The journey back from Nerezza felt like an eternity. The creature always made Damien uneasy. She was extremely powerful, more powerful than he was. Taking care not to upset her was always a challenge.
Damien's mind was spinning in a circle of confusion at what Nerezza expected of him. He knew he couldn't give up both Emrie and Zia. Regardless of what Aeson said about Zia's condition, Damien knew better.
Zia was a healer. She would heal herself without even trying. She would heal without even realizing how powerful she was.
Damien found out about her gifts when she was a baby but did not tell anyone, not even Ansel.
When Damien visited Nerezza in order to get a spell prepared to ward of the Dark Stalkers, she informed him about the treasure he had found. She knew Zia was left at Damien's door before he even mentioned anything.
Nerezza's search was over. She quickly made Damien a deal he would regret later on.
Nerezza had been looking for the child with the healing capabilities and powers for centuries. She was beginning to age, and it was driving her mad. Her natural powers could only delay aging for so long.
The child would strengthen Nerezza's natural magical powers as well as keep her youthful and reverse the hands of time.
All Damien had to do was keep her safe until she turned eighteen, when her powers would be in full strength. He could barely keep himself safe, so he knew the task was nearly impossible.
Damien never told Zia about her powers. He couldn't control her if she was aware that she was not a human.
Since the only power she had before she made eighteen was healing capabilities, he was able to hide everything from her. She simply thought she was just quick to heal and nothing more.
He didn't know what all her powers were or how strong she was. He had hoped that he could continue controlling her for as long as possible. The circus depended on it. He depended on it. He couldn't survive or make money off of the circus if he couldn't keep the darkness away.
Damien had hoped that paying Nerezza and giving her Emrie, could be in exchange for Zia so he could keep her. He wasn't sure how she would be able to use Zia, but he felt there was a way he could still keep her instead of handing her over to Nerezza and never seeing her again.
He couldn't give Zia up so easily no matter what. He had grown fond of her after all these years, but he didn't know how to show it. He had never seen her as his child. She was someone he took care of because he had to. He was protecting her in his own, strange way.
Damien didn't know what he was feeling for Zia, but he knew she needed to be close to him. He didn't want to rent her out to his customers, but they paid more for Zia than he made off ten customers at one time. She would make him enough money to keep her and keep the circus going. He just needed to keep his jealousy at bay for a moment.
The thought of a man touching Zia ignited his beast within. He wanted to kill but knew he couldn't. That is why he kept her away from men and let her dance for the circus. But when he realized he needed to make more money fast, he had no choice but to use her in different ways when men began offering money for private dances.
It was for her own good. She would understand somehow, he thought. He just needed to be patient, which is something he had never learned how to be.
The other day when he was close enough for his face to touch Zia's, he felt something he didn't want to feel in his heart. He became afraid and returned to treating Zia like a prisoner to mask his own feelings. She couldn't know what was happening to him. She was young and wouldn't understand. Even he, was completely confused.
As soon as he paid off Nerezza he would stop sending Zia to entertain men and let her stay with him. She wouldn't need to dance or do anything else anymore unless he needed. He would keep her for himself.
Damien arrived at the circus still in the middle of his thoughts. He stepped out of the car and went straight to look for Zia. When he entered the dark room, she was alone and asleep.
Ansel must have gone out to get things for her. He walked over to Zia and looked at her face as she lay, peacefully asleep. She was healing quickly.
He noticed her hair was clean from the blood that had dried in it. She was also wearing a fresh, white gown. Ansel must have taken care of here. She seemed to be comfortable as she slept.
The stiches on her forehead were almost ready to come out and it had only been a couple of days. His eyes trailed down her body, stopping at her broken arm. Then over to her side.
He placed his fingers and traced the line where her stiches were. Zia flinched in her sleep. She was still tender. The wound on her side would take the longest to heal.
Damien trailed his eyes back to Zia's face and gazed at her. He raised his fingers to push a lock of hair from her face behind her ear. His fingers gently caressed the side of her face as she slowly opened her eyes. "Damien!" She said, startled as she pulled the blankets up to her neck.
"How are you doing princess?" He asked. Zia couldn't form the words beyond her tongue. She instantly remembered Damien sending her off to be injured in her ring. Instead of showing him anger, she kept it inside. It was no use complaining. Angering him was the last thing she needed right now.
"Well, my head hurts and my body is sore. My arm is feeling a little better though. She said, wiggling her fingers and twisting her wrist to display her new found mobility.
"Good." Damien said as he reached for the small black satchel that Nerezza gave to him. He pulled out the gold and purple vial, rolling it between his fingers.
"I need you to take this. It will help you to heal." Zia looked at the small vial as the mixture glowed and moved slowly through it. "What is it?" She asked, with concern consuming her face.
"Don't worry, its nothing bad. It is to help you." Damien replied.
"What if I don't want it?" She asked, trying to push herself to sit up. "Then I will force you." Damien replied, perplexed that she even questioned him.
Zia looked away to hide her tears that instantly formed as the words left his lips. She was tired of being treated like this. She was tired of being forced to do anything. She had almost lost her life and the abusive cycle just continued as usual. There was no change in Damien. He would always be the evil bastard he had been her whole life.
Zia snapped her head towards Damien and looked straight into his eyes with no emotion evident. "No. I am not taking it." She said, seriously. Damien was taken aback with her response.
Instantaneously, he grabbed Zia by the throat and pushed her down on the table. Zia grabbed his wrist with her undamaged hand, trying to pull his and away.
Damien unscrewed the vial with his other hand holding Zia down firmly as tears fell from the corners of her eyes. He brought the vial to her mouth and used one of his fingers to wedge her mouth open enough to administer the liquid.
Zia forced her lips tightly closed as Damien squeezed her neck tighter. She couldn't fight back any longer. She was losing oxygen that she couldn't afford to lose.
Damien forced the vial in the corner of her mouth, pouring the liquid in.
Zia stopped struggling and looked at Damien with moist eyes. She looked away and lay motionless.
"Next time, just do as I say." He said cupping the side of her face gently, turning her to look at him. Zia flinched and turned her face away from him again. She remained quiet as she stared at the other side of the room, ignoring every word out of Damien's mouth.
"I will be back later. You need to hurry up and heal." He said, turning to walk away.
As he took a step towards the exit, he came face to face with Ansel. She had a worried yet disappointing look on her face.
Damien looked at her as if expecting her to say something, but Ansel remained quiet and simply walked past Damien with her eyes towards the floor in front of her. He followed her movements then turned forward and continued out of the room.
Ansel hurried toward Zia. "Are you ok? Did he harm you?" She asked, checking Zia's wounds. She seemed to be doing better each time Ansel visited her. She definitely was not getting any worse than she was before.
Ansel was so afraid she might lose her but she was healing rapidly. It was almost unnatural. Ansel and Aeson had never seen anything like it, but they were grateful for Zia's progress.
Zia pushed herself up slightly on an angle, not to hurt her injured arm. She spit out as much of the liquid Damien had forced into her mouth making it look like she threw up.
"What was that, Zia?" Ansel asked. Giving herself a moment to catch herself, Zia wiped her mouth. She knew she couldn't tell Ansel she had spit out the liquid Damien forced her to take.
"I am not feeling well, Ansel. Can you bring me something light to eat? I think I need something in my stomach." She asked.
"Of course, dear. What would you like?" Ansel replied. "Anything light. I know I will not eat much." Zia replied.
"Ok, Zia. Are you sure you are ok?" Ansel asked, concerned.
"I am as ok as I can be for now Ansel. I simply hate that man. I cannot be here any longer. Death would be less painful than being tortured like this for the rest of my life." Zia said with an anger inside of her that Ansel had never seen before.
Her eyes began glowing with a bright blue ring of light surrounding the grey color of her iris.
Ansel felt afraid. She had never seen Zia's eyes do that before. "What is wrong, Ansel?" Zia asked, wondering why Ansel stared at her eyes like she was nervous.
"Oh, nothing dear. I am so sorry Zia. We will figure this out. I will leave now and bring you back something to eat. Aeson will be here shortly to check on you as well." She said as she quietly left the dark room, leaving Zia to her own thoughts.
Zia lay on the table lost in her thoughts. There was no way she would stay here. She would still follow through with her plan. She needed only to heal a bit more. She lifted the wooden brace containing her injured arm and moved it around in front of her face. She moved her arm in the brace waiting to feel sharp pains. She felt none.
With her other hand she began undoing the brace carefully, dropping each tie on the floor as she released each one. She carefully lifted her arm out of the brace moving it around enough to cause a pain if it was still too damaged. She barely felt pain as she moved it.
Zia became confused. Her bones were crushed by an elephant. They would take much longer to heal than this. They also wouldn't heal so perfectly.
She threw the arm brace onto the floor along with the ties that held it together, opening and closing her hand in a fist in disbelief at what she was experiencing.
At that moment she knew that she needed to heal just a bit more before she went forward with her plan. It was time to be done with the circus and Damien for good.