The Misadventures of Kade and Celine

Celine paced restlessly after Kade had gone. Her emotions were running too high to sit still. A frantic knocking sounded at the door and she paused. That likely wasn’t Silas.

“Who’s there?” she called.

“Celine, it’s Bayley! I think Kade is in trouble.”

He jumped when Celine wrenched the door open.

“I was out looking for work again and I saw someone dragging Kade out of a car, I think they might have been elves? But he looked hurt and I thought it’d be best to tell you. I can show you where I saw him.”

Celine followed him, her concern for Kade outweighing anything else for the moment. But as Bayley led her in a different direction from the mansion up the hill, something began to tickle at the back of her foggy brain.

“Where exactly did they seem to be taking him?” she asked.

“Somewhere almost out of the city.”

“And what were you doing all the way out there this time of night?”

“Uh, I told you.”

“Right,” she said slowly. “Seems odd to be looking for work in the-“

“Here, I came through this way,” Bayley said quickly, grabbing her arm and towing her around a corner. And straight into the waiting arms of Lawson and several other elves she didn’t recognize. Two of them were definitely City Watch though. Of course Lawson would have a couple of those in his pocket. Celine twisted and flailed like an angry cat, trying to get free of them as they dragged her to a Watch car. But she wasn’t strong enough to throw off four elvish men.

“Lawson, you son of a bitch,” she spat. “And you.” She pinned Bayley with a cold glare as the elves clamped something heavy around her wrists and wrestled her into the car. “If I get my hands on you you can consider yourself neutered.”

She thrashed around in the backseat of the car as it drove quickly through the dark streets, but she couldn’t break the shackles they’d put on her wrists. Lawson was riding up front with one of the Watch, and he threw a smug smirk at her over his shoulder.

“Those shackles are specially enchanted, half-breed. Only elf hands can open them.”

“If one more person ties me up with magic bindings so help me,” Celine growled. When they reached their destination, she was yanked roughly from the car and hauled through the front door of some other glitzy mansion. She spotted a few more elves in the parlor before she was brought down a flight of stairs and found herself in a room that was mostly empty aside from what looked vaguely like a hospital bed. She was slammed down on it, and the chain between the heavy clamps on her wrists came apart from each other, jerking her arms as they linked to heavy chains on the floor. Now her arms were pinned at her sides.

“So you just happen to have magic shackles and giant chains bolted into the floor of a creepy basement room? That seems very normal,” Celine said, glaring at Lawson.

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure the room was perfect for you. I do hope you enjoy your accommodations while you’re here, Miss Bellerose.”

One of the Watch elves was standing near the head of the makeshift table she was lying on, and Celine twisted her head, sinking her fangs into his wrist. He let out a slightly girlish yelp, tearing the skin more as he yanked his arm away from her. After a few moments he grew woozy then collapsed to the floor as the paralyzing agent from her fangs took hold. Lawson looked at his form slumped on the ground with pursed lips.

“That seemed most uncouth,” he told Celine.

“You're the one who said I like to bite.”

“Perhaps I should have also commissioned a muzzle.” He stepped toward her, careful to keep out of reach of her fangs. He held out a hand and one of the other elves placed a long knife into it.

“So what, you're going to kill me?” Celine asked.

“Kill you? Oh, eventually I suppose. But to just kill you and be done with it would lack a certain flair, don’t you think?”

“Whatever you plan to do to me, Styx, I hope you’re prepared to feel it tenfold when Kade finds you.”

Lawson laughed. “It’s almost adorable that you’re actually letting your hopes ride on a Mutt. They’re cowardly, mangy things. Your own friend was willing to betray you just to ingratiate himself to us.”

“Kade is nothing like Bayley.”

“A rose by any other name,” Lawson said dismissively. “You’ve been the one coming around fighting the battles for him.”

“I didn’t keep Kade from confronting you for his benefit. It was for yours.”

“Your misplaced devotion is admirable. But let’s get on with it, shall we?” He held up the knife in his hand, showing off the jagged edges of the serrated blade. “This blade is also a bit dull. I didn’t have time to sharpen it, I’m afraid. But incidentally, that actually makes it hurt more. I am not going to kill you, half-breed, though you may wish I was. As a dhampir, you will heal from these wounds in a day or so. I will make quite certain they’re not fatal. And when you are restored to your normal, unblemished self, we’ll do this all over again. Won’t that be fun?”

“Sounds like a hoot,” Celine replied, before the first bite of steel through flesh almost took her breath away. He had stabbed her near her hip. He wrenched the blade free and stabbed her again, in the corresponding place. Celine tried to remain silent, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. But the third vicious blow drove a scream out of her. He considered each place he stabbed the knife in, making sure he didn’t hit one that would kill her and end his little game too soon. She was pretty sure he’d inflicted five or six cuts before he stopped and appraised his work.

“Yes, I suppose that will do. I’ll give you some time to heal. We want you feeling fresh before our next visit, don’t we?” He patted her leg.

“Fuck you,” she gasped. He chuckled as he moved away.

“Well you do have some spunk, I’ll give you that,” he said. He told one of the elves to stand guard at the door, just in case she tried anything.

“What about Riven? He’s still just laying on the floor.”

Lawson sighed. “Leave him. It’ll wear off eventually. If he’s going to be dumb enough to let that little she-beast bite him then he can deal with the consequences.”

The door closed and Celine was left in the dim room with nothing but her own ragged breathing and a paralyzed elf. Agony rolled over her in waves, and her body was struggling to try and heal the damage from the stab wounds but it would go faster if she could staunch the bleeding. She studied the shackles on her wrists. They may have been enchanted but maybe she could just rip the chains out of the floor. She braced herself and yanked her wrist up as far as she could get it. It sent a sharp wave of pain through her and tears sting her eyes. She kept trying to pull at the heavy chain, mostly succeeding in chafing her wrists and exacerbating the pain in her mangled torso. She whimpered before her arms went slack. Even her labored breathing hurt.

She was about to try braving her battle with the chains again when she heard a commotion at the door. She tensed, her fangs extending. They were the only line of defense she currently had. There was some muffled shouting and a thud in the hall, and then the door flew open. Celine raised her head as much as she was able, prepared to try and bite whoever she needed to. She felt both shock and relief to find that it was Bobby standing there.

“Bobby?” she said weakly. “What are you doing here?”

“Kade called for help-oh my god, what happened to you?!” He hurried over to her, eyes wide with alarm. A disheveled Leroy came loping in from the hall and joined him.

“Jesus, are you okay? Never mind, stupid question. You’ve been stabbed, of course you’re not okay.”

“The shackles are enchanted,” she said. “You need an elf to open them.”

“Be right back.” Bobby hurried back out into the hall, and returned with a semi-conscious elf that Celine supposed must have been guarding the door.

“Open the shackles,” Bobby ordered him. It was the most authoritative Celine had ever seen him. He shook the elf a little when he didn’t respond. The elf reached out and fumbled the shackles open. They slid off and then, not seeming sure of what else to do with him, Bobby banged the elf’s head on the table and let him slump to the floor; either now fully unconscious or dead, Celine didn’t know. She didn’t much care at the moment. She cried out in pain as she sat up, and Bobby and Leroy helped her off the table. She wobbled a little on her feet.

“How did you guys find me? Where’s Kade? Is he okay? What-“

“Hey, easy. Kade is handling things. He’s handling them, uh, just fine. Trust me. He called us to tell us what happened and when we heard you were missing we agreed to come here with him. No way were we not going to help when we heard you were in trouble. We couldn’t reach Bayley but Leroy and I came-“

“Bayley! He was working with the elves.” They were helping Celine up the stairs and she had to gasp the words out as her body protested all this movement. “He tricked me…he said Kade was hurt and he led me to Lawson.”

Bobby and Leroy exchanged a look. They made it to the top of the stairs and Leroy went bounding off. A few moments later she saw Kade striding toward her and she almost crumpled with relief. She hurried forward to meet him, ignoring the pain and the way the room was spinning.

“Kade!”

“Hey, sugar,” he said, grabbing her arms to hold her up as her knees buckled.

“Are you okay?” she asked anxiously, noting the amount of blood he was covered in. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s not mine,” he replied.

“Oh. Good. That’s fine then.”

His eyes dropped to where she had her hands pressed to her torso.

“Oh,” she said. “This blood is mine. Lawson. Knife. I bit a guy. Um. I’m really glad to see you but I…think I might pass out now…if that’s okay.” She swooned as Kade’s face turned blurry and then everything went dark.