Behind Enemy Lines | 2

Chapter Six

Hey again! Day Two of the 'Three Day Upload' enjoy!

Also, I feel the need to kind of explain Elijah's actions in the previous chapter. He's being blunt because he's the leader of the Hunters. He worked his way to the top in brute force with blood, sweat and tears. Elijah won't play nice to get what he wants, and he wanted to know what happened to Raven. Hence, his bluntness.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Libby xx

It crawled. Slithered. Reaching out with long tender fingers, it stroked her hair. The long red curls darkened at the contact, bringing a chill to her body. The evil smoke hovered, dark beady eyes locking with her smoky grey. They were wide as a ghostly hand reached beneath her skin and surrounded her heart. Its strong beat was frantic as the charcoal mist kept a barrier. Thin golden pulses shot out from the heart, but the darkness held. It seemed to smile with an evil greater than what she saw as her heart pounded. The light pulses seemed as frantic as her heartbeat but the darkness only seemed to thicken at its contact. The mist thickened as the evil being fully surrounded her life support. A cackling sounded, the same man… no, monster that put her on that cold slab…the buffet table of hell. It echoed around her heart, the golden flares brightening. Protecting. All the flares did was tickle the darkness, more laugher sounding in her ears. The dark reached out its tendrils and wrapped them around her heart.  The gold zapped with all its might, but no good was to come of this situation. It flared brightly, but the darkness   would not retreat. It swarmed her in a tornado of hatred and evil. The menacing laugh seemed louder, in her rattling eardrums. It whispered to her, nostalgia at the words, as her heart pounded with all the strength it had. The light only seemed to encourage the black beast.

The cords tightened….

Her heart straining…

The darkness poured itself inside…

Washing away the final golden pulse…

…Nothing.

Raven’s petrified eyes snapped open. Her body slithered along the trunk, sweat glistening her clothes and body. She took deep breaths, gulps, of air as though each one was her last. Her hands were bloody and blistered but reached out to the ground. They turned white as they latched onto the roots of the tree, her dark blood dripping down. The pain wasn’t felt. Raven pressed her other hand against her flat chest, feeling the strong pulse beneath. No darkness. Just flesh, no dark mist… no nothing.

No laughter.

“Raven?” Thalia called, seeing the rigid red-head against the tree. She had shifted back to plan with Elijah their journey to the base camp. Things were still awkward.
“I-I’m fine…” Raven whispered, staring at the two mates. Shock suddenly overcame her. “I mean, I’m fine…um… You’re Highness.” She backtracked. Thalia quickly shook her head.
“Please, just call me Thalia.” The Princess asked, smiling slightly at the pink cheeks Raven suddenly adorned.
“Right.” She whispered as she got to her feet. Bloody hands still pressed to tree, she waited for her knees to stop shaking. Raven was physically and emotionally drained; from her tragic encounter and her escapade with the hunter and the Royal wolf. 
“If you don’t mind my asking…”  Raven whispered, but Thalia heard. She slapped Elijah so he could pay attention, but he seemed too focused on the map in front of them. “How are you together?”
For the first time that morning, they locked eyes. Green and brown clashed with a tumble of emotions, before Elijah sighed. Setting down the map, he turned to Raven.
“About two years ago, I raided the Royal convoy.” Elijah started off. Out of habit, he started to fiddle with his knife. “I had the prized wolf family on their knees in front of me, but I couldn’t kill them because…”
Thalia raised an eyebrow at his hesitation. The tension could be cut by the claws of Thalia’s golden wolf, but Elijah quickly finished his sentence before Thalia’s wrath was bestowed upon him.
“…because I saw Thalia.” He admitted, cringing at the cliché sense over his words. “She realised I was her mate and it was the reason I got away that day.”
Thalia stared at her mate with an unknown look. While she fell for him at first sight, he was human. He didn’t feel the same thing wolves did when they found the love of their life. It gave Thalia a purpose in life, and it should have been the same for Elijah’s wolf… if he had one.
“We kept in contact.” Thalia took over, not looking away from her man. He looked at the ground like it was gold. “Over a whole year, we wrote letters. I always knew where he was.  We couldn’t risk anything like meeting for my status with the wolves.”
Elijah finally got the guts to look up into her eyes and they held. “When the current Queen, my brother’s mate was freed from her prison, she bestowed all hunters and werewolves to work together to hunt down the vampires who held her.  An alliance, to defeat the enemy once and for all, with Elijah and I at the head.”
Raven frowned at the two of them. A lot had come to pass in her time in the dark. She didn’t know how long she was trapped, but Raven had questions.
“What about King Claude and Queen Zara?” Raven asked, remembering the former rulers of the Werewolf world.
“They resigned when they found out they could have saved Queen Seraphina from long induced suffering…” Thalia faded into her mind with her words and Elijah quickly frowned.
“King Elliot, Thalia’s older brother and his mate Seraphina now rule the wolves.” Elijah continued, keeping a green eye on his woman. “Seraphina is the last Priestess of the Moon, Lady of the Wolves and went through the exact same thing you did.”
Raven stiffened at the declaration, her lips trembling. Elijah ran a hand through his hair as he took in the red-head’s startled grey vision. “She was held by those blood-suckers, and then in a human Zoo.   Seraphina will help you get back to your family.”
“M-Meredith.” Raven whispered in confusion, the name coming to her suddenly. Thalia and Elijah  looked at each other in shock before Elijah stood up with his mate.
“How do you know that name Raven?” Thalia asked, a stern Royal tone entering her voice. Elijah shivered at the immaculate power, but didn’t move his gaze from the frail female against the tree. 
Raven looked up at her captives with trembling lips as her eyes glazed over to her nightmares. She started to mutter words under her breath. Grey orbs darted back and forth in fear.
“He was so angry… Meredith’s death… Vampires… Needles… Blood… Monster.” Raven whispered over and over again, and Thalia quickly rushed over to hug her close. Raven buried her weeping body into Thalia’s, not daring to let go of the warmth. She didn’t dare let go of that warm flare, afraid the darkness will come back.

The laughter sounded again.