Soul Lines (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six
Elle POV

Tim's idea of a good kidnapping involved a burlap sack and coarse rope. He'd watched too many movies, and mocking words tingled on my tongue, but I held them back for another time until our positions could be somewhat reversed, pulling the bag over my eyes.

It wasn't a pleasant sensation, though it was never meant to be. The rope rubbed my wrists raw while the sack scratched against my skin, prickling and uncomfortable. The last thing I saw as the world around me turned to blurry shapes and shadows was Shaun glowering at me, his arms bound tightly across his body, bulging with steroid-built muscles.

The burlap bag allowed some of the lantern light to filter through, and I studied our path as Shaun clamped a hand over my shoulder. He dug the fingers of his other hand into my back as he forced me from my cell.

Mostly blind, the air cold but muggy, I felt like the walls moved, shrinking the corridors like the slow-moving teeth of a trap, preparing to close for good. I wasn't usually claustrophobic, but my breath quickened, my pulse drumming in my ears. I didn't like not knowing where I was walking, and Shaun's hands were unforgiving as he continued to punch bruises into my skin with just his fingers.

Languish, and hesitant, I stumbled more than I stayed standing. Hissing through my teeth, holding cries of pain at bay, I withstood the tortured assault, only whimpering as Shaun stomped onto my toes after they'd been used as a battering ram against the rocky passageway.

The noise upset Shaun, and he dug his fingers in harder, twisting until my back cramped, searing pain jolting through my muscles with each agonising step.

Tim didn't care. He'd kept his distance, leading the way down the corridors. He looked tiny compared to Shaun, who seemed three times larger through the burlap, and for the first time, I wished that it was Tim I was dealing with because at least I knew who he was and what he was capable of.

Shaun grew bigger, his grip tightening and even more painful now. Tim looked larger than life down the corridor as the walls shrunk, like a garbage compactor, unstoppable in their pursuit of destruction.

Heat scored my skin, my heart pounding, and I tripped again. Shaun did not bother to righten me before I slammed against the cavern floors, it felt like the joints of my knees had exploded, and my hands felt sweaty, but the sting of my palms told me it was blood.

'Could you at least try and keep her in one piece!' Tim grunted as the sound of a metal door opening clanged down the corridor.

I was swept off my feet, and a scream lodged in my throat as Shaun tossed me across the room like a ragdoll.

I was plucked from the air before I could fall as though I weighed nothing, and Tim set me down onto a chair, gently lifting the bag from my eyes. Fear caused reckless abandonment to puppeteer my actions, and I slammed my forehead into Tim's, using enough force to rattle my brain.

He sighed, untying the rope behind my hands so he could buckle the straps around my wrists that would bind me to the chair. 'Surely you understood that headbutting me would hurt you more than it hurt me.'

I refused to show him my pain, the muscles in my face twitching as I glared across at him. 'Surely you understood that kidnapping someone will get you arrested.'

He snorted out laughter, 'Elliot,' he smirked, 'They don't know where you are. They are not going to find you unless I want them to.'

'Your kind happens to be excellent trackers, or have you forgotten.'

He settled into a chair across from mine, so close I could kick out my legs and nail his shin if he hadn't bound my legs after my wrists. 'You think that wouldn't qualify me to know how to hold someone hostage? When you know how they'll begin their search, you know what mistakes not to make. Do you honestly think I was stupid enough to leave a trail? Look around, Elliot. Do you know where we are?'