Severed Ties

Queen of Blood

Cameron

"Where are you taking me, Laurier?" we had been walking for a while now, turning down the corridor I tried to commit to memory, I would need to know all the layout if I was ever to get out of here alive. It seemed to be a derelict hospital that had been abandoned many years ago, with peeling paint and scuffed floors, broken windows and shabby carpets in some of the rooms, all with the same greenish tinge. 

"Patience is a virtue, Grayson," he mused still walking ahead of me, he had turned his back because he knew that I couldn't attack him not without forfeiting ever being able to find Alara, this hospital was a labyrinth with too many doors, too many notches, too many places to disappear into. It would be impossible for me to find her before the guards peppered around the base would catch me and drag me back to that empty room so I could fall back into insanity. 

"No a virtue is me not killing you," my voice was cold and dripping with a singular sense of vehement hatred, "That is a mercy you won't have for too long,"

Dane laughed with all his chest, "You think I don't know you are itching to kill me mon ami,"  he swiftly turned twirling his gun between his fingers recklessly as though he was trying to show me how little he cared, how little he was afraid I would lurch forward grabbing his gun and turning it on him, "It is a particular form of pleasure to see you under my command,"

"Fuck off," I spat, no other words were needed. 

"So crass you are Grayson, I do wonder how someone as graceful as Alara managed to fall for you," 

Rage unparalleled to anything I had felt before burst through me and I wanted to punch the living daylights out of him, but I opted for a low murmured threat, "Keep her name out of your mouth, you're not worthy of even saying it,"

He let out another low chuckle, tucking his gun into the waistband of his pressed navy trousers and raising his pale hands in mock surrender, "Ok, ok, I'll leave ton amours name out of my mouth, I'd much rather my name being the one coming out of hers,"

I saw red.

Without even thinking, I was on him shoving him to the nearest wall taking satisfaction in the definitive crack of his back against the plaster, he was still laughing maniacally and I knew he revelled in the rise he could get out of me, "You are so predictable Cameron Grayson, you have no flair, no poise,"

I reached for his gun, but he already had it in his grip, "You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment," he dragged the gun up my chest before resting it just below my throat, the sharp bite of metal against my skin as he pushed me backwards, "I have waited years for this, for you to be at my mercy for you to not have any  power, you are the one that is the pawn this time, in this grand scheme, you and our dear Alara have no idea what is coming for you,"

"Hurt her and I will kill you," I snarled.

"Hurt her?" he pressed the gun further, "Of course, I won't hurt her, she's my Diament Rouge,  she is the key to this all, I wouldn't dream of killing her. No, I would much rather her alive," there was a glint of malice in his eyes as he tortured me further, explaining in excruciating detail, "I would love for her to be by my side, can you imagine, her in the most beautiful red dress with the diamond around her neck with my arm around her waist as she looks at the kingdom I could give, the power she could have, all that power must sway even the purest of hearts, there's a reason why Alara Mortello is the key to this all, there is a reason why she's crowned the Queen of Blood,"

"What are you talking about?" I was still rough with him, all the images he had painted in my mind ricocheting through my thoughts pulling me under, torturing me until all I could see was Alara with Dane, and the worst part was in all these visions she wasn't there with him out of coercion she was there out of her own choice, and it made me sick to my stomach, "She'll never stand by your side, you're delusional Laurier, and there's no such thing as the Queen of Blood, it's a myth, a child's tale that the gang leaders forged to keep us in line, with threats that the Queen of Blood would come after us. You are lost in a fairy tale Laurier, " and whilst sizing him up I let my gaze soften slightly something he noticed, something that was entirely out of place but I knew why I did that, why I dipped my gaze so that he could see the shift in my eyes, "It's pitiful,"

And I knew what men like Dane Laurier hated the most.

Pity. 

It broke the tether that was holding him back, he shoved the gun into my throat knocking the wind out of me, "Shut the fuck up Grayson, you have no idea what you are talking about, and you will swallow your words, just you wait and see," he shoved me roughly forward, into a hidden hallway, one rough push after the other until I was at a secluded door, it was metal, reinforced with several locks but mostly with technical locks, it was then I wished I knew as much as Echo that I had any experience with the intricacies of technology, I could pick a lock easy but hack a biometric scanner, was beyond my skill set. 

With a bit of anger, Dane shoved his hand onto the scanner, and then leaned forward a thin beam of light rushing over his iris before the door swung open, he shoved me in, "You have 10 minutes," and the door slammed close behind me. 

In a moment of disorientation, I didn't even know what to do, what to feel, what to think, that was until I heard a light voice, "Cameron?"