Beta'd by Angelfan984
Chapter 15 - Rage
The door cracked open to Emma's room was his first clue something was wrong. The second was the scene that greeted him when he walked through the door, a chair was splintered across the floor and he was sure he could smell Emma's blood. "Emma!" He bellowed, the beignets in his grip forgotten as he tore through the room. She wasn't here. He knew it before he even started. Frustration and anger boiled over. He had just opened himself up to a possible future with her and now she was in danger.
The danger he had been trying to protect her from. Gods, what had he done? He had let his guard down and gotten sloppy. The creatures that took Emma would pay when he found them. And he would find them. Rage built in him, but he knew the sun would be up soon and he couldn't leave. He would be prisoner in this building until the sun went back down. Pulling his phone from his pocket he called his squire and told him to get word to the other squires so that all them and their Dark Hunters in the city would be on the look out for Emma.
There was nothing else he could do, he'd only felt this helpless two other times in his life. Once while he held his brother in his arms as he died and the other as he watched Milah's heart being crushed in front of this felt worse. The unknown. The fear. The absolute rage.
Blinding pain brought her awake, even though her surroundings were dark and dank, smelling of mold and what just might be blood. A groan unwillingly left her split lip and a sharp pain stabbed through her. The Damion must have done it when they were fighting. She cracked her swollen eyes open to see the room. It was empty, the stone walls looked like something out of a castle, and her arms were hung above her on some kind of medieval looking hook. Her gaze focused on her bound wrists, they were tied together with a thick rope. It was frayed at the ends like it had been used too much.
Curling the fingers of her hand that was connected to her unhurt arm she tugged. A creaking noise came from the hook. A slight hope flickered to life. Maybe she could get out of this. Save her self, like always. Just then the door to the room swung open letting in the Damion. She swallowed and tried to appear unafraid.
"Ah, you are awake! Good." He said as he approached her. "It's too bad you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just bad luck really." He laughed. Not likely. It felt personal. Not personal against her but personal against Killian.
"What do you have against Killian?" She questioned him.
"Killian?" He replied as he picked up a strand of her hair and sniffed at it. "You mean Hook? I guess you could say he ruined my life. So I am going to ruin his. And then I am going to kill him." He looked sharply over his shoulder and withdrew his hand from her hair. "I am not attracted to the demi-goddess, you are the only one for me my love." He spoke to the empty air behind him and Emma began to think he might be a little crazy.
"Hey. Where are we?" Emma asked him bringing his attention back to her. She needed answers and she would try to get as many as she could, even tied up.
A bark of laughter came out of him as he turned back to her. "Somewhere your dear Killian will never find you." He mocked her.
Bastard. She made a rash decision and grabbed onto the rope with her uninjured arm and pulled most of her weight up and then swung her leg up and managed to kick him squarely in the jaw. "Who says I need him to save me?" She lashed out again and this time knocked him on the floor. Her glee was short lived as he got back to his feet and backhanded her back into the darkness.
The pounding on the door pulled Killian from his sleep. For a moment he forgot where he was and what had happened before he had slept. Emma. His last thought at morning's first rays of light for more days than he could count and his first thought with darkness's first call. "Emma!" The man's voice came clearly through the door as he neared it. "Emma! Open up!"
He pulled the door open to reveal her foster brother, August. Who, if Loki had told him the truth, had been sent with Emma to this world. He had been meant to watch over her, but instead he had left her to this cruel world. Killian's feelings towards the man before him were mixed. If he cared enough to be at Emma's door looking for her, or even in the city to help her, he couldn't be that bad. Could he? Would someone that didn't care at all do any of that?
"Where is Emma?" August asked as he pushed his way past Killian intending to look for her. He stopped in his tracks when he viewed the broken chair still scattered across the floor. In an instant Killian was pushed against a wall, the man's strength was unexpected but he pushed back out of instinct anyways. "What have you done to her? You don't want to know the hell you will bring down on all of us. If you've hurt her in any way—"
"I didn't do a bloody thing to her!" He exploded.
"—I swear to the Gods I will kill you myself." August continued before Killian's words sunk in. "—Then who did this?" He asked letting Killian go. He gestured at the broken chair and the obvious signs of struggle.
"Bloody hell if I know, but I have my guesses, and none of them are good." He sighed as a wave of fear for Emma crashed over him, he felt like he was drowning in the fear. His hand pulled absently at the back of his hair. "We need to find her parents." He finally said.
"Her parents?" August gave a short derisive laugh. "You do not want to find her parents if you value your life. Once they learn that you are entwined in Emma going missing, make no mistake, they will kill you."
"I don't give a bloody damn about my life. Without Emma here, it no longer means anything!" Killian roared. The words came out of him without thought, and he knew they were true as soon as he spoke them. August gave him a new look, as though he was seeing him for the first time. A respect he didn't need from this man met his gaze.
With a nod and a quick smile August said, "So, you know what we are." It wasn't a question it was a statement. "That's good, it makes this easier." He conceded.
"I do. And after this is all over I will be having a conversation with you, about the lack of care you've shown for Emma during her short life." Killian promised darkly.
August rolled his eyes at the promise. "I need a drink. You?" He walked over to a fresh bottle of rum and cracked it open pouring two tumblers half way. "Not too much, we need our wits about us. Now tell me where she may be found." He held out the glass to Killian and he reluctantly took it. He held it in his hand as he stared down at the golden liquid seeing Emma's face instead.
"I don't know but I know who to call." He replied, he wasn't sure why he hadn't tried Ash to begin with. Ash knew everything. It all just depended on if he wanted to tell them what he knew.
The second time Emma awoke, it was to unbearable pain. Voices argued in the distance. Or maybe they were right there and she was the one not all there. Forcing her eyes open she took in the three blonde men standing before her. They looked like they would come to blows soon. The room spun and she felt her stomach try to expel the nonexistent meal in it. She had been looking forward to those sugary treats. Damn it.
Her mind carried her away and she no longer saw the walls surrounding her or the men in front of her. She saw Killian's perfect smile as he leaned down to kiss her softly. His beautiful lips as he nipped gently at her bottom lip, still in a smile. The slight tickle of his stubble along his cheek. The memory helped to blocked out the pain of her beaten body. The sinful things he had whispered in the dark. The things he had promised. They helped to clear her mind of the fear. She could do this. Unnoticed, she let her eyes drift shut, letting them think she was still unconscious.
"Gregory, you can not keep her here. For fucks sake you can't even kill her. You don't want to rain hell down on us even more. We've already got one God mad at us for something we didn't even do, don't make it more." One of the men stressed. "You have to let her go."
"I can't do that. You know I can't do that!" He growled low. "I could get Tamara back, for real."
"The God of Trickery was the one to promise you that. You can't really believe he will follow through with his side of the bargain." The other man laughed. "If anyone finds out you have her here, it is your skin not ours, and as I recall you skin has already had a beating lately. You don't really want another do you?"
"Just shut up!" He yelled and Emma cracked her eyes open to see what was going on. He had his hands on his head like he was having a mental break and the two other men were walking from the room. One of them glanced at her briefly and she could see it in his face that he felt some sort of regret. Whatever kind of regret a monster like them could feel she supposed. Maybe that would benefit her later.
Gregory was on his knees in front of her, his back to her. He no longer had his head in his hands instead choosing to stare up at the empty space in front of him pleading with something or someone she couldn't see. Great, a crazy Damion had kidnapped her with the intention of harming her. Although she couldn't wrap her mind around what the one was talking about, making other Gods mad if they hurt her, as far as she knew she didn't know any God, besides Loki. And apparently he wanted her dead for some reason. She guessed sending her to jail and ruining her life wasn't enough. Bastard.
Her hands felt warm at the thought of his betrayal and she looked up to see them glowing. What in the hell was that? She flexed her fingers and a spark came out, burning the ropes slightly. Hope bloomed in her chest. What ever it was, it seemed to spark while she was feeling defensive and angry. She flexed her fingers again and a smaller spark left her hands, not making it to the rope this time. No. Again she tried to do it flicking her hands open and closed repeatedly. Nothing. Damn it.
"Ah, I see you are awake." Gregory said startling her from her frantic opening and closing of her hands. "Lets have some fun." He stepped towards her and grasped her by the waist, swinging her slightly by her arms. She gasped at the blinding pain that she had managed to push to the back of her mind. Emma brought her knee up sharply and just missed her mark as he moved away from her with more speed than she knew he possessed. "Behave." He instructed circling around behind her. Emma snorted, that word wasn't in her vocabulary.
Again he grasped her by the waist but there wasn't anything she could do, the more she struggled the more her arm burned. Then his teeth were in her shoulder and she screamed in pain. It didn't last long, and he was pushing her from him and spitting her blood out onto the floor. Like it was poison. She swung painfully by the rope, her feet not finding purchase on the dirty floor.
A flash of Killian biting her while she was drunk played in her mind. It wasn't the same. That was pleasure. This was not. She wouldn't die here. Not if she could help it. She opened her hands again and looked up at them, they were glowing bright white. Focusing on the rope she arched her hands towards it, as if pushing the light from her hands to burn the rope. It worked. Oh God, it was working Emma thought. Gregory was still on the ground behind her, her blood seemed like a poison for him, all she could hear was his groaning in pain.
Silently she promised him more pain once she was free. The rope snapped and her hurt arm fell painfully down to her side, useless. Fighting the blackness that was threatening to overwhelm her once more, she spun around and held out her glowing hand towards the demon at her feet. "I am going now. If you follow me, I will kill you." She told him. She wasn't sure how, but she'd figure it out. Now that she was free she had to find a way out. All thoughts of hurting the demon at her feet fled her.
She exited the small room to find herself in a vast cavern. Sharp looking rocks seemed to grow from the ceiling a hundred feet up. Groups of the Damions were scattered everywhere. What in the hell? Where was she? "I don't think you are going to get very far." Gregory had recovered enough to follow her from the room. "Not with so many of my brothers and sisters right here. Besides you need a mode of transportation to get out of here. You are in a type of hell realm." He laughed.
Before he knew what was happening and moving with a speed she hadn't known before, she had him by the neck. Her glowing hands burning his skin the same way they burned the ropes. "I suggest you take me back to New Orleans." She growled.
He put his hands up in surrender and nodded his head as much as he was able with her hands wrapped around his neck. The smell of his burning flesh and her deep seated need to do more damage startled her. She let go, still holding her hands up in front of her.
"Now." She commanded when he hesitated, his hand was at the fresh burns on his neck. With a sigh he opened a bolt hole and gestured her through it before him. Relieved she would be free she stepped through not thinking he would be at her back. Her first step out of the hole was onto the plush carpet of her hotel room. She looked up to find a startled Killian and August standing in front of her. As well as another man she didn't remember seeing before. His hair was black with a red streak in it and he wore dark sunglasses. She felt a kinship with him and didn't know why. It was that distraction that had her falling to her knees a knife coming out of her stomach.
"Emma!" Killian and August screamed at the same time. August caught her before she fell to the floor and Killian grabbed Gregory by the neck and pushed a leg from the shattered chair through his heart. He disappeared into a shower of golden dust. But it was too late. Emma's life was fading fast.
"Ash, do something!" Killian said frantically as he pulled Emma from August and cradled her against him. He looked up when his friend and boss didn't move. "Ash!" He looked down at Emma's ashen face and back up to Ash.
"There isn't anything I can do." Ash replied sadly. "What is done can not be undone—"
"I won't accept that!" Killian burst out interrupting him.
"—But there is something you could do. You have had her blood. I can smell it on you. So you can save her." He tells him reluctantly. "You must be sure that what you feel is real though, you can not bind her to you if it is not."
"What do I have to do?"
August stood up and backed away from them. "She is the savior of the Gods. We will all die if she dies. I was supposed to protect her." He croaked out helplessly.
"Fine job you did of that, mate." Killian bites out, his own helplessness making him lash out at the only other person in the room he can blame.
Ash laughed dryly, "She is so much more than a Savior of the Gods."
"What do I have to do?" Killian asks again.
"Give her your blood." Ash replied.
"Ash, we are not vampires, it doesn't work that way." Killian says, all hope dissipating.
"Trust me. I cannot see your future or hers anymore, so we are linked. I felt it as soon as she exited the bolt hole. But I know what she is… She is a Chthonian… like me."
"A God killer." August gasped. Without thinking Killian opened his wrist and placed it at her mouth. As August looked on in horror.
A/N - So sorry for such a long break between chapters. This one has been sitting on my computer for a while now. I know bad me.