Behind Enemy Lines | 2

Chapter Two

Hey everyone! After a long time not posting (blame final year of school for that :P ) I am back to posting my favourite series! Behind Enemy Lines will be updated every week from this post, Sunday, Australia EST. Hope you all enjoy, and always, let me know what you think :)

Libby xx

The young girl’s eyes opened to hell once again. The blood stains, no doubt hers, greeted her wakening on the ceiling. She trembled. Feeling a presence in the room, she turned to her right to see two very new sights.
Her mouth mumbled as she tried to describe her vision; a golden wolf standing at the hip of the bloody man next to her, who was holding a drenched silver key. Their eyes were shocked, staring at her on the cold table. As she tried to open her mouth, the crackling of radio interrupted her speech.
“Leopard to Lion, Leopard to Lion. Come in Lion, over.” The static came through and the bloody man fumbled for the radio in his jacket pocket. He only used his left arm, his right clutched to his chest in pain. Green eyes darting back and forth, he pressed down on the receiver with shaking hands.
“Lion to Leopard, go.” He responded, as the golden wolf edged closer. The young werewolf on the bench shivered at the calm aura of the golden beast. Their blonde fur glowed slightly in her presence, the remainder of the light shining on her back. Her dark eyes stared right into the girl’s in sorrow.
“Mosquitoes are returning to the nest. EVAC now.” The group, Leopard, responded. Elijah stilled at the news, locking eyes with Thalia. Her head swung back to the girl and she scanned the braces.
“Copy that, out in three.” He reported, before returning his radio. He walked over to the girl, and tears started to pool in her eyes. Whimpering, she started to shake her head under the forehead strap.
“It’s okay!” Elijah assured. “My name is Elijah; I’m under orders from the King to get you out of here.”
Repeating his words over and over he scrambled for the silver braces. He could feel the girl’s raw skin under the braces, barely millimetres of space between the death hold and her own pale skin. Hanging the keys on his dislocated arm, he felt the braces with his left. Unable to find the lock, he drew his knife. The sight of the sharp silver cut made the girl whimper, whining from her unbreakable hold.
“No!” He whispered, holding his hand up in defence. “I can’t open the braces with my hand; I need the knife to cut through the bonds. I won’t hurt you.”
Turning to his mate next to him, his heart broke at the look in her eyes. “Thalia, get Dave for me, I need another pair of hands.”
Thalia curtly nodded her head before sprinting out of the room of death. Elijah started to cut through the bonds on her wrist and worked his way around the table. He sliced through the thick straps on her waist, thighs, and ankles and the strap over her shoulders. Just as Elijah was to cut through the one over her mouth and forehead, Dave came in.
“Thalia pushed me in here, what’s going… oh shit.” Dave halted in his steps at the sight of the red-headed girl. Elijah glared at him with hatred over the torture, waving to the cloth-covered child.
“Help me get her out of here, they’re returning.” Elijah ordered, as he cut the last two straps. He flung the straps off the girl’s face in relief. The red-head breathed in as though she was desperate to taste the air one last time. Her light grey eyes were empty of emotion as she stared at her blood above her. Dave nodded and rushed forward, placing his hands on her waist.

She screamed.

Yanking his hands off her, Dave stumbled back. The screaming stopped, as Elijah shushed her. “Hey!” He snapped. “We are trying to get you out of here! Stop screaming, let us help you! You don’t have the strength to walk, so let Dave carry you out of this hell goddammit!”
The grey eyes of the young girl stared into the soul of the Hunter. Unable to look away, he kept the staring up until her anaemic lips started to tremble again. “We’re here to save you.” He whispered, waving Dave over. Approaching carefully this time, he gently slid his hands under her knees and shoulders. The girl whimpered at the white hot pain that spread through her body at the contact. Her head hung over Dave’s arm but she couldn’t bring her head back up. Her strength had left her long ago. Dave adjusted his hold on the girl, his arms slipping slightly on the bloody rags she wore before nodding at his leader.
Elijah nodded in return, making his way around the table and out of the room. Death coated those walls and he had had enough of it. Dave followed his leader as he started to call out to the wolves. “Scramble back to your safe zones, you have at maximum one week to return to the next! If not, you will be presumed dead.” Elijah called. He spotted Thalia at the end of the hallway, still in wolf form, as she communicated to her fellow kin. The remaining wolves scrambled the papers they had collected before sprinting back into the forest. The hunters which had checked around the back had also come in to help raid the terrible house. They booked it at the sight of Elijah. He spotted Nell leaving and he quickly called her back.
“Quickly set my shoulder in place.” He ordered, standing shoulder-width apart in preparation for the pain. Nell looked warily at the Princess, who stiffly nodded.
“Don’t bite your tongue.” She joked, before pushing the joint back into the socket. Elijah yelled at the pain before shaking his head out of it. Thalia flinched at the sound. Her mate nodded in thanks to the dark-skinned woman as she sprinted out of the vampire experimentation house and into the safety of the forest. Welcoming the freedom of the woods, the wolves and hunters scattered together.
Elijah turned to Dave. “Give me the girl and get yourself to Kelly.” He ordered, taking the frail wolf out of his hands.
“Thanks Elijah.” He breathed as he too ran into the forest. Elijah too adjusted his grip before he and Thalia ran out of the house.
“Book it!” Elijah cried as he spotted his watchers in the forest. Hearing the call, they too packed up their gear and ran to their allocated safe zones. Thalia sprinted alongside her mate, not missing a single stride as she snatched up a bag from behind a tree in her colossal canines.

They quickly left the vampire lair behind; not halting their sprint for several hours.

“T-Thalia, I need to rest.” Elijah stammered, breathing heavily with the unconscious girl in his arms. Thalia halted next to a small stream, turning back to her mate. Her dark eyes were locked onto Elijah and the red-headed girl in his arms. Jealousy rode through her body but she held it back. She couldn’t be more than sixteen years old, too young for Elijah. And, Elijah was her mate, he wouldn’t betray her.
Elijah gently placed the young girl against a tree, before collapsing onto the ground next to her. Breathing heavily, he rested his hands and knees on the dirty ground. He just stared. Collecting his thoughts, he shook off his rucksack. Elijah threw a shirt towards Thalia; they needed to talk. Keeping his head down, Elijah heard the swift sounds of Thalia changing back to a more communicable form. He stared into her dark brown eyes, the frown ever-present on her face.
“That did not turn out like we expected.” Elijah over exaggerated. The pain on Thalia’s face at the discovery of the red-headed teenager was a lot on her shoulders.
“We should have expected it though.” She whispered, staring into his green orbs. They were a lot darker in the moonlight, as though the darkness of that lair had stayed within his eyes. “We should have at least prepared ourselves for the possibility that… that there would be…”
Elijah sat up and cupped his mate’s face. “This; is not your fault. We did not know she would be there and if we did we would have arrived earlier. You know that Thalia!” He exclaimed, running his thumbs over her cheekbones. “The Queen will help her out.”
Thalia nodded, leaning her head against Elijah’s healthy shoulder. He held his princess close, not daring to let her go in this time of need. While holding Thalia, Elijah looked around them. The forest was thick around them. There were no traces of the vampires chasing them. Sounds of owls hooting in the dark night, cicadas creaking in the distance… enveloping themselves in the darkness Elijah knew they would be safe for the night.
“Get some rest Thalia.” He whispered in her ears. “I’ll watch out for trouble.”
“No.” Thalia spoke sternly. “I cannot sleep as long as the girl lives. Knowing that it has happened again… That is something I cannot erase from my memory.”
Elijah ran a hand through Thalia’s dark locks and nodded. There was no convincing her; he knew exactly what she was going through.
Another experimentation house. They thought it just a rumour; a trap to lure them to the vampires. They dismissed it almost immediately and waited several months before striking. Elijah nor Thalia had even suspected that it would actually be another house… The question is what were they trying in this one? To someone so young?
Elijah glanced at the red headed girl against the tree. Her long knotted curls were tangled in the bark of the tree. Her blood red hair matched the stains on her rags, making her bruised scarred skin stand out a lot more. Thalia frowned at his staring.
“What do you think they were doing to her?” Elijah whispered, not wanting to wake the frail girl.
Thalia’s dark gaze scoped out the girl. “We walked in on her with needles in her arms. She was strapped with silver. Burns. Scars. Blood…” Thalia’s voice broke at her own recollection. Elijah held her closer as they both stared at the red-headed girl. She’d been though who knows how much and they delayed their destruction on the house where she was being held. The darkness of the forest around them echoed the damage of the red-headed girl’s soul.

And her soul’s damage was on the two of them.