It had been hours since the torture portion of my murder started, and I was finally starting to feel like I was falling unconscious.
I didn't want to go under though.
My whole being was fighting to see what was going on around me, but I think I was losing too much blood to stay awake.
Looking at my captors I saw a glint of..... admiration in all of their eyes.
"What did I tell you about her being of a special brand of humans? Most people wouldn't be looking at me with such defiance at the moment," Samael said with a small measure of respect.
"She really is something," Dunstan said losing his admiration, and letting his voice take on a hint of..... superstition? I don't know. At this point I know I'm not thinking straight.
"Are you afraid of the ghosts of this world?" I asked Dunstan slowly.
"What?"
"You're in the wrong occupation to be superstitious. Maybe that's why you drink so much...." I continued, hoping that it would help me stay awake.
"Not only is she still able to stay awake this far in, she is still making observations about us that most people don't recognize," Samael said in something similar to joy, "She really is amazing. I wish more people were like her. It's been more interesting than usual," he stopped for a second and studied me, "What do you think Dunstan? Should we give her a break? I'm getting kind of tired, and she's about to pass-out. It's no fun when they're like that."
Dunstan nodded his head, looking at me like I was a snake about to bit him.
I really wish I could.
"Orpheas, I'm going to leave you on watch. Here's her phone. If anyone trys to talk to her, reply as if you were her, and she was fine. I know they're not going to figure it out, but I don't want to run any risks. She has some powerful friends and I'm going to be extra careful with her. If she passes-out that's fine, but if it looks like she stopped breathing come get me. She's not supposed to die quiet yet. I'll be back in a couple hours."
Orpheas nodded, and looked at me for the first time since I got that first cut down my arm.
He flinched at what he saw, and started to look at his feet again.
As soon as Samael was out of the room, I looked at Orpheas, willing him to look at me again.
His eyes slowly drifted upward to meet mine.
"Orpheas?" I asked, "When I'm dead will you leave a note to Chance? He's my boyfriend, and I had a fight with him a few days ago. I want him to know that I'm not still mad at him."
I saw tears well up in his eyes as he looked at me, and nodded.
"Thank you," I whispered before slipping into unconsciousness.
I woke up to someone touching my face lightly.
"Elizabeth? You need to wake up now. I have something very important to tell you. You need to wake up now."
I opened my eyes, and blinked a couple times.
"That's it open your eyes, and look at me."
Doing as the voice said I found Orpheas looking at me with concern, "Listen, Elizabeth. I need you to stay awake for a little while. I called Chance. Chance is coming for you. He'll be here soon, but I need you to wake up so we can get you out of here easily."
"Chance?"
"That's right. Chance is coming. He will get you out of here. He said to ask if you still have the wolf he gave you."
I nodded it, and looked down to try and see it.
"What did he tell you about the wolf?"
"He said that it would protect me," I mumbled, "It will keep me company when I'm lonely, and it will keep me safe."
"That's right, Elizabeth. The wolf will keep you safe. Remember that. Your wolf is coming for you, and he will keep you safe, but to make his job easier, I need you to stay quiet, but awake. Samael isn't going to let you go without a fight, so I need make it harder to run in, and just shoot you without looking. We need to move you. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head as best as I could, and tried to get up.
"Tied....."
Orpheas pulled out a knife, and started to saw through the knots as quickly as he could.
He got through the last one, and gave me a half smile. I smiled back, and tried to get up again.
I was right about losing a lot of blood though.
Almost immediately I fell over.
Orpheas caught me, "Wow.... Slowly now. I'm going to help you. You can put as much of your weight on me as you need to. Put your arm around my neck."
I did as he said, and stumbled over to the corner he was leading me too.
As soon as we got there I collapsed again. Orpheas caught me, and pulled me onto his lap. He slowly started to rock me back, and forth in a somewhat soothing manner as I fell asleep again.
I knew I only slept for a few minutes before I was woken up again.
"Elizabeth? Are you awake?" Orpheas asked shaking my shoulder with the hand that wasn't supporting me.
"Yes...." I croaked.
"Good. Do you think you can climb out that window?" he said motioning to one that was only a couple feet away.
I nodded, and tried to stand up again.
Gotta stop doing that. I fell back into Orpheas' lap before I'd gotten an inch off of it.
"Slow down. I'll help you."
Orpheas managed to get my arm draped around his shoulder again as he lead me over to the window.
He opened it quietly, and started to help me onto the window ledge.
"Where do you think you're going?" someone asked from across the room.
Looking over in what seemed like slow motion I saw Samael leaning against the doorway.
"I knew that you were getting to Orpheas here, but I didn't think you did well enough to make him risk his neck." he continued, twirling a knife in his hands, "I guess I was wrong. That's okay though. I'd rather learn that he doesn't have the stomach for this kind of work now rather than later. Now he can just join you. Dunstan! I need you to bring in another chair. Orpheas decided that he wanted to die with Elizabeth!"
Dunstan brought in a chair, and started to walk toward us with some rope, "We can do this the hard way, or the easy way..... It's up to you," he said trying to go for Orpheas' hands.
It would have worked better if Orpheas hadn't punched him in the nose as hard as he could.
Dunstan grabbed his nose, and glared at Orpheas.
"Oh! This does make it interesting! Let's see who wins in a match between the rookie with a cause and the experienced killer. Should make a fun show," Samael said with excitement in his voice, "Oh, and Elizabeth? You might want to stick around for this. With out him, you will die, before you can get to the neighbors house. I know it's not all that far, but you lost a lot of blood didn't you?"
Sad thing is, I know he was right. I can barely lift myself off the floor without help. Even then I only got a couple feet off the ground. Without Orpheas I'm dead.
Instead of taking my chances with running in the state that I'm in, I leaned my head against the window ledge and watched Orpheas and Dunstan square off.
It was almost too fast for me to comprehend as Dunstan and Orpheas threw punches at each other.
From what I could understand, Orpheas didn't have nearly as much practice as Dunstan. He was more clumsy with his punches, and they weren't as well aimed.
I watched as Dunstan landed the first punch right in Orpheas' sternum.
Experience told me that Orpheas was going to have difficulty breathing after that.
Despite the fact that I knew that a punch like that had to have hurt like hell, Orpheas straightened up in time to dodge the knee that was directed to his face, and throw a punch of his own toward Dunstan's throat.
Unfortunately Dunstan was skilled enough to avoid something as predictable as that.
He knocked Orpheas' fist to the side, and brought his knee into Orpheas' ribs.
Why couldn't Orpheas have more experience fighting?
Oh yeah. Someone who had more experience wouldn't have had an issue with killing me.
He only has to hold Dunstan off until my wolf get's here to save us.
"Relax," I whispered, remembering something my dad taught me about fighting, "If you don't you're putting on the breaks, and you won't hit as hard. You will also be using way more energy than you need to to get the job done."
Orpheas didn't look at me, but I could tell that he heard me by the way some of the tension left his shoulders, and and his facial expression started to reflect a calm that hadn't been there before.
"That's it. Now, watch how he moves. He's hurt his foot recently. You can tell because he's limping slightly, and he's not using it. He's only using his knee. If you back out of range of his hands, and knees, you can use the extra reach that being able to use your feet will give you."
Again he kept his attention on Dunstan, but did what I told him.
He tried to back up so he could use his legs.
It would have been funny to watch him try to kick at Dunstan if I didn't know that he was fighting to keep me alive.
I guess he isn't very flexible. If he was he would have been able to kick higher than the waist.
At least he can kick that high though. I can work with that.
"Don't be afraid of fighting dirty. If you don't we might both end up dead. Kicking below the belt is not only acceptable in this case, but it is recommended."
Understanding what I meant by that Orpheas kicked Dunstan as hard as he could right where it counts.
Just like my dad always told me would happen when a guy gets kicked there, Dunstan folded over as soon as the kick landed.
"Head is now in range," I whispered knowing that Orpheas would hear me.
He didn't really need my help though.
Before I said anything his foot was headed in the right direction for a knock-out.
I smiled pleased with him as it picked Dunstan off his feet briefly.
Unfortunately that didn't last long when I found out that Dunstan was a little tougher than I originally thought.
It only took a few seconds for him to get up, and shake it off.
This isn't going well.
I think Orpheas panicked when he saw Dunstan get up. He stopped listening to what I was telling him, and just acted on instinct.
Normally that wouldn't be such a bad idea, but Orpheas' instinct made it look like he was a pacifist before this fight.
Dunstan was pretty much playing with him as he threw punches that I know weren't as hard as he could manage.
That went on for a few more seconds before he got bored, and sent something a little harder toward Orpheas' face.
Orpheas stumbled back a few feet holding his jaw.
Dunstan sighed, "This is getting boring. I think the half dead girl is going to put up more of a fight."
With that said, Dunstan manipulated Orpheas into a sleeper hold in a way that spoke of the years of practice I knew he possessed.
"Can I have the knife? I don't feel like holding this until he's either asleep or dead," Dunstan asked looking at Samael.
"Sure. Normally I prefer a little tourter, but he's not on contract so I don't really care if he's killed quickly. Of course Elizabeth isn't on contract either.... but her dad killed my little brother, so..."
Samael handed a knife to Dunstan with a smile.
Looking directly at me Dunstan let a sadistic smile cross his features, "Envy him Elizabeth. You won't have it half as easy. Say goodbye to your new friend Orpheas."
Orpheas gulped, "Remember what I told you," he whispered before closing his eyes, "The wolf will protect you."