, one that let her know that anything other than compliance would be met with more violence.
"Crystal."
Elise held Vayne's arm still even after that. It was as if she were deciding whether or not she liked Vayne's tone. Shauna guessed it was the latter because she felt Elise's free hand in her hair a second later, giving it a harsh yank and pulling it back exposing her throat. Elise pressed her nose into the uninjured side of Vayne's neck inhaling deeply.
"Hmm, I don't think you are fully appreciating my hospitality."
Vayne shivered and instantly changed her tune. "I understand, okay?"
There was another long pause before Elise pressed the side of Vayne's face back into the door roughly, patting her on the head gently before pushing off of the Night Hunter.
"Good. Now follow me. I have a... surprise for you."
Vayne slowly stepped away from the door, gingerly rubbing at her shoulder.
She didn't like surprises.