'What the actual frick' I think as I finally broke free from the foggy plane of darkness and jagged pictures of god knows what, 'where the hell am I?' I slowly open my eyes, blinking groggily in the dim light.
"Well this certainly isn't my room," my voice is hoarse from thirst.
I go to sit up, only to find my hands and feet bound by a thick coil of rope, 'crap.' As I shuffle painfully into a sitting position, I become aware of the familiar rumble of a vehicle under me and feel the confusion fading into realisation as I remember what had happened before I'd been knocked out.
The word kidnapped swam around in my aching head as I glance around my dim surroundings, I'm in the back of some sort of vehicle, possibly a van.
My terror refreshes, I begin trembling as I try to figure out what was going on.
The word kidnapped resonates in my head yet again, I knew there was no doubt about it. The only question was why. What had I done? The only reassuring thing was that I could feel my father's old gemstone hanging around my neck with a comforting weight.
As these thoughts cloud my mind, I'm thrown to the side as the vehicle makes a sharp turn, the road beneath us grows bumpy.
My bruises flare painfully as I roll over the hard ground, but all I can think about is where they're taking me.
After some time, the vehicle turns another corner and the road smooths out and after what feels like an eternity, the vehicle finally pulls to a stop.
My heart races as I slump on the ground, my mouth felt dry from fear.
Closing my eyes, I pray they don't notice I'm awake.
The double doors swing open and grey light washes over me, I'm hauled out roughly and lifted by a pair of burly arms.
Cracking one eye open, all I see is woodland and grey skies surrounding a two-story farmhouse.
Apart from the nearly silent footsteps of my captors, the surrounding area was eerily silent as I'm carried towards the house. Not a single bird song or cicada chirp, a thick, musky woods smell hung around us with the salty hint of rain.
Ole scar whom I'm guessing is their leader knocks on the door as we reached it, it was answered by a thin, weedy looking man with a maniacal look in his hazel eyes.
He grinned, looking even more insane, "no such luck again eh boys, heh, maybe I'll do better," he broke into laughter.
'My, isn't he charming.'
"Shut it, Rayner, you can tell the boss we found her," scar growls.
The odd man blinked once, then twice before taking note of me laying limply the arms of one of the guys.
"Well, look here, haha, we found her. Wait 'til the boss see's this. Does she have the necklace on still?"
I feel a rough pair of hands pull my necklace out from where it had fallen under my T-shirt, I resist the urge to push him away. I keep my eyes shut, praying that they didn't notice me freeze.
"Just like we were told it would be like."
For a moment all I can hear is their breathing and my heart, then someone speaks in a rough tone.
"Careful, we don't know what that does, elven magick can be dangerous."
"Let's get her inside then, boss won't be happy if she wakes and tries somethin'"
We enter a mostly bare entry way, most of the men disperse, but ole' scar and the guy holding me stay.
"Carter, Carter ye lil' runt get ye ass in here now," scar shouts.
A boy entered with a scowl on his face, he didn't to much older than me, "what'd want, Byron?"
His grey eyes roll over me, before meeting my own fearful, green ones with a look of interest.
"Whose she?"
"She, is someone the boss is very eager to meet, does the name Carlo ring a bell?"
Wait what?
Carter looks at me with renewed interest, "You mean old William Carlo, everyone in the Shadow Society knew him, and of course how he ended up."
How did these people even know my father, let alone what happened to him?
Then another thought occurred to me, did these people have something to do with my father's death all those years ago?
"...and this here is his daughter, the one he fought so hard to hide from the Shadow Society, and also the last of the Carlo bloodline," Bryon said smugly.
Carter was still looking at me, his expression blank. Above us, I heard rain beginning to pour against the windows and roof.
"Anyway story time over, just take her downstairs ok? The Boss will be here in a week then we can be rid of her."
My heart pounds furiously and my mouth goes dry, be rid of her his words run through my head over and over as I swallow thickly.
Carter approaches me, and I'm handed to him, it seems only he knows I'm awake.
He grabs me and carries me to a door under the stairs. Throwing open the door, he carries me through and sets me on my feet. I find myself on a dim landing, below me, a narrow, old and steep flight of stairs led down into what I'm guessing is a basement shrouded in darkness.
I shiver in fear, not wanting to go into the darkness that waited for me, all I wanted then was to be back home. My wide, fearful eyes meet Carters emotionless, deep ones through the dim light.
He sighs, "Come on then."
With him pulling my arm, I unwillingly follow him down the creaky stairs. A strong, musty smell wafted over me, but I couldn't pinpoint where from.
When we reached the bottom, I blink a couple of times, waiting for my vision adjust to the darkness. When I can finally make out my surroundings, I find myself in a small, concrete room, the only furniture in it was a small bed.
Though it was dark and smelled musty, it was surprisingly warm, but that didn't stop me from shivering in fear.
I look at Carter, trying not to show fear, not that he'd see it in this darkness and found him staring at me. All I could make out of him was the outline of his face and his eyes, still emotionless and very similar to a bottomless pit.
We stood like that for several moments, frozen in place before he shook his head as if to clear it and went back up the stairs.
After he shut the door, the room lost what little light it had provided, now came a dim light from the landing. Now that Carter was gone, the room felt darker, lonely and horribly silent.
Sinking into the hard bed, I bring my legs to my chest, resting my chin on my knees, I squeeze my eyes shut against the heavy darkness and silence.
Tears burn my eyelids, threatening to fall as I try to wrap my head around what's happened. Again and again, the conversation upstairs ran through my head, 'how long have I been gone? Are people worried yet? Are they looking for me?' I wonder, a lump in my throat makes it hard to swallow.
'Old William Carlo, everyone in the shadow world knows him and about what happened to him.'
Carter's words suddenly pop up, what did my father have to do with this? Besides what was the shadow society? Some gang or something like that surely, but how would my father ever be known by them, as far as I knew he wasn't involved in all that stuff. Was he?
Then again it had been 12 years ago, I'd only been five when he'd died so for all I knew he could of.
Exhaustion began sweeping through my sore, heavy body, and I slump to the side. 'Maybe when I wake up things'll be nothing but a bad dream,' I hope as I drift off into the bliss of sleep, hand wrapped around my necklace.
****
Carter's P.O.V
For some damn reason, I couldn't get the Carlo girl out of my head, I keep remembering the fear in her deep green eyes, the way she stared down into that horrible dark room.
'Stop it, man your sounding like you're getting weak,' I chide myself.
Even you should feel bad, that a girl as innocent as she is to all this, has the worst fate of you all a small voice in the back of my head whispers.
All day an out of place feeling of guilt had swept through me, 'and you'll have her blood on your hand just like everyone else here when the Boss is done with her' oh how I hate that righteous voice.
'You could save her but yet you're just going to leave her in that small dark room, leave her to That fate'
I scowl as I pick up the food tray and carry it downstairs, because guess who got feeding duty, that's right this guy.
As I make my way down the creaky old stairs, I spot her lying on the small bed motionlessly, not looking up even when I place the food on the ground.
Silently I turn and make my way out, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of guilt. 'Whatever she's just one girl, besides you've both killed and seen death before.' I try telling myself, 'what difference is one girl in a world that's kill or be killed.'
Over the next few days, my life consisted of bringing the girl, whose name I learnt is Astrid, her food; cleaning equipment as usual and my usual patrols around the woods.
Every time I went down to the dark room, Astrid would be lying on the small bed, staring blankly off into space. This didn't help the foreign feeling of guilt that seems to have set up camp in my mind. I shake it off as best as I can, since when did I care about anyone but myself?
It was about midday, the sun poking through the cloudy sky, I knew normies had holidays and I couldn't help but wonder what other teenagers my age had been doing and for the first time in over eight years I wondered what it would be like to have a normal life, where my biggest worry was exams, not whether I'd be alive to see the next day.
For the hundredth time that day, I found my thoughts returning to Astrid, before being captured she'd probably had a good life with a loving mother, good friends and maybe even a boyfriend, but we'd ripped that from her without a second thought all because of the fact her father had been good.
That must make us the bad guys then.
Shaking my head, I growl in frustration, "stupid girl, what is it about her?" I mutter as I begin polishing a dagger.
"What's this, boy you talking to yourself?" A voice laughs behind me.
Oh great, because my day just couldn't get better.
"Course not, maybe you're hearing things," I reply as my least favourite people in the world enter the room.
The speaker was Kode, he's the fight first talk later kind of person.
Gorm, a big muscly guy was his friend and was simply a fight anytime guy, oh and probably the most bloodthirsty guy here, he killed and loved it.
"Looks like we have a comedian among us, hey funny boy what'd think of our most recent guest?"
Gorm laughs and sneers at me.
Clenching my hand around the grip of the dagger, I ignore them I go back to polishing, the heavy smell of polish fills my nose.
Unfortunately, being the thick heads they were, they didn't take my ignoring them as a hint to go away.
"Hey runt, I'm talking to you."
"Don't call me that," I feel anger beginning to make me shake.
"What, runt? Why shouldn't I, you're the outsider here, the runt."
"Besides it's not like anyone wants you, if the Boss didn't need you, he wouldn't want you, no normie wanted you, that girl downstairs sure as hell wouldn't want you and she's a dead man walking."
My hand tighten around the dagger, anger pounded through me.
"I mean hell, your own parents didn't want you and they obviously still don't."
Ice fills my veins despite the red hot anger flowing through me.
"Don't you get it? No one wants you so don't try telling me what to do because I could have you thrown out just like that. Got it runt?"
I tremble angrily, my knuckles white as I grip the dagger, all I see is red as I stand and spin in one fluid movement. I throw, but not to kill, the silver dagger whistled through the air, it sunk into Kode's shoulder and he swears in pain. "Just be glad it wasn't your heart," I snarl before stalking out.
I walk, not paying attention to where I was going until I ended up somewhere familiar. The clearing I would occasionally steal away to.
As I sit on a log, inhaling the musky scent of wet woodland and staring at the sun slowly beginning to dip behind the trees, Kode's words run through my head.
'"...your own parents didn't want you...'"
'"That girl downstairs sure as hell wouldn't want you and she's a dead man walking.'"
Gripping my hair in frustration, I try to battle emotions I hadn't felt in years.
'All because of one girl, I don't need this.'
My hand drifts to the string around my neck, on it a ring hung just below my neckline of my shirt.
Pulling it out, I run my thumb over the Latin mottos.
By now I knew the words by heart, nosce teipsum (know thyself) ran along the inside. Miseris succurrere disc (I learn to succour the unfortunate) on the outside.
One from my mother's family, the other my father. This had been the only thing they'd left me with on those cold steps 16 years ago.
As the sky darkens and stars began to shine, I sit here, breathing the clean night air and trying to make sense of everything.
****
Unknown P.O.V
Standing silently in the tree, I keep a wary eye on the boy sitting in the clearing as I watch the distant house.
They may have her now, but soon I will get her.
Soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A:N
Hey guys!
Glad to get this much overdue chapter up.
Not much to say this time so I guess that's that.
I love votes and comments!
Until next time
-Sophia ✌🏼️✌🏼