Nia - Bait (3)

No, did I do something wrong? Will she punish me? I did everything right, exactly as she wanted… or didn’t I? Nia’s thoughts tumbled over themselves, panic tightening in her chest until she could hardly breathe. The fear she always felt beneath Lera’s icy stare rose up like a tide, flooding every corner of her mind.

She braced herself for the whip to slither through the air, for its coils to lash across her skin and tear her clothes apart. She imagined the bite of fire along her back, the humiliation, the familiar sting of being made less than human. Degraded. Broken down to nothing.

Maybe that would be good. Maybe that would mean things are still the same.

Her body trembled. Her knees wanted to give out, yet she held herself rigid. She had to; her chest rose and fell in shallow, frantic breaths. Then, exhausted, she let her eyes flutter shut, surrendering to what she thought was coming.

Lera’s presence loomed closer. Nia could feel it in the air itself, pressing down on her like a weight. The Exorcist’s steps struck the ground with controlled precision, each one louder than it should have been, echoing like a countdown.

She dared to open her eyes just a slit, enough to glimpse Lera’s pale face, the corners of her mouth twisted into something between fury and contempt.

Nia’s heart lurched. Her body braced. Every nerve screamed that this was the moment. She was ready for the whip, for the punishment she knew she deserved.

Nothing.

Only silence where pain should have been.

“What the hell happened here?” she suddenly heard Lera demand sharply from behind her.

Confused, she opened her eyes and saw that the Exorcist had stormed past her and was striding toward the Hunters who had been guarding them.

The two men and the woman opened their mouths, yet no words came at first.

“They… they are bait! Of course this would happen!” the woman finally offered in defense.

“WHAT?” Lera screeched.

“Well, that is why they work outside the Holy Shield, so the Nightmares drifting through the area will sense them and attack them one by one. Exorcist Immesh’s idea. We cannot risk them gathering and overwhelming the Sky Stone…” another Hunter panted.

That did nothing to calm Lera; quite the opposite. Her whip lashed out at the Hunters and flung them mercilessly to the ground.

“YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKS! Then bring the bait back behind the Shield before it wakes once a Nightmare approaches! WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM! We save lives, even the lives of such SCUM! You waste resources and behave like fucking ANIMALS!” she roared, and her whip came down again.

Nia felt boundless fear. Lera’s eyes were wild, her features twisted by hate and anger she had never shown before—not like this. Her scream tore through the air as her whip cracked down again and again, each strike more vicious than the last. The three Hunters writhed on the ground, their voices raw with pain, their bodies convulsing as the lashes seared through flesh.

The smell of scorched skin rose into the air, acrid and suffocating. It should have sickened her, yet instead a strange calm washed over Nia. The cries of agony were like a balm, as though someone else’s suffering could steady her trembling heart.

She stood frozen, drinking in the sight with a kind of horrified relief. If Lera’s wrath was turned on them, it meant—for this moment—it was not turned on her.

When Lera finally stopped, silence pressed down heavy and was broken only by ragged breathing. One man and the woman had already curled in on themselves, shuddering, their bodies twitching as they tried to recover. The last man, still conscious, dragged his hand across his scorched back, smearing ash and blood, and forced his head up to look at Lera.

“But… why…? Your bitch was there too… She’s possessed, she’s less than a Nightmare! Why did you…” he gasped.

Lera kicked him in the face, and he collapsed inward as well.

“You absolute FUCK! Yes, she is less than a Nightmare, yet capturing her is priceless! How did a small-minded shit like you even manage to become one of the Hunters?” she hissed, then spat on him.

She crouched down and frantically tore at her carefully pinned hair until red strands fell into her sweat-damp face. “You have no idea what sacrifice means. What it means to send people beyond the Holy Shields and see them wake there, just to save yourselves or the innocents you swore to protect. You are not worthy to be Hunters, you damned simpletons. You are disgusting! How can you be so arrogant? If I did not know better, I would think you were possessed too.”

Lera inhaled deeply and finally straightened. When she turned and walked back toward Nia wearing that put-on smile, it was still visible that her eyes were wet and she was shaking.

“YOU! You miserable piece of shit! Come with me! We are done here. You will not cross the Shield again. If I lose you, it means I am as braindead as those idiots, that I let this opportunity slip through my fingers. And I will not have anyone accuse me of that,” she snarled, motioning for Nia to follow.

Soon Nia hurried after her again. Lera wrinkled her nose and glanced over her shoulder.

“And take a bath, you stink of sulfur and blood. If you behave, I might even wash your dress. Of course that means weaving in more burning threads. Consider it a punishment for soiling it…” she murmured absently, avoiding eye contact.

Nia had not expected Lera’s rage to be aimed at anyone other than Uda or herself, and she was still half in shock from the outburst.

“NO, NO…! You killed it before I could? It belonged to ME, I needed it so badly to blow off steam… What were you thinking, LERA?” a voice suddenly thundered across the square.

The Exorcist froze, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then she turned, and Nia followed her lead. All Nia could see was a half-burned man staggering toward them from the buildings beyond the barrier. He was a little older, bald, with a gaunt face and eyes that pierced her despite his obvious exhaustion. He wore clothes like Lera’s and carried a whip, though it was mostly shredded and frayed. His white shirt was torn everywhere, and burn blisters covered his arms, hands, and face.

He came on relentlessly and cast a quick look at the Hunters who were emerging from between the buildings, probably drawn by Lera’s rage.

“Get me help, you shits! I did not come all this way only to wake because you good-for-nothings are too slow! Move! And lock those complete idiots over there up! Lera is right for once! Wasting my prisoners is so dumb I would have beaten those asses myself if she hadn’t been quicker! And this is what happens when I’m gone for once!” he roared in a slightly trembling, rough voice.

Nia’s stomach clenched as her gaze dropped again to the unconscious Hunters. The singed man dragged himself closer and made a face of disgust when he saw the chain around Nia’s neck, yet something else flickered in his eyes that she could not place. Fear?

“Ah, a Possessed? Captured? Good. My respects, Lera. And she’s pretty, ah… if only I could…” the man murmured, greedily baring his bright white teeth.

“She belongs to me, Exorcist Immesh. I do not intend to leave her to your whims,” Lera said as politely as she could, though Nia noticed color flush into her cheeks again.

Immesh’s gaze slid past Nia, and he grinned broadly at Lera, though his eyes remained cold.

“Ah, of course. The calculating Lera… Do not worry, I honor our code, you know that! I wouldn’t take her from you, though I’d gladly borrow her for a while. But say… you really fought your way here? Why? A little late for reinforcements, we were already on our way back. Nothing left to find here. Though, what else should I expect from you? Still so young, how long have you held your rank now? Three hundred days? Barely yesterday…”

“Long enough to handle a Nightmare Tide without a single loss,” Lera shot back sharply, and Immesh’s widened eyes brought the faintest real smile to her lips.

“If that’s true, you have my respect. During the last Tide I encountered, we had to join forces with three other Exorcists, and we still took heavy losses. Only when High Exorcist Odol arrived was it over. I assume this Tide wasn’t very large?” Immesh asked, now genuinely interested in her words.

“Maybe I’m simply more talented than you give me credit for. Maybe you could even learn something from me,” Lera said, blinking at him with challenge.

“Ha, I doubt it! I was already a Hunter when you were still serving the clerics! You must have just gotten lucky!” the man laughed joylessly.

Lera lifted her nose higher than usual, trying to mask her anger, yet Nia could see her lips quivering.

“Well, Exorcist Immesh, I think you have quite a bit to tell me. Why not rest a bit and then talk about what you experienced?” Lera said then, gesturing toward the buildings behind her.

Immesh looked as though he didn’t want to change the subject, yet he limped the last steps toward them and fixed his gaze on Nia. Slowly his tongue ran over his lips, and his eyes began to glitter again, though a faint unease was visible.

“Ha, yes! We should. And we’ll take this bitch with us! I won’t wake her, but I need to have some fun, and her pretty body could give me… a little…” Immesh laughed dirtily, yet his words cut off abruptly.

Without warning, his body gave out beneath him. He staggered once, then crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The blisters along his skin split open with wet, cracking sounds, and the air filled at once with a sickening stench of burned flesh. It rolled over her in waves, heavy and nauseating, clinging to the back of Nia’s throat until she thought she might choke.

Lera stepped up beside him and looked down at him, her face radiating its usual arrogance. “Charming as ever. And completely spent. He’ll need to recover, but at least we can move on soon. I can hardly wait to give him his gift. He’ll love your filthy friend. Very often, if she behaves. And even more often if she doesn’t.”

Lera smiled, and true anticipation flickered in her eyes, while a shudder ran through Nia at the sight of the unconscious man.