Nerina [eShort Series]

Revenge P.1 | ii

1696

"It seems I found you first little mouse." Eve twirled the tip of a slim blade on her fingertip as she paced slowly in front of Nerina. She had waited for this moment for quite some time. Planned it perfectly. This would be their time to be—reacquainted. One would think the cat and mouse game between them would be tiring but she found it to be a special—amusement. One she could not seem to give up. It was a matter of in the meantime. Had been a matter of in the meantime.

Her—fascination with the woman she now held chained may have cost her more than she had put up for bargain. Even as she tried to enjoy the fact that she had the upper hand, internally her composure was slipping. The second she came back, she knew she had lost something. She had lost it all. However, Eve was determined to get it back. Somehow, she would get it all back. Eve had to believe she would— or could—ignoring the little voice that told her it was too late.

Chained by her hands and feet, Nerina struggled against the shackles that had her spread like a starfish. The room was cold and musty, mold growing on the moist walls. She knew she was in some sort of dungeon. No one would be able to hear her screaming in this uninsulated room. The moldy walls were solid blocks of stone with a single door that was to her back. She could hear the iron screeching every time Eve went in and out of the room. The bolts slamming in place when her sire left. Torches circled the room providing little light, even less warmth. Lack of blood was making it harder for Nerina to heal, harder for her to regulate her temperature.

The incessant pitter-patter of water dripping from the ceiling kept the room in a constant state of wet adding to or causing the cold. Eve walked up to her running the blade along her skin not breaking it. Nerina was already bloody. Sliced up this way and that since she woke up in the dungeon. Slim swatches of cloth covered her essentials, nothing else. Eve wanted as much skin exposed as she could possibly cut into to her heart's content.

"We could do this for a very," as she spoke she trailed the blade in a zigzag motion down Nerina's torso now breaking skin, "long, long time."

Nerina gritted her teeth. "Or for as long as you can keep me chained."

"A challenge? Hmm...I like this—new you."

Eve smiled when she noticed the line of torn flesh was taking longer than normal to heal. She looked up at Nerina who held her gaze steady and determined. Eve was determined to extinguish that fire. Out the flames and leave nothing but black smoke.

"I think I'm going to get myself a snack. Want anything?"

"You. Dead."

"You tried that once. Like I said, mildly overt to dying." Eve's laugh followed her through the door. The bolts slammed into place sealing Nerina in. She rattled the chains, the manacles biting into her skin. She pushed the pain aside. She was weak, needed to feed. The power of Fionn's blood had long left her veins. On animal blood, she was strong with all she had learned from him and Steele but she needed to be stronger. Physical strength now was her issue.

She tugged and pulled on the chains as she had since she had woken. Days had blended so she did not know how long she had been there. Still she struggled using up every ounce of energy she had. Eve had been smart to give her only animal blood though in small amounts. Just enough to keep her alive and conscious.

Nerina slumped, her chin on her chest exhausted when her energy waned. She did not have enough to keep her eyes open so she allowed them to close, surrendering to unconsciousness.

She was jolted awake again by cold water. Nerina gasped from the shock of the cold as Eve doused her to get her awake. The woman threw the bucket aside walking over to the left of the room.

"What should we do today?" Eve was standing at a rickety table now, her worktable. She unfolded a leather case. Inside were all her toys: needles, blades of all sizes. Wooden tipped whips laid across the table, hooks with barbed tips. She had everything she could possibly need to inflict the most pain.

"Why don't you release me if you want a change?" Nerina clamped her teeth together as they threatened to chatter from the cold and the energy it took to say the words.

"A novel idea," Eve said walking over to her with a whip. On the tip of each strip were wooden barbs. "But alas I must decline."

"Scared?" Nerina asked as Eve moved behind her, running the thin leather strips of the whip through her fingers. When Eve moved out of sight, she braced. Nerina could feel the wooden bits burning into her skin. Splinters lodging where she would not be able to remove them herself. They would sit there, fester, and add to the pain. Healing would stop completely soon and she would bleed out and die. No, Eve would keep her on the brink of death for her own amusement. Nerina was determined to return the favor ten folds.

"You silly little mouse."

The wooden tips sunk in then tore through flesh when Eve drew back to take another strike. The screams were ripped from Nerina, as was the flesh ripped off her back. Each blow closely followed by another, then another. A plead threatened to come out but she bit her lip cutting into her own flesh. She would never give this woman the satisfaction. She would rather die.

When it stopped, Nerina did not even notice. Parts of her had gone numb with the shock. The pain had been too much with her not having the energy to block the brunt of it. In her head, she continued to scream even when her lips did not move. She cursed the woman who stood before her. Eve's image blurred and tilted. She hurled threats she knew Eve did not hear. Threats she did not have the energy to spit aloud. However, she would have her revenge. She would not die before she had gotten it. That was her due after all she had suffered through because of Eve. It was her due and she would collect. She would live to collect in full.

"Oh no, no, no, I'm not done," Eve was slapping Nerina in the face trying to keep her conscious. Nerina's head drooped loosely from her neck. "Not yet. You have something of mine and I want it back."

She went over to the table again taking up a cup. She went to Nerina, tried to force feed her but Nerina fought keeping her mouth closed. "Open your mouth. I'm not done with you."

Nerina's refusal had Eve slapping her across her face. Her teeth rattled. She clamped them and her mouth shut, tasting fresh blood.

"Drink."

Eve awkwardly tried to get the blood down Nerina's throat only succeeding in making a mess over the floor and herself. "You are going to drink." Eve threw out her will and came up against a hard block. "How are you able to do that?"

Nerina smiled inwardly. Thinking ahead, she had concealed the amulet. Burying it beneath her skin.

Caught up in her anger Eve did not see Nerina's real plan until it was too late. Nerina sank her teeth into Eve's arm almost down to the bone her jaw clamped tight. She drank deeply keeping her hold for as long as possible. Eve did her best to get free then finally, she snapped Nerina's neck.

The cracking of bone reverberated in the room along with Eve's heavy breathing. The pitter-patter of water that never stopped. She held her bleeding arm running out of the room. Nerina remained suspended, as she was her neck at an awkward angle.

Eve was back four days later when she knew Nerina would have come back. When she knew Nerina would be starving. A snapped neck was hardly a headache but the hunger, oh, that would eat her alive. At the door, she stood staring in at the chains. Only the chains. She looked from one side of the room to the next, not that there was anywhere in there to hide. She walked slowly into the room in a kind of stupor, one foot mechanically moving in front of the next.

Her body was shaking. Her anger left a taste like lead in her mouth.

The signs were gone.

Now Nerina was gone.