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Avery's POV
My body shook with shivers uncontrollably; the cold was embedded deep into my bones.
Many days had passed since my abduction or that's what I called it.
It had been middle November and now I had no idea if we were in December by now but it seemed so cold or maybe it was just me in my weak state.
In the back of my mind I wished the steady burn to come back, but since I had been taken to the king's dungeon which was due to my counting around 10 days ago, it hadn't come back.
Therefor icy shivers had wrapped themselves around me.
Food and water had been brought to me twice a day.
And a small tub met my needs.
I spent my time lying or sitting on the cold stone floor. My hands were bound and weren't even taken of to eat.
'A dog a mere dog, that's how I get treated. Even worse most dogs have it better than me.'
I often wondered about the velvety voice that had called me Gatáki, I had heard it before that was for certain. But who was it? Why had he talked to me and given me commands. Why wasn't he talking to me now when I was miserable?
Suddenly a dark and hooded silhouette stood in front of my cell door. But she didn't surprise me anymore. She had come every day and would chant some foreign words at me. I assumed she was a witch.
The first day I had asked what she was doing and she had hissed in a discrete tone for me to shut up.
Today a few seconds after she had started her chant I heard a sound it seemed to come from every corner of the dungeon and yet from the furthest edges of the world.
It gushed into my cell room wrapping me in a wind which blew forcefully around me and I had trouble staying on my feet. The wind seemed to whisper but I wasn't able to understand what it was saying.
The witch chanted louder now, her voice trying to cover the loud noise of the wind, the louder she spoke the louder the wind blew, my hair was whipping back and forth, my loose top fluttered around me.
"Na lávei pnévma tis" the witch screamed.
A sudden wind gush blew against my chest and I stumbled and fell. And just like that the wind died down and the witch had stopped her words. I couldn't understand her but it sounded like a language.
She stood there for a while and was what I thought watching me, but her face was hidden I wasn't sure.
"Guard", she called.
The guard made his way towards my cell.
"Make sure she drinks this." My eyes snapped towards her hand and she was holding a similar vial to what Rayne had given me filled with a clear liquid. The guard nodded and said: "Of course miss."
I snickered, 'No not of course miss. I won't drink that shit.'
The guard stepped inside my cell and came towards me. I didn't move away I knew it wouldn't help. Once he was close he grabbed my chin and dug his fingers into my cheek.
"Open your mouth."
'You could at least ask nicely'
His fingers dug further into my flesh and he opened my mouth forcefully. Then he lifted the vial to my lips and popped it open with his thumb. The clear liquid was bitter and burned my tongue but I didnt swallow.
"Swallow", he barked into my face and closed my mouth.
I didn't want to swallow it. I knew it possessed a spell and I was scared of it.
The grip that the guard had on my neck grew stronger and stronger. The bite wound throbbed.
Suddenly my throat clenched and I swallowed with a cough. Without a word the guard left the room and I wondered what was going to happen.
Unlike the liquid that Sir Castor had made me drink and I had felt possessed, this one gave no feeling at all.
I went to sit in the corner of the wall where the cell door was, it was my favorite spot so nobody who passed or looked inside was able to see me.
The guards were pissed at me for doing so but there was nothing they could do about it.
This dungeon was much different than Sir Castors. There I was enveloped with silence but here there was constant noise and especially when it was time for punishment. They dragged prisoners back and forth and they would punish or torture each prisoner every day. When they went they were covered in dried blood and grime and when they came they were smeared with fresh blood and their eyes would glow a dull red.
Screams, yells, moans, groans and profanities were constantly drifting through the dungeon.
The first day I had tried to cover my ears but it didn't help, the second day I had gotten very annoyed, the third day I had tried to numb my hearing and the next I knew the numbness would take over.
Now the noises were in the background of my mind occasionally coming to the surface when someone would get very harsh punishment.
I was surprised that I wasn't one of the prisoners they dragged out and brought back bloody.
When they brought me food and I was hiding in my corner I had gotten a few streaks across my cheek but that was it.
What also surprised me was that the prisoners who were obviously all vampires except me also got the same food I did. The food was often different but made with very little ingredients and taste. I had noticed that my body was losing muscle that I with so much work had built up.
'I suppose them vampires need some cooking lessons' I thought grimly.
I heard a guards heavy footsteps and the shuffling steps of a prisoner passing my door.
"There's a human in there," a voice growled.
"Walk", the guard growled back.
"I said there was a human in there", the voice yelled this time.
"Walk on", the guard hissed irritated.
I pressed my back further into the wall and held my breath. I was scared in a dungeon full of bloodthirsty vampires. I was almost glad for the iron bars that separated me from them.
I looked down on me and sighed in disgust, my light blouse was a mix of stone floor dust, blood and sweat from the countless times the body burn had left me soaking. I smelled very bad and my hair was sticking together. My body had not seen water since I left home that afternoon.
**************
Sleep had taken over and now it was dark when I woke. My muscles ached from constantly laying on the stone floor.
All of a sudden the door squeaked and in came two guards, looking around for me. They spotted me in one corner and hoisted me up and out on each arm. The cuffs around my hand chafed at my already broken skin.
In the dungeons hall was a long row of cells and noises came from everywhere. We passed the first one and the vampire in there growled at me and flashed his fangs I winced but kept walking along.
When we passed the second cell the vampire in there glared at me with red eyes which didn't have the gleam I had seen in none prisoner eyes "Human", he hissed and stuck a hand out to touch my arm before the guard could slap it away.
I sucked in my breath harshly and suddenly I heard him yell behind me "There's a human in here."
Motion broke loose and every close vampire came to look at me from their cell doors. Some reached out and tried to touch me, some snarled and hissed the word 'blood' and then I realized that they must be starving them of blood.
We turned a corner and walked through the door that was at the end of the small hallway. At first I couldnt see anything, then one of the guards flicked the switch and the room was illuminated from a small bulb in the middle of the room. I let out a horrified gasp as I took in my surroundings. Instantly I knew where I had been taken to.
Whips of all sizes and types hung on the walls, tables were filled with all kinds of instruments which were meant for one thing only: Torture.
I felt myself stiffen and my body became unresponsive. My eyes had grown big and I was panting.
A sharp tug on my arms brought me back and I looked at the guard who was smirking evilly at me.
"Are you scared?", he softly yet gruffly spoke into my ear.
'Hell yes I am'
I stayed quiet and he started dragging me around the room, the other guard stood by the door. He came to a stop in front of the wall where the dozens of whips hung and went to pick one. He picked one which had medium length handle and consisted of many leather strings.
He turned around and flung it across my shoulder but not enough to hurt me.
"You know these are made to hurt a vampire, I wonder what they would do to a human", his voice was low.
In the blink of an eye the whip zoomed across my back. I let out a short yell. It burned and throbbed.
"Ah I see that it hurts you too," he mocked.
With great speed he brought me to a table and bent me, face downwards over it.
After that he let the whip down on me various times until I was a screaming and a sobbing mess.
Suddenly he jerked me upwards and his face came close to mine. His hand reached up and he wiped away a few tears.
"So beautiful", he murmured and his eyes traveled up and down my body.
'Stupid pervert'
My back throbbed to fiercely to yell at him.
"Why that?", I asked instead.
"Oh," he mused ,"just so you'll behave."
I was speechless. Partly to in pain and partly to pissed off to say something.
He took me by my waist and sat me on the table. The other guard came and laid me down while the other one got busy un locking my hands but only to cuff my hands separately to the table and did the same thing to my feet. My back ached and burned from the whip lashes.
Suddenly I came to think of my hiking boots and I had no clue where I lost them or my socks but they where no longer on my feet and hadn't been at Sir Castors either.
Suddenly the feeling that I had felt after Rayne gave me the vial crept upon me and I froze.
Uncomfortable tinglings crawled up and down my body.
All of a sudden the door burst open and in came the king himself followed by not one but three dark and hooded silhouettes.
King Lathan observed me on the table and slowly walked closer.
"Why has she been crying?", his question surprised me and his voice was surprisingly calm.
"My lord, I just made sure that she would behave", the guard answered without emotion.
"How?"
The guard pointed at the whip that rested on the table between my feet.
The king shortly glanced towards it and asked me "And do you behave now?"
I didn't answer I just lay there and stared at his eyes. Which where surprisingly a calm black.
"We will find out", he muttered and glanced at the three silhouettes .
'Silhouettes'
I froze, suddenly I remembered that I had seen a silhouette at the edge of the forest through my window the night before I had been bitten.
"I saw someone", I spoke in a monotone voice.
The king's attention jumped back at me and he urged "Who did you see?"
"I dont know", I answered.
King Lathan stepped closer and looked me in the eye, "What did you see?"
His eyes flickered for a moment and an unsettling feeling invaded my mind. It urged and commanded me to answer him, but there was another power who seemed to fight it off. It was more powerful than the King's command.
"Damn", the king muttered, "not even compulsion works on her."
One of the silhouette's gasped and I heard a female mutter.
"Tell me what did you see."
"A silhouette." I couldnt understand why my answers where so short.
"Where or when?"
"I saw a silhouette, from my window on the edge of the forest." Finally I managed to get the words out.
King Lathan hung on every word I said, "When?", he asked again.
"The night....", I coughed, the familiar burn rose in my throat, "The night.....", I coughed again," before.....", cough "bite."
Pain erupted in my body and fire devoured my insides, I screamed and sobbed. King Lathan retreated a few steps and glared at me in surprise.
Please...."I sobbed and begged, "make it stop."
"Stop what?", he asked quietly.
"The burn, please....it unbearable."
"What did Castor do with it?"
I held in, he had given me his blood, I wasn't sure if it had helped with the burn but it had certainly made me feel better. I decided I would tell him, I was ready to do anything to make the pain go away.
"He....."
"Shut up Gatáki", velvet wrapped around my mind.
I did as he commanded, and smirked inside my head. I seemed as if I was about to do something I shouldn't or should he would come around and talk to me. Then it occurred to me.
"He would....
"Shut the hell up!", velvet yelled.
"He did nothing."
The king sighed frustrated.
"Gatáki, dont try me again.", the voice whispered lowly.
'Who are you'
I waited for a moment but only silence answered me.
I was brought back and when the king stepped forward and spoke,
"Well I think its time you meet someone.", he gestured towards the silhouettes and they came forward.
"Meet my witches".
They all lifted their arms at the same time and slipped back the hoods. When my eyes registered what they were seeing I gasped in shock.
TO BE CONTINUED......