Zenora

“You bitch! Get over here!” Markus yelled at me, when he pulled my left foot.

Due to the pain in my left leg, and the fact that I only could hold onto Bastet with one arm and no reins, made me let go. I fell down on the floor, and hit my head on the rocky ground. I didn’t pass out though, it just hurt like hell.

“Bastet, find Nightwing! FAST!” I yelled to her and she soared into the sky, with the speed of lightning.

She couldn’t have helped me here with attacking Markus, as he had picked up the knife, I dropped at the fence. Even if she was trying to defend me, she would’ve gotten hurt and then I wasn’t able to leave this place at all. So, the only option left, was for her to get Nightwing and Brock here as soon as possible.

Markus yelled and dragged me by my feet back into the house. I screamed in agony of my left leg, which was broken. But he didn’t care, he was so angry right now that he just kept pulling me. When I tried to kick him with my other leg, he had turned around and sliced the inside of my knee. Instantly I had felt the muscle there constrict and pull together. From that moment I wasn’t able to move with either of my legs.

When we got back into the house, he threw me on the bed, that was in the corner of the room. He tied me up to the four bedposts, with the pieces of rope left from earlier. He didn’t have enough rope to tie both of my legs up. But that didn’t matter, I couldn’t leave anyway now. He lit up a candle as it was getting darker.

“This was my bed when I was younger.” He suddenly said, very calmly. His voice was terrifying right now. The sadistic tone in it, made my skin crawl. Was this his old house?

“My mother gave birth to me in the other room and when I turned five – about thirty years ago - human rebels attacked my house and killed my parents. They kidnapped me and tortured me for days. Finally, your father rescued me after several weeks of living in a terrible situation.” He explained to me, while he forced me to drink some more wine. Instantly I felt the tingling in my limbs starting again, my body was out of control once more.

“My parents were both mages, but didn’t have the luxury to be invited to the Mage Tower to learn and study their ways. You might think that I’m a mage as well, but I inherited the bad genes from my grandfather which was only human. So, I was powerless. But the rebels didn’t know that when they took me, they thought I could come in handy. But I couldn’t show them any magic, and after a few days of torture they came to that insight as well.”

“Why attack me then, when my father rescued you?” I never could grow any sympathy for this man, but I still needed to stall my time being alive.

“Because, he was the reason why the rebels started to do these kinds of things, in the first place!” He yelled at me, but I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.

He told me that my father made some changes in the way we live, when he became King. He had taken over this role when his father had passed away, and one of the first things he decided was, that all people with powers were registered and trained in their appointed houses. Which sounds like a great idea in the first place. But the ‘powerless’ people thought that the King abandoned them and felt like they weren’t worthy enough, so they started a rebellion. Of course, the rebellion didn’t last long, as they didn’t know what the King was planning to do with the others. He had given them the opportunity to start a profession and learn at the artisans, or they were given the option to work in the castle. But this new rule came too late for the young Markus.

“Even though I’m not an actual mage, I could still feel the power storming within your body, the day you were born. I wanted to take your power but I had to wait a bit until you became older, as I needed much of your blood to start the ritual.” He said so casually.

“But then I got taken away from the castle.” I said, not wanting to let him know that I got surprised that he could take my abilities. If he got my powers then all hell will break loose. He cannot have them! He’d only do bad and awful things with them!

“Yes, I couldn’t find you for years, so I had to be patient. But now I have you right here. You’re not worthy of these powers that reside within you! You could have been so powerful, yet, all you did is talk to your pets!” He screamed at me.

He was sealing the two jars with blood in them. “I need more though, much more!” He came up to me with another jar and cleaned the knife that was on the bed stand now. Then he opened my leather jacket and pushed my shirt up. “Such a beautiful body, it’s a shame that I have to cut it. But I do like your screams though.” My gut twisted from his speech and from the pain that was about to come again. I tried to brace myself, but I couldn’t move that much. He touched the skin around my bellybutton and his breathing got faster. I grossed out, took in a deep breath, and then I felt the same sensation I felt when he cut my arm. First, a slight pinch of the point of the knife in the left side of my abdomen. Tears started to form again, but I held in my screams. He pushed the knife in further and then started to twist the blade.

“Aaaahhh!” I was screaming, but never will I be the one to beg for him to stop. I couldn’t control my screams, but hell would have to freeze over, for me to beg to him. He started to smile again and just kept turning the blade to get more blood out of me. The jar under the wound started to fill up and I felt dizzy from the amount of blood I lost.

“That should be enough for now. We have to wait till morning until I can perform the ritual, I don’t have enough light at this time. I’d better start the ritual when the sun comes up, before that stupid gryphon of yours actually finds the general.”

He pulled the knife from my stomach and with leaving my body, there was room enough to let my blood gush out even more. I passed out, again.

I woke up in the morning, looking at my stomach where some bandages were put upon the wound. Then I noticed that a blanket was over my lower body. I lifted my head to see why and I started to cry. The blanket wasn’t covering all of my legs, so I could see that my pants were off and my underwear was a bit down. What has he done to me? Did he rape me?

“Don’t worry, necrophilia isn’t my thing. Although I did have to feel in there just to satisfy my needs. Brock shouldn’t be the only one to be able to touch your beautiful body.” He said to me and I felt so dirty, so mentally damaged.

Markus had put a book on the edge of the bed, near my feet and there was a bowl next to the jars filled with my blood. He flipped through the book to get to the right page. I saw an image of two people with an arrow from one of them to the other. That must be the spell he wanted to do. I sincerely hoped that he couldn’t pull it off. The text in the book was unknown to me. It was probably in the language that I heard Cirilya use once, against that Orc in the tower.

He started chanting and following the lines in the book, with his finger on the small figures. The bandages around my stomach turned red, my blood was still gushing out and I felt dizzy again. Markus slapped my cheek and told me to stay awake.

“When I have your powers, the first thing I’ll do is kill your lover and then I will get to your father.” He laughed like a mad professor.

He continued his chanting and during the words he spoke, he emptied the jars of my blood into the bowl. My heart started to feel like it was being ripped from my chest. It was the same gut-wrenching feeling I had when the Moonlight Goddess took the druidic powers from me. My chest started to ache and it became harder for me to breathe.