Hunter Wars

Chapter 9

I am sitting next to the cot while Johnathan is still sleeping. Every so often he will let out a groan when rolling over. I don’t feel his pain as strongly as I had when he was being beaten. I don’t understand why I am able to feel his pain. I wish I was able to talk to Phillip about this, I’m sure he would be able to figure this out. I let my mind trail off thinking about my friends and wondering if Kelly is at the club blowing off steam.

While I am sitting here daydreaming about everything I could be doing if I weren’t stuck in this cell, Jonathan finally wakes up and sits up on the cot. “Hey, sleeping beauty,” I say, giving him a small grin and looking over his face. “I’m sorry to tell you this but the sleep didn’t exactly do the trick to bringing you back to your old self.” I watch as his Adam's apple bobs as he swallows.

“You mean to tell me I don’t look better this way?” Jonathan croaks out. “I thought I might look a little rugged this way.” I shove his arm gently and look around the cell to see if they might have left some water for him anywhere. After all, he is one of them, right? After looking over the whole cell, I can tell they didn’t leave him any water at all. I push up from the ground and make my way to the cell door.

The young soldier is still sitting there. “Hey, you!” I call to him and once he looks up at me I motion at Jonathan, “I realize that we are prisoners here, but would you mind getting him some water? I don’t think you would want one of your own kind dying from dehydration would you?” I taunt the soldier. I can tell that the soldier is unaware of what to do about my request.

I hear Jonathan standing up behind me. I turn to face him and see him grimace and start to make his way over to me, and see him stumbling. I rush over to his side and wrap my arm around his waist and place his arm over my shoulder to help support him. “Brandon, please get me some water from the pitcher over there in the corner.”

Jonathan’s tone with the young guard is so gentle and I see the shift in Brandon’s eyes that he actually likes Johnathan. Brandon goes to the corner and brings a paper cup full of water over to the cell door and looks unsure of if he should actually trust enough to give the water. “Cleo, let's back up and give him some room and then he can open the door, set it inside, and close it real fast.”

I look at Johnathan like he is insane. If this guard is this scared of how we will act, he can’t be that skilled and it should be very easy to get past him. “Trust me, please,” Jonathan whispers into my ear as I am trying to figure out his plan. I nod to him and help him back up to the cot and set him down as gently as I can. Brandon does just as Johnathan had said to do, and I retrieve the cup, take it over and help him drink from it.

We sit in silence for what I can assume is hours. I am fully bored with nothing to do but stare at the walls around me. Jonathan has tried to make small talk with me but I’m too annoyed at still being a prisoner to really pay attention. “Hey, you do know that you are not the only one stuck in here right?” I snort at his wonderful observation.

“You know I had started to wonder if maybe I was hallucinating you,” I responded to him and started pacing the small space. I have so much restless energy built up in my body that I don’t know what to do with it. I finally stop pacing and turn to face Johnathan, “Cap, do you have any idea what it means that I was able to feel them beating you?” I ask him in a low whisper to make sure that we won't be overheard by Brandon.

“Honestly I haven’t gotten a clue. That is the first time I’ve ever heard of it happening,” he tells me. “I mean I know there has to be a reason for it but it is lost on me.” Just then we hear footsteps coming down the hall and then that disgusting voice of Morris pipes up.

“Well, don’t the two of you look cozy over there.” I roll my eyes and grind my teeth as I turn to face him. “What on earth could you want?” I hiss at him making sure he can tell my total distaste for him. Morris waves his hand motioning for Brandon to open the cell wall while the soldiers on either side of him have their hands lit up ready just in case we step out of line.

Morris steps inside the cell with us and walks over to where Johnathan is sitting on the cot while two guards stand on either side of me. “I have heard something interesting and I’m here to see if it is true. Make sure she doesn’t move.” Morris pulls Johnathan up by his hair and once he is standing sucker punches, Johnathan, in the stomach. This sends both him and I doubling over.

“That is very interesting.” Morris says while walking around Johnathan. When he is standing behind him he smirks at me as I stand back up straight and let my fangs down. “Touch him again and I will make sure you regret it.” How can they be so careless and treat their own kind this way.

“Oh, my dear, is there something the matter? Are you just trying to save yourself pain or have you come to care for him?” I bite the inside of my cheek as he sits there taunting me. Have I come to care about him? I mean I suppose I have but he did try to rescue me. “I do think I have an idea of how I will finally be able to get that information out of you.” Morris says as he motions for some of the soldiers behind me.

Two soldiers come into the cell with two chairs. They place Johnathan in one and strap him into it and the guard placed next to me forces me down into my own chair and straps me into it. As soon as they strap me into the chair it starts to glow that annoying silver. I feel it start to sting my skin. It hurts so much.

“Now, let’s begin, shall we?” Morris says as he is standing next to Johnathan’s chair. Next thing I know Morris pulls back and punches Johnathan across the jaw. I hear a sickening crack that indicates that his jaw is possibly broken. I feel the pain across my own cheek and watch as Johnathan rotates his head back towards Morris. “Who is your sire?” Morris asks me before he pulls back and punches Johnathan in the face again.

“I can’t tell you that!” I scream out. “Stop it. I can’t tell you who my sire is!” Morris looks at me with those cold eyes and says “Can’t or won't? Think very carefully before you answer that question.”

I pull against my restraints as best as I can. My face feels like it is on fire in the place that Morris has been punching Johnathan. “I can’t, that is the honest truth I don’t know who turned me.” Morris looks like he is processing this information. “Okay, do you have a master that you answer to?”

I don’t like this line of questioning at all. “Of course, I do. Myself.” I state as he looks at me I can see that he does not buy this one at all and he pulls back and punches Johnathan in the gut. This has both me and Jonathan coughing. I don’t think I care too much about this pain link. It is so much easier to withstand torture when it is just yourself enduring it. I look at Johnathan’s face and can see that this is so much worse for him. I don’t believe hunters can withstand pain as well as we can.

“Everytime I believe that you are lying to me poor Captain Johnathan here will pay the price. In turn it appears so will you.” Morris pulls Johnathan’s head up by the back of his hair to make sure that I am able to see his face. “Do you really want to make him pay for your stubbornness?”

Morris lets go of Johnathan’s hair and walks over to me and puts his face right in front of mine. “Now, I will ask you once again, who do you answer to? Is there a rank system with the vampires that you have to abide by?” I don’t want to answer him but I honestly can’t stand to see someone else suffering for me.

Hesitantly, I mutter “Yes, we have a ranking system, but only in the army. I have someone I report to.” Morris smiles at me and says, “See that wasn’t so hard now was it? I have a feeling things are going to go much more smoothly from here on out.” I hang my head in defeat knowing this is not going to end well.

He starts to question me about how our army works. A lot of the questions he asks I don’t have answers to because I’m too low rank to have them. I don’t give out Phillip’s name and some things I just make up to throw him off. The times that he suspects that I am lying he will punch Johnathan in either the face or the gut. By the time Morris has finished his line of questioning for the day he doesn’t have much true information from me. The only thing that was true that I gave him was that I am a new recruit and haven't been turned for that long.

“I am so glad that we have come to an understanding about all this. Thank you so much for the information that you have given me.” Morris says as he turns to leave the cell. He has them release me first and then they close the door behind him. I rush to Johnathan’s side and start to release his shackles.

“By the way Captain, thank you for the information you gave us the other day. You have done your job very well.” Morris says and laughs as he turns away to head down the hall. I pause in releasing Johnathan and look into his violet eye that isn’t swollen. “What is he talking about?” I ask him.

“Nothing, he is just trying to get a rise out of you, bloodsucker,” he responds, avoiding my gaze. I finish releasing him and move over to the corner of the cell as Johnathan works to rub feeling back into his wrist. “I promise it’s nothing. I wouldn’t be looking like this if I had given them any information would I?” Johnathan asks me as he stands and starts to walk over to where I am.

I move to the other side. “Look, I don’t know what to believe here, Cap. I barely know you!” I don’t trust Morris, but the way Johnathan is avoiding eye contact tells me something just isn’t right here. Johnathan moves to follow me and I walk away from him backing up and run into the cell door. I brace myself to feel the sting of the magic in the door but I feel nothing. The door swings open.

I look over at Johnathan, his eyes are wide with shock. “Did those idiots really forget to lock the door?” I ask him. He walks over to me and pushes the door the rest of the way open. “It would appear that they have.” I waste no time and take off down the hall with Johnathan right at my heels. “Which way is the exit?” I ask over my shoulder.

“V, stop. This has to be a trap. There is no way they forgot to lock this on purpose. I need you to go back with me to the cell.” Johnathan says as he catches up to me his hair matted to his face in sweat. Hunters really don’t handle pain that well it would seem. There is no way he would be able to help me fight my way out of here in the condition he is in.

“This might be our only time to get out of here. You can come with me, I’m sure if you are willing to help us we can keep you safe. Just point me in the right direction and I'll get us both out of here.” Johnathan looks at me in shock.

“Are you saying that you are willing to take me to your people? Have you forgotten what I am?” Johnathan is looking at me like I have five heads.

“Of course, I wouldn’t take you straight to my people. I'd have to have permission for that. But I can hide you till I’m able to bring you to a safer place.” I place my hand on his cheek gently, I know that he wasn’t being truthful with me earlier but maybe if I can get him over to our side we might be able to find out what this weird connection between us is and have inside information on the Hunters.

Jonathan leans his face into my hand more and lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. “I’ll lead you to the exit.” Before I know it his lips are upon mine in a quick kiss then he takes my hand and starts leading me down the hall.

We turn a corner and Morris and his goons are standing there. “I told you. It was a trap,” Jonathan whispers to me as we come to a stop right in front of Morris.

“I knew you couldn’t resist leaving when the door was open. “Thank you, Captain, for leading her right to us instead of the exit.” I drop Johnathan’s hand as if it had burned me. “Tell me that isn’t true.” I say to him.

Morris starts to laugh, “Oh, my dear, you didn’t really think he would choose you over us did you?” Morris walks up to me and whispers in my ear. “I know more about you Victoria than you think I do.” My eyes go wide as it sinks in that Johnathan betrayed me. “The captain really did his job right in making you think he had sympathy for you didn’t he? When he was just following orders to get close enough to learn a little about you. We had no idea that the two of you would form a connection.”

I turn to Jonathan and rear back my fist and punch his square in the nose. As I feel the pain in my own nose I realize that might not have been my brightest move. Then there is an explosion behind me and the wall starts to crumble. I see Phillip standing in the hole that was just blown in the wall with at least sixty soldiers with him.

Phillip hurries to my side and pulls me behind him, away from Jonathan and his bleeding nose. I see the other vampires using their daggers against the hunters and forcing the hunters to retreat. I no longer see Morris anywhere that coward must have already fled as soon as the explosion went off.

Jonathan reaches for my wrist and Phillip latches onto his and growls low “Don’t you dare try to touch her” I have never seen Phillip so heated before. He looks like he could kill Jonathan in just a matter of seconds.

“Victoria, let me explain, please,” Johnathan pleads while using his other hand to hold his nose as it is dripping blood down the front of his shirt. I stand beside Phillip and look Johnathan in the eyes and say “I’ll give you one chance to run Cap, before the others decide you look good enough to eat.” I place my hand on Phillip’s arm. “Phillip, let him go. I’m ready to go home.”