Bloodlines: Severed Ties

Chapter 26: Meanwhile at Castle Doom...

Ava groaned as she gripped onto another arrow. This one was stuck in the right side of her gut, and she knew it was going to hurt like a bitch when she pulled it out.

Her slender fingers wrapped around the hilt and gripped tightly. She looked up at the roof, not wanted to watch again. She took a deep breath in.

Before pulling with all her might.

She tried to stifle her scream as she yanked the arrow out, the pain absolute agony. Looking down, her eyes were brimming with tears. They were not tears of sorrow, but tears of anger.

A small trickle of blood made it's way out of the open wound, slowly falling and staining her pale blue dress.

Her chest was now heaving up and down as she tried to catch her breath and get over the pain. She had to, for Cecelia and Berthold's sake. They were just in the other room, sedated by dead man's blood.

"Ant...." She rasped, fury filling her veins as she grabbed another arrow. This time, she didn't hesitate. As soon as she had a solid gripped she ripped the arrow clean out with a grunt. She gasped at the pain, before flinging the arrow down on the floor to join his friends.

About a dozen or so arrows littered the floor, all covered in Ava's blood. The blood of a royal vampire. Ava knew not how long she had spent as Tony's torture doll, all she knew was the constant pain and agony or being pierced with crossbow bolts, arrows, daggers, anything Tony wanted to throw at her he threw it.

All the while her hoard was being used to undo the careful work she had done over the decades. Creating pacts, treaties, aligning with other races. All to protect her hoard, her family.

With another roar of rage, Ava ripped out another bolt from her leg this time. She was now mostly free, the pile of debris and blood on the floor growing. She let the bolt fall to the ground with a clatter.

One more.

One more, she told herself. But this one last item was a dagger, stuck in the middle of her chest. If her heart were beating, the dagger would have pierced right through it thanks to Tony's hunter accuracy. Alas, her heart wasn't beating. And therefore she was still alive, and there was still a chance to win her brood back.

With both of her hands, she grasped the hilt of the dagger. Just moving the dagger a tiny inch caused her to wince in pain. She was trembling, knowing how painful it was going to be. This had been the first thing Tony had impaled her with, pinning her to the wall. Hence, her vampire blood had tried to heal around it, only making matters worse as the wound closed around the dagger. It was now apart of her, just as her shame from her defeat was a part of her.

"I'll gut you... You tiny.... Pathetic.... Ant!" She cried out as she ripped the dagger from her chest, falling from the wall to the ground with a clatter. She knelt there for some time, her breathing deep and ragged as her body tried to heal. But there were too many wounds, and she was too starved.

She grabbed the dagger tightly, crawling over to the nearby wall and dragging herself off the floor. Her feet found solid ground, and although her muscles had not been used in a long time they knew what to do.

Ava frantically made her way over to where Tony kept his crossbow. The crossbow used to fire so many bolts into her, cause her so much pain just for the entertainment of a monster. But she wasn't interested in the bow, for the moment.

She ripped the drawer open underneath, revealing a shiny blue ring. She never used the ring, never used it's power. Instead it was used as a symbol of leadership among her people, having been entrusted to her after her father passed of old age.

But now was a different time. She needed it's power to defeat Tony, to rip him apart limb from limb and drink his blood while he watched in agony. The same agony he had caused her.

She placed the ring over her bloody knuckle, the ring instantly molding itself to fit perfectly on her slender fingers. She then made her way to the door, propping herself up against the wall.

But then she saw Berthold and Cecilia.

Falling to the ground, Ava hurriedly crawled over the Cecelia who was closest to her. Her fingers found the shackles that bound her friend, her lover, her everything. But pry as she might, the shackles would not budge.

"Magic...." Ava spat. Tony had been using magic to do a variety of things, something vampires had forbidden. But the rules of vampires didn't apply to Tony, not to a hunter.

Just then, the door to the cell unlocked and flew open. Ava glanced up, shielding her eyes from the bright torch light that appeared in front of her.

"Well well well... Someone's up to play," a familiar voice said, filling Ava with a sense of dread and anxiety. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness, Ava saw Tony.

He was dressed in hunter attire, the very same armour he had worn when the vampire assasins had kidnapped him and brought him back to Ava. The same clothes he had worn when Ava had turned him. The same clothes he had worn the day Ava had his mother and father slaughtered, leaving his sister Sylvia to die.

Oh how plans backfire.

Ava looked up into Tony's eyes. They were not filled with malice or anger. They simply.... Were. That was what terrified her the most. He never tortured her for revenge, never hurt her lovers out of spite. He did it because he enjoyed it.

And she wasn't strong enough to take him, not yet.

Ava gave Cecelia and Berthold one last, wistful look. Then glared back at Tony.

"I'll kill you," she hissed, but before he could even respond, Ava had darted towards the window and flung herself out. She landed on the soft snow below, about a three story drop, with a thud.

And then she disappeared into the night. She knew not where she was headed, only that she had one plan in mind.

She had to kill Tony.