Taken and Misused.

[Elisabeth's POV]

A scan of the ballroom floor assured me that Vaughn had not yet returned from his bathroom break and I had been sitting at this table for nearly twenty minutes. A certain impatience was setting in by now and I began to tap my fingers on the surface of the table. What could possibly be taking so long?

“Miss?” The smooth, masculine voice caught my attention immediately and for a moment I thought it was Vaughn, but the tone was much too refined. As I had guessed the owner of the voice was not Vaughn. “My name is Michel, I was hoping you would honor me with a dance and your name,” his grin and words should have melted my heart as it would have any other woman but it didn't and I had a feeling two certain men had a hand in that.

I took the hand he held out with a smile, “my name is Elisabeth” I answered, standing with my hand still in his. Just as Semyon had done, Michel pressed a soft kiss to the top of my hand and stood straight once more. “And I would be glad to dance with you,” my answer was due to my slight annoyance with Vaughn, if he was going to leave me here for so long then I had no problem dancing with another man.

As Michel and I moved onto the dance floor he seemed to give a glance to the orchestrator who nodded and slowly the song morphed into one I knew much too well. “The assassin's tango?” I remarked, sounding just as Stephen had during our first tango lesson. A smile curved Michel's lips as he wrapped his one arm around my waist, pulling me much closer then we had been and then placed his other hand on my upper back, skimming over my bare skin seeing as the gown I wore had an open back. I followed suit and placed both of my hands on his shoulders, my back straight and elbows out. This was a tad bit more intimate of a stance but I was not about to point that out. “So you know how to tango?” I asked, following his steps as he took the lead.

“As do you I see,” he replied, taking us through simple steps. I waited for the tempo to pick up and when it did I swept one leg out in a dramatic half-circle, pointing my toe and bring my foot back to its original position once more. Michel raised an eyebrow, “well” he murmured whilst a grin pulled at his lips. His grip tightened slightly and he lead us into a quick spin, stopping and dipping me for a quick second then pulling me back up so that our chests pressed together. Our steps continued to get more professional with each beat of the song, and I was glad the dress I wore was easy to dance in.

The dancers around us began to give us a wider berth as we started to take up more room. Michel took the hand he had on my shoulder and took my hand in his, I followed his lead and soon had my back pressed against his front, he spun me away from him and I caught sight of his other hand reaching into his tuxedo for something. I waited for him to pull me back to him but instead the hand he had slipped into his tuxedo jacket came out with a gun in hand.

“So sorry dear” Michel said, this time his grin held cruel intent. Just when I thought he was going to pull the trigger a sudden explosion sent a tremor through the mansion, the fire and smoke came next. Michel startled and let go of my hand. Another explosion went off, this one by the front doors. The sound was almost deafening. Suddenly the crowd around us erupted into screams and they began to crowd towards the exits. I turned to run and another explosion went off, this one was a gunshot and I knew that for a fact because a moment later the bullet cut through the skin of my arm, sending a searing pain through my entire arm. I stumbled and fell, my mind completely intent on the explosion of pain I felt in that moment. I opened my eyes, blinking away dust, to see the barrel of Michel's gun, “I guess Semyon got the show he wanted, you just didn't get to be the focal point”

“You better watch where you point that fucking gun you piece of shit bastard,” that demand was quickly followed by the owner of the voice, Vaughn. He stepped from the crowd covered in dust and pulled his fist back and let it slam into Michel's face. The one punch had enough force behind it to send Michel to the floor knocked out cold.

“What is going on? Was that a bomb?” I asked through gritted teeth as Vaughn came to kneel beside me.

“Save the questions for later Princess” Vaughn said, his voice rushed as he picked me up in his arms. I sucked in a breath when the gunshot wound rubbed against his chest. Vaughn noticed this and cursed once more, muttering something about a punch being too nice.

“Vaughn! Hurry up!” Was that Stephen?

Vaughn quickened his pace and I groaned in pain, clenching my teeth tight and trying to will the pain away. It felt like the raw spots you get on your feet after breaking in ballet shoes but one thousand times worse. The pain increased when Vaughn began running with me in his arms, just the slightest brush sent my arm on fire. “Bear with me Princess” Vaughn said, slightly out of breath. “Get the door for me” he said to someone else and suddenly I could feel cold air on my face and I made an effort to try and take in my surroundings but my vision was blurry. Good lord, if this was what it was like to be grazed by a bullet I had absolutely no desire to figure out how it felt when the bullet went through something more than skin. I did recognize the other figure with us. “Stephen?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Vaughn what happened to her?” Stephen asked.

“I'll tell you in the car... where is my car Stephen?” Vaughn said the last part a little apprehensively.

“It has a bomb planted on it, this is my car, so get in” Stephen demanded.

“What is going on?” I said, trying to sound demanding but I couldn't muster it up at the moment.

I was suddenly in the back seat of a car, the door closed and both Vaughn and Stephen got in the front seats. Gunshots rang out as Stephen hit the gas and sped down the drive way, I slid across the seat and sucked in another breath. “Vaughn, bind her arm, she can't keep losing blood like that,” Stephen said, taking a sharp turn and speeding up once more. The sound of other cars following was clear. Vaughn took his suit jacket off and tore the sleeve off, he then peeled it into two strips of expensive fabric. Taking one he crawled into the back seat with me, straddling my waist due to the lack of room.

“This is going to hurt” he warned as he slipped the fabric around my arm where the deep gash was, when he tied the fabric down I couldn't help but let out a surprised scream of pain, snapping my eyes closed. Vaughn kept apologizing as he smoothed my hair out of my face, my breathing slowly returning to normal

“Vaughn, I need you back up here” Stephen said, his tone slightly stressed.

“You'll be fine Princess, I promise” Vaughn said before climbing back into the front seat. I heard the two of them talking about directions and their voices began to sound like they were at one end of a tunnel and I was at the other end. My vision began to get really fuzzy, no matter how many times I blinked my eyes I couldn't get rid of the blackness slowly covering my sight. A few seconds later I black out completely.