The Red Hunter

C h a p t e r 1 6

I could hear the warning ticks echoing in my screaming mind as I beheld Jack.

As I beheld my brother in everything but blood as he was forced to his bruised knees in the middle of the room just out of reach and right in front of my shaking form.

Tick, tick.

As I beheld my best friend as the venomous serpent entitled Sorrel constricted him with her soft hisses and deranged eyes.

Tick, tick, tick.

As I beheld my partner in crime croak my name blindly, his sight taken by the dark cloth shadowing his eyes.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

My reason for living--tortured and in tears because of me. Because of my mistakes.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

The once incessant ticks of the time bomb harrowing my mind ceased their shrill wails, only to be replaced by an explosion of fear an anger.

I let out a strangled scream filled with hatred and lashed at the metal cuffs chaining me down, trying to break free only to be met with failure.

"You can't! Not to Jack--" I bellowed the words towards Sorrel, horrified, only to realize that they were wrong. She could do whatever she pleased being the sinister snake she was, and because Jack has yet to be labeled an ex-hunter like myself, he was still under the clan house's, Sorrel's, diction--she could do whatever she pleased to him since they thought he broke the law, despite being a Moon Slayer.

Sorrel walked towards Gabel who was standing in the corner of the room and handed him my stuff, red cloth included. He took them without question, unease written all over his face.

With a sly expression, she walked back over to Jack and circled him; a predator marking its prey.

"I can't Little Red Hunter? I can't what?" With one long nail, she dug it into the vulnerable flesh of Jack's neck, drawing out the pain slowly in threat. His blonde hair was damp with sweat and plastered to his forehead, which was coated in grime and dirt. His tall form was hunched forward as he gritted his teeth, wet streaks from tears still visible on his cheeks.

My breath stilled along with Jack's, who didn't dare move as he leaned away from Sorrel in attempt to get away.

My so called "crimes" were one story, but for Jack to be brought into this and at such a severe level, I had a sickening feeling that he wouldn't get out of this alive. He has done nothing, nothing, to deserve what Sorrel has dealt him, so there was only one reason why she was doing this.

"Stop this! This is not going to make me talk because there is nothing to say! I know nothing of where Cleora is!" Sorrel dug her nail in further, earning a choked whisper from Jack.

I was about to yell again when Sorrel paused and my burning eyes were snatched from her form and instead focused on something else.

The sharp snap of the safety being turned off of Gabel's silver gun shushed the room into silence as the barrel was pointed at Sorrel's forehead from across the room.

"Point that away from me," Sorrel hissed at Gabel as he calmly kept aim at her.

"Stop this Sorrel, this is not the Hunter's way," he spoke slowly, as if not to anger a rabid animal.

The mirrors on the wall watched as Sorrel heaved in and out, in and out, in and out, until finally she released her grip from Jack's neck with a growl.

"Now," she hissed, "put that weapon away--"

Bang!

Gabel fired his gun, the bullet barreling towards Sorrel until it tore through her side. With a loud howl, she was on the floor, crimson blood already starting to pool on the floor.