Chapter 2: Trouble

Alec Awoke up in a cold, damp and dark room his hands were bound around a large cold pole which felt like it was built of stone, his legs were also bound at the ankles, but he was on his knees in the dark room. He looked around the room and found that the night vision rune he put on earlier was wearing off, so he could see almost nothing at all. The only things he could see were a table which looked old and was on its last legs, two wooden chairs around the table and two green lights. What? These lights were flickering and looked strangely like eyes. Alec willed himself to see more clearly and that was exactly what happened, he managed to see a dark figure in the corner of the room, which looked like it was sat in a chair with their legs dangling over the arm of it. He could not make out if the figure was male or female because at that point he was distracted by the whirl-clicking noise coming from behind him and the faint smell of oil. "Am I in a garage? No I can't be there's no ramp lifts. So where am I?" Alec wondered aloud.

"Ah my dear you are in deep shit that's where you are." Said a voice from the corner where the green lights were, the voice didn't practically sound male or female, it was more robotic and sounded strangely pissed off. It wasn't a voice Alec had heard before so he had no clue as to who his kidnapper could have been.

"Who are you and what have you got against me?" Alec inquired, he tried to keep his voice level to sound unafraid but it cracked near the end and he ended up sounding like he was being choked.

"I believe you have something of mine and I want it back!" said the voice angrily.

"But I have nothing please let me go, I have to be somewhere tomorrow and it's not as if anyone isn't looking for me, I will be missed and they will look for me. I know some really important people, you know…." Whimpered Alec, who was desperate for the voice to keep talking so he could figure a way out of wherever he was being kept.

"SILENCE! You are my prisoner and you will do as I say or you will die and as for the place you have to be tomorrow, I'm sorry to say but you will not be going. Actually I'm not sorry you might even say I'm glad!" Interrupted the voice; that was getting tired of Alec's voice. Alec's kidnapper ripped a bit of cloth off their clothing and whistled, as if beckoning someone towards them. The whirl-clicking noise got louder and the smell of oil got stronger, there was now another sound, this one was a loud clumping noises as if whoever was coming closer had heavy footsteps. Then there was another figure next to the kidnapper but this was obviously a male figure because they had square shoulders and muscled thighs and they were wearing a suit with a top hat and coat tails, this figure was around about 5ft 6ins and thin but that was all Alec could tell from just his dark silhouette. Alec's kidnapper whispered something to the male figure and the male nodded then turned on his heel and started towards Alec.

As the male figure got closer Alec noticed that the man had no face, just a cold, silver oval head and no hair. The only feature on the man's face was a small mouth and in the few streaks of light coming from the dim light bulb hanging limply from the ceiling, Alec could see that, in the small mouth were sharp needle like teeth. Alec had fought a lot of demons but he had never seen anything like this thing that stood in front of him. "Wha-what is this? What are you going to do?" asked Alec sheepishly.

"Oh this, this is just my automaton, beautiful isn't he? The best thing is you don't have to listen to them, like I have to with you." The figure cocked their head towards Alec and then made a gesture as if to say get on with it and then the kidnapper said "Gag him now! I'm fed up with his pathetic pleading!"

The automaton clicked and moved towards Alec with a stride, as if now he had orders and these orders where to keep Alec from talking. The automaton had a cloth in his hands and was getting ready to put it into Alec's mouth, when he was close enough Alec kicked out with both his feet, trying to aim for the stomach but got the automaton in the shin; unfortunately being made of metal; it had no effect on the automaton but tonnes on Alec, when his foot connected with the automaton there was a sickening crunch and Alec cursing as well as the figure in the corner laughing.

The gag was now in Alec's mouth, a large knot in the middle which was threatening to make Alec choke, then there was a sweet smell and Alec suddenly couldn't keep his eyes open long enough. Then he thought he saw the automaton smile; but then he walked away and saw nothing else as he was taken by a wave of darkness.