#PartTwenty

[sloahne]

Submitting to the Darkness Part 20 The Great Escape ... NOT

Written with @ChosenTalia and @Lassiter_SASBDB.

Sloahne: <I was still running on adrenaline when I heard the human bust out of his office like a bat out of hell. I wonder what happened. I didn’t have to wait long. Less than an hour later I hear a gurney being wheeled down the hall and into the room next to mine. I heard lots of anxious and angry male voices out in the hall. I tried to catch what they were saying …>

“She’s getting out of control …”

“She’s stable for now but it was touch and go …”

“What the hell was she doing in the alley ...?”

“All the Chosen need to go back to the Sanctuary, for their own good …”

<Well fuck me … another damn reason to keep my secret hidden and another reason to escape this place. What the hell has Xhex and Trez got me into? Trust them? I’m on the verge of being committed to a damn nunnery of the Sanctuary.> @ChosenTalia

Talia: Beep, beep, beep.

Fuck I was alive and in a hospital. My eyes were too heavy to open, but when I heard the words and who they were from I felt broken all over again. I was going to be sent away. I wasn’t wanted here, just as I have thought the entire time. Everything hurt. 

I tried to remember what happened. I remembered a lot of pain and a lot of blood. My feet hurt bad. I was hoping I would die in the alley. I struggled against the sedation and opened my eyes. 

I was met with anxious looks from the doctor and Brothers alike. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. What would I say? Hi? Yeah, not going to work well.

When they tried to get me to speak I just couldn’t respond. If I opened my mouth I would either cry or rage. Select mutism was the best option. I tried to roll to my side, but the pain and the tubes and drains held me mostly still. 

Then I heard the doctor say something, catatonic. 

Sloahne: <I tried to listen intently to their conversion but between the doors and the machines beeping I was able to catch a few words here and there and they seem to be acting considerate by lowering their voices all of a sudden. Ugh … I need to get the hell out of here. 

I waited a while when I finally could hear heavy boots down the hall sounding farther and farther away. I wondered if the doctor forgot about me or just had better things to do. It was a break so I slipped off the hospital bed and quietly stepped up to the door of the room and looked out the window and saw no one in the hallway. 

Good time as any to escape this new prison of mine. Ugh, why did Symphaths and Shadows try to convince me otherwise? Clearing I heard the males talk about sending the Chosen to the Sanctuary “for their own good”. Fuck them. They have no idea what is good for me. I didn’t want to be a damn blood slave to the Brotherhood. Blood and sex. Fuck that. 

I quietly opened the door.>

Talia: When they finally left me alone I came undone. Sobbing. Nothing could make it better. Yes I had problems, and yes I brought all of this on myself, but why couldn’t they see I was in pain constantly? I didn’t even want to see any of them, yet I needed them. It made no sense to me. 

I rolled to look at the white wall. I better get used to it. I was going to be sent back to the Sanctuary. Maybe I deserved it. Maybe I needed to go. It would be for the best. It was that or become a fallen chosen and truly free them from my presence and their responsibility. 

With any luck, something would go wrong in my transition and I would just die. As I laid there I wondered if it would hurt, or if the light would claim me first. I don’t even notice the doors opening and closing nearby. 

Sloahne: <There was no one down the long hallway and as I passed the door next to me, I heard sobbing. I kept going, but my heartstrings tugged as the sobbing continued.> Shit. <Maybe they needed to escape too. From what I could eavesdrop on earlier, the males of the household were concerned about her. From my experience, they never understood … our society is patriarchal, where the male rules the household. I remember a few years ago, during the lesser raids the Glymera tried to resurrect the practice of mandatory sehclusion for all unmated females of the aristocracy such that the bloodlines of the race may be preserved and they had the audacity to have this sehclusion practice extended to all unmated females regardless of class levels. INSANE. Surprisingly, the motion didn’t pass. Apparently the vote has to unanimous. I remember the night Rehv came into the club smiling about how it happened. 

Regardless, I grew up with glymera before I came over from the Old Country to know that the males did NOT know what’s best. Perhaps that was the case here, maybe she needed help. I leaned against the wall for a moment as I quickly weighed the pros and cons of helping this female. I remember all those months in my gilded cage and would not wish that on anyone. Decision made, I backtracked to the door and lightly knocked and peeked my head inside.

Talia: I jumped when the knock came to the door. Despite the pain in my throat, “come in” I look down at my hands. I’m not sure how much damage is still visible. 

I see it’s not anyone I’ve met. The brunette was stunning. I frowned, never would I be that elegant. Maybe I would never be.

I hated myself and the state I was in. There was a look in her eyes. I had never seen her before but I knew what she was doing. “You’re leaving,” I whispered. Did she know the way out? 

“I’m Talia. Can I leave with you? I can’t go back there.” My voice broke at the last, knowing I welcome death over the thought of being sent back to the Sanctuary. I didn’t belong. 

Sloahne: <When I peeked in, I see a beautiful female with light cafe skin sniffling and wanting to leave and not going back to the Sanctuary.> Fuck yes, let’s go girl.

<I came over and gingerly helped her up, I knew she would slow me down with her healing from her injury. Looks like we both needed to feed soon to recover from our injuries. I could still smell fresh blood. I hope this was a good idea … I didn’t know how extensive her injury was and if she still needed medical attention.>

Do you know the way out? <I asked to pass the time as we tried to get out of medical place, we were down a hallway with multiple doors.> So what happened to you?

Talia: Damn me being a pretrans and damn me even more for having been injured. I had nothing I could hide from the other female as we went down the halls. Passing offices and training rooms as we went. “I do know the way … I think we need a car. I can’t walk that far.” I could feel the blood leaking from a wound I opened while getting up it colored the bandages red. I sighed as we moved closer to freedom. 

“I uhmmm. I got addicted to drugs thanks to my own actions and an ex trainee. He hurt me. Phury kicked him out though. I have a lot of issues so I went back to Rhett and he traded me to a drug dealer. They injected me with a lot of heroin and tried to turn me out and sell my virginity. There was a fight I got stabbed,” lifting my shirt to show all the wounds, “I ran and stepped on glass. Sadly they found me and brought me back.” 

I give a deep sigh as we reach the exit. I open the door and peek around. “All the cars are tracked. Can you drive? I can’t. We have to ditch the car as soon as we can.” 

Sloahne: <We walked slowly as I help transfer most of her weight to me. I still felt weak myself so the whole endeavor may get us caught if we’re not fast enough before someone caught us. Listening to her story, she sounded like any typical teenager. I wondered how a Chosen was able to get a hold of drugs? She was able to leave and go outside into the world and get heroin? Odd.

They must have totally flushed her system since she seems pretty lucid but perhaps it was the adrenaline. The same adrenaline that I’m surviving on right now. We eventually came up to some double doors and when I carefully opened them to see if any alarm will go off. Nothing happened. Looking out it was an underground garage, it had a type pf school bus with blackout windows, a few SUVs … I may be able to hotwire one of those.> 

You sound like you have been through the wringer. Let’s get to one of those SUVs and see if we can get out of here. @Lassiter_SASBDB

Lassiter: It’d been too long since I pranked anybody in this place. All this deity crap was fucking with my head. I couldn’t help but think this job oughta’ come with some perks. Like being able fucking FIND somebody when they were lost. Seems to me if the Creator was gonna’ dump this kind of crap on an underqualified, overly snarky asshole like me it ought to come with enough perks that I could actually HELP. But, as it had been so patiently explained to me, free fucking will was a thing and I couldn’t just pop my wings out and swoop in. Whateves. This place needed a little lightening up and I was slipping. Or maybe they were just getting used to Kardashian marathons. But this latest oughta’ up my game.  I’d gotten inspired from a combination of CMT and Children’s PBS and I knew just where to poke the beast with it. Literally in at least one case, although I was gonna make sure I was invisible when Rhage started his car.

Programming the stereo system in V’s SUV sounds easy, and if all I was gonna do was blast Katy Perry at him when he turned on the car it would have been. But fixing it so all it would play was Taylor Swift’s early days was inspired. Snickering to myself, I had to wonder just how often he could listen to “Love Story” before he ripped the stereo out of the dash.

But the REAL challenge had been rigging a glitter bomb in Rhage’s GTO. Ever try to wedge a 6’8” angel built like a tank under the dash of a car built for a midget? How the Hell did Rhage even fit in that thing? But I’d managed and the next time he started that toy his driver-side airbag was gonna pop and explode in enough glitter to coat the Eiffel Tower.  I had to snicker at the image. I wasn’t gonna be the only thing that sparkled around here.

As I shut the door on the GTO, I heard another one shove open. Free-will may be a thing, but so is self-preservation and immediately I go ghost. No need for a brother to see me in the garage and later put two and two together. Even though they couldn’t do me any real damage these days, they didn’t need to find that out. But the frantic female whispers set my mind to rest on one score and set off an entire symphony of panic on another. WTF? V had managed to get Sloahne here but she was making a break for it and she wasn’t alone. Although I didn’t have much to do with Phury’s Chosen, I recognized the pre-trans he thought of as a daughter sneaking out with Sloahne. The brothers had been looking for her for days. They must have found her but she looked like she was about to fall on her face. In fact, they both looked shaky as hell. When I hear the words “hot-wire an SUV” the ‘lighthearted asshole’ in me totally got trampled by the emerging ‘worried male godling’ and I materialize in a white blaze of light, leaning against a pillar with my arms crossed…

“Evening ladies. Going somewhere?”

Talia: Just as we reach one of the cars. The sudden appearance of Lass causes me to scream and punch him in the chest. It was weak, even for my standards. 

“Wh.what are you doing here?” I ask shakily after realizing who I just punched.

Shit, shit, shit. It was Lassiter. Looking up for just a brief moment before looking back down, feeling shame that we were caught. 

“I can’t go back to the Sanctuary,” I whispered broken-hearted. 

Sloahne: <Hearing Lassiter’s voice and then Talia’s scream ricocheted my nerves higher. Fuck me. My adrenaline was waning and I didn’t know if I even had the energy to drive but imagining being discovered and then trapped at the Sanctuary was not something I could easily ignore and I knew I had enough conviction to get us both out of here.> Angel! What the hell are you doing here?

<I did not expect Lass to appear but then again I forgot he was buddy buddy with the Brotherhood. I’d forgotten that fact after spending so much time with him before my abduction. Damn it. Even after working out together, watching movies and even cooking for him … I’m not sure if his loyalties would lie with me or the Brotherhood. He stayed some nights with me and I could only assume the rest of the time he was with the Brotherhood … though we didn’t talk about his time with them much … which was fine with me. He didn’t know my secret but he knew I had one.>

Look, we both need to get out of here before we’re sent to new prisons and I for one … don’t need another one, thank you very much. I’m about to hotwire this SUV and hightail it out of this place. Wherever we are. You helping us out or going to rat us out?

<I didn’t want to look him in the eyes and fall under his charms so I kept up with finding the correct wires to get this damn car started.>

Lassiter: As I catch Talia’s fist in one hand, I capture Sloahne’s questing hands in the other and pull them away from the wiring. Pulling both of them with me away from the car, I let go of their hands and stand between them and the vehicles.

“What makes you two think you’re going to a “prison”? Nobody wants that and I’m not going to let it happen even if they did. And fuck me Sloahne, but you should KNOW that by now. I’ve never been anything but on your side and I’ve been going nuts trying to find you for the past month. And you wanna’ go back out there? Where HE can find you? Because this Drake guy will. A psycho that would kidnap you and keep you for his personal BDSM toy isn’t gonna give up easy. He fed from you so he’ll find you anywhere in the world. Except here. V’s security is impenetrable and once you’re inside, no one can sense you, let alone get to you.”

Something niggles at my brain when I mention V. As I look at Sloahne I can see her soul white at its core with a soft gold radiating out but it’s smudged with the grays of despair, the dark blues of fear and I know if I let this moment pass the gray and blue will overwhelm the rest and darken her soul permanently. As I mention V I can see his soul as blindingly silver at its core as his soul merges with hers, cleansing away the dark colors and blending with hers. It’s a foreseeing, a prompting. Well ain’t that peachy. The Creator might not have given me the tools to FIND her but now he’s giving me one to be able to help fix the damage. She needs to stay here. They need each other. And I kind of owe the silver-eyed fucker anyway. With a heavy sigh, I look at Talia.

“Talia, the whole reason Phury is letting the Chosen come to this side and live at Rhev’s camp is to let them find themselves, figure out what they want to do, find mates or careers or whatever. YOU have restrictions because you’re acting out like a rebellious 15-year-old. Don’t give me that look,” eyes narrowing as she sputters, “ I know you’re human legal, but you’re pre-trans and you’re acting like a kid so I call ’em as I see ‘em. Phury and Cormia love you like you’re their own young which means they want you protected. If you want freedom, fine, you and every other teenage girl, but do it right. Talk to them about it and let them help you find it safely. Because sister, from the look of you, you haven’t been doing it safely and I can smell the onset of withdrawal on you. Right now you’re right where you need to be, where a doctor can help you through it. If you think you feel bad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. You can die in withdrawal. After it’s over you can figure out your next steps. And by that I mean figure out what the fuck you want out of life, not what you DON’T. Do that and Phury will bend over backward to help you make it happen.”

In exasperation I run my hands through my hair, pushing it back.

“Look, I PROMISE, I’ll be your personal protectors while you’re here. Nothing will happen to you that you don’t approve of first. And yeah,” catching their skeptical looks” I’ve got the cojones to pull that off even if I have to go against the brotherhood. They just don’t know that and they don’t need to. You need to believe in me.” Because I’m your fucking deity now even if I can’t let you know that. “I got you both on this.” Holding my right hand up. “My word. Now can we get you two back into your beds before you hit the floor?” 

Talia: His words for the female companion stop my attempts at escaping. Her life had been so rough and she was now being hunted by a psychotic asshole. Instinctively I reached for her hand. I didn’t have many friends but I wanted Sloahne to be my friend. I wanted to show her I had her back in this now failed endeavor. 

When Lass paused he was contemplative. It gave me a moment to observe him. He was a beautiful specimen and his energy was usually fun, at least when I was sober and not bleeding from an open wound I enjoyed his company and the fact that he could role the Brothers up with a swish of his wrist. 

Finally speaking again. “Phury said he is sending me back to the Sanctuary. He doesn’t want me here. Does that sound like a father to you?” The pain from his comments obviously stung hard and deep. 

Withdrawal huh? That would explain the itch, the uncomfortable feeling in my own skin but for now, I had to ignore it. I ended up in a bad way but didn’t one have to make mistakes to find themselves. Yes, but not these severe of one’s dumbass. Fuck my self-talk was ornery today. 

I wanted to rage about doing things on my own to find myself, but part of me believed he was right. I looked at the ground to collect my thoughts. I had his word to protect me, us, from the fury that laid ahead of us. I closed my eyes and nodded. When I opened them back up I caught sight of the red bandage, shit I was going to feel that later. The doctor was going to be pissed I tore it open. 

“Lassiter. Please don’t let them think Sloahne caused this attempt at sneaking out. Blame me.” Not sure he would tell them of the failed attempt. I just knew I didn’t want her to be in trouble, and if I was grounded for the next century, what’s another couple years? I looked him dead in the eyes hoping he takes pity on me and agrees, the bruises may soften him a little toward my plight.

Sloahne: <Smelling more blood, I knew Talia broke her stitches with our romp down the hallway into the garage. I didn’t have enough medical knowledge to help her and it could lead to her death since I had no idea what kind of wound she had and from what the Angel was saying she was in withdrawals so it would only get worse and I wouldn’t be able to control her while driving. 

We were at a crossroads. Leave her to the Angel and take my chances out into the world knowing what Lass said was true. Drake could still sense me practically anywhere in the world right now. Or I can take his advice and stay put here where apparently the Brother V has some high tech security system. We were underground for sure so maybe this whole building was encased in steel. 

Anyways, the female needed medical attention asap and I wasn’t feeling too great either, I was getting really tired. My back felt like fire so I knew I needed to rest and maybe even try to feed properly to get healthier to plan my next move.

Ugh, the Angel was right.> FINE.

Lassiter: Well if we don’t get caught in the hallway nobody needs to know that either one of you tried to make a break for it. I won’t tell if you won’t. *Putting my hand out to steady Sloahne, because she’s lookin’ pretty wobbly now, and offering my other one to Talia. I could smell the blood and I needed her off her feet PDQ as well.* And hell’s yes that sounds like any father who ever loved a young. He’s not pissed at you so much as scared to death for you because you’re being a wild child. Right now all he can think about is protecting you, which is what fathers DO. But he’s never been a dad before so he’s learning as he goes and acting on instinct. You gotta meet him halfway. And running away again? Hells no, it only confirms that you’re a kid who needs looking out for. TALK to him, ok? Do a little thinking about what you want, not what you don’t want and then put it to him. If you need a mediator, I’m your guy, but I honestly think if you just sit down and talk to the guy you’ll both feel better. He’s actually the most reasonable Brother around here. Probably why he can deal with females all day. Now let’s go.

Talia: I hissed ar the pain in my stomach. Don’t fall don’t fall don’t fall. I tried to motivate myself. Talk to Phury? Yeah right… he was planning to ship me off as soon as the damn stitches healed. 

“I’ll try.” I whisper to the Angel. 

I limped along looking at Sloahne, she was getting more and more pale each step we took. I was fucked, but she looked worse. What had she been through out there?

Maybe it was as dangerous as it seemed. Should I cut Phury more slack? The thought plagued me until something else caught my attention, I looked at her.

“Sloahne!” I yelled just a moment too late. 

Lassiter: *Swearing silently to myself … ok, not so silently … as Sloahne starts to take a nosedive for the floor.*

 Fucking hells …

*If I let go of Talia she’s gonna run and probably bleed out if the withdrawal doesn’t kill her, and if I don’t catch Sloahne she’s gonna break something else when she hits the floor and she’s already beaten up enough it might push her over the edge ... looking up briefly I make an executive decision and my version of prayer slips out.* 

DON’T motherfucking slap me down for this …

*Instead of letting go of Talia to catch Sloahne, I grab a girl in each arm and pull them each against aside. Holding them tightly, I let my wings manifest in all their sparkly glory and wrap them around the girls as I go invisi and sweep them through the door and down the hall. The doors to their rooms don’t pose a problem when I’m running on angel power. Hell, steel walls don’t pose a problem. And this is happening so fast that Talia won’t get what’s happening, and Sloahne is unconscious, so just maybe some of my secrets are safe. Reaching Talia’s room, I shimmer in and unwrap my wing from her to deposit her on the edge of the bed.* 

Get back on that bed. Somebody will be here to change those bandages in a couple of minutes, and …*Looking at her sternly, well as sternly as pincushion can look.* DON’T run. I meant it when I said I’d be your mouthpiece with Phury if you want me to but you gotta get well first.

*I unwrap my wing from Sloahne far enough to lift her into my arms then fold both wings over her again and shimmer out and down the hall to her room. Doc must have thought she was stable enough not to be hooked up to all the damned monitors but I beg to differ. Unwrapping my wings, I gently lay her down. Pausing for a moment, I brush her hair back from her face, murmuring.*

Girl, what is it with you? What are you so afraid of here?

*With a sigh, I fold my wings back up and demat them. If I’m going to keep their escape attempt a secret I’ve gotta find a way to get some attention at this end of the hall without letting anyone know I was here. Hmmm … time to do what I do best. Looking up at the sprinklers system I set them off, sort of. The fire alarms go off, but glitter spews from the sprinkler heads instead of water. They’ll figure it was me because even V couldn’t put glitter in the water lines, but they’ll never prove it. With a satisfied smile, I go ghost to watch over the hallway until help arrives but then a thought hits me.*

Dammit. Now Rhage is gonna know who fucked with his airbag.