Everything around her shattered into pieces very slowly. Her eyes stared around with no clue. It was then too quick. Men that she had never even seen walked in; they held weapons. She heard Gideon draw close to her ...hiding behind her. Their small house, although in comparison to normal houses was big, now the roof seemed to fall in large debris.
The clear shout of her son was the only thing that echoed in her consciousness. Then, like a strike of thunder crashing against her shoulder-
"Hurry up!" The local doctor could not do anything right because of the angry man looming over him. Threatening to end his life if there were any mistakes.
Odette heard someone breathe heavily. Her entire body ached.
"She's stable now, Mr. Constantine."
"Then why isn't she awake, doctor? Do you want me to bring your family to see how much of a quack you are? That will be their last moments."
"Sir! Please don't say that!"
She hummed in pain, and slowly her eyelids separated from each other, taking time to fix the blur that enlarged by the second, and finally her eyes were fully open, gaining good consciousness. Around her, she knew there were a lot of people. The smell of gunpowder and clean sanitizer filled her senses. That is when she remembered,
"Where..."
Before anything continued her vision was covered by the face of a man. Caius sat down right away when he saw that she woke up. Next to her bed. His hope returned, and he leaned over right above her face. Relieved and free from the fear that overtook him. She was imprisoned by the intense stare, and those dead black pupils roamed her face.
Suddenly, before she even moved, he grabbed the back of her head, ever so gently lifting it. Her heart raced, and it jolted when she felt his other hand slither under her shoulder. He was trying to bring her close to him, but why? They were never close and should not have been hugging each other in the first place.
"Caius...I can't..."
"Shh. Let me." He drew her closer to him, and they were inches away. His head tilted and he looked over her eyes, her eyebrows, tilting himself to the other side in wonder, his eyes traveled and traced her oblivious warm eyes, down to the plump lips and bruised face. Everything was as beautiful and loving as he feared it would be.
Odette was shot. She was not blank in the head, though. Before she got hurt, she knew what was the situation. There was nothing to marvel and there was no need for her to be this close to the person who abducted her and her son.
"Caius." She pulled back weakly, wriggling her arm off, but he brought his thumb and rested it on her jawline, tracing it lightly, pulling her closer.
"Caius, let me go."
He brushed past her and rested his head on the side of her face. Relief washed over him, a sense of belonging, and the overwhelming voices that called him a failure stopped. He wished that he could squeeze into her as tightly as possible. It would break her.
"He's safe." When the baritone moved through her neck, she felt a jolt, and her heart skipped in fear. "Even when you're hurt, you still care so much for my brother." Caius closed his eyes and ran his fingers through her hair. He was not gonna lose her.
A tug at his chest, and he knew to let go.
"There is nothing you should worry..." Odette removed his hand from her waist and leaned back in pain. Her left shoulder carried heavy gauze and medicine that treated the bullet wound.
The men who surrounded the patient, including the doctor, have not seen their master act this way ever in their lives. The only images they remember were of bloodshed, his laugh, and the way the massacre took place. That man who was at the center of it all now, gently embraces a woman whom he brought from nowhere against her will...
"Are you seeing this ?" one man muttered to the doctor. He shrugged in disbelief. "What do I know, I'm a quack doctor."
The conversation ended, and they watched their master get to his feet. His dead eyes are back again. "Look to it that she gets every treatment as per the medical advice. No faultbacks are going to be excused." Voice has no mercy.
She sat on the bed, silent, looking down at her hands, and slowly lay back in bed. Turning away from the men. It was their mark to leave the room and let the doctor handle the rest.
"I will find the people who hurt you," Odette reminisced. When he said those words, only worry came over her. She would rather have him do what he wants to do without pretending to be gentle.
"Just let us go, please," she pleaded. Her eyes were tearing up. The pain in her shoulder was unbearable, and it was only hearsay that her son was alright. This man...was the doom she prayed and kept away from her life. "It's because of you that I..." Her tears flowed as he drew close.
She flinched and leaned away. It stopped him and his eyes, which watered with relief a few minutes ago, hardened.
"Can you please take a look at my wound?" She tried her best to sound pitiful. "Let me and Gideon go."
"No."
The direct answer he gave her echoed through the empty corridors that he traveled through, back from the medical unit.
"I told you..." he leaned closer to her, "you can try."
"You have no right..." she winced, remembering it now made his jaw clench. "You have no right to keep me here. At least let me go. With your promise to keep him safe where he belongs, let me go, please."
His men followed. They were determined to reprimand the faction that caused this.
"Find out who did this," he commanded them. "Not a single day should go from today onwards where you will rest until you make them pay."
"YES, SIR!"
There was something else that he had to unravel. The fear he felt... one strange thing. Why was he shaken, and why did she make him feel that?
"I'm not letting you go until I figure this out."