Reaper's Word

Chapter 39: Tell Us What You know

Frustration set in. Clair felt that Isaiah was up now moving through the house. He was looking for one of the four left. She marched down the hall. Gamma came toward her and she just moved aside for Clair to move past. Then she turned and seemed to decide that she was going to follow. She was focused on Clair and her hurried movements. Her Mastera seemed on edge and distracted. Which Clair was distracted, how could she not be?

Clair was walking by several rooms when something came out of one of the doors and hit her hard in the face. It was so unexpected and she just barely caught the movement in time. She'd just managed to turn her head enough that she took the main blow of it on her right brow and right cheek bone.

She heard Gamma lunge snarling and coming at her attacker. Whoever it was had thrown her into the room and shut the door. She was so dazed and her head hurt so bad she couldn't focus to attack mentally. Someone else grabbed her and led her through a different door. Clearly they had been laying in wait to grab her and thought it out.

She stumbled and was rewarded with another sharp blow to the back of the head. She went down this time, blackness creeping into her vision. The sound of Gamma tearing at the door was loud but now growing quieter. She must have gotten in the room because there was loud snarling and banging on the next door which led into the wall where they were pulling her through.

"We need her conscious." The one man said picking her up roughly. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and then they exited the wall. The man behind her just picked her up as she was starting to black out again. Her head hurt so bad.

She did black out for a minute and then they were in a silent part of the house. They went in a room she didn't know. Three men were in here and she swayed when they set her down in the chair across from them. Clair touched her brow, blood was running from it and her cheek bone bruised badly.

"That was really stupid." Clair humorlessly laughed.

"Shut up bitch." One of them said, and the bigger man held up his hand.

"We need to know how to get out of here. Where's the exit?" What a stupid question. Did they really think she was staying here by choice?

"If I knew that don't you think I would have left?" She said to them, giving him an angry look.

"You are his pet, of course you know. His whore. I've seen what you let him do." The same man from before, he seemed very angry and was looking for someone to take that anger out on. Right now his gaze was fixed on her.

"Amis." The bigger man said. "Look we just want to know, you've been here for a while, we know that. You have to know something. You can't be here all this time and know nothing." Clearly playing good cop to bad.

"Look do you think that I enjoy the life I now have? If I knew I'd have left." ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"Liar." Amis said. "No doubt she enjoys it, bet the perks are nice. Let's just beat it out of her." The one who seemed to be in charge looked at Amis then to Clair.

"I'm sure that that little hell hound went running off to tell him we've picked up his favorite play toy." He sighed and rubbed his chin. She knew they had attacked others for information. She was sure they would do the same to her. Difference was she had a hell hound attached to her. Second Isaiah would not like his favorite toy being touched. Clair was fine knowing what she was to him.

"Most likely." Clair said. If Gamma couldn't get to her she'd find someone or something that could. Only a couple minutes passed since coming in this room.

"Well then we'll have to move." He said. "Unless you can tell us, we aren't stupid you don't live here that long and not know. If you really wanted to leave you would have found it and taken it by now. Or do

you enjoy what he does to you?" Clair just looked at him.

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

"Maybe she doesn't really know. I mean why would he confide in a human?" the third man said looking very nervous.

"Fine, if you feel that way, leave. We'll get it out of her." Amis said and the third man moved, he looked sorry. She got the feeling that he didn't really like beating women. He was also terrified of what Isaiah would do. The other two were hoping for information to escape before he could catch them.

"He's going to tear the two of you apart when he finds out you have her. Look at her face, she's bleeding." He said confirming her suspicions.

"Just go." The one in charge said. He left the room and the one in charge gripped her throat hard. She couldn't breathe and gasped for air. He shoved something in her mouth and she started to fight wildly scratching and clawing. Amis came over to help and she kicked him right in the knee.

"Ah, fuck you bitch." He said and grabbed her throat instead as the other man tied her hands. Amis then slammed her head back into the wall. She blacked out again. When she came to, they were moving again. She saw that they were moving downstairs. Not far from the pool area.

What was wrong with people? She didn't know and couldn't tell them. As for what he'd said about finding an exit. Perhaps it was true. She did enjoy Isaiah's touch, she craved it. Not to mention she knew that she'd developed feelings for him against her will. She tried so hard to ignore them. In a world that was now far out of her control, she had started to feel toward the one being that was now treating her more like a person than a thing. So sue her, it was how she stayed alive.

"Give her to me." Amis said as they went into a darkened hall and room. The other man gave her to him. She felt a little fight come back to her. He dropped her on the bed and she tried to roll to get away

from him.

He just took hold of her and sat on her legs. She shook her head trying to get him to understand. He took hold of her bound wrists. The other man came over and pulled the gag from her mouth. Amis still holding her down. The man in charge patted her cheek for a moment and she glared at him

"Tell us before we have to start trying to force it out of you. Trust me, we know your type. Talk or Amis will teach you a lesson first. See what that demon finds so fascinating about you." Clair had tears in her eyes.

"You don't understand! I don't know, please don't, please. You don't know what he'll do!" She pleaded, understanding perfectly how Amis would plan to get her to talk. The other man would just stick to physical violence, but Amis was one that would do anything to get results. Including forcing himself on her. It wasn't about a need. It was about the torture of it for her to make her talk. That was what really excited him, inflicting the pain.

"We have to keep moving Amis. We stall and have more chance to be found." Clair tried to wriggle free but Amis gripped her throat and looked at the man.

"I'll be quick. If she doesn't say then I'll meet you in the next spot. You can take her and try. That way we don't have all our eggs in one basket." Amis said, the man gave a nod and left the room. Clair tried to get out from under him. She was terrified. Not just of what he planned to do, but what Isaiah would do. They'd clearly planned this and thought that she knew, and seemed to guess that she'd be difficult.

Clair hit him with her mind and he was flung from her. Her mind was in so much pain though from the constant abuse her head had taken it just added to her pain. He got up.

"Freak." He said, but came at her grabbing her by the back of the head before she could reach the door.

"Let's see what he finds so fascinating about you." He grabbed her and dragged her to another room and pinned her down.

"Get the fuck off me!" She shouted at him, and swung her arms hitting him with her fists. He swore and pulled out a knife. He jabbed it right into her upper thigh and twisted. Clair let out a scream of pain. It hurt horribly, the blade twisting in her thigh blood gushing out.

She had to blink back tears to see. He pulled at the top of her pants while she was distracted. That made her head clear slightly and then she struggled again. He plunged the knife down into her shoulder and she cried out again as he twisted. She thought the knife scraped bone.

He got up dragging her by her hair down the hall and to a different room not far away clearly trying to keep moving and she was making a lot of noise. He went in there. Here they were alone again. She was in pain and it hurt to move her one arm. He came over her again just holding her on the floor.

Clair held up her hand, as he tore her shirt. The lamp in the room came to her. She smashed it over his head and scampered away. He took hold of her ankle, the knife slicing into her calf. He pulled her back and under him holding the knife to her throat.

"If I have to keep cutting and stabbing you until you're to weak to move I will. Going to tell me yet bitch?" He snapped. He moved suddenly yanking her up and turning her so her back was to him. He kept the blade at her throat. It was nearly cutting the flesh.

"I'll kill her I swear." Amis said. Clair was now looking at Isaiah who stood in the doorway. He looked very calm, his eyes were solid black. She however could see that his calm demeanor was misleading. He was ridged with anger that swirled around him and the room. It fed the already dark air being projected here.

"If you kill her nothing will be between you and me." Isaiah replied his voice eerie. His tone was deeper and coarser. Clair was more worried about him attacking than the knife at her throat. Her wounds stung

badly and there had to be severe damage to her one arm and shoulder. She could barely move it now.

Her right leg didn't want to support her. If not for Amis holding her up she would have fallen. She could feel blood dripping from her wounds. Behind Isaiah she could see Gamma. Her head low and all the hair raised on her back. Her lips were pulled back showing teeth a low sound coming from her, a deadly sound.

"I'll give her back if you let me go."

"No." Isaiah said. He held out his hand and the knife was torn away. Isaiah grabbed it and stepped forward into the room. Amis backed up pulling Clair with. His human shield, he stopped moving suddenly and let go of her.

Clair nearly crumpled to the floor but she managed to take hold of the table there to stay standing. She barely saw Isaiah move. He just was there in front of the other man. Amis cried out as the knife he had was stuck between his ribs. Clair flinched as Isaiah broke the handle of the knife off. There was the sound of cracking bone as he used Amis's ribs as leverage to break it.

__Isaiah__

Isaiah had stopped in the hall he'd been walking down the second he heard Gamma snarling and attacking something. It didn't sound like a normal attack and she wasn't one to make noise when she hunted. He'd gone to find her the entire time just knowing that one of those men left in the house had gotten in their head to try Clair. He'd found

Gamma as she shot out of a room. She showed him what had happened.

Instant anger came to him, once again she'd been attacked and was bleeding. His anger this time was much more than it had been. He'd moved through the house quickly searching, but those that had her were the two men that he couldn't really hear mentally.

He'd tracked them downstairs and came to the room where Clair had been stabbed first. There was blood on the floor and some in the hall. He could hear fighting and the crash of a lamp. He'd heard what the man said and the red hot anger had turned to ice cold hatred in a second.

Isaiah had come to the doorway, blood was soaking what was left of Clair's shirt and her pants. Which were pulled low on her hips. The man had scratch marks on him as well, he jumped up fast. It was just the fury at the sight that had rooted him to the spot for the moment. How dare he touch her, it would be the last thing he ever did.

"Gamma." Isaiah said as he grabbed the man by the throat. He was in terrible pain and barely able to breath with one flat lung and the knife in his ribs.

"Stay here with Clair." He said pulling Amis to the hall with him.

Beta came down the hall and with one look at Isaiah he moved past him to where Clair was. He knew that this one was solely Isaiah's. Isaiah pulled him down to a large room. He could kill the man in an instant but he wouldn't. Not yet. No that would not sate the rage building.

He set the man in a chair harshly. Isaiah stood looking at him. Isaiah grabbed another chair and pulled it over to the man and sat down facing him. The man's gaze moved around the room. There was no escape and the man's eyes widened. There were plenty of instruments in here that could cause pain. It was why he picked this room, psychological warfare. He'd be killing this man with his bare hands.

"I'm going to kill you very slowly, you know why?"

"Because of that whore." The man wheezed. This would be fun. He had a bit of fight to him still. It wouldn't last, not once Isaiah really started. Isaiah reached forward and with the strength of his hand alone crushed the man's knee cap.

The sound of agony that came from him was satisfying but not enough.

"I don't like your tone. Try not to insult what belongs to me when I'm controlling how much pain you feel." Isaiah warned reaching forward to pull out the blade buried in the man's ribs. He pulled it out with a painful cry from the man. He coughed up some blood, as Isaiah did so. Just a bit of metal showed. It wasn't easy to pull out but he used claws to get a hold of it and yank it out.

"Because of Clair." He gasped out.

"Better." Isaiah flicked the blade down into Amis's thigh. He jerked but didn't quite cry out. Isaiah found the fissure he needed in the man's mind and went through it. What he'd planned to do to Clair added to his cold hatred already.

"I'll answer your question for you by the way." Isaiah said taking the blade back and holding it up to rotate in the air between them. Amis's gaze was flicking to the blade and then to Isaiah.

"Question?" Amis asked his head felt like it was going to split in two. Isaiah hadn't been gentle while tearing through it. Looking at what he and his companion had talked about. What they speculated Clair was to him and why. What her worth was. Hence the reason that they chose her. They figured she was important and would know. She was, just not how they thought.

"Yes, she is worth her weight in gold. Though you'll never really know. If only I'd been just a bit later." Isaiah dropped his hand looking at the broken blade he got up looking down at Amis.

"Go fuck yourself." Amis spat breathing oddly.

"Before I start in on you Amis. I'll give you a choice." Isaiah said. "That blade," Isaiah pointed to the rotating bloody blade hanging in the air. "you can swallow it now or after I'm done and I make you." He looked at the blade and then Isaiah like he was insane.

"I'm not swallowing that, and you can't make me." Isaiah gave a shrug and a very cold dark smile came to his face. He looked very much like a demon then with shiny black eyes.

"Very well, that was the response I was hoping for. I can make you do whatever I want, now that I can get in your head. You will be swallowing that blade." Amis was going to wish he'd swallow that blade himself and made it quick.

___Clair___

Clair stood in the bathroom. Her shirt off, not that there was much left of it. Both Gamma and Beta were with her. Gamma was very upset that she hadn't been able to get to Clair. Beta was angered at what had happened to her as well. Apparently he thought of her as part of the little pack they had and it was slightly comforting.

She looked at the raw and bloody wounds that hurt like hell. They were starting to heal already. Faster than ever before, and she guessed that it had to do more with Isaiah's blood than anything else. She put her head down. She felt so helpless, so weak right now.

Gamma rubbed against her good leg and licked the bad one. Her tongue was rough but Clair didn't mind. She had a new shirt next to her and had put on shorts so she could easily see her calf. Clair limped from the bathroom. The shouts and screams had stopped. She couldn't really find the will to feel sorry for Amis. Honestly she hoped that it hurt, and she felt no shame for it.

Clair slipped on the shirt wincing as she tried to get her bad arm through it and failed. She just left it how it was and crawled into the bed there. She laid down on her good side. Gamma hopped up and then Beta. Clair was comforted by their presence. Still she felt upset and angry, she was more than glad that Isaiah had shown up, but what if she hadn't been able to hold her own for that bit of time. Not to mention her latest discovery about herself? What would Isaiah have done then?

She felt tears sliding down her face. She felt defeated, totally out of control and drowning. She felt rather than saw the hell hounds jump down. She looked up at Isaiah who was standing there now. He was looking down at her studying her.

"How bad is it?" He asked quietly.

"I'll live." She answered. She looked away from him and his dark eyes. She felt vulnerable and knew she had to look like it as well. Not something she wanted him to see, predators jumped on vulnerability. He moved onto the bed. She noted that he had a new pair of clothes on. No doubt the others were coated in blood.

He reached down and looked at her calf, then to her hip. His fingers moved over the wound. A bit of an icy chill settling in it. It was cooling and felt good, he reached for her shirt and she stopped him.

"Let me see your shoulder Clair."

Clair moved her hand. What if he could tell that she was pregnant? Would he be able to tell that by a touch? She didn't think so, but if he really looked at her he had to be able to see the weight gain. He only seemed interested in her wound though and she felt the same thing as in her hip. Neither hurt as bad anymore.

"Thank you." She said looking away from him. At least he wasn't angry at her. She didn't know what his feelings toward her were. They were always so jumbled and she couldn't understand it.

"You are welcome." Isaiah said looking at Clair. She pulled the shirt down moving back on her side. She looked extremely depressed and defeated, he didn't like that. It bothered him. Why it did, he didn't know, and had given up trying to figure out his odd reactions to her. Or maybe he just didn't want to admit why.

She'd been crying in here. The hell hounds had shown him. Not that he'd never seen or heard a human cry, but Clair's tears were for different reasons. Not fear or pain, hers were caused by something deep inside. Something he would never understand and could never figure out, yet one more piece to her puzzle.

He moved and lay pulling Clair against him. He took in the smell of her. The citrus smell mixed with a kind of flower. The flower scent was a bit sharper at the moment. He could feel her crying again. This was very odd to him yet he was compelled to stay here with her, like it was important that he do this.

Why shouldn't he? He'd decided that she was to stay here. Remain with him, which meant he was obligated to take care of her. Surprisingly he didn't mind. She didn't push him away, she did sink a bit more into him. Both of them took a kind of solace in it. Though the moment was silent and neither felt like breaking it.