Chapter 22
Ivy's POV
I knew from the moment I opened my eyes that it was too dark and that the air shouldn’t have smelled like unwashed bodies. The ground beneath me was made of sharp things and packed dirt that was too moist for comfort. As I lifted myself, I noticed that I felt weak and achy. I was insanely tired even though I’d been out for who-knows-how long.
My blinked away the blurriness and realized that the ground was actually made of stones. And the ceiling looked like it was made o pure stone. It seemed like I was underground… but there were bars in front of me. Was I in a cell?
The wave of memories crashed on my like a cold splash of water. Noises. A pale face. A lamp to the freaking head.
As if on cue, footsteps padded through the passageway outside of my cell. A figure appeared, its face masked by darkness. The man, I’m assuming, pulled something out of his pocket. A match? The fire flashed to life, burning ridiculously bright against my dark surroundings. The man used the match to light a torch I didn’t even know he had been holding. It was then, when I saw his face that I realized it was the same man that I had gotten into the car accident with.
He gazed at me with a victorious look on his face. "Ivory, we meet again…" His voice was deeper than I remembered. It would’ve almost been funny to hear such a deep voice on someone who didn’t look much older than I, had I not been in this situation.
"Who are you and what do you want from me?" I asked frantically. I hated how my voice wavered. "Wait—how do you know my name?"
His mouth twitched, forming a wry smile. "None of that matters right now. What does matter is who you are. Ivory, do you know who you are?"
Do I know who I am? What was that supposed to mean? I inhaled sharply and mustered all the bravado I could. "Of course I do. I’m Ivy Walker, you idiot!"
The light from the torch danced on his face, giving him an eerie glow. "Don’t play with fire or you’ll get burned," He scorned. I almost scoffed as I was about to tell hime the same thing. He put on a glove and opened my cell. I cowered in the corner as he got closer. "Now, now, I’m not going to hurt you… Yet." He laughed a low, menacing laugh that almost sound like a rumble.
The minute his ice-cold hand touched my cheek, I screamed. "Please don’t hurt me! I’ll give you my car and all my savings… Just let me go!" I began crying desperately.
He waved his hand dismissively. "I don’t want your money. I just want you to pay!"
I swallowed audibly. "Pay? But what have I ever done to you?" My voice cracked and I noticed I really needed water.
His breath fanned my face. He was a devilishly handsome .Evil. "Oh sweetie," he said as he caressed my cheek. I flinched, "You have no idea how many people want you dead. Myself included... You're the reason he's been going crazy. It's just too bad that you're astoundingly beautiful. Oh, such a waste."
He pulled out a syringe and put his hand over my mouth to stifle my screams. I wanted to kick and punch him, but my body wanted something else: sleep. I tried to fight the drowsiness, but in the end, sleep won.
I was vaguely aware of my body hitting the floor before all went black.
~~~
Unknown’s POV
"Ah, can you believe it? Ivy is almost here! She's almost here! There'll be no stopping us once she's mine." Ryan's gravelly laugh echoed in the office.
I smiled tightly. "You have no idea how close she is..." I muttered. what Ryan didn't know was that i already had Ivy on our property. She was locked up in the dungeon, where i would leave her to die. He may want her, but i want her dead.
Ryan seemed to be floating on some new high. Hopefully he’ll overdose one of these days, leaving me the power. "Do you think our informant was telling the truth- that Ivory doesn’t know who she is? I find that really hard to believe 'sepicially since she's been living on the Night’s Edge pack for a long time. And she hasn't been killed! You think she's become part of the pack?" Ryan's eyes glanced across his office, observantly. "Tell my man to send me more of this stuff STAT. I wanna celebrate with ivy once she's here. We'll have a little fun together with this stuff..."
The thought of him doing those things to her repulsed me.
"I feel like i can practically smell her. Is she eighteen? I hope she is...” He said loudly. All his thoughts seemed to be a jumbled mess: he tripped over one thought and found himself on another. I was almost at the office phone when he spoke again. "You know, I can see why junkies prefer being high than living life now..."
"No, I thought darkly, they prefer being high so they won't have to face the reality. Horrible realities like you.
"Are you going to call my man Roberson, or what?" he asked impatiently. "It's too cold outside for angles to fly!"
After i hung up on Roberson, I found Ryan staring at the ceiling. There were three short knocks on the door. The midget, Sonic, let himself in. If Ryan weren't so high, he wouldn't be alive right now. Nobody saunters in without permission. Nobody.
"What do you want?” Sonic boomed, “And why did you just saunter in here without permission?”
Sonic winced. “Sorry Sir, but I was feeding the inmates down in the dungeon like you told me to, when I saw Puella Mortis. She was sleeping. I saw her! Well, at least I think it was her... I came running here to tell you.”
It was quiet for a minute before I broke the silence. “He's lying! She can't be down here. First off, because she would have to go through paperwork to be put down there and second, because you would have to know if someone was put down there, right?. It's impossible. The informant said she would bring her down here herself.”
Sonic gazed at me in a stupor. “What? No! She's here I-”
“Enough!” Ryan yelled, “Sonic, you had no right to come down here and joke about that kind of stuff. Rixon, take him down to the dungeon so he can learn to behave himself. He'll stay, oh, a week.”
Once I dragged Sonic out of the office, I hissed in his ear, “Listen here: you won't say another word about that lousy girl. No matter what you hear, you won't say anything. Understood?”
“But it was her!” He protested.
“Oh, she won't be there long.”
IVY'S POV
I had no Idea how long I'd been out but when I came to, I realized I didn't have that panicky feeling of not knowing where I was. It was like my body was on full-awareness mode even when I wasn't awake.
“Sweetie, is that really you?” A raspy voice called out from somewhere in the darkness. The voice belonged to a woman. “Good heavens! I never thought I'd live to see the day!”
“What? Who are you?” I said sleepily. When I squinted, I could almost make out the shape of a woman in a cell in front of me. She was sitting, maybe hunched over and had something wrapped around her. A blanket. “I see you now. Where am I and, again, who are you?”
“Darling, sit down and don't waste your energy. All your pacing around has me absolutely exhausted. Listen, you're in danger and staying here will bring you one of two fates: marriage to a devil or death-”
“What?” I screeched. I ran up to the bars to try and get a better look at the woman. When I touched the bars, a burning sensation filled my hands. An inhuman hiss left my mouth. Once I let go, a dull throbbing replaced the burning. “What are you talking about? Marriage? Death?”
“Sit down, child! You'll start trouble. Oh, I can practically hear them running in here!” She whispered.
“Hey are you really Ivory?” A new voice said. It sounded like a young guy's voice. “Psst! Are you really Ivory?”
“Yes, but I haven't gone by 'Ivory' since sixth grade. Will somebody please tell me where I am?”
“Well right now, we're in what we call the 'dungeon'. And I'm pretty sure we're in Virginia. No, North Carolina or Tennessee... I'm not really sure. All I know is we’re somewhere near the Appalachian Mountains.”
“We're in Virginia, darling. But it's not like Ryan would ever tell you,” the woman said.
“Virginia?! Well, I've got to get home! My family! How the hell do I get out of here?” I asked frantically.
“It's pretty much impossible. The bars are made out of silver and have tiny spike to poke you skin. You have to wear special gloves to open the cells,” the guy replied.
The woman spoke up. “It's not totally impossible, Ivory. You're a lot stronger than you think-” She was interrupted by a loud, metallic groan. Footsteps sounded down the aisle outside the cell. The closer the footsteps got, the more illuminated the dungeon got. All too soon, the man was directly in front of my cell.
“Ah, I see you're awake once again. Well, it looks like it's time for another injection. I can't very well have you conscious around here, now can I?” He said menacingly. He put on special gloves like the guy from the cell said earlier. I could see from the torch's light that they were thick like oven mitts, but with rubber on each fingertip.
“I knew it was really her,” the guy in the other cell said. The man cast the light over his way. Now, I could see that the guy wasn't really a guy at all. He looked maybe 14 or 15. He was standing near the bars and could now see he wasn't very tall.
“Yes, Sonic, we've established that,” the man said.
Sonic stared at me as if he was taking in my features as well. He looked me in the eye. “You can't hurt her. Ryan will kill you. Y-you can't hurt her!”
The man scoffed. “Ryan can go to hell, actually. I don't care if he kills me. I would rather die than have to deal with his little 'Girl of Death'.”
I winced at the sound of my nickname. “How do you know about 'Girl of Death?”
“I told them- Ryan and him. Oh, Ivory I regret it with my every being. I'm sorry I-” The woman broke down in tears. I could see that was woman was a lot older than I previously thought She was hunched over and her face was withered with age. I tried to tell her that it was okay, but I couldn't find the words. But somehow I knew she got what I was trying to say. She finally stopped weeping and studied me with a curious expression.
“That old woman tells lies!” the man screamed, “She's the reason Ryan is obsessed with you, girl.” He shoved me back.
It was then that something inside of me snapped. I don't deserve to be treated like this! This man is going to pay for what he's done to me! Before I knew what I was doing, I had him pushed against the wall. The torch fell out of his hands. The light began fading with the moist ground.
I asked, “Who are you?!”
I could see the cold smile form on his face, even in the now dim light. “Well, since you 'matter,' I'll tell you. My name is Rixon. And you, you ignorant bitch, are going to a far away land of sleep.”
The cold syringe entered my body, instantly making me drowsy. I took a step back to brace myself against the dizzying sensation that seemed to grow by the second. But there was nothing to hold onto. A single tear escaped my eye. “No! I was so close this time...”
The light died out.
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[A/N]:
I know sorry! Sorry! That was a really long wait but I tried to make up for it by trying to write a decent chapter.
No, Ivy isn't dead. Pshaw I wouldn't kill the main character - OR WOULD I? ...foreshadowing...
Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait. Please forgive me? :) Life, school, camp and shtuff got in the way but now that I'm on summer vacation, I'll have more time. YAYA!
Please vote/comment/follow if you think this was good or, y'know, have criticism. CONSCTRCUTIVE CRITCISM, YOU GUYS.
Okay ciao for now. ♥