Dragon

VIII

"Reclusa."

No. Stop. I'm not your's. I'm not. I don't belong to you.

"You are highly skilled," the words were like venom, seeping into her brain and leaving her vision black. "A stone-cold killer. I've never seen, not even a man, have that look in his eyes."

Stop. Stop.

"Reclusa. Reclusa."

No. Stop. Stop it.

"I'm disappointed in you."

She couldn't move. She was tied to a chair in an empty room, in the dark. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything, but she could feel his presence. 

"Did you really think," he began, standing behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. She whinced, her head dropping and eyes wide with fear. "That I would get caught in your spiders web?"

No, no! She tried to scream but she couldn't hear her voice. Suddenly, his hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back, exposing her neck. She looked up, seeing the silhouette of Beastein and then watched as his mouth opened, revealing nothing but razor sharp teeth and watched as they grew larger and larger until they clamped down on her neck.

"No!"

Lucy woke up screaming, thrashing in her bed for a moment at the horrific nightmare that haunted her. 

"Lucy, hey!" someone called, grabbing her hands. But she was too scared and tried to fight back, to run away. "Lucy, look at me! It was a nightmare!" A hand had reached up and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up where she saw Drake standing before her, looking nothing but worried and concerned. Tears pooled in her eyes and she shut them, her body trembling. "Are you okay? It's okay. It was just a nightmare," he said gently allowing her to lean her head on his shoulder. 

He gently patted her back, holding her other hand tightly. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" She was silent and Drake thought that her answer was no so he continued to let her lean her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to, it's alright."

"I tried to trap him," she whispered, her voice weak and hoarse. "In my spiders web."

Drake was still. He didn't move, not even an inch. 

"He left me in that cage," she began again. "To die. He had poisoned me."

"What?" Drake said quickly, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away, looking over her face. "How is that possible? Shouldn't you have died?"

"I'm immune to poison."

His eyes widened slightly. "So, he thinks you're dead?"

She nodded. "But if they can't find my body, then they'll hunt for me too."

"What exactly did you do?" Drake asked. 

"What did you do," she shot back, narrowing her eyes at him. 

"I set him on fire and his entire organization," Drake said, his eyes darkening. "But what did you do."

"It's like he said, people forget the Brown Recluse is poisonous until it's too late. I became his loyal right hand, went with him to every single meeting he had and stood by his side," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I gathered a lot of information from being at those meetings, found people who hated him and plotted against him. I killed for him, but I had overheard how he was going to dispose of me so I thought I could kill him before he did."

"He wanted to dispose of you because of your skill alone?"

She nodded. 

"Ah, we got a lot more in common than I thought."

"They'll come," she said, looking at him with such a hard look. "And they'll kill us both."

Although the look in her eye would've been intimidating for any other person, Drake couldn't help but get aroused He it.

You filthy jerk, how can you get aroused by a woman you saved? Drake snapped to himself, shutting his eyes for a moment. "They won't be able to."

Her head dropped and he let out a defeated breath. "Would you like to go to the beach tomorrow?" he asked, watching her head lift. "You've been stuck in this same room for three weeks now, aren't you restless?"

She faltered, unsure if she should say yes or no. 

"Ah, really? You don't want to go to the beach with your friend? Now that just hurts," Drake said, clutching his chest as if he were in real pain. "I understand, I'm not that important after all. I'll just leave you to sleep then."

He stood to leave and, just as he suspected, she grabbed his hand, stopping him. She looked up at him her pale eyes swirling. "I've never been to the beach before," she said quietly.

He smiled to himself, patting her head and leaning down to look her in the eye, watching as her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks flush. "Then we can go?" he asked, smiling brightly at her.

She nodded slowly and he smiled even more. "It'll be great," he told her. "It's about time you see the beauty in the world."

She stared at him, completely captivated by his positivity. She wondered how she would've turned out if she had managed to leave Purgatory's grip sooner in her life. "Okay," she said.

He smiled softly. "Go back to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up," he told her, taking a seat in the chair he had always kept by her bedside and where he had been sleeping the last three weeks. 

"You don't have to stay here," she told him quietly. 

"If I don't then who else will be here to comfort you after you've had a nightmare?"

No one had ever been there. She had nightmares every single night and no one had ever been there to comfort her once she awoken. Her cheeks warmed and she quickly pulled the blankets over her head and rolled over. She heard him chuckle and tightly gripped the blanket.

How can someone be so kind? She wondered to herself.

Hello everyone!

School is beating my ass and it's only the third day of class. Please give me strength to make it through the rest of this semester.

Also, if you hadn't seen, I posted a quick preview of the first edited chapter of The Saints' Devil, of course once I finish the second draft I will have various editors to edit it before publishing it on Amazon. My goal is to still have that ready to go by summer.

Thank you all for your support and please continue to vote and comment, it helps me out a ton!

With care,

D. M. Brightwell