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n

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nTrinity

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n

"It's time for us to get to work.

" He grinned at me. I heard a door open in the shadows where he had appeared from. Four people walked in, three men and one woman. The men were the same group that had attacked me outside of Riley's pack house. I had never seen the woman before.

nTwo of the men came and grabbed me by the arms, yanking me to my feet. The woman went across the room to the chair. She dragged it into the middle of the room which I could now see had a pattern drawn on it in black. I couldn't see the whole pattern clearly but it seemed to be made up of curving lines that formed a three leaf pattern, running through the pointed tip of each leaf was the line of a circle.

nThe chair was put right in the middle of the symbol. The two men carried me over to the chair, my feet dangling in the air below me. I would have kicked out at them, doing something in an attempt to get away, but the look on the third man's face as he held a knife menacingly in his hands stopped me.

nThe man with the knife was the man that had kicked me in the head before. He used the knife to cut the ropes from my hands. As soon as my hands were free the two men holding me forced me into the chair. I saw an eerie flash of light out of the corner of my eye, it was a strange purplish light so dark I almost wanted to call it black. The next thing I knew there were ropes winding their way around my arms and legs, binding me to the chair.

n

"What are you planning?

" I snapped at them.

n

"Shall we get started now, Master Edmond?

"

n

"So, that's your name? Edmond? At least now I know the name of my father that I can hate and resent for the rest of my life.

"

n

"Watch your tongue, mongrel. He is the high warlock of this coven. Master Edmond is the greatest of all time.

" The woman glared at me as she spoke.

n

"I don't care who Edmond is. To me he is nothing more than a psychotic bastard.

"

n

"I said watch your tongue.

" My head snapped to the side as the woman smacked me across the face with tremendous force.

n

"That's enough, Reya.

" Edmond spoke calmly.

"Actually Edmond is my surname, child. The name you should have been given but I was not able to grant to you. Gannon Cornelius Edmond, high warlock of the Sacramentum de Mortis.

" Edmond boasted proudly as he leaned over me.

n

"The Covenant of Death, how charming. I'm sure you have people begging to join you everywhere you go.

" I snapped sarcastically.

n

"So you speak Latin, wonderful.

"

n

"It's one of the languages I was forced to learn growing up, never thought it'd be coming into use like this though.

"

n

"You're in need of an attitude adjustment, aren't you.

"

n

"I don't think so. No one else has ever had a problem with my attitude. You seem to be the only ones who don't like it.

"

n

"Hmm, we will just need to take care of it ourselves then. Grantham, Cormac, Beckett, why don't you do something about this. Reya, you help them out.

" He grinned as he went to leave the room.

"If you can't change her attitude or make her magic manifest by tomorrow, well, then it's my turn.

"

nI heard the sound of four sinister laughs as Edmond left the room. I slowly turned my head to focus on the four people who remained in the room with me.

n

"This will be fun.

" One of the men said as he punched me in the face. I felt an explosion of pain as blood began to trickle down my face, over my lips, and onto my lap. The man who hit me was about five-foot-ten with short, greasy, light brown hair and pale gray eyes.

n

"Yeah, we can get some payback from before.

" Another of the men said as he aimed a blow right into my stomach. He was maybe an inch taller than the other one, with long, dry, dirty blond hair and muddy brown eyes.

n

"Let's not play around, we have other methods.

" The last man said as he walked to the outer edge of the room. He came back carrying a large device with a crank handle on the side. This man had the muddy brown eyes of the second one but the light brown hair of the first one, he was similar in height and features to them both as well. It looked like they were all related somehow.

n

"Oooh, you brought us a toy.

" The woman, Reya, laughed excitedly. She looked nothing like the men. She was short, like me, but she had bright, unnaturally red hair and black eyes. Instead of the normal pale complexion that goes with red hair she had an olive complexion. Her overall look was wild and unkempt.

nThe device the man carried in was attached to my hands, feet, and head with cables.

n

"Douse her, Beckett.

" The man with the light brown hair and muddy brown eyes said. I didn't see which one but one of the other men must have grabbed a bucket of water from somewhere as the next thing I knew I felt the ice cold water being dumped over my head. I shivered for a moment, letting my body get used to the feeling of the water. I had a feeling I knew what was coming next, and I was not looking forward to it.

n

"Crank it Cormac.

" The same man instructed, by process of elimination this made him Grantham. The man with the dirty blond hair smiled as he put his hand on the device's crank.

n

"Ready to jump?

" Cormac smirked as he began to turn the crank.

nI felt jolts of electricity when the crank started to turn. They started out small when he was just getting started, but the more the crank turned the more intense the currents became. It wasn't long before it was nearly unbearable.

nI refused to cry out. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut as my body began to jerk uncontrollably. I couldn't move a single muscle in my body. The spasms wracking through my body was throwing me against the ropes binding me to the chair causing them to dig in painfully.

nGradually the current running through me lessened. My body began to settle back into the chair. I slumped forward unable to hold my head up. I was breathing heavily, the breaths sawing in and out of my lungs painfully.

nI glared at the man, Cormac, through the hair that was stuck to my face with water and sweat. I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to destroy them in that moment. With every fiber of my being I wanted to do harm to another person unlike never before.

n

"I see your attitude hasn't improved at all.

" Grantham chuckled.

"I think you need another lesson.

" Cormac began to turn the crank again, faster this time. The spasms began once more causing my body to toss and thrash about wildly.

nThe pain was more intense, but still I did not cry out. I held my cries, my screams of pain inside.

nJust as I was ready to throw my head back and scream the current stopped. I nearly sighed in relief, but I managed to hold it in. Once again I glared daggers at the sadistic warlocks in front of me.

n

"We need to do something about you moving all over the place. Let's tie her up some more.

" Beckett said from behind me.

n

"I have just the idea.

" Reya said from somewhere in the dark. She came sauntering out with another cord of rope. She wrapped the cord around my neck, not quite choking me.

n

"A garrote, good thinking, that will hold her in place.

" Beckett laughed.

"But let's add one more.

" He came forward, apparently he had another cord. He wrapped his cord around my upper chest, this one was much tighter than the one around my neck.

nOnce again the current poured into my body. Jolt after jolt. My body jerked harder than before. Cormac was spinning the crank wildly, faster than he had either time before.

nMy body spasmed and thrashed against the bindings. The cords cut into my chest and tightened around my neck. I couldn't breathe. I could feel the ropes scraping the skin away where they rubbed against me at my neck and wrists. But the pain was nothing compared to the jolts of electricity.

nI couldn't bear it any longer. I had tried to keep from screaming. I had tried not to cry out. But I gave in. I used the last of the air in my lungs to scream long and loud. I lost consciousness as the last of the breath left my body.

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