Hide me (The Forced Diaries)

Chapter two-Alex

Chapter two – present day

Alex

Lee scowls at me as he drags an unconscious form to my cell, the scent of blood and a hint of spice reaches through my nostrils and awakens the demon inside of me. I wonder what their game is now, they have tortured us, and experimented on us, and now they are either trying to check my willpower or this unconscious being is a spy. I watch as he tosses the body unceremoniously on the floor, long brown strands of hair obscure the face so I can't see, but from my angle, there is no denying that it is a woman. Her curves hidden beneath a leather jacket and combat pants and boots. “Have fun with this one Walder, she’s a fighter” Lee says and locks the cell door as he flees. I stand up from my corner and approach her, bruises mar her face, a swollen black eye and a cut on her lower lip. The clothing nor the bruising not taking away from how beautiful she is. My dead heart pounds in my chest with Vigor, the feeling foreign, for the first time in hundreds of years my heart has begun to beat again, No! It can't be! This must be their plan; they might have succeeded in my destruction or this is their most elaborate test yet. Aragorn and I have cells across from each other we have been trying to formulate a plan to get out of here. Us and our two other friends made a blood bond to be able to talk to each other through our mind, so our talking can't be over heard by guards or anyone trying to bargain with them for information. I breathe in her scent again, the majority of it hidden beneath her blood, my body freezes, snapping my eyes to Aragorn ‘she shouldn’t be here’ I tell him, ‘She’s human’ I add, this has got to be a test, maybe they want me to drain her of all of her blood, but knowing them they have probably poisoned it. Sighing I go and sit back in my corner this is going to be a difficult test even for me. She is the first Human to be inside these walls, and it so happens she’s my mate, but that little nugget has to stay hidden for now. I watch Aragorn through the bars as he taps a staccato with his fingers against his thigh. ‘I know, maybe they haven't succeeded in us supernatural's, it looks like they have turned to the mortals now,' I haven't been able to find out what these people are trying to do which is frustrating to say the least but I know it is worse for Aragorn, he has a lot of knowledge but even he doesn’t know what they are trying to achieve. But the bigger question here is, how am I going to keep my distance from my mate and keep her safe?

Amira

Stone’s face appears in my mind, his face frozen mid-scream, and my heart pounds in my chest. I couldn’t save them, their screams echo in my head making me stir from my slumber.

Everything hurts, my heavy lids open and shut quickly at the blinding light. A strong smell hits my nose and my stomach knots, it smells like something rotting with a mixture of piss. I take inventory of my injuries, mostly just cuts and bruises, a swollen eye and a concussion. Groaning I roll onto my stomach, open my eyes and push myself to my feet, my stomach twists even further. The first thing I see is bars to the cell that I am currently occupying. s**t! Where the hell am I? Ah, that's right that vamp knocked me out, my temper slowly starts to spike, wait until I get my hands on him, he might be stronger than me but I will try and do as much damage as I can.

I take a step towards the bars, "I wouldn't touch them if I was you." I jump at the voice coming from the far corner of my cell. 'Always be aware of your surroundings Amira!' I can imagine Zeke's drill sergeant voice shouting at me. My eyes look into the corner of the cell where something is moving in the shadows. "Who are you?" I ask with a bite to my words, the bulky shadow stands up and walks into the light, bright green eyes meet my blues, his sharp jaw and elegant nose make his features warrior-like, my insides squirm in delight but I squish it down with indifference.

His long blonde hair braided like a Viking, and that's when I realised, he is in a prison jumpsuit and had a thick collar around his neck. So, we're in a prison? And they think we are dogs? "You can call me Alex, and who might you be?" his voice soothing to the ear, like melted chocolate. "Before you ask, this is a prison of sorts or more like a science lab, they experiment on us." He adds and walks towards me slowly and I stand my ground not flinching an inch. "Amira. Experiment on us how?" I ask without looking away from him. My mind reeled with the possibilities of experiments they could be doing; do they use torturing devices? I look around again at the surroundings, there is no window so we could be underground, right? The floor is filthy with dirt and possibly rodent's excrements, and from the droppings in the corner that is plausible. I look up to find Alex is mere inches away from me. "Why are you not intimidated by me?" he questions sharply. I c**k a brow. "Why should I be?" I reply placing my hands on my hips. He walks around me slowly his eyes calculating, he quietly whispers in my ear, the cell seems to be going colder, I shiver "because little human I am Alexander Walder the ruler of the vampire army."

The giggle escapes my throat without thought, great so I have been kidnapped by a vampire to be shoved into a cell with another but not just anyone the ruler of all the vamps, I know there are two clans going head-to-head for dominance, and also for authority, that's when a thought occurs to me. "You sure about that? Sure, looks to me like you are stuck in here just like the rest of us." his glare could kill me on the spot if he had that sort of power, he gives a whole new meaning to 'if looks could kill' I step away and keep my eyes on him, he steps towards me, I inhale a musky scent coming from the vampire that seems to calm my insides. "Oh, leave her alone Alex." a male voice shouts from across the hall, coming from another cell.

Huffing Alex takes a step away from me and stares into the other cell. "You would be the exact same if you were in my cell, pointy, she's either food or sent here from the scientists to f**k with us." my eyes dart from Alex to the cell trying to see the other man. "That's a nasty bruise their love." what it is with men here speaking from the shadows? "Yeah, a vamp didn't like me apparently, the feeling is mutual though" I reply touching my eye and hissing. Fire burns inside my chest as I imagine ripping that Vampires's spine out and forcing it down his throat. A laugh echoes across the hallway, and it makes my heart skip a beat. The man from across the cell steps out into the light still laughing which does things to my insides. His silver hair is tied into a man bun, which shows his pointed ears, his eyes are purple like amethysts, that captivate you, but it doesn't take away the fact how his jaw is angular or how handsome he is, both of them, ugh must have got a really bad concussion if I'm thinking this. His collar and jumpsuit match Alex apart from the colour of the band. "You have quite the imagination," did he.... did he just read my mind? "Answer me this, would you rather use brute force or intellect to gain something back that belongs to you?" a smirk takes over my face, and his eyes cut straight to my mouth. "Both, you can't do one without the other, there needs to be a plan in place. What if the person who had taken something from you wasn't all there" I tap the side of my head and shot a glance at Alex before I continued? "Then you would feel guilty for using just brute force, or if I had simply misplaced it. There are a lot of scenarios that your possession could be in somebody else's hands." I reply to him, and the ghost of a smile takes over his face. "The names Aragorn," he tells me tipping his head. "Amira," I reply before I turn around and take a seat on the filthy floor. Great I can already imagine the bugs climbing all over me. I close my eyes just for a few moments as my head begins to pound, I could do with some water about now. I crack my neck and open my eyes to purple and green ones on me. "How long have you two been here at this fine resort?" I ask gesturing at the stained walls, which looking closely I think is blood. "Unfortunately, I am unaware of how long I have been here. If I estimate, possibly four years." Aragorn sighs and rubs the back of his neck. "Yes, possibly the same for me give or take a few weeks." Alex answers. My heart sinks at the answers if they couldn't get out a vampire and an elf, I have no hope. "Great, I'm going to be stuck here with you two unless...." did I still have my tracker on me? Could Zeke possibly find me? My throat thickens, God, I miss him already a tear slips out and slides down my cheek, I quickly wipe it away before my cellmate sees."Unless what?" Alex asks. I quickly stand and I check all of my pockets. "I had a tracker on me before I got here, it could have fallen out when my car flipped though." my heart pounds as I take the band out of my hair and check it, no not there I placed four on me, I knew at some point or another I would lose one, I like to have multiple of them on me.

I rip my jacket open and check inside my bra, my fingernail scrapes a piece of metal, exhaling I grab it and take it out and stare at it. There it is a small piece of metal the size of a small coin, the only thing that could save my life at this point. I turn and grab Alex by the shoulders ignoring the tingles that shoot up my arms, I shake him."How far underground are we?" I almost shout at him. "How do you know we are underground?" he gently removes my hands off of his shoulders by my wrist's tingles spreading up my arms. I start to pace, "Just answer the bloody question, Alex." my fists clench and unclench at my sides. I know there is a limit to these trackers they can only go so far down into the earth until they cannot be traced, Zeke was always making me take one with me and thank God for all that bickering, something good came out of it."We are on the third level into the ground. So, three hundred feet." my answer came from Aragorn. Feeling deflated, "f**k!" I shout and pace faster. I need to get closer to the surface, these trackers can only go to one hundred feet, so much help this tracker is so far! Wait until I get back, I will make sure they can go deeper than that. I could do with a beer right about now. Rubbing my face with my hands, "It can only be traced underground for about one hundred feet." I need to get to the surface.

Should I even trust these two? I shouldn’t have mentioned about the tracker, what if they tried to take it. I don’t know what to do with anything, my heart pounds in my chest. What if Zeke can't find me and I am stuck in here until I die? Breathe! I start to pace, the feeling of eyes on me has shivers running up and down my spine. At least I could be couped up with someone worse, I mean he is a looker, but I will have to keep my guard up, maybe he is waiting for me to fall asleep until he pounces, he’s a vampire for Christ's sake, he probably wants my blood. A guard walks past our cell and walks with a determined set of shoulders, he’s clearly on a mission. He doesn’t pay Alex any attention just looks at him in disgust but does a double-take when he sees me, a smirk takes over his face, goose-pimples come alive across my skin my not in a good way more like my senses can sense the creep within. I don’t have a good feeling about this. He breathes in deeply through his nose, smiles wildly, a forked tongue pokes out of his mouth and slithers against his bottom lip and then he continues walking down the corridor. What the f**k was that? Feeling repulsed I sit down with my back to the wall, contemplating how in the world this has happened, how did they know we was going to be at that abandoned building? Jeremiah and Laura’s screams assault my ears the never-ending nightmare that will linger with me for the rest of my life. I couldn’t save them. Heart in my throat I exhale heavily, a lump has formed in my wind pipe and a burning sensation burns the back of my eyes, I know I'm going to cry, it's inevitable. Half-moon sting into my palm's, fingernails digging in on the verge of drawing blood, as I try to stop the waterworks from happening, I need to get revenge, that’s what I need, exhaling again I focus on brushing my fingers through my hair and begin to plait it.

“Do you always fidget so much?” Alex’s soothing voice asks from the corner a slight edge to it. His eyes skate over my body the feeling something I shouldn’t like, finishing up my braid I meet his eyes dead on. “I have a lot on my mind Vamp” I reply and then flinch as the haunting scream rips through my mind again, clenching my eyes shut I breathe deeply, trying to get my heart rate under control. “Did something bad happen? Before you got here?” Aragorn asks softly, his voice soothing, he has the best voice for storytelling. I nod slightly, “there is always something bad going on in the world, we just get our pickings” I unclasp the under armour protecting my chest and place it on the ground slowly placing my head on it, at least it is better than nothing, a little protection between me and the s**t covered floor. I close my eyes and listen to Alex and Aragorn whispering back and forth to each other, their timbered voices soothing my mind. The moans of the prisoners reach my ears, and screams and the occasional whimper keeps it hard from falling asleep. Further down I hear the rattling of keys and a cell door squeak open, a woman screams sending jolts of fear into my stomach, I hope she is ok. Skin slapping skin and whimpers reach my ears a couple of moments later making my stomach curdle, No. If only I could get out of here and help her. Why isn't anyone doing anything? Is this a normal occurrence? I rush to my feet and slowly creep towards the cell bars, the cold metal biting into my fingers the harder I squeeze them. “What is happening?” I whisper to Alex. All I can see down the corridor is darkness, no lights are on, and they must turn them off at a certain time. “The guard, Donelle. He is a snake shifter; he likes to physically please himself with the giving's of the inmates, he doesn’t care if one refuses, he takes what he wants.” Alex spits out and walks to stand beside me and looks down the corridor towards the more pronounced noises of what is going on. His midnight scent relaxes me, I could close my eyes and imagine I'm out patrolling or just going for a nice walk in the peace and quiet but with the noises surrounding me I couldn’t get away with it. There's a grunt and then silence, the sniffling of a nose breaks the peace. A cell door squeaks and then closes, the noise echoing up and down the corridor like a warning bell. My insides jump on high alert as footsteps come toward us. “Hold your tongue, he will not make it easy for you and he likes the hunt.” Aragorn tells me standing opposite us, his purple eyes seeming to glow in the near darkness. I nod in understanding, God knows how long I have been here but I can't draw attention to myself now, too early on in the game. I relax my hold from the bars and take a step back, I need to move myself away or I would do something stupid like spit in his face as he walks past. My face hits Alex’s back as he pulls me behind him, I rub my nose frowning at the broad back in front of me, how f*****g rude! the guard comes into view a moment later halting my thoughts, a smug grin claiming his whole face. Anger burns in my chest, as if this man has just violated a woman and now has the decency to just smile like nothing has happened or like he enjoyed it. Frowning I clench my fists readying myself to just smack the piece of s**t around the head and then kill him. Almost instantly I am getting pushed backwards from two iron bands wrapped around my upper arms and Alex’s face mere inches from mine. My heart pounds in my chest, what is happening? “You need to calm down little Minx” I c**k my head to the side, and see that we have garnered the snake's attention, I smile inwardly, if he comes in here then I'm going to kill him. No cold-blooded dickhead is touching me in that manner or anyone for that matter. Alex presses on my neck and my eyes close, asleep.

I follow Jeremiah through the fire exit, the abandoned building eerily quiet, the only sound is the slight scrape of our boots on the uneven floor. My insides clench the further in we go, something doesn’t feel right. The darkness envelopes us, only being able to see through the night vision scope on our guns. My hands begin to sweat through my fingerless gloves, if I didn’t have a death grip on my gun then it would slip out of my hands, possibly causing a mountain of problems. Some cracks cover the walls, and the signs of decay are apparent. Mould finishes of the smell and the all-time abandonment of the building.

Stone points slightly left and then to his ear, informing me he heard something and to keep a further ear out and see if I hear anything else. Shadows dance across the floor, a drip, drip, drip of an old loose pipe leaking. I open my mouth to say something but I'm stopped with a guttural raw coming from our left, I swing my gun around but there is nobody there, I turn back to Stone and find him holding a hand to his throat, his mouth wide open in a silent scream, he collapses to the floor folding in on himself with no muscle reactions. I throw myself on top of him and put pressure down on the gaping wound in his neck, come on! Don’t die on me! Even though I didn’t know the man that very well he didn’t seem like a bad guy nor leader. Screams sound up ahead, the other half of the team. Stone gurgles something blood spatters out of his mouth onto my arms, “what?” I whisper, leaning closer my ear as close to his mouth as I can get without being in it. “R..run” he tells me. I pull back and look at him, his eyes frozen in place, staring at the ceiling. I take a deep breath the sense of dread hitting the bottom of my stomach. I stand up, “I'm sorry” I whisper. I press the button to my comms, “Team two what's your position?” I place my back against the wall and check through my scope, nothing. I slowly start to make my way towards where team two should be, they went in through another exit to the south of the building. “Team two what's your position, over” I ask again. Tingles run up and down my arms, A breeze blowing through the empty corridors. Corridor after corridor creepy noises follows me, the sense of being hunted not far behind. A loud crash behind me has me freezing in place I whip my gun up and look through the scope, an empty bucket rolls from side to side on the floor, heart pounding in my chest, my body becoming hyper-aware that I need to get the f**k out of here. Swallowing my fear, I walk forwards the way I was originally heading, a slight shuffle of someone's foot has me walking cautiously. With my back against the wall, I peek around the corner. I wish I didn’t.