~ 24: A Mission to Rescue - Part 1 ~

WARNING: This chapter contains mature content (18+). Please proceed at your own risk.

I was glad that he had only gotten hold of my right leg, although it was the stronger one. I slide my knee up his middle, making him grunt before I thrust him. He thought I was being playful as he continued to do what he wished. He pulled my hands towards his head, repeatedly brushing his thumb over them.

Then I kicked him powerfully right where I had rested my knee. The impact made him draw away and I took up the minute to get myself back together. I turned my reddening face away and went to loosen the ropes around Mel, who appeared to be half-asleep.

He got around my blind spot and caught me off guard. I dragged away from the chair before he came to hover over me. He had started to play the game more dangerously.

My arms were yanked to the side as he tried to drop something into my mouth. He forced a tube from his mouth into mine. Then the realisation hit me.

I took in the tube to the side of my mouth, handling it carefully to not let a drop spill out of it into my mouth. Then I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the attack.

I slowed down my breathing rate and concentrated on his movements. He slowly pulled over the collar of the shirt and took a nip. I gave out a seductive moan and felt him smile as his tongue travelled over the injury.

I placed my arms around his shoulders, making it appear that I was giving myself into his desires. He unbuttoned two more below the collar ones, tracing his fingernail. I crossed my legs around his waist as he weighed me down. I continued to lure him into my trap while he tried to get his hands all over me.

With a swift motion of my hand, I stabbed him with the dagger that was hidden under my sleeve. Then I pushed him over on his side before he could cough out blood, and ran over to Melissa. I slashed through her bindings effortlessly with the blade and caught her before she fell.

With her arm around my shoulders and my ripped jacket around hers, I made her walk slowly to the entrance. But someone was starting to shut them, and no matter how fast we tried to walk, we were locked away inside.

There was Lucas's room to go through or some other door, but the stabbed man had somehow gotten on his feet and approached us like an alert predator. Without taking Mel with me, there was no chance of making it through any exit. And there was Lucas who had to be saved from bleeding to death, for he had most certainly taken out that knife.

He lightly shook the remote in his hand, gesturing that he had closed the exits. Now I wondered how the force, that Lucas said was installed for me, would ever find us alive. I scanned around the room for any sign of help, even if it was a small slit, but in vain.

"Interestingly, not even a drop of it slipped onto your tongue," he said with a hideous smile. "But this time, nothing will keep it away."

I heard him chant words and the tube, that had been stuck between my teeth, started to twist and turn irregularly as if it was alive. My tongue could prevent the cap from turning and spilling its contents into my mouth.

Something chocked my throat, making me gasp for air and thereby drink in the liquid. The tube fell out as I convulsed from the burning sensation near my heart. I was sucking for air like I was drowning in the sea. My vision blurred and I sank to my knees, with my hand over my heart.

Melissa fell to the ground, her unconsciousness making her look as good as dead. Except for the chest that rose and fell in slow rhythms. I couldn't reach for her as I suffered from the intolerable torture.

"I would have let you off the hook peacefully if you had complied," I heard him say. "But now, this approach is the best to tame a shrew as you."

He brought out a shard of a mirror from a nearby box near my face after raising my head with his bloody knuckle. With my partly recovered vision, I saw a maiden with red hair, a pale white face and purple eyes. The usual thin, slightly tanned face and blue eyes that belonged to me didn't exist in the reflection.

I had only glimpsed at it for a second before a blindfold covered my eyes. My hair was tugged to face the ceiling. A small gap was opened for me to face my enemy, allowing a queer feeling to settle in my heart. Nothing could get rid of it as I stared right into a pair of amber eyes.

His fingers caressed my bare neck, increasing the intensity of the strange feeling. He kissed my forehead and slowly let go of my braid. Then arms enveloped me and made me sit or lean on a frame of muscles and bones.

A minute or two passed before I heard a prolonged scream from the room behind the hall. Then the man in front of me shrieked. He let go of me immediately, letting the blindfold fall to my neck.

I heaved again, bending over and noticing my reflection on the mirror. This time, my irises were as black as night with a spiral ring of red within them, and my hair had turned as dark. A powerful feeling washed over me, claiming a hold on the pain. I saw the red ring swirl around my ring finger before it disappeared and left a vigorously pounding heart.

I fixed myself and walked over to the vengeful man. He had taken to his feet when he found me right over, with the dagger piercing through his spine until it reached the critical spot between his lungs and his heart. I twisted it, making him yell and beg me for mercy. I had become deaf to those hypocritical words.

I knocked him hard on his head with the butt of the blade, blacking him out at once. That's when the other thug entered, hearing his dear cousin's howls. Noticing the change in appearance had him step back, but that increased my confidence to attack.

Moving faster than him gave me the advantage of spinning him around until he couldn't stand straight. Then, I struck him harshly in the middle and sent him flying into a pile of heavy boxes. I booted him on his head, blacking him out instantly before the sirens commenced.