Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Forty-Five

Caleb's POV

It was dark, damp, and eerily silent.

I could hear the steady rhythm of my shallow breaths, hear my heart thumping against my chest, hear the grinding, the crushing of bone on bone as my body attempted to heal itself. But the surrounding silence was louder than any involuntary physiological action, incasing me in a thick, inpentrable a bubble of isolation.

It didn't help that my hands raised above me, chained to the stony walls-the chains being made of pure silver, so they ate through my skin, cutting and biting away at it like acid. Droplets of my own blood pattered onto my head, onto the rough floor, and I could hear its faint drip-drop, but I couldn't see anything. I was blindfolded, the material tied so tightly around my face that it dug into my skin and made the area numb from lack of circulation. I could feel the pressure building up inside my head, like a ballon threatening to burst at any given moment.

Despite my grim state (I was, after all, in a deep, dark room tucked away in a hidden part of the castle awaiting the moment when a vampire would come and take me to be killed), my thoughts, interrupted only by that incessant pitter-patter, remained fixedly on Cat. On where she was, on her current condition, on what King Alexandru was going to do to her, on how lifeless she looked as they carried her away from me, to a place that I wished I could be at this very moment.

I didn't know what to do.

A swirling, crackling sound, like electric fire. Then a loud, echoing crack pierced my ears, succeeded by the sound of something slamming powerfully to the ground, a violent burst of wind coming at me for a brief instant before it was over.

I stood dangerously still. I was afraid to speak-afraid to even move a muscle, for fear that it could be heard in the awful silence smothering the room.

But then I realized with surprise that I could hear the faint thrumming of another heartbeat joining in with mine; I could hear the subtle intake and extake of breaths.

And then I heard a relieved voice.

"Caleb."

I sat up straighter, ignoring the pain that shot down the length of my arms and back.

"Esme?" My voice was cracked, just barely above a whisper. I licked my dry, cut lips and cleared my throat.

"It's me," she said, and then I felt the warmth of her small body as she neared mine, felt the soft touch of her breath as she spoke with her face close to mine. "Oh my God, you look horrible."

To my surprise, I chuckled. "No kidding."

"Shouldn't you be completely healed by now?"

"I am," I said. "Well-my bones are. I still have a few aches but my wrists-" I winced as I moved them, feeling the painful sting of silver biting into my flesh. "They can't heal if they're constantly being harmed."

"Silver," Esme said in understanding. "Of course."

"Esme-what are you doing here?" I asked, realizing the unprecedented circumstances of her appearance. "Did you come with your clan?"

"I'm here to save you, dummy," she said. Then, more hesitantly: "And no- I'm here alone.

"Alone?" I echoed I disbelief. "Esme, are you crazy-?"

"Shh..." she hushed. "We'll talk about how brave and sacrificial I am later."

"Brave and sacrificial," I scoffed. "More like stupid and suicidal."

I could somehow feel her heavy glare on me. "Would you rather me turn around and leave? Didn't think so."

I heard a subtle snap-as if she had just done so with her fingers-and suddenly my arms fell limply to my sides, relief washing over me as the cuffs clattered to the floor. My blindfold came loose, slipping off my face and landing gracefully onto my lap.