Kindled

“No, he won’t.” Though he agreed with her, she could tell that Julian didn’t put much faith in the words. “But the likely hood of him finding us is small; we need to come up with a plan. We need to get ourselves out of this.”



“How?” she whispered miserably, her gaze darted toward the dark mirror opposite her. She was afraid that they were listening, that though she couldn’t see them, they could still hear her.



“You.” Her eyebrows drew questioningly together as she slowly turned toward him. “When I touched you it was a shock of power unlike any I have ever felt before. If we’re going to get out of this, you are going to have to find that power…”



“I can’t control it, and they have me drugged,” she interrupted sharply.



“You can break through it, I know that you can.”



Cassie met his fevered gaze. “You don’t want me to,” she said softly.



“Yes, I do. We need to get the hell out of here princess, before they kill us, or turn us into something….”



Cassie frowned as his voice trailed off, her heart turned over at his words. “Turn us into something?”



His eyes were hard as they met hers briefly before nodding toward her arm. “What do you think they gave you?”



She refused to look at her arm again; she would vomit if she did. And she sure as hell didn’t want to think about what they had put in her. She would go crazy if she did. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know.” He was silent for a moment, his eyes hard, and the band of white momentarily flashing red. “Should I be worried, Julian?” she breathed.



He shook his head, his eyes becoming normal again. “No princess, you’re fine, but they will give you more. Maybe even something else. We can’t stay here and be their guinea pigs.” Cassie bowed her head to her knees; she had to fight against the fierce shivers that wanted to wrack her. Her flesh was chilled, goose bumps covered her skin. “I know you believe in Devon, but you have to face the fact that he may not be able to find us. Between the two of us, we can get out of here.”



“Or I could turn on you,” she replied miserably.



He was silent for a moment, his jaw clenched tightly. “I can take care of myself princess.”



“Yeah, that’s why you’re here,” she retorted, tired of being called princess.



He stared at her, his eyebrows raised sharply. A muscle twitched in his cheek before he burst into loud laughter. Cassie’s mouth parted in surprise, his laugh was actually very nice. It was warm, and bright, and had a surprising amount of humor in it. She found herself watching him in fascination, unable to stop herself from smiling along with him.



His strange blue eyes twinkled with amusement as his laughter faded away and he turned his attention back to her. “Very true princess, very true. But let’s not worry about me in this; let’s worry about getting our asses out of here.”



Cassie continued to grin at him. “You know, you’re not so bad when you’re in here. And you have a nice laugh.”



He chuckled softly, resting his forehead against the glass as he stared down at her. “I don’t remember the last time I laughed,” he admitted. “And you had better be careful, it almost sounds like you’re flirting with me princess.”



Her mouth parted in surprise, and then a burst of laughter escaped her. “Hardly,” she retorted.



“Come on, admit it, you find me a little appealing.”



Cassie shook her head at him, unable to stop herself from laughing. She did find him a little appealing; in fact she was actually beginning to like him a little. Even if she didn’t trust him not to drain her dry the moment he got the chance. “Well, you’re not as repulsive as these people at least.”



His grin widened, revealing all of his perfect white teeth. “That’s good to know, at least I’m moving up on your list.”



“You are.”



She rested her head against the glass again, wishing that Devon was with her, to comfort her, to take her away from here. Closing her eyes, she pictured his face in vivid detail. She could clearly recall the smell of him, the feel of him. She could almost taste him again, feel his lips against hers. For a brief moment it was as if he were there, as if she could actually touch him.



And then it was gone, and she was left alone in her small cell with no one to comfort or touch her. Cassie sighed softly, fighting back the tears that burned her eyes. “Don’t fall apart on me princess, you’re tougher than that.”



Cassie bit her bottom lip, trying hard to suppress the sobs that wanted to shake her. Tears rolled down her face as her breath hitched painfully out of her. Sobs tore from her; she hugged herself tighter, fervently wishing that she was anywhere but here. “Hey,” Julian said harshly. “Look at me.”



She turned toward him, blinking rapidly against the tears streaming down her face. His hand was pressed against the glass, his face hard. “Put your hand on mine.”



She stared blankly back at him for a moment before lifting her hand and pressing it against the glass. Though they were not touching, the gesture still helped to sooth the ragged pain and misery inside of her. She missed being touched with kindness, missed the simple beauty of knowing she had her friends, and Devon, to rely on. She missed Chris (if Chris was even still alive, but that was something that she couldn’t allow herself to think about, otherwise she would lose complete control of her emotions) and Melissa and Luther. She missed their comfort, support, and unwavering love. She had none of that here. She had nothing here.



Except for Julian.



She lifted her gaze to his as she inhaled a shuddering breath. He was watching her intently, his bright eyes glowing with a strange sort of light. “Now listen to me. We are going to get through this. We are going to get out of here, but you have got to keep it together. If you break down in here, they win. You don’t want that, do you?” Cassie shook her head. “Good, so stay calm princess and we will get through this.”



Cassie swallowed heavily, blinking back her tears as she nodded. “Yes.”



“Alright then. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”



She frowned at him as she settled back on her bed; it seemed like such an odd request coming from him. She kept her hand pressed against his on the glass unable to break the small connection to someone else it gave her. “I thought you knew it all already,” she said softly. “You have touched me, and you have given me a good beat down before.”



He grinned at her. “You gave as well as you got,” he reminded her. “I know a lot about you, but I’d rather hear it coming from you.”



She watched him for a moment, trying to assimilate this man with the monster she had known, with the killer that had hunted her town, and killed so many innocents. Confusion twisted through her as she shook her head. Where was the monster that had tried to destroy her? He most certainly wasn’t here with her now. This person was completely different, this person was someone that she didn’t know, but was truly beginning to trust and like.



Cassie shuddered at the odd realization, her hand tightened momentarily on the glass as she stared into his beautiful, sad, compassionate eyes. She was fascinated by him, captivated by this stranger across from her. This stranger who was becoming her friend. Julian was the only person she had to count on right now, and she needed him. She wouldn’t survive this without him.



“What would you like to know?” she asked softly.



He grinned at her. “Why don’t you tell me about your tree house?”



She couldn’t help but smile back at him as she settled in for the long night. He leaned against the glass, his hand still pressed against hers. For a moment she could almost feel the warmth of his hand against hers, the comfort of his touch. Slowly, fondly, she told him about the tree house she and Chris had spent painstaking weeks building when they were ten years old. Only to have it fall apart on them a day after they finished it.



CHAPTER 18



It was the talks that got her through the next few days. Every night she would curl up on her bed, place her hand against the glass and talk with Julian. She told him stories of her childhood, stories he probably already knew, but patiently listened to anyway. They would talk until the drugs kicked in and she drifted into a nightmare filled sleep that was nearly impossible to wake from. They would talk until her throat hurt, and she was sure that he was sick of listening to her. And the more that she talked, and the more that he listened, the closer she began to feel to him. The closer they became.



The men came for her every day, and although she didn’t have to endure more electrical shocks, they came up with other forms of torture. At one point she was locked into a windowless room with a set of strobe lights. It had been a pain filled torment that had been brutal against her sensitive eyes. She had left the room with a massive headache, and had been unable to see for a good hour afterward.



They gave her three more of the same shots; each one had the same effect on her. The strange discoloration would take hold, but by morning it would be gone. She didn’t have another freak out, but she wasn’t sure she could take much more of it. She held out hope that Devon would find her, that he would rescue her, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her spirits up.



Julian did not give up hope though. His spirits didn’t diminish. He kept her sane when it was getting harder and harder to keep her sanity. He was determined that they would escape, determined that she would be the one to get them out. The only problem was that he couldn’t think of how she was going to do it. He only knew that she would.



She tried to keep silent through the tortures, tried to hold Devon’s image close to her in order to get through each new thing they came up with for her. But most of the time they broke her. She would end up screaming, and in the room with the lights, they had brought her to tears. It was a fact she was ashamed of, and one that she didn’t share with Julian. She couldn’t bring herself to admit to him that she was even weaker than she had ever thought she was.



“Cassie.”



“Hmm,” she lifted her head slowly, every muscle in her body screamed in protest as she met Julian’s inquisitive gaze.



“Are you ok?”



She nodded as she rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. Today they had locked her within a dark room with no windows, and no light. She had spent hours curled up in a corner, wondering if they would come back for her, or if this was it. Wondering if this was where they were finally going to leave her until she died. The thought had been terrifying, the room nerve wracking, and lonely. She had pictured Devon as she huddled in the corner, frightened and alone, trying not to shatter. But it was getting harder to draw upon his image, to remember all of the details in this hideous place.



But they had come back for her. They had given her another shot, and they had deposited her in her room once more, where Julian had been waiting for her. She had no idea what they were looking for with all of these tests and tortures, no idea what they were trying to do to her, what they wanted to prove. And she couldn’t even begin to imagine. She only knew that it could not be good.



She also wondered how much longer they were going to keep them both alive. Once they were done with their tests, and knew whatever it was they wanted to know, she would be of no use to them, and neither would Julian. Cassie shuddered to think that they might destroy him before her, leaving her completely alone in this hell.



She knew she could not survive that. She would snap completely if she was left alone. Her sanity would shred, leaving her a shell of the person she had once been. She was beginning to wonder if that was what they truly wanted from her after all. If they just wanted to see her a huddled mess, unable to think or act coherently anymore.



“I’m fine,” she whispered, trying hard not to think about what they intended for them.



“Why don’t you tell me about when you used to ride,” he suggested softly.



Cassie thought back to her early years, when she had been obsessed with horses, and riding. She had taken lessons nearly every day, preferring to be on a horse than solid ground. They were the happiest times of her life, but she’d given up riding when Luther had arrived and informed her of her Hunter legacy.



There had been no room for riding after that, no time for anything other than training and fighting. She had lost a large part of herself when Luther had told her about the blood and death that would fill her life from that moment on. Part of that loss had been her love of riding, and the sense of freedom that it had given her. After Luther had arrived, she had never known freedom again.



She hadn’t thought about riding in a long time, had almost completely forgotten about it. It seemed like a life time ago now. She had been a completely different person then. That Cassie had been hopeful and bright and full of life. This Cassie was beaten, nearly broken, and barely clinging to her sanity.