Chapter Two

Aliana’s POV

I fought with everything I had!

I kicked. I twisted my body. Hell, I even tried to bite! But there were three of them and only one of me. My fists pounded uselessly against muscle and leather. The more I fought, the more they laughed. Their hands were iron clamps on my arms, bruising me with every jerk forward.

“Let go of me!” I spat, thrashing until my limbs went numb. Damn it! Why did I have to be this weak? Why couldn’t my tall and slender frame fill out with big muscles and maybe a little bit of fat? Of course, I had the answers, but I didn’t like it...

My dad!

And yes, I know it was cliché that all my problems were rooted in my father, and I should see a therapist for my “daddy issues”; in this case, it was true. Ever since I announced that I wanted to peruse art, he’d lost his shit and cut me off financially, thinking it would make me change my mind. Instead, I’d worked harder to earn scholarships and had been accepted into a smaller art school on a full scholarship.

But it wasn’t enough to cover other expenses…

Between working, studying, and barely sleeping, my body had suffered. I’d lost weight, and with no time to work out or take care of myself, it had reduced me to a weak, meek damsel in distress, apparently!

Fuck!

My chest burned as tears stung my eyes, as I thrashed in their hands, refusing to accept my fate. Refusing to let myself just be dragged away to be slaughtered. To be used by a man until he grew tired of me and then be killed like some sick dog that had to be put down…

No…

I refused!

“Help!” I screamed, voice ragged, but I was desperate! “Please! Help me!”

He had to be there…

The shadow from before… he had to help me! If he hadn’t been a figment of my imagination, he had to be somewhere out there, right? He said that I knew what he was, right?

Justice!

He was justice… If any of it was true, then he had to help me! If there was any justice in the world, what was about to happen to me was the greatest injustice.

I didn’t want to die!

“PLEASE!”

“Shut up, bitch!” The stinky one screeched, his accent as heavy as the smell of smoke on his breath. They dragged me out of the ruin like I was nothing. Strung me up between them like the catch of the day, cuffing me until my blood supply to my hands was cut off. My legs were duck taped together until every movement rubbed my skin raw.

I continued to scream until my throat was dry, keeping the hope in my heart that whoever the shadow I’d seen was, he would return and do the right thing.

To save me!

But all I got was a slap across the face so hard I saw stars. Dazed, I went limp for a second, which they quickly took advantage of. They picked me up, and the biggest one threw me over his shoulder, walking back towards the road where I’d escaped from.

NO!

No, I wouldn’t let this happen. I wouldn’t go back. I wouldn’t marry a man who murdered more wives than Bluebeard. Much less a man I didn’t love. Sure, anyone who wanted an arranged marriage – to each their own – but it wasn’t for me.

I was a romantic at heart!

I wanted to be swept off my feet and wooed with roses and sappy poetry. Not duck taped, hogtied, and carried off like a sack of potatoes!

I tried to kick again, despite my aching ribs and the shoulder digging into my stomach. I couldn’t just give up. I couldn’t stop fighting just because it all looked hopeless.

I refused to give up!

The man roughened me up again, slamming me down on his shoulder and cursing me out in Albanian. I had no idea what he was saying, but it probably wasn’t anything nice. And hell, that just gave me stronger motivation to fight harder. Unless I was passed out or dead, I wouldn’t stop!

“FUCK YOU!”

I screamed, and for once, my taller stature came through for me. With all the force I could muster, I slammed my elbow into his jaw, knocking him off balance. We both went tumbling down. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I hit the cold, wet ground, making me gasp for air. Everything hurt and ached, and I had no idea what was up…

“Fucking bitch!”

They yelled.

They kicked…

Once!

Twice…

I tasted blood the third time his foot connected with my back. Only then did his friends stop him. Probably because their boss wanted his bride in one piece…

I forced myself back on my stomach, determined to crawl my way to Greece if I had to. I looked up--- and there he was again!

The shadow!

His figure hunched, his face covered in a dark hood. Only his glowing red eyes were visible, pierced into my eyes as if he saw straight to my soul...

“You’re in quite the pickle, little girl,” the voice purred, curling around me like smoke. Still, there was something in his voice that had--- I couldn’t explain it. It sounded mocking in a way. As if this was entertainment and not…

Not my life!

But he was all I had...

“You came back,” I breathed, half in relief, half in dread. “Please! I’m begging you! Help me!”

But all he did was cock his head in that same way he did before. As if this was just another joke to him...

“Who the hell are you talking to?”

I froze, my head snapping around to see Kodra’s men glaring at me. And even with the dim light, I could see their confused, puzzled expressions.

Once more, the familiar chuckle rippled through the forest, the hairs on my arms standing on end as if warning me that danger was approaching.

“Only you can see me, little girl,” he said, his tone conspiratorial yet amused, as if this was the funniest thing he’d ever experienced. “To them, I’m merely a chill down their spines.”

And sure enough, the men didn’t react.

Their rough and grunted Albanian curses went on, as if they’d heard nothing at all. The shadow rippled along the treeline, a darker black than the night itself. His laughter curled through my skull like a flaring pain, making me wince.

“How---?” I asked, my voice weak from the brutal beating. “How is that possible?!”

“Hey! Crazy bitch!” One of the men shouted, moving forward with his hand raised as if to hit me again. “Shut up!”

I flinched--- but somehow the hand kept hanging in the air, as if the man couldn’t bring himself to bring it down. Peering up, I noticed how the shadow was now looking up at him. And how, despite the shadow convincing me that I was the only one who could see him, the man seemed to shiver with fear.

“See?” The shadow grinned, standing to his full height, placing himself between me and the Albanian. “They know to fear me.”

Yes…

But should I?

“I’m in your blood, little girl,” he said as if he’d been reading my mind, gesturing to the cut on my hand. Following his movements, I looked down at my shaking hand, the cut muddied and stinging like a bitch.

In my blood?

What the hell was he talking about?!

“I---I don’t understand!”

I looked back up--- but he was gone!

Where---?

The smack came from left field. So hard, I was knocked on my back, gasping for air. The man shouted again, spoke rapid Armenian, but I didn’t need to know what he was saying to know that he was pissed. His friends replied, saying something that had the man smirking in a way that gave me chills. But the way he and his friends laughed, I guessed they weren’t saying anything nice about me...

“They’re saying, they want to have some fun with you,” the shadow suddenly interpenetrated for me. I looked around, finding him leisurely sitting on a low tree branch, his tone filled with cruel amusement. “Their boss has good taste. And since you’re clearly crazy, they’re debating which one of them is going to get to have a turn with the fresh pussy first. It’s not like you’re going to last longer than the other ones...”

The other ones…!

So even now, Kodra was planning my murder...

“No…”

My stomach twisted, nausea and fear choking me. No, it couldn’t be. No way I was not only going to be married to the man who was going to kill me, but I was going to get raped by his minions beforehand!

NO!

“NO! HELP! HELP ME!!!” I screamed from the top of my lungs, pleating for the shadow to once more take action. But he remained motionless, his black cloak moving like smoke in the breeze...

“Shut up!” One of the men snapped, yanking my arm so hard I cried out in pain. They said something in sharp and quick Albanian, voices dropping to low, guttural murmurs.

He got on top of me, holding my arms down to the side. I kicked and screamed, but nothing I did could get this monster off me. The clink of a buckle sliding loose sent a cold wave of terror down my spine.

“What--- what are you doing?” I cried, fighting to regain my footing. To regain my own bodily autonomy. “Get off me!”

My voice cracked, high and panicked. I struggled harder, desperation making me wild. “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!!!”

I cried.

I begged!

“Please!” I sobbed, raw and desperate, as I looked up at the darkness that hadn’t moved. “HELP ME!!!”

“Finish the pact!”

His words coiled around my heart, inexorable.

Unrelenting...

“Speak my name!”

“What pact?” My throat tightened. I didn’t even know what I’d be binding myself to, what he would take from me. What I was exchanging for a pack with a creature of darkness…

But just then, the man’s fingers found the hem of my dress, pulling it upwards. I screamed, fought to keep him away. But my nails clawed at the earth, uselessly pinned to the ground. Another shadow loomed over me, the gleam of his belt buckle catching the moonlight as he laughed.

Terror ripped a scream out of me, raw and piercing.

“Say my name, little girl!”

His voice was like a void, thundering in my mind. Like chains rattling, heaving and unforgiving...

“I don’t know it!”

But he insisted...

“Yes, you do!”

Images flooded back.

Images of the broken statue.

The carving on the wall...

“Now, say it!”

My body shook.

Every nerve ablaze with fear, as the man’s hand rose higher and higher.

Laughing…

Taunting!

I screamed...

“DIKAIOS!!!”