Burning Souls (F.T Sequel)

Twenty-Three

A/N: I was totally a rebel and uploaded earlier than usual. 

...°...

Hunter's POV

"Emma's miracle mind link to you reactivated the signal, even though wherever she is must be underground." 

"How is that possible?" I ask Dominic cautiously. He shrugs, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. 

"I always have a back-up, my friend, particularly that of magical nature."

"Witches?"

"I have my sources," are his only words. He then turns and leaves the room without another word. I abandon the dejected classroom without second thought, following Dominic through the rickety hallways with quick strides. He pushes right pass the splintered double doors and walks straight to a cluster of familiar cars. Caleb and Fernando are bickering, as usual, and Julia is leaning against the flaming Ferrari, working the tip of her hunter dagger with a nail file. 

A nail file. 

I stop short when I notice an exception to the close-knit group. "Where's Alice and Chase?" I ask loudly, gaining everyone's attention. They exchange worried looks, and I feel my anger flaring. They're hiding something. "I'm ordering you to tell me what the hell is going on!" I snarl, looking at each and every one of them with narrowed eyes. Julia scoffs from her casual stance. 

"You're no leader of mine." 

I glare at her and have the pleasure to notice the slight way that her posture shrinks under my threatening gaze. Caleb and Fernando have stopped their quarrelling, and Caleb takes a slow step towards me. When he begins to lift his hands in surrender as I stiffen, I know that I'm not going to like it. "Okay, hon," he begins, and I snarl with annoyance at his nickname of me. "don't get mad now, but we can't tell you." Before I can tackle him to the ground he shouts out in a high-pitched, scared voice, "Wait, wait! It's for Emma's safety."

I stay put and spin around to face Dominic with crossed arms. "Well?"

I hear Caleb's whisper behind me. "I told you he wasn't going to kill me. He loves me way too much. It's actually kinda creepy..." Snickers follow. 

"You told me that you had this under control," I hiss at Dominic, who sighs heavily and gives me a flat look. 

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"No."

"Great. Well, you see, in case we get a replay of Emma's weird mind link to you and somehow figures out what we're going to do, you can't know about anything that's going on." The fact that his words are so thought out and sensible makes me want to rip his head off even more. "And if Emma were to know, and then be tortured for information-"

I've got him by the throat, pinned against the wall in seconds. He laughs at me coldly, tapping his fingers mockingly on my hand around his throat. "Down boy. Don't forget who you're threatening." Shaking with rage, I slowly uncurl my hold, lowering him to his feet. I take a step back, staring at him with cold fury burning in my eyes. 

"When I don't need you anymore," I begin, my voice a deadly growl, "I will kill you." Dominic grins at me, a dangerous promise of retribution surfacing in his pale eyes. 

"I look forward to that, my dear friend." He then turns to the rest of the crowd who have been watching us in tense silence, and claps his hands enthusiastically. "Shall we get a move on then?" 

...°...

Emma's POV

I meet Jay's icy stare head-on as he takes slow, calculated steps towards me, twirling the butcher knife in his hand meticulously. "You're making this difficult, princess," he sings, smiling maniacally. I groan when my muscles scream out again, proving my current position even more painful than when he started. My arms and legs are bound to the wall in a star-shape, lifting my feet above the ground. Long gashes of blood run down my bare flesh, and the cold air of the dark room hits the open wounds over and over again. They've been starving me for five hours straight now, and I'm no longer healing. Without the blood, my human side is showing through. I need to feed, soon, or I'll start desiccating. They know that perfectly well. 

"You're having so much fun, aren't you?" I ask stiffly, ignoring the flames burning up my veins with the immeasurable hunger that's currently trailing scorching heat up my throat. Jay tilts his head, still wearing that demonic smile. His eyes are so, so distant, and so incredibly cold. 

"I've been telling you for the past five hours, Em," he says chirpily, coming to a complete stand-still in front of me. He brings his face closer to mine, searching my face before leaning in to whisper in my ear. "We know that your little rescue party is coming our way. How. Did. They. Find us?" he hisses. I keep my lips in a tight line, sealing the suffocating silence. He tsks and chuckles darkly. "As you wish..." In one, fluid motion, he slices the knife upwards, splitting my tee-shirt straight down the middle. I let out a shaky breath as the feeling of hot, crimson blood flows from the gash on my stomach where the metal cut through in agonising depth. Jay takes a step back and glances at my now exposed bra. "Blue lacy; cute." 

"I'm not telling you anything, so you might as well kill me now," I snarl, hanging my head to the side, staring at him with tired resolve. He shakes his head and snaps his fingers at me. 

"Now, you see, that would take away all of the fun." He walks over to the metallic table and sets the blood-stained butcher knife down carefully, like a precious gem stone. Then, he trails his fingers over the vast assortment of deadly weapons, before picking up a needle-like dagger. The sight of it has fear spiking my senses, and my arms rattle against the cuffs chaining them to the hard wall. He comes to a stand in front of me, raising the dagger in front of my face. "And I'm all about fun," he whispers, twirling it so that the light reflects off of its shiny, nightmare-provoking surface. He lowers his hand, the dagger disappearing with it, and not seeing its exact location at all times has terror covering every rational thought. Then, he presses the needle dagger into leg, right below the hem of my shorts. My eyes widen and tears blur my vision as he pushes it in, one agonising second after the other. My body thrashes against the cuffs as the tears now fall without break, following every whimper that I make. Jay brings up a finger and wipes away the drops, gazing at me with mock sadness. "Aww, princess," he begins, "don't cry." He leans in by my, still holding the needle inside of my leg, to the core of my flesh, and whispers, "This could all be over if only you tell me everything that's trapped inside of that pretty, little head of yours."

In this moment, I want to yell at the top of my lungs, screaming out my secrets from sky-high rooftops for the world to hear, just to escape that deep, insufferable pain. I know what I did; I know that by retracing that old link to Hunter's mind I would inevitably give some sort of access to Dominic. I just had to hope that Hunter stayed with the group at all times, and especially, with his Maker. The thought of Hunter regenerates the hope that's begun to crumble, and I lift my chin high once again, though straining to stare at Jay as my eyes begin to droop. With the healing abilities having disappeared along with the blood supplies in my body, fatigue is threatening to pull me under. To be honest, I'd rather just flat out faint to escape Jay's terrifyingly creative mind for torture. Right now, it's not so hard to believe that Hunter is his Maker. 

"Have you changed your mind, Em?" Jay whispers, pulling me straight from my train of thoughts. I keep the wobble in chin steady, mentally preparing myself for the next torment. 

"Fuck you," I hiss. He shakes his head at me, rips the needle from my leg which earns him a pained groan from me, and lifts it up high for me to see. 

"Weren't those just happy days?" He sings sarcastically, before pressing the needle deep into the flesh of my arm. The last thing that I hear before blackness extends its beautiful arms and cradles me into oblivion is my own scream. 

...°...

A/N: Okay, I know that this was a short chapter, but DON'T YOU JUST LOVE FINISHING OFF A CHAPTER WITH TORTURE? 

No?

Kay...

Anyway, I'm trying to complete my plot idea in my head, but right now it's kind of this ongoing inspired writing thing. I'm not really planning anything at the moment, and I'm scared of the many plot holes that that might bring. But, I WILL NOT give up Emma's story. And I hope that you like how her journey's evolving so far. She's my baby, okay? Okay. Hope you enjoyed guys! 

-xoxo, Sophia