Stained By Sin

TWELVE

Aki paced back and forth inside Elara’s empty room, mentally cursing himself for letting her get taken away by the Ivory. He was there, just few feet away from where Elara was abducted, yet he wasn’t able to save her. How weak had he become? Had the last ten years of peacefully living in the Crow’s residence made him soft as a warrior?

Aki groaned in frustration, his blood boiling with anger. He wanted to fight someone just so he could release his anger, but knew that the only one who deserved a beat up was him.

As he continued to walk aimlessly inside Elara’s room, he reflected on the previous battle.

Elara and him had decided on the plan to lay down a thin string from where their fighters would stand guard all the way inside the clearing. Then, Elara would hold a conversation with the Ivory, and would decide when to launch their attack. They were to launch a surprise attack to the Ivorys, with one part of their fighters assisting Elara and Aki, and other fighting the soldiers brought by the Ivory.

However, nothing went according to their plan. They were not expecting the Ivory to break their own rules. And not only had they surprised Aki with an army of their own, their fighters were also somehow able to hide their presence and sneak up on them. And as vampires with extraordinary senses, that was saying a lot.

Aki knew that their fault was their own negligence. The Crow clan weren’t really known for using their brains in battles, but majority of the current members of the Crow clan were originally from either from other clans, or were Nomads. They did not bear the characteristics that distinguishes the Crow clan. The only similarity they had with the original clan were their ruthlessness in fighting and their brute strength. Thus, Aki had no excuse with what happened. He was Elara’s right hand, and her adviser. He was responsible for coming up with all possible situations that Elara might have overlooked. He wasn’t able to do his job properly, and it resulted to getting the clan’s leader abducted.

Aki groaned again, his head throbbing from thinking too much.

Other than the unexpected situation that they got caught up in during the previous fight, Aki also hadn’t expected that the vampire Nero brought with him was that skilled of a fighter. Aki was confident that he would win had they fight a bit longer. But he had to admit that the Khalil guy Nero brought was a skilled fighter.

Just like Elara and Nero, Khalil and AKi fought only with throwing knives and their fists. It was obvious to Aki that Khalil wasn’t well-versed with fighting using throwing knives, however, the level of skill he had wielding the weapons were high enough.

And it was definitely high enough to prevent Aki from chasing after Nero as he took Elara away.

Aki shook with fury as he remembered the loud thud he heard when Elara was shoved down from the top of a tree. Elara didn’t scream. Aki knew she would never scream in front of her enemies. But Aki knew how much pain she was in. He caught a glimpse of her as the Ivorys chained her arms, and he knew they were not using an ordinary metal. It had to be silver.

The thought alone made Aki flinch in pain. He wondered just how much pain Elara was in.

Aki stopped pacing, took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

He had to be calm. Now that Elara was a prisoner of the Ivory, he had no choice but to temporarily lead the clan. There was no use worrying. He knew that they wouldn’t really kill her, anyway. They could torture her as much as they could, but he knew they would keep her alive. She wasn’t the one they need, after all. It was the human that Aki had in his room.

As long as that Jaiden was alive, and kept as their prisoner, the Ivory would never dare kill Elara. That alone consoled Aki. Not that he was okay with Elara being tortured, but at least he knew he had time to save her. He just need to compose himself.

Taking another deep breath and trying to clear his mind as much as he could, Aki readied himself for a meeting. The Crow clan suffered a huge loss today, from their leader getting abducted to having half of the men he brought with him getting killed… there were a lot of things he need to discuss with his commanding fighters. They would need to properly plan their next move and not let get themselves be tricked again. They were holding the ace. They should win this fight. They would win this fight.

And besides, Aki thought as he headed towards the door, there was that interesting scent I picked up on at the scene.

Jaiden jumped at the sound of his door suddenly opening. He apparently got used to Elara knocking on his door the couple of times she visited him that he almost forgot he was a hostage in this place. From the door came out Aki. He was the guy that gave him the clothes he was currently wearing, and told him the story about Elara’s past.

“She wouldn’t admit it to herself, but she sees her little brother in you. Her little brother that your mate’s clan killed. Our initial plan was to use you as bait to get the king’s head, but now, I’m not so sure. Elara might want to keep you here. For her saki.” Aki was casually talking to him -- as if he wasn’t the one that kidnapped him -- while he leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes staring blankly at the space in front of him. It was as if he was seeing in front of him all the things he had just told Jaiden.

When Jaiden remained quiet, huddled against the corner of the room, trying to make himself small as much as he could, Aki just shook his head. As scared as he was at the moment, Aki still felt the apparent disgust on Aki’s face sting his pride.

“Anyways, just try and talk to her. Just forget how she tried to intimidate you awhile ago and start befriending her. She wouldn’t hurt you, no matter what. Take my word for it,” Aki said while he strode towards the door, pausing only to throw Jaiden the small duffel bag he had been holding since he entered the room.

Jaiden shook his head to clear away the memories. He needed to be cautious right now. Even after he talked to Jaiden like that, there was no way to be sure he wouldn’t hurt him. He needed to focus.

Jaiden, however, was surprised to see how distressed Aki looked. He wasn’t really the cool type. He was more like… the cold type. Whenever Jaiden sees him, he was either frowning, glaring, or just plain emotionless. The only times he saw Aki bear expression and give out warmth was whenever Elara was with him. So now that he was looking all distracted and beaten up, Jaiden knew something must have happened to her.

“What’s wrong?” Jaiden asked once the door closed.

“Elara was abducted by your mate’s clan,” Aki said, his voice was so low, Jaiden could almost hear a quiet growl in his voice.

“What?”

Aki glared at him as if he was the one that took Elara away.

“Don’t think for a moment that just because they got her, you will be released in exchange for her. That will never happen.”

Jaiden nodded. He didn’t expect anything of the sort, anyways. And honestly, he would just go with flow. He knew nothing of these two clans, knew nothing of the vampires. There was no way he would willingly choose one clan over the other. As long as nobody harmed him, he would be fine.

Aki turned to leave, then paused while in the middle of opening the door.

“One more thing,” he said. “Try to be more cooperating. Now that Elara was gone, there would be no one to protect you. I wouldn’t you because I know you would be of help to Elara, but the other clan members might think differently.”

Jaiden nodded again, then waited for Aki to leave.

Once Jaiden was alone, he plopped himself down the bed. He wasn’t really that invested with Elara yet. They had only known each other for more than a day. She was his kidnapper, and had even tried to terrify him. But somehow, the news that she was in the hands of her enemies scared Jaiden. He worried of what would happen to her.

It confused him. Regardless of what Aki told him, it was only Elara that should feel some connection to him. For Jaiden, Elara holds no importance in his life. So why was his heart racing at the thought of Elara not being shown the same treatment he had been given as a hostage? What if, unlike him, Elara was being tortured? After all, she was the enemy of Ava’s family. While Jaiden was an innocent bystander that was forced into this mess, Elara and Ava’s family apparently had a deep-rooted history.

Jaiden closed his eyes, massaging his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

He thought of the way she cried while he held last night, and his heart ached. Somehow, he started to care for Elara. He worried for her, and prayed that she was safe.