Death's Lover

Amara

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Consciousness comes back to me slowly as I internally cuss Chase for still not fixing the leaky faucet. I keep my eyes squeezed shut, willing the pounding in my head to fade as it thumps in time with the dripping before deciding my best option is to go find some pain medicine. Ugh, what happened last night? The last thing I remember is being at the new club downtown and having a third shot as I watched Chase fail miserably at hitting on a guy at the bar. Tried to tell him he was straight but does he ever listen to me. The answering drip of the faucet seems to answer for its self as I slowly move to sit up and feel the room spin as my mouth fills with saliva. I lurch to the side of our couch, hoping I make it in the trashcan; only to find myself falling to the floor as my left arm is pulled above me and I realize there is an unfamiliar weight on my wrist.

My eyes snap open as my head bangs off of something cold sending a sharper wave of pain through it and I wake up fully. I take in my surroundings as I realize this is not our apartment and I am chained to a wall. The little cot I was asleep on is attached to a gray brick wall that matches the rest of the room and my heart quickens as my stomach heaves again. I check myself over internally and find that besides my head pounding and last nights dinner being in a pile beside me, I don't seem to be injured. Slowly I move to stand up and take in the chain holding me to the wall by my wrist before my eyes move over myself and I see that the clothes I was wearing last night have been replaced by what looks like a hospital gown, sending a shudder through me. Don't panic. Panicking will only make this worse. I pull on the chain hoping that whoever master minded this wasn't very good at their job; only to be disappointed. Okay, what do we know? Chase is definitely going to be looking for me and work is going to miss me at some point. Not that that helps me right now. I look around again and take in the faucet on the other side of the room with a drain in the center and a camera pointed at me from the corner. Gathering my courage and anger I look straight into the lens and scream, "You won't get away with this dumbass. People will notice I'm gone and I'd rather die than let you get anywhere near me."

My voice sounds raw and my throat hurts like hell, as if I was screaming the night before too. Feeling the room begin to spin I decide to sit down. Well, there's only one option then I suppose. I test the strength of the chain again and move my left arm to my right side as I loop the extra length around my neck. If this sick fuck thinks they are going to get a damn thing from me, they are sorely mistaken. Dropping myself back to the floor I feel the chain tighten and my throat constrict as I raise my right hand and flip off whoever the asshole is behind the camera. Blackness starts to creep in on me as my body tries to fight for air and my mind drifts to the bullshit short life I've had. Memories flood my mind of a sickly looking woman that is supposed to be my mother, the blank stare in her gaze as I try to wake her. Foster home after foster home that insisted I was too troubled and wild to handle. The miserable group home where I finally met a kindred soul. I'm so sorry Chase, I never meant to leave you alone like this.

Over the roaring in my ears I hear a faint click and a shuffling of feet before I am lifted off the ground and the chain is loosened. My body instinctively sucks in air as I am pushed on the cot. "Stupid bitch, you're not going to get off that easy." a taunting voice says as I open my eyes and look at my savior/captor. He is tall and deeply tanned, with his brown hair swept back and a sneer on his face, it strikes me that he looks vaguely familiar. He grabs my now free left arm and pulls me across the room to the faucet, pulling me close as he reaches to turn the knob and I take a chance, leaning in and viciously biting the hand that is holding me. He lets out a grunt but instead of releasing me as, I hoped, his grip tightens and he pulls me under the flow of freezing water. He lets out a harsh laugh as I struggle uselessly to get away before he pulls me out of the water, leaning down so we are eye to eye as he opens his mouth to say something. I rear my head back and swing back forward, my forehead connecting with his nose as the clarity from the freezing water slips back into pounding pain while I try and tug my arm free. It begins to slightly slip but before I can break free everything careens to the side as I feel my feet leave the solid ground and pain explodes over my body as I crash into the wall. Feeling dazed I look up and see light pouring in from the open door. Springing to my feet I rush out into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind me and hoping he can't open it from that side.

The hallway is short with two doors across from me and another beside mine with both ends open and I quickly decide to go right as I hear the monster rattle the door handle behind me. I rush around the corner, finding only one room this way with the door open and I hurry inside closing the door quietly. Looking around the room I see a monitor with camera feeds, one to the room I was locked up in where it looks as though the man is using something to try and remove the hinges from the door. Another room that looks like mine has a girl hugging her knees, and two more feeds that seem to show different angles from a staircase; one going up and the other going down. We're not on the bottom floor then. There's a movement in the room I was in and I look back to see the man beating the door but as I strain to listen I can't hear anything coming down the hallway. What kind of fucked up soundproofing is that? Deciding I don't have time to be standing around asking stupid questions I begin to rummage around the desk the monitor is on, searching for a name or anything to give away who this asshole is so that when I get out of here I can let someone know about the other girl locked away in here if I can't get her out.

There is a key ring with three keys on it that I grab before glancing at the monitor to see what the man is doing. Seeing that he is trying to ram the door open I rush back out of the room and back down the hall to the room beside mine and trying a key to open it only to find it unlocked and a plain bedroom set up inside it. I turn to the door across from mine and try that door, finding it locked I try the keys again. On the second one, I hear a rattle behind me and curse as the floor shakes beneath my feet and the key turns in the lock. I throw the door open and see the girl still sitting there curled up as she raises her head to look at me, her face red and puffy with her eyes full of fear. "Come on!" I demand quietly as I wave my hand at her before checking over my shoulder. She gets up and moves towards me timidly, her amber eyes darting back and forth, before nodding decisively and taking my outstretched hand. I pull her behind me as we hurry down the hall the other way and turn the corner as the sound of screeching metal reaches our ears. I can feel her eyes on me as I keep her small hand in mine and we move as quietly and quickly as possible reaching a door with a small window in the middle of it. I look through and breath a sigh of relief as I see the stairs and try the handle finding it locked. Fuck! Of course it's locked you idiot and you left the keys in the other door. Fuck, fuck, fuck! We are so close to getting out. I look around in desperation and see another door off to the side as I listen for the sounds of pursuit behind us. I can hear the dull thud of something being slammed and what might possibly be him cussing us as his door still holds by the grace of some god. I move to the door on the side and try it, thankful that it opens to a supply closet. I pull the girl behind me and close the door leaving us in the cramped dark.

"What are we going to do?" she asks quietly, her sweaty palm squeezing mine a little tighter. I shake my head, at a loss before realizing it's probably too dark for her to see me.

"We are going to wait for him to get out and open the door to the stairs." I whisper, hoping this ridiculous plan doesn't get us both thrown back in those rooms.

She lets go of my hand and moves further into the closet, being careful it seems since she doesn't make a sound before moving back by my side and sliding something smooth and long into my hand. Bringing up my other hand I feel out towards the end to see how long it is and discover it is a broom. "Thank you." I breath figuring she has a point, better something to fight with than nothing.

"I'm Cate by the way." she says barely above a whisper.

"Amara"

The loud bang and tremble of the closet end our friendly conversing as we both instantly find the others hand and I steady myself to fight if he checks in here before opening the stairs. Please don't check the open door for the keys. My hope seems to be answered as footsteps move towards us before the sound of breaking glass reaches us and I creep closer to the door; opening it a crack to see the hallway. His back is turned to us as he reaches through the window to turn the handle from the other side, pulling it open as he pulls his arm out and turns our way. I move back into the shadows and listen as he goes into the stairwell before opening the door wider and stretching to use the broom handle; barely catching the door before it closes all the way. Cate moves ahead of me, tiptoeing to peek out of the window, before nodding her head and grasping the door handle to pull it open. Re-centering my hold on the broom, I move to join her and look out of the now smashed window to see the mans back moving up the staircase.

I grab her hand back and we head down the other staircase, moving as quickly as possible without making any sound when a soft clink breaks through the quiet like thunder and we share a look before picking up our pace.

Shit. Should have shut the door quietly. Loud footsteps from above us motivate us to break into an all out run as we reach the floor below us and throw open the door to what looks like a hospital hallway. People in lab coats turn to look at us as we run down the hallway. "Whoa, where's the fire ladies?" One of them steps into our path, "Hey-" they say as we crash into them and we all wind up in a pile on the floor.

"You are really testing my patience." that same vaguely familiar voice calls calmly from down the hallway as I jump up and pull Cate with me, turning to take off again. The lab coat on the floor goes to grab the edge of my gown before Cate's foot crashes down on his arm and we take off running again. We take a corner at speed as we leave the chaos we created behind us. "Ah, I think she broke my arm." we hear and I allow myself a second to admire the vicious little thing beside me. The door at the end of this hall is shiny metal and as we approach it I see Cate's reflection, a look of fierce determination setting her features, but where my reflection should be stands a figure of darkness, the window in the door shows a head covered in a black hood pulled low as the rest of me is just darkness. Before I can pull back and change direction we are crashing through the doors and everything goes oddly quiet.

Something feels off, the sound of the man chasing us is no longer there and everything looks somehow muted as people in gowns similar to ours wander around the hall. I look down at Cate and see that she looks the same as she did, the color in her cheeks still bright red and the raven black pixie cut sticking to her sweaty forehead. She lets go of my hand and moves toward an older woman, who looks dulled like the world around us, as she wanders aimlessly towards us.

"Ma'am, can you help us?" she asks the woman who continues on past us as though she hasn't heard Cate's question.

"Excuse me?" I say louder and much less sweet, looking at the other people in the hallway. None of them look at us or acknowledge that they heard us at all. What fresh hell is this.

Cate looks back at me with tears in her eyes and I feel my heart tug as I turn back towards the door we ran through. The strange reflection is there again. I move closer, reaching out my hand to see if it really is my reflection. The figure moves forward out of the door to stand in front of us. What the fuck!? I jump back and realize I lost my weapon as I move to stand in front of Cate, the figure before us looks about seven feet tall as slender hands appear from beneath what can only be described as a cloak and the hood is pulled back to reveal a handsome face. Liquid silver eyes filled with amusement take me in as the man smiles kindly, silver hair to match his eyes falls around his shoulders. I narrow my eyes at his smile as my mind begins to come up with ways to get out of this new situation. He doesn't move any closer so I ask the question that is screaming in my brain, "What are you?"

His smile widens as he shifts slightly to look around me at Cate, who has inched out from behind me to look at him also. "I am Thanatos and the one who has just saved your mortal lives, if I might add."

"Saved us? How? Where are we?" the questions all come tumbling out of me in a breath as his smile fades and he shakes his head.

"I know you both must have so many questions and I will do my best to answer them all; but for now I must finish my work." Without another word he turns and briskly walks down the hall leaving Cate and I to share a glance. I'm not sure what it is about her but it's as though we can understand each other without saying a word as my eyes dart after him before returning to her; she shrugs before giving a slight nod and we move after him. Suppose he is our best option for now anyway.