My short scream was cut off by a grunt as my knees made impact with the cold hard bottom of the cellar I had been standing at the edge of moments prior. My hands slapped onto the cold floor next, the sting of pain warming them as momentum had the rest of my body following to slam onto the concrete floor.
I gasped, struggling to draw a breath to replace the one that was knocked out of me as I shifted to curl onto my side. I didn't need to look to know that my skin was shredded where my body hit the rough floor the hardest. Getting up was a distant thought with the pain that was coursing through my body. Turning my head to look up at the bright square of light above was a struggle that had a groan escaping my lips as I caught sight of the height I had fallen from.
Too high.
Movement had my eyes snapping towards Silas who, unlike me, had managed to land on his feet next to me. He had his arms spread to balance himself. A cool breeze accompanied him, ruffling his hair and making my eyes water as it stirred dust into the air. It had me suspecting that it wasn't a hand that had shoved either of us down here.
Silas gave me a quick once over where I lay hugging my middle as I waited for the worst of the pain to pass. The drop must have been at least eight feet. I was just lucky it was a straight drop and not the bruising journey it would have been down the wooden steps I could make out in the light. They led up to the opening that Tia moved to stand at, looking down at us. Her chest was rising and falling hard from the effort it took her to push the heavy door open so it fell back against the sofa she had pushed out of the way. Or maybe her labored breaths were a result of the manic and bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes.
Silas must have seen it too. He readjusted his stance as his features twisted with anger. His eyes narrowed on her in focus before he stiffened. The curl of his lips turned into a frown as confusion pulled at his brows. He unfurled his fists as he raised his hands, moving them as though he was attempting to physically shift the air around him.
Did healing himself this morning and then later me exhaust him more than he had let on?
My teeth ground together as I pulled myself up into a seated position. He was already weak from the injury itself, it must have burned through whatever energy he had left to heal me outside the city-
Tia who had been watching with unhinged amusement in her eyes couldn't hold her laughter in any longer at the sight. "You're as useless as the human down there. The Strings of Autumn can't help you, nor can your warped blood. I had a friend stop by and spell the space while I stalled. Did you really think I wouldn't have any emergency glamours stocked?"
Silas's hands returned to his sides as fists again while I pulled myself up into a seated position.
"What is this, Tia?" He questioned, his voice hard enough to cut diamonds.
The grin that split her face sent a shiver of fear down my spine. "Vengeance."
Wasn't she the one that cheated? What did she have to be vengeful of?
"Vengeance?" He questioned, sounding just as confused as I felt. "For what?"
"For everything." It took a split second for Tia's grin to transform into a sneer of rage.
"You're going to have to elaborate," Silas dryly remarked. His patience had evaporated the moment she had shoved us into the hole in her living room floor.
"You... You're the reason I no longer have a family; why I no longer have my bond or my son! You ruined it!"
I flinched at the anger and pain her shouted accusation held while Silas's frown deepened.
"When I left three years ago, I was done with you, Tia. I didn't even know you two started a family let alone have any inclinations to ruin it," he tried to reason with her. I wasn't holding out hope given the look in her eye. She was beyond reason. "You said it yourself, your mother was the one that killed them."
"My mother never forgot you," she continued. "Even as she grew senile. She always made sure to warn me against you, to remind me of the corruption your blood held and that you were evil."
Silas stilled at her words, his breaths halting.
"Even when she couldn't remember where she was or who I was, her own daughter, she remembered you. Remember what you could do. She called it a slight against Nature. Unnatural. An aberration that needed to be destroyed."
"I cannot control what others think of me," Silas ground out.
"She saw you everywhere. It was like you had corrupted her mind... Maybe you had," Tia continued, her eyes locked on Silas as she disregarded what he said. "When she was walking through the streets or out back feeding the stray cats in the alley, she saw you. She even saw you the night she killed my Bonded... except you weren't there. She killed him thinking he was you. Then, she killed my son, her deteriorating mind mistaking him for being yours. She thought we were still together and had brought another abomination into this world. She couldn't let the corruption in your blood spread." Her voice cracked, despair causing her anger to wavier before it came back stronger. "You're the reason my family was destroyed, now I'm going to make sure you meet the fate that was intended for you."
I had heard that grief could make people irrational and have them searching for somewhere to place their blame, but what Tia was being right now was downright delusional.
"Just because she turned out to be a crazy, murdering, bitch doesn't mean you have to follow in her footsteps-"
The words left my mouth before I could think better given her state of unhinged. They were cut off as the sound of something whistling through the darkness towards me had me snapping my jaw shut. Before I could spot the projectile headed my way, Silas was at my side. His hand wrapped around my bicep, jerking me to my feet and out of the way of the flying object. It shot past me to shatter against the wall hard.
"Calling someone crazy, crazy, rarely ever helps," he hissed under his breath into my ear.
"It seems your human doesn't know how to hold her tongue," Tia mused.
Both Silas and I stiffened. His eyes snapped to my ears just as my hands rose to find them still covered by my hair. Maybe it had shifted to reveal they were curved?
"Maybe I should remove it." She pinned her eyes on me. "The proclamation only mentioned that you were wanted alive, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you were missing a piece or two." The manic gleam in her eyes grew as her psychotic smile returned.
"What proclamation?" Silas turned to demand as I shrunk into him at her threat. He shifted his body, hiding me from her as best he could.
"The one announced this morning by the Royal Court of Autumn to select members of the underground market. They seem to want to keep it hidden that they're looking for a human accompanied by a High Fae or any information on the pair wearing glamours for an obscene amount of coin- Oh! Excuse me," she suddenly straightened, reaching for her pocket. "I need to take this."
Stepping back, Tia pulled her phone out and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?" She said, rounding the square above us to reach for the door that lay propped against a sofa. She hummed as she took hold of it, lifting it as she replied to whoever had called. "I'm only interested in trading the human for coin if I can keep the Fae. Otherwise..." She met Silas's eyes. "You'll be picking up a human and a corpse."
With those words, Tia let the door drop and seal us in the musty darkness. The sound of metal scraping followed as a lock engaged before the sound of her faint footsteps carried her muffled voice away. The only source of light that remained was the bright outline that surrounded the door above.
"She's going to kill you." My voice rang out in the silence. It sounded more terrified than I had anticipated. And louder.
Then, I was going to be taken away and never make it back to Ash. Or ever see Silas again. Because he would be dead.
My throat closed, making it difficult to breathe as my grip on Silas's shirt tightened.
"I don't want you to die." And it wasn't just because I needed his help to get home.
"Getting attached, little dryad? Don't worry, we'll be fine. "
His teasing tone had my anger flaring. "I'm sure that's what Korren thought too before he was stabbed to death!"
I pulled myself away from Silas. My eyes had grown somewhat adjusted to the lack of light. The rough shape of objects were beginning to grow detailed with the aid of the slivers of light that made it through from the cracks above. It was enough to make out labels on some of the pails and canisters lining the shelves around us, but not enough to read what they said. The room was hidden under Tia's living room and stretched into the darkness on all sides, making it difficult to gauge where it began and ended.
"I'm not Korren."
"You're not helping either!" I snapped, panic getting the better of me as it continued to rise in my chest.
I took a deep breath as I turned away from him, needing to move to distract myself from our approaching fates. My feet moved, pacing in circles as though I could physically create distance between fate and us.
"We have to find a way out," I said, stating the obvious as my mind raced trying to figure out how. "I have to make it back home."
"Keeping some promise should be the least of your worries right now," Silas commented, irritation reflected in his tone.
"No!" I snapped. "It's all that matters."
Silas blinked in surprise which I ignored. I had better things to focus on.
"It won't be long until Tia finishes with her call. Whoever she was talking to knows that we're here, that she has us. They may already be on their way. Who knows how long we have until-"
A short scream cut my words off as I tripped over a cold and firm lump. The mass shifted as I fell over it, landing on the ground hard on my already injured knees. I was unable to hold in the pained moans that followed my surprised shriek at the shock of pain.
"Careful," Silas chided, appearing at my side in an instant. His hand reached for my elbow to help me up, but I didn't make it far before freezing as I spotted what had caused me to trip.
My eyes widened as they met a blank and glassy stare devoid of life.
Tia had said she had her mother's body at her house. She just failed to mention the other two.
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