Jaden

At Last a new chapter, I am so sorry for the long wait. It was a nightmare trying to get back my notes. It may be awhile for the next update only because I get less time being on my computer. So now I keep a notebook with me at all times and hand write everything until I am able to get back to my PC. It takes longer I know, but at least I don't lose my ideas having to wait to get home from work. Anyway without further ado, I hope you enjoy this new update and as always please read and reiveiw I do love hearing from all of you. Thank you. There will be kudos due on my next update.


Chapter 36

(In The Land of Nowhere)

[Oh God, where am I?]

He could not see, darkness was his only companion. It was then that he realized he could not open his eyes. Jaden tried to move, but his body refused to obey. He felt like the first time he awoke in Marcus’s home, unable to move or do much of anything for himself.

He knew he was lying down flat on his back, only instead of being in a warm cozy bed; he lay on a cold stone floor.

[Crap! I gotta get up.]

His body shivered from the cold, and he could feel panic slowly rise up and threatened to take over his control.

[Get a grip, don’t freak out!]

Jaden continuously talked to himself, trying to comfort and calm his nerves. He was afraid and he did not want to acknowledge it. He knew how crazy he could get if he let his imagination get the best of him. He took in a few deep breaths and it helped to at least gain some control within his body, as he urged himself to stay calm.

[That’s it, breath in, breath out. In, out, just take it easy. In…out.]

As he controlled his breathing, he noticed that the numbness in his fingers began to get some feeling back and little by little he was able to move them. In his mind he spoke to his hands as if trying to convince a stubborn child to listen to him.

Jaden ordered his fingers to move again, but nothing happened. He pleaded promising his hands the best leather gloves he could find to pamper them if they just moved.

[Come on, I’ll make sure the gloves have fur lining. But you get squat if you don’t do what I say. Now, move!]

Within a few minutes the fingers moved, twitched and even trembled, but they moved. Moved enough to bring a tinkling sensation up his arms, it felt good to have feelings back in his limbs, but at the same time it hurt. He did not complain, he was just so happy to be able to move his arms as well.

Jaden breathed a sigh of relief once he got control of his upper limbs, which in turn encouraged him to see what else he could do. And so, he forged ahead. It was a struggle, but he managed to get his arms underneath him to push himself up into a sitting position.

For him it would have been a Ta-Da moment, instead a wave of nausea and dizziness overwhelmed him. Jaden felt groggy, weak, as if he was suffering from a severe hang over. His body swayed almost making him fall back down, but his head instead fell forward, his chin down to his chest.

[Wish I could throw up] he groaned.

He waited for the nausea to pass and since he did not fall over he felt proud to have accomplished that much. He sat there trying to think and keep himself from losing his balance. His body trembled, hunger, a mere shadow, controllable for now.

Jaden sat taking in slow deep breathes, it helped to clear his mind. Still managing to keep himself in a sitting position, he now worked on getting his eyes opened. He had no idea how difficult the task would be, if felt like someone glued his eyes shut.

He groaned in frustration trying to get the muscles in his eyelids to work.

[Come on, come on, open. Open your damn eyes!]

His hands down at his sides, flat on the floor supporting his position, he tensed as he kept trying to get his eyes to open. And then, at last he could feel his eye lids flutter as they slowly opened. He knew they were opened, but something was wrong, he could not see anything.

Fear gripped him, a heavy pounding in his chest as he tried to process in his mind what is happening.

[Holy fuck me upside down, I’m blind? I’m a freaking blind vamp!]

Once he got past the fear, anger settled in. All this work and nothing, not even a blur.

“FUCK!”

Jaden froze, who said that? Then he almost laughed when he realized it was him. But the word actually came out mumbled and it was really mispronounced, as it seemed he had trouble moving his lips to say the word properly.
It sounded more like,

“FRUK!”

Jaden’s shoulders sagged, he felt so tired. His whole body seemed to weigh heavily on him, that now his own mouth could hardly move. He remembered one night being so hungry, and the only thing left in the apartment that he shared with Lizzie was peanut butter. He took a tablespoon full and shoved it into his mouth.
He smiled in his mind, as he remembered how Lizzie laughed at him when he tried to talk with a mouthful of the sticky stuff. It took several glasses of water to help wash it all down. That’s how his mouth felt right now, only it was not peanut butter; it was lack of control of his body.


It saddened him to think of Lizzie, the peanut butter dinner and the life they lived. Has it only been a few months since she died?

[Stop It. Stop that line of thinking, just stop and think of something else.]

Jaden could not afford to allow his sadness take over; he needed to think clearly, he needed to know where he was. As he sat there, he could feel his tongue slowly move around inside his mouth.

[Ok, don’t panic, all is not hopeless. If I can move my tongue, then I should be able to move my mouth and talk. Just have to concentrate, think tongue, think move.]

Jaden thought hard about his tongue, he did not realize he smiled as he thought about what he could do with his tongue on Marcus’s body. He cringed when his tongue slid out between his lips to lick very dry skin and he tasted dirt? He could only imagine what he must look like.

[That’s good, so far so good. Now if I can do this, then I should be able to do more. So let’s get these eyes to focus, cause I know I can’t be blind.]

It felt good to give himself the pep talk, it helped to keep his mind in the here and now. Lately he was so easily distracted and his mind would wonder.

[Ok, if I can move my tongue and almost talk, then I should be able to see, I should be able to blink my freaking eyes. So blink, come on!]

In his mind he screamed and scolded himself, like a hard core drill sergeant. Trying desperately to regain control of his own body, to Jaden it felt like a millennium. Eventually, his eyes slowly closed and opened until at last he was blinking. The more he blinked, the clearer his vision became.

At last his vision cleared.

[HA! I knew I wasn’t blind.]

Since his head still hung down, all he could see for now was the stone floor between his spread legs.

[Hum]

Jaden thought, taking in the condition of his slacks.

[What the…]

The pants were dirty and torn, he could see his flesh was also filthy as if he were dragged through the mud.

[Damn it, I bet my whole suit is messed up.]

He was thinking of what he would do to whoever ruined his clothes, when he stopped and heard a low moan, he was not alone.

With his head still hanging down, he was able to open his eyes wide to look across the floor and find Adrian lying on the floor in the same position he was in, on his back.

“Oh God, Adrian” he whispered.

He watched as Adrian was having the same problems of moving, for now all he could manage was to roll his head from side to side. He moaned pitifully coming into conscious. It frightened Jaden to see his brother like this. He needed to do something, he worried if Adrian was badly hurt.

“Adrian?”

Jaden’s voice barely above a whisper, it came out horse, gritty. He coughed to clear his throat and called out to him again.

“Adrian, can you hear me?”

In answer to Jaden’s question, his brother groaned in response and then he could hear him speak, his voice also low, sounding very weak.

“Ye…yesss…Lovely are you…”

Jaden feared for Adrian’s condition, he is older, stronger, how hurt could he be if he could barely speak? He worried so much that he almost started to cry.

“I’m fine, Adrian please stay awake, talk to me.”

Jaden’s voice cracked, he was still weak and so afraid now.

“Adrian, please can you talk? Are you hurt, what can I do?”

He was becoming frustrated as he could do no more than just sit there, he wanted to help his brother.

“Do not worry Lovely, I am fine, just….weak” Adrian let out a soft sigh.

That did it, Jaden was determined to do something, anything. His eyes scanned their surroundings, it was clear that they have been imprisoned in what appeared to be a small dungeon. A dark cavern like room with stone walls all around, dim lighting with two scones on both sides of the exit and stone steps leading upwards.
He and Adrian were locked in a cell, about ten feet long and five feet wide with stone walls behind them and the bars facing towards the exit, of course no windows. It was almost like a being in a time warp, any minute now he expected to see an evil dark lord descend down the steps with his creepy minion ready to torture them.
The entire place looked dark and gray, and it was cold here with a musty smell. This place seemed depressing and he could only imagine what used to happen in a place like this.

With anger and fear to motivate him, Jaden began to move forward. He closed his eyes as he began to rock back and forth, thinking how bad it would hurt if he fell on his face. As he began to fall forward, his legs slid off to one side, one hand tried to support his weight as he fell sideways.

Unfortunately his right cheek hit hard as it made contact with the stone floor beneath him, the inside of his cheek bled when cut by his teeth. Tasting blood, awakened his hunger. It confused Jaden, he knew he fed well before going to church. It made him wonder how long they have been held captive in this dark, cold hole in the ground.

Adrian who was lying closer to the bars heard Jaden’s movements, he heard his brother whisper one word.

“Ouch.”

Adrian frowned as he also tried to move, but could only manage to roll his head towards his brother Jaden.

“Jaden, what are you doing?”

The only response he received was heavy breathing and shuffling sounds as Jaden used his body weight to roll over and end up face down. The right side of his face rested on the floor with his arms at his sides. When Jaden did not answer right away, Adrian became worried and called out to him.

“Jaden, speak to me. Are you hurt?”

“Naw” Jaden grumbled, “I’m cool, peachy keen.”

By now Adrian’s eyes had cleared and he could see his young brother struggle to move.

“Jaden” Adrian whispered, “Give it time, you are still very weak. Do not push too hard.”

But Jaden was not listening; he used his legs to prop his rear end up. He slid his arms up as if getting ready to do pushups, however, the top half of his body remained down close to the floor while his knees pushed closer to his chest. It made him look like he was offering up his body to any takers.

He stopped and thought about what to do next, he smiled to himself as he wondered what he must look like now in the position he is currently in. He could not see Adrian and he could not help to suppress a small laugh as he thought about Marcus.

“Jaden, what is wrong?” Adrian’s voice squeaked as he called out, afraid his little brother may have hurt himself.

“Um, it’s nothing. I was just wondering if Marcus would like this position.”

Seeing Jaden’s posture made Adrian let out a strangled chuckle.

“Really Jaden, at a time like this?”

Jaden grinned, as he struggled to push himself up with his arms and getting his legs underneath to finally stand up.

“Yeah I know” answered Jaden with a grunt, “My timing sucks big time right now.”

Jaden was almost out of breath as he used his arms to steady himself; he was unbalanced like a drunken man. He actually looked like a small child learning how to walk again; he took small baby steps as he inched his way closer to Adrian.

Having arrived at his destination, exhaustion took over and he ended up falling back down on his ass next to Adrian’s side.

“Crap! What the fuck? It took almost forever to get this far. What’s wrong with me?”

It was Adrian who held on to Jaden’s hand and pushed himself into a sitting position. It looked almost effortless when Adrian did it, but Jaden did not miss the look of frustration and pain on his brother’s face.

A trembling hand reached up to stroke Jaden’s cheek, smiling with sadness in his eyes as Adrian spoke softly to his brother.

“We have been weakened Lovely, whoever is responsible bled us to keep you and I in control.”

Adrian remained silent and took in a deep breath, just talking made him tire easily.

“The nausea and dizziness will pass as we gain a little more control of our bodies, unfortunately we will
remain weak until we can properly feed again.”

Jaden nodded in understanding, he soon regretted that movement. Had it not been for Adrian holding onto his hand, he would have toppled over and fall back down on the floor. He certainly did not want to have to start getting up all over again, once was enough thank you.

Looking at Adrian he could see how badly he felt, “How much?” he asked.

Adrian merely shrugged his shoulder, trying to hide his fear.

“Whoever bled me, bled me enough to keep me from getting up…I feel….so exhausted.”

Jaden and Adrian took in their bleak surroundings; he did not like the way Adrian looked. He noticed that his clothing was also torn and ruined, and they were both covered in dirt. Jaden carefully leaned forward to rest his forehead against Adrian’s.

The young men signed with the contact, it gave them some measure of comfort and it did not hurt as it helped to support their balance and keeping them from falling down.

“Have any idea who did this?” asked Jaden, slowly closing his eyes.

Adrian remained quiet, trying to think, trying to remember what had happened. Sighing sadly he realized he had no real answers.

“I can only recall something hard, something powerful take hold of me. A presence I did notice, but alas it all happened so fast and before I could tell who it belonged to….I lost it….I could not see, everything became dark and now, now we are here.”

Jaden was able to relate, it was the same for him. Who or whatever it was had to be a powerful ancient. Even Adrian agreed, this was not the average creature. They sat quietly, each lost in his own thoughts when Jaden spoke up.

“Do you know if Marcus and Victor are….I mean could they be all right? There was so much noise and confusion when it all happened. I didn’t get to see if they were ok.”

Adrian could feel Jaden’s fears as well as guilt; he too shared the same feelings wishing he could have done something to help their mates. He squeezed Jaden’s hands in his and assured him that both Marcus and Victor were not harmed. He reminded his young brother of their strength and he did not need to fear.

“Ok” Jaden agreed, “But how do we know if they are all right?”

Adrian placed his hand over Jaden’s heart, “You can feel it here, if your maker died or any of the vampires in the Drakar` bloodline died, you would feel it. I know that both Marcus and Victor are unharmed. I cannot vouch for their anger; I can only imagine how angry they are and not knowing what has happened.”

Jaden covered Adrian’s hand over his heart; he could feel how much it trembled. He knew that Adrian was not from the same bloodline and had no way of knowing of his mate, if he lived or died. Wanting to return the comfort he opened his eyes and smiled at him.

“Your right, they both should be just fine. I’m glad we’re not in the same room with them, cause they have got to be pretty pissed off right about now.”

He could see a sliver of relief wash over Adrian’s face, and kissed Jaden on his cheek. He was grateful just to know that his mate is alive. Jaden smiled and in keeping with the light mood he asked.

“Um, I don’t have my cell phone, any chance you might have yours?”

Adrian laughed softly, as he took in their appearance.

“Oh Lovely, if only I did. I believe it may have been lost in the struggle, I do re-call we both fought valiantly against the unknown enemy.”

Jaden rolled his eyes at his brother and said, “Actually, YOU fought bravely. I was too busy screaming my girly ass off.”

Fingering his torn clothing, “Looks like we did ok, but our clothes lost the battle.”

Adrian added, “And our poor cell phones died with honor.”

Both men broke out in nervous laughter, and moved in closer for comfort and a sense of security. In a way it helped them feel better if only in spirit. Now if only their bodies could recover and stop feeling so weak.

Jaden was glad to have Adrian with him; it helped him to feel brave. But at the same time he also feared for his safety. In fact, they were both thinking the same thing, happy to be with each other and equally feared the outcome of what would happen to them.

As they remained in each other’s embrace, Jaden lifted his head to look at the bars of their cell. They were unusually thick, and had Marcus or Victor been with them he was sure they could break the bars. He thought about the strength of an older vampire and looked at Adrian.

Jaden looked at his brother and wondered how strong he truly was when he was well fed; he is so much older than him. Not as old as the twin brothers, but definitely older and stronger then he was. And he was getting anxious to leave.

Hunger, the thirst turning its ugly head in his belly reminded him of Marcus’s warning, to feed when needed.

Adrian sensed a change in his brother and raised his eyes to look at him and see fear look back at him.

“We gotta get out of here.” Jaden whispered.

Adrian agreed, he moved back a bit and raised his wrist to Jaden’s lips.

Jaden looked confused for a quick second and then realized his brother’s intent. He turned away refusing the offer.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Jaden” Adrian warned, “You need to feed, take it from me.”

“No” Jaden replied, showing his stubborn side.

“Listen, I’ve been kind of thinking about something. If you weren’t weak, I mean well fed, you could get us out of here.”

Adrian’s eyebrows pinched in confusion with Jaden’s remark; shaking his head he tried once more to feed his younger brother.

“Please Jaden do not refuse, I can tell you thirst. You must feed, please Lovely do as I ask.”

Like a fussy baby refusing to eat, he pressed his lips together and turned away when Adrian tried to push his wrist up against Jaden’s mouth. Jaden grabbed his brother’s arm and held on to him as hard as he could to get him to pay attention.

“Adrian stop, I won’t feed from you.”

“Jaden, you have to feed. Do not argue with me.”

Adrian groaned in frustration and he opened his mouth to speak, but Jaden stopped him from saying anything else. He was desperate to make his brother understand.

“Hear me out, please!” he begged.

Adrian stopped trying to free his arm; he felt so weak and nodded agreeing to listen. He was buying time to recoup his energy.

Jaden also was tiring, and he did not want to fight with his brother. Looking into amethyst eyes he explained what he had in mind.

“Your older, which makes you super strong, at least stronger than me.”

Adrian listened and waited, wondering what Jaden was getting at.

“Feed from me.” Jaden said.

Now it was Adrian who tried turning away and Jaden held on to him, talking quickly to make him understand.

“Yes, feed from me and then you can maybe get US out of here.”

It was as if they were frozen in place, Adrian slowly understood Jaden’s intent. His eyes turned towards the bars, he sighed feeling a heavy weight on his shoulders. He looked at the bars and it did not give him much hope of escaping.

“Jaden, the bars are, I can tell they are reinforced. They appear to be able to hold in a master vampire; even at full strength I will be useless. I am afraid I would not be much help if I cannot break the bars.”
Jaden inched closer to his brother, now that he had his full attention he forged on.

“No I don’t think you’ll be able to break them. But maybe, maybe you might be strong enough to bend one of the bars. Bend it enough for us to slip past.”

He could see that Adrian wasn’t completely sold on his idea and so he pressed on.

“Look you feed from me, and then you get pissed off crazy angry. Bend one of the bars and drag both our asses out of here.”

Adrian had to admit it was a good plan, however there was another problem. He could not feed from him, holding onto Jaden he tried to make him understand why.

“If I feed from you, it will bring you closer to starvation. You are newly made; you are not strong enough to with stand that level of hunger. It will risk your ability to control of your mind. You will become an uncontrollable insane creature, a beast ruled by the thirst. A beast Jaden a horrible grotesque beast, and your mind? Nothing, nothing will be left. You know this! Marcus explained it to you.”

Jaden cried out softly in anger, he hated being weak. In the back of his mind he knew he was right and he was not giving in so easily.

“Yeah I know it, I know it! But, I’m a stubborn prick when I wanna be. I know I can hold it together long enough for you to do your thing. We have to try Adrian, who knows what will happen to us if we wait and do nothing.”

Adrian kept silent; he just could not put Jaden’s life at risk. He loved his little brother too much.

“Adrian, as it is right now, I can barely hold up my own freaking head. Even if I do feed from you, I’m no good. I haven’t lived long enough to be any stronger than a normal human. Think about it, if I do feed from you we’re screwed. Feeding from you will only put off my starvation, and it’s not like I can keep feeding from you.”

Adrian merely nodded; words failed him at this moment as Jaden continued to talk. Without thinking Jaden pulled on Adrian’s arm, anger giving him a small jolt of energy.

“Fuck! Adrian do you think whoever is holding us here is gonna care if I’m fed?”

The last statement made Adrian tremble and it seemed to get through his defenses. He looked sadly at Jaden wishing he could get him out of this place and taking him somewhere safe. He leaned in closer to him and kissed his little brother on the cheek.

“It is because I am older, that I must protect you. If I lost you to the madness of the hunger, what do you think it would do to Marcus if he were forced to destroy you? And I would never be able to face my brother Marcus again; the pain of your loss would be too much.”

Adrian hung his head as if in shame.

“Not even Victor would forgive me, I am older, stronger, even in my current condition I am stronger over you. It is my place to protect you in the absence of your mate. I will care for you to the best of my ability; I cannot feed from a newly made vampire. You must feed from me.”

It took some effort on Adrian’s will, but he slowly raised his arm up to Jaden.

“Please” he whispered, “Please Lovely, feed.”

Jaden’s eyes darkened and narrowed, he was not about to give in. He held onto Adrian’s wrist pushing it back down and holding on with all of his strength on his thigh. That did not mean he was not tempted to take
Adrian’s offer to feed, he could feel his throat get a little dry.

The thirst threatened to take control of his free will; however Jaden was determined to make his brother see the light. Even if he had to sucker punch him with guilt.

“Now you listen to me older brother, what do you think it will do to our mates if we don’t get out of here? Whoever is holding us here will keep us weak, if he doesn’t kill us first. We’ll be kept here, God knows for how long. That’s not taking into consideration what will be done to us. Oh, and if we get stuck here, how the hell are you going to look me in the face?”

It broke Jaden’s heart to see a tear slide down Adrian’s face. He knew he was being cruel, but he had to shake him up. He had to make him understand that Adrian had a better chance of getting them out.

“Because of some stupid rule that you have to protect me, you wanna protect me? Here’s how you protect me, you feed from ME. If I have to shove my whole arm down your throat, you will feed and get us the fuck out of here! Now that’s protecting me!”

Adrian’s head fell forward and rested his forehead on Jaden’s shoulder. His body shook as he tried to keep himself under control, this was not a time to cry and be weak. He could feel Jaden’s hand fist in his hair and he almost laughed when he was threatened of hair loss if Jaden was forced to pull his head back up.

To prove he was being serious, Jaden tugged harshly on his brother’s thick hair. To his surprise Adrian lifted up his head on his own and smiled at him. Jaden frowned wondering what he had to smile about. For a while they remained silent, all this talking and physical movements sapped what little strength they had left.

Adrian moved slowly to hold onto Jaden’s arm, his hand caressing his younger brother’s flesh. He nodded his head as if he came to some sort of agreement. He looked up and smiled once more at his confused green eyed little brother.

“When did you begin to feel the thirst, your hunger?” Adrian asked, his voice low, weak but there was also determination in his voice with a purpose. His mind working, scheming and planning on how to escape.

Jaden frowned, if Adrian was looking for a way out of feeding from him, he was not going to cooperate. Adrian senses his little brother’s stubborn streak, and shook his head. He was all business now.

“Jaden, I need to know. If I do not know for how long you have hungered, I may end up in killing you.“

He smiled tenderly at Jaden.

“You can be a stubborn little prick some other time, now answer me. I need to know for how long if I am to judge how much I can take from you. Oh and do not lie to me, I will know if you do.”

Jaden was taken aback by Adrian’s order and he almost blushed, but he agreed relieved to at last do something.

“It started like about ten minutes after I woke up.”

Adrian nodded, speaking softly to himself as if Jaden were not in the room with him.

“Good, that is good. That will give us at least a few hours.”

He saw the confusion in Jaden’s eyes, not understanding what he said. Adrian caressed his brother’s face as he explained.

“Once the thirst begins, you have a least up to three to four hours to feed before the madness of starvation takes a hold of you. This will allow me to feed from you and take as much as I need to help me feel stronger almost to my normal amount. It will also give me time to get you somewhere save so that you can feed properly.”

Jaden agreed and offered up his wrist.

“Listen to me Jaden, after I have fed the pain of hunger will increase. I need for you to focus on me and listen to my voice, do not be afraid.”

For once Jaden was quiet, he was trying to prepare himself mentally to help and stay strong. Adrian leaned forward and kissed him lifting up this arm to his lips.

“I will do my best Jaden, I cannot promise that I will be strong enough to bend these bars. I do promise to protect you, and I will not allow you to be harmed. My only request is, if I am unsuccessful you must promise to feed from me, it that clear?”

Jaden rolled his eyes at his brother, but he promised.

“Yeah I promise, but that’s it, no more talking its sucking time.”

Putting his wrist up against Adrian’s mouth.

“BITE ME” he ordered.

Adrian could not help a smile tug on his lips, he dropped his fangs and just as he was about to grant Jaden’s request.

His little brother was cruelly yanked away and unceremoniously thrown across the cell to land on his ass with his back hitting the cavern wall behind him. Adrian cried out in shock and tried to crawl over to help Jaden, only to be kicked back down flat on his back again.

Adrian felt disoriented and he blinked his eyes several times trying to clear his vision. He felt as if he were dying when cold black eyes stared down at him, the one creature he prayed never to be near him, now stood above him.

“Ignatius” he whispered, his voice barely audible and frightened.