Sarah’s eyes fluttered open and all that she could see was complete and utter darkness. Ignoring the pain that scourged her hand, she twisted around unto her stomach and climbed to her feet. Her beady blue eyes surveyed her surrounding, looking and searching for any source of light. When her eyes pinned on the streak of light escaping through the crack on the wall to her left, she quickly sped over to it. But in the process, her gaze met the unclear sight of splattered blood on the untiled floor. She squinted as her trembling legs slowly turned in that direction.
Though she couldn’t see very well, she could make out numbers carved into the floor beside the stale blood. Three familiar numbers… 154. How could she not have remembered the same numbers that were burned into the side of her neck? And this place… it was the dungeon that she had been kept in all those years… or at least what remained of it. Why did they bring her here? Why here of all places?
Was this to prevent Damon from finding her? Surely, if he already found out that she had been kidnapped then he wouldn’t even think of showing up to this place. That was definitely their intent.
“If I recall correctly, this is the cell you had been kept in.” A male voice resounded through the darkness, catching Sarah’s utmost attention. She turned towards the voice and squinted repeatedly in an attempt to see through the darkness and just then, the light was suddenly switched on, giving view of the man that was standing before her cell… Kevin.
“So this w-was all you?” Sarah acknowledged bitterly as she swiftly hid her wounded hand behind her and drew closer to the wall furthest away from him.
“Yes, all me.” He grinned as if what he had done was some great achievement. “I hear your mate’s going haywire looking for you! I guess he was actually a bit fond of you.”
“Why are y-you doing t-this?” Sarah asked pathetically. She was desperate for answers, but no matter how much she rattled her brain, she just couldn’t come up with an answer. Yes, he was obviously sorta obsessed wth her, but that couldn’t be the reason for all this… could it? Deceiving Damon and most likely leading him into an ambush, sending in Katie to provoke both her and him and lastly, kidnapping her. All that for her? She was too little of a reason to do so much. Right?
“I thought you already knew that all I want is you.” He laughed, “and maybe Damon’s throne as bonus. We were meant to be together, Sarah. Fate brought us back to each other.”
Sarah narrowed her eyes at the load of bull he had just vomited out a while ago. So this was seriously all for her? HER?
“W-Where’s Damon? What d-do you plan t-to do with him?”
The fear in Sarah’s voice made him cackle like a maniac. “You’re asking one stupid question after another, Sarah. Obviously I’m going to follow in my mentor’s footsteps.”
“Your mentor?”
“It’s sad that he won’t get to see me accomplish what he wanted for years…” He replied, his words lumping in even more confusion into Sarah’s mind. “… the annihilation of his own brother. I’m certain Damon can’t possibly survive another rejection.”
His last sentence made Sarah’s eyes spark with realization. “Felix?” And then it took another few seconds for every piece of the puzzle to finally fit in place. “Y-You want me to r-reject him so you’ll be a-able to kill him?” Her eyes widened as she eased off the wall and looked at him in an incredulous manner, her heart beat quickening its pace in utter fear. “Is that w-why you brought m-me here?”
“Precisely. You’ll reject him and I’ll do the killing… then there’ll be no one between us. You can be my Queen.” He smiled, shifting on the stool had was sitting on.
Sarah’s face drained of colour as her mind clouded with dread. “N-No.” She whispered under her breath. She was mostly speaking to herself rather than to him. “I won’t r-reject him. I w-won’t.” She clenched her fingers against the front of her dress and dropped her head as tears sprung at her eyes. “Why is e-everyone trying to g-get rid of him w-when he’s not t-that bad a p-person? He’s j-just the way he is b-because he’s pressured w-with everything he has t-to do. I promise t-that if you let u-us be, I’ll make s-sure he doesn’t hurt you. I just need to convince him that you’re simply worried about me and that’s it!” Sniffling briefly, she swiped away the tears that threatened to trickle over her lips. “So let’s j-just end this her-”
“I’ve come this far and you think I’ll end this?” His cackling started up again. But this time, it was brief. A second afterwards, his face was completely void of all emotions. He then hopped off his stool and grabbed the silver bars in a taut hold. “And did you ever hear me say that you had a choice? You are mine. MINE! I met you first!”
Sarah was quick to deny his claims. “Y-You’re not m-my mate, Damon is.”
“Mate?” His eyes drooped in a lifeless way and his hands slowly slid off the bars. “You. are. mine.” He declared firmly, “You. are. mine. I. own. you!”
“I’m not a property that anyone can claim anymore!” Sarah blubbered out in a piercing scream. She was getting tired of this hopeless conversation, she was getting tired of being trapped in this cell all over again and she was tired of him. “I chose who I want to be with and its not you. I know we’ve known eachother for years, but let’s live our separate lives now! I don’t want you and I don’t want this. Bring me back and stop making things difficult for the both of us!”
“So you don’t want anything to do with me and you also won’t reject him?” He didn’t raise his head and that gave Sarah the creeps. He simply kept on speaking in that same threatening manner, frightening her to the bone. “I think I’ve been too easy on you, Sarah.” He chuckled, finally raising his head. Sarah took the chance to take a good look at his face and instantly knew that shit was about to go down. He was definitely giving her the same gaze that Mr. Knack did when he was about to beat the life out of her.
“Fine, then killing you will also do the trick!” He looked at her from under his lashes maliciously. “Maxim, how about you teach her how to behave?”
Sarah eyes bulged out of their sockets when out of nowhere a familiar man walked up into her line of vision. Her knees buckled under her and she fell to the floor, curling herself into a ball as she tried to push impossibly closer to the wall.
“I see you remember my face very well.” The red eyed man said, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m quite grateful to you for allowing me to escape that maniac’s clutches. Who knows what he would’ve done to me.”
Sarah didn’t reply, instead she stayed as quiet as a mouse as she drowned in nothing but fear and turmoil.
“Too bad, I’ll have to return the favour by breaking a few bones. You see, we need you to do your job… because otherwise we’ll have to kill you. And your precious boyfriend over here doesn’t want that.” He fished a key out of his left pocket and rammed it into the keyhole as an enthusiastic laugh bubbled up his throat.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?” He pulled the cell open and took his first step inside.
Sarah wanted to shrink and disappear in that moment. She knew what was about to come but she didn’t want it. She wanted to get out of this place and live her life now that it was finally getting better. But no, fate had other plans for her. This was the plan… to have her die by the hands of such vicious people who doesn’t even know right from wrong. She lowered her head as waves after wave of tears descended over her cheeks.
“Now it-” Maxim suddenly stopped in his tracks and began sniffing the air with scrunched up nose. “What’s this?”
Sarah sat up straighter against the floor and her eyes refilled with hope. She was sure that he probably smelled Damon approaching. She was sure that she was about to get herself out of this mess. And she was sure that she was about to get rescued.
But she was wrong… dead wrong.
“What is it?” Kevin gritted his teeth. “I thought I told you to t-”
“It’s looks like–” maxim looked down at Sarah and grinned. “–she’s pregnant.”