The days slipped by with her stuck at Daemon's side, the demon refusing to relinquish her to anyone except for Vincent and Dainin, though he was never far away if one of them had her.
She remained silent, following obediently behind whoever had her and drinking the elixir when she was told to.
Letari was beside herself trying to get Etani to respond, but she didn't have the willpower to look up from the floor, they had won. She was never going to be free and now she truly belonged to the demon. She didn't cry, she didn't complain, she just sat quietly at his side or followed along wherever he went.
His tension grew with each passing day, he feared that he had actually damaged her in some way, but she never responded to his attempts to talk to her, nor did she meet his eyes when he forced his face into her line of sight. She was simply existing in a state of silent misery that no one seemed to be able to save her from, though no one was daring to try to cross Daemon to help her.
Everything was in a state of unease, wary and waiting for whatever it was to come, as though they were preparing for a battle that wasn't quite ready.
The opportunity didn't come as anyone expected though, nor did anyone see it as an opportunity when it came. An explosion went off somewhere in the castle and all heads whipped around, Daemon jumping to his feet as screams sounded.
"Daemon!" Dirdos shouted, and the demon swore, wrapping the chain tightly around the railing and glaring down at her.
"Don't move," he snapped as he ran from the balcony and she obeyed, remaining still and silent with her eyes on the ground between her feet.
It was several minutes later when a soft thump came from her left and she saw a pair of unfamiliar shoes coming towards her, a low laugh sounding a moment later.
"Hello lovely," a voice said, low and hungry, but she only watched the shoes, uninterested in whoever they were or what they wanted.
"I heard you are a fighter, but here you are sitting quiet and still," he said, sounding amused by that.
Extending a hand, he curled gloved fingers under her chin and lifted her face to see her better, his breath sucking in.
"Pretty thing… and those eyes…" he growled, staring down at her. Her eyes slid away from him, finding a beetle that was crawling across the balustrade. Bugs didn't bother her right then, they simply existed, just like her.
"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" he asked and turned away from her, unwrapping the chain. She stood as he turned back to her, knowing it was time to go. It didn't matter who it was leading her.
"I like an obedient woman," he said happily, wrapping his arm around her and hitching her up over his shoulder. "We're going to have plenty of fun together."
He didn't seem to have any issue scaling the wall with her over his shoulder like that, climbing down with the ease of an expert and setting her back down on her feet when they had reached the ground.
"That was easier than expected," he said, a note of wariness coming into him, but he let it go. Taking advantage of his win, he wrapped the chain tightly around his fist and led her away around the corner of the castle and out towards the wall that kept them all safe, or at least it or so it was supposed to.
Reaching the wall, he glanced around as though expecting to have been followed and then drew her in behind a small wooden structure that was being used to house firewood.
"I've been trying to get to you for weeks. Do you think they liked my explosives?" he asked as he pressed her back into the wall, his warm body pressing into her.
She didn't answer, her eyes fixed on a small hole in the wall of the shed, wondering if mice had chewed it or if it was simply how the tree had grown.
He growled at her lack of response, frustrated that he couldn't get a rise out of her.
Leaning down, he nuzzled her head to the side gently and inhaled the scent of her hair before he angled himself better and bit the tip of her ear without breaking the skin.
"Shame someone beat me to it… I would have enjoyed breaking you," he purred, wrapping the chain around his long fingers.
"Etani?" a hard voice demanded, but she didn't look up, even if that voice caught her attention.
"Get lost, we're busy," the vampire growled.
His fingers stroked her hair back and lifting her face while his grip tightened on the chain, using it to pull her closer to him even as he pressed her against the wall.
"Get your hands off her…"
"I said get lost."
"Remove your hands, or I will remove them for you."
The vampire sighed and turned to look at the furious Hunter, freezing for an instant before he seemed to realise the danger and jerked her around between him and Neah, a long knife seeming to appear out of nowhere to rest against her throat.
"Come any closer and I slit her throat, Hunter."
"Wrong move…" Neah said in a low, lethal voice.
His wrist twisted, and he flung his arm out, her eyes closing automatically as drops of blood landed on her skin as well as the skin of the vampire.
The vampire screamed, collapsing into a heap on the ground and yanking her down with him.
She could see his arm, and she watched it as his pores began to bleed, even his fingernails were bleeding, and his skin began to shrivel as a pool of blood formed under them.
The vampire jerked and then went still, his skin looking dry and fragile as though one touch would have him turning to dust. It didn't even take a touch, a gentle breeze having his body disintegrate until there was nothing but blood and his clothes.
It was terrible and fascinating to watch, having never seen a vampire killed by one of the Hunters before.
Neah approached her slowly, wary of her stillness as she remained on her knees, staring down at the blood around her.
"Etani?" he asked again, kneeling down before her and lifting her chin. His mask covered his face, and it took her a moment to realise that he had left the tear tracks she had painted on with the berry juice, his free hand lifting to touch the gold chain.
"What is this?" he demanded, but she couldn't speak, she could only stare at his mask silently.
"What did they do to you?" he whispered, sliding the chain out through the knot and lifting it up over her head, his fingers ever careful not to pull her hair as he released her from the chain.
His fingers curled around the back of her neck, soothing where the chain had rubbed while his mask rested against her forehead, staring down at her as her eyes finally lifted. She was unable to see him through the mask, but she knew he was there.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, and his tension seemed to ease slightly once she spoke.
"I was worried about you. I hadn't heard from you in weeks, so I came to see that you were okay. Then I saw that scum sneaking up there and bring you down. Why didn't you fight him?"
Her eyes dropped to the chain in his hand, his fingers clenching around the delicate gold links.
"They had you restrained?" he growled "This whole time?"
"Daemon wouldn't let me leave his side."
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know, there was an explosion, and he wrapped the chain around the railing. Then the vampire arrived and now you."
Neah wrapped his arms around her, and she leant into his chest, her body craving the warmth of him in a way she had never known before. She wanted him to hold her and just to be against him, warm and safe.
"You're okay love, I've got you," he murmured, his arms tense around her in a way that was almost painful, but felt so good at the same time.
"Can we go somewhere nice?" she whimpered, hating that she sounded weak, but she needed to be away from them all, she needed him to take her away from there.
"Anywhere you like," he said gently.
"Somewhere pretty…"
"I know just the place," he said, and the world faded from around them.