Chapter Seventy Six

*Ariya*


Someone was coming. I shook Ivan to wake him up. The fear creeping in of us getting caught. I couldn’t risk Ivan getting hurt. I couldn’t risk him being used against me. Ivan jolted awake and looked at me.
“Someone’s coming. Shift back!” I whispered urgently.
Ivan’s body shivered as he shifted back to his human form. I grabbed his shirt and threw it at him.
“Ari, you need to pretend to lose control. Boss needs to give you more blood and we’re going to have to explain the dome.” Ivan said quickly.
“The dome is already gone. I got rid of it when I woke you. I can lose control though. Just promise me it’s ok.” I told him.
Ivan looked around and realized there wasn’t a dome. His hair was changing back as he put his last shoe on.
“It’s ok. I promise. I’m still here, even like this. I’m just blocked from showing you.” Ivan told me.
His hair changed back and I felt my memories begin to fade. Ivan moved toward the back wall so I couldn’t touch him. His memories would have faded and he was now Justin again. I looked at him and thought about how his blood tasted. A growl escaped me and Justin nodded at me. I made a mental note to ask him later.
I let myself feel my hunger. I thought about how it felt to feed for the first time. I thought about the hunger I felt. I thought about how his blood tasted. My tongue moved back and forth across my canines as they pushed out into fangs. I stopped resisting my urges. I growled at Justin baring my fangs.
“Ariya! Get a hold of yourself!” Justin shouted at me.
The door clicked and Boss came in as I lunged at Justin. The restraints halted my movement but not for long. I pulled roughly at my right restraint and it ripped out of the wall. Justin’s eyes grew wide as I lunged myself towards him again. Before I was able to grab him around the neck I was in the air. Boss used his gravity ability and forced me down into the ground just like the last time. I broke my fall with my face and blood gushed from my nose.
“What is going on here?!” Boss shouted.
“I have no idea. One second she was fine and the next she just lost control.” Justin answered.
“How long has it been since she last had any blood?” Boss asked.
Boss kept an immense amount of pressure on me, keeping me pinned to the floor. I wriggled around trying to move and he increased the pressure. I felt my bones crack under the pressure.
“The last time I fixed her bones. That was the last time I gave her any.”
Boss cursed, “Go get a couple bags. Hurry. I’m not going to be able to keep this much pressure on her for long.”
Justin nodded and ran to the door.
“Oh and Justin, if you breathe a word about my ability, I’ll kill you.” Boss said before Justin left the room.
“Now, what do we do about you?” Boss cooed at me.
I growled in response and Boss lifted me up into the air again.
“Get a grip, Ariya. I know we forgot to give you blood consistently but he’ll be back soon.” Boss told me.
I swiped at the air trying to get closer to him but didn’t move anywhere. Boss’s ability was weird. He could control the gravity around me and make it increase or decrease but when I was in the air it was like I was being held in the air. Like a force held me in place. I didn’t understand it.
“Maybe pain will bring you back. Or knock you out. Either way it works for me.” Boss said as he forced his hand down again to drop me against the ground.
This time I managed to put my hand out to prevent me from breaking my fall with my face. Bad move. My arm snapped and I screamed in pain. The pain brought me back to my senses but the hunger increased. My eyes changed but my fangs remained out. I looked up at Boss.
“Please…Help me…” I begged.
“Help you how? What do you want me to do? Justin is running to grab blood for you. You just need to stay in control.” Boss told me.
I nodded at him as I fought for control. I tried focusing on the pain in my arm and nose instead of the hunger I felt. I took slow, deep breaths. I sat up and cradled my broken arm with my other hand. Boss watched me, curiously.
“What are you thinking about?” Boss asked me.
“The pain.” I told him.
“It’s working. So keep focusing on that. I’ll break your leg next time though. That will immobilize you a bit.”
Justin burst into the room carrying a couple bags of blood. My eyes shot straight to it and I growled. The hunger began to take over again. I didn’t want the bags though. I wanted to feed straight from Justin. I lunged at Justin again and wrapped my hand around his neck, pinning him to the wall. Justin dropped the bags of blood on the ground and used an open hand jab at my arm to break contact off of his neck. He stepped off to the side as he did and hook shot me in the rib cage. I gasped for breath but before I could move Justin front kicked me to create some distance. He grabbed a bag of blood from the ground and as I went to get up he shoved it in my mouth and pushed my jaw upward so I bit into the bag. The blood gushed into my mouth and my eyes went wide. I drank greedily until the bag was empty.
I let the bag fall to the ground. My eyes went back to normal and my fangs receded. I looked at Boss worried about what he was going to do to me. He had told me if I pulled a restraint from the wall he was going to chain me back to the table.
“Relax, Ariya.” Boss told me as if he could read my mind.
“I’m sorry.” I said, looking at Boss and Justin and then to the ground.
“Pull the other restraint off the wall. Since that arm isn’t broken. I want to see you do it now that you’re in control.” Boss told me.
I looked at him confused but did as he said. I pulled at the other restraint but it wouldn’t budge. I released some of the tension and then used all my strength to pull it as hard as I could. I expected the force I put on it to be more than needed since I was using all of my strength but the opposite happened. I screamed in pain as I pulled my other arm out of its socket. Both of my arms were unable to be used. Boss and Justin flinched in pain.
“Well that had to hurt.” Boss said, “You didn’t need to go that far. But I appreciate the effort.”
“What do we do about the other restraint being off?” Justin asked.
“That was part of why I was coming over here. One of my toys got finished today. I was going to give you more privileges, Ariya. Then you lost control. I’m debating on giving it to you now. It looks like Justin can still handle fighting a Navi, so I’m sure it will be fine, but you need to tell Justin or I if you need something.” Boss said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, unsure.
“Exactly what I said. Tell us when you need something. Or want something. Is there anything you need or want right now, Ariya?” Boss asked me.
I shifted uncomfortably, “I didn’t think I was allowed to request anything, being that I’m a prisoner.”
“Typically no. But I’m being generous. You’ve been useful and cooperative. This is your reward. A need is different than a want though. Keep that in mind. If you need blood, you need to say so. I don’t know how much you guys actually need. I don’t want you to be able to escape but I don’t need you trying to eat Justin either. So if you NEED something you should tell us. A want though is something that you would like to have. Is there anything you would LIKE to have, Ariya?”
I thought about it, “There’s a lot I want. Like a bed, a pillow, and a blanket. To be able to be with Drake, Keo, Caleb, and Ivan. To get my memories back. To not be chained up. To not have broken bones. To go home. To learn how to control myself. To learn how to control my abilities. The list goes on and on if you’re asking what I want. I do need more blood though.”
“You’re not going back to the Navi. That isn’t going to happen. But I understand. You’re also not going home either. But the rest, we can do something about. Mostly. I won’t give you an actual bed yet but I will give you a mat, a blanket, and a pillow. Your memories are coming back so those you’ll just need to be patient for. Justin can fix your bones in a second and then we’ll change the chained up situation. Control is going to take time but I will think of something on that. I’d rather you be able to control yourself so I can learn more anyway.” Boss told me.
I looked at him shocked, “You’re really going to give me a mat? And a blanket? And a pillow? And you aren’t going to chain me up?”
Boss laughed, “As long as you continue to behave. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes.” I said.
“Good. Justin, fix her bones, give her more blood, and then take her restraints off. You’ll be replacing her restraints with these.” Boss said holding out 2 black bracelet looking things.
Justin raised his eyebrow, “There’s only 2 of them.”
“One will go on her left wrist. The other on her right ankle. Ariya, if you try to escape, the second you walk out of the building you’ll be electrocuted. Understood?”
I nodded, “That’s why there’s only 2. It completes the circuit.”
“Exactly.” Boss laughed, “Crossing both hemispheres of the body will lock you up when you get electrocuted. Oh and because you’re a Navi, the voltage is a lethal amount for any normal person. For you, I’m guessing it will just knock you out.”
Justin took the 2 bracelets from Boss, “What would you like me to do with the ones in here?”
“Just move them to storage. Oh and after all that is done, when you go out to get food again, make sure to bring a mat, blanket, and pillow back for her. A deal is a deal, Ariya. Behave and you get to keep what you have so far. Misbehave and you can go right back to being restrained to the table.”