Trigger warning - Physical violence.
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Belladonna slipped into the room and ducked behind the nearest shelf.
Regret had never filled her heart so much but now, she could even taste the bitterness at the back of her throat.
The floor was cold against her butt, and even colder against the exposed part of it, the wood of the shelf she was hiding behind, digging lightly into her back that was mostly bare.
Now that she was thinking about it, the Bride Thief could see her, which means he was seeing her in this scantily dressed version of herself.
If she wasn't in a life threatening situation, she would have cared.
Her chest was raising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, then a thought of something being behind her, crossed her mind.
What if it was something worse.
Like a wild animal, a mad beast or something?
She looked forward, finally observing her surroundings for the first time.
There were gems in this room, different kinds of gems, possessing different shapes and glowing in different colors. Some were small, some were as big as her two palms combined, some were even put in high glass shelves. Even the shelf she was hiding behind had gems laid carefully on it.
They must contain magic or at least have special qualities.
This place almost looked farmilar, like she had been here before but she couldn't remember.
Her heart thundered her ears, like a clock ticking away every second, taking her mind from the wonder before her and reminding her of the danger she was in.
Hiding here was a terrible option, not like she had much of one, but this room wasn't dark enough for her to hid within the strong shadows of anything, the glowing gems weren't helping with that.
Her necklace started burning against her chest and she hissed in pain, noticing that the pain had been happening for quite a while but she had just been too in the flight mode to know.
She picked it up by one side of the necklace, noticing that the pendant was the part that was burning her the most, raising it high to a side, so that it wouldn't come in contact with her skin.
If this was one of the stupid tricks the bride Thief was trying to use to get her to take off her necklace, then he was just wasting his time.
His determination for her to have that necklace off made her even more determined to have it on.
He groaned by her side, almost making her jump by how close his voice sounded.
Everywhere was oddly quite, the sound of music from somewhere downstairs floated into her ears.
Were they having a celebration?
He groaned again.
"It's not working." He muttered. "I can't figure out why. It should work."
"How long have I been asleep?" She knew answer to that but she hoped she was wrong.
"Too long." He answered in a gruff, sounding displeased by what was happening.
"If I die here, will I really die? Or will I just wake up and all will be fine."
The silence that followed after was deafening.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she brushed it away angrily. Now wasn't the time to get her sight cloudy.
"You bastard. You brought me here to die."
"No."
"If I make it alive, I'll make sure I find you and ki--"
The door busted opened and her words died on her tongue.
She held her breath, her eyes wide open, her body still to a spot.
The boots that moved around, assured her of who it was. It was Fake Eli.
She pressed her lips tightly together, before a loud growling sound rumbled and for a second she might have stopped breathing when she realized what it was.
Her stomach had rumbled?!
The hand that picked her up was tight and fast, he yanked her in a way that her necklace sloped out of her hand, making her yelp from the pain of the pendent burning her skin again and the bone crushing grip around her wrists.
She struggled, kicking and attempting to bit at anything she could grab.
"Let me go! Let me go!"
The next things she heard was the sound of things sweeping off a table as they crumbled and crashed against the floor.
With a back breaking force, she was slammed against the large wooden surface, and before she could blink, a fist landed squarely again her face.
"Silence, human!"
Blood spluttered out of her mouth and her head rang bells, her face hot and throbbing with pain.
A silent panting followed as someone else made it into the room.
"She is a little monster." Fake Kestra giggled, breathless.
"Who are you?" The anger brewing in his eyes was consuming.
"We have no use for that anymore, Eli." Her hand pushed against the edge of the table Belladonna had been laid upon, the red thing on her head, no longer glimmering brightly, but instead flashing, dimming and taking a bright course again.
She was weak.
This somehow gave Belladonna some encouragement to fight and she kick at the witch's hand. It came as a shock to her, and she buckled but she had quickly supported herself with the other hand, preventing her from falling forward. Belladonna still continued her relentless kick, her wrists that were held over her head wasn't making her struggle easy but she didn't let that stop her.
"Get me out of here, Bride Thief! You Bastard, get me out of here."
"I can't. There seem to be a problem with this memory."
"Then, save me!" The words pushed out of her mouth at a volume so loud that it ranged strangely in her ears.
One calloused palm came over her mouth and she quickly sank her teeth into the fingers, bitting as hard as she could. Blood seeped into her mouth, but she didn't stop, the palm didn't move either.
"She is a lunatic. Talking to herself."
Her muffled sounds didn't stop as she continued kicking.
One slender hand crawled up to her chest, hovering over her necklace as the silver gaze above hers gave her an eery feeling.
"It has magic." She hummed thoughtfully.
Belladonna's heart thundered. Was he going to get his illusions to get the necklace off her.
Was that what all of this was about?
Her finger curled against the pendant but a shrill cry escaped her lips.
"It... burns!"
"Are you alright, my love?"
She hissed, almost looking like she was snarling.
"A soul of magic." Her eyebrows furrowed in anger and she snapped. "She will do."
Belladonna's throat burned as she tried to force her scream through the palm.
A futile attempt.
Her cries remained muffled.
A hand moved over her chest, she moved vehemently to get it off, but suddenly her body stilled and fell back against the table, all fight leaving her, her eye lids becoming unnaturally heavy.
The hand over her moved away, blood all over her lips, her teeth painted red with the metalic liquid.
Her face fell to the side and she felt her body grow heavy like a huge piece of rock that she couldn't move.
Her lips moved only slightly, intended words dying before they even got to her tongue.
When the Bride Thief spoke this time, it almost sounded like he was truly sorry.
"I have no power here. I am sorry."
Her eyes lids fluttered close, and open again.
Her gaze fixing on the dagger fake Eli held in his hand. That hand that had no unnatural black zig zag lines covering it, and no glove over it. The dagger was moved out of her line of sight, probably somewhere closer to her body.
She tried to fight but she just couldn't.
Her eye lids finally fell shut while words floated into her ear like an echo from a distance.
"She is a perfect sacrifice."
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I apologize for the late update. My exams are fast approaching. Thank you for your understanding.