XXV

“I have more pills for you!” Odette heard Claude before she saw him. When the door swung open, he had yet another tray in his hands. “Are we going to have more fun today or are you going to take them like a good girl?”

She glared at him, her rage burning hot in her chest. “I’ll be good.” Probably a lie.

“Ha! Okay then, I’ll have to find some other way to punish you then,” Claude said offhand. “Don’t worry about that yet, though. Live in the moment.”

The cell door opened up and he stepped in, going to the table like he had the day before. Odette got up and joined him, smoothing out her nightgown before she sat.

“Did you sleep well?” she whispered, picking at the bread that he brought her. He certainly looked better than he had the day before, his face cleaner and he smelled better too.

Claude crossed his arms over his chest. “Aw, are you developing a little bit of a crush on me so soon? Can’t say I’m surprised, I am devastatingly handsome but I think that I’m a little out of your league, kiddo.” He was egging her on again. It was working but she had wanted to punch him pretty much since the moment they met.

Odette couldn’t help but wonder what he would do if she did. Maybe he would try to strangle her again, or maybe he would try something different like slap her or just hit her in general.

“No,” she said finally. “I’m not. I was just curious.”

Claude hummed, his foot tapping against the floor. He was watching and waiting to see if Odette would put up a fight about her pills again. She didn’t. As soon as she finished her “meal,” she took the medicine slowly, making eye contact with him the whole time.

Each pill that she dropped into her mouth felt like it weighed her down even more. Each pill that she dropped into her mouth made the madman smile larger.

“Happy?” Odette asked.

He chuckled. “Can’t you tell?”

“So, tell me,” she shifted forward in her seat. “Have you contacted Grayson or are you just running on faith that he’ll miraculously find out where I am?”

There hadn’t been anything that gave a hint to where she could be but she assumed that it was still somewhere in Sunwick Grove. But would he be that bold? Keeping me right under their noses? He seemed pretty narcissistic, so that gave her a good idea that he might try something like that.

“No, I’m relying on you to get in touch with his demon—or is it an angel? Those two are always so hard to tell apart … especially when they’re enslaved. Anyway, there is no way that your lover boy wouldn’t leave you unprotected. Someway, somehow, it will happen.” Claude’s eyes were boring into her own, his bushy eyebrows raised and his tongue peeking between his lips.

How did he know? What does it matter?

Odette’s eyes widened but she flexed her jaw and looked down. Tears pricked at the back of her eyelids. “Too bad for you. He can’t help because I’m not family, so your plan just fell through.”

Claude grinned, showing off his overly whitened teeth. “So, he has contacted you?”

She slammed her hand against the table, throwing the metal tray against the bars of her cell. The sudden outburst startled her captor. “What part of ‘your plan just fell through’ do you not understand?! They aren’t coming for me because Thorn can’t get to me!”

“The whole bit, so explain it to me,” Claude pressed. “Can’t the slave tell Mages where you are? Surely it can do that much?”

“I don’t even know where I am! How can I tell him where to find me if I don’t know where I’m being held?”

“You’re in the lighthouse, you stupid girl! Contact the thing right now and tell him! Tell him!” He slammed his hands on the table for emphasis. It reminded Odette of a child throwing a tantrum.

She hated that he was getting to see her so vulnerable, so weak. “I can’t. Thorn is the one who controls when I see him; I can’t summon him at will. And he only comes in dreams.”

“Well then, I’ll just put you right to sleep, huh?” He cracked his knuckles and Odette recoiled.

“It won’t work! He’s the one who has to enter my mind, why can’t you understand that? He’s not always waiting around for me; he’s with the Mages during the day doing God knows what.” It took all of her willpower not to cower any more than she already was.

The man gripped the table harshly, his knuckles turning white. Claude’s composure was slipping right before her very eyes. It wasn’t the same as the night before when he had turned dark and lashed out at her. Now, it was a raw and untamable anger that made his lip twitch and his eyes narrow. Long gone was his smile; now, he was snarling and seething, his face turning maroon.

“Tell me exactly what this creature told you,” he ordered, his voice shaking with the effort to keep it even.

Odette sniffed, wiping away the tears from her cheeks. “He said that the amulets would be useless to you. He said that, unless you were a part of the Mages family, they would just be pendants. Think of them like an electric guitar, without the amp, it just makes a little noise. The amp would be Thorn, and if you had him and the amulets, only then would you be able to work it.

“I-I tried to make a deal with him … I tried to give him whatever he wanted in order to power up my ring so I could escape from you … but … but he said that I wasn’t family either…”

Claude screamed, tearing at his hair. It seemed that he finally understood. He ripped himself away from the table and kicked the metal tray repeatedly, hitting the bars with all his might.

“NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!” he roared. Quicker than Odette had anticipated, he turned to her and crossed the space between them. He threw her to the floor and began to strangle her. “NO! THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I HAD EVERYTHING PLANNED OUT AND IT HAD TO BE RUINED BY YOU!”

Odette wheezed, feeling like her eyes were about to pop out of her skull. Something was popping under his grip and she wasn’t sure what it was. She clawed at his hands, making them bleed but not making them loosen up from around her airway.

“S … s … t … op!” she begged him, pressing her hand against his face. She pushed against him but it wasn’t working. She was beginning to become lightheaded and weak but she had to get him off of her. She didn’t want to die being strangled by a madman.

Claude released her neck, frowning. He wasn’t looking at her but through her as he began to think. He pushed himself off the floor and began to pace back and forth, smoothing his now messy hair back with his hands.

“No, no. I can work with this. I’ll just up the price for you. They’ll have to give me their creature too, they will … yes. I suppose making you look so beaten up will help me out after all, tug on ol’ Graysie’s heartstrings,” he murmured to himself.

Odette scooted herself back towards the wall. Her heart was beating too fast and she wanted to scream but her throat hurt too much for that. She just wanted him to leave; she regretted ever provoking him.

Claude turned his head slightly, smirking at how she cowered. “Are you terrified of me now? Good. I like that expression on your face. It’s nice and pathetic.”

Her body shook with each step he took towards her and she winced, turning her face away and shutting her eyes. Two fingers were forced under her chin and turned her head back towards him. Odette’s skin crawled just having him touch her, it was revolting.

Claude backhanded her, the pain exploding in her cheek. Inside her mouth, she could taste blood from where her teeth cut into the inner cheek. She whimpered softly, her hair serving as a curtain over her face.

“Hmph. Get some rest, doll. You look like crap.” The man retreated from her cell, making sure that he had collected the battered tray and cup from the floor. He slammed the door hard, rattling the entire room.

Odette didn’t want to cry anymore. She had done it so much and she didn’t want to give that man the satisfaction of knowing that he had succeeded in breaking her. Her entire body just felt numb to the pain, like she had turned it off with her mind. She had her knees pressed against her chest, relishing in the warmth they provided. Her mind had been wiped clean of all thought and she just stared at the bars of her prison with dull eyes.

The day passed like that with her sitting absolutely still and doing nothing. She yearned to sleep but she was too tired to do that. The only thing that she had become aware of was the warmth in her stomach, the bubbling anger that she longed to unleash. It continued to climb throughout her body, spreading through her veins like liquid fire.

Odette didn’t do anything about it, though. She only let it fester and mutate, thinking of ways that she could hurt Claude. Even if he tried to hurt her again, she would be able to sleep well knowing that she delivered a harsh blow to him. Watching him bleed would make her very happy.

The door handle jiggled once again and all thoughts of revenge left her mind, replaced by the cold fear for him.

“Hello, Odette.” Claude’s mood had not gotten any better either, it seemed. “You haven’t moved since I left you.”

Odette didn’t respond to him.

“I would have hoped that you had done as I asked,” he continued, unlocking her cell door. “But we’ve already established that pain is the best motivator for you. How about it?”

“I couldn’t get in touch with him,” she lied. Her voice was scratchy from his torment earlier. “Like I said … he isn’t always around.”

Claude made a noise in the back of his throat. “So, he might be there tonight?”

“I hope so.”

He motioned for her to join him again at the table. She ate. Took her pills. Drank her water. Stared at him.

“Tell me, Odette, between the two of us, who do you prefer?” Claude asked quietly.

Odette frowned, clutching her own hand for comfort. “Between who?”

“Grayson and myself.” He wasn’t annoyed that she had asked for clarification, thankfully, but that didn’t mean she was in the clear yet.

“I don’t like either of you,” she rasped. “You’re both abusive and crazy.”

Claude waved his hand, like it didn’t matter that he was certifiably insane. “You have to choose one of us, that’s how you play the game, doll.”

Odette wanted to snarl or roll her eyes but she stayed calm. “Right now, I would pick Grayson.”

“Cute,” he snickered. “Young love.”

“No. I just don’t want to be anywhere near you.” She was walking on thin ice, insulting him again. Odette wondered if she had just become so suicidal that death-by-Claude had become her subconscious’ favorite way to go.

Claude merely shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry to disappoint.”

I’m sorry that I have to look at your face, Odette spat in her mind, staring down at her lap. She twisted her ring around, wishing that she was back in Oregon with her family.

“Hmm …. If I had to choose between you and Greer, well I just don’t know. You’ve both got the same-ish looks, although she is a whole lot taller than you and I. Her sadistic side would be very compatible with mine, haha … I just don’t know about what I would do if she became obsessed with me.

“But you’re pretty fun too, doll. Well, I assume you can be when you aren’t all mopey. That’s what you get when you deal with angsty teens, though. But you … I think I would have to go with you, doll. At least, with you, I don’t run the risk of being killed if I don’t accept your feelings. HAHA!”

Odette hardly listened to him. She was more focused on not making any sudden movements that would gain his attention. That was when her ring did something strange. The jewel—which was normally very dull in color—seemed to come to life and pulse with vibrant blue color. The flash only lasted for a second but she was positive that she hadn’t imagined it.

“What is it?” Claude asked suddenly.

Odette blinked, shaking her head. “What is what?”

“You made a face,” he narrowed his eyes. “I want to know why.”

“I didn’t know I made a face, I’m sorry. It was nothing,” she lied while squeezing her fingers.

Claude’s lips twitched, the second sign that he was about to lose it. “About ninety percent of what leaves your mouth is lie and I’m just about sick of it. I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself here, Odette, and I think that you should take it.”

Her stomach dropped. “I think that you’re paranoid, Claude. I’m telling you, it was nothing.” But, as soon as she said the words, she wished she could take them back.

Claude busted out laughing his raw, animalistic guffaw. Spit flew from his mouth and splattered on Odette’s skin. “I’m the paranoid one? Oh no, no, no. Darling, you are the worst case of paranoia I have ever seen! Scared of the dark, scared that you’re going to see some dead bodies. Scared that your boyfriend’s always one step behind you. You’re always so scared, it’s ANNOYING!”

He leaned across the table and grabbed a fistful of her hair roughly, yanking her to the middle of the table to meet him.

“You want to be scared?! HUH?! I’ll give you something to be scared of!” Using all his strength, he threw Odette by her hair across the cell until her back connected with the metal bars. “I’ll make you terrified of me, you stupid girl!”

There was a streak of blood on the concrete from where it had scraped her shoulder, the wound stinging fiercely. Odette just wanted to pass out, that way, she wouldn’t have to live through the pain. She would just deal with the repercussions when she woke up.

Unfortunately for her, she was going to stay wide awake for the whole thing.

His first kick to her gut was hesitant if she had to describe it, almost like he wasn’t sure if that was the attack he wanted to use. It knocked the wind out of her and she grunted, reaching for his leg to stop the attack.

Claude kicked her again and it was much harder this time. “Let go of my leg, you child!” he shouted, trying to kick her and shake her off of him at the same time.

Odette’s agony couldn’t be hidden any longer. She cried out, digging her nails into his leg. She wanted him to hurt too.

Suddenly, everything grew quiet. It wasn’t because Claude stopped his assault but because of a great energy sucking the spirit from Odette’s surroundings. Then there was a great crack. The cell bars shook roughly, banging against the back of her head. Claude staggered back in shock.

Odette couldn’t move—her ribs were surely broken—but a sick sense of dread filled her. She knew who it was.

“Step away from my girlfriend.”