The Protector

Ebonee’s vision had returned, but she had chosen to keep her eyes closed tightly. Tears still managed to escape her closed eyelids though, as the pain from the wound and the evil in Dalfien’s voice tore at her. She shook her head violently, trying to deny his commands. She would die before she let Elijah fall into this evil ones trap. She focused her mind on that place again, in Elijah’s arms. She felt his soft hands upon her face. 

“AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!” 

Her scream echoed through out the chamber and down the four tunnels again, as the dagger dug into her flesh. Her face contorted in pain, and suddenly her eyes were open, staring into those of her torturers. She saw the pure evil in those cold eyes, the hatred. But she neither flinched nor turned her gaze. Neither did she scream out anymore. She was beyond pain, beyond any torture that the demon could devise. 

She returned that hateful look with one of her own. One born out of pain, despair, and rage. Dalfien flinched at the woman’s sudden glare. He pushed the dagger in deeper, their eyes still locked in a test of wills. He soon realized that she was beyond physical pain. The cold look in her eyes told him that much. 

Ebonee’s body shook from the shear hatred she held for this demon at that moment. Dalfien chuckled awkwardly, and tried another approach. Ebonee felt the demon then, trying to force his way into her mind. But she knew the truth of the beast now, and Dalfien found he could not find a way thru the wall of hatred and rage she had built in her mind. 

Scowling angrily, he slapped the insolent woman across the face with the back of his hand. Ebonee’s head jerked to the side from the force of the slap, her eyes closed. Suddenly the rage and hatred were gone. Replaced by a sadness that brought tears flowing from her now open eyes, eyes that watched as Elijah charged into the chamber, his blades gleaming in the light of the torches and candles, as he charged into the trap.  

Elijah ran into the chamber, ignoring the man standing next to the opening. He stopped cold in his tracks as his eyes found the alter and what was on top of it. His hands shook visibly as his eyes took in the sight. 

A strange calmness fell over him then, as he looked at her. Blood dripped from her feet, which were staked to the cross she hung upon. Her hands too, dripped blood from the holes driven into them by more stakes, and her eyes, he saw in them sadness, as she gazed at him, her tears falling unabated. She looked as though her will had been crushed. Elijah saw only hopelessness in those beautiful brown eyes, a hopelessness that seemed so out of place. Then his eyes fell upon Charles, and the wound in Ebonee’s side, and the dagger he held in his hand, still dripping with Ebonee’s blood. 

Their eyes met then, and the world seemed to not exist any longer. Dalfien knew then, that there would be no trap, no surrendering, no bargaining for the woman's life, as he looked into hatred and rage much deeper than his own. He brought the dagger up to rest underneath of the girls chin. 

“Stop where you are!” He commanded, drawing a drop of blood from Ebonee’s neck. 

But if the Protector even heard the words, they would not have stopped him. If he would have taken a moment to think, Elijah probably would have stopped at the command, fearing for Ebonee’s life. But he was no longer in the realm of logical thought. The rage was too much, the pain and hatred would not be denied its release. He only felt the soft hum of the blades. He only felt the desire to kill. To hurt. 

“Kill him!” Dalfien shouted out, seeing that there would be no talking.