The day had been a long one... and that was an understatement really. Thomas hadn't given up a single thing. He wasn't budging at all. 

His wolf had long since returned, but he'd been safely restrained to the chair. Unfortunately, that meant I was still stuck in there with him as well. And I was really hungry. Make that hangry. I'd long since dropped the pretenses of help. I'd seen this wolf's nasty side. Granted I'd been using silver on him for the majority of the day which would probably make any werewolf angry, but he'd been chomping and flashing his teeth almost all afternoon. 

Most of the others had gone home, the only ones that remained in the building were Klarke, Isaac, and me. Interesting, right? 

Isaac had told me that the volume in the room was indeed off, and somehow no one had noticed this. Or if they had, they hadn't really thought much about it. 

I'd debated telling Thomas that I was hoping to get him out of here. I hadn't though because I knew the chances were slim to none. I had no idea how I would get him out of a place that was riddled with security detail. They were stationed at the doors, there were scanners that didn't allow you in certain places, this building was probably one of the most secure. The best time to get him out would be now. Even so, Klarke was still here. He was the head of The Torch at this station. Isaac alone had been difficult to go up against, I couldn't imagine what going against Klarke would be like. Even if I got past him, there were security people stationed at all exits all hours of the day and night. 

There was no way he would get out of here. At least not without me putting myself in danger, and I wasn't about to do that for a stranger. Sorry Jared. 

That being said, I was still going with my interrogation. 

I wiped my hand on my jeans as my phone went off. My skin was stained pink and I wondered if it would ever come off. 

It was a text from Jared. We'd refrained from communicating through phones, but I'd let us relax a bit recently. Apparently some people from The Torch had shown up and helped move everything. That had really surprised me. I figured it had to have been something that Steele had set up for us. I relaxed slightly. It was a sign that maybe she wasn't going to tear me down. At least not yet. 

"Note from the boss?" Thomas spat at me. 

I slipped the phone back in my pocket and took the blade in my right hand again. 

"Yeah, he reminded me that I could do anything I wanted to you as long as I kept you alive." I tilted my head to the side and touched my tongue to my top teeth. 

Thomas didn't flinch. I hadn't expected him to. If he truly ran with the crowd he's accused of, and if he did the things in that file--which I have no doubt he did either of those--then he knew what was coming. He'd probably done something similar to others in his past. That was why I could do this. That was why I could push past the barriers I'd been building up to keep Electra contained. 

She was free now, but there was still conflict. This was someone Jared knew. He swore to her that he'd changed since he'd been with the pack, and she felt how badly he wanted her to get Thomas out. The thing was, it all rested with Thomas. 

"If you just tell me what I want to know, then you'll be able to go free," I said sound exasperated. 

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for something like that?"

"I'm not trying to trick you. I'm trying to tell you the truth."

I was trying to get a bit of rest in. In the beginning I'd rested every so often to see if his healing would kick in. Turned out that it wouldn't due to the silver in the blade. Something that made me glad yet again when I thought about the bullet Jared had taken for me when we were running away from The Organization. 

I never left the silver in too long, which meant that there was no terrible life threatening injuries. They wouldn't heal quickly, but as long as I stayed away from anything vital then he would be good. The breaks now though were for me. Who knew that it took so much energy to do something like interrogate and torture. 

I walked back over to Thomas and his breathing started to accelerate. I took up the blade and pressed it lightly to his cheek just above the corner of his mouth. He let out a hiss of a breath and I started to drag the edge of it across his cheek until it reached his ear. It was light enough that it barely drew any blood. 

"Where is the pack at?"

"I don't know anything."

"We've already established that you do know. You may as well just say that you're not going to tell me." As I talked I pressed the tip of the blade into his skin harder and started to drag it down from his ear to the corner of his jaw. 

A growl rumbled in his chest. It sent off every hunter's alarm bell within me. Danger. Kill threat. Get out. I dropped my arm and turned my back. 

"I'm not going to tell you because I don't care if I get out of here."

"You'd rather stay in here and be tortured every day?"

"Than be subjected to that pack? Most definitely. They'd kill me."

"At least you'd go quickly."

"If you think that would be any better than this then you're wrong. You don't know what a creator can do to you. The type of torture they can inflict is beyond anything imaginable." We were locked in a stare, the only thing breaking me from it was the sound of the lock in the door moving. 

Klarke stepped into the room with Isaac right behind him. Maybe Isaac was higher up than I thought. He seemed to be with Klarke quite often. 

"You're done for the day. You'll come back and start tomorrow. Have you gotten anything useful?" Klarke assessed me, taking in my bloodied state. The majority of it was in my clothes, covered up by the black material. I could still feel it though, making the fabric stick to my skin. 

There was blood all up and down my arms, and I imagined there were some smears on my face as well. Isaac was holding a bundle of black and I guessed it was the change of clothes I asked for. 

I shook my head as Klarke unlocked the cell door and jerked it to the side, taking Thomas with the motion. The chair nearly tipped over, balancing on the two legs. I slipped out of the cell and Klarke pulled it back, pulling the chair along again. There was a loud bang as it hit the ground. 

"Are you seriously going to keep me in this chair?" Thomas asked trying to look over his shoulder. 

"Someone will be in to administer your dosage. Once that's done and it's had time to work through, they'll let you out of the chair." I had a feeling that Klarke wasn't telling him this in kindness, he was using it as a threat. They were going to be drugging Thomas again. That was fine by me. If they kept him on the drugs again until morning then I'd be able to safely get back in and get him into the restraints. 

I handed the blade over to Klarke and walked over to Isaac who'd been hanging out by the door. He held out the bundle of black. I gestured to the blood all over me and he took it back, holding it at his side. 

"Can we go to the locker room?"

"Sure." 

"First thing tomorrow morning, Jacobson."

"Yes, sir." 

Klarke stayed back to take care of the weapons. Isaac took us down a series of halls. I still wasn't sure if I'd be able to find the locker room on my own, so I was grateful for him. We stepped inside and I immediately walked over to the sinks. 

"Can you set the clothes down right there please?" 

"Sure thing." Isaac put them down and stepped around the corner. I could hear him messing with one of the lockers on the other side. 

I grabbed a paper towel and turned on the hot water, adding a little cold to the mix. Holding the paper towel under the faucet, I let it soak up the water and then rung it out. 

"Why did you want the clothes?" He asked as I started using the paper towel to wipe off the blood. 

"Really? Did you not see the blood?"

"I did, but why didn't you just bring a change of clothes yourself?"

"My boyfriend is attentive. He would have asked why I was taking spare clothes."

"You could have made up a lie." 

"He can read me better than most," I said without trying to give away too much detail. We were going to be stepping into dangerous waters here soon. 

"Well why did you want them to be identical?"

"Remember about the part where I said he's attentive? I don't want him to have a reason to suspect that something is up." 

What I was hiding was that I wanted to be able to erase all traces of blood and hope that Jared wouldn't be able to smell it on me when I got back, and that we'd already had an in depth discussion that morning so taking a spare set of clothes would have indeed looked suspicious. Having a werewolf boyfriend wasn't as easy as one may think. I hadn't even expected it to be easy, and it was still more difficult than I'd been expecting. 

I peeled off my shirt and jeans and started to wipe the dried blood that had soaked through. 

"I forgot my leather jacket down there. Can you take my badge and go get it for me please?"

"That's technically not allowed," Isaac said as I heard him come around the corner again.

"If you see Klarke then just tell him I was brain dead. Throw me under the bus if you really need to."

Isaac stopped, seeming startled when he saw me. 

"I have a boyfriend buddy, and we're related remember? Put your eyes back in your skull and go get my jacket."

"I just hadn't been expecting-" 

"Then you're dense. Blood. The reason for being in here was so I could clean up and change. Now go." I threw my badge at him and he hightailed it out of the locker room. 

When he finally got back I was changed and working on scrubbing my hands. They were turning red from the hot water and from how hard I was rubbing them. I was worried that I may start bleeding myself, but I needed to make sure all traces of Thomas' blood was gone. 

"Are you okay, Eliza?"

"I'm fine. I just need it off," I said as I continued to scrub harder. 

"I know it's hard the first time-"

"The thing is, it isn't the first time. Yeah, the first time I've tortured somebody. Not the first time I've been covered in blood. Believe me, I've been drenched head to toe. I used to go into places and take out multiple weres and vamps. I've decapitated, I've used guns, you name it and I've done it." I let out a shaky breath and grabbed a dry paper towel as I turned around. 

"You don't look too great."

"I had a break down of sorts. When I got to the safe house while running from the organization back home, everything I'd done came down on me. It really hit me. Hard. I hadn't been able to even hold a weapon for a while after that."

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. It happened, there's nothing you can do to change that. It's something that I have to live with. It's something that defines me, and as much as I try to run away from it, as much as I can change the name on a piece of plastic and I can dye my hair and wear these stupid contacts, it's all a part of me. Inside I am Electra Jaeger and I am that person. 

"I'm the girl that's killed more paranormal creatures than I even care to count. I'm the person who's done truly terrible things. I'm also the person who's trying to be better. Does this help? No not really, I feel like it's making me worse. 

"But I also feel like Klarke is going to be watching me closely. I don't feel right about him, and I think he may know something's up. He reminds me too much of the Klarke from back home, and I don't like it, so I'm going to stay on his good side and do whatever it is he asks me to do. If I need to, I'll run again."

I was surprised that Isaac had stayed quiet for all of that, but he'd just been watching me, evaluating every move I made and how they fit with the words I was saying. I couldn't tell if he felt sorry for me or if he didn't feel anything at all. I really didn't care what he felt. I didn't want his sympathy and I didn't need his understanding, it had just been something I needed to say. 

I frowned slightly. The person I should have said that to was Jared, but it had needed to come out. I'd made the realization just that day as I was taking one of my small breaks during the interrogation. I knew what I needed to do. This was my job, and I was going to do it as long as it meant having a stable life and being able to keep Jared safe. 

I'd also told myself that if Thomas died, then there would be nothing to link him back to Jared. That selfish part of me wanted to do whatever it took to make sure that no one ever found out about him. I couldn't kill him. I couldn't be the one to do that, I couldn't kill anymore unless it was someone who was trying to kill me or someone I cared about. There was no way I could be the one to end Thomas' life, but I didn't have to. 

I was only there for the interrogation and anything else was above me. 

Isaac tipped his head to the side, pointing it toward the door. "Let's get you out of here."

He'd stopped by a shop and we'd gotten a sandwich for the ride back. My stomach was eternally grateful to him for that one. I'd nearly inhaled the piece of heaven on bread. I'd given him the address to the new place since we'd been moved in already. Isaac had been surprised that everything had gone as quickly as it had on that front. 

"We should do something this weekend. You know, a little family bonding or something," Isaac said as he stopped outside the house for the address listed. 

"Sure. We'll talk more about it tomorrow."

He nodded and I hopped out, making my way to the front door. I felt incredibly awkward there. Should I just go in? Should I knock? What if this wasn't really the right place?

Before I had a chance to even decide, the door opened and Jared was standing there with a huge smile on his face. 

He picked me up into a hug and kissed me hard. It was a feeling I loved, the energy that coursed through me and the burning heat that every kiss had. Jared pulled back with a furrowed brow and fear went down my spine. 

"What's wrong?"

"Something just seemed weird," he said. My heart was pounding hard and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I hadn't washed off the blood as well as I'd hoped. "Your heart is racing."

"I'm just excited to see you," I half lied while smiling. He smiled back and kissed me again. 

"I'm excited to see you as well, and this is one mighty fine home."

"Yeah right, it's probably a cupboard compared to every place you've lived." I rolled my eyes. 

"No, that hotel was a cupboard. This is a palace fit for a queen." He winked at me before leading me through. We did a walk around as he showed me every room, ending at the bedroom. 

I sighed and plopped right down, relaxing into the feel of the amazingly soft bed. Had I said that it was a long day? Because it really was. 

I felt Jared's weight sink into the mattress beside me and soon his lips were on mine. I didn't open my eyes, I just moved my hand up into his hair, and rested the other on his cheek. His body completely covered mine, his heat soaking into me. 

My hand moved down, sliding under his shirt and resting on his back. I could feel the muscles there. He bit my lower lip, tugging gently before his mouth left kisses moving toward my neck. He planted a kiss over the spot where he'd marked me, the scars nearly invisible now, but the action still sent an extra burst of heat straight through me starting right where those fangs and sunk in. 

I moaned slightly and I felt his smile against my skin. 

This. This was exactly what I'd needed after everything I'd gone through. Jared's hands roamed down until they were inching my shirt up ever so slightly. I lifted myself up enough for him to slip it off and he tossed it to the side. Our lips locked again and I started to pull his up, breaking the kiss only until his shirt was past. 

I placed my palms on his chest, one hand moving down until it stopped hesitantly over the scar tissue from the bullet. He sensed my slight hesitation and pulled back. 

"How was your day at work?"

Just like that. Mood completely ruined. blood filled my vision and I was done. 

"It was...fine."

***********

So here we are again. A little deeper look into Electra again... and how Eliza is realizing the role that both of her selves play in this. 

Also, if you didn't see my last post, THE HUNTRESS is on the iflist. If you'd like to see it become a movie, you should go over to the site and throw in your support. Who knows if it will actually happen, but I know I have wonderful readers... so please hop on over and give it a vote. You can also leave a note to endorse it and choose characters. 

http://www.iflist.com/stories/thehuntress  link will also be in the comments

Thank you!!