kidnapped!!!

chapter 6: now

Dimitri shoved me into a small white room. It had a full length mirror at one end but I turned my gaze away not wanting to see my reflection. I already knew what I would see. My green eyes once filled with so much life, now dull and bloodshot. Long blond hair hanging in tatters around my waist covered in dirt. No, I didn’t want to see that. Instead I turned my attention to the shower in the corner of the room. I turned the rusty handle and with a small squeak hot water began pouring out of the muzzle. I was so ready to wash away the dirt, sweat, grime and hopefully the bad memories. I jumped into the shower clothes and all and watched as the water ran down my body and turned orange, stained by the African dirt, and ran down the drain. I stood like that for a few minutes before stripping down and washing my hair with the shampoo and conditioner that stood at the end of the tub. Once I was fully clean and the water that came off me finally ran clear, I turned off the tap and grabbed the blue towel that hung on the wall.

“Are you done?” Dimitri called from the other side of the door.

“Yes” I mumbled back.

The door opened a crack and Dimitri held out a plain white dress and some underwear.

“Put these on, today is a special moment and you need to look the part”. I could almost here the sneer in his voice.

I pulled on the clothes, the crisp feel of the clean clothes sent shivers of pleasure down my spine. The dress was a simple summer dress with spaghetti straps holding it up, the fabric was tight up the top but fell into loose waves at my knees.

Looking up from the dress I turned the handle and Dimitri grabbed my arms again. I thought about running away but soon dismissed the idea when I felt the cool metal of steel shackles wrap around my wrist.

Dimitri pulled me back into the basement but it had changed. The desk had been removed, the window had been shut and in the center of the room was a large circle made by red sand. Incense was burning in the center of the circle and jeweled amulets lay around the incense. The place had an eerie feel and the full moon shone brightly through the window.

Dimitri grabbed my hair and pushed me into the circle. Stumbling over the harsh earth, I fell to my knees and Dimitri started to pace around me like a cat stalking his prey. His movements graceful yet terrifying. My hands started to shake, he grinned at my fear and took a menacing step towards in which I flinched away from.

“grace” he paused and I could see he was looking for the right words “this is the most important moment of my life, and yours,” he continued “so I don’t want to hear a peep from you until the ritual is finished, and this red sand is a boundary that if you try and step out of... well, let’s just say it is not pretty.”

“What will happen to me if I try and step out?” I squeaked

“Your blood will boil and your eyeballs will melt.”

I chuckled for a second but when he didn’t laugh with me I looked up and realised that he was deadly serious. My heart dropped to my stomach and the saliva in my mouth got hard to swallow. A claustrophobic feeling started to take over so I closed my eyes and my breathing slowed and my heart started beating at a normal pace.

“Time to get started” he said suddenly and I snapped my eyes open.

Dimitri walked over to the corner of the room where he had an old worn out book, a few candles, and a chalice.

He came back, place the four white candles evenly around the circle and stood directly in front of me, only the red sand was keeping me from reaching out and slapping him so I clenched me fists to stop me from doing so.

Dimitri knelt down in front of the first candle. “spirits of the north and the keepers of fire!” he called “I welcome you to our circle!” he lit the first candle, the flame flared then slowly went back to normal the red flame dancing in front of my eyes. He moved to the next candle and kneeled down in front of that one.

 “Spirits of the east and keepers of water! I welcome you to our circle!” he light the candle, it flared up but the flame for this one was blue! It looked amazing like a droplet of water that sways and moves in the air but it was nothing like the next.

“Spirits of the south and keeper of earth! I welcome you to our circle!” as Dimitri lit the next candle my mouth dropped open. The flame was green!

And as Dimitri went to the last one the colours of the flame relaxed me and I let the calming motion of the dancing flames hypnotize my mind.

“Spirits of the west and keepers of the air! I welcome you to our circle!” and when he lit the last candle and the flame turned yellow, I collapsed onto the ground, so relaxed. I only had enough energy to move my head to see what Dimitri was doing. He was holding up the worn out book and started to read from it. I think it was Latin but the words flowed out of his mouth so smoothly and I didn’t even listen to the words, I just concentrated on his melodic voice. His stiletto framed by the flickering candles. Strangely the light that those multicoloured flames gave out were the same golden light that normal flames gave off, but they were still supernatural.

I don’t know how long I stayed like that. Time just slipped away when I looked into the depths of those candles. I only focused on what was going on around me when a strong wind whipped my hair into my face, breaking my view of the candles. When I looked up at Dimitri I found that he was still chanting in that strange language but he was getting louder and louder, and the louder he got the stronger the wind got and soon there was a miny tornado in the circle throwing sand and dirt about, including the red sand that held the circle together.

Dimitri suddenly yelled “MAYA RACHESS!”  And the wind suddenly blew out the candles then died. But that wasn’t what I was focusing on; I was looking at the dead body that was lying next to me!