The Vampire Hunter

Chapter 20

The room was dark. John sat on a simple gold throne, I was involuntarily kneeling before him, my hands were tightly chained. Isaac was to the left of me, gagged and chained. The floor was marble and looked like a large chessboard. The walls were a startling white, and the columns that held the ceiling up had intricate patterns engraved on them. Guess what? There were no windows. Surprise, surprise. John looked the same as ever, a malicious glint in his eyes, that awful red robe.

A few guards stood alert at the corner of the room, two in front of me, two behind me. I scanned the room, the only way in and out was via the big arched wooden doors. I heard a deep chuckle and snapped my head towards John.

"Don't bother trying to escape, Jade." I narrowed my eyes at him, I swear, if I wasn't chained I'd rip his eyeballs out. Isaac struggled once again and looked at his father with hatred. Fortunately, I wasn't gagged so I could talk back.

"Fuck you! You mother-fucking bitch!" I screeched, pulling against the rusty, iron chains. "I swear, as soon as you unchain me I'm going to fucking kill you!" Again, he laughed. I didn't understand how he had the audacity to sit there and laugh!

"Don't you understand? You're not getting out of those chains! I'm going to kill you slowly, and make my son watch, and then I'm going to make him drink the blood that pours out of your wounds," he snarled. I felt sick. I wanted to vomit right there.

"You're sick! You're fucking sick!" I glanced over at Isaac to see an emotion I'd never seen on his face before; he looked afraid. His hands were turning red; he was clenching them too hard. "Relax, Isaac. Don't let him get to you. Just close your eyes and it'll all go away," I tried to reassure him.

"Closing his eyes won't help him; he'll hear you scream." Before I could reply, I was wrenched upwards and thrown onto higher ground; where John's throne was. He had a long, sharp silver knife in his hands. I gulped, pushed back the fear and willed myself to stay strong. I would not die begging for him to stop.

John looked over at Isaac, "Are you ready son? I'm going to make you pay for the limited time I got to spend with her mother." So that was why he was doing this; he blamed Isaac and his mom for distracting John and making him not get my mother. I struggled in the chains once again, willing them to break.

They didn't.

John neared, poised the knife and plunged into deep into my thigh. I closed my eyes as silent tears escaped, I clamped my eyes shut, ignoring the pain. I heard the clank of Isaac's chains. He was trying to escape. John laughed, a deep guttural sound that sent me trembling in fear, or maybe that was just the pain.

"Watch as I-" he took the knife out. "- take her life." Once again the knife was plunged into my thigh, just lower than the first time. I couldn't help. I screamed inside my mouth. I heard the grunt of effort from Isaac, he was really struggling to escape. They say that when you die your life flashes before your eyes. It didn't for me, I just kept thinking to myself, how the hell did I get here? How the hell did I allow myself to get into a situation whereby I was being tortured in front of the guy that loved me, if he did that is.

Next, John trailed the tip of the blade down my left cheek, currently my whole right side was smashed against the floor, wishing the floor was open up and swallow me. I heard John humming to himself, he looked back over at Isaac. Isaac was sweating, badly, his shirt was soaked and he was constantly writhing on the floor, trying to get out of the chains. His blue gag came free and he growled. "Stop it! Just leave her alone!" He pleaded with his dad.

Ignoring Isaac, John dug the knife into my shoulder blade and twisted. I cried out in pain. It was excruciating , I didn't think that I could last much longer. Isaac was panting heavily, which was ironic since he didn't actually breath. "Stop this now, please. I'll do anything." Isaac tried to crawl towards us, but John shook his head. "If you come any closer, I'll shove this knife into her chest." I actually believed him as well.

I tried that last thing that I could think of. "John. What would my mum think? She wouldn't want this!" I whimpered. John's face hardened and I instantly knew that this was the wrong thing to say. He whistled and one of the guards - a lanky one, who appeared bored by this whole situation - handed John a small glass. Filling the cup with blood that was flowing from my leg wound, John walked over to Isaac. "Drink it all up, or else she dies," John threatened.

"Isaac, don't! Don't do it! Don't let him control you! Just- just let me die!" My voice cracked at the end, I didn't want to die. I didn't, but if I convinced Isaac that this was what I wanted then John had no control over Isaac. Isaac turned and stared hard at me. His eyes flickered between me and the cup, I could tell he was weighing the situation up in his mind. Suddenly, I thought of Jack, was he OK? Was he worrying about me? Had he actually asked Anna out yet, I lay my head back down and smiled, I wished him luck.

"Jade..." Isaac whispered. I let a tear trickled down my face.

"It's OK, Isaac. Really. I want this." Lie. Lie. Lie. I realised now, that what I really wanted was to stay with Isaac forever and live my life with him. It's funny how, when you're on the brink of death, you realise what it is that you really want, what it is that you desire the most. Almost as an afterthought, I lifted myself up and looked straight into Isaac's eyes.

I showed him that I wasn't lying as I said, "I love you."

That's when all hell broke loose.

------------------------------------------

I realise that Isaac and Jade haven't even had a date yet, much less done many intimate things, however, this is a book where Jade and Isaac are mates and they don't need to do the mundane things, like going on dates to fall in love. They already feel it through the mate bond.

Dedicated to felicitynina because she gave me the idea of power swapping in the next chapter. Thank you for that! :D