chapter FORTY
Neal dropped Samuel off at The Chapel, then drove through some winding country roads, leaving me completely lost. We ended up at a huge house in the middle of nowhere. I would have bet this was where they held the rituals. They dragged me into the basement. I expected to see some dungeon-like room with a concrete floor and drain in the middle, like in bad horror movies, and was surprised to find a nicely furnished basement instead. They took me into a large utility room, and I saw Kevin. “Oh my god, Kevin, are you okay?” That was a stupid question. Obviously, he wasn’t. His face was badly beaten, and his right arm hung to his side at a grotesque angle.
“Elena?” His eyes were swollen nearly shut. Elizabeth was standing behind me, pushing me into the room. I snapped my head back as hard as I could to hit hers. She cried out and momentarily loosened her grip. It was enough for me to get away from her and run to Kevin. I hugged him as best I could with my arms tied behind my back and began crying.
“I’m so sorry, Kevin. This is all my fault.”
Elizabeth caught up to me and backhanded me across the mouth, splitting my lip. I looked at her and saw her nose bleeding. Point for me, I thought, swallowing my own blood.
“You’ll pay for this, bitch.” She pulled me roughly to my feet then shoved me into a chair across the room from Kevin and tied me to it. She took out her knife and waved it in front of my face. “You’re lucky Samuel said he wants you mostly unharmed for now. Otherwise, I’d cut up your pretty face.”
I spat at her, which wasn’t the brightest thing I’d ever done.
“Did you miss the part where I said ‘mostly?' " She pressed the knife to my neck. That wouldn’t be ‘mostly,’ so I tried to remain calm. That would kill me. I prayed she was more scared of Samuel than angry at me. Turned out she was. Mostly. She dragged the knife across my forearm, then walked out of the room, my dripping blood a temporary goodbye gift.
“Kevin, I’m so sorry. I should have trusted my instinct about Samuel.”
“Can’t you use your power to get us out of here?”
“No. They put this amulet on me and it blocks everything.” Burning pain shot through my arm. “I can’t even communicate with Vittorio.”
“So, we’re just stuck here?”
“No, he’s coming. He called after they grabbed me, and Samuel told him to meet him at The Chapel. I’m sure he’ll bring him here. I just hope he can get us out of this without getting himself killed.”
Footsteps came from the stairs. I prayed it was Vittorio, then prayed it wasn’t. Samuel entered the room first, followed by Vittorio. Neal had a strong grip on him, preventing him from coming to me. I guessed they didn’t want to risk him taking the amulet off me.
“Elena, are you alright?”
“Yeah.” I felt that my lip had swollen, and guessed my face was bruising from where Samuel slapped me. The bleeding seemed to have stopped on my arm, but when I looked down at it I saw it was covered in blood. “Mostly, anyway.”
“Let her go. You have me now. You don’t need her.”
“Oh, but there you are wrong. We need her more than you. We only brought you here as a bit of extra incentive in case her darling Kevin wasn’t enough.”
“You have me, just let Kevin go!” I pleaded.
Elizabeth backhanded me. “No one is talking to you, tramp, so shut up.”
Vittorio fought Samuel’s grip, but couldn’t break free. I was shocked. Vittorio was much larger than Samuel, and I knew how strong he was. Why couldn’t he overpower him?
“I’ve given him a low dose of sedative so he can’t fight me,” Samuel said, as if reading my mind.
Elizabeth twirled her knife again. “Will you work with us?” Samuel asked.
“I don’t even know what you want,” I shouted. “Please, Vittorio, don’t worry about me. Just get yourself out of here.”
“Do you really think I would abandon you with these lunatics?” He continued struggling weakly against Samuel’s grip.
I shrugged. “Not really. But I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m getting impatient,” Samuel said.
“Let her go,” Vittorio said.
“I already told you. No. Asking again will only make me angrier,” Samuel said. He threw Vittorio against the wall, his head making a sickening crack.
“I will not help you.”
“Oh, really?” Samuel grinned maniacally. “Elizabeth.” He nodded toward her.
She drew the knife across my other arm as Vittorio shouted wordlessly. I resisted crying out for his sake.
Samuel and Neal dragged him away, leaving me and Kevin alone with Elizabeth and her knife.