The Halflings Mate

15.

Rosie's face darkened and I couldn't help but flinch .

"I did but there's been ... complications . So I need to do a little ritual , the curse that Zia has is draining her life force and giving it to my sister . But it's not quick enough so I need to speed up the process" Rosie replied .

Dizziness suddenly overcame me, my heart pounding away in my rib cage and my hands began to sweat .

Every time Zia got angry, she was giving her life force over to Rosie's sister . Zia was killing herself and now I had been captured and I knew Zia, there was no way she wouldn't come for me . She would be walking into a trap. They were going to kill her and it was my fault .

"P-please , please don't do this . Take me instead, I-I don't care . Just leave Zia alone " I begged .

I was nothing .

An insignificant human with little importance or impact in the world . I wasn't special , I wasn't like Zia , the best cousin I could ever ask for . I wasn't confident , beautiful and ridiculously powerful .

There was no reason why she should sacrifice herself for me . Rosie had to understand that .

"Cute but you're a human , there's nothing you can do but sit there and look pretty . Or pretty disgusting in your case. Besides , I'm doing you a favour , you'll probably lose some weight with the lack of food . You should be grateful " Rosie sneered , her eyes sparkling in cruel amusement.

Her words were like a punch in the gut as she reaffirmed everything I hated about myself .

I knew I was undesirable and not much to look at but being told it by someone who wasn't me still hurt .

Turning away , I curled up on the mattress and squeezed my eye shut, willing the tears not to fall.

~~~

I wasn't sure how long it had been since Rosie's visit but my stomach began to cramp terribly . I was hungry , tired and I needed the toilet .

I couldn't even sleep as every time I closed my eyes I was plagued with the image of Zia being drained to death whilst I got to live .

Taking a deep breath , I stumbled unevenly onto my feet and to the bars of my cramped cell .

"Hello?! Is anyone there ? P-please , I need the bathroom!" I called out , exhaustion evident in my tone.

After about a minute of silence I called out again, willing my bladder not to fail when a sudden pop sounded behind me .

A large demon stood behind me and it took every ounce of willpower in me not to scream , but I couldn't help the involuntary whimper that left my throat as I stumbled backwards .

Without saying anything , it grabbed my writs in a bruising grip that had me let out a hiss of pain and then I was travelling through darkness .

The darkness wrapped around us , the hands of the dead reaching out to grab me and drag me down. It lasted no longer than two seconds but it was the longest two seconds of my life as I screamed myself horse .

"Use it" Grunted the Demon , pushing me roughly into a room.

My heart was beating so fast , I had no doubt that travelling through the shadows again would put into a cardiac arrest . If I went through that again , I was almost certain I would die. I had to try and convince the demon to bring me back to my cell another way .

Shadow traveling was meant for shadow demons only .

I stumbled into the bathroom and emptied my bladder before slumping down on the toilet and putting my head in my hands.  I felt like I hadn't digested what had happened to me , it all seemed so surreal and I had about a million thoughts running through my head.