Prey.

32

Hours. It took hours to get Neela to calm down. Neela was taken down to the hospital while Ryan was left in Neela's room on the floor. Neela eventually fell asleep from exhaustion and pain she had to undergo. "Do you see why it's a bad idea for her to be here now, father? Do you finally get it?" Landon asked Damien as they both watched Sean work on Neela's battered body, "but it's too late now."

"I didn't think he'd do that," Damien admitted, "especially to his mate. Even when I couldn't control it, I never did anything like that to your mother." Damien held his head in his hands; he was disgusted at what he saw. "Why didn't you guys try to fight back? Or call for me sooner?" Landon shrugged, "I was fighting him before it happened. When he turned, we all knew we'd be no match for him. So we just didn't try. And the reason we didn't call sooner, I don't know."

"Her nightmares are coming true. Do you guys know that?" Sean etched himself into the conversation as he cleaned Neela's wounds and soothed the bruises. "Could any of you tell me about the nightmares? I don't believe Ethan could see them." The dreams have been mentioned so much; they seem to be vital to the whole situation. However, Damien only heard little to none about them.

"When she first came here, she told me about how he scarred her body and hit her. What happened is just ironic to her nightmares. She never went into them in full detail." Sean then blew on Neela's burn wound to get a piece of fabric out of his way, "how are we going to go about this? There has to be a punishment, but he'll kill her if we take her away."

Damien shrugged, his face still in his hands. "I never even expected something like this to happened, I really don't know." Damien finally gained the courage to get up to see Neela on the bed up close. "Will she be fine?" He asked genuinely concerned. "Physically, yes, except a deep scar. Mentally and emotionally, no." Damien then went behind Neela to get a better look at the wound. "What did he say to her while they were in the room? When I came in, she told me to kill her."

"I can't even remember anything since before we got her. I'm just exhausted. I caused this." Sean stepped away once Neela was completely patched up. "We both did," Landon added. "Are you happy with your decisions, father?" Landon asked in agony for his sister, "was this worth making him happy?" His hands motioned around Neela's body on the bed.

"I thought the legal document would prevent this from happening! I know I made a mistake!" Damien raised his voice, "stop reminding me! This is my daughter we're talking about!"

Landon then threw a small metal table that had some gauze and alcohol on it, "legal documents don't work in the demon world, father! Ryan signed it! The demon he didn't!" Landon yelled. "We live forever! We have nothing to lose! No legal document will change that!"

"Losing a mate would," Damien stated in a calm voice.

"No, it wouldn't! Most demons' mates are demons also or don't know what a mate is! We're different because we're half-human! We could find them in a heartbeat! If they were hurt badly, we could turn them with no second thoughts!" Landon was shaking at this point, "nothing will change it!" Landon couldn't say anything else as Ryan groggily walked into the room.

"I just know something had happened," Ryan slowly said as everyone's heads snapped towards him. "So, just tell me."

"Get out." Landon stood dominantly in front of Neela. He didn't want her to be seen by Ryan. "Landon, please, tell me."

Being blunt as always, Landon slowly stalked towards his brother. "You held a small and powerless girl by her throat. You wanna know what you did while you were bruising her throat with your fingers? You pressed a hot lamp to her back and branded her." Landon paused and smirked as he saw Ryan's eyes drop. "And I'm not sure what you said, but you said something to her that makes her want to be dead."

"Maybe you'll get that lucky next time." Damien finished off Landon's thoughts. "Oh, my angel," Ryan's voice cracked as he tried to peek around his brother to see his mate. "I don't want her dead! How could either of you say that?! That's not me saying it!"

"I don't care! You have the power to fight him back, why don't you try?!" Damien snapped. Everyone's attention then shifted from Ryan to Neela as she begun to quietly sob, she glued on Ryan. "Neela, please, don't cry. Does it hurt? Where did I do it?"

"Make him leave!" Neela yelled and scrambled off the bed, falling onto her back, making her scream. "Help her! Sean!" Ryan yelled, frozen in his spot.

"Leave!" Damien yelled at Ryan. He shook his head as he begun to cry, "I hurt my baby!" Ryan sobbed, "please don't let her leave! I'll keep training, just please!"

"We'll talk about the punishment later if you leave now." Damien roared as everyone, even Neela, cowered away.

~~

Ryan could hear his brother's speaking, along with their father. As his senses were becoming heightened once again, their conversation sounded heated. Ryan looked at his surroundings and noticed he was on the floor of Neela's room, along with a steaming lamp lying next to him, complimented by a few droplets of blood on the floor next to it.

Slowly, Ryan stood up and could tell that something bad had happened. The whole upstairs was a silent ghost town; all of the noise was coming from the hospital.

~~