a/n
hi making sure everyone's caught up because there were some issues with chapter fifty four?? some people never got the update some ppl did idk idk but just make sure u read that one before u start this bc u might be a bit confused hahaha <3

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
[55]

song: traveling at the speed of light by joywave

EZRA CAME TO HER THE FIRST DAY, only a couple hours after everyone cleared out of the church and went back to their homes like nothing happened. Marzia told them they could come visit the Sanctus whenever they needed. That she wasn't going anywhere.

She wasn't even human to them. She was a source of power.

"Please." Daisy breathed heavily, trying to reduce as much motion as she could to stop the deepening pain caused by the stakes in her palm. "Ezra— I know you don't want to do this— please you have to let me go." She spoke frantically.

Ezra stood on stage, a good distance from the cross. "You're right. I don't want to do this. I don't want it to be like this at all." He nodded reassuringly. "But I have to do this. This is how things work."

Daisy felt another wail sneak up from her lungs, but she stifled it down. Trails of blood from her forehead ran through her eyes, drying to her cheeks like The Weeping Woman. "Why?" She let out after a sniffle. "It hurts."

It was like her words were blood to a vampire. It hurts. He stared at her hungrily, stepping towards her as he spoke. "Without your sacrifice we wouldn't have our full strength."

"My sacrifice?" Daisy questioned. "You— you tricked me!" As he got closer, she realized how vulnerable of a position she was in physically — strung up like a puppet with absolutely no way to defend herself.

Ezra wasn't processing her words, as he walked closer, he could feel the pain radiating off of her body— a force only Algeans could feel. Daisy could see the hesitation in his eyes as he looked at her. He walked over to the cloth covered table that sat by the altar. He took off the white sheet and revealed a table covered with all sorts of different types of weaponry.

Her lips began to tremble as she shook her head quickly, "Ezra—" She let out frantically as he hesitantly examined the table. Scanning everything, deciding what knife he'd use to get this girl to bleed. His hands hovered over the selection and Daisy tried to calm her heavy breathing, knowing the more she moved, the more she would slip from the grip of the stakes in her palms, worsening the pain they caused. "Ezra please, don't do this— there's got to be another way—"

"There's not!" He yelled, making her jump at the sudden noise. He picked up the smallest knife on the table, turning towards her quickly.

Her eyes widened at the sight and she tried to squirm as far away as she could, which only made her cry harder at the pain movement caused. She trembled as Ezra grabbed her face with one hand, gripping onto her jaw.

She was too petrified to move, to say anything or plead any further. He brought the knife to her skin, cutting down her cheek. She let out a cry as she felt it dig deeper.

With shaky hands, Ezra dropped the knife and stepped back, fumbling for the chalice Andy had just previously drank from. Holding it under Daisy's bleeding face as she cried.

Ezra stepped back and she looked at him with tear filled eyes. "Cheers." He let out, before bringing the chalice to his lips.

He drank it frantically, eagerly awaiting the effects. Her blood ran down the sides of his lips as he drank. He felt the return of his strength seep through his veins, as that pain he felt radiating off of her now entered his bloodstream. When he was done, he dropped the chalice with a deep exhale, wiping his mouth.

He held his hands out, the full strength of magic he'd been so deprived of seeping off his palms. A smile creeped up on his lips as he panted quickly with excitement.

"Thank you." He let out breathlessly as he moved his hands around, looking at them in admiration.

"He'll kill you." Daisy returned, Ezra quickly looked at her with a confused look. "He'll kill all of you." Daisy felt a laugh creep up from her stomach and she let it out, tears and blood still streaming down her face. "All of you!" Daisy screamed this time, jerking against the stakes that held her in place. Squeezing her eyes shut and letting out more screams as the pain deepened.

Ezra watched her as she struggled, he stepped closer, putting a hand on her cheek. She reopened her eyes at the sudden touch and froze. His eyes were closed, and she could feel the pain lift from her and into him.

It was relieving for a moment. It felt like that moment right before you felt into a deep sleep. The moment in between reality and dreams. She was at peace. But only for a moment.

He ripped his hand away and it all came flooding back, harder, and more painful than before. Still standing close to her, Ezra spoke quietly. "He isn't coming."

—

ONE WEEK AGO

—

Kai awoke slowly. It felt like all of his limbs were still asleep, and it took him a while to fully come to. His eyes hurt when he moved them to look around. It was too dark to really see much, he had to wait for his eyes to adjust. There was a faint white light that came through the cracks of a door.

He pushed himself up and off the ground, his arms shaking by the amount of strength needed to do so. He was weak, he could feel the lack of magic in his body. He stumbled over to the door. His legs gave out and he fell against it with a grunt.

"Hey—" Kai spoke as he leaned against the door. "Hey!" He spoke louder this time.

He brought his hand up to his neck, where the puncture of the needle still stung through his skin. He winced at the pain, but was stopped when he heard footsteps coming from outside the door.

He stepped back and pressed his palm against the nearest wall, expecting that familiar siphoning feeling to waver through his hands— but nothing happened. Panicked, he glanced to the door as it opened.

The same woman who injected him stood in the doorway, eyeing him confusedly. "Why aren't you dead?" Marzia spoke quietly.

Kai scoffed, and the two stared at each other for a few more moments before he lunged forward at her. He flung his arms out for her throat, but he was pushed back into the small room by the two big men who came out from around the corners.

"Why isn't he dead?!" Marzia asked frantically, as the bodyguards held him back.

"He should be— the dosage you gave him could've taken out a whole city—" The bodyguard to Kai's left spoke in between grunts as Kai fought against him.

The woman stepped forward at them with angry eyes. "Give him more! Get rid of him!"

Kai jerked against the two men that held him pinned against the opposite walls. He could barely muster enough strength to hold himself up, let alone fight against two guys who looked like they could break his arms like toothpicks. Kai got a free hand and clutched onto one of the men's arms, waiting the red glow to emit from underneath his hand— but again, nothing happened. He let out a frustrated scream.

"You have no power here." Marzia spoke.

Kai didn't care. "What are you gonna do to her?!" His voice was coarse, and he felt himself growing nauseous.

"Can't you feel it, the emptiness?" She questioned further.

Kai breathed heavily. He'd grown so used to having all the magic at his free will, that he'd forgotten what it was like to be without it. He tried to stifle down the panic that he felt grow inside of him.

"I know who you are. I know what you do." He let out. "Take me instead— and let her go."

Marzia shook his head. "The Sanctus must be human. Their suffering is so much more—" she thought about her choice of words before finishing her sentence. "Fulfilling." She smiled.

Kai mustered all the strength he could gather and sprung forward, he freed from their grip for a split second, but was yanked back and slammed back against the wall before he could do anything.

"Up the dosage. We'll collect the body tomorrow." Marzia nodded towards the men before turning around and walking out.

Kai felt anger surge through him as he felt the familiar prick of a needle in his neck. He let out a furious scream as whatever was in that syringe, enter his body.

His eyes began to flutter shut, and his knees gave out. He clutched onto one of the men as he went down. "You have to—" He struggled for words as his mind went in and out of consciousness. "You have to let her go—" He fell to the ground. "Please," He let out with his last breath.

—

ONE MONTH LATER

—

The Algeans came in waves, coming to the church in small groups, or one at a time. To open new wounds, drink her blood and gain their powers back. Only to use those returned powers to hurt her further, to feed off that, and become stronger. A viscous cycle that had no end for her.

They had unbound her from the cross. Their past Sanctus hadn't last more than three days, and being strung up for any longer than that wasn't comfortable for their Sanctus. Instead, they'd graciously let her sit in a red velvet chair that resembled a throne. Heavily chained to it at her ankles, wrists, and around her neck.

Marzia's bodyguards stood on either sides of her at all hours of the day, except for the one hour every day they took her to a sad excuse for a bedroom. She was granted the time on good behavior, if she lashed out, her hour was taken from her.

The bedroom was beneath the church, it was decorated like any other bedroom would be. But there were no windows, and instead the feeling that she was in an underground bunker in case of disaster.

"Thank you." An Algean bowed towards Daisy as her blood stained the corners of her mouth.

She breathed heavily and quickly, trying to stifle the pain that had arisen from the fresh wounds on her arms. The man who had just stopped by came almost every day. The blood wounds he inflicted were always pretty minor, especially compared to what others had done to her. He'd just drug a small blade a few inches across her skin, and took a small amount of blood.

But it was the after consuming her blood that was the worst. When his power regained strength, he triggered aneurysms and heart attacks. He alone had killed her multiple times, but she'd come back every time.

He rose his hands and Daisy shut her eyes, feeling his power reach out towards her brain. But a bell dinged from behind her, that bell that signaled her small amount of relief.

"It's six." One of the bodyguards spoke from behind her. Daisy's eyes opened, and she let out a sharp exhale of relief as the man in front of her lowered his hands with a disappointed look. "You can come back and visit the Sanctus in an hour." The bodyguard spoke to the man, and he nodded sadly before making his way off the stage.

Daisy felt the chains around her neck that kept her pinned against the back of the chair drop, and she took a much needed deep breath. The chains against her wrists and ankles fell next, and she was gently helped out of the chair by the two men.

In the first few day, in these brief moments of freedom, she'd tried to escape. But she wasn't strong enough— she didn't know if she'd ever know the feeling of strength again.

Holding onto the arms of the men, they guided her to the basement beneath the church and to her respective room, where they tossed her in, bowed, then shut and locked the door behind her.

She immediately rushed to the bathroom, where she bent over the toilet and vomited, clutching onto her stomach where fresh wounds hurt against the heaving.

When she was done, she slowly got back to her feet and stood in front of the bathroom mirror.

She could barely recognize herself with the amount of scars that covered her face, her arms— every part of her body. The Algeans that came to her for strength and healing, usually just carved names or prayers into her. But there were others that used this as an excuse to just hurt someone with zero repercussions. You could tell which scars they inflicted.

There were two symmetrical cuts that ran vertically over both of her eyes and down her cheeks. Ezra gave her those.

She brushed a delicate hand over the raised surfaces that ran over her skin as she walked out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. There was a plate of food sat on the table near the bed, like it was every day. Daisy ate it quickly, trying to get as much down as she could before she inevitably threw it back up.

She tried not to cry when given the hour, she was told to be grateful that it was even an opportunity. But when she was by herself like this, the only thing she could do was cry.

It was her tears that kept her soul alive, in furnace of the pain. They couldn't extinguish what has been, only carry her forward until a time comes when the searing pain was distant enough to forget more than remember, and maybe one day erase itself from her brain. She thanked her tears, and was proud to cry.

If that's what saved her from becoming a monster, then crying was the smartest thing she could do.

a/n
thinking about the kaisy edit someone made on tik tok to that one audio that goes 'oh you're so traumatized it makes me wanna cry, u dumb motherfucker i loved i loved u i loved u it's true' blah blah blah u know what im talking about right ???? . anyways they own that song now A/N EDIT: we've found the edit finally 🎉🎉 !!! the editor is on tik tok and their username is geminivvvv ,, they told me that the edit i was talking about was on their old page which they have since then deleted— but they're restarting their account and their first edit back is another kaisy edit :::)))) so so so good tysm (i'll link it here too)

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeGYhrSq/

also thank u for all ur edits and stuff on tik tok and ig theyre so cool to see ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY JUST POP UP ON MY FYP??? like what r the chances

if u find / make any pls send me a link i loooove them

ALSOOO just thank u in general for all the kind words and messages they make me so happy. love u all sm !!!!! ty for supporting me😸🤍

almost done w school so hopefully when that's over i'll be able to keep up w the consistent updates. but we all know i woooooont 😅 YALL updating is so hard bc i go through periods where the only thing i want to do is write (i.e. this past week) and then theres sometimes where it's the LAST thing i want to do and i abandon yall for weeks dhfhfhfkfhfhf my bad.

and then when i do write a bunch i try and space out when i publish the chapters so when i'm not in the mood to write i can still update for yall but i get so excited to publish them that it never works (i.e. this chapter)🥲

aaaannnnyyyywaaayyysss i'm out of drafts to post (😬) after this so hopefully i can find some time to write a new chapter soon !!

love yall!
- jane