unspoken - klaus mikaelson

chapter 14 - death by a thousand cuts

1867 - New Orleans

In an abandoned warehouse on the edge of New Orleans, by the Mississippi river, a group of witches entered the room where Victoria and James were being held captive. It had been less than 24 hours but it had felt like days. As she laid there on the cold, damp floor, the pain in her stomach had grown, as it hadn't exactly helped when the witches in charge of guarding them had decided to have their fun with them. James was all bloody and bruised and Victorias voice was hoarse from when she screamed for them to stop as they hit him. Her own body had gained a few bruises and cuts, thanks to the specific human guard who hated here purely for being friends with a vampire, something he deemed unnatural and disgusting.

They hadn't had any access to food, and the only water they got was when the witches spitefully laid a bowl of water in front of each them, but just out of their reach, so they would had to drag their heads forward to lick as much as they could, like dogs. They were being treated like dogs, worse actually like rabid dogs. Chained up, locked away from everyone else, being beaten to entertain their guards boredom, and forced to humiliate themselves to survive.

Victoria had knew that Klaus loved New Orleans more then anything else, she didn't think he would ever give it up for her, but maybe a small, tiny part of her deep down, hoped that he would. That he would free her of this torment, of this pain, so her and her baby and her baby's father could live. But as the minutes passed, and the clock ticked down to the timer she knew the witches had placed on him, she realised that hope was entirely useless. It was never going to happen. She was going to die a miserable, painful death here. Klaus wasn't coming for her.

But when the witches walked in, more than usual, Victoria realised something was up. She sat up as straight as she could, leaning against the wall, keeping an eye on James' bloodied face as her own blood dripped down her temple. The witch she had come to realise was in charge - the dark skinned, black- haired woman called Kali- looked angry, and she knew it was nothing good.

James muttered weakly from where he sat, his right eye swollen shut, his lip split open, and his whole face dirtied with blood and bruises, "Please, we can't take anymore. Just let us go, please. We can't give you what you want." Victoria felt guilty even looking at him. Purely because he was associated with her, because he had tried to do something nice by bringing baby supplies over to her house, he had been captured - simply for knowing her. And the guards had specifically gained extra satisfaction from hurting him as Victoria was their bargaining chip, they couldn't hurt her too much or they thought their negotiation would be compromised, but James, well he was fair game.

"Well it's your lucky day," Kali muttered with snarl and a sense of irony in her voice. "No more beatings for you."

Victoria knew then with absolute certainty something was wrong and was about to go down.
"What happened?" She asked shakily.

Kali turned to face her then and she saw how her face was filled with anger and annoyance. "Your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend decided to try get the upper hand and kill some of my men." She didn't bother correcting her use of the word boyfriend. Kali just shook her head, "I can't let him think that's ok. You see, I gave him his options, let you die and rule New Orleans in peace, or I hand you over safely and he leaves. He tried to make a third option, and I need to show him that's not how this works. I need to make sure he's really taking in how serious this is." She spoke slowly, her eyes not making contact with Victorias. It was almost like she was muttering to herself, ignoring everyone else in here, but then she turned her head back to Victoria. "I can't kill you just yet, you're still the bargaining chip." Her head swivelled to James and Victorias heart dropped. "You, on the other hand, will serve perfectly fine as a little warning message."