“You talk too much. I suppose I left you too much freedom in that area,” Theron said. He stood and walked over to the furnace. Using a piece of cloth, he removed a small piece of metal from a pan hanging over the fire.
He returned and grasped Kallias’s hair, jerking his head backward with so much force that the back of his head hit the wall behind him. He pried open Kallias’s mouth and shoved the jagged scrap of metal inside it. He then held Kallias’s jaw shut, forcing him to hold the metal on his tongue.
Kallias thought he might have heard Phoebe screaming or crying, but the ringing in ears just seemed to grow louder, drowning out the sounds around him. When Theron released Kallias’s jaw and allowed the metal to fall to the floor, Kallias could barely breathe. His entire mouth felt swollen and burnt.
After a several moments of listening to the pounding and the ringing in his head, he felt Theron roughly grab his chin and force him to meet his gaze.
“Are you listening to me, human?” Theron growled.
“No,” Kallias thought weakly, but his mouth was too swollen to speak.
“Why did you make me do that?” Theron snarled.
Kallias stared blankly at him, still unable to speak. Over the last week, it had become obvious to Kallias that Theron was a sadistic psychopath, but it never ceased to amaze him how truly insane the creature seemed at times.
“I need answers. How am I supposed to get them if you can’t speak?” Theron growled. He paced across the floor frantically. “You make me so crazy!”
Kallias might have pointed out that he was pretty sure Theron didn’t need his help in that department if it weren’t for his swollen tongue.
Theron bared his fangs and sank them into his own wrist. He returned to Kallias. He shoved his bleeding wrist against Kallias’s mouth. “Drink.”
Kallias tried to turn away, but Theron held him firmly by his hair.
“I said drink,” Theron growled again.
Kallias clamped his jaw shut. He could handle death. He even welcomed death. What he could not handle was becoming like Theron.
“What the hell is your problem?” Theron growled. “Drink the blood.”
Kallias didn’t move. Theron’s wrist continued to bleed, the blood coating Kallias’s lips and face, but Kallias kept his mouth clamped shut.
“He’s afraid it will turn him,” Phoebe said. Her voice sounded hoarse from all of the screaming and crying she’d been doing. She looked at Kallias, desperate to help him avoid more pain. “Theron feeds me his blood every night, and I’m still human. It won’t change you into a monster like him. I promise.”
Theron rolled his eyes. “This is ridiculous. Your heart is still beating, you stupid human!” he snarled at Kallias. “My blood cannot turn a living human into a monster. Only the dead can become what I am. This will heal you. So, drink it!”
Kallias didn’t trust the evil creature. He didn’t even trust his wife. She’d lied to him for years, after all. Besides, even if the blood would just heal him, he didn’t want to heal. He wanted to die. So, he kept his mouth shut.
Theron growled in frustration. He let go of Kallias’s hair and roughly shoved his head back against the wall. He held Kallias’s head still while he pried his mouth open. Then, Theron held his wrist over Kallias’s open mouth and allowed the blood to pour into it. Kallias tried to pull away, but Theron held him firmly. After Kallias finally swallowed some of the blood, Theron pulled his wrist away and left Kallias there as he waited for the blood to take effect.
Kallias slumped forward, panting and exhausted from using the last of his strength to fight Theron. As his pain began to dull, he realized that he felt disoriented, but not the kind of disorientation that he had felt so often throughout the last week as he endured agony and starvation. This felt…pleasant, actually. He wondered if that tiny bit of blood had intoxicated him somehow.
Kallias’s eyes widened in horror as the wounds on his chest and abdomen began to close, healing more rapidly than humanly possible. He waited in fear, hoping that this wouldn’t change him into a monster like Theron.
After a while, Kallias heard Phoebe say, “You should have let him die.”
“You want me to kill your husband?” Theron asked in an amused tone.
“No. I want to turn back time and stop all of this from happening somehow. But I can’t do that. So, yes, I would rather him be dead,” Phoebe said, sniffling as she held back tears, “because it would be better than what you’re doing to him. Gods, anything would be better than what you’re doing to him!”
Theron shrugged, unfazed by her outburst. “I still need him.”
“For what?” Phoebe cried.
Theron ignored her. He walked over to Kallias and kicked him harshly in the ribs. Kallias groaned in pain and leaned back against the cold wall.
“You should be able to talk now,” Theron said. “Speak, human.”
“You could’ve just asked,” Kallias muttered.
“What was that?” Theron growled, but he didn’t wait for an answer.
Instead, Theron sliced across the bare skin of Kallias’s forearm with the dagger. Kallias tensed and clamped his jaw shut as pain tore through him again.
“Stop!” Phoebe sobbed. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
Theron glanced at Phoebe, but then, he spoke to Kallias when he answered the question, “I want to know where to find the Stone of the Eklektos.”
Kallias frowned. “The what?” he asked, his voice weak and breathless.
Theron’s dark eyes flashed with frustration. “The Stone.”
Kallias stared at him blankly. “What stone?”
“The necklace, human,” Theron snarled. “Where is the necklace?”
“Which is it? A stone or a necklace?” Kallias asked.
Theron growled. The growl sounded low and dangerous, like the growl of a wild animal. He grabbed Kallias’s chin roughly again, forcing him to look at him. “Do not play games with me, human, or I will make you suffer even worse than you already have. You know exactly what I’m talking about. The Stone of the Eklektos, prophesied to hold the power to save or destroy the world.”
“Oh, you have to be kidding me!” Phoebe exclaimed, suddenly angry. “You are still fixated on that stupid thing?! You did all of this because of that?!”
Theron turned his gaze toward her, his eyes darkening in anger. “I did all of this because I wanted to, and I will not tolerate a human talking to me that way. So, I would suggest that you shut up before I make you,” he snarled.
She paled in fear. “I’m s-sorry,” she stammered.
Kallias frowned as those words triggered a memory in his head, a memory from before he even married Phoebe. A priest at Aphrodite’s temple had given him a Stone and said a bunch of ridiculous shit about destiny and an Eklektos that would save or destroy the world. Kallias, of course, hadn’t believed a word of it and certainly never cared about the Stone, or even remembered it, for that matter. “Why the hell would you want that?” he asked, his brows furrowing.
Theron scowled at him, as if he were the crazy one. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Kallias stared at him blankly. “No.”
“I want the power, of course,” Theron said, shrugging.
“How do you even know about it?” Kallias asked, but then, he realized that he already knew exactly how Theron would know what the priest had said about the Stone. Phoebe had been with him that day, offering gifts for Aphrodite.
The guilt he saw in her dark brown eyes confirmed his suspicion. “I didn’t realize he would make such a big deal about it,” she said apologetically.
“I have no idea where it is,” Kallias told Theron.
Theron raised an eyebrow. “Wrong answer.”
He picked up the dagger and sliced into the right forearm this time, just as deeply as he had cut the left. Kallias tensed, forcing himself not to cry out.
“Now, tell me,” Theron said, enunciating each word. “Where. Is. It?”
&nb
sp; “I already told you,” Kallias snarled. “I don’t know.”
Theron then took the dagger and sliced shallowly through the skin of his chest. Kallias tightened his jaw, again refraining from responding to the pain.
Theron leaned in close and growled, “I will do this as long as it takes.”
Kallias ground his teeth as his arms and chest throbbed and ached. “How can I tell you where it is if I don’t know? I never paid any attention to it.”
Theron’s eyes narrowed, and he cut him again, quickly and roughly this time. When the blade scraped across his collarbone, Kallias was unable to hold back and yelled out in pain. Blood poured down his recently healed chest.
Theron’s eyes were wild and manic. “I don’t understand. The priest told you that the Stone would unlock limitless power. He said that the Eklektos would be the most powerful person in the universe. Why would you not care?”
Kallias scowled at him, not sure how to reason with someone so psychotic. “Theron, I don’t care about power,” he said, his voice strained and weak. “Besides, it’s just a stone…an ugly, red stone. A stone can’t have power, and I don’t believe that a priest can predict the future either. It’s impossible.”
“Some people believe that what I am is impossible,” Theron said. “I don’t care what you believe. I only care about the location of the Stone.”
“And I have already told you that I don’t know,” Kallias said irritably.
Theron dragged the dagger’s blade vertically against Kallias’s abdomen, allowing it to shallowly slice through the skin. He leaned in close, as Kallias tensed and clenched his jaw, and growled, “You might want to remember.”
Kallias panted, his eyes dark with frustration and hatred as he tried to regain control of his erratic breathing. “What would you have me say?” he asked between clenched teeth. “I don’t know where it is. Do you want me to lie to you?”
Theron pulled the dagger horizontally across Kallias’s abdomen, crossing the other wound. Kallias tensed, and his eyes grew darker and colder.
“Please, Theron!” Phoebe cried. “Listen to me!”
Theron glanced at her. He seemed bored and irritated. “What?”
“Kallias doesn’t know where it is,” she said. “So, stop hurting him.”
“Do not tell me what to do,” Theron snarled.
“I…I wasn’t,” Phoebe stammered. “I’m trying to tell you something, but you won’t listen. He’s telling the truth. He doesn’t know where it is.”
Theron continued to glare at her. “And how would you know that?”
Phoebe bit her lip nervously. “I just…I just do, okay?”
Theron stared at her for a moment, and then he walked over to her. She cowered against the wall, cringing in anticipation of what he might do to her. He grasped her arm harshly and jerked her to her feet, causing her front to crash against his. “You’re really pissing me off tonight,” he growled in her ear.
She swallowed nervously and tried to pull her arm free, but Theron kept a firm grip on it. She winced as his tight grip began to bruise her arm.
With just the hand on her arm, he spun her around so that her back pressed against his front. He moved his face to her neck and inhaled her scent.
Phoebe shivered. “Theron, what are you doing?”
“I’m hungry. I need blood,” he growled, the words vibrating against her neck. “You know that I can’t be around this much blood without feeding.”
Her wide, brown eyes shifted toward Kallias. “Not here, Theron.”
Theron swept her waves of soft, black hair aside, baring her neck. As she tried to pull away, he wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her still. He moved his lips to her ear and growled, “I will feed anywhere I want.”
“Please, Theron,” Phoebe whispered. “We can do this in your room.”
Theron smiled. She couldn’t see him, but she knew that he was smiling because she felt his lips curve against her ear. “I am hungry right now. I don’t feel like waiting. What is wrong, Phoebe? You have never denied me before.”
Phoebe realized that he was mocking her. He knew exactly why she didn’t want him to feed, and he found it amusing. She glanced at Kallias nervously and sighed, “Because I don’t want you to feed from me in front of my husband.”
“He knows about us now,” Theron murmured. “Why hide it?”
Phoebe felt her body beginning to cave. She wanted him to feed from her, and she hated herself for it. She shivered as she felt his lips press against her neck. “I’m not hiding anything. I just think that you’re taking things too far.”
Theron didn’t fall for her façade. He felt what she felt, so he knew that she wanted him to feed from her. He delivered a long, sensual lick to her neck. “I need blood. Please, baby,” he murmured against her skin. “I’m hungry.”
She couldn’t fight it. “Fine,” she sighed.
Kallias turned his head away, suddenly sick to his stomach. Whether it was because of his hunger, dehydration, injuries, or the fact that his wife was letting a monster drink her blood in front of him, he didn’t know, but he figured it had more to do with Theron and Phoebe than anything else. Unable to watch the scene before him, he kept his gaze on the floor, but when he heard Phoebe whimper, he involuntarily looked up at her, worried that she was hurt. However, he found that Phoebe seemed to be enjoying Theron feeding from her. With her head leaned back against the monster’s shoulder and her eyes closed tightly, Phoebe appeared to be feeling intense pleasure. Kallias quickly returned his gaze to the floor, completely repulsed by what he’d just seen.
After a few moments, he heard Theron breathing raggedly. “Okay, human, would you tell me where the Stone is if your wife’s life depended on it?”
Kallias looked up at them. Theron still held Phoebe, but he’d stopped feeding from her. Blood trickled from his lips, and Kallias noticed a stream of blood trickling down her neck as well, staining her light blue peplos. Shock and horror had replaced the pleasure that had been apparent in Phoebe’s expression moments ago. “Don’t hurt her,” Kallias breathed, suddenly terrified. “Please.”
Theron laughed. “Do you see that?” he whispered in Phoebe’s ear, smiling cruelly. “He still cares about you. Doesn’t that make you feel terrible?”
Her eyes glistened with tears. “Yeah, it does,” she said hoarsely.
He licked her blood from his lips. His eyes danced with excitement as he looked at Kallias. “If you want her to live, tell me where to find the Stone.”
“You wouldn’t kill me,” Phoebe whispered in horror. “You love me.”
Theron laughed darkly. “Love? I’m not human, Phoebe. I am not weakened by human feelings like love. I enjoy feeding from you and sleeping with you, but in the end, you’re as expendable as everyone else that I feed from.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “But I loved you.”
Theron ignored her. He looked at Kallias. “I’m waiting for an answer.”
“And if I don’t know the answer?” Kallias asked worriedly.
Theron shrugged. “Then, she dies.”
Cold dread washed over Kallias as he cast a distraught look at Phoebe. She met his gaze, and he saw what seemed like regret and guilt in her eyes.
“Theron, I told you,” she said softly. “He doesn’t know.”
“If he doesn’t know, I will kill you,” Theron snarled in her ear.
Kallias pulled at the chains holding him to the wall, but of course, it did no good. Even when he still had all of his strength, he couldn’t loosen the metal chains. He certainly couldn’t do it now that he was so weak. “Let her go.”
“I will, if you tell me where it is,” Theron insisted.
“You’re not listening to me, Theron,” Phoebe said again. Although tears still poured down her face, her eyes looked tired now, as if she’d already given up. “He can’t help me because he doesn’t know where the Stone is.”
“You told me that he had it,” Theron reminded her.
“Years ago,” Phoebe said quietly. “I told you that years ago. He doesn’t have it anymore. Kallias tossed it aside when he got home. He never cared about it. He only took it because the priest refused to let him leave without it.”
Theron twisted her arm painfully and snarled, “What are you saying?”
As soon as Phoebe whimpered in pain, Kallias began to pull at the chains again, ignoring how his body protested the movement. “Let her go!”
“You were fixated on it!” Phoebe cried out, unable to stand the pain in her arm. “I realized that I’d made a mistake by telling you about it. The priest told Kallias that it would be dangerous if the Stone landed in the wrong hands. I knew that your hands would definitely be the wrong hands. So, I took it. Kallias never even noticed it was missing. So, like I said, he doesn’t know where it is.”
Theron growled, “You better tell me where it is. Or I will kill you.”
She swallowed nervously and shook her head. “I don’t know where it is. I loved you, Theron, but I never trusted you. I needed it out of your reach, which meant it had to be out of mine as well. I got rid of it. It’s gone, Theron.”
Theron growled ferociously, the sound frightening and inhuman. He twisted her arm further, causing her to scream out in pain. He moved his mouth to her ear, his lips brushing against her earlobe. “You worthless little bitch,” he sneered in her ear, causing her to cringe and sob. “I’ll enjoy killing you.”
Kallias felt his heart begin to race. He pulled pointlessly at the chains, using more strength than he thought he had left. And he dropped his pride and did what he’d promised he would never do. He begged. “Please, don’t kill her. Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t kill her. Theron, please.”
Theron smiled at him with sick satisfaction. “I think I will especially enjoy the look on your face as you watch your wife die,” he added maliciously.
The next few minutes were the worst minutes of Kallias’s life. He could do nothing to stop Theron from killing Phoebe. He fought against the chains harder than anyone in his state should have ever been able to do, but it didn’t help. He begged Theron to release her, but Theron ignored his pleas. Kallias watched in horror as the color drained from his wife’s face. Her body weakened and slumped against Theron. Theron continued drinking her blood until he had drained her completely. Finally, he released her, and her pale, lifeless body fell to the ground with a loud thud. Kallias stared at her, praying that she would move.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 3
