Paper Sparrows

Havermouth, Present Time

Feeding time was enough to curdle Aislen’s stomach. Hazmat suited nurses pushed a trolley down the aisle, and metal dog bowls of raw meat and bottles of blood were shoved through the flaps into the cages, where the occupants fell upon the food like wild animals.

“Yeah, that’s not at all disturbing,” Aislen commented in revulsion as Dr James licked the bowl clean before licking at her fingers and arms. “You’re not precisely a neat eater, you know?” She complained. She had been served a microwave meal that might have come from her father’s freezer. It was only just warm, but after the food in the warehouse, she wasn’t picky.

She did however scrutinize every mouthful in case there was anything pill-like hidden within.

She was putting a brave face on the situation, she admitted to herself, but it was an egg-shell thin facade. Her anxiety over Heath, Rhett and Cameron made her skin crawl and her eyes prick with tears that she was determined not to shed, and her fear for herself and her pregnancy made every mouthful she forced herself to swallow want to come back up – but she wasn’t going to f-king vomit, she told herself sternly. Not when all she had to vomit into was a bedpan.

Across the hall, hazmat suited nurses spoon fed the eight men, wiped them clean, and tried to encourage them back into the beds. Aislen watched their efforts as it was better than watching the zombies snuffling around their cages searching for anything that had spilled.

“Why are you wearing the suits?” She asked the nurses, not really expecting an answer. She rose and crossed to the bars of her cage. The nurses’ protests were muffled within their masks as the men that they’d managed to get to lie down rose and walked towards the bars of their cage, standing and staring at Aislen.

“Nothing. There is nothing in the back.”

“Let them go. We will stay here.”

“We should just get into the car and go,” Toby added, his face strained as he gripped the bars with his fingers, as if he were fighting hard for control of his body. “We should just get into the car and go. Aislen. Help me.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. “I can’t,” she pointed to the cuff on her wrist.

“Aislen… Th… Th… Th…” He tried to fight the nurses as the pulled at him, trying to prise him away from the bars. “Aislen. Th…”

“Time to go,” Sparrow announced as he walked up the aisle, sending the feasting zombies diving for shelter. He stopped outside of Aislen’s cage and dangled a set of handcuffs from his finger. “Will I be needing these?”

“No,” she said immediately. Being handcuffed would add another level of trouble to any attempt to escape.

“I hope not,” he hung them onto his belt and unlocked the cage door. “Come along then,” he gestured for her to step out.

“Aislen!” Toby cried out in protest fighting free of the nurses and catching hold of the poles, shaking the door of his cage. “We should just get into the car and go. Aislen. Help me! Th… Thay… Thay… Aislen!” One of the nurses stabbed a needle into his exposed arse cheek, and his eyes fluttered as he sagged to the floor. “Aislen. Thay. Gul.”

“F-king pain in the arse,” Sparrow looked down at him with a frown. “Toby’s father is an influential contributor to our mission. When he finds out that his son has been infected with whatever this f-king virus is, he’ll be crushed.”

“You’re not afraid of getting it,” Aislen noted, as Sparrow wasn’t dressed in the hazmat suits of the nurses.

“No,” he was amused by the suggestion. “It only seems to affect those in close contact, which is why I made sure they were placed away from you. Come along,” he circled his fingers around her wrist. “Just in case you decide to try anything,” he told her with a small smile. “Trust only goes so far.”

“Yeah,” she looked down at her wrist, tugging back a little against his grip as he began to walk. “I’m not a huge fan of you touching me.”

He laughed under his breath. “Believe me, I’m not interested in touching you in the slightest, Aislen. I have a mate.”

“Poor thing,” she replied.

“Aislen,” he stopped and turned to face her, his expression serious. “You are treating me as the enemy. Believe me. I am not your enemy. I am your protector,” he drew her closer to him. “There are those here that would tie you up in a little bow and send you to a place where they take you apart slowly to find out what makes you tick. Instead, you get to stay here with me, but only so long as you behave yourself and help me find…” He trailed off, glancing around him.

“This is not the place to discuss it,” he turned and tugged her along behind him.

They stepped out into a grand foyer, complete with a double height ceiling and a baby-grand piano, and he pulled her past a reception desk manned with Van Helsings, up the staircase, and then down a hallway.

The Van Helsings that they passed looked away and murmured greetings as they hurried on their way, as terrified of Sparrow as the zombies in the cages. He opened a double door into a smaller function room, and the moment Aislen crossed the threshold, she realized she’d walked into some kind of spell-trap by the buzz of energy that passed over her.

She looked around and saw that the walls had been painted with runes all the way around.  In the center of the room, the carpet had been chalked and salted with a spell circle, and Dove, the blonde woman from earlier chewed on her lip nervously next to a brunette.

“Lark, unfortunately, cannot be here to help us. She’s recovering from an unfortunate incident that cost her an eye. This is Dove and Robin. Ladies, this is…” He reached out and touched Aislen’s hair. “Raven. Say hello to Raven.”

“Aislen,” Aislen told them firmly. Her eyes were on the only furniture in the room. Bolted to the floor was a reclining chair identical to the one that Heath had been tied down to whilst Sparrow had tortured him. Next to it, a covered tray and stool was set ready. She was in another one of the torturer’s torture chambers. “Or Morgana,” she said smothering her fear and horror.

“Hello Raven,” Robin and Dove murmured.

Aislen ignored them. “So, what’s with the wards on the room?”

“The wards on the room are painted with a sample of your urine,” Sparrow replied with a pleased smile. “Which, as you will know…”

“Means I’m trapped,” she replied grimly. “Yay for that.”

“Indeed. Dove, Robin and I are warded against you, as well,” he was well pleased with himself. “So in here, I can remove your cuff, which will enable you to use your ability to locate the person I have lost, but not to relocate yourself or them. I want to know where she is and who she is with. Can you do that for me?”

“I’d have to know a bit more about her,” Aislen replied. She’d find her alright and warn her that Sparrow was looking for her. “When I’ve found people before, I’ve known them.”

“Hmm,” he took something from his pocket and stood looking down at his hand, rubbing his thumb over what he held, before meeting her eyes. “This is important to me. I do not want it damaged.”

“Sure,” she was puzzled by his expression of tenderness. He seemed reluctant to part with the object, handing it over slowly and with care. She looked down at what she held with puzzlement. It was a tiny origami sparrow.

Sparrow cleared his throat and moistened his lips. “You are looking for the woman whose blood is on this. She was at the base camp at the high school but escaped before the explosions. She is a witch like you. A very, very clever witch,” his lips curled slightly. “A dangerous witch. She created a flock of these and they mauled one of my people very badly. Lark lost an eye to a little bird just like the one that you are holding.”

“Mmm,” Aislen wished she had that ability. “Sounds like someone that I would like. What’s her name?”

“Meguitte,” he said softly. “Meguitte Gulgane. She is my mate, and she is missing. I need you to find her so I can make sure that she is safe.”

“Meguitte Gulgane,” she repeated. Talen’s Meguitte, she thought in shock. How was it possible that Meguitte was mated to this man? “Okay…” Talen was going to be heartbroken. “I’ll try,” she said and held out her hand with the cuff on it. “Unlock this thing then.”

“It’s not that simple,” he told her, his eyes going over her shoulder to where Dove and Robin stood. Aislen glanced over her shoulder at them. “We need to ensure that when your cuff is removed you cannot use your magic for mischief, therefore,” he gestured towards the salt circle. “Robin will perform a binding on you.”

“A binding,” Aislen looked back at him. A binding was akin to giving the other witch control over her mind, body, and ability, leaving her a passenger in her own body. “You have to be f-king kidding me. Nope,” she offered back the paper sparrow shaking her head. “That’s a deal breaker. I’ll take option B.”

He took the sparrow back from her and nodded his head slowly. “You will not like option B, Raven. You will not like it at all.”

Her eyes flicked to the torture chair. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to,” he had said.

“I don’t know what you think I can do,” she said softly. “I’m a telepath, that’s it. It means that I can scry and find people. I have no magic of my own, and the only time that I can scry without a coven of witches and warlocks around me providing the magic, is to a friend who is a witch. I might… I just might be able to find Meguitte using that,” she gestured to the sparrow which he held. She thought it was possible, as Talen was her mate and she’d had his blood – blood which contained the magic which had turned Meguitte vampire – but she would not know until she tried. “But that’s the total of my ability and I might not even be able to do that.”

“So you see,” she pleaded. “No need to bind me. There’s nothing that I can do, trapped within a spell trap, as I am.”

He reached out and caught her by her throat, dragging her to him and up onto her tiptoes. Her throat screamed in protest, the pain killers he’d given her earlier not up to the physical reminder of her injury and she cried out, her eyes watering. He held her there, his eyes on hers, and she gripped onto his wrist with both hands, desperately trying to balance and ease the pressure on her throat.

“I don’t think you are appreciating the seriousness of your position, Raven, nor how much I need you to do this for me.” His lips were so close to her own that she could taste his breath. “I am being very nice, at the moment. Perhaps once you have experienced the alternative, you will be more helpful.”

He used his grip to propel her across the room, and with her feet dancing to keep up with his speed, and her focus on his hold on her throat, it wasn’t she fell into the chair that she realized where they were headed.

She screamed, fighting to be free, but his strength was such that, with the help of Robin and Dove, he very quickly had her restrained using the straps and buckles that were attached to the arms and legs.

He was breathing heavily however as he stepped back and ran his hand through his short dark hair. “I am disappointed,” he said. “I had hoped to avoid this.”

Aislen sucked enough moisture at him to spit. “F-k you mother f-ker!”

He made a sound of disgust and shook his head. “What is it with the spitting?”