The demons approached Sarain as she thrashed in her chair; her strength was coming back. She screamed and fought in place as they watched, wondering where this new found energy had come from. One of the demons then grabbed something from a compartment behind her, and when it came back she saw a needle clutched in its clawed hand. The other demon moved to hold her still, and when it neared, Sarain broke her arm free from the metal clamp, that now dangled from her wrist like a bracelet, and shoved the beast back sending it crashing against a wall. Sarain then removed the head gear from her face, but before she had time to do anything else, the demon holding the needle rushed from her other side and jammed the drug into her non-freed arm.
She felt the needle break her skin and plunge deep beneath the surface, the drug surged through her veins, but she had yet to feel its full effect. What had they just given her? Was it demon blood? No, after a moment Sarain began to feel her head spin. It was just a sedative. She started to grow dizzy, though still felt able to fight. She tried to grab at her other clamp, but the demons quickly stopped her and held her down. The demons then injected her with another sedative. Sarain swayed and began to feel nauseous, the room seemed to get brighter, and a high pitch sound started ringing in her ears.
“Be careful that you don’t give her too much, that’s a powerful drug, and it still hasn’t had enough time for it to completely kick in,” Sephor’s booming voice said, though now his tone sounded even louder to Sarain’s sensitive ears, who cringed from its head-splitting effect. He must have come back to check the demons’ progress.
“Look, now she’s too incapacitated, that’s no good for torture. Put her in a cell until she’s had time to become more lucid,” Sephor ordered them.
“But master, then she’ll be too strong,” one of the demons complained.
Sarain heard the sound of a scuffle that happened to be Sephor striking the demon, and then was followed by him shouting, “How dare you question my orders! If she is stronger then use more men! But I want her feeling every ounce of pain! Now take her to a cell!”
Sephor was about to leave when Sarain finally muttered, “What did you do to Kit?”
He stopped and said, “The boy? Oh yes, him,” he turned to one of his servants and stated, “Put her in his cell.” Sephor left without further interaction.
The demons unclamped Sarain, who was now limp and woozy, and took her by the shoulders. They dragged her out of the den and down the hall to a cell that lay in a particularly dark corner. They opened the loud groaning door and threw her in without consideration. Sarain fell flat on her side into a puddle, which was followed by her hearing the door slam shut and lock behind her.
The cell was dark and cold. Sarain’s eyes weren’t focusing or adjusting to the darkness anywhere near as fast as they normally would. She laid there wet on the ground and unable to move for a while, blind to her surroundings.
Sephor said something about Kit, was he there? Sarain was too weak to act, but managed to call out faintly, “Kit?” The room was silent, so she tried again a little louder and said, “Kit, are you there?” But there was still no answer.
She struggled to lift herself up and crashed back down on her first try. She lifted herself up again and started to slowly crawl, searching around the small cell with her hands. She bumped into a wall then used it to steady herself. She leaned against the wall and dragged herself along it, feeling for any sign of Kit. Her hand landed on a shoe, she felt up it and found it attached to a leg.
“Kit?” Sarain spoke with some alertness.
She moved forward and put her hand on his chest. Her hand laid there for a moment before she realized that he wasn’t breathing. Sarain began to panic as she moved her hands up towards his face, but her hands stopped at his neck. His skin felt like ice, but more importantly, Sarain could feel the bulge of something that shouldn’t have been there. A bone was protruding in his throat; his neck was broken.
Tears began to sting in Sarain’s eyes. No, no it wasn’t Kit, she told herself. She took his head in her arms and held him in a cradle. She looked down at his face, and while her vision was still somewhat out of focus, she was able to see enough to know that it was him. The tears ran down her cheeks, and a wave of grief and guilt fell over Sarain. Her sobs took a hold of her, and her body began to shake. A sour knot started to rise from the pit of her stomach, and Sarain turned away and vomited. Chills surged throughout her, and she clenched her teeth to keep herself from crying out. It didn’t help. Sarain screamed and wailed until her throat ached.
“Bring him back!” Sarain called out to some unseen entity, “He was just a boy!”
He was a boy she had made smile; she didn’t make people smile, but Kit did and he seemed happy to be in her company. Now he would never smile again, never sit with her to a meal, never come to her with a bad dream, never make her feel at home after a long night of hunting. She wanted him back so badly, she swore she would be better this time, and not just a guardian; she would be his mother. She just wanted one more chance to make things right.
Her cries went unheard and unanswered. With all she had done over the years; everyone she saved, and all the horrible things she had to see, why couldn’t she have this one prayer answered, she wondered, hadn’t she earned it? What was she fighting for if demons still remained with no retribution in sight for her?
She closed her eyes feeling just as damned as any other beast she fought. Everything she had ever cared about had been ripped away. No more would she fight for a higher purpose, any blade she may choose to wield she would do so to serve her own intentions.
An hour went by, Sarain laid with her back against the wall, still holding on to Kit. The drug the demons had given her had kicked in further; the room spun and even though it was dark, she could see bright colorful spots dancing around the cell. They looked like flowers, and Sarain thought that maybe they were souls; one was Kit, another was Nate, and the pretty red one was Ariana, her mother. She wasn’t sure who the other ones were, perhaps members of her clan, or maybe they were people she failed to save. There were so many colors, just like a flourishing garden. Were these flowers for her?
Sarain felt very dizzy, and she was growing sleepy. Was she dreaming? Maybe she had been asleep all this time, where was she really? Sarain felt like she was forgetting something, was it time to get up and feed Kit? Kit? There was something about Kit she needed to remember. What was she holding?
Sarain let go of whatever was in her arms and it slumped to her side with a thud. She shifted to her side and fell over. I have to wake Kit, she thought to herself. Kit, no, Kit was dead. Dead.
Sarain’s eyes began to tear up again; Kit was dead. It repeated in her mind over and over again, but it still didn’t feel real. How could he be gone? The colors were gone, and Sarain just laid there spinning on her side. She wished the room would stop moving.
Just then the door made a clanging noise and creaked open. A voice quietly called out, “Sarain?” Was that her imagination? “Sarain,” The voice said again.
“Orran?” she deliriously answered back, thinking to herself, who was that?
The door opened further, and a figure stepped in. Sarain’s eyes began to focus on the man, and when she started to realize who it was they responded as if reading her mind; “Sarain, it’s Winston.”
Winston, she thought to herself, go away. Why was he here?
He moved toward her, and Sarain hadn’t the strength to move away. Winston knelt down by her, and started to pick her up, but Sarain tiredly swatted at him causing him to accidentally drop her. She fell to the ground.
“Go away,” she told him, weakly.
“I’m here to help,” Winston tried to reassure her.
“No, you burnt down my house. You killed Kit,” Sarain said trying to be forceful, but only sounding helpless.
“I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with that,” he pleaded.
He tried to pick her up again, but Sarain swatted at him once more saying, “No, I don’t believe you.” After a second of silence, she finally said, “You’re a demon; you’re all planning on torturing me. You just want to know if the drug is wearing off.”
“No, really, I’m here to help,” he stated again.
She then started to get up on her own while muttering, “I don’t want your help.”
Sarain swayed and got to about half a stand when she finally collapsed and passed out. Winston knelt by her side again, and scooped her up easily this time. He lifted Sarain up, and held her in his arms. He pushed the cell door the rest of the way open with his shoulder and stepped out sideways so that he could fit Sarain through the doorway. He listened to make sure that the demons he had sent away hadn’t returned; it was quiet. He carried her down the hall all the while thinking, I have to get her out of here. He hoped that he wouldn’t be caught, but he knew that after this he wouldn’t be able to return; surely they would realize what he had done, and then he would be hunted by them just the same as Sarain. She would be his downfall.