VESTIGE ↬ D. HALE [3]

13 ; pendant

13 ↬ PENDANT

A shiver ran down Elise's spine as she entered the old warehouse. The vision had led her here, and she'd sent Isaac to get Harper. They were supposed to meet Elise here, but she wasn't willing to wait for them to show up, especially not with Nancy's life on the line. Somehow, Elise knew that the girl was still alive, but what frustrated her was the why. The man was clearly after the bounty from the deadpool, so why was he keeping her alive?

Elise knew the answer.

She knew she was walking into a trap. The price on Elise and Scott's heads were higher than most. For all she knew, Nancy wasn't even on the deadpool yet, she was just a lure.

Elise didn't care. Nancy was family, but more than that, Nancy was a life. Elise wasn't going to let someone she cared about- or anyone at all, for that matter- sit in danger while she cowered by the sidelines.

She winced as her footsteps echoed loudly against the stone floor, her breath fogging the air in front of her. The little string in her skull pulled her forward, tugging her deeper into the warehouse.

"Nancy?" Elise whispered. Her quiet voice echoed off the walls around her as she wandered deeper into the warehouse. Shelves formed walls on either side of her, and upon peering through them, she found only more shelves on the other side. She pulled her knife free from where it was holstered at her hip and gripped it tightly in her hand.

She could hear shallow breathing coming from deeper within the warehouse, but with the maze of shelves blocking her path, she couldn't pinpoint the source.

Elise's grip on her blade tightened as the followed her senses deeper into the warehouse, inching closer to the sound of breathing.

She rounded a corner, and the tugging sensation subsided as her eyes landed on Nancy, slumped unconsciously against the cement floor. Elise caught sight of the iron cuffs that were latched around the blonde's wrists. Iron. Elise peered around the corner, scanning the room for anyone else. She found no one, and the room was nearly empty aside from a set of stairs in the far corner leading down to what Elise supposed was a sublevel of the warehouse.

Elise's nerve's prickled with anxiety as she slipped into the room, taking care to make her footsteps as quiet as possible as she rushed toward Nancy.

She kept her eyes glued to the stairwell as she knelt next to the girl, worrying that the man would come rushing up any second. She placed a hand on the girl's arm and shook her gently, trying to stir her back to consciousness.

"Nancy," Elise whispered.

The girl stirred slightly and her eyes fluttered open for a fraction of a second. In the short amount of time before she slipped back into unconsciousness, Nancy's eyes focused on something behind Elise and fear flashed across her face.

Suddenly, large arms grabbed Elise from behind, wrapping tightly around her and pinning her arms to her sides. She twisted in his arms, trying to get free as he pulled her away from the unconscious teen on the ground. One of the arms moved upward, locking tightly around her throat.

Elise threw her head back, slamming it into the man's mouth. A sharp pain flared through her skull, but he released his grip on her as he cried out. As her arms were freed from the man's grip, Elise drove her elbow behind her, slamming it into his ribs.

She spun around to face the man, ready to continue her attack but froze when she saw him. His skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and his wide eyes kept flicking around the room as he twitched. That single second of confusion was enough it took for him to lunge at the knife in her hand.