ARIAS

Why didn't my power work? How can she disagree with me? I pick up her chair and toss it into the waves. I want to kill something. She heard the ugly details of my life, felt my anger, and saw my need for revenge, and still she said no. I wanted to do this the easy way, to let her help me but now, I will use her. I will destroy her to reach to them. I will take what is most precious to her. Turning, I stare up at her window as a plan forms in my mind. I will make them all pay.

I walk slowly to the house, moving silently to my office. I have calls to make, things to be brought here, things I need to make them pay. Flinging myself into my chair, I hate that my eyes are pulled to the screen. She has changed into a loose dressing gown. I can't understand why she is immune - no one has ever been immune to my powers. They always do what I demand. She is sitting calmly on her bed, my rage flares higher. She sat there as I poured out my tragedies and all she could do was say sorry. SORRY! I had plans for her, for them, and she is sorry. I would've kept her here, made her happy, she would have forgotten her friend and her family. It would have been just us; together always. I would have made her love me. I feel like I’ve been punched when her face lights up. I tell her about being beaten my entire life, and she smiles. Chest heaving, I knock the monitor from my desk as I rush from the room. Taking the stairs two at a time, my rage climbs as I do.

I’m seething when I reach the door to her room. Throwing it open, kicking the chair that had been meant to keep me outside, I stride in just as she is pulling her dress up, a small amount of blood drying on her skinned knees.

"What happened to you?" My voice sounds harsh even to my own ears, and she cringes slightly before squaring her shoulders.

"Apparently, since you're pissed, your guards think they can do whatever, and I do mean whatever, they want to me. The disgusting, leering asshole who brought me up shoved me in the fucking door!" Her voice has risen as she spoke and the last is yelled.

I cross to her, shoving her back on the bed and drawing her leg up so I can examine the damage better.

"While I appreciate your 'concern', can you not shove me around?" The amount of sarcasm dripping from her voice tells me just how much she appreciates my concern.

"I won't let them touch you." My hand gentles on her calf, and she looks at me through her dark lashes. I slowly release her leg, letting her foot ease to the floor. "There should be a first aid kit in the bathroom." I move away from her.

Her voice stops me, and I look over at her. "I understand that you're mad because I said I couldn't help you. You have to understand, I would gladly help you obtain your revenge on those that actually hurt you. My friend, and those she is with, didn't do anything to you."

I hear the reproach in her tone, she scolds me like a small child and once again mys anger flares. "You have no idea what those your friend is with have or have not done to me."

"So, tell me," she counters.

A challenge, a dare. Whirling, I stomp out and slam the heavy door so hard a picture falls to the floor, glass shattering and tinkling as it bounces across the tile. I stare, gritting my teeth. I have told her enough.

My anger is still beating at me as I move away. I smile, heading to my office. Once there, I make a call to security requesting the guard that shoved her be brought to me. Pressing a hidden button on my desk, I wait as the wall slides open to reveal a hidden room. A knock at the office door has me spinning in my chair.

"Come." My fingers are peaked, resting against my lips, when the guard walks in. The man’s face pales when he notices the room behind me. I press another button, shutting and locking the door behind the guard, and he flinches at the sound of the lock sliding into place.

"Why don't you go have a seat in the chair." I pour my power into my voice. The guard walks forward, sitting down, terror stamped on his face. I move in front of him and snap the stainless steel cuffs into place around his wrists and ankles. "My guest told me you shoved her. Why would you think you could touch what is mine?" I grit out.

"I… I, um, I was just kidding with her after she angered you, Sir." I watch as his Adam's apple bobs.

"The blood on her knees and her broken skin didn't strike me as funny." I move around behind him and lean down to his ear, "I will find breaking your skin open funny though."

Moving to the cabinet on my left, I open the doors, squeaks fill the air. The guard begins to struggle when he sees the rats in the cages.

"Have you ever heard of how they used rats to torture people in the past?" I whisper close to him. He whimpers while shaking his head.

"Well, you take a cage or bucket and strap it to a person's stomach with a rat or rats inside. The key is fire though; without fire the rats won't try to escape." I light a candle and move in front of the cages, and the squeaks become frantic, calming only when I move the fire away. The guard is panting, struggling, his wrist are bleeding from the metal cutting in. Turning, I show him the small cage I’m holding, open on one end with leather straps. I smile as I coil them around the guard’s back, looping them through the buckle on the side of the little gleaming cage. Once I make the strap snug, I straighten. The guard is begging now.

Pulling one of the rats from their cage, I stroke the fur as I move in front of him. His body is jerking, trying to move away, but he can't.

"I could make it so your mind has no idea what is happening to your body. I could, but I'm not. NO ONE touches what's mine. I promised Ms. Connolly I would keep her safe, make sure no harm came to her. You harmed her, didn't you?" Opening the cage, I place the rat inside. Jet black with glistening eyes, its nose twitches as it catches the scent of the blood dripping from his wrists. The rat moves around the cage trying to find a way to the blood. "I keep them hungry. Did you know they used to do this to witches? They would use more than one though."

I light another candle and bring it close, the rat begins to fight. I listen to the man’s screams for a while until I tire of them and then I suggest that he keeps quiet. His panting and gasps fill the air as the rat digs inside his body cavity. "I think you should apologize to my guest."

"Yes, please God, yes, I want to. Please, anything, Sir," he pleads.

I move the fire away, and the rat slows his frenzied digging. It doesn't stop because now it has the taste of blood. Moving to my desk, I call another guard and tell him to bring Emma to me. I wait beside the door for the knock that heralds her arrival. In moments, she will understand that I will always keep her safe.