The Inferno

Chapter 26 Merciless

T here's another sound.

A soft hum running along the ground.

The vibration causes my chains to clink and the new noise becomes louder than anything before. It’s a welcomed distraction from being bled dry.

I feel the hum increase, build into a tremble, one that mimics heavy steps, steps that build until the entire cell is shaking.

I swing slightly and grimace at the prickles of pain erupting along my battered skin.

Glass shatters.

Sounds erupt around me.

Terrified shouts and screams.

There are people movin g—no, there’s people being moved. Dragged, thrown .

The sound of thuds, bodies hit t ing the ground, happens over and over. I tense, without my power, hung like this, I’m utterly defencel e ss.

But a part of me sighs with relief, the pain would end soon, it would all end soon, maybe someone was listening?

I slowly tilt my head back, blindly facing the ceiling, ready to meet my end, dropping the last of my resolve as I prepare to be the next victim.

“Red?”

For the second time in my short life, his stupid nickname makes a sob pass through my lips, then I grimace when the spikes dig deeper for it.

His hands are on my body, but cold terror runs through me when my power doesn’t react, it lays dormant. Nothing. Even with his physical touch. Worry drowns me.

“What the fuck did they do to you?” I can't feel his fury, but I can certainly hear it. I try to make a sound. “Shh, it’s OK now. I’ve got you, Red. I’ve got you, baby,” he ushers to me.

I feel his hard body skim against mine as he rises to snap the chains around my wrists and then I fall into him. Pain explodes in the areas we touch, but he cradles me softly, quickly removing the other chains around my chest and legs. I feel them slip away from my skin and release some of the pressure on my wounds.

“Who.” Kane's voice saturates the air. The darkness latched onto that single word creates its own vacuum .

All sounds and movement cease because of it, the single syllable is enough to enthral any who heard it to become paralysed in pure terror.

Thick, cool darkness sweeps into the room, I feel it as it seeps into my bones and no doubt engulfs this cell as he speaks again.

“Who did this?” I hear whimpering and deep, terror-filled cries, in response to his question. Although I’m glad it isn’t directed at me, I’m euphoric at being able to feel something again, even if it’s this.

His darkness. Him .

“Death will be a blessing for you now.” Another layer of darkness halts all noise once more. Ezekial’s voice isn’t the same as Kane’s because his reveals at least some semblance of emotion. It echoes the fury I last remembered, that burning, carnal need for violence and death, and I shiver in response. “Wish for it, drop to your knees and beg, because what awaits you now is agony you cannot fathom.”

Why, oh why , does that stir my power?

I feel something trying to gnaw away the coldness keeping it captive, as though it wishes to take part in what Ezekial just described… doesn’t it realise we’d be a victim of it too?

When Sai removes my blindfold suddenly, I blink away the tears and slowly, the room, and his face, appear in a blurry form.

Even in this haze, he’s beautiful but his eyes are filled with a wrath I’d never seen. It takes me a moment to connect that this is truly Sai. His cobalt blues now al most black, only a sliver of sapphire remains as his gaze studies every piece of me before meeting with mine .

H is fury only amplifies, it’s a raw, burning rage which drags across my skin wherever he looks.

I have to tear my gaze away, no longer able to handle the intense emotion without my power fully awakened, and I stare in disbelief at the scene before me .

Lined up against the wall, in my cell, kneeling, are guards without their visors. Their expressions filled with utter terror as they stare up at the three men before them.

Kane, Ezekial and Julien.

My power still lays subdued but I can see from just their posture the pure, unadulterated rage oozing from them.

“Look at me, Red. Hey, look at me.” Sai’s face comes back into view, but I still can’t move.

His eyes have calmed a fraction, his smooth skin and soft hair urging me to reach out, but my body is completely paralysed as I stare at him, blinking away the intensity of his worried gaze.

“Speak to me, baby… Please ." He begs, begs .

Not like that last time, there's nothing at all sexual or manipulative about this. This makes my heart ache and my coils attempt to flicker.

But they can't.

He must see my attempt, must be something in my eyes, because his terror immediately switches to savage fury.

“What the fuck did they do?” He stares at me but I know his question isn’t for me. His savage gaze returns as he turns slightly. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

“You heard him,” Julien says, and my eyes dart to him.

His towering form almost fills the entire height of the wall where glass once resided. He’s leaning over the shivering guards, his fiery stare bleeding daggers into them.

“Answer.”

Sai continues to check over my body as I watch. My eyes wince when he touches some of the open wounds on my side, pulling away fingers stained with fresh blood. I hear him cursing and feel the sudden warmth of his power surrounding my body.

“I—I was just following orders and—”

The sentence is abruptly cut off by loud choking sounds. Sai turns towards the noise and, with my head angled upon his shoulder, I see it too. Julien is holding something in his fist, blood seeping through the gaps of his coiled fingers. A second later, a guard falls face first onto the ground, bright red blood pouring out his mouth.

Then Julien opens his fist, dropping the object onto the ground. It’s a small, soft, pink thing.

A tongue.

My eyes widen as I watch the guard upon the floor, his wide, terrified eyes staring at it, at his tongue.

Then Kane steps on it.

“Who else was ‘just following orders’? ” Julien repeats, his normally smooth, deep tone now replaced by an icy, monotone, deadly drawl.

More desperate sobs and cries fill the room.

“ Guys, something is wrong,” Sai readdresses, the words are drenched in concern, even just in my mind, and it sinks into me. Like a caress filling my head with a softness I hadn’t felt since… well, since we last spoke like this. I sigh in relief and I think I even try to smile. “ Yeah, like, seriously fucking wrong.”

I’m still watching the ground where Kane’s foot had just squished that tongue into the floor like tacky gum, when I feel all their gazes on me .

Finally , I can feel them .

I almost laugh at the sensation but I remember the collar. Instead, I focus so intently on the feeling of all their gazes, the darkness of the room, Sai’s touch and concern, that my power starts to gently hum.

Someone else is touching me now, their hands tentatively cupping my face, moving my head, and the sensation sends a pleasant ripple over my skin. Their concern adding to Sai’s and feeding the empty void more.

“They’ve suppressed her power, paralysed her,” Ezekial murmurs, the change in his voice warming my stomach, but my eyes widen when I realise it’s him who is touching me. “Why isn’t she healing?”

Why does he care? Why do any of them?

“That’s what I mean.” I feel the warmth of Sai's power again, pulsing against my skin. “I can barely feel her power and her body won’t heal without it.”

“My blood.” Julien's voice is velvet again, slithering through my mind in a caress. My eyes close from the sensation.

When I feel him beside me, my eyes are drawn to him by the pull of his blood. He’s crouching before me, his intense red gaze flickering over my face. He uncuffs the wrist of his shirt and quickly bites into it. When he pulls it away, the deep ruby stain on his lips becomes an unnecessary temptation.

But when he moves his bloody wrist towards me, my power spikes and I grit my teeth hard, pursing my lips, straining the muscles of my neck which don’t move.

If he thinks I’m ingesting his blood, again, after the last time when Sai tricked me, he could dream on .

Julien's dark brows pull together, creating pinched lines upon his otherwise flawlessly smooth face, and stares at his wrist, then at my mouth, then at my eyes.

“She’s refusing it.”

I defiantly stare at him.

Sai chuckles, the vibration irritating my wounds but soothing my lifeless power somewhat. “Good to know our Red is semi-conscious.”

Julien sighs, removing his wrist as the skin knits back together.

“She needs an experienced healer, immediately,” he begins, his gaze analysing my body. “She has a punctured lung, her ribs, collar bone and ankle are broken and her shoulder is dislocated. Never mind her superficial injuries, there’s too many to pinpoint.”

As he lists my injuries, the room flickers then dips into complete and impenetrable darkness.

More wild screaming ensues, I hear people desperately trying escape, their steps loud and clumsy as they squelch on the blood-soaked tiles. Their eyes—red, silver, blue—and Sai’s markings, are the only things lighting the room for a moment. Like a scene from a horror film just before the climax.

Out of the four of them, no one moves. Except Kane .

He’s a blur of movement hidden by the shadows which mask him. The screams turn into something more, something inhumane, incomprehensible, noises which pierce the dark and, eventually, as quickly as it began, everything returns to an eerie silence.

The fluorescent light stutters back to life, casting the darkened room with a weak yellow hue, but it’s enough to see the chaos which ensued.

Kane is gripping someone by their throat, pinning them against the wall with his hand, the man he holds there is completely limbless .

Just his torso, neck and head remain.

I see the scattered limbs along the floor, blood flooding down the wall and into a large puddle of shimmering crimson.

He’s still alive, the body he holds, his terrified gaze is staring down at Kane. The body’s horror is thick like raw honey and it drips into me, soothing my injured power.

Kane’s gaze meets mine, it’s an eternal pit, a dark abyss, which should ignite fear, but it doesn’t.

I feel… something else.

Kane keeps eye contact as he drops what remains of the man on the floor, the loud thump makes the more conscious guards gasp and whimper again. I realise that they’re all still alive, for now anyway, many are missing limbs, parts, groaning in agony, pleading quietly for help, but they’re alive.

“We’ll finish this later, brother. We need her healed.” Ezekial’s voice fills my mind.

I close my eyes and find myself sighing again at the sensation. Remembering a recent time when I never wanted to hear it again, now I’m practically crying at the sound.

“They need to suffer.”

My gaze locks with Kane’s again, his words echoing in my mind, words I’d said not too long ago, a darker part of me…

“They will,” Ezekial assures, beginning to stand and meeting his brother’s stone-cold stare. “We’ll take them to the Pit. They’ll last longer there.”

His final comment seems to settle Kane slightly, his gaze flickering back to mine for a moment before searching my body. I can’t even imagine what he sees, until an image flashes into my mind.

Let’s just say, I’ve looked better.

Every inch of visible skin is covered in blood or deep cuts, my face is caked in fresh and dried blood, so much blood it’s hard to tell where the wounds are. My hair is congealed together in thick clumps, sticking to the wounds and adding to the deadly collage of red.

Then it goes again and I’m staring back at Kane, the pits of his gaze flashing with pieces of grey.

“It needs to be someone we can trust,” Sai adds, pulling me into his chest as he prepares to stand. “I’ll be as gentle as I can, just bear it a bit longer,” he soothes, his eyes the softest blue I’d ever seen, like a cloudless summer sky.

But did they forget I could hear them?

“Take her to our house, I’ll be there soon,” Ezekial orders and Sai nods in response.

“Give her to me.” Kane’s cold voice stops everyone in their tracks. Ezekial’s gaze warily bounces between all the men before landing back on Kane. But Kane’s eyes, the dark orbs that never end, stay fixed upon me. “I can help with the pain.”

There’s a brief pause, and I wonder if there’s another conversation happening, but no more words are said as Kane moves closer. Sai doesn’t even hesitate as he slowly hands me over to him.

The instant my skin touches his, his darkness engulfs me, numbs me, and I fall into the soothing haze like a welcomed friend. He holds me so gently, like I’m a delicate bird made of glass, and pulls me closer to his chest. I can feel the damp warmth of blood drenching his shirt and smell the tang of metal, but I sink into him anyway.

“I’ve got you,” he says, and I know it’s only to me.

When he flits, there’s no pain and the new air just adds to the bliss I’m currently swimming in. I can’t help the whimper that escapes from the peace, and I feel the spikes slip in deeper because of it. But there’s no pain.

“What the fuck is that thing,” Sai seethes behind his teeth, hearing his voice aloud again makes my skin hum in need. His markings pulse furiously, blinding me with the intensity and I scrunch my eyes closed, Kane’s hold tightens around me in response.

“It’s what they use to keep the prisoners quiet,” Julien informs, his deep, warm baritone slithering over me and burning my blood.

Kane is moving, I barely notice until he lowers himself with me in his arms, softly repositioning my body so my upper half is leaning against his chest, my legs folded beneath me. I think we’re on a bed.

“If she speaks, it will cut through her vocal cords,” Julien continues, I manage to track his voice and see he’s seated next to me and Kane, and he’s holding a wet cloth.

I eye him warily as I try maintaining contact but when the warm water trickles over my face, my eyes instantly close. I’d been so cold, for so long. I never wanted to feel like that again .

With Kane’s arms tightening around me, supporting my entire body, and Julien tentatively stroking my skin in warm, gentle strokes, I feel like I’m in a dream.

“When I find out who put this on you, I’m going to pull out their vocal cords, one at a time.” My glazed eyes open to meet his, deep maroon and enchanting as always, urging me to listen to his velvety words. “After each one is removed, I’ll make them beg for your forgiveness, and then I’ll start removing other parts of their body as they choke on their blood. I’ll pull out their intestines, wrap them around my fist, and make them crawl to you, on their hands and knees, over broken glass…”

How... thoughtful?

Julien continues to gently dab the warm cloth over my cheeks, forehead and lips as he ushers these vile and violent things. Yet, my power purrs at the ideas forming whilst he caresses my skin like I’m a rare jewel. The two things shouldn’t go together, but they do and I—hate to admit— I’m enjoying it.

Julien only stops speaking when Ezekial appears, with a woman by his side. They're not even touching but something sharp nips in my gut at the sight. Then the woman turns to face me.

Her long, dark hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail, her large eyes quickly assess me and, from the slight furrow of her brow, I can see that she’s used to being under this type of pressure and seeing people like me.

“I’m trusting you, Kacey. Do not make me regret it.” Ezekial’s words fill the tense silence.

Well, maybe not this exact pressure, three enforcers and a council member watching your every move… but I see her spine straighten, I watch her take a deep breath and tighten her hair with a quick tug, before she makes her way towards me.

Julien and Kane do not move.

I feel Kane’s grip become even tighter as she approaches and I see her eyes warily looking between me and them.

“You, erm… I’m sorry enforcers but you can’t be touching her like that when I do this,” Kacey nervously explains, her voice becomes stronger at the end though and I catch her confident gaze as she looks at the two men.

But they still do not move.

Even in my painless, heavenly state, I’m present enough to feel her irritation. It licks at my skin, nipping in frustration and I sigh in the realisation that we’re in a stale mate .

“She can’t make me worse than I already am.” My voice is just a whisper in our minds but I feel all their gazes lock onto me.

Kacey nibbles her lip and quickly looks around the room at us all, causing the tip of her long hair to whip back and forth as she does.

“Let her heal me, please.”

Thankfully, they both begin to stand. Kane is so gentle as he slides from beneath me, I almost wished I hadn’t spoken.

When he’s about to fully remove his touch,Kacey kneels beside the bed. “I’ll need help propping her up, and someone will have to help me remove the collar.”

She’s now leaning over me and I feel her fingers running along the metal cuffing my throat. She’s careful, very careful, but I still scrunch my eyes in preparation for the pain.

Kane’s hands are upon my back now, dulling the pain as his power emits a soothing numbness whilst propping me up.

“OK, you’ll need to stop nullifying her pain,” she states, her previous fear and nervousness eradicated as she stares at Kane, she’s fully in control now. “I’ll start healing now and that’s when you stop, then, at the same time, we need to open this and remove,” she explains carefully.

The lull encasing me doesn’t snap away but slowly fades. The pain returning piece by piece, and I grind my jaw when the sensation of my ribs and head comes back first. Instantly, I feel a new cooling sensation running over my throat. It’s nothing compared to Kane’s touch, but it helps.

“We have to do this together, ready? Three, two, one…”

If the collar being inserted was painful, removal is agony.

As though the spikes are barbed, I feel them clinging to the tissue and ripping the skin whilst they’re slowly pulled away. I feel the blood instantly running down my throat and the urge to cough builds, but I swallow instead, feeling the sharp sting of open wounds and a sickly taste of copper as it goes.

There’s a loud clunk of metal and I know it’s finally gone.

I fall back onto the bed without assistance, groaning at the pain I cause myself from the action and I begin choking on the blood which is already dissipating into my stomach.

“That’ll be the worst of the pain, I promise,” the healer soothes, I already feel the sharp throbbing of my neck being healed. “It only nipped her vocal cords; she’ll make a full recovery,” she addresses the men, my eyes are still closed but I feel some of the intense tension filter out a little at her words.

Her hands remain hovering around my throat, I can tell by the cool thickness caressing my skin, but soon they begin to move up to the crown of my head. I feel something knitting together there, did I have a wound on my head? Maybe when I was thrown to the ground?

“Wait.” Ezekial’s voice is quiet but filled with a heaviness that makes the woman pause, her healing continues but she remains deathly still.

When he speaks again, he’s closer. “I want you to tell me every single injury as you heal it. Every. Single. One. Even a splinter. Do you understand?”

Finally, the woman’s emotions begin to rise, maybe she was masking them before or my own were too occupied, but now it’s clear. A mixture of concern, uncertainty and hope. I pause on the last feeling, confused but pleased it’s something positive to balance out the others.

“I’ll start with priority one injuries first. All of the following require immediate healing or could result in... death,” she whispers the final word. I think she also nods from the slight movement of her hands, and then she continues, “Grade three concussion resulting in haemorrhaging and swelling of the brain.”

Someone inhales through their teeth, creating a hissing sound, and the room begins to fill with violent, heavy feelings again, ones I try to encourage my power to feed from.

The healer remains at the top of my head for a while, much longer than my throat, and when she begins to move on, I finally feel my fingers twitch.

“One, two, three, four fractured ribs resulting in pneumothorax of the left lung,” she states, this time her fingers almost touch my skin but the sensation is so soothing I don’t even react, if anything, I want her to touch me, sink into my bones and ease the aches there too.

I just lay there and enjoy the feeling of fluids being drained from my lung and ballooning with air again. It’s heavenly, and I inhale a deep breath when I feel confident enough. The healer’s body sinks with relief when I do, the emotion rushing into me with speed.

She continues to heal me, stating all injuries aloud. I begin to lose track after the lung. When she finally moves onto ‘priority two’ injuries, my body starts to relax, my head becomes foggy and I sink deeper into the bed .

Everything is soft and warm now, the coldness only clinging onto snippets. My awakened fingers stroke the smoothest bedding I’ve ever felt and my body seems to mould into the buttery mattress. I feel high, and I think I’d like to stay like this forever, but I feel guilty for ruining this bed with my blood, the stains will never come out and—

“You’re worried about the bed?” Although the voice startles me, I don’t open my eyes. I do hum in appreciation of hearing Julien's smooth tone inside my brain again, like silk running along fresh burns. My blood simmers.

“It feels too nice to ruin.”

“We have the same one in all of our rooms, you can take your pick when you get through this,” Sai adds, his voice sending a slight crackle that has my skin humming, my power begins to ripple too.

“Stop talking, she needs to focus upon healing.”

Only now have I fully realised that Ezekial has not killed me, and this makes me laugh, well, I try to laugh but it splutters in my chest a little and makes the healer pause with concern.

“Why do you care?” I ask, my thoughts surfacing and fleeing without any restriction in this state. “ You want me dead.”

The room becomes engulfed in a thick flurry of emotions. The healer seems to squirm a little, it seems she can feel it too.

Even with my eyes closed, I know it’s Ezekial moving closer, his powers seeping out and carefully surrounding me, caressing me, coaxing mine to awaken by its pure presence. I bite my lip and stop the sigh escaping, it feels incredible, but I’m not giving him that.

I feel him sit beside me, next to the healer and opposite Kane who hasn’t moved from my side. I feel the healer’s apprehension grow and then another gentle brush of his power against my skin.

I finally open my eyes again, my power, even in this weak state, is urging me to.

When I meet his sad, silver gaze, my heart nearly stills at the expression before his soft voice fills my mind. “When you’re fully healed, I promise I will explain myself and beg for your forgiveness. I’ll beg for eternity. But, just for now, I need you to understand that you are safe here, with me, us, this is the safest place you can be and I will never forgive myself for letting this happen to you. I’m so sorry.”

His emotions burn me, they singe my skin and char my bones with the intensity and sincerity of them. The previous fury he’d felt completely evaporated and replaced by ones of remorse, guilt and… fear. He’s scared.

As I search his eyes for clues, feeling my own reluctantly shutting as the healer finally soothes my broken collarbone, I realise what he’s afraid of.

It’s me .