The Hybrid
Chapter 41 - Captivity

Vulcan Romanov’s P.O.V.

My beasts are raging as am I, we’re furious that the vampires have gotten a hold of our mate. I will hunt down every coven and rampage it until I replace her. My beasts are continuously fighting me to take over and rip into every vampire that walks this earth at night. How dare they take away what’s mine! I growl furiously, my fists clenching at the thought of where she could be right now. Would they have hurt her, is she okay?

After getting Caia, Nikolai and the injured men and women situated in the pack’s infirmary, I left them to get tended to, heading to my office where Indigo and Vanessa wait for me. Walking in, I shut the door before taking a seat behind my desk. Vanessa has bandages on her wrist and neck from when she had tried to stop them from taking Aurora.

“What happened?” I spoke angrily, gripping the edges of the table tightly to control my fury somehow.

She takes a shuddering breath, making Indigo look at her worriedly. “W-We were waiting for you all to come back. Aurora kept pacing, she felt like something wasn’t right and was on edge the whole time. About two hours into the fight, we heard banging against the door until it eventually cracked, letting vampires into the room. Everyone tried to fight back and protect everyone b-but the vampires had a trick up their sleeve, they g-gassed us, it was pouring in heavily through the vents and making us lose conscious. W-We struggled with them as they grabbed Aurora b-but, they k-knocked her out and took her. I’m so sorry, Vulcan.”

I suck in a harsh breath before mind linking Indigo to get her out of the room. My beasts are close and I’m nearing my snapping point. My blood boils when I hear they have hurt her, chest heaving in fury. The second Vanessa is out the door, I let out a roar and shift before grabbing my desk and throwing it against the bookshelves, overturning chairs and couches in anger before punching the walls. I’m livid, wanting to hunt them down and make them pay, but what pisses me off more is that I don’t know where to look.

Indigo stands outside, waiting until I calm down and shift back before walking towards me. I’m now in jeans, panting heavily as I lean against the overturned desk, glaring at the floor. He leans against the cracked bookshelf beside me and grips my shoulder.

“We’ll replace her and when we do, you can torture them for however long you want in our dungeons.”

I growl in slight satisfaction over the idea, nodding at him before running my hands through my hair in frustration. “I don’t even know where they fucking took her. What if they do something if I take too long?”

“Don’t take too long then, simple.” A voice states, making our heads snap up to where Kaden stands with his friend Rico James, a fellow rogue. Damon and his pack warriors file into the room behind them.

“I won’t rest until we replace her. You have my pack at your service.” Damon promises, worry yet determination in his eyes.

Nodding, I walk further until I’m standing in the center of the room. Looking at mine and Damon’s warriors, I growl out darkly. “No-one rests until she is found.”

Aurora Maxwell’s P.O.V.

I groan at the light shining in my eyes before it goes away...only to come back again. Blinking in the dimly lit room, I look up to see a flickering light before my confused gaze averts to the dark and cold room I’m in. Where am I? I wonder, trying to get up only to hiss in pain when my wrists burn from the rope that ties me to the metal chair. My hands and legs are bound as well as my waist, making sure that I can’t escape at any costs. Not that I could in the first place, I snort. This room has no windows, just a wooden door that I believe is locked.

With a gasp, I remember how I ended up here. The memory rushes back to me; vampires getting through the sealed door, us fighting them before they gassed everyone and knocked me out. Tears well up in my eyes as I think about how they had hurt so many people. I flinch in surprise when something trickles down from my temple. Whimpering in pain, I look around in despair, wanting to be back at the pack house with my mate.

Vulcan.

My heart aches as I think about him, wondering what has happened to him. Vanessa had told me that if your mate dies then you will feel excruciating pain in your heart. I haven’t felt that yet indicating that he is alive and out there, making me sigh in relief. As long as he is okay, so am I.

I wait impatiently, feeling like hours have gone by. I don’t want to call out for I know seeing the vampires wouldn’t be wise, who knows what they will do to me. I’m fearful of what lengths they will go to, remembering the threat they had made when I went to check up on my apartment with Kaden. I can feel myself paling at the thought of them using me as their very own blood bag, making me want to throw up my lunch from earlier.

“Vulcan?” I try to reach out to him. My voice echoes in my mind, there is no response. I don’t feel a wall either so he isn’t blocking me. I wonder why I can’t contact him, a feeling of dread rising within me.

Soon, I hear the wooden door unlock and creak open, revealing a pale vampire. He walks into the room, revealing his features when the light shines on him. He’s deathly pale with those tell-tale gleaming red eyes and the prominent sharp fangs extending from his gums. Blonde hair is slicked back on the top of his head, features sharp and chiseled and he is of slim built, dressed in black causal clothing as he stalks forward with a dark smirk on his lips.

I whimper when he crouches down before me abruptly, the action so sudden that it causes me to flinch backwards and give the rough rope the opportunity to burn my wrists yet again. He chuckles evilly, gripping my chin in his icy cold hand and pulling my face forward until he is just inches away from me.

“Hello, Aurora.” He murmurs, playing with a strand of my dark hair. “How was your trip?”

“W-Who are you?” I stutter, looking at him with wide eyes when he grins maniacally.

“I am the brother of the man your mate killed today.” He reveals, making me gasp in fear. “And what I want is revenge.”

My body trembles in fear as images conjure up in my mind of what he might do to me, all gruesome and filled with me dying in the end. I bite back a snarky remark when he leans back and chuckles, looking over my body with a scrutinizing glare. He suddenly inhales deeply before his blood red eyes shoot open and shine brightly.

“Ah, your blood smells sweet. I will have fun with you, little one.” With that, he turns and walks towards the door that the guards hold open for him. Just as he is about to step through, he stops and turns back slightly to smirk at me before speaking to the guards. “No food for three days, let’s start this off slow boys.”

And then, I’m flooded with darkness once more, they have even turned the light off. Now that I’m alone, I feel my bottom lip quiver and no matter how hard I try to be strong, I eventually crack and let the tears flow freely.

I’m terrified and alone.

5 days later.

I gasp and splutter for air when icy cold water is thrown at me, waking me from my slumber. Shivering, I glare up at the guard who only smirks in return. His gaze slithers down to my torn clothing, eventually landing on my bleeding wrists which he stares at with a hungry glint. The familiar fear rises within me, like it has been for the past few days, as he crouches in front of my chair.

The man, whose name I had found out to be Andrei, had yet to reappear leaving the guards to do whatever they want with me. At one point, the guards had inflicted so much fear into me as they lead me to believe that they were going to drink from my bleeding wrists. They had cackled in disgusting humor as I cried for help while their fangs hovered above my wrists. I quickly realized how he was playing a game with me, to starve so that I gave up myself.

Thankfully, no-one has bit into me. But they did torture me in various ways, the first one being that I’m only given water every two days which is bearable but my stomach whines in suffering over not being fed for almost a week. As a result, I’m weak and unable to fight back whenever they come to torment me, either verbally or physically.

Biting down harshly on my bottom lip, I take the slap he gives me which causes my head to snap to the right before he pulls it back to face him. My vision blurs and takes a while to focus in on his features once more. He notices this and laughs, nudging the other guard who looks on in disgust and amusement.

“Pathetic human.” He mutters before walking out of the room, nodding at the guard beside me who also stands with a huff and joins him at their post outside the door.

The wooden door is only shut for a few minutes before it opens once more and closes. I hear boots hit the floor as someone makes their way towards my tired form, my gaze stuck on the floor. The familiar smell of death wafts up my nostrils as Andrei grabs a chair and sits down in front of me. He remains silent for a while, just observing me. I can feel his beady eyes boring holes into my head.

“Eat.” He speaks as he undoes the ropes on my wrists, thrusting a plate of food into my hands and a glass of juice.

I bite my lip, wanting to curse every name under the sun, but remain silent. The guards have already hit me enough and I want to get a bit stronger before I can take that sort of beating again. So, I eat the lasagna and gulp the juice down, placing it on the ground after I’m done.

“He’s out there looking for you, that imbecile.” He scoffs, making me raise my head to meet his eyes, hope growing in me at the news.

“When he replaces me, he’ll rip you all to pieces.” I glare, hatred bubbling in my veins.

He chuckles darkly, leaning forward in his seat with clasped hands. “Ah, but how will he do that when he replaces this place empty?”

“What...no...” I breathe in disbelief as he nods, sitting back with a satisfied grin on his lips.

“Oh yes, Aurora. Do you take me for a fool?” He spits before smiling at me. “Your mate is getting too close, so before he smells you we will move. That juice and the one you’re forced to drink every morning is made from special herbs that only some know about, it blocks the mate bond and mind link so things are running as planned.”

“H-How can it be so easily manipulated?” I whisper to myself, despair coursing through me. No wonder I haven’t been able to feel or talk to Vulcan ever since I had been captured.

“Hunters.” He shrugs, leaning back in his chair. “Werewolf hunters figured out how to manipulate the bond between mates by striking a deal with some witches, making it easier to kidnap females and eventually capture the males. It’s similar with vampire hunters who can manipulate our bond with our beloveds and the blood we drink. The best bet for a hunter to capture another species is to figure out their weaknesses.”

“But they’re herbs!” My shoulders slouch in defeat, I myself don’t have a clue on where we are now.

Noticing my distress, he sighs heavily before standing from his chair and stepping over to me. “Supernaturals are not completely invincible, we all have our weaknesses. Werewolves are connected to the earth and the moon; to nature. Therefore mixed herbs have the ability to weaken a part of you, just like silver weakens vampires, and meat and fish cause fairies to become extremely ill.”

Crouching down, he ties my wrists to the chair again before wiping some traitorous tears from my cheeks with his cold fingers, trailing them down to my shoulders. I whimper when he leans forward and nestles his face into my neck, hovering over my skin and inhaling deeply. It frustrates me to no end that I can’t move away because of the hard grip he has on my neck.

“I can hear your pulse. Your blood is indeed sweet as I imagined. I just want to taste...” He trails off in a whisper, making me cry out and struggle in disgust when his tongue licks a path from my collarbone to the base of my neck.

“N-No!” I pant in fear, twisting in my seat as I try to get away from him. “Please, d-don’t!”

He hums darkly, pulling back to caress my cheek softly making me recoil in distaste. “Don’t worry. It is not time yet.”

And with that he pulls away, still lingering as he takes in the bruises littering my skin. His fingertips brush against one of them, through the tear in my shirt making tears roll down my cheeks as his hand then slithers down to my thighs. His hand wanders dangerously close to my lower region making me tense up.

“How did a hybrid go so long without marking and mating with you, Aurora?” He muses, the other hand tracing the area of my neck where my mark lies. “If you were mine, I’d sink my fangs into your neck the very first day.”

“Good thing I’m not yours then.” I mutter, groaning when he backhands me making blood spurt out of my mouth but regardless, I continue. “He waited because he respects women, unlike you bastards.”

No sooner have I said that, his hand is gripping my throat, red eyes swirling in anger. “Oh really? He didn’t seem to respect his first mate at all. Did he tell you that story?”

I smirk slightly at his sneer, wanting to punch him square in the nose but can’t because of my bound hands. “He told me the full and honest version, not the rumored crap you believe. That bitch deserved it and so will you when he rips your heart out.”

He hisses in anger, wrenching my hair back and leaning forward until we are nose to nose. I glare back, unwilling to back down to this man. His hand is still gripping my throat tightly and I’m starting to lose oxygen, his smirk indicating that he is aware of my predicament.

“Say goodnight, little one.” He coos, raising his hand and curling it into a fist.

I know then and there what is coming.

“How about fuck you instead?” I snarl, head-butting him making him pull back in surprise and slap me once again.

“Such a mouthy little bitch!” He growls in anger before knocking me out.

And then it’s dark.