I woke up, coughing something that was stuck in my throat out on to the floor.
I felt really hot, feverish and sweaty.
My palms were all clamy, I barely felt them when the scraped themselves along the floor and pulled my limp torso into a sitting position.
I couldn't move my leg, something was wrong and it felt too numb to be just numb, it felt lifeless.
I screamed when I looked down and saw that my leg looked like a person had butchered it.
There was a gaping whole, blood drizzling from it's sides and swealing all around its edges.
I looked up to see that Jacob was sat on by my feet, holding my leg to the floor. "I see you're awake." he said, still holding my leg firlmy to the ground.
"Please do something to heal it. It's horrible." I cried and then put my head in my hands. Moving my arm stung like mad, then I remembered the slits that Richard made across my arms.
"I can't do anything that I haven't already tried. Just focus on staying awake, don't waste your energy on madly thrashing around like you were earlier." he said and waited for me to react.
A lone tear dropped from my eye, if he couldn't help me now then I have no hope of ever trying to defend myself from Richard, not that I would have been any good at it.
"Why-why are you helping me?" I asked, gulping and trying to hold away the tears. I wanted to be any where but here more than anything in the world.
"Huh?" he said, distracted by other thoughts.
"Why are you helping me?" I said, my breathing becoming faster from fear of dying.
"Oh. Well...You remind me of some one. My daughter actually. I haven't seen her in years because she's getting hitched to a werewolf. Werewolves are almost as bad as vampires, they aren't natural and they kill people when there is no need for it....I know you look nothing like her, I mean she's got brown hair and she's probably a couple of years older than you, but she's open to change and she has sympathy for everyone, even if they only shove it back in her face." he said, vengeful look in his eyes.
"Is her name Maddy?" I breathed, I sounded weezy and chesty.
"What? You know my Madeline? Is she...still human?" he asked.
"What? She can become a werewolf? How?" I asked, I'd never been told this before.
"Your vamp friends never told you? Werwolves have to bite a human during the full moon for them to become a half werwolf. Or werwolf spawn, both mother and children become werewolves when the child is born although only half werwolves...Her werewolf hasn't bit her then or they haven't had a kid?" Jacob said, losing intrest but looking smug.
"No. They're geting married though." I whispered, seeing the expressions on his face.
The cell around seemed too quiet, the light outside was dimming and no doubt that once the sun went down, there was a strong chance that I wasn't going to make tomorrows sun down. Even if no vampire tries to save me, the slayers aren't going to keep me as their vampire sympathising pet, the'll kill me with out even thinking twice about it.
I wiped away a bead of sweat from my forehead, breathing heavily and soaked in my own sweat.
My clothes stuck to my skin which was uncomfortable inside the cuts on my arms and legs. I could barely move my limbs without feeling a restriction from my clothes.
I coughed again, my chest ached more then I had ever experienced, I hurt all over with the bruises and cuts and massive indent on my leg, I felt grungy and sticky from the amount of sweat that I was making and it definately felt like I was getting weaker.
My wound on my leg looked revolting, it was still seeping out blood aswell as another fluid that didn't look healthy, it looked infected.
"Look, you seem nice enough but in a couple of minutes, Richard is gonna come back in here and I'm sorry but he's probably gonna kill you. I'm sorry but I can't save you, not without getting myself killed and I've got too much to loose to risk that. I just wanna say that it's not my choice, I'm not like the others here, they only care about ending vampires and don't care who gets hurt in the process."
I didn't know what to say, the only thing I could do was accept it. I just nodded in reply and began inwardly quivering.
I felt my shoulders going up and down, my limbs shaking from fear of dying and also the fear of how I was going to die.
It didn't improve when I heard footsteps getting closer and closer, my death was here.
"Get up." Richard said, entering the room and ordering me to stand. He was flanked by several other muscular people, none that I recognized from yesterday but they still all looked very threatening.
"Richard, look at her, she can barely keep her eyes open. How's she supposed to stand up with that on her leg?" Jacob said, pointing to my leg.
"Jacob have you learnt your lesson? Now do as I say Candice, I have a present for you in the other room that I'm sure you'd love."Richard said in a sadistic way, he was the most horrible human being I'd ever met.
I tried to pull myself up but I was more in a daze and I wasn't strong enough to drag myself off the floor.
Instead, Richard pointed for one of his men to grab me by the shoulder and lift me off of the ground onto my feet.
I started to fall back again so Richard got another one of his men to support my other side and then the two men dragged me down a corridor, following Richard and his other men.
The brought me up a set of stairs and into a room that was bright, the total opposite of the one that I had previously been in and it stung my eyes.
"This is not the famous Malik that I have heard about but you'll do just as well, after all, you are brothers." he spoke and kicked a figure that was hunched over on a chair in the middle of the room.
The figure growled back and hissed, very animal like.
I blinked several times in diesbelief, just realising that the figure lying on the ground was Sedrick.
"Sedrick?" I whispered, I'd never seen Sedrick acting this way before. He growled at Richard when he saw my injuries and started thrashing around, madly trying to break free of the things that were restraining him.
"Ahh yes, it does work just like I wanted. Maybe even better....Actually, I have an idea." Richard said and then took the knife from inside his pocket.
I cringed as he began walking over to me, Sedrick froze, seeing what was happening, "Get away from her!" he growled.
Richard ignored him and I tried to pull away from Richard but his hand was soon clamped on the back of my neck, holding me in place.
Richard ripped the other sleeve off of my jacket and then dragged the blade down my arm, a fresh wound leading from my shoulder to my elbow.
I screamed out in pain, Richard smiled and Sedrick began thrashing around even more violently than before.
"Just let go of her! Let go!" he shouoted, growling like an animal.
"Oh I will Sedrick, but will you be able to?" Richard said, grabbed my arm and forced me on to the back of my knees, knelt infront of Sedrick. "Lets see if you can resist your own temptations." Richard grabbed my arm, aiming the cut right infront of Sedricks nostrils.
Sedrick immediately began looking at the blood, pouring from inside the wound, mezmerized by each drop that dripped down my arm. He traced the wound with his eyes and then caught the look in my eyes, immediately turning his face away from my arm, looking ashamed and guilty.
"Oh. Look at this boys! I think it's the first blood sucker that has turned his face away from blood...Wow she must be something special. Let's see how special she really is." Richard said and then dragged the knife along my arm again.
I screamed out, trying to yank my arm away but as I did, he pushed the knife in deeper, making me cry even more. "Stop, please stop." I begged, tears rolling down my cheeks much faster then before.
"Why stop when I' having so much fun? Are you having fun Sedrick? Is the smell of her blood nice or is it bad blood?" Richard said, ran his finger along my arm, getting blood on his finger and then rubbing it onto Sedricks face, like a child with paint. Carelessly.
Sedrick tried to look away from the blood but couldn't, the smell was too strong now that it was so close to his nose.
"Tell you what, I'm gonna make a deal with you because I'm a nice guy and all. If you show your true blood lust and bite Candice, I'll let Candice go. If you don't, I'll kill her infront of your eyes and I won't make it a nice death either." Richard threatened grabbing my arm violently and shaking me.
"Richard, you know I can't. If I do then I won't be able to stop, I'll kill her anyway." Sedrick said, looking paler than usual.
"Precisely. Atleast of you rip her throat out then she won't be tortured to death, you can make her think she's just going to sleep, can't you?" Richard said. He moved around to the back of me, holding onto my shoulders, stroking my arm, circling the wound with his finger.
I whimpered, frightened about torture. I was going to die and it was going to be very painful, the choice was Sedricks to decide if I died quikly or if I died screaming.
"You see Sedrick, she's already scared of vampires, why don't you make her even more scared of them and tear her blood from her neck. It'll keep all of the humans away and you won't end up in a situation like this ever again because there won't be a human that you like enough to save. Well actually you won't be in another situation like this ever again because once Candice is dead, I''m gonna stake you to the floor." Richard said, in my ear.
"Candice, I can't control myself. If I bite youo, you will die and I don't want to be responsible for your death. You deserve better than that, better than me. What do you want me to do?" Sedrick said to me, ignoring Richard.
"I-I don't want to die." I cried.
"I know but do you want me to kill you or Richard?" Sedrick asked.
"Hurry, time is ticking. There's only so long a guy can be pacient. My hand is itching to kill you and I want it done before the sun completely sets." Richard threatened.
"Please don't kill me! I don't want to die, I never wanted to be taken away from my life and I hate vampires. If you pull down my collar you can tell why I hate them! They kill people, steal their blood and don't feel remorse for it! I never wanted to be taken, I was only trying to get home and Sedrick and Julian took me for Malik. Just please let me go home! That's all I want!" I cried, trying to shake Richard away from me.
"Aww, look at the poor baby. I guess that means that she doesn't want to be killed by a vampire. That's fair enough, considering you did kidnap her and all." he said and then by my shoulders, he grabbed me and pulled me onto my feet, having to hold me.
"Get away from her! Just let her go! She didn't do nothing to you!" Sedrick shouted, thrashing around on the chair again.
Richard ignored him and pulled the collar of my shirt down so that he was exposing my neck, "Oh look she was telling the truth, a vampire did bite the hell out of her neck. You see Candice, this is what happens when you trust vampires, they only care about blood. Even your friend Sedrick there is thinking about draining the life from your neck with his fangs. Listen to me, you're better off dead than having to spend another minute with those blood suckers you lived with. You should be thanking me. Hey, hey, hey..Shush...If you stop crying I'll make it quicker then I was planning to." Richard said and then stroked my cheek.
He slapped me with the back of his hand, a burning pain began to spread in my cheek but I barely noticed it.
I watched Sedrick as Richard began to kill me.
Sedrick looked angry, vengeful. He was thrashing around in his chair, trying to break free from the ties.
I caught his eyes, he stared back, apologizing but without saying a word.
I closed my eyes, feeling another pain hitting me in the stomach. I didn't want to see Sedrick's reactions to every punch, every kick, every blow to my fragile body that Richard was going to do just to prove a point to the vampires.
Warmth made its way around my cold stomach, bringing me to the ground, the pain was unbearable.
I felt my head hit the ground, the sounds from the people around me were changing, shouting, yelling, pleading, it all seemed to stop after a while, everything was quiet but not complete silence.
I heard shuffling, then a scream, another and then a slap on the ground but for once it wasn't me making the noises.
Growling, hissing, shouting from lots of people.
Footsteps from all around me, somebody knelt over me.
I opened my eyes in just enough time to see Richard, standing over me with a bloody knife in his hands, a sadistic smile on his face as he realised that he was getting what he wanted.
The knife diappeared from my view and at the same time I ached all over.
I coughed out something, tears flowing down my eyes and down the edges of my face.
The knife reappeared, dripping more blood and Richard smiled at me, not a human smile, it was an evil smile, cruel and twisted.
I screamed as he stood up, placing his booted foot on my stomach and began pressing his foot into my stomach.
It was agony, my breathing was becoming more desperate, I was clinging to every single breath, trying to prolong my life for as long as I could even though I was in horrible pain.
What was the point though? I had nothing to aim for, only the fear that this was going to happen again or at a later stage in my life and that was not something that I ever wanted to live for.
My stomach felt like it was on fire, it burned each time I breathed, my chest struggled to go up and down, it was restricting my breath.
Richard looked around, alarmed and then ran off, some men followed and some fell to the ground.
Startled shouts erupted the room, people screaming for cover, others warning people of an incoming danger.
A man fell to the ground beside me, face down and unmoving, if I had breath or the ability to I would have screamed a scream of terror.
Sedrick shouted for somebody to help me but nobody came, Sedrick just constantly shouted and began thrashing around again, pulling the chair and scraping noises as he rocked on it.
"Candice! For God's sake don't close your eyes! Please, just focus on something. Come on, somebody help her!" Sedrick shouted, thrashing about even more.
Within seconds, three people were sat beside me.
It was no use though, I felt myself slipping away.
I closed my eyes, my breathing was slowing down, I felt relaxed.
I drifted off into the darkness of my eyelids, having one last ragged breath before they stopped completely.
Peace.