"I love you." The three words I've been dying to tell her since the day we met, spilling out of my mouth in a rushed tone. My heart beats so fast, that for a second I thought that I was fully human. My eyes closed waiting for her response. I wished that I could know what was going through her mind right now, instead of already knowing what was going through mine.
Does she love me?
Did I rush this?
Was this even the right time to do this?
What if she doesn't feel the same?
The sound of laughter snaps me out of my thoughts. I quickly open my eyes, frowning at the woman I love dearly. Why is she laughing at me when I just confessed something that's been on my mind for over one hundred years?
"Why are you laughing?" I finally decided to ask.
Her head tilts to the side as she bites down on her lips. She pushes her hair behind her ears, which I've come to know is a habit of hers. She doesn't even realize when she does it. "I'm laughing because," she lets out a breath. "I love you too."
I look at her in shock, my heart now skipping beats. "Y..you love me?" I stuttered. "You love me," I repeat again, this time not stuttering.
Claire nods, before taking a step towards me. "I love you too Natasha." She says. I groan, loving the words coming out of her mouth.
I took a step towards her, covering the gap between us. "Say it again," I whisper, not caring one bit how demanding I sound.
Claire chuckles. "I said, I love you too Natasha."
I smile, placing my hands on her cheek. "Can I do something I've been dying to do since we were in the underworld."
"Yes." She said quickly. I wasted no time, pulling her in for a kiss.
+
The sound of water awakens me. I open my eyes and instantly close them, feeling dizziness overtake me. A groan escapes my lips, at the amount of pain I'm feeling in my head. This is the first time that I've ever felt a headache as a hybrid and truth be told I wish that it would go away.
Opening my eyes again, I see nothing but trees. Dirt sticks to my skin as I'm being dragged across the forest. My eyes glow red as I try to break free from the chains binding my risk together. I feel weak with it on, kinda like it's stripping me away from my strength little by little. "It's no use, you'll never break free from those chains." My captor says. His voice was like nothing I've ever heard before. He speaks as if he controls the world.
"Do you seriously have to drag me?" I ask, angrily. All this dirt is going to ruin my hair. And being in this position isn't exactly comfortable.
"I'm sorry Queen Natasha, would you rather me carry you on my shoulder?" He taunts. He proceeded to drag me through the woods, ignoring my discomfort.
I glared at him. "I would very much like that. Anything beats this."
He chuckles darkly. "You're too fat for me to carry."
"Yet, you can still drag me." I resort. "Were you picked on as a kid? Is that why you would make a joke like that?" I lifted my head up, trying to get a good look at him, but it was useless. "I once read that some kids who were bullied for being fat, sometimes grow up to bully others for their weight too," I smirk at him. "Are you one of those kids Mr. Kidnapper?"
He drops my legs to the ground and steps towards me slowly. "You really should keep that mouth of yours shut. It would be a shame for you to get to Liden, without your tongue."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" I taunt. He doesn't respond, he only glares at me. "You wanna know what would really be a shame? You arriving in Liden with no balls. That is if you even have balls." I squint my eyes. Do you have balls?"
His rough hand wraps around my throat and my head is pushed back onto the dirt. I roll my eyes, knowing that taking this dirt out of my hair is going to be a struggle. "Final warning shut the fuck up!" He shouts the smell of his breath hits my nose.
My hand touches his risk as I fight hard to remove his grip around my neck. "Have... you... been... eating... mints?" I croaked out.
The glare on his face is replaced with confusion. His grip on my neck disappears. "Did you fall on your head as a child or something?" He asks, backing up. He grabs the chains that are attached to my legs and continues to drag me.
"We're seriously back to the dragging!" He stays quiet, looking ahead. I turn to my side, looking for something to use, to break out of these restraints. My eyes land on a small piece of wood and I quickly pick it up. "Why can't you just drive to where you're supposed to be taking me? We have cars for a reason."
He turned around and I quickly hid the stick. "So why didn't you use one when you left the club?"
I shrug, pulling the stick back out. "Cars are loud and filled with consequences. One minute you can be driving and the next you're dead. I'd rather walk." My captor doesn't say a word. It's as if he completely toned me out. Picking the lock to the chain, it starts to loosen a bit. I turn the stick a final time and it comes off. My eyes close, feeling my familiar strength come back. "I hate to cut the silence short," I say abruptly.
He doesn't look back. "And why's that?" He asks in a boring tone.
My hands' grip on the chains attached to my legs. "I gotta go home." With all the strength in me, I pull the chains apart, causing them to break. Arising to my feet, I quickly jumped into a fighting stance, surprising my captor. "I don't feel like fighting right now, but I will if I have too."
He drops the chain and stares at me. "I'm only going to say this once, so listen carefully." He steps forward. "Put the chains back on, now!"
"Make me!" I yell, sounding like a little child. Before he could say anything else, I lifted up my hands. "Silentium!" His mouth shuts as I fling him a few feet away from me. He stands up from the dirt, brushing himself off in the process. He glared at me, and I knew instantly he wanted me dead. "Adhuc manere!" I chant, causing him to freeze. This type of spell will last only for a few minutes, which is pretty much all that I need to get information out of him. "Dicere," I command walking towards him.
"Darling, I'm about ten seconds away from killing you." He sneers. "Put the goddamn chains back on!"
Rolling my eyes, I chose to ignore him. "Why are you taking me to Liden? Who wants me there?"
He glares at me. "I've told you before, your command crap doesn't work on me. Now put those damn chains back on before I slit your throat!"
My face is close to his, real close if I must state. There is a jagged scar on the right side of his face, starting underneath his eyes and ending just below his jaw. The scar is loud and sleek, it's paleness causes me to shiver. I wonder why I haven't seen it before, it's pretty much noticeable. "No!" I say sternly, my eyes are still on his scar. Whatever caused this old wound was sharp and the injury looks like it's never been treated.
His eyes catch my line of vision. His face is now emotionless. "Your time is up!" He sneers. Unexpectedly his large hand wraps around my throat, pulling me closer to him. I gasped trying to remove his hands. Whatever he is, he's very strong. "I'm going to kill you."
My eyes widen and then I do something unexpected. I laugh. "You can't kill me, you obviously need me," I smirk. "I can't die, nothing can kill me."
Now he smirks. "Is that what Odessa told you?" He moves me closer, causing me to close my eyes. "Wake up and smell the coffee. Nothing and nobody can ever live forever. You may think you're untouchable now but just wait. Soon you'll be no more."
Releasing a breath, I open my eyes. "Are the words you speak supposed to bring me to fear?" I ask, confused. "Because if they are, please know that they just went in one ear and out the other. I fear no one!"
"You'll fear me!" He yells. He lets go of my throat, causing me to fall on my knees. Grabbing me by the hair, he lifts my head up. "Стоп!"
My body goes limp. "Fuck you! You're a fuckin' pussy!" My eyes start to feel heavy. "F...fight me." I stutter, sleepy. "You stupid scar face pussy!" He grumbles something, but I couldn't make out what it was. He punches me again and once again, I'm knocked out.
+
"Natasha breathe," Odessa yells. She looks at me scared. Her curly hair was pushed back into a ponytail and she wasn't smiling like she usually was. Odessa takes both of my hands, staring deep into my eyes. "What did you do Natasha? Whose blood is this?" She asks concerned.
Tears fall from my eyes as I look down at my bloody hands. "She...she left me." Was the only thing I could say. "She left me." I cried.
"Who's blood is this Natasha?!" Odessa yells once again.
I release a cry. "She left me."
"Don't make me ask again?!" Odessa rages.
I lift my finger up and point out the window. "It's theirs."
Odessa gets up and slowly walks to the window. Her eyes widened as a gasp escaped her lips. She covers her mouth with her hand. "Natasha what have you done?!"
+
By the time I wake up, the sun is out. And to my surprise, there are no chains binding my risk together. Taking in my surroundings, I finally realized that I am inside a cave. In the center is a small roasting pot and in the far corner, there is a small mat made of grass. My back cracks when I sit up. "Damn that felt good," I mumbled to myself.
A figure lurks in the gloom. When he catches me staring at him, he walks to the light. "You need to eat." He says. You can hear the sound of his light footsteps echoing in the cave.
"I'm not in the mood for human food." My leg bounces up and down and my eyes wander back to his scar. "What happened to your face?" I blurted out.
"If you don't eat that's your problem, you'll just starve. You aren't getting any blood from me. And mind your own business." He sits down, crossing his long legs. "Stop asking me questions, it's annoying."
"You know, you've never told me your name."
"That means it wasn't meant for you to know."
My head leans up against the rocks. "That sucks. You know my name, yet I don't know yours. Since you are not telling me why you're taking me to Liden, then the least you can do is tell me your name."
"You don't need to know it." Is his only response.
My eyes roll to the back of my head. "You say I'm annoying, yet that title seriously belongs to you." I stand up, placing my hands on my hips. "I have to pee."
He scoffs. "Pee in the cave."
I frown. "No."
He shrugs. "Then I guess you can't pee."
I glared at him, before unbuttoning my dirty blue jeans. Pulling them down, my g-string is shown.
Mr. Kidnapper only stares at me, emotionless as I begin to pull the g-string down. I couldn't help but notice how his eyes are like the blue of glacier water. "See something you like?" I tease. He doesn't say a word. My g-string is finally all the way down and I squat down to pee.
"You're a bold bitch." He finally says, still looking at me.
"Don't call me a bitch. Do I look like a female dog to you?" Before he could answer the question, I cut him off. "Don't answer that." Standing up, I pull up my pants.
"Can you hurry up, we need to get going."
"What's the rush?"
He sighs. "If you keep asking me questions, I'm going to punch you again." He stood up, grabbing onto my arm. "Now let's go." We walked out of the cave and the sun hits my face. I squint before looking elsewhere.
My eyes take in the scene before me and I feel my heart clench. This scenery reminds me way too much of my village. The cave was under a waterfall this whole time. Whitewater cascades down a series of rocky outcrops. The water is so clear; it looks like tiny little glass crusted with different types of shiny diamond corals reflecting the rising sun.
"Where is this place?"
Mr. Kidnapper pinches the bridge of his nose. "Didn't I tell you to stop with the question?"
"Just tell me. I promise not to ask any more questions along the way."
He looks at me, before looking forward. "We're in Banfolk Key. It's located in the Sanctum forest." He shakes his head. "For a person who's the queen of over half the nation, you sure as hell don't know anything about your lands."
"I haven't had time to learn about places like this. I've been busy if you haven't noticed. Keeping half the nation at ease doesn't really give me time to adventure."
"If you think that half the nation is at ease, then you really are crazy." He turned to me, his hands still holding on tightly to my arm. "There's no such thing as people living in peace, especially with all your supernatural creatures around."
"Can you let go of my arm?" I ask impatiently. "And what exactly do you have against us supernaturals? Earth was shit before we came. There was slavery, drugs, gangs, and even murders before we got here. And let's not forget about sex trafficking and the fact that kids were forced into marriage at a young age. We stopped it... I stopped it. Us supernaturals fixed earth, it's just people like you, who are so full of yourselves that hate to admit it!"
"You talk too much."
I shake my head. "You're only saying that because what I said is true. You're like a racist, you can't handle the truth. You blame people for your problems, instead of seeing that you cause the problem."
He glares at me. "Says the person who turned the people of her village into animals that feast on the dead. Tell me, Natasha, what exactly did you do with all the racists, gangs, rapists, murderers and everyone else in that category?"
My fist ball up. "I killed them!" I screamed. "I killed every single one of them and it felt good. It brought peace!"
"And what separates you from them?" He asks. I stay silent. I didn't know the answer. What separates me from the ones I've killed? "Exactly, you don't even know. Nor do you even see what's wrong in killing them. That's what I have against you supernaturals, you kill and feel no remorse."
Anger rises in me. I've always been able to keep my anger at bay, but hearing the words that he speaks makes my blood boil. Without realizing it, my hand balls up into a fist and punches him straight in the eye. Realizing what I just did, I quickly apologized. "I'm... I'm sorry."
He stumbles back a bit, clutching onto his eye. If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under. "Стоп!" He shouts. I fall to the ground feeling weak once again.
"You punched me twice and yet I punched you once and you're mad," I say sleepily. "Such a pussy!"
"Shut up and sleep!" He orders.
My body does as it's told.