I wanted the ground to swallow me up, to just cave in and consume me in a fury of sound, dust, and dirt. Ropes dug into the sensitive skin of my wrists, binding them to my ankles and effectively immobilizing me as Eon drove further and further away from the only place I had ever felt even slightly at home at.
When Leaflet zapped me from my room, I had at least felt reassured by the fact that she promised to take me back as soon as she got what she wanted–to be clear, I still didn't quite know what she wanted other than to make me remember things and to talk conspiracy. With Eon though, it was obvious that he had no desire to take me back.
"How did you take it off," I looked up from the red skin of my wrists.
"What?" My throat was raw, painfully scratched, and with every movement, my brain pounded unceasingly against my skull.
"The necklace," I shook my head, that could not possibly be what he wanted to talk about right now. It had been months, I betrayed him, and what he wanted to talk about was how I got the necklace off? Well, the necklace was also tied in with the Thrall, but I still didn't know why it was relevant at this very moment. When I didn't answer his eyes darted from the road to burn into the side of my head.
"Answer me, Morris," My eyes fluttered shut once my head fell back against the headrest. Everything hurt about as much as it had when I woke up that night I arrived in Woling. One positive was that I wasn't shot, though my hand did itch to check just so I could be sure.
I knew now that I had been running from Eon way back then, and now here I was, being hauled back to his side.
All of that work for naught.
"I just– I took it off," He scoffed, fingers curling tighter around the wheel as the speedometer needle ticked up. I wonder, would I be the only one to die if there was a car crash? Somehow that made me think of Axle, the idea of dying and leaving him alone made my heart ache worse than my head did up until Eon spoke again.
"Figures," I twisted towards him as much as the binds would allow.
Eon always looked so put together, but now his eyes were darting around the night, muscles ready to pounce with deep bags the color of bruises under his eyes. He looked rough.
"What does?"
"All the work I put in, just for it to be fucked up because you didn't want to wear the necklace anymore."
"That isn't why I took it off–"
"It shouldn't be possible," He snapped back, teeth gnashing together as he dragged his attention back to the road. "Why is it when things go wrong, things that I thought were so foolproof, you are at the center."
I couldn't see anything out the window, but I stared anyway. The comment was meant to sting, and it did, my eyes blinking fast to try and hide the tears.
"Maybe your plan just wasn't as sound as you thought it was."
We fell into silence. The speed slowed down and I saw us pass a state line, but my eyes were too blurred to really make out which state it was for. Gods, a full state away from Axle, my sister, from the people who I knew were looking for me. Or at least I hoped that they were.
"Did you hurt her? Leaflet," Eon cracked his neck.
"She was living on borrowed time," Eon slowed the car some more and I saw the flashing light of the motel sign above us. N-O V-N-C-Y, the other letters weren't just out, but they were missing altogether. "Time she borrowed from you."
What? He sighed at my confused stare and reached across the console separating us into fiddle with the binds around my hands and ankles.
"What she took from you in the woods that one time, it was time. Your time. The witches call it borrowed. It's rather uncouth to take it without permission, but Leaflet and her coven of bitches don't care," it was like there was a pause button on my brain, I couldn't even form a fully thought-out question. "You shouldn't help people, Amira, not when you can't tell if they can be trusted."
"I can tell," His eyebrows raised and I didn't even believe my own words.
"Can you?" His fingertips dragged over the harsh red marks wrapping around my wrists, burning in a way that I used to crave. Now it feels like a fire consuming me entirely, making everything that I am crumble to ash.
He got out of the car, leaving me in a daze as he walked around to my side and pulled me out with a firm grip around my upper arm.
The parking lot was absent of people, with maybe ten raggedy cars occupying the spaces out front. The door he unlocked, number six, was a faded baby blue with darkened stains that I don't think I really want to know the origins of.
"We've stayed in worse places," was all he said as the door clicked shut behind us.
Eon was right of course, but that didn't mean I hadn't been spoiled in my months away. The sheets on the single bed were crumpled up on the end, and the wooden headboard had a large crack down the center with mystery splotches spotting the floor and floral wallpaper. There was only a single lamp beside the bed – next to the book we had stolen from Leaflet – that was tasked with illuminating the entire room. Eon drew the curtains shut and mumbled a few words under his breath as he locked the door, the air vent carrying the faintest whisper of citrus my way.
"Why are we here."
The malice in his eyes as he turned made me freeze in my spot, almost wishing that the car ride here had been unbearable to prepare me for whatever was about to come. I caught sight of his sharpened teeth as his tongue darted out to wet his lips.
"I've missed you," He was in front of me a moment later, not giving me the chance to catch up with his movements as he locked my wrists behind my back. Our chests pressed together. His slow heartbeat forming a sick juxtaposition to the racing of mine.
I squeezed my eyelids together, trying to block out the way he felt against my body, the way my soul whined as his breath fanned over my face, the way my resolve began to creak and groan as his lips touched mine.
The fire was all around me now, creeping up my limbs, shattering the glass I knew that I was made out of, and Eon let it run wild.
"I know he kissed you. I know what you think he is to you, but he's not. If what it takes to get you back to me is to break you, then you leave me no choice, Amira. I need you, and you may not think that you need me anymore but you do. You always will, and you will always be mine," a tear escaped when I opened my eyes. It slipped down my cheek and dripped onto his shirt as he gazed down at me.
For the first time since I had seen him in a long while, his eyes were grey, and it almost filled me with nostalgia.
Until they slowly morphed into the crimson I had come to know and hate, and the last thing I could even bring myself to think was Axle's name as teeth sunk into my neck.
My muscles weren't allowing me to move, and the only thing I had the slightest amount of energy to do was close my eyes and block out the pain. I wanted to move, to get up and stretch, to rub the tension from my shoulders and crack the stress from my spine. But I was rooted to the spot by nothing other than my own mind.
I don't... I don't exactly know what he did, everything was a blur after the first bite. There was chanting, a scalding liquid that scorched my tongue and made my already dry throat scream out.
Eon told me not to worry about screaming, that he paid extra to be left alone. The owner thought him to be some serial killer. Which really isn't wrong, but the truth is that he is honest to Gods so much worse.
The only thing keeping me from giving in to my desire to sleep was that Eon would be back soon.
Back with a crystal jar, and whatever else he needed.
He was going to try and sever the bond that he said wasn't even real to begin with. If it was a fabrication, then why did he feel the need to break it? To prove some sick point? We had established that Eon was not above lying to me, no matter how much that truth hurt, so why did I still feel inclined to believe him?
Gods I don't even know.
Thinking hurt, everything hurt, and the blood still leaking from my wounds were making my skin itch. If I could move I think the first thing I would do would be to shower. A nice cold shower-
The door opened with a squeak, and my head lulled towards the door.
A small child no older than six was absolutely the last thing I expected to see, and I had to blink several times. Once my vision cleared up, I still didn't know whether or not the little girl standing in front of me was real and not a figment of my imagination.
"Are ya dying?" Her voice was soft, like the breeze through the leaves on a dying tree.
"No."
"Sounded like you were," She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Yes, come on in kid. "Was that your boyfriend?"
"Who.. who are you?" My words were slurred, and each syllable strained my throat in a way that I had never felt before. What had he made me drink, because fuck.
"Papa owns the motel, but he says I'm not s'pposed to talk to strangers. Eon ain't a stranger though. He pays Papa extra, so Papa says to be real nice to 'em," She climbed up onto the bed. Dumb kid.
My eyes flickered to the door, Eon had locked it when he left, hadn't he? The big brown eyes followed towards where I was looking and she cracked a toothy grin, both front two teeth were missing and so was one from the bottom.
"Stole the keys. Don't tell Papa though, he'll get real mad..." she frowned, poking one of the cuts on my arm so hard I hissed, but didn't – couldn't – move away.
"Careful," I spat out tiredly, sinking further into the bed.
"If he went to the store, he won't be back for a while, and now the door is unlocked-"
"Kid-"
"Alba."
"Alba," I corrected. "I don't want you to get hurt. Go home to your Papa. Please," Alba looked down at her hands.
"Eon lets me come here when Papa drinks a lot, says it's okay," I looked up the ceiling. There was a lump in my throat as I tried to swallow, sorrow eating through my bones and sifting through the ashes of who I was not even two hours ago.
"He's nice to you?" She perked up, and the bright smile she gave spoke truer words than she would ever be able to express. Why was he nice to this kid, why did he help this kid, and why did it hurt to see how deep she was being sucked in?
"Yea! Says I remind 'em of someone, his friend. Are you his girlfriend?"
"Don't be nosy, Alba," She bounced on the bed a few times before laying down beside me.
"He ain't gonna be back for while," I sighed, staring at her young, innocent little face as she twirled the keyring around her finger. "I won't tell if you leave."
"I can't leave Alba, but you should. Before he comes back," I needed her to go. Eon may have been kind to her before, but I couldn't possibly risk her being here when he came back. I didn't need one more innocent life on my hands. Not when all I could see when I looked at her was me, shivering on the ground beside a tub as Eon soothed me.
"He won't hurt me, I trust him," she sounded so sure, and it did nothing but make my eyes well up with tears.
"I did too."
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