Big Mistake

I frowned when I heard the door to the cabin open. I was an emotional wreck, bouncing between anger, depression, and excitement over being close to meeting my daughter repeatedly. It made me exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep. When the bedroom door opened, I looked up at Gerald with hooded eyes. He came over to kneel beside me.

“Annie?”

I relaxed when his soft voice reached me. “Hey, Gerry.”

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“I’m a little emotional and tired,” I admitted.

“But are you hungry?”

“No,” I giggled. “I’ve been snacking on the rabbits. Thank you for them by the way.”

“Anytime, Banannie.” He reached up to take my hand. “Have you been talking to Vine Keeper Annaria about me?”

“No. Why?” I inquired.

“It’s just that every time I go hunting, Kraven is pushed to the back of my head and for a little while, I’m me again. I can think clearly without his hatred and anger. I can think without his obsession.” He leaned toward me to brush my hair back. “I feel disgusted by the things we did. I wish that I could go back and never do them. I knew better. I knew you were innocent and I still took advantage of you. And in case I never get another chance to tell you, I am sorry, Annie.” He put my hand over his heart. “I know you loved Logan. And believe it or not, I truly loved Giselda. I just wish that Kraven had let me show her more.”

I tilted my head as I scanned his face. “What even happened to make Kraven go crazy?”

He groaned as he dragged his hand down his face. “I don’t know. The morning after you were rolling around in my bed, he had changed. And he just grew stronger until I couldn’t control him anymore. I–”

His words stopped as his eyes started to flicker, making me shift to the other side of the bed. Kraven narrowed his eyes on me before getting up to storm out of the room. When he came back into the room, he had a sharp knife and a heated butter knife in his hands. I scrambled off the other side of the bed, trying to keep distance between us. I held my hand out.

“Kraven, please. Listen to me. We can work this out. Please don’t hurt me,” I begged.

“I’ve warned you about manipulating my human!” He growled. “You didn’t listen, and that is not my fault! You disobey me and you get punished. There’s no other way this goes down. Now, you can accept it or you can fight and trust me, I’m really hoping you fight.”

When he brandished the knife at me, I swallowed hard. “Kraven, I didn’t do anything. We were just talking. And–”

He lunged at me, causing me to dart around him, shutting the door behind me as I rushed out of the room. I sprinted to the front door, where I began to undo the multitude of locks on it. After throwing the last one open, I ran outside, thinking that if I could just make it into the trees I could disappear. I was almost there when I was tackled from behind. Marsha immediately shifted, easily tearing through the thin shirt I was wearing. A needle was jammed into my neck and a solution was pushed into me, almost immediately making Marsha flee from me. I was left quivering on the ground, looking up at a panting Kraven who was glaring down at me threateningly.

“That was a big mistake, Annaria.”

I pushed at his hands, trying to keep him from getting a hold on me as I scooted weakly backward away from him.

“Kraven, p-please. I’ll behave. I swear. Please don’t hurt our daughter,” I begged as tears started to course down my face. “Please.”

He kicked my leg as he smirked. “At this point there is nothing you can do to stop me from doing anything that I want to you. What I gave you is a paralytic. In a few minutes, you will not be able to move. You will not be able to fight.” He squatted beside me, chuckling darkly. “But you will feel all the pain. Every last cut. Every last burn.” His hand caressed my stomach. “Every single thing.”

I collapsed on the ground, trying to speak. To beg for my daughter’s life. He stood up, grinning down at me as he tangled his hands in my hair to drag me roughly back to the cabin. My body cried out with every bump that happened on the way up the stairs. I tried to twist but my body refused to work. I wanted to fight, to run away, but I was trapped inside of my body, unable to even blink my eyes. Once we were inside, he jerked up off the floor to slam me down on the table. I tried pleading with him using my eyes, but all it did was make him laugh.

“I can see why my human was so enthralled with you. You truly are beautiful. Shame that I have to ruin it.”

I tried to open our link to talk to him but I couldn’t focus on it without Marsha who was nowhere to be found in our head. I was forced to watch as he walked across the room to start the gas stove before placing a knife in the flame. While it heated, he picked up the other knife before coming back over to me. He held the knife up in front of me, twisting it in the dim light every which way so I could see how sharp it was.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” He mused. “So shiny and sharp!”

As he reached out toward me with the knife, something shifted inside of me, moving from my neck down to my stomach. I prayed it was the vine that was currently being housed in my body moving to protect my daughter. He started cutting into my arms, easily slicing through my fragile skin and leaving thin paper-cut like wounds along the entire length before starting the process over on my legs, skirting around my stomach even though he took joy in threateningly tracing it with the blade.

Once he was satisfied with the damage he had done to my limbs, he walked over to the stove to get the heated knife. After coming back over to me, he began pressing the searing-hot metal over each of the cuts, instantly stopping the bleeding. He hummed as he took the knife back over to the stove to reheat it. He glanced over his shoulder at me, still grinning.

“I love the way your blood smells. It’s–mmmmm–intoxicating,” he growled.

He came back over to me with both knives in his hands. He roughly forced my mouth open to pull my tongue out. He kept a tight grip on the tip of it as he raised the cool knife above it before slicing through it, removing the majority of it with one swipe of the knife. I wanted to scream as pain locked my body up, making him laugh gleefully as he cauterized what was left of my tongue. He held up the part that he removed, grinning down at me.

“I’ve never tongue before,” he told me as he pulled a chair out to sit beside me.

He lifted my tongue to his lips where he took a bite before chewing slowly, letting my blood dribble down his chin. He tilted his head as if he was trying to really decide if he liked the flavor of my tongue while he met my eyes. When he took another bite, I looked away from him, not wanting to watch him consume my flesh anymore. A few minutes later, he stood up, leisurely stretching before patting my cheek.

“That’ll do, Annaria. Thank you for such a pleasant snack. I hope you take this as the warning it is. Stop fucking disobeying me and I won’t have to hurt you, which would be a shame because I enjoy it so much. You can lay here until the paralytic wears off. When you wake up, you can suck me off as an apology.” He stretched again, yawning. “Sleep well. I know I will.”

As he walked off, all I could think was: I had gotten lucky this time. Next time I might not be. Next time, he might hurt my daughter. I had to get away. There was no other option.

******

When the paralytic finally wore off a few hours later, I rolled onto my side, bringing my legs instantly up to my chest as I wrapped my arms around them. I squeezed my burning eyes closed, needing to lubricate them. I was surprised that I wasn’t blind with how long my eyes had been forced to remain open. I was so angry that he had treated me the way he did, especially when I hadn’t done anything but talk to Gerry. The real Gerry, not the Gerry that was mostly Kraven.

‘Annie,’ Marsha whispered, sending a wave of relief through me.

‘Marsha! Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘I’m sleepy,’ she admitted. ‘Is our baby okay?’

‘I think so. The vine was protecting her. Well, at least I think. I felt it move. Do you think you can heal us?’

‘I don’t know. I feel so weak. I can try,’ she told me.

While she began to move through our body, focusing on our injuries, I zeroed in on our daughter with the vines help. After reassuring myself that our daughter was truly okay, I put what little energy and power I had behind Marsha as she continued to move through our body, slowly healing us. When the floorboards creaked in the other room, I quickly rolled back over, repositioning myself like I was when he left the room. My eyes flew back open as he entered. He stomped over to me, gripping my chin tightly before moving my head every which way as he studied my face. He rolled his eyes before slapping me, making me have to bite back a moan of pain.

“What a weak pathetic little bitch you are. Can’t even fight off a paralytic. Absolutely fucking pathetic. I can’t believe that my human ever loved you,” he spat.

He let me go to get a beer from the fridge before he came back around the counter to lean against it with his ankles crossed. He watched me closely for a few minutes before coming back over to me to bite into his mark on my neck, sending even harsher waves of pain through me than anything else he had done to me. It took everything in me not to scream out. He leaned back against the counter to watch me for a few more minutes before groaning as he reached down to stick his hand into his pants.

“Hurry up and get the paralytic out of your system. I want your lips wrapped around my cock!” He snarled before grinning at me. “I wonder how different it will feel without your tongue. Shame, I liked the way you used your tongue. Oh well. It had to be done.”

The instant he left the room, I let out a slow, steady long breath, trying to keep it silent. Marsha began to move through our body again, starting the healing process all over again, this time accompanied by the vine inside of me that was releasing healing energies inside of me, speeding up Marsha’s work while I lovingly rested my hand on my stomach. When all the pain from my body was finally gone, I held my breath so I could listen closely for sounds that were coming from the other room. Upon hearing none, I carefully sat up on the edge of the table with my eyes glued to the door, still listening closely for any sounds of him coming back to check on me. I carefully began to climb off the table, doing my best to not make even the slightest sound.

Once I was successfully off the table, I crept across the room to pick up a rabbit. I knew that in order to finish healing, I needed sustenance and the rabbits were the closest source of food I had. I took a small bite, chewing slowly as I continued to watch the door with my muscles coiled in anticipation of another fight. Marsha encouraged me to eat fast as our hair began to stand up on the back of our neck. I lowered the rabbit from my mouth as the vine inside of me began to move again, sliding up into my brain, opening it wide. I almost gasped as the sound of the forest reached me. I breathed in and the scent of almost wet soil filled my nose, shocking me. My ears twitched as a familiar wolf howl echoed in my head. My head snapped up. Jarrod.

‘Do you hear that?’ Marsha asked excitedly.

‘Yes. Do you think they are close?’ I responded.

‘I don’t know, but we should try to get to them if they are,’ she told me.

My stomach started cramping, making the rabbit fall from my hands as they went around my belly. I slowly drew in a deep breath as I leaned against the counter.

‘I don’t think the vines can delay our labor anymore, Annie. We are safer giving birth out there than in here with him. We should try to get to Jarrod. If he’s here, then so is our family,’ she said.

‘And then what?’ I inquired.

She took over, making me collect two rabbits before having me slip out of the back door silently. ‘And then we pray that our daughter makes it. Even if we don’t.’