❖𝒩𝑜𝓇𝒶 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓃𝑒❖

There were a million ways I thought I would die. A million places I thought I might die. I never thought I would bleed out in a ditch on the side of the road, but here I was. In a ditch. Bleeding out. On the side of the road. Cold rain pounded down on me, turning my skin numb.

Blinding lights split the night making my head throb. Two black vans came to a stop on the all but abandoned stretch of road I lay next to. Men and women, who looked like they belonged in a 'Men in Black' movie, stepped out of the vans and began surrounding the area around me. I moved my broken fingers, in some kind of attempt to get up, but the action only resulted in shooting pain.

 I was grabbed under the arms by two men and pulled to my knees. A whimper in pain escaped my lips. Weak. I couldn't be weak. With a struggle of will, I lifted my heavy, foggy head to look ahead. A man flanked by two bodyguards, not that he needed them, stood before me. The man wore a suit that looked more expensive than my life.  He gave me a smile that wasn't quite right. A smile that had never settled right in me.

"Nora, my dear. You look a little worse for wear." He laughed like he had said some hilarious joke. "Did you let the Silent Sisters find you?" I could barely keep my head up let alone speak so I continued to stare blankly up at him. Sighing, he knelt before me, taking my face in his steel-like grip. Pain flared yet again. He examined my face this way and that, his sick smile never leaving his face.

    "Did you find it?" I blinked slowly. It was the only way I could show my hatred for him. God, I wanted to rip his throat out with my teeth. "No? Not good. Not good at all." He ran his other hand over the side of my face and sighed. "You know, I had the pleasure of meeting with your newest member--Chole? Is it?" I growled, anger shooting through me.

    "You promised." I gritted out. She's dead. There is no way he let her go. He smiled, continuing to caress my cheek.

    "She's alive. A spitfire that one." He finally let go of my face. Just because she was alive didn't mean she hadn't been harmed. Been tortured. "My love, I'm willing to bet you know where it is and you've been stringing me along like a puppet. Don't worry. I'm not mad." He patted my cheek. "No, I'm going to give you one last chance to retrieve it." He stood, running a hand through his brown hair.

"You fail to give me what I want, I'll go after that wolf you've grown so fond of. Hamish? Hamish Duke?" I stayed very still, but he could see right through me. He would always see right through me. "I am right." He clapped his hands like he won something. "Now I would love to meet him." I was shoved into the mud with a single look. "I'll see you soon, my love." And with that, they all packed themselves back into their cars and drove off.

The clock was ticking...yet again.

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I shoved my way through the rusted gates and pushed on. So close. I was close. I groaned and hissed in pain as I crossed the grassy yard and to the house that looked like it had been left to fend for itself. But I knew better.

With what little energy I had left, I knocked on the door. Please, please be home. Please don't kill me on sight. The door swung open and there he stood. He looked just like I had remembered. Gray-blue eyes and all.

"Him." Delta whimpered. 

"Nora." I gave a weak, blood-filled laugh before falling face-first onto the porch, darkness wrapping me up in its endlessness.