Ezekiel

I pushed the thick sleeves of my dark long-sleeved sweater up, exhilaration running through me. 

"Are you ready to get started?" I questioned.

I got a blank look in response. 

"Ah, I see. We're playing the strong silent role. I'll let you keep your dignity... for now. I've had a tough day, Cas. I was trying to become more relatable to Aria and ended up bringing up a difficult story from my past; it was very upsetting, and now I really just need to vent. I hope you can understand."

Caspian looked up at me darkly through his lashes. His face was bruised and covered in thin cuts. His shirt was a torn piece of cloth that barely resembled clothing at this point, and he had deep cuts around his wrists where the manacles sat. 

I raised my hands, the power in them already causing the tips of my fingers to tingle. 

"I have to say, Cas, I'm impressed with how resilient you are. Every day I work until you pass out from the pain, and yet when I come back twenty-four hours later, you're always up again and ready to take more. If you were just a regular human, you'd most likely be dead by now. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm glad you're still alive and so resilient. It makes breaking you so much more fun."

Cas raised his head slightly and for a moment, I thought he was going to say something. Instead, he simply leaned forward and spat at my feet. I raised my eyebrows at him, letting out a delighted laugh.

"You've got such spunk. My, I can see why she likes you. I mean Aria, of course. And I can see why you like her. She's so young, beautiful, and talented. And the smell of her blood... how do you stand it? It's unlike anything I've ever experienced. You've been with her, what is it, two years now? How is it that you haven't simply torn her throat out? And I'm sure you must have to protect her from other Vampyres who catch scent of her."

Caspian rolled his eyes and let his head hang. I frowned. His lack of responses so far was starting to get on my nerves. 

"Look at me when I am speaking to you, boy. You should show me some respect, considering the fact that I could snap your neck at any moment and ensure that you never get to see your beautiful Aria again. You know what happens to Vampyres when they die, don't you? And the Guardian isn't around right now to pardon you from that fate. You may have had most of the curse lifted from you, but you still have the dark wings, the ability to drink blood even if you no longer lust for it. Your soul would still become trapped in the dark realm, a place where you would never see the light or Aria ever again."

"How is it that you know so much about us?" Caspian gritted out.

I grinned. "Ah, he speaks. I have very good spies."

Caspian turned his face away. 

"Caspian, you truly are no fun when you play hard to get."

I flicked my finger, only a slight movement, and Caspian's head came snapping back in my direction.

"I feel as if I've babbled on for far too long. Don't you agree?"

I spread my fingers wide. I imagined each of his limbs being pulled in opposite directions as if he were being drawn and quartered, and I inflicted the same pain within him that he would feel if he were. He cried out, throwing his head back, his eyes going wide. Next, I imagined him being crushed by a large weight, using Magyk to press down on his bones. Then, I started flicking my fingers back and forth as if I were conducting an orchestra and sighed in contentment as I watched gashes open up all across his face and chest. Magyk was a beautiful tool when it came to the art of torture. It allowed me to make him feel the pain of any form of torture I wanted, without having to go through all of the work of actually performing said torture.

"What do you think we should do next? Make it feel as if the skin is being pulled from your bones, piece by piece?"

Caspian simply blinked in response, keeping his gaze set firmly on the ground.

I let out a low growl of annoyance. "Come on, Angel Boy. Give me something! I'm looking for a reaction here, and right now, you are sorely disappointing. What's going on in that head of yours? What kind of resolve could you have that could possibly be so strong that you're sitting through this pain, barely batting an eyelash?"

Nothing.

"Well, why don't I just see for myself, then?"

Caspian looked up, panic crossing his face. In two large strides, though, I had already reached him and as placing my hand against the side of his head.

Don't worry, Cas. I'm here. I know you can't respond to me, but I know you can hear me. I'll stay with you until the pain goes away.

I was startled at the sound of Aria's voice ringing so clearly through Caspian's head.

Just think about good memories. Focus on what I show you. Let me distract you from what he is doing to you. It's the least I can do until I can save you from him. I'm so sorry that he is hurting you, Cas. I love you so much. Do you remember our first night together in our new apartment when we arrived at university?

A room rose up around me, all soft grey walls and carpeted floors. I was in a small living room/ kitchenette that had ugly pink cupboards. I could hear laughter coming from the other side of a door on the other side of the room, so I walked towards it and pushed it open. Aria and Caspian stood looking at a mattress that was sat on an angle because it was too large to fit in the tiny bedroom.

"I swear, I measured out the room before we brought it in. The mattress should fit," Caspian puzzled.

Aria let out a laugh. "That's what I get for letting the Vampyre do it."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Caspian said indignantly, trying to hide his smile. "Besides, this actually doesn't look all that bad. It could still work."

"I would end up rolling on top of you in the middle of the night."

Caspian grinned and stepped forward, placing his hands on Aria's hips. "I'd be okay with that."

She let out another musical laugh and pushed him away. "Come on, Cassanova, we'd better start working on moving this back out of here."

Caspian let out a groan and fell sideways onto the mattress. "But I'm tired. We've been moving furniture all day. Besides, I think you're completely missing what a golden opportunity this is."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "A golden opportunity to do what?"

Caspian shook his head at her. "To build an amazing fort of course. I say we get some blankets, a couple chairs, and some duck tape and make a giant blanket fort. Then, we can pop some corn, put on a movie and hang out in our awesome new lair."

Aria grinned. "Our Vampyre lair."

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, and this time Caspian couldn't hide his smile.

I pulled away, staggering back. I had to shake my head several times to clear the fog that being inside someone else's memory-- especially one connected with such strong feelings-- had caused. Caspian was breathing heavily as he looked up at me. I grit my teeth and leaned forward, striking him across the face, splitting his lip and drawing blood.

"So, this is why it has taken Aria so long to make the little progress she has? Because at night, instead of practising like I've been instructing her to, she's been busy babying you using some telepathic connection you share? You know, Caspian, as it was you served no real purpose for me other than as a punching bag to take out my frustrations on, but now you aren't just useless, you're actually hindering someone who is useful to me from reaching their full potential? I'm working my hardest every day to mould Aria into my perfect weapon, and all this time, you've been blocking her progress. I told you I was in a bad mood already, didn't I Caspian? Well, now I'm in an exceptionally foul one. I'm starting to question the point of keeping you around, in fact."

Caspian lurched forward, staggering to his feet and straining against his chains. "Just try and kill me. See how willing Aria is to help you once I'm dead."

I let out a chuckle. "Oh, I'm not worried about convincing her to do what I want. As you know from our past few days together, I'm very good at... persuading people. I wonder if Aria's pain threshold is as high as yours? Besides, I'm the original Vampyre, and as you know, Vampyres have a special way of getting people to do exactly what they want. I heard you had a friend who learned about this special Vampyre ability first hand. Really what I'm trying to say here, is that I'm having a hard time seeing a reason to keep you around. Can you name me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you where you stand right now?"

He looked me dead in the eyes, his voice unwavering. "Because I love her."

I frowned. "That's a terrible reason."

Then, I raised my hand and snapped my fingers together.