Ember woke up to find her wrists pinned above her head by another pair of iron shackles.
Just as before, she tried vainly to slip her wrists from their bindings. Ember slumped against the wall and let her arms hang limp.
Ember sighed and then spoke aloud: "What do you want from me, ghost?"
"You'll see," came Demetri's voice in her ear.
Ember started as Demetri faded through the wall from behind her to kneel before her.
"I think I already have, ghost," she muttered. "Every time you fade through me I get a glimpse of some fresh hell."
"Are you refusing to say my name, halfling?" Demetri asked teasingly.
Ember's eyes crackled.
"That's a shame," he smiled, "because I was looking forward to hearing you scream it."
"You expect me to call you by your name?" Ember said icily. "You're a monster."
"Then we can play Beauty and the Beast," Demetri said, flashing her a mocking grin.
"Well when you die, I can promise I won't save you with a confession of undying love," Ember retorted.
"Thank God I'm already dead then."
"Which means my mother didn't do that either."
Ember glared at the ghost, knowing full-well how hard her words must have stung him.
Demetri's smile vanished and his blue eyes narrowed. He cocked his head and reached out his hand, brushing it down Ember's face and then slowly wrapping his fingers around her throat.
Ember tried to squirm away from is touch, but he gripped her neck tightly.
"I loved her more than my life," Demetri said slowly. "I loved her more than my fucking life and she ripped my heart out and tore it to pieces."
Ember panted for air.
"You don't know how to pick your fights, halfling," the ghost said as he eyed his struggling prisoner.
"Neither... did... you!" Ember managed to gasp.
Demetri's fingers loosened, and then he ran his hand down to cup her breast and tease her hardening nipple. He felt his captive's chest rise and fall quickly.
"You're right," he murmured, his eyes still holding hers.
He leaned in close to Ember and smiled as she tried to shrink back into the wall. His hands dug into her flesh and she gasped in pain as he lowered his head to bite at her nipple.
"But you are a fine consolation prize, halfling," the ghost said, his words whispering over her breast. "There is nothing to stop me from taking you whenever I want. I can do whatever I want to you."
"Fuck you," she said hoarsely.
Demetri's eyes flashed angrily: "Is that a promise, little bloodsucker?"
The ghost stood up and his gaze hardened as Ember glared up at him.
"You look so much like your mother did," Demetri growled, "the night she fucking killed me!"
Demetri punctuated his cry by swinging a kick at the chained halfling.
"She broke my heart when she betrayed me for a vampire, and then, to add insult to injury, she had you," Demetri roared.
Ember choked as his booted foot met with her stomach once again.
Demetri bent down over Ember, grabbing her chin and wrenching her face towards his. Demetri blinked in surprise when Ember's eyes met his. They burned with anger, pain and determination, but there was something else buried beneath those feelings.
She still feels sorry for me. She pities me.
"Don't you dare pity me!" he said dangerously. "Don't you dare fucking pity me!"
The ghost straightened and swung another kick at the halfling. Ember cried out in pain and tears ran down her cheeks as Demetri kicked her, again, and again, and again.
"I will break you, halfling," Demetri roared. "I will break you!"
The ghost revelled in the sharp cries that the halfling emitted whenever his booted foot came into contact with her slim form.
Finally, he stopped. He stood panting, taking in the battered body of his captive. She looked defeated, crushed from the outside in. But, despite the tears spilling from her eyes, they still burned with deep emotions.
I was wrong. Those eyes are nothing like Serafina's. I can see into the depths of her soul through those fiery eyes. I can see the anger, the despair, the way she feels about what happened to me... those wild emotions that she has no control over.
He knelt down and ran a thumb over her lips. She had bitten them almost bloody.
God, she is so beautiful... so young and full of life. I want her to fight me. I want to chase her. I would chase her to the ends of the earth just to have the chance to take her at the world's end.
Demetri leaned down and his mouth engulfed hers in a torturous kiss. Ember winced as he bit at her lower lip and consumed her mouth in a feverish kiss.
Demetri broke the kiss and stared into her
eyes
without emotion. He was lost in thought, and she barely had the strength to keep her eyes open to hold his empty gaze. He watched as the fire that had flamed so brightly in her beautiful eyes faded to ash. The ghost straightened abruptly and wrapped his hands around the shackles that bound Ember to the wall. The irons opened at his touch and he pulled her to her feet by a fistful of hair.
"Fight back," he purred in her ear. "Come on, halfling. Fight back."
Ember struggled to stand on her own, but her body was in agony and she could hardly meet Demetri's eyes.
As soon as she gained her footing, Demetri let go of her hair and shoved her across the room.
Ember cried out as she landed on the cobbled floor. Demetri's eyes flashed as she slowly propped herself up. His lips curved in a lusty smile as he strode towards her.
Ember tried to crawl away from the ghost, but Demetri was before her in an instant. He loomed over her, smugly shaking his head at the girl lying at his feet.
"Is that all you got?" Demetri asked darkly, using the toe of his boot to lift her chin up so that the halfling's teary eyes met his. "Huh? You going to give up?"
"Never," Ember breathed, angrily pushing his foot away.
"Then fight back," Demetri sneered, toeing her with his boot.
Ember gathered her strength, rage building inside her as the ghost patronised her.
