Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)
24. Punishment

Kaylin’s POV

“Rise and shine, Swetzon!” a guard growls, and I jump by the sound.

He unlocks the cell and takes a firm grip on my arm while putting on my handcuffs. There’s no point asking him where we’re going for two reasons. Firstly, he’s guaranteed not to answer my question, and secondly, I already know where I’m going. It’s time for my first punishment, even though I haven’t committed the acts they’re accusing me of. My chains echo in the stone aisle, and I’m not afraid of the pain that’s coming. The guards escort me into a room similar to the house’s basement where I lived with my dad before. The thought of my father makes my heart burst once more.

Every time I close my eyes, I see in front of me how my hand stabs the man who gave me life and took his life away from him. A tear travels down my cheek when I see my clan sitting on a stand, ready to see me tormented. The men strap me into a metal cross that stands in the middle of the room. The white T-shirt quickly turns red when the first whip touches my back. I don’t scream, even though the physical pain isn’t anything near the psychic. My beloved looks at me with a grin when I’m hurting, and he can’t see that it’s me. Jennifer presses her lips against his, and he smiles at her.

How can he not see me!? How can the love of my life not know the difference between the devil herself and me? The guards tear off my shirt, and I stand in front of my clan in only shorts and a bra. The lashes increase, and even though the blood drips down over my body, I can’t let out a sound. What’s the point? No one will listen to my cries anyway. It becomes difficult to breathe, and the physical pain that Jennifer’s kisses leave behind is the cause. The mental pain is the one that makes my tears fall. I look at William and try one last time to get him to see the truth.

“William!” I scream, and he looks at me in amazement. “Why can’t you recognize me? After everything we’ve been through, you still can’t see your beloved in front of you.”

William rolls his eyes and continues to kiss Jennifer. Again, it pains my soul to see my beloved do this, and I scream. Something inside of me breaks.

“Look at me! Why can’t you look at me and see the truth, Will?” I scream and sob uncontrollably. “What happened to you? How can you not see that I am Kaylin?”

The guard strikes a fist at my cheek, and my head moves to the side. My gaze meets Elijah and Benjamin’s. They look at me with a look I can’t discern.

“I would never be able to choose you,” William responds with disgust, and it’s at this moment that it feels like I’m already dead.

(If you want to set the mood, put on Saturn by Sleeping At Last, I strongly recommend it!)

It’s just like the quote from “Faults In Our Stars”;

“When you go into the ER, one of the first things they ask you to do is rate your pain on a scale of one to ten, and from there, they decide which drugs to use and how quickly to use them. I’d been asked this question hundreds of times over the years, and I remember once early on when I couldn’t get my breath, and it felt like my chest was on fire, flames licking the inside of my ribs, fighting for a way to burn out of my body, my parents took me to the ER. The nurse asked me about the pain, and I couldn’t even speak, so I held up nine fingers.

Later, after they’d given me something, the nurse came in, and she was kind of stroking my head while she took my blood pressure and said, “You know how I know you’re a fighter? You called a ten a nine.” But that wasn’t quite right. I called it a nine because I was saving my ten. And here it was, the great and terrible ten.”

It’s now I have to stop crying and let go of my beloved. I let the guards keep torturing me, and I grip the pain like an old friend. This is a failure. I can’t even get the man destined for me to love me. Despite the injuries that adorn my body, I get up when the guards release me. With my head high, I walk towards the doors leading back to my cell without looking around. The guards don’t even escort me but keep their distance as if they’re afraid of me. Even the creatures don’t say anything when I walk into my cell. I move like in a fog towards the corner and sit in the same place I always sit.

The men lock the cell door before leaving me behind in the dark. My gaze is on the floor, and I can’t focus on anything. I look but don’t see anything. It’s like I no longer exist, even though I’m alive. Voices come from different places in the room, although I can’t understand what anyone is saying. I’m not even sure who it is, and honestly, I don’t care. My eyelids close, and with a lonely tear falling to the floor, I pretend that everything will be all right when I open them again.

Days turn into weeks, and I’m still in my own world, unaware of how much time passes. The council keeps hand out several penalties out during these days, and I repeat the same procedure as the first time. The only difference is that I don’t shed any tears or look at anyone. When the injuries occur on my already weak body, I look up at the ceiling and ask a silent prayer for everything to end. Another penalty is due today, and frankly, I look forward to it. Sometimes you can, in a strange way, associate the feeling with direct pain, and it’s that pain that keeps me alive.

{Kaylin, you need to snap out of it!}

My mother’s voice fills my head, and I can’t even answer her. Because even though I’d like to snap out of it, I can’t. The emptiness fills me in a way that I can’t explain, which may seem dopey to you, considering that it’s impossible to fill anything with a void. But in this case, it is, and I can’t get out of it. The black marks on my body are nothing more than a reminder that my soulmate doesn’t want to know of me. A beloved’s betrayal leaves marks on the real one’s body as proof that he has betrayed his partner with someone else when he’s unfaithful, it heals but leaves scars behind.

My soul breaks down every time I feel the familiar burning sensation in my chest. There isn’t much I notice during my days, except that several creatures push their food in my direction. I always thrust it back and return to my previous position. Although their attempts are admirable and kind, there’s something that stops me from showing how their deeds warm my cold soul. Whether it’s my suspended humanity or broken heart, I’m not capable of responding. Regardless, I hope they soon stop and take care of themselves instead.

The doors open with a bang as usual, and my regular guards arrive at my cell. I don’t look at them, or get up like I usually do, because I simply can’t. My body is beaten down from all the injuries, and my secret isn’t directly helping. I look down at my swollen stomach and thank Aleida for protecting my child, especially when I can’t do it since that’s what makes it still alive. It’s a miracle that a god, like her, blesses the life of my unborn child at all and thereby allows it to begin a life. The guards glance at me anxiously, and when I still don’t get up when they stand in front of me, they lift me, holding onto my arms.

I let my dirty and bleeding feet drag along the floor. A number of the creatures growl at my weakness, and the men who are tugging give me sad glances. Like so many times before, we get into the hall, where I receive my punishments. The men drag my trailing form into the room, and I can’t even keep my head up anymore. Gently they lay me down on the floor, and I’m grateful, without being able to neither show nor say it.

“Jennifer Swetzon, you’ve fulfilled your sixteen punishments. Tomorrow is your last day alive,” Salazar says in a harsh tone. “Is there any specific way you want to take the ultimate punishment?”

My guards lift me, and it’s their strength that makes me at all in a standing position, given that they must hold me. I make an effort to lift my head and look straight into the eyes of my former mentor.

“Burn me,” I answer with a harsh tone that causes several others to gasp, especially since I haven’t given any sounds since my first torture.

Salazar looks at me with a confused and surprised look but quickly returns to the same grimace that I’ve learned to hate.

“Very well, tomorrow at sunrise,” he replies, hitting the mallet at the table.

Before the guards pull me out of the room, my gaze meets Jennifer’s, and I know that if I don’t take the opportunity, there’s a risk that I’ll never get the chance.

“Jennifer, you may have won this time. But we’ll see each other in hell, and I’ll be waiting for you, be sure of that,” I say in an icy tone, nodding at the guards who take me back.

I’ve lost myself in search of him, and now, he’s gone. I need a substitute, something that can fill the numbness inside my broken heart, or maybe it’s time to let go. Nowadays, I’m always crying, and I’m fucking broken! I need a substitute to fill all the emptiness that is my life, and that’s why I’m hurting myself by letting him go. I don’t fear death, not anymore. Because how can I fear something I already am?

Blake’s POV

I look at my alpha’s puppies playing on the lawn and think back to Kaylin, who’s still imprisoned. My cousin is an idiot who doesn’t recognize his own beloved. Even though Aleida explained that he couldn’t help it because he didn’t want to see the truth. According to her, he can’t see the minor signs that show that it isn’t Kaylin he has in his arms but his ex. It’s thanks to Benjamin and Elijah that I still have information about how things are with her.

“Aleida calls you to her office, Blake,” Kian says, walking towards his puppies with a big smile.

I get up fast and hurry. Hopefully, Aleida has a plan to solve the situation; otherwise, there’s a risk that we won’t have the opportunity to save Kaylin in time. When I enter the room, she sits behind her desk with a big smile on her lips, and I exhale as I realize she knows what to do.

“Well?” I ask impatiently when I sit down. “What are we going to do?”

“Blake, you know how it works. No one gets to know my plan before it’s executed when it’s personal, you if anyone knows that,” she replies, smiling. “However, I want you to visit Kaylin. I want to know how she’s doing and how she took the last penalty today.”

“She wants to get burned tomorrow,” I answer, feeling sad. “According to my contacts, she couldn’t stand on her own legs.”

Aleida growls soundly at the information I share. Since she’s also a mother, I understand her anger at what’s going on. Aleida was exposed to numerous threats while pregnant and even had to leave her puppies behind because it could hurt them when she lost control.

“Please get to her as quickly as possible,” she says in a polite but firm tone, and I rise, nodding. “Tell her she’s not alone and take the witch with you to see how she’s really feeling. Yolanda can help you see Kaylin’s real shape.”

“Kaylin?” I whisper, and she doesn’t even look up at me even though she’s awake. “Kaylin, can you hear me?”

Her gaze shifts to mine, and what I see hurts me deeply. She’s empty. As if all the joy in the world disappeared and left her alone.

“Aleida won’t accept your fate tomorrow, and neither do I,” I say, and her head rolls back against the wall she uses as support. “We’ll help you out.”

“Don’t,” she responds weakly, and a plurality of the other prisoners react to her voice.

“Why wouldn’t we save you, Kaylin!?” I exclaim. “You have one more to think about.”

“I’d rather die with my secret than Jennifer getting the opportunity to hurt it,” she replies harshly, looking at me like she can see my whole soul. “She’s going to kill the secret; I know that, and so do you. Slowly she will torment it until all the heart rate subside.”

I understand how she thinks, and I can do nothing but agree that she has a point. If Jennifer replaces out that Kaylin is pregnant with William’s child, she will torture the poor little bundle and force it to endure a worse fate than death. At the same time, it’s a child! You can’t get to Kaylin when she’s in this stage. You can compare it to postpartum depression approximately, even though the circumstances are different. I wave the witch to me, coming out of the shadows. She whispers a spell, and I, just like all the other prisoners, can see her authentic self as long as we’re here.

“Oh, Kaylin!” I exclaim and hold a hand over my mouth so as not to let out a loud sob.

Her whole body is full of cuts that don’t heal, bruises of various shades, burn blisters, and betrayal marks. In all the dark that adorns her body, however, there’s something beautiful, her bulging belly that protects my cousin’s child from danger. It’s with the help of Yolanda’s protective spell and Aleida’s sacred blessing that the child hasn’t gotten hurt. Kaylin’s eyes are closed, and it looks like she’s dead.

“Kaylin, please look at me!” I exclaim with tears on my cheeks, and her lifeless, empty eyes look back at me.

Her pale and slender hand moves towards me. She tries to lift her hand but fails; she’s too weak. There’s nothing strange about that, she’s been in here for months, and I can bet she’s not even aware of it.

“You have to keep holding on,” I say, holding her fragile hand in mine.

“Why?” she asks weakly. “For what reason?”

“Isn’t love a good enough reason?” I ask, and she snorts.

“What love?”

“The one you still have deep inside you for the man of your life,” I respond with a slight smile.

“What is love if the man you claim I love isn’t here for me?”

Her words strike my heart into a thousand pieces, and I realize once again how right she is. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it; my cousin is an idiot! We don’t say anything to each other in minutes. Her gaze reverts to the wall, and I study my stupid cousin’s beloved as if she’s a scientific experiment.

“Do you think I end up in a dark or light place?” she suddenly asks, and I meet her gaze.

“What do you mean?” I wonder and try to understand what she’s thinking.

“Tomorrow, when I die,” she explains, and before I have time to comment that she won’t die, she keeps talking. “I think I’ll end up in a dark place. In the past, the darkness scared me, not to be alone in it, but the fear that I wasn’t alone. Now that has changed, and it rather feels liberating.”

“How can it be liberating?” I ask with an upset voice.

“Because I know I’m going to get to be alone in that darkness, there’s nothing to fear anymore,” she replies, and shortly after, her breathing smooths out; she’s asleep.

Yolanda puts her hand on my shoulder and whispers a spell that teleports us back to my home. Aleida stands on the lawn with her mates and looks uneasy. She hurries up to me, and my tears fall.

“How’s she doing?” she asks anxiously.

“She’s completely destroyed,” I cry in response. “And her body... Betrayal marks everywhere and, and-.”

I can’t finish my sentence because the tears fall incessantly. You may replace it strange that I react this strongly to a woman I don’t know, and I promise I have no hidden reasons behind it. If you were there to see in what condition sweet little Kaylin is in, then you would also cry, I promise.

“We’re gonna get her out, Blake,” Aleida whispers and hugs me. “I promise you that.”

A/N:

Hello everyone!

Kaylin replaces herself in a dark place in her mind. Is it because of the potentially turned-off humanity, or is this where you end up when you get heartbroken by the love of your life? Fortunately, she has powerful allies on her side, although, at the moment, she doesn’t seem to care about it.

❀ Can they save her in time?

✿ What do you think will happen?

❀ Will Kaylin be able to get back into a world of colors instead of the gray bubble she’s in?

Please let me know your thoughts since they help me develop in my creative process! Thank you for reading, lots of love.<3