Sunday, January 13, 2013

Aretha Tesla: Messing with Mevolent

I searched the files before I left, just to see. So many of my friends... I hadn't heard from them in a while, and it was scaring me. Fabi's house had been attacked, I knew that much. I had no doubt Mevolent was making his move. I didn't even want to think about what he could be doing if he had taken them... At least my family was safe, for the time being. They were just mortals; no one had any reason to go after them.

"You're crazy, you know." There was bitterness in Croatoan's voice. As long as I'd known him he had never shown an emotion like that. It was shocking, to say the least. Concerning, almost.

"I know," I said softly, and paused for a moment.  Biterness. Was he... Worried? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, but... Really? Niccolo Croatoan.... Worried? "Are you... Well, I mean, you're not..." He was pacing in between the trees at our makeshift campsite.

"Spit it out," He commanded, his stride unbroken. I laid a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face me.

"You're not worried, are you?" I smiled tightly- a smile that didn't quite reach the rest of my face. Our eyes met.

"Aretha Tesla..." He trailed off. He never did that. My fake smile flickered on and off like the fire we stood around.

"Oh my God." The smile faded. "Why? I- I've fought vampires and werewolves and serial killers and you've nearly seen my die in front of you too many times for me to count-"

"Nearly." He cut me off, "That's the whole point. Nearly. Look, I can save you from any time of monster you can think of- but Mevolent? Truth is, I just don't know if I could pull you out in time." There was something unidentifiable in his eyes. All I could do was stare. This man... He would kill without a second thought. I knew that. There was no one on this Earth that he cared about. But now, quite possibly, with the exception of me.

.......................................................................

I woke up on a cold, stone floor. Every bit of me ached. I felt a familiar, salty taste on my lips- blood. Whose? The last thing I remembered, I was stalking my way through a corridor in Mevolent's hideout. I ran my  hands over my face; it was covered in long scratches. Thankfully, none too deep. The darkness in that cell was so thick that I literally couldn't see past my own nose, but I felt pain. I felt raw. And I felt wet... Like I was covered in a light sheen of liquid. Sweat? Maybe. I tentatively licked my arm. More blood. I didn't have more time to investigate, however; I felt a gentle hand brush against my back, and in the blink of an eye trees were around me, and a warm fire flicked in my face. Croatoan. Of course.

"Thank you," I murmured, my voice smaller than I remembered it.

"I can heal you- you'll live, but you're going to be covered in scars." He brushed off my gratitude easily.

"What happened?"

"He found you. And..." He trailed off again. "Why in Hell are you so determined to sacrifice your life for everyone else's?"

"I-" A coughing fit cut me off... I was coughing up blood. He immediately shushed me and moved me so I was sitting with my back propped up against a tree. He was actually being... Gentle... Way too many firsts in one day.

"Just shut up, will you?" And I sat perfectly silent and still as he got to work healing me. "Amazing..." He murmured, probably trying to distract me from the pain, "All this and you never said a word. He asked about your friends, the Sanctuary... And nothing. At least you really messed up his day." He was being as gentle as he could, but some of those scratches were really deep, and I was tired, and pretty soon the world faded into black.

13 comments:

  1. Wow. Are you as brave as your OC? Really good writing. Poor Aretha.
    -Saph

    ReplyDelete
  2. Um... You know, Saph? I'm not sure. I hope to God that I would be- I know I'd much ratehr suffer and die than see my friends do so... Honestly? I think in that circumstance especially, I might be- just because I honestly can't think of a single thing worse than my friends suffering. But I've never been in that kind of scenario, so I have no way of really knowing, and I hope I'll never have to find out. And thanks a bunch, everybody, for your support!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. This is great. :)

    My character is really loyal to her friends. She's do anything for them and even if some are assassins and murdurers, she is still loyal to them. Though her mother doesn't like it much. As you heard I'm my last chapter, she works on magical criminals and troublemakers files. She doesn't really like the fact that her daughter is friends with assassins. :P

    Not sure where this was going, but back to what I said earlier, this is a really nice chapter. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! I am getting some pretty cool ideas now!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ooooh... Did I inspire you, Death? I'm sooo excited!!! And Lav, I can empithize with that. My parents would probably chain me up in the basement if they knew I was running round fighting magical assasins and being tortured by Mevolent... Well, not literally, but you get the idea. And I definitely don't agree with everything my friends agree with, but love them to death and I'd die for them anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMG, my house???
    Can't wait til Fabi the character finds out!
    Excellent as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh! Well, Fabi, I wrote that based off of Maralie's chapter- if I recall correctly, you guys teleported to your house only to leave again when someone burst their way in... I would've gone more into detail, but I didn't want to take too much liberty... Thanks everybody!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was Mara and Kessie's house, but it's fine. My house being attacked is, believe it or not, a good thing. That sounded wrong…

      Delete
  8. How do you get so much emotion and good writing into what equals like a page of A4? *cries*

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awww, thanks so much Star!! And everybody else, too! I'm really glad you like this chapter- and it's recieved so much embellishment, too!

    ReplyDelete