All The Wrong Signs

Throughout the rest of the morning, they hurled insults, dealt blows, and made promises of worse to come. I took each hit with a grimace, knowing that for each mark on my body, Blaze would make them pay.

I was his. If nothing else, he would kill them for touching what belonged to him.

The guys had decided they needed a break and were currently sitting not too far away, eating sandwiches. Even though my mouth was parched, I didn’t ask them for anything to drink. Either they hoped I’d call out to Blaze and trap him or they had forgotten to place my gag back over my mouth.

They were discussing strategy loud enough that I could hear them. Since the physical blows weren’t working, they were trying to decide what form of torture to do next. Doyle was all for cutting my fingers off one by one until I gave.

The thought made me sick. How much blood could I lose before I passed out? How much pain could a person take?

My eyes skimmed the floor, looking for anything. Anything at all that could help me destroy Blaze’s sigil on the ground. Once again I came up lacking.

I wanted to cry. The tears were ready, but I kept blinking them away. I had to be strong. I had to put on a brave face.

“I need you Blaze,” I whispered. Feeling our connection rattle, I sat up. I was afraid that the men would hear it, but our connection wasn’t felt by anyone but the two of us.

Had he heard me? Felt me?

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to concentrate on the connection. Would bonding ourself to each other make it even stronger? He said that he could find me once we were bonded. Why couldn’t he find me now? I glanced down. It was the magic. I needed to find someway to get out of the circle.

My first thought had been to ask to go to the restroom, but the bucket in the corner was the best I’d get. What else could I do? Kyler would never move me willingly.

Looking back over at the three men, I knew one of them had to be the weak link in the trio. Kyler had a hotheaded attitude, Doyle was a pervert, and Rubert was silent.

They all wanted the same thing. They wanted to catch a demon.

My entire body hurt from the beating they had given me, but it was nothing compared to what was to come. Closing my eyes, I knew I had to focus. I would find a way to either get out of the circle or to destroy it before they killed me.

Hearing movement, I opened my eyes back, swallowing when I saw them walking back my way. Kyler sat down a bucket of water beside me and I quickly used my hands to scoop up as much as I could.

The cold water felt amazing in my parched mouth. I wasn’t worried about it being poisoned. I wasn’t that lucky to be rendered unconscious twice. No, these men wanted me alive. The water was only to prolong my torture.

“Riley, I don’t want to hurt you,” Kyler said, leaning down close to me.

I looked down. “He…he said he would kill my family if I betrayed him.” Tears ran down my eyes. They were easy to fake, given my current situation.

Kyler said nothing and when I timidly looked back up, he shook his head. Doyle walked closer. “You don’t believe the bullshit she’s saying, do you?”

“She has been putting up a pretty good fight,” Rubert said.

Kyler narrowed his eyes. “We can protect you from him, but I need his name, Riley. It’s the only way.”

I swallowed, looking down. What now? What could I possibly say? It was clear that Doyle didn’t believe me. Rubert and Kyler, I couldn’t tell.

Why was I such a bad liar?

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“Fuck it,” Doyle said, reaching out and grabbing me. I tried to fight against him, but he soon had me in a headlock. “Come on, Kyler. I think she’ll be ready to talk after we take the tips off of a few fingers.”

I screamed against him, trying to pull my hands up against my chest for safety. Doyle, however, used his free hand to try to pry them away. When I continued to fight him, he ran his hand down between my legs and squeezed. “Or maybe she needs to be taught her place first.”

“Enough,” Kyler screamed at him. “I told you, you can do whatever you want once that demon is back in chains.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself even though Doyle still had a firm grip on me. They would never let me go, even if I was to tell them Blaze’s real name. Instead, they would make him watch as they subjected me to more abuse. Doyle had made it very clear that if Kyler would let him, he’d rape me.

Doyle laughed, moving his hand. His tongue traced the shell of my ear, making me shiver. He laughed, “you’re going to wish we killed you, when I get through with you.”

Kyler was circling, talking to himself. I had hoped he would stop Doyle, or at least make him put me back down. Instead, Doyle kept his arm gripped around my neck tightly. Rubert was standing to the side, watching as if he wasn’t sure exactly what to do.

“I need her alive,” Kyler said, finally turning around. Looking at Rubert, he nodded. “Go get a chair we can tie her too. We need to make this as clean as possible.”

Fuck.

My hands involuntarily squeezed together. I’d watched a movie once where a kidnapper had removed bones from their victim. I had stopped the movie right then and there and never went back. I couldn’t. How was I supposed to live through it?

My heart was beating 90 to nothing as I tried once again to free myself. I hoped that I’d get some kind of super strength in my panic and be able to escape Doyle. But where would I even go? The other side of the circle?

It was hopeless.

You are stronger than you know.

I froze. Blaze? I felt him in my mind. I tried to reach back out to him, but there was nothing there. Had I imagined it all? After Petra had played Nina fruit in my brain, he had told me much the same.

Taking deep breaths, I steadied myself as best as I could. My heart was still beating at record speed and hearing Rubert drag a chair toward the circle did nothing to calm it down.

Had I not been through enough in life? Could God not just cut me a break already? Was this my punishment for fornicating with a demon?

I couldn’t help but laugh. Where the hell had that thought come from?

“What’s so funny?” Doyle asked, tugging me forward toward the chair. Struggling in his grip, my hands felt something hard on his side. A gun?

I knew my time was limited. It was now or never. In life, I tended to always overthink things. It was who I was as a person.

Today, I would change that.

Doyle’s cloak wasn’t tied in the front as tightly as Kyler’s and Rubert’s. He wore his loser fitting. Putting my hand on his chest, I ran it down slowly.

“You think you can seduce me witch,” Doyle said, freezing in place.

It was all I needed. With his mind lost in the gutter, I reached down, pulling out his gun.

Now I could have done several different things. I could have shot him. I could have shot myself. But I did the one truly selfish thing I had ever done in my life.

My dad had taught me how to shoot a gun when I was a teenager. Cocking the gun, I ran away from Doyle as fast as I could. My chains dragging being me as he yelled. I knew he would catch up with me soon, but I just had to make it a few more steps.

Pointing the gun downward, I shot at the floor. Doyle tackled me, making all the breath leave my body. All I could focus on was the spot on the floor I had shot.

My aim had hit Blaze’s sigil and although there wasn’t a lot of damage, it had pierced a section, making a hole in the marking. I hoped it was enough.

A huge whooshing sound surrounded us, and a wave of wind almost like a tornado went from the floor upward until suddenly it was gone.

Kyler was screaming.

I...

Well, I was laughing. I had freed Blaze.

I might die for what I had done, but these sons of bitches were about to pay.