Page 33 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 33

Hell Is What You Make It

ALORA

F iguring out how long she remained locked up was impossible with the sun blocked from the thick walls around her. Alora didn’t try to scream. Not only because the others above her probably condoned the man's actions, but also because she didn’t want anyone else getting hurt trying to help her.

She somehow fell asleep between the time she was shackled and the next time the man descended the stairs into the cells. Her joints ached, screaming at her to stretch them out and allow an easier blood flow. To do so brought a new pain to the backs of her thighs, a whine threatening to leave her .

Before she could bend her legs and relieve the pressure, a large hand dropped onto her thigh, preventing the action. The pain creeped higher and higher, building a cry within Alora’s chest she refused to let out. The slicing trailed further down her legs and dug into the back of her knees. The cry left her lips.

A vicious smile graced the man’s face as he knelt down beside her. “Hello little flower, pleasure to be in your acquaintance again.”

“I don’t remember it being a pleasure to have my meditation interrupted and then kidnapped,” Alora shot back between clenched teeth.

“I didn’t realise you meditated.” The comment slipped from his lips so quietly, Alora almost missed it. A strange little fact that made him pause. Alora didn’t understand it, or why it was of significance. He shook his head and blinked. “You weren’t kidnapped. Are you a child? No.”

“My apologies, abducted, then.”

Osiris had the audacity to roll his eyes. “I haven’t heard you screaming for help. For your precious love.”

Alora scoffed. “You literally told me I’m bait for Ascian. I’m not going to make it easier for you.”

Osiris clicked his tongue and rocked back on his heels before standing. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to drag some more screams out of you myself.”

Alora’s heart picked up speed, fingers twitching, body begging her to move away, to put distance between them. There was no space for her to move away, though. She was trapped. So completely and utterly trapped. More so than she’d ever been while on Earth.

She could handle some pain, though. She’d survive it. Still, she asked, “Why? It’s not like there’s anybody here who’ll care.”

Osiris chuckled. “There’s more people here still loyal to Ascian than you realise. If they hear you screaming or crying out for his help, they’ll be sure to get a message to him. But, how?”

The man’s mind ticked like a clock, shuffling through knowledge right in front of her. Alora could do nothing but wait under his assessing gaze. She hated to think about the possibilities passing through his mind. Dried blood still remained under his nails, caked between them and the nail bed. Calluses covered every inch of his hands. They stunk of Gods knew what. Vomit, perhaps? It grew worse when his other hand wrapped around her throat and clarity pushed away the assessment in his eyes.

“A little birdie once told me you were terrified of suffocating.”

Alora paled. No part of her could move.

They’d been friends once. A flash of a memory appeared in her mind. One containing the man before her from the brief glimpse she got of the beard and scarred eye.

His hold tightened on her throat, enough that drawing in oxygen grew difficult and each breath dragged. Her lips parted, trying to take it in that way, but the movement only caused him to push his hand against her throat harder. Silver lined her eyelids, building until it could no longer be held and then raced down her cheeks and dropped off her chin onto his fingers.

“I never thought I could ever find crying to be so pretty,” he murmured, chuckling deeply. “But then again, it’s not exactly crying is it? That overwhelming anxiety that you’re not getting enough oxygen. That if you’re not able to get it soon you’ll be even more vulnerable than you currently are, trapped under strength you couldn’t dream of overpowering.”

The edges of Alora’s vision brimmed with night. Bursts of light contrasted it in the centre, flickering images catching her attention as though the memory was right there waiting. Right before it covered her sight completely, the pressure eased and oxygen rushed into her screaming lungs. She coughed it back out and drank more in. She repeated the cycle a few more times until the cell around her came back into focus.

Would the torture trigger that memory to return fully if he pushed her hard enough? Would it help her? Alora swallowed down an already painful ball of saliva. Could she go through with it?

The man’s amused, crooked smile came back into focus and Alora knew she wouldn’t have to push through it if she wound Osiris up enough to the point he wouldn’t back off.

“Ready to scream, yet?” He taunted.

Alora mustered up as much saliva as she could and spat it out, right against his neck. “Go to hell.”

Osiris pursed his lips as a muscle feathered in his jaw. His hand slammed back into her throat, smashing her head against the clay wall with a hard thump. “Don’t you know, little flower , hell is what you make it.”

The knock to her head brought on an instant headache, one that travelled down her neck and into her shoulders. She could’ve sworn she felt the warm stickiness of blood there, too. A fresh red coated Osiris’ fingertips as he drew his hand back, pursing his lips at the liquid.

“You would think with Elysian’s descending from deities that we wouldn’t be so fragile.”

Alora lifted her chin and rested her aching head back against the chill of the wall. Osiris’ gaze grew distant, glazed in a saddened rage-filled way. Alora licked the dryness away from her lips. “You couldn’t save her, could you?”

Poke the bear, Alora, see what happens.

Osiris laughed with no humour, pinching his thumb and forefinger together to rub the blood between them. “Save her? There was no reason to save her. There was no threat to save her from .” He paused, looking back at her before he wrapped his hand lightly around her neck, again. “Do you know when the war truly kicked off?”

“No.” Alora’s voice broke at the end. An unconscious part of her whispering to say yes. She knew, but she still couldn’t remember. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“Perhaps I should abduct Tallulah and command her to bring the memory forth.” He watched her for a moment, as though reading micro expressions, perhaps seeing if she was lying about not knowing. Whatever he saw, the corner of his mouth pulled tight. “No, you probably already tried that, didn’t you?”

“Why don’t you enlighten me?”

Osiris made out like he considered the idea, and then flashed her a feral grin. “How about I don’t? It’s not like you’ll be around long enough to change anything with the knowledge.”

His grip on her throat tightened slowly, increasing more and more until the flickering of a memory made an appearance again, darkness bordering it. Alora felt the pressure start to ease up again, searching her mind for anything to get him to keep going.

“She would hate who you’ve turned into.” Alora felt like a bitch, but the comment worked and the pressure fell back on her throat to the point the darkness zeroed in, in a matter of seconds.

Laughter surrounded them. It bounced off the trees and weaved through the overgrown brush. Footsteps hurried lightly over the ground, heavier ones behind them. A second later and a squeal filled the air.

“Siris, put me down!” More of her laughter followed, with his deep chuckle joining it.

“They’ll be soul-joined before we know it.” Maelo’s voice filtered through, pulling Alora’s eyes open to the bright, sun-filled clearing she sat in with her friends. She glanced towards the pair Maelo spoke of: Osiris and Raine.

Raine appeared tiny when near Osiris, her petite curvy body fitting to his like a puzzle piece. Black hair the same shade as Ascian and Maelo’s cascaded down her back. Instead of dark eyes, though, hers were full of colour. Heterochromia, that’s what the healers had called it when she’d been born. Blue and green in one eye, gold and grey in the other.

She wanted to be a scholar, despite her parents wishes, and Alora knew Ascian would take a thousand whippings before he let their parents take that chance away from his little sister.

Alora turned her head towards Maelo, spotting Kallias on the edge of the clearing, facing away from them. She frowned. “Is Kallias okay?”

On her other side, Kaida leaned past her and narrowed her eyes towards him. “His pulse is through the treetops. Maybe he’s stressed about the meeting this afternoon?”

“Maybe…” Alora murmured. She stood, dusting off her pants and made her way over to him.

The closer she got, the more she could make out him mumbling words continuously. A string of incoherent thoughts. Names, titles, secrets Alora didn’t think he was meant to know about.

“Kal?” She slowed her approach, reaching a hand out for his shoulder. He twitched at the contact.

“I can’t control it. There’s too many. Too many strong ones. Too many calling for me. I need space. Need to concentrate. Need time. Need training. Training. Yes. Training would be good. But the meeting tonight. The Elders can’t know. Mum and dad can’t know. Nobody can know. You can’t know. Alora.” Kallias stopped, his brows pinching together as he turned and looked at her. No. Not at her, through her, towards her — their — group of friends. “Dating…”

One of Alora’s brows shot up. “Do I need to get someone to heal you?”

Kallias’ gaze snapped to hers. “You’ll be disowned. Mum and dad will kill you.”

Her heart hammered in her chest, lips parting even when no words came out. What was she meant to say to that? It wasn’t exactly a threat. He said it like a fact, like he’d figured something out about her. Her heart dropped.

Ascian.

“How did you..?”

“Not safe. You’re not safe.”

Too many things happened at once. Kallias’ eyes shifted. A change Alora had yet to witness on an Elysian. A scream filled the air behind her. Bodies moved quickly as she spun towards it. A growl overwhelmed her, forcing her to her knees and covering her ears.

She forced her eyes to stay open, searching the clearing until she found Raine’s body lifeless on the ground. Osiris cupped her face, tapping her cheeks with an incredible gentleness. Tears streaked his face, his braided hair falling over his shoulder.

Something cracked in his eyes, letting out the light and the darkness in. His bear, she stood upright behind them both, her growl crushing Alora’s eardrums and then leaving them ringing when she finally stopped and fell to all fours.

Alora crawled towards the pair, towards a weeping Maelo and a begging Kaida. Their hands reached for Raines’ body but were smacked away by Osiris.

“No! Nobody touches her!” He growled, cradling her into his chest and rising. His gaze swept over the three women, then landed on Kallias behind Alora and rage like Alora had never felt before washed over the area. The ground beneath Osiris blackened, black flowers sprouting and spreading out as the grass died back.

“I will come for you, Kallias.”