Chapter Fourteen:
Will waited until we both heard multiple footsteps outside the door and then cracked his neck as the door swung open, and released the equally large knife. It slit through the air with ease and it's own purpose.
I set my eyes on Will; fierce determination making my eyes glow bright in the dark room alighted with witch light. The knife slid through my suspended thigh as I pulled myself higher up with a grunt so I could wrap my wet with blood, palms further onto the metal cuffs. Both my legs burned as the fire began, then spread throughout my veins, the blades magic assaulting my bloodstream, making my heart rate speed up.
"That's all you got panther." My voice was dead, the cold Tessa was taking over, the one I had spent so long to get back.
Will's eyes flashed as he sprang forward practically hovering over the ground, he pulled out his personal blade from his belt and dragged it along and bulging muscles causing a pain to spread to my aching upper forearm muscles.
He stood back concealing his shock as I only furthered my pain by digging my hands further into the metal, I wouldn't be surprised to find out I had hit bone. "I say we try that again." My lips twitched up in a smirk as he narrowed his eyes at me and stepped forward, inches away from me; glaring face to face. I hide my slight fear well.
"Why did you come to London?"
My nose twitched as cocked my head to my right side before looking into the old mans un-shocked eyes and spit my blood at his feet. He smirked and stepped forward "She came to London because she's is training, isn't that right Maji?"
I let confusion seep through my eyes as I regarded him, my eyebrows creased as "Try again."
He smiled a vicious warriors smile greedy for blood and stepped closer to me, placing his hand on Will's shoulder, Will moved to make room for him and he took his knife out of his belt and twirled it in his hands and vicious unyielding glint in his eyes. He wanted revenge; he held rage and hatred inside him.
"Don't do this." It was the firs time I begged. His smiled widened with confidence; he misunderstood. "Make him stop, I don't want to kill him!" I begged the Enclave with held no response, no sympathy.
The old man ripped open my torso with his knife and I knew exactly what he was going to do. He would carve the old symbol into me, the symbol that was the only one of there magic that could really hurt us. Forgotten knowledge. Knowledge that could kill me.
My breathing came hard as I pulled myself up as high as my forearms allowed me to go in my cuffs and let myself fall, shocked gasps filling the room as I fell a few feet before the metal cuffs cut deep into my wrists, slicing into my skin.
The old man blinked shocked and stepped back unsure again before I opened my eyes again and they showed no mercy, the last phase was complete. My Maji was showing through; I felt power coarse through my veins like I had never imagined before and felt so strong. The old man stuck out fast aiming at my torso.
"Stop!" He froze; back hunched just slightly his arm extended mere inches from my torso. Fury raged in his eyes as I my hands throbbed.
"Please." Tessa leaked through as my mind compulsion slipped away, I closed my eyes tears running down my face "I will not kill him, I will not, I will not kill him, I will not." I repeated over and over again as his blade struck my flesh al reasoning fled from my mind and the Maji returned. I speed up the cuffs erosion process; turning them to a rusty dust pile, I landed calmly on my feet sending flames through my legs from where both blades were impacted in my skin. I struck my hand straight out at the old man his body flying through the air and slamming into the wall ten feet high, he was suspended in the air.
He glared at me right to the end with hatred in his eyes. I forced the Maji down inside me releasing him carefully on his feet. I pushed my back against the wall and pulled out the two blades without flinched only making the fire spread hotter and further.
He studied me gravely while guards restrained me a little hesitant to touch me. "I'm sorry." I told him, unable to look him in the eyes.
"What are you?" He asked me while the guards gripped my burning gouged wrists.
I lifted unemotional eyes to him and spoke slowly tipping around any thing too dangerous "If I knew I would tell you." That erupted gasps from everyone but Will and the old man.
"Can you even tell the difference between your lies and the truth?" He spat at me.
"You know exactly who you are Tessa." Will said softly but hard at the same time. I did; but that didn't mean I would tell them. Maji's lived all over this world, dormant and active and we liked it this way, if I just told them everything. I would have to call Dominus; who would call his friends and their whole race would be whipped out. Dominus was not the forgiving type and he was just simmering with rage, waiting for as many dormant Maji's to awaken to he can seize control again.
"Kill her." The old man spat at me and turned to leave. The Enclave hurried after him telling Will not to do anything until Charlotte came back.
"Come here." His eyes had softened and he looked worried for a moment. He pulled off the top of a brown bottle sitting on the table and drenched both my hands in the stinging, foaming liquid. "Brother Enoch wont heal you, but maybe I can convince them to let me take you to a doctor."
"They'll heal." The words tumbled out before I could stop them and Will looked at me with a million questions in his eyes.
"Why can't you just tell us…anything?" He ripped his shirt in his anger roughly but when he wrapped it around my hands and wrists he was gentle. The fabric was soft and warm, and ironically enough it felt so good against the burning of all my exposed flesh.
"What do you want to know?" I asked him as he ripped another piece of his shirt and tied it around my other hand. I could feel the skin already pulling back together again as the wounds too began to heal.
He looked at me intensely with a look in his eyes like he wanted to say something but closed up on me and asked, "What are you?"
I looked down at my hands with the cloth around them and smiled fondly at it. I caressingly dragged my finger across the soft fabric and sighed again, warm tears running down my face.
"Why were you purposely hurting yourself?"
I whipped my eyes with the back of my hand flinching at the pain it caused just to move them in the slightest bit. "I didn't want to hurt you, or stop whatever you had to do, like I did with the blade; so I caused a pain that was worse than what you could produce so as to keep me in line I guess." I shrugged groaned slightly at my aching muscles; I looked at him to see amusement in his eyes and then he laughed.
"That is the worst interrogation technique I have ever heard." He gasped out through laughs his eyes tearing up just slightly.
I smiled just slightly as he composed himself again.
"Alright since I got that much out of you, how about why are you in London?" I stared at him for a measuring moment, Dominus was the only family I had known, the human fake family I had were gone, Nate took off the London, and Gran had died without me there. Dominus had opened up this whole different world, unlocked all my memories, got rid of déjà vu feelings, turning my back on him meant turning my back on all Maji's.
"Okay fine how about something personal, like your favorite ice cream?"
I smiled grateful "Vanilla."
"Favorite drink?"
"Rum." I smirked at his expression.
"Okay, um your favorite thing to do?"
"Read, I like novels." I looked at him; he looked amused. He looked tired, and handsome, so very, very handsome. Why did he have to be so handsome? I ran the back of my finger across his check lightly wiping off some wet blood of mine and he moved in closer to me; or at least that's what it looked like to me.
I didn't have time to think about it because no sooner had I thought it was his lips on my feverish and desperately searching something. It felt intoxicating and made my whole body weak, numb, and completely alive with fire at the same time. His hands crept up my neck slowly and wrapped themselves into my hair gently the complete opposite from the kiss.