Witch Crazed

8

Velvet woke to something roughly yanking the ropes at her wrists. Snapping awake, she writhed around but strong arms held her steady. 

"Will you stop moving? I need to get these ropes off." a familiar voice hissed, stopping the witch in her tracks. Sighing with relief, she turned as much as she was able to face her captor-turned-savior. He still wouldn't quite meet her gaze, yet Velvet swore she saw his eyes flicker towards her face, if only for a split second or two before resuming his work. 

"Where's your boss?" The girl asked petulantly "I thought you two were going to come and interrogate me after one drink, instead I stayed up waiting for you all night." Velvet huffed then went red when she realized what she said. The wheels began turning in her head as she processed the situation.

"He left in an Uber about an hour ago." The young man retorted with a funny look on his face. "He will be back." he seemed lost in thought. Shaking his head the finder regained his train of thought. "Why on Earth were you up waiting for that?" He sounded aghast, his hands stalling in their work, his face as flushed as Velvet's.

"I don't know, why did you wait an hour to untie me?" the man gave her a look, though he never looked her in the eye. "Besides, Isn't it obvious? I didn't want to be caught off guard." Velvet snapped, wondering how her captor could possibly be so clueless. 

"I thought we agreed you needed to trust me." his tone took on a dark quality, and Velvet could tell this conversation was going badly, but at the moment she couldn't be bothered to care.

"At this point I'm not even sure what that means!" the woman's shrill voice made the Witchfinder flinch. Taking a deep breath Velvet attempted to reign herself back in. "You arrest me, treat me like vermin, then expect me to trust you? Furthermore, how was I to know if you were going to actually protect me from that guy or just lying to make me feel better?"

The hapless guy had the nerve to look hurt, yet Velvet was on too much of a tirade to care.

"What are we?" the witch finally asked after a long period frozen in silence, though she dreaded the answer.

The witch hunter shook his head and went back to uniting the restraints. "I don't know," he admitted fretfully. "I would never admit this to anyone, but I really don't know what to make of this situation."

Velvet groaned "That makes me feel a lot better, thanks." her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't get smart." the finder warned. "I could still leave you here for a while if I wanted." It was a half-hearted threat and Velvet knew it, but she decided best not to let on and closed her mouth, waiting for her warden to finish undoing her binds. It felt like it was ages before the last rope was finally undone. Velvet hissed when she attempted to move to sit up. 

"Easy," her captor told her. "It will probably be a little while before you feel like normal again." Velvet nodded, not having the capacity to say anything at the moment. Wincing, she stiffly rubbed her wrists, hoping to relieve the pain and bring some much-needed blood flow into the area. Rope marks mared her otherwise lovely skin. The whole situation made the girl want to cry, but she held back her tears. The Witch wasn't ready to be that vulnerable with her captor just yet. Bending down to do the same to her knees and ankles, Velvet caught a sudden bout of vertigo, lurching forward she was caught just in the nick of time by her host.  "Maybe you ought to hold off on that for just a little while."