Nearly an entire week had passed and Joey hadn’t heard of Josie or Miles. He was worried sick and out of pure paranoia, he began to practice his magic. Although he was a Gemini witch, he hadn’t learned or practiced enough when he was alive. It was sleepless night after sleepless night staring at his cell phone in hope that he’d receive a call or a text from either one of them. He let out a sigh and continued on his way. Walking helped him unwind but his nerves were wrecked momentarily. His hazel eyes widened as he saw the young woman covered in blood. Joey’s breath hitched, he was spooked but he thought that maybe she needed help and hopefully she wasn’t one of those people from the cult. “Are you alright?”
she hummed in response, her focus slipping back into reality to study the boy before her, seeing the uncertainty and, if she could say, fear in his eyes. she took a few moments before responding to his question, thinking it over before she shook her head.
Miles had been walking along the streets of New Orleans, though he still loved the town, his thoughts had completely changed. The torture he experienced was like none other. He definitely wasn’t someone who would dare go through such pain once again. Now, he realised how much the world had changed from the days he had lived in. Miles was so lost in thought, he almost didn’t realise the person who was covered in blood. “Oh my goodness. Are you alright?” Miles immediately asked.
“I--” her voice broke as she tried to reply. her throat felt as dry as her lips when she went to link them. she took a few moments, lips pursing as though she was trying to decide whether she wanted to try and say something again. “I don’t know.” she finally answered.
Davina knew exactly what the cult did. She was part of it after all. Still. She felt nothing for the girl in front of her. “Should probably go home and clean up before someone finds you. Probably scream. That’s a lot of blood.”
she took a step forward, looking down at the brunette and kept her voice low, “and there can always be more if you don’t get out of my way.”
kassandra wouldn’t have heard the girl had she not stepped directly into kassandra’s path, forcing her to listen, even barely, to the girl she’d nearly ran over. she didn’t reply immediately, instead letting her eyes slowly readjust their focus and studying the girl before her, running the words through her mind before she let out a scoff that was devoid of any kind of emotion. “clearly.” her voice broke off.
the world around her had grown hazy and dream-like, leaving only a sense of moving through a bubble where she couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. her body felt numb, the uneven cobblestone beneath her feet felt like marble and the sun that pounded down on her was barely barely enough to warm up the cold she felt. her own blood had now stopped dripping from her hair and had started to dry on her skin, but the wounds were nothing compared to the hole in her chest. no. she’d said no to the love of her life, said no to getting back what she’d died for-- she’d said no, and it felt as though it had been worst than saying yes.
“you’re stronger than I thought you’d be.” the voice was barely audible over the pounding in her ears as she rolled onto her side, choking on her own blood and spit it out. “but I’ll make you beg soon enough.” a shadow crossed over the girl, who turned to the woman crouched above her. don’t give in, her brother’s words were the only coherent thoughts that kassandra could hold onto, the pain in her body too overpowering for her to think of anything else but not enough for her to plead for the woman to stop.
the woman pushed the strand of hair that had fallen over her eyes and smiled, bringing her other hand to shape her face and the scene suddenly gave way to something entirely different.
“don’t give in, kass.” the voice shifted into that of the person she missed the most.
"I know.” her own voice startled her, but seeing that face again... she took steps forward and cupped her lover’s face. her heart felt soft at the sight of the lover she’d died for, looking into their eyes as though it would be the last time, forgetting, for a moment, that this wasn’t true. what if this is the truth? she wondered and suddenly she wasn’t sure. the soft skin beneath her fingers felt so real as she traced her lover’s chin with her thumb, their breaths mingling together as they watched one another.
she inhaled so sharply that she felt her chest might burst, the moment taken away as quickly as it had been given and the loss was too much for kassandra to bare.
“aww, you’re crying,” her torturer commented with a smirk, wiping away one of the tears that had strayed down her temple.
kassandra could feel her hatred for herself rise with every tear that fell in the presence of this narcissist, hating that all the strength she’d built up until now had been shattered by one simple vision. she missed them... missed them so much more than she could ever admit to anyone, but it was as though these people knew exactly where her emotions lie-- knew of the bond the two had shared that intertwined both of their souls.
“they’re alive, you know.” the woman finally said when she was no longer satisfied in watching kassandra cry. she waited for kassandra to turn to her before continuing, “we could give them back to you, if you’d like.” she offered, “you know what needs to be done.”
Freyja pressed her lips together into a line, feeling guilt welling up inside of her. “I am sorry…” She said quietly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody was there. “I cannot let you out.”
“right. then you aren’t very helpful, are you?” she was frustrated, to say the least, but if the woman was a member of the cult her brother had told her about, then feeling bad for the woman was the last thing she should be feeling. the woman seemed nice enough, of course, and more than a little-- soft? if that was the right word. “why are you doing this?” she finally relented.
A frown was painted over Silas’ lips. It felt permanent to say the least. His lips parted before he started speaking. “They’re evil, Kass. They only want power and everything else. They’ll stop at nothing to take it. Nothing at all.” he proclaimed before gulping. “I didn’t join them willingly. They took away every bit of emotion I had until I didn’t care about my pride and used me to do awful and chaotic things. The bodies on the outskirts of the city, bringing the dead back and the linking spells… I helped them. I’m an accomplice.” he confessed to her. A sigh fell from his lips, “They most likely want to force you into joining us…” he paused for a moment before putting his hands on her shoulders. “But you have to fight it. They’ll promise you something in return but that will only give them more power over you. You have to resist. Just promise me you’ll do that. Please?”
her features fell more and more with every piece of information that her brother was giving her. they’d revived them for their sick power trip, and they’d used her brother to do it. she cared less and less about the effects of the linking spell on her, but what she did care was that her brother had been forced into this at the expense of who he was. she looked down at the hand on one of her shoulders, processing what he was telling her as quickly as she could. “what about you?” she finally looked up. “there has to be some way to get you out of this; some way to stop them.”
What a century indeed, Freyja thought in response, though didn’t speak straight away. She turned to look around, making sure that nobody was close… she was very on edge. With a little sigh, she moved closer to the blonde. “Is there anything I can get you?” She asked, keeping it quiet. It’s not like she thought she was supposed to be nice to the people they had taken but she wasn’t a malicious person.
she caught movement in the corner of her eye and turned abruptly to it, eyes narrowing at the question. could she get anything for her? she pursed her lips, studying the girl before she turned to the room. “yeah, an exit.” she replied dryly, pushing herself off the ground.
Madison leaned up against a nearby wall and nodded. “This century certainly is something. So many advancements, and yet nothing that can override good ol’ fashion magic.”
the girl turned to the voice that had spoken up in response to her comments, her eyes narrowing. “what is this?”
Josie didn’t move away from the other, she had to think that maybe this girl was in the same boat as her, she shakes her head nonetheless. “Its not, my sister, I don’t know where she is. They could be hurting her, trying to kill her!” Josie tears ran freely, if this was the witches who wanted the Gemini coven started they could easily want to just hurt Josie and Lizzie for ruining their plans. “I shouldn’t touch you. I could end up hurting you.” Josie says softly before she nods. “But yes I can stand.”
kassandra pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. she bit her lip and looked over her shoulder, how many of them were here? she wondered. her eyebrows knitted together at the comment, but nodded still, careful not to touch her, if only to accept the request. “if she’s here, we’ll find her, okay?” she couldn’t tell the other her sister would be alright, not knowing if even they would be alright, but she hoped that she would be; preferably, she wouldn’t be here at all. she went to offer a hand, but pulled it back, remembering what the girl had asked of her, and instead stood up slowly, smiling softly at the other and waited for her to stand.
Silas shook his head quickly and gulped. A frown was painted over his features. “I am one of them, Kass.” he admitted before letting out a sigh. He couldn’t look her in the eyes after telling her that he had been one of the people who took someone away from their family or loved ones. Just like she had been snatched from Theron — and him. “You were captured by a cult of supernatural creatures. They want to take over the city and awaken this witch… Inadu. They think she’ll bring them to power and give them a recompense for their loyalty…” he explained, his voice was still a whisper. They couldn’t hear him. They couldn’t find out he had his emotions intact. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
"what? why?” she asked, a little louder than she likely should have. she took another step closer to him, searching his features for some hint as to why he would do this. her eyebrows furrowed and she began to shake her head slowly as he started to explain who this ‘them’ was. she thought she remembered reading something about this inadu, though not in her own time. “why would you join them, si?” her voice softened again, “are they the ones who hurt me before, too? what do they want with me? why am I here?”
Josie woke up with a pain washing over her whole body, she felt weaker than she ever did. Why wasn’t she healing like she normally did? She squints her eyes adjusting to the dark dank space around her and she sniffles. Reaching out she tries a spell to open the door in front of her and nothing happens. She frowns looking at her hand, “Wha-?” She shakes her head that wasn’t possible, she always has magic now. Panic washed over her, did the witches that once kidnapped her and Lizzie find them? “No, no, no.” She shakes her head with tears welling in her eyes. “Lizzie! Lizzie!” She calls out in fear for her sister looking around.
“hey, hey, hey,” she said as she hurried over to kneel down beside the other. “it’s okay. are you alright?” she wanted to help alleviate the tears in the other’s eyes, but could do little to ease the girl’s fear other than trying to lend a helping hand. “my magic doesn’t seem to be working either. can you stand?”
Amara had been hesitantly walking around, looking for any clues as to where she was or anyone that may be more powerful than she could ever be, that may they could break them out. Her eyes fell upon the girl and she was instantly taken back to her time as a handmaiden. She immediately recognized her as Silas’ sister. “Kassandra? You are here too?” she said, making her way to the girl. “Have you any idea where we are or who is responsible for this?”
“amara?” she asked, feeling slightly relieved at seeing a familiar face. she slowly pushed herself off the ground, eyes drifting to every surface around her, still trying to decipher where she was. she shook her head at the question, “no, I don’t know.” her words came out more frustrated than scared. waking up from a terrible death, only to be tortured and then kidnapped for no reason apparent to her was annoying and tiresome, to say the least. “I am going to assume that that these are likely the same people who linked others together and hurt them, however, but that’s about as much as I know right now.” it was the only true explanation as to how they’d done it, and given that both perpetrators had let themselves go unnoticed, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to make such a connection.
What Silas feared the most had happened and yet, he didn’t want to face it. He slowly stepped into the confined room. An apologetic look dawned over his face. They had gotten his baby sister and although he wasn’t the one who did it, he took part in taking someone else’s relative or loved one. “Oh, Kass.” he frowned, lamenting everything that had happened. “I promise I’ll get you out of here. They won’t hurt you. I won’t let them. Okay?” he whispered as quiet as he could.
“si!” her shoulders slumped down and her eyes softened at the sight of her brother. she pushed herself off the ground quicker than she should have and held a hand to the wall as she fought off the dizziness that took her, blinking quickly. “what?” she almost hadn’t understood what her brother had said, but once she regained her senses, she looked up at him, confused. “who’s them?” she took a step toward her brother, keeping to whispering as silas had. “si, what’s going on? did they take you too?”
kassandra hadn’t realized what was happening until the last minute. she’d learned some information about the typical chaotic endings of events in the city, but from what she’d been told, these hadn’t been particularly popular in the last few years. she hadn’t been allowed to many festivals, or really, any, when she’d been alive before-- only attending one or two thanks to the aid of a friend and then her lover. she’d decided she was going to enjoy herself, which caught her off guard when came the darkness.
“tortured and then kidnapped…” she sighed to no one in particular. she pushed herself off the ground, blinking away the fogginess from her eyes, trying to figure out where she was. she’d explored so much of the city, she had to find something that could help her out. “what a century.” it felt like she’d left one life of torture and sadness for another. at least, when she’d been born, she’d been shielded at least for a few years before the darkness made itself known to her. now,.. it was already exhausting her. she sighed and continued to look around, adding the task of finding an exit to that of finding where she was, though the closed walls left little to see of the outside world. she looked down at her hands, considering the spells that could get her out.
