Gift from the Stone (Source of Elementra Book 2), page 55
Taking a deep breath, I seek inside my chest where my elements lie, bypassing my bonds completely although I want more than anything to reach out to them, embrace their comfort and love.
All three of my elements attempt to respond, but they’re sluggish. Their capabilities are being weighed down by the pressure of the drug.
Focusing all my mental strength on my fire, I call it forth, mingling and mixing it with the gift of my dragon. Commanding it through my veins, ordering it to burn away the drugs and I sigh when my stiff bones seem to unthaw.
The moment the last of the drug burns away, my other two elements burst free without my say-so. My earth immediately crumbles the stone around my hands and feet. The sudden shift sends blood rushing back to the extremities, and they tingle painfully.
My air merges with my fire, creating a blast of heat that warms my cold skin. My lungs expand, and I take what feels like the deepest and longest inhale.
“Good, Willow. Stretch your limbs for a second, but you cannot wait long. You must restrain yourself back. Once the feeling returns, reapply the stone. They can’t know you have more than an air element,” CC orders.
My earth withers in my chest. The last thing I or it wants to do is encase myself back in those stone contraptions, but I know we have no choice. Flexing my feet, I turn my ankles and hands in a circle, over and over, forcing the numbness away.
As all the feeling returns, I sorrowfully command my earth back out. Starting at my feet, I picture those stupid fucking shoes forming. All I can think about is bashing Gish upside his smug face over and over with the shoe. It’s a sick thing to get satisfaction from, but the thought of smashing his head in with them sends a very calm, almost giddy feeling through me.
Caspian and Draken are rubbing off on me.
That thought sends a pang through my chest. I want to feel them.
“Don’t, Willow. It will only distract you.”
“Would I be able to feel them from wherever I am?” I ask.
“Yes, and the emotions you will find will not help. It’s not the time to reach out to them. Encase your hands now, Willow. They’re coming,” they order frantically.
Despite wanting to disobey what they just told me, I listen instead of reaching out for my men. Encasing my hands back into the stone blocks, I lay myself down where I was with my eyes closed and wait.
“Now what?”
“They are going to assume a little of the drug has worn off by now, so they will expect you to be able to move, but not fully. So you pretend. Don’t reveal anything to them. And stay calm, Willow. I know your instinct is going to be to fight, but don’t.”
I’ve done pretty well so far fighting off that instinct if I do say so myself. I may not know what I’m here for just yet, but I do know I have to put up with this shit long enough to find out.
“I’ve been—”
My thought is cut off when the door is slung open, and Gish stands there, lording in the entryway like I’m the biggest inconvenience in the world to him.
“Not dead, I see.”
“Still a fuckface, I see.” My voice is hoarse and raspy, but I’m happy to find it working again. Although I probably should’ve watched my mouth.
He sneers, stomping over to me and snatching me up by my scalp.
I bite the inside of my cheek so hard I taste blood, locking the whimper that wants to escape in the back of my throat. I refuse to give him the satisfaction that this shit fucking hurts.
“Do we need to get another vial?” one of the same men from earlier asks Gish.
Since these three are accompanying him again, I can only assume they’re his Nexus brothers. So I file them all in my mind as one.
Sucks for you three that he’s marked you all for dead.
“No. He wants her to be aware. Wants her to have a healing vial actually,” Gish says, dragging me up against his body and pulling me down the hallway.
He? Who the hell is he?
The Summum-Master?
There’s no response to my internal questions and my nerves grow tenfold. They said they would be here, guide me the whole time. So where the fuck are they now?
My eyes grow wide as we enter a bare, dimly lit room.
Pushed against one wall is a small table. It has multiple objects sitting across it. The outline of the items varies so much, my mind runs wild with the possibilities of what’s hiding underneath the thick black cloth.
The only source of light is a spotlight shining brightly in the center of the room. It’s positioned perfectly over an all too familiar bare stone table that has leather restraints and cuffs lying across it. A sacrificial altar comes to mind when I look at it.
My heart pounds against my chest as Gish and his Nexus steer me closer and closer to the table. Two of his guys take me by an arm each, while the other stands behind me.
Gish prowls closer to me with a vial in hand and I know what he just said, but my mouth doesn’t want to open for him. I don’t care if it’s a healing vial. I don’t want it.
Growing impatient with my stubbornness, he grabs my jaw in a death grip and pries my mouth open, shoving the vial in so far, I gag around it and choke on the liquid.
“Well, it’s easy to assume what she’s not good for,” the sick bastard to my left jokes, causing the others to laugh.
I glare so hard at him, it draws his attention to my pissed off face. The smirk falls from his lips, shifting into a sneer, and he shakes me until I face back forward to Gish.
I’m ready to pop off when I fully face him, but my words dry on my tongue when I see he’s pulled a knife from his pocket. Stalking toward me, he nods to his man on my right, and the stone shoes fall away, leaving me barefoot on the cold cement. Next the cinderblocks on my hands fall away and I flex my fingers a couple times to get my blood back pumping.
The men’s hands tighten around my arms like they’re prepared for my fight, and something uncomfortable rises in my gut. It makes it very difficult for me not to push back.
When Gish’s arm strikes out, grabbing the collar of my shirt in one swift move, he slices it right down the front, exposing my bare stomach and bra.
That snaps the control I had, and I begin to buck and try to shove the men off me. Every instinct commands me to fight them off. Don’t let this happen. It can’t happen.
Just as I go to call my dragon forth, CC’s voice stops me.
“Calm yourself, filia mea. They will not do what you fear. They are not going to touch you.”
“I can’t let them undress me. I won’t be that exposed. I refuse,” I scream back.
“If you don’t allow it, they will knock you out, do it without your knowledge. Or you fight back, expose your capabilities, and they move you. Your men will not find you anytime soon.”
My breathing is labored as I struggle to take deep, measured breaths. Sweat is dripping down the back of my neck and between my breast with how fucking scared I am. I can take getting the shit beaten out of me. I can’t take someone taking my body against my will again.
I try to let their words calm me, focus on the fact they believe they won’t rape me. I slow my frantic movements when I realize the men are barely putting up much of a fight, and I see the truth of what CC just said reflected in Gish’s eyes. He’ll knock my ass out and undress me. But he’s not going to touch me like that.
“Don’t flatter yourself, you little bitch. Even if we wanted to stoop so low to fuck a piece of ass as sorry as yours, we have orders. No one touches you. Yet,” asshat to my right states.
Yet?
I can’t help the tremors that pass through me as Gish steps back up with his knife and continues slicing the remainder of my clothes off, leaving me standing with just my matching blue bra and underwear set.
When he backs away from me, throwing my tattered clothes to the side, I release my breath and try to hold myself statue still. Just as some of the panic eases, a firm body presses right against my back, moving my hair to the side.
“I don’t know. I think I’d like to try her out. The ones who fight back are always the best lays,” the man murmurs against my neck.
His condescending laugh rings in my ears as I fight tooth and nail against the other three. They hold on to me with punishing grips, lifting me off my feet and strapping me to the table, locking the cuffs in place. When the sicko runs his hand through the valley of my breast, I lean my head up and sink my teeth into his wrist as hard as I can.
His blood fills my mouth, and his bellow replaces his laughter. I let go and spit the wad of blood all over Gish, who looks at me like he’s ready and willing to end my ass right here and now.
He doesn’t get a chance to make a move when the fucker I just bit rears back, punching me so hard, my head slams back into the stone table and I see stars.
“You stupid bitch,” the pervert shouts in my face.
I buck and fight against the restraints as he wraps his hands around my throat, squeezing me so hard, I have no doubt my neck is about to snap.
“Gentlemen, I told you to heal her, not harm her. You all are dismissed.”
I gasp as his hands relent their punishing bite, but the air gets knocked right back out of me. My body turns to ice as if I were just thrown off a boat in the middle of the Arctic when that voice registers in my mind.
No.
“Stay calm, filia mea, I’m here.”
“But you’re not here. You’re in my mind. He really is here.”
I watch him like a hawk as he calmly walks to the side table, gently pulling the cloth off. Folding it neatly, pristinely before laying it to the side and running his hands over the many different weapons.
Finally, he makes his choice.
Prowling toward me, I try to keep my breathing regulated, the tears at bay, and my face impassive.
“My, my, the trouble you have caused me. So much like her. When will you ever learn?”
The only resemblance between us is the look we’re sharing with each other now. The single emotion to ever cross that scowl is disappointment. This time, though, I share the sentiment. He’s nothing but a disappointment.
“Father.”
“Willow, shall we begin?”
About the Author
Welcome to the land of delusion where I live in my mind, creating wild, crazy, and sometimes questionable stories. I'm thrilled you've found me and I can't wait to continue bringing you an escape.
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Willa Rae, Gift from the Stone (Source of Elementra Book 2)
