Sophie & Adrian

(Author's Note: Please be aware that for character and plot development intimacy and/or sex is not always guaranteed every chapter. If you are looking for a quick read, I suggest coming back to this later when you have more time to invest. Please feel free to vote and comment, your response is always welcome and, in fact, encouraged! As of right now I have no editor, but I am looking for one so please bear with me on any spelling and/or grammatical mistakes I may have made.)

***

"If you just walked away, what could I really say? Would it matter anyway? Would it change how you feel?" Sophie whispered.

Those words, so softly whispered, ripped through him like a blade of steel. She hadn't believed him. Him. The man who

everyone

knew his word was his bond. After a few seconds of standing there, the anger started to replace the searing agony of what seemed like Sophie's rejection. Adrian's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, the startling shade of emerald barely visible in his anger. Jaw clenched, he turned around and strode to the door halting just as he put his hand on the door knob. Taking a moment to compose himself, he finally turned back around towards Sophie who was still sitting there trembling with tears now running down her cheeks.

The sight of those tears shocked and confused Adrian. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why SHE of all people would be upset. He didn't enjoy being confused, so instead, he latched on to the anger that was coursing through his veins. "These doors are closing Sophie; in more ways than just the literal sense," he managed to grind out. "When I walk out, I am done! I am tired of waiting on your forgiveness when I know it will never come. It was a mistake and that is the

last

time I try to make you understand," and with those final words he pivoted sharply on his heel, opened the door and strode out; the door slamming with the conviction of his sorrow.

***

Sophie sat there for a long time after Adrian stormed out crying, albeit silently. Slowly, she lowered her upper torso to rest her head on the wooden table before her as her arms wrapped around her small protruding belly, well hidden by the folds of her cloak. Sophie put a valiant effort into calming her emotions and managed for a little while. If it hadn't been for the baby, she never would have gone through with her part of the deal. She would have died before hurting Adrian. Unfortunately...or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it, she was four months pregnant with his child and she couldn't bear for anything to happen that might affect the baby's welfare.

The longer she sat there the colder it seemed to get until she noticed she could see the frost as the breath exited her parted and trembling lips. Looking up to find the reason for the chill in the air, she finally took note of him. After a few moments of shock that he would dare find her here, in this place and in her fragile emotional state she flew into a rage and flung herself at him, scratching, clawing and biting anything she could come into contact with.

That she would dare to attack him caused him to laugh. That she dared to attack him with her person just made it even more hilarious to his warped sense of humor, and with an effortless wave of his arm she was floating in the air unable to move. As he finally caught his breath, he tilted his head to the side giving Sophie a curious look. With a snap of his fingers, an invisible hand seemed to press against Sophie's elegant neck, slowly cutting off the path to her lungs.

With a maniacal grin on his face, he watched her lovely, heart-shaped face go from pale, to pink, then to red, purple, and finally to blue before he released his mental grip on her air pipe. He waited for a moment while she choked and sputtered, trying to get the life giving nutrients back into her body that the air provided.

Wheezing and coughing still, she tried to wriggle her toes only to find that she was still in his thrall hanging motionlessly about two feet from the ground. A distance that she knew from experience, wouldn't hurt the baby as long as she was conscious when she landed.

He brought up his finger towards his face and gently pressed it against the already healing wound Sophie had inflicted on his left cheek. Sniffing in disdain, he brought his hand away to find his finger wet with his own blood. Looking between his finger, wet with his own blood, then back to Sophie whom he still held in thrall a smirk slowly came across his face as an idea came across to him. She needed to learn her place. She was HIS slave now; no longer a free person to do whatever she wished. With slow, graceful strides he meandered towards her until he was a breaths inch away from her trembling figure. His smirk became a maniacal grin as he caught her wild eyes with his own and lifted his bloodied finger up to her cheek, hovering for a moment before pressing with deceiving gentleness on her cream colored skin. But the moment his blood touched her, she began to whimper and slowly her whimpers became cries, and not long after that her cries became tortured screams as the corrosive substance that ran through his veins slowly ate away at the flesh of her face.

N'a'kolche moved forward just a slight bit so that his lips were close enough to her ear so she could hear his whispered words, "You are MINE Sophie...you belong to me and don't you

ever

forget it."

And with that, the demon was gone, and so was the thrall. Sophie fell heavily to the ground on her side and curled her body into a ball while trying valiantly to control her sobbing. As the blood had evaporated it had also stopped eating away at her skin, leaving a very thin layer still intact. Now, a dull achy cramping began in her lower belly, just where the small bump protruded from her normally slight frame and a panic nearly overwhelmed her. This baby she had to protect at all costs and if her body was telling her correctly, she was imminently close to loosing what she had left of Adrian.

She tried calling out to Adrian through the telepathic link they shared. What she didn't realize, was that the demon who had enslaved her to his will had blocked their connection so she couldn't communicate with him without his knowing. So, on and on she called never knowing that he couldn't hear, only thinking he didn't care anymore.

***

Adrian had locked himself in his rooms, pacing his chambers till he thought he would wear ruts in the stone floor. He felt a tingling at the back of his mind and his uneasiness, along with his considerable anger, grew. Something was off, but he didn't know what it was. His gut was churning and his palms were getting sweaty; looking toward the door, he was about to take action and go find the source of his unease when Haldir, his longtime friend and second in command burst in.

"Adrian...you are needed in the interrogation room," Haldir spoke quietly, but with the urgency in his voice and the worry in his eyes, Adrian knew it was serious business.

"What's happened Haldir?" Adrian spoke, the tension rolling off of him in waves. He'd known there was something wrong and now he was almost afraid to find out what it was. He knew that whatever it was, it was very grave.

Haldir stopped, reaching out to touch Adrian on the shoulder before he spoke. Knowing how much she meant to him he shook his head not wanting to say the words he was about to. "It's not good Adrian...its better if you see for yourself though. I'll tell you this though. You're not going to believe what happened to her..." He himself wasn't sure that he believed it. His guards had been on duty and they had seen nor heard anything, which is what prompted the check-in in the first place.

Adrian blinked quietly, a vacant looking coming into his eyes a split seconds before he bolted down the hallway, knowing there was only one person he could have been talking about...