Mia dashed towards the door, her breath quickening as she descended the flight of stairs. She wasn't wearing any slippers but she didn't care. She didn't even care to know how she was going to get out of this foreign place.
"I'm giving you a thirty second headstart!" She heard him yell, of course, his voice was filled with mockery.
Mia tripped on the stairs and pain shot through her as she rolled down but once at the foot of the stairs, she raised herself up and run through the castle's dimly lit halls, not caring to check herself for bruises.
The castle was like a maze, with the corridors and passages twisting and turning in every direction. Mia had been running for a while now but it seems she was running in circles.
"Surprise!" She heard a whisper behind her, making her jump in fright as she turned to see him standing behind her.
"I told you not to let me catch you," he smirked, before slapping her hard. The impact making her fall. Mia felt something trickle down the corner of the lips but before she could touch it, he beat her to it.
He wiped the corner of her lip with his thumb, showed her the red liquid that had painted his thumb before bringing it to his lips.
"Delicious….." he smirked. "Now run!"
Mia wasted no time in getting up, trying to get as far from him as possible.
As she ran, Mia realized the layout was confusing. Narrow staircases spiraled up to towers, some into dark empty room, she had ended up in a kitchen twice, she almost ended up even in the dungeon, which caused her to shiver, remembering her past experience there.
"Gotcha!" She heard him again from behind but this time, she was thrown from the first floor before she could react.
Mia yelled in pain when she came into contact with cold hard floor. Her whole body ached, her head was throbbing from hitting the ground.
Mia sobbed as she dragged herself away from the man who was now standing in front of her. He got there so fast that Mia couldn't believe he was human.
"Please…." She whispered backing away from him. A wide eerie grin crept up his face seeing her miserable state.
He grabbed her hair and pulled her up, her feet dangling as pain shot through her scalp.
Mia yelled in pain, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. She furiously hit his hand holding her hair but that only made him tighten his grip.
And as if she was nothing, he threw her into a nearby pillar. The impact knocked her breath out of her, pain surging through her body. Mia opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.
Gathering her strength, Mia pushed herself off the ground and proceeded to limp towards the stairs. She placed her right hands around her ribs as she ascended the stairs weakly.
"Not so fast," he chuckled when she was halfway down the stairs.
"Please don't do this," she begged the man in front of her but he only smirked before kicking her hard in the stomach.
*************
Lysander walked in just in time to see Anna being kicked in the stomach. Her fragile and delicate body that were now covered in bruises rolled down the stairs and he moved quickly to catch her.
Kneeling beside her, he lifted her and gently placed her on his thighs. She looked at him in confusion for a split second before a weak smile formed against her burst and pale lips.
"Y….you're here," she smiled, trying to sit up but he stopped her.
"Stay still, you'll hurt more if you try to move," he said gently, pushing the stray strands of hair off her face.
She nodded and smiled, too weak to even protest.
"Wow! Wow! Wow!" He said the familiar voice that made his blood boil. He lifted his head to meet a pair of blue icy eyes.
"The great Lysander is here !" He clapped, ignoring the deadly glare he was receiving from Lysander.
Lysander's anger was consuming him with each passing second to the point where he was even shaking. The only thing that was stopping him from tearing everything apart was the fragile human on his laps.
"Look at you," he taunted Lysander, casually leaning against the pillar he threw Mia in earlier. "So consumed by you affection for a fragile human. She couldn't even defend herself. So pathetic." His voice dropped with mockery as he watched Lysander's eyes blaze with fury.
Lysander's jaw clenched in anger, his heart aching for Mia. "Kidnapping a human just to get back at me?" He chuckled, handing Mia over to Alaric who just walked in with Morg and Lucian.
"You think that makes you powerful? Picking one something who's no match for you? A human? I think we all know who the pathetic one here is Dorian," it was now Lysander's turn to mock him.
Dorian growled angrily at Lysander's words.
"You only proved your own weakness by resorting to such cowardly tactics."
"Lysander!" Dorian yelled in a warning tone but Lysander responded with a chuckle.
"Weakness? No, my dearest Lysander. This is strategy. You've made yourself a fool by allowing a human to be your Archilles' heel. You know, it's amusing to see the mighty fall for something so weak and fragile." Dorian laughed, a chilling sound that echoed through the halls.
"Archilles' heel? Is that all you could come up with? You know, I don't see what Lyra sees in you," Lysander said, deliberately mentioning the name he knew would strike a nerve.
"I admit she hasn't made any great choices all her life but you?" Lysander chuckled in mockery. "You're the worse mistake of her life. You're the worse choice of her life. She would have been so disappointed if she were here to see what you just did. Her darling Dorian doesn't have the balls to pick on someone his size."
"Lysander!"
"Keep your voice down when talking to me Dorian!" Lysander yelled back watching the shock that crept up Dorian's face for a split second.
"No weak excuses of a vampire can talk to me like that!" He added.
He knew he had pushed Dorian to his limits when Dorian pounced on him, but Lysander dodged him easily.
"Why? Did I hit a nerve?" Lysander continued taunting him. "You think you'd be able to break me by kidnapping and torturing her?" Lysander chuckled, dodging another attack from Dorian.
"You still haven't learnt anything after so many centuries Dorian and that's just sad."
Dorian threw a punch that barely grazed Lysander's cheeks but he retaliated with a hard blow to Dorian's stomach which threw him meters away from Lysander but Dorian was far from giving up. And so was Lysander.
"You know I thought you'd be a lot stronger than that," Lysander shrugged casually, watching Dorian's canines elongate, his fingers replaced by claws as well.
Dorian leapt foward but again Lysander had already anticipated his move, earning Dorain a kick to him stomach.
"You're still as pathetic as you were," Lysander chuckled, walking to where Dorain was kneeling, struggling to get up. Lysander grabbed him by the neck and lifted him on his feet.
"You enjoy hurting others right? Let's see how much you can endure."
With that he hurled Dorian into the same he was leaning against earlier. He smiled in satisfaction as he watched the pain on Dorian's face.
With a swift motion , he lunged forward, ready to deliver another blow when an unexpected force surged through the air. A powerful wind whipped him around, knocking him backward and causing him to stumble.
Confused and enraged, he raised it head to see a figure emerging from one of the dark passages.
His confusion was instantly replaced by a smirk.
"Oh….so you're here as well. Should have known," Lysander chuckled as he locked eyes with Elara.
With a wave of her hand, she summoned a protective barrier around Dorain and herself making Lysander chuckle in amusement.
"You will not harm him," she declared, her voice resonating with ancient magic.
"Birds of a feather really do flock together. I can't believe you helped him torture a poor human. I honestly thought you were bigger than that."
Lysander said, his heart pounding in anger.
"You can believe what you want and think what you want. But when it comes to making you suffer, never underestimate what I can do," she replied.
As the tension thickened in the air, Lysander's eyes narrowed at Elara, his canines elongating to reveal his fangs.
With a swift motion, he charged towards her, his speed almost blurring as he closed the distance.
Elara muttered an incantation, filling the air with several sharp glass spears and with a wave of her hand, they all moved with the speed of lightning towards Lysander.
He managed to dodge a few but most of him sliced through his skin, covering him in blood and wounds.
Elara smirked as she stared at her masterpiece on his body.
Lysander gritted his teeth, feeling the sting of her magic. He countered with a leap, but she anticipated his move and sidestepped gracefully.
Reciting another set of incantations, another set of glass spears filled the air and she lunged them at him again.
This time, her attack was blocked.
"Did someone say magic?" Morg was shielding Lysander with her own magic smirked, redirecting the glass spears back to Elara. And even though Elara had seen it coming, she couldn't evade the attack, causing several spears to hit her.
Seeing that she was no match for Morg, she recited an incantation that filled the room with a thick fog, buying her time to escape with Dorian.