Pursued(149)
She cried bitterly, tears running down her cheeks, her entire body wracked with sobs. God, nothing could be worse than this abject despair. Nothing…
The liquid coursing through the clear tubing into her vein changed again, turning a bright, fiery red. Instantly, Elise felt like her entire body was on fire. Every nerve ending in her skin was screaming that she was burning, crisping to ashes, her flesh melting, her blood boiling.
Elise screamed hoarsely, writhing helplessly against her bonds. God, the pain…the pain! On fire—help, I’m on fire! Put me out—PUT ME OUT!!!
The horrible pain seemed to last forever while she screamed herself hoarse. Then the liquid feeding into her arm turned a deep, soothing purple. As abruptly as the pain had started, it stopped. But it wasn’t as though someone had thrown a cooling bucket of water over her burning skin, easing the terrible pain—it was as though she’d never been in pain in the first place.
I’m numb now, she thought, feeling dazed. Can’t feel anything. Don’t want to feel anything. Just want to float. Don’t care…don’t care about…anything.
She realized hazily that her sudden apathy was due to the new drug, whatever it was, being pumped into her system but honestly, she couldn’t make herself care. At least she wasn’t in pain or sobbing her heart out or laughing hysterically. Being numb was better than any of those things. Being numb was good. Slowly, she let her eyelids drift closed, praying that the blessed surcease from emotion would last. Praying to stay numb.
* * * * *
“You see? I can make her feel anything I want—anything at all.” The bastard with the silver eyes, who called himself Draven, smirked at Merrick as they both stared through the transparent one-way thought/sound barrier that separated them from Elise.
“You sonofabitch!” Merrick snarled, straining at his bonds. He’d already broken through one set, and only six of the biggest, ugliest trolls he’d ever seen had kept him from ripping Draven’s head off.
They’d gotten smarter the second time around—he was chained with diamond-treated titanium—one of the strongest alloys in the universe. The tiny diamond chips impregnating the silvery gray metal cut him every time he tried to escape but Merrick didn’t care. He only knew he couldn’t stand to see the female he loved subjected to such horrors. Trickles of blood ran down his arms, pattering in droplets to the ground, but still he struggled, trying to break free and save her.
“Even if you got loose, there’s nowhere you could go—I have your ship.” Draven frowned. “Unfortunately, it’s not the one I was hoping for. Just a standard issue Kindred design with no special modifications whatsoever.”
Merrick frowned. “What the fuck do you care about what kind of ship I’m flying?”
“Because.” Draven gave him a charming grin. “I was told by a very reliable source that your ship—your original ship—has a very interesting ability. The ability to generate wormholes at will.”
Merrick went stiff in his bonds. “And why would a sick fuck like you be interested in that?”
“Why, precisely because I am, as you called me, as ‘sick fuck.’” Draven smiled and tapped Merrick on the chest. “However, since you don’t have your ship with you, I have no choice but to take out my disappointment on your lovely lady.” He pressed a button on the tiny silver remote he held in one hand and thick, dark grey liquid began pumping into Elise’s arm.
“No—no!” Merrick roared but Elise was already reacting.
She woke at once from her drug induced stupor and began to thrash and moan, her eyes going wide, searching the room around her as though she was looking for monsters. It was clear from the look on her face that she couldn’t see him through the one-way barrier. She thought she was alone—all alone with no one to protect her. The thought tore at Merrick’s heart.
“Fear,” Draven explained as Merrick cursed and threw himself against his bonds. “Terror, actually. Whatever she fears the most, the drug is plucking that image from her brain and making it a reality for her. It’s tormenting her with her own worst nightmares.”
“Stop! Why are you doing this? Fucking stop!” Merrick shouted. He tried to push feelings of comfort and reassurance through the bond to Elise but the transparent barrier between them kept the two of them from exchanging thoughts or emotions.
“I told you why,” Draven drawled. “I’m disappointed and I’m bored. It’s a bad combination—for me, anyway.” He lifted the silver remote again.