"Why the FUCK can't you just let things go?" Soul shouted angrily at her newly resurrected brother as he approached her cell, alongside Gabriel. Soul's mind was still slightly foggy from Gabriel taking control of her and forcing her to leave that voicemail for Nerissa.
"Because it's more fun if I don't?" Damien responded, causing Gabriel to chuckle softly.
"You sure are an interesting kid." Gabriel said as he turned to Damien.
"Tsk. I'm far from being a kid." Damien shot back in a low tone.
"Oh shut up already, where are Nyx and Nerissa, what have you done with them?!" Soul growled angrily at the two evil men in front of her.
"Nerissa is being held in a separate cell, and Nyx? Well...she's under the watchful eye of Father." Damien responded with a sly grin and Soul's heart stopped, her eyes widened in fear.
"Why is Nyx with him?!" Soul yelled in a shaking voice.
"Well, your friend has a bit of an attitude problem." Damien said as his lip curled slightly. "Rivaling that pathetic whelp..." Soul's lip curled in anger as she knew he was talking about Danny. "You should be grateful that she isn't under my care, Father can handle the attitude. If it were me...I would break her...more than I already have I mean." Damien taunted Soul with a sly smile on his face.
"What? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Soul's anger was boiling over now. Damien's smile grew wider, he loved getting under his sister's skin.
"Well, if you must know..." Damien walked closer until he was close to the plexiglass of Soul's cell. "I stabbed her...and I used the same knife that I used to give Daniel his special treatment." Damien pulled out the knife and used the tip to get dirt out from under his nails.
Soul's eyes widened, "What?!"
"Oh relax, you pathetic traitor. She's alive, Father's orders. For some reason, he's interested in that fickle woman." Damien responded as he put his knife back in its holster. "Well, that's enough talking to you. I have something to do, Gabriel keep an eye on her would you?"
"You got it." Gabriel responded with a small, two fingered salute.
"Why are you doing this?" Soul asked him in a slightly shaking voice.
"Don't even try to bark up that tree with me, senorita. You won't get anywhere." Gabriel shot her down quickly, causing Soul to tense and keep quiet out of fear...Gabriel tensed his jaw before her turned around and left the room. Soul crouched down with her head tucked down. Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to them? They don't deserve this, no one deserves this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was around 5:30 or 6 o'clock when Nate started to really worry, and the others were starting to pick up on it. "Why isn't she answering?' Nate asked rhetorically as they walked down the hallway towards their dorms. "She always answers me."
"Maybe she lost her phone?" Oliver suggested.
"No way, her first cell phone since being discovered? She wouldn't let herself lose it that easily." Nate responded as the group reached the top of the stairs. The group halted when they saw a man in a black suit waiting outside their rooms. Nate's face began radiating uneasiness and fear.
"Nathan Oliveira? You and your friends are to report to the Chairman's office immediately." The man spoke decisively before he walked down the hall past them as if to wordlessly escort them. The boys gave each other a worried look before following him to the Chairman's office.
At the office doors, the man gripped the doorknob and twisted it, "Ma'am, the students you requested are here." The man said after he opened the door and peered inside. The group entered the office and approached the desk of Nyx's mother. She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept in days, or had been crying. Nate couldn't tell.
"Thank you all for coming. It appears we have a true worst case scenario." Elizabeth said as she looked at her computer screen and typed a few keys with one hand before a large screen of light appeared in front of all of them. A video started playing after a few seconds, you could hear a pin drop in the office as they saw what was on screen.
It was Nyx, she was sitting in the chair that was exceptionally familiar to one person in the room. She had her hands bound behind her back, her head hanging down so the group couldn't see her face. Nate's lip started to curl as he growled in violent anger. Rhys was also in the same state of rage but he managed to keep himself calm enough to avoid losing himself. Oliver stared at the screen with a mixture of shock and anger. Danny was... barely holding it together. Fear, anger, and emptiness plastered on his face.
A man walked into the frame, however the camera was angled low enough that his face wasn't visible. The man walked over to Nyx and placed his hand on her head.
"Guess who?" Danny gasped and took a step back as the unmistakable voice echoed in his ears. The man bent down onto one knee so his face would be visible.
"No way..." Nate uttered softly. "No fucking way." He said louder.
"I bet you weren't expecting to see me again, right?" Damien spoke in a quiet but dark tone. He reached up with his hand and began petting Nyx's hair, Nate clenched his fists and the intense rage began to claw into his chest. Nyx jerked her head away from Damien's hand weakly. Oh my god, she's awake. Nate thought to himself before he saw Damien's lip curl in frustration and he quickly gripped Nyx's hair tightly. He jerked her head backwards and she yelped in pain. Damien swiftly brought his other hand upward and held his knife just under Nyx's chin. With her face now in full view, the group saw the tape over her mouth. Nate's head turned slightly when he heard Oliver make a soft, angry noise. "This girl has quite the attitude in her, doesn't she? Reminds me of you, Daniel. Before I broke you." Danny's entire body tensed as the air left his lungs.
"Why isn't she using her Gift?" Oliver shouted in frustration.
Damien spoke again in the pre-recorded video. "As you can see, this woman's Gift is currently... inhibited. And it will stay that way until I get what I want. I'm done playing games. And since I know you're wondering, I have your sister too, Daniel. If you want to see their faces again, come by. And you better hurry, before I break them more." Damien growled before he lifted Nyx's shirt slightly, revealing the bandaged stab wound on Nyx's abdomen, tinted red from blood. Nate's eyes widened before he finally managed to speak as the video ended.
"When are we leaving?" Nate growled out, barely containing his rage.
"Now." Oliver spoke as he turned around and walked out of the room. Nate looked up at The Chairman, who returned his gaze before Nate turned and followed his friends out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nerissa looked up at the door with anger and fear. Ezekiel strode inside and Nerissa's brow furrowed. "What do you want?"
"Oh, testy." Ezekiel said playfully as he approached Nerissa, she was restrained in a chair, much like Nyx, but she was in a different room. "I'm here for my own entertainment, obviously. You see, I have a... particularly fun Gift." Nerissa's eyes widened and Ezekiel chuckled. "Well, it's fun for me at least, it definitely won't be fun for you." Ezekiel didn't let Nerissa answer before he tapped her forehead with his first two fingers. Nerissa's head dropped before she was transported into her own mind. Black fog surrounded her as she looked around, her eyes landed on Ezekiel as he manifested in front of her.
"My ability allows me to bring forth a person's worst nightmares, and drink up their fear and anxiety. So..." Ezekiel approached Nerissa again as fear spread across her face. "Let's take a look at your nightmares."
Nerissa whipped around when she heard a faint whooshing behind her. Her pupils narrowed when she saw flashes of different scenes and scenarios race by in front of her.
"My my...you certainly have a lot of nightmares. Must be a side effect of being so soft, am I right?" Ezekiel taunted her.
"You have no idea what I'm capable of." Nerissa shot back at him.
"Oh I do know." Ezekiel said before Nerissa saw a scene finally take shape. The scene when Nerissa and Soul were trying to rescue Danny. Nerissa gasped, every detail about this scenario was disgustingly convincing. She could hear Danny faintly screaming again from Damien's barbaric torture. She watched herself kill the first Erebus pawn, the ice shard stabbing through the bottom of his chin. Her stomach churned when the sickly sweet scent of blood invaded her nose. "I'm fully aware of what you're capable of, which is why it astounds me that you still allow people around you to be brought to the brink of death." Ezekiel said as the scene morphed into another moment that Nerissa had tried to scrub from her memory.
She saw herself trapped in the plexiglass cell, watching Kuroi snake his shadow tendril around her brother's throat and slam him against the glass. Nerissa instinctively tried to run forward to help him, but she grunted when she ran into a solid force, almost like an invisible wall. Nerissa put her hands up and pushed against the invisible force. "Stop this! I...I don't want to watch this!" Nerissa's voice broke but she only heard Ezekiel chuckled darkly. Nerissa's eyes focused back on the scene when she heard Danny speak again.
"Nerissa....look....away." Danny said again, just like he did before. Nerissa's heart felt like it had stopped.
"Hmmm. Your fear is so invigorating." Ezekiel said with a manic grin. "I almost don't want to stop, but Kuroi wants you alive. Seems like he has a problem killing women." Nerissa turned around with shock plastered on her face.
"You're a monster." Nerissa said quietly.
"Thank you." Ezekiel said with another grin. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers and Nerissa woke up suddenly, she could still smell the blood. Nerissa tried to hold back the scream building in her lungs until her throat felt like it was on fire.
"Thanks for the energy by the way." Ezekiel said as he put his hands into his pockets and turned around. "I get the sense that that wasn't even all the nightmares inside that broken mind of yours. Can't wait to see them." Ezekiel purred before he walked out of the room and locked it up tight. Nerissa couldn't hold it in any longer and devolved into sobs. All Nerissa wanted in this life was for it to simply be normal. Going to school, getting a job, maybe falling in love...it seemed so unachievable now.
We just gotta take this new life one day at a time. That's all we can do.
Rhys' words echoed in Nerissa's head, making her feel a small shred of hope. Her friends had saved her once, she knew they would save her again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm going to rip that undead freak apart!" Rhys yelled angrily as the boys ran down the hall with purpose.
"Not if I get to him first!" Nate yelled back as they exited the building and ran towards a car that The Chairman had summoned for them. Danny and Oliver had been noticeably silent since Elizabeth's office, and they stayed silent until they all piled into the car. Nate opened the sun visor and the keys dropped out of it, landing in his hand. He quickly stuck the key into the ignition and twisted. The engine roared to life and Nate slammed his foot onto the gas.
Danny placed his hand on the door of the car to prevent himself from being slammed into it as Nate turned quickly out of Sanctuary's property. "Nate, calm down! We're of no use to them if we die in a car crash!" Danny yelled in concern before he heard Nate sigh. Nate knew Danny was right, of course, but he was just so...angry.
"I know, okay? I know! I just...I don't want a repeat of what happened to you..." Nate said quietly.
Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't want that either, Nate. I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy. We're going to get them out, okay?"
"Oh, we're getting them out." Rhys added as his knee bounced restlessly. "You can count on that."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Damien entered the empty, blood stained room that Nyx was still bound in. She lifted her head slowly and glared at him with violent hate in her eyes. "You would do well to watch those eyes of yours." Damien growled at her, knowing she couldn't respond because of the tape over her mouth. "You must have forgotten, my scouts have given me more information about you than you know. For example, they told me that you were trying to convince my pathetic sister to give the light a chance." Damien laughed once. "Big talk coming from someone who is wrapped in shadow."
Nyx looked confused for a moment. "Oh, right. I didn't tell you, my scouts also saw you that night...with Daniel." Damien smirked darkly as Nyx's face changed to worry. "That's right, he saw you make that pathetic attempt at your own life..." Damien continued speaking as he walked around Nyx with his hands behind his back. "He saw Daniel dive off the ledge to save your life. He saw your display of pathetic self loathing. You know, if you truly crave death..." Damien paused when he walked in front of her, be bent down at eye level. "I can gladly accommodate you." Damien flicked his wrist and his dagger appeared at Nyx's throat, her breath hitched in surprise. She only continued to glare into Damien's eyes before he stood up straight. "I have to admit, you're rather fearless. I would say I admire that, but I know it's all a petty act of defiance. I know how to deal with defiance." Damien growled before he lifted his arm across his body. He swung his arm and landed a hard slap across Nyx's face. Nyx grunted in pain and began breathing heavily through her nose to combat the burning sensation in her cheek. Damien's attention shifted to the door behind him when it creaked open.
"Sir, they've been spotted on the road, they should be here within ten minutes." The unknown man said in a flat tone.
"Good." Damien turned back to Nyx, "It appears I have guests." Damien purred with a smile, Nyx's face changed to concern as she struggled against her restraints. "Shh. Don't fret, you'll be put out of your misery soon enough." Damien said before he turned back around and left the room, Nyx tensed when she heard the lock click into place. The silence continued.
Outside, Nate pulled the car up to the gate before they all quickly got out. Oliver summoned a barrier on the ground and they all stepped onto it. Oliver lifted it quickly, the momentum launching them all into the air and over the gate. Nate and Oliver each landed on a different guard. The weight of them sent the guards to the ground, Oliver stomped his foot onto the guards head, knocking him out from the blunt force. Nate slammed the butt of his handgun onto the side of his guards head to knock him out. He wanted to save his ammunition for Damien...and Kuroi.
"Where are the girls?" Oliver said as they moved inside.
"I don't know where Neri and Soul are...but I know where Nyx is." Danny responded in a slightly empty tone. Danny took point and moved down the hall until he came to a turn in the hall. Danny held his hand behind him to signal his friends to wait as he peeked around the corner, his knife in hand. Danny motioned his hand for them to follow when he saw that the hallway was empty. They all moved quickly and silently down the hall before reaching the door that led to the dungeon. Danny gripped the doorknob and opened the door silently. Nate's brow furrowed when he entered the room and didn't see the woman he loved.
"There's nothing here, Danny." Nate said in slight frustration. He was suddenly interrupted when one of the bookcases shifted backwards and moved to the side, revealing a staircase leading downward. Rhys walked back towards them after he had pressed the button under the desk.
"Let's go get your woman." Rhys said with a smile as he placed a hand on Nate's shoulder. Nate returned the gesture before he spoke, "You should go find Nerissa."
"What? I'm not leaving you guys alone, we can get Nyx first then all of us can go get Nerissa." Rhys responded.
"And Soul." Danny added. Rhys scoffed slightly before the ground heard a noise and whipped their heads to the door. Nate instinctively lifted his gun and pointed it at the noise. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Orion standing in the doorway, with his hands up.
"You?!" Oliver said in slight anger. "The hell are you doing?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you all." Orion said before he lowered his hands slightly, Nate jerked his handgun towards him and Orion lifted his hands back up. However, his face didn't show an ounce of fear. "I just...Soul told me that you guys would...help me." Orion sounded slightly afraid, but his face didn't show it. The group looked at each other for a moment before Danny spoke up.
"What do you need help with?" He asked.
"I want to get out of here, I've been alive for less than six months...and I've killed 18 people under the Erebus Mafia. I almost killed you, Oliver." Orion looked at Oliver with regret on his face.
"Yeah you did, I still feel it sometimes." Oliver responded as he rubbed his chest where the wound sat.
Orion looked down, "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to do any of this. They were forcing me, all because Kuroi created me..." Orion lip quivered slightly and the guys looked at each other again. Danny stepped forward and kneeled down in front of him.
"Give me your leg." Danny spoked softly. Orion shifted his left leg forward and presented the tracking device that was on his ankle. Danny used his sharp knife to cut through the plastic band and free Orion from the device. "There, now you help us. Can you take Rhys and get Nerissa? You know where she is right?"
Orion nodded as he lowered his hands, Rhys gave his friends a look before he followed Orion out of the room. Danny turned back around to face Nate and Oliver. "Ready to go?"
"That was pretty bold of you, dude." Oliver spoke up. "I don't see how you can just trust him like that after what he's done."
"He's just a kid who is being forced into a life where things are always taken away from him. I guess I see myself in him, so if I can help make it better for him, I'll do it." Danny spoke confidently before he looked down the dark staircase that led to the place that lived in his nightmares. Nate saw the look on his face and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Can you handle this?" Nate asked him in a calm tone.
Danny took a deep breath, on the one hand, this was the room where he was forever changed. On the other hand...Nyx was down there.
And she was in danger.
"Yeah, I can handle this." Danny spoke with a newfound confidence. Nate nodded and left them down the stairs with his handgun in hand. When the group entered the first room, they were surprised to find it empty.
"Keep your eyes and ears open." Nate said quietly as they progressed down the second set of stairs. They approached the door that Danny knew to be the right one. It was locked and required a key. Danny scoffed, brought his handgun to the lock and fired, he kicked open the door and they stepped inside.
"Oh, welcome! I had been waiting." Damien said as he stood next to Nyx, who was awake and overjoyed to see them.
"You have three seconds to back away from her." Nate growled as he stepped forward.
"Or what?" Damien responded as he placed a hand on Nyx's shoulder, she tensed in fear.
"Take your hand off her, demonio, before I rip it off." Nate said sternly before he took a step forward and clenched his hand around his handgun.
Damien laughed quietly before he quickly reached down and pulled out his own handgun, he quickly lifted the gun and pressed it against Nyx's temple. Nyx's head was tilted to the side slightly from Damien pushing the barrel into the side of her head and her eyes radiated fear. Nate, Danny and Oliver all tensed as they lifted their hands. "You think you're faster than a bullet?" Damien kept the barrel pressed against Nyx's temple as he turned his head to look at Oliver. "I don't believe you and I have met. Damien Erebus, and you are?"
"Oliver. Let me tell you, Damien. You make a really shitty first impression." Oliver said with gritted teeth as he glared at Damien. Damien chuckled darkly and leaned his head back before taking a deep breath.
"You haven't seen anything yet."