19. Maya
Maya
Boisterous noises from the hallway woke me from my attempt at sleep, the sound echoing down the space towards our cell door, which I watched with trepidation.
I didn’t feel as brave as before, not this time around, because I had a feeling another interaction with these guards wouldn’t bode well for any of us.
I especially didn’t want them coming near my mates.
Honestly, right now I was wishing it was Malcolm instead of them.
When the door slammed open, waking everyone, I tried to stand up.
Anani’s hand darted out to grab my ankle, and I offered him a pleading look.
I knew what he was trying to do, but he didn’t understand.
Even if I was scared or hesitant, my phoenix refused to let this happen to our mates, and I couldn’t deny her that because I felt exactly the same.
The guards began to slam their weapons against the iron as I heard a growl emanate from Atlas’s chest, my eyes darting over to him and widening in the realization that he was finally up.
Sai had only woken briefly before falling back asleep, but the relief from even seeing his eyes open had been immediate.
It spurred me to pull away from Anani in a sharp movement that had him cursing.
“Wake up, you fucking monsters!” one of the guards yelled out, his accented voice filling the space. “The boss said one of you will be the lucky candidate for a new toy we got.”
I tried to step forward, but Marco offered a warning sound in my direction, making me hesitate and feel a bit guilty. I needed him to understand my reasoning. I knew he would because of how upset he got when I was hurt…but I didn’t have time to explain right now.
“So, who wants to volunteer?” another asked. “What about you?”
His eyes narrowed on Ember behind me as his smile grew. I moved in front of her, a dangerous noise coming from my throat.
“And we have a volunteer with a collar on already.” The guard motioned me forward.
“Isn’t that the one we aren’t—” The younger guard snapped his mouth shut when the one by the entrance of my cage shot him a look.
He smiled back at me. “It will be our little secret, won’t it?”
I jolted as Henry appeared right near the entrance of his cell, his voice a low, harsh whisper. “Maya, stop this right the fuck now?—”
“No.” I turned sharply and kept my gaze serious.
“No. I am not going to stop it. You guys have protected me this entire time; I am not letting anyone else get hurt. This is my fault, so I am going to stand in. I love you, Henry, I love you so much, but I need you to just stop. You are making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Angel.” Atlas's voice was tight and filled with sadness. I couldn’t meet his gaze, though. I could barely hold Henry’s without feeling guilty, knowing that this would hurt them… But it would hurt them more to be tortured by these horrible people.
I let the guards lead me out, grabbing me roughly by the hair, as I heard a roar and an explosion against the bars of the cell, then a hiss of pain. Through our bond, I knew one of them had just tried to throw themselves out of the cell.
The guards talked around me in fluent French, and I focused on keeping track of where we were going, noticing the door I’d been through earlier before taking a turn to the left.
I looked up to see we once again had stone ceilings.
So that room was the key to getting up and out of here. I had to keep that in mind.
Unfortunately, that train of thought had me distracted enough that when I was suddenly thrown into a room and my knees hit the cement, I let out a small whimper.
I was yanked up violently by my hair and turned sharply before being strapped into a chair. My breathing went rough as the two men stood over me, seemingly thrilled with the fear in my gaze.
“It’s a shame that we are only allowed to test our toys on her,” one of them said.
“I agree. I almost feel like we should have grabbed one of the men. I mean, we could do a lot more fun shit with her?—”
I whimpered as his hand moved up my leg, and I went into full panic mode.
“Which is why you have me here,” a female voice snapped as the door closed. “You wanted to test out the blade. Fine. But no sexual trauma. The Master may forgive this, but he won’t forgive that. So get the fuck over yourself.”
Oh, thank god. I mean, screw the blade, but right now this lady was my favorite in the entire world.
That was until she appeared over me and I found myself looking up into the gaze of someone who clearly very much hated me.
I felt suddenly rocked to my core, realizing that she looked so startlingly familiar and like my ‘mother’ that there was only one possibility…
“That’s right, girl,” she bit out. “Bet my sister didn’t tell you that you had an aunt.”
“You are not my aunt, and she was not my mother,” I growled.
“You’re right. Because the only reason she got special fucking treatment is because of the shit she would do for Malcolm.
Vile, disgusting shit that damned her soul.
I heard that she’s dead. Did those boys of yours kill her?
I figured they might have once you opened your legs for them.
It will be interesting to see what else we can get them to do. ”
I didn’t say anything, feeling anger run under my skin as she chuckled and stepped back.
“Doesn’t matter—you know why? Because that bastard isn’t in charge anymore. We have a new master, so in a way your action has been a blessing. Plus, you’re in luck tonight, because these two boys got shipments of blades from the Demonic realm they have been eager to use.”
Blades. I could deal with that… Right?
“Do you know what makes them special?” one asked, tilting his head.
“What’s that?” Sweat was breaking out on my skin as my stomach turned. This was going to be bad, I just knew it.
She flashed a smile. “The scars don't heal. They leave a mark.”
Anani
Fuck. This was so fucked.
I thought I could hear Maya screaming, but my entire body was messed up because of these cages and the drain on my magic.
I broke into a tremble as my dragon roared inside of me, feeling chained down, unable to break out of these constraints.
What the hell was going on right now? Why couldn’t I feel her?
Better question, how did we get out of it?
My breathing went fast as I felt phantom pain go through me.
“Why the fuck would she do that?” Sai demanded, trying to sit up. Ledger put a hand on his chest, which was enough to level him back onto the ground.
“Because she thinks this is her fault. She’s taking the goddamn blame,” Marco hissed and hit the side of his fist against the iron bars, making the entire thing shudder. There had to be a way out of this damn place, even if it meant doing it without our magic.
“I shouldn’t have let her go.” Ember shook her head. “That was my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said immediately, feeling bad for the kid, who had the same haunted look in her gaze that Maya had when she’d first come to us. It wasn’t just her, though—it was everyone in these damn cages.
“What do they normally do?” Henry demanded, clearly trying to gauge how bad it was going to be when Maya came back. I could tell he was attempting to be clinical, but our bond was filled with pain, and the ringing of screams in my head had me nearly slamming my skull against the iron bars.
“I heard them talking about a new shipment of knives from the Demonic realm,” one of the little dragons said from two cages down.
Fuck. That was bad goddamn news.
“We need to get out of here,” Atlas said, looking like he was about to lose it. “We need to get all of us the fuck out of here, because it’s only going to get worse.”
“I can’t feel my connection with her fully,” Croy admitted, his brow crumpled.
“You have to break the wards around the room,” Ember offered, drawing all our attention as she curled further around Bella. “The spell is cast on the outside of the door, but it can be broken. I heard them talking about it when they had to repair it one time.”
I exchanged a look with the others as a sense of agreement went through our bond. We were going to get the fuck out.
Then something occurred to me. Where the hell were these kids going to go after, and how had they gotten here in the first place?
Turning towards them, I spoke in a soft tone, hoping to not freak them out. “How did all of you get here?”
“Born here,” the older girl offered. “The rest of them were hunted. They shot down the phoenixes who live near the mountain range. It was where a lot of them were born. That was how they got the little flight as well.”
That was so fucked up.
“We need to try to get the spell broken before the guards come back,” Croy said. “Once she comes back, we are fucking leav?—”
The door swung open to reveal the man who took us from our estate earlier, his eyes going towards Maya’s cell before freezing and looking at all of us. “Where the fuck is she?”
Marco’s voice was low and dangerous. “You know exactly where she is. The guards fucking took her.”
He disappeared. The bastard was just gone, leaving the door open to the dark hallway ahead of us, taunting us as I caught sight of the faint traces of magic from the ward that surrounded the space.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” my brother bit out.
“You can't just go for it like that—the wards are super powerful, especially with your power drained.” Ember stated firmly.
She was right. If we could shift, we could wreak havoc on this place, but I felt as if I was at possibly one quarter of my normal strength. The idea of shifting seemed impossible, which was exactly their intention.
“Is it the spell draining the magic?” Henry wondered out loud.
“No.” One of the little girls perked up. “It’s the stone.”
I turned towards her sharply. What fucking stone?
Ember shielded the girl as she hid. “Yes, the stone is over the outside of the cells. The magic drain only extends through the cells, but the ward is throughout the room itself.”
I moved towards the entrance of the cell, and when I tilted my head up, I could see the faint light of ruby-shaded stone glowing enough to make a shadow on the wall.
The question was how the hell did we get to it.
I tried to summon my magic, bringing fire to the tips of my fingers, but it fizzled, making me irrationally angry.
I eyed the metal, wondering what would happen if we tried to melt it?—
The door was thrown open as I realized I’d been staring at the stone for a while as everyone talked around me.
Instantly, everything in my world came to a halt as the asshole from before carried Maya into her cell and gently set her down, his face covered in so much pain that I felt myself confused.
Who the fuck was this guy? I didn’t realize Henry was threatening him until my ears popped and the bastard finally looked right up at our beta.
“If you want your mate to not be permanently damaged, I would shut the fuck up and let me concentrate.” His voice was a low hiss as his wings suddenly expanded around him, filling the space with black shadows that circled around Maya’s limp form.
My knees broke at how horrible she looked.
Her body was littered with cuts that soaked her dress.
I noticed that the man’s wings, made of black shadows, occasionally shifted into thick feathers before disappearing like an illusion.
I had no idea what type of magic he had, but I would do anything to make sure she felt better.
I felt the impact of someone pulling on the cell bars, the posts not giving as I stared down at my peanut, crumbled on the floor of her cell. I could feel my heart breaking, and I felt absolutely frozen.
How the hell did we fix this?
“Poison,” Henry growled, moving closer, his breathing rough as I looked at each little cut and noticed how they were almost glowing gold on the edges.
“I can feel how weak her life force is,” Atlas bit out as I realized he was trying to pull on the bars. The man in front of her stood and walked to the bars, easily turning two of them to smoke with a work of his hand, allowing me to surge forward and gather Maya in my arms.
Oddly enough, no one attacked him as he stood there, looking on edge. I brushed the wet, blood-soaked hair back from her face, her hand tightening on my arm. Her eyes were heavy as they opened, and she looked at me and then over my shoulder, offering a weak smile.
“Thank you. Again.”
Marco was next to me, and I gently eased Maya into his arms, telling him to be gentle as I watched him rein in his dragon so he could touch her.
“What happens when he comes for her damn answer tomorrow? She can’t go through anything more. Right now she can barely open her eyes,” Sai bit out.
The man spoke quietly, drawing our attention. “You don’t have until tomorrow.”
“What?” I snapped.
His eyes filled with sadness. “The Master is going to hear about the three I slaughtered for hurting her… He will want to see her. I would say you have an hour or two at most.”