Elaine's POV
My body still felt numb from the forceful pull and everything that happened, but I somehow couldn't remember anymore. Fluttering my eyes open, I didn't recognize where I was at all.
Thankfully, I still had my robe on, but with the scenario before my eyes, I was better off naked. My legs were spread apart and hung above me. My hands? They shared the same fate as my legs, leaving just the trunk of my body mobile.
Again, I had something else to be thankful for—my mouth wasn't tied.
"Help!" I yelled.
The only reply I got was that of my own voice hitting my ears back. The room was clearly empty from the look of things, which somehow made me scared of everything that had happened before now. Did he touch me? Did he fuck me? I was already panicking while picking hard at the rope that held my legs and hands still in the air.
"Help!" I screamed again, yanking myself hard in order to gain freedom.
"Elaine," my name danced out of his mouth in a unique kind of way. And I didn't know how, but my body found itself pausing at his words.
I only heard the clicks of his shoes against the floor, though.
"Elaine," he repeated again, this time stepping out of the shadows so that I could see him.
The sight of him hit me hard as it just stirred up memories of where I had seen him before. The mysterious green-eyed figure—the man in the woods that I mistook for Kai—he was the same man standing in front of me.
"Please, let me go," I pleaded with so much detest in my heart for the smirk on his face.
"Go?" He scoffed. "Don't you think that I deserve to get a taste? I mean, Kai and Damien already had you, and for some reason, he marked you already, which clearly doesn't make sense—"
"I don't want to hear it, I just want to go back home!"
He paused to look at me, a bit stunned by my outburst. He smiled at me and trailed a hot gaze down my body to everything between my legs.
"It's not fair," I whispered, with tears almost dripping from my eyes. "You could have at least waited for my consent, you could have just—"
"Fucked you the moment I brought you here," he completed, taking large steps closer to me. "You already made it easy when you chose to wear nothing beneath that robe," he said in a husky tone. "Now, the only thing you've done is make me crave you," he whispered while burying his head between my legs.
"I don't want to."
He licked my clit with a steady rhythm, separated my labia with his tongue too, when a shaky moan escaped my mouth. He pushed three fingers into my pussy, effortlessly hitting my G-spot in a few strides.
"How about now?" He looked up to meet my gaze.
It was so unfair how these men had to pull a certain reaction from me. It was unfair how each of them had something my body yearned for, and worse, they knew how to call my body out to them.
"Free me," I said simply, no longer sure about the decision I was going to make.
"Why so?"
"We could at least talk. I don't even know your name, and all you care about is sliding your divorce inside of me. For the record, you've been stalking me, so at least you have to explain yourself so that you could earn the tiniest spot of decency in my head for you," I ranted.
The man I was ranting to only proved to be a joker. He made a few unbearable jokes about how I look when I'm helpless. Feeling so irritated by him, I just shut my eyes to show my disinterest in what he had to say.
"I'll free you," he gave in.
"Do it already," I scoffed.
Just as he told me, he did free me and helped me stand on my feet. Before either of us could form any words, my hands moved faster than intended, landing a slap on his right cheek.
"Okay, I accept I was wrong for what I did," he began.
"Why did you do it?"
"Damien and Kai wouldn't let me get close to you, hence the abduction."
"Name?" I asked bluntly.
"Luca."
"Creature?"
His eyes lit up in surprise when I asked that, but it didn't make me take it back. Plus, from all I've come to understand, he is not one of Damien's kind nor Kai's.
"A fae," he whispered, changing into various forms before my eyes—Damien, Cordelia, and Kai.
"How?" I asked, my mouth ajar.
"Magic," he shrugged, walking past me.
I tried to take a mental note of everything he just said until I realized something else.
"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" I turned to look at him. The room was quite big and empty for its size, but he didn't seem bored of it.
"I'm not the villain, Elaine," he whispered as if they were the answer to all my questions.
I tied my robe in place, this time seriously looking for an exit.
"Do you ever wonder why you came into Raven Hollow to sort out the murders, but you are so into something else?" he began. "That's because you are so much more entangled in our world than you know. Seeking an exit out of this place wouldn't make you not be a part of it anymore."
"Look, Kai is going to be worried as hell. I even struck a deal with Damien, and you ruined it effortlessly."
"Kai is not in the right frame of mind to see you."
"How would you know that when you've spent hours staring at my pussy?"
"How about I tell you a little secret so that you can shut the fuck up," he turned to meet my gaze, pissed.
"Damien needs you for the fun of you. Kai? The ancient curse is just playing tricks on him, and he is only using you as a makeshift!" he hissed. "An object of pleasure to distract himself from the anguish in his heart!"
"And you are the saint that shows up and saves me from them?" I questioned back mockingly.
"Look, Elaine. Things wouldn't be as complicated as they are if you don't open your eyes to see the truth."
His previous line struck me harder than I thought his last line would.
"Would you be different and tell me what the curse is all about?" I lowered my voice, hoping that my humility would get me somewhere with him.
"Nobody knows everything about it, but the basis is this. In order to maintain the balance of power, two representatives from each kind came together to form a cult. The sole purpose was to make sure that equity and fairness existed and to see that no kind overpowered the other," he began. "Everything was going as planned until greed made its way into their hearts, and the quest to become the ultimate leader rose. However, that wasn't the case."
"What was?"
"While the members of the cult fought amongst themselves, another was breeding more power. It was as if his lucky stars caused chaos in the cult just to keep them distracted while he kept breeding his power and might."
"Kai?" I asked quietly but impatiently, making him chuckle darkly. I watched as he said a few words, and two chairs covered in fine leather appeared out of nowhere.
"Sit," he ordered, and I did, thanking him shortly after I relaxed into it.
"When they found out about this being, it was difficult, but they did kill him. However, they were unable to harm his only seed. Because of this, the cult placed an ancient curse on Kai, which would linger until his very last breath."
I swallowed hard while trying to process everything he had just said. The curse was to restrict Kai from outshining them, and the cult no longer functioned with their previous goal in mind. They couldn't be seeking balance when, deep down, they just wanted to outshine the others and subdue them under their rule.
"Is there really no saving him from it?"
"Apparently, the only way out is death, and Kai doesn't give up that easily."
"What is his curse like?" I mumbled, unable to get the right question out of my mouth.
"It's an ancient code I can't even break, and it takes various forms," he also struggled with finding the right words.
"Something like, they bound multiple curses as one, so it keeps unfolding into something new, and nobody knows exactly what it is?"
"Something close to that."
"Then if someone is able to crack all the codes surrounding this ancient curse, he can be freed, right?"
"Or maybe get the cult to reverse the curse," he said sarcastically.
"I'm dead serious right now."
"Do you think it's a joke? Breaking the curse is not that easy, so don't make a mockery of it. Besides, the curse was never your business until you heard of it, so if you don't mind, tell me why you're so interested in saving Kai all of a sudden," he smirked.
"Because he clearly needs help!" I snapped.
"Before you're a helper, you are an investigative journalist. How do you feel about Kai being responsible for most of the murders that brought you to Raven Hollow?"
"He. Needs. Help."
I stood my ground, looking him straight in the eyes.