Rescue

Seph had wrapped herself in the blankets from the bed as she sat and watched the door anxiously. She kept getting snippets of Theo’s voice in her head, but it was staticky, like a radio that was out of tune, she was just out of range, so it was cutting out every other word. Tears fell silently down her face. “I want my mates. I want my Kayla,” she whispered to herself. Seph knew that she couldn’t let her captors see her cry. She allowed herself to the count of 5 before drying her eyes.

Just in time, Seph had just pulled her hands away from her face when the door was pulled open with a smash. “You… you whore… I swear to the goddess, you had better be as good as they say because you are causing so much trouble right now,” yelled another man in the doorway. This one was older than the usual guy. And much more powerful. Seph could be in trouble here. He stopped to examine her ward “ohh, this is good. Who taught you, girl? No wonder Fionn couldn’t get into you. Now remove it before I am forced to do it for you and hurt you for my trouble” Seph assumed Fionn was the usual man who had claimed her as his wife. This was the man she needed to worry about, though.

Shaking her head, Seph spoke softly, “I’m afraid I can’t do that, you see, if I am injured, or my mates can smell you on me, then you will die. It’s a public service ward, you see? You are safer staying out there until someone comes to collect me.” Seph explained, as if it was the most reasonable thing in the world, to set up a fireward that would burn anyone who touched it to ash in someone else’s house.

“Do you know who I am, child?! I am the leader of this coven! You will remove this ward right now, or goddess help you,”

Seph continued to shake her head. “She doesnt seem to have much time for me, so I’m on my own down here either way”

“Then so be it.” The man said softly as he took a step back and began to work on the ward. Seph offered completely unhelpful hints every now and then, which caused a few small explosions. Dextra chuffed a little, laughing at the man almost. He was dripping with sweat when the ward finally started to show signs of weakening. At this, Seph prepared to defend herself.

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Seph ran for the door when the man had lunged forward, ignoring the flames and grabbing her. Yanking her back around by the arm, jerking her shoulder in the process, his fist thudded into her stomach. Seph grunted in pain as she fell to her knees, winded. Coughing slightly and struggling for breath, the attack would have made her vomit if she had anything in her stomach to bring up. While she was still seeing stars and trying to get her breath back, the man dragged Seph to her feet, pulling a cable tie from his pocket; he managed to fasten her hands together. He threw her down onto the bed and sneered malignantly down at her. Seph gave a cold glare, “you will die, a painful death.” She hissed at the man. He didn’t answer, merely pulled out a pair of scissors from his pocket. Clearly, he had come prepared for what he wanted to do.

As he stepped closer, however, he miscalculated. Standing over Seph’s legs left her the opportunity to crash her leg up, pounding her knee into his groin. This time, he collapsed on the floor, and Seph had no interest in dragging him up. She stood and ran for the door once more. This time she got to the other end of the corridor. It ended in a locked door. The man caught Seph as she was trying to kick it open; she had made good progress for only 3 kicks. The man simply snorted derisively at her escape attempt. Grabbing her around her middle and throwing her against the wall. Seph’s head hit the wall with a mighty crash. She was seeing stars for real this time. Before she could even mount any kind of defence, he had punched her twice more in the ribs. Seph was feeling nauseous once more. She could swear she felt her ribs crack, but pain like this was not a new experience for Seph; she would not cry. The man slapped her around the face with all his might. Seph’s lip split instantly; she was sure she would have a black eye in a few hours. She couldn’t even speak to call him a bastard. Attempting once more to attack his balls took all the fight she could muster, only for him to avoid the slow, clumsy attack. He laughed loudly at her as he picked her up. Taking her back to the bed.

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Arriving at the coven, Theo expected to encounter more resistance. There appeared to be no wards around the perimeter, no walls or gates to stop them, and no patrols or guards to find them. Nothing. He waited for their elders to appear to attempt to send him packing. Kayla had said they were so cocky on the phone, but no one came. He was closer to Seph than he had been in so long; he could feel how hungry she was, her exhaustion and her pain. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Theo’s stomach as he felt her pain. He knew he couldn’t let pity, sadness or worry overtake him; he had to push on to find Seph.

Theo was furious; Archer wanted to take over and track his mate down. But Theo knew that wasn’t wise yet. Following his enchanted map to the dot that was Seph, he found a collection of buildings that all looked identical, average, red brick 2-storey, 2 or 3-bedroom houses; they knew from Seph that they may have cellars too. Something felt off to Theo. Leaving everything in the car, he climbed out with the rest of the group that had made it so far. None of them could determine which house was the right one from the map. A phone call to Kayla told them they should be right on top of Seph, not facing a whole collection of houses. Theo and J decided it would be best to split into smaller groups and search each building in turn.