"Would you hurry up?!" Tyler was far too antsy. It was stressing me out.

"I'm sorry, would you like to pick this?" I gestured to the chains. "Because I'd gladly- ah shit." The bobby pin broke. "Look what you did."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Well that's just great. Now we have no way out."

My entire body hurt.

Our shared blood healed some, but the shackles rubbed my skin raw, and the floor was hard and stained.

Then there was the torture.

The door opened.

We both tensed.

A young man carried out measly portions of human's blood. He set them down just within my reach, and quickly backed away.

Not before I'd caught his scent. "You're a warlock."

He startled.

"It's alright." I raised my hands in surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're a vampire." He spat with a dark glare. "All of you deserve to die."

Rude. "Already dead, darling."

"Are you trying to escape?" The boy eyed the sharp piece of metal sticking out of lock.

He was far too young to be involved in this shit. "My family, the Originals, are going to find me, and when they do, they'll ruin... whatever this is, and they won't do so quickly. I've seen what happens to people who take me, for your own sake, show me kindness so I can return the favor. Please."

"Why would you save me?"

"I've always been a friend of the witches."

He scoffed. "They won't find you here."

"They will."

The man appeared in the doorway, my stomach twisted. "Go."

The boy quickly stood and left, never once making eye contact with him.

"I'll gag you once I leave. Can't have you tempting my men with false promises." The man tightened our chains, forcing both Tyler and I to our knees, with our arms outstretched.

"You wound me. And here I thought you enjoyed my snark."

He approached me. "I'll teach you a lesson, girl."

"Don't touch her." Tyler stood as tall as he could on his knees, fighting against his bonds. "Don't you fucking touch her."

Mine held firm.

"I'd cut out your tongue if it wouldn't harm your value. I know those who prefer to use it for other things." He pulled a knife from the cart. "I'll just have to be more creative."

I raised my chin high. "Finally. It was getting dull in here."

He brought the tip of the blade right below my eye. I refused to show how afraid I was, and I met his gaze. "Don't need both eyes."

"Whatever you do to me will be done to you."

"You still think they'll come. I have it on good authority they're not even looking." He watched me closely and I kept my expression carefully blank.

"I never said it'd be them that would do those things."

"Oh? Is the little girl going to fight back?" The man taunted.

"Bite me."

"Shall we begin where we left off?" The blade was gone from my face and buried in my gut, and a scream ripped out of my throat. "How do I kill the Mikaelsons?"

I laughed as best I could around the blood in my mouth. "You cannot kill them. That's why they're the Originals."

"My witches tell me there is a way, but have been tightlipped about it."

Interesting. "That sucks."

He didn't like that very much. He pulled the knife out only to plunge it into my shoulder.

"How do I kill the Mikaelsons?"

I started vomiting blood, it spewed all over him.

The man looked down, frowning at his ruined clothes. "You'll pay for that." He grasped my hair, wrenching my head back and I began to choke.

I couldn't breathe, even as I fought.

Tyler screamed, shouting at him to stop.

"G-go to hell." I managed.

"You will kiss my boot by the end of this." He loomed over me. "And I'll have you at least once, so I can recommend your strengths properly."

My stomach twisted.

"Ah, there it is." The man grasped my jaw, as if I were going anywhere. "The fear."

I spat in his face.

He pressed his lips together, nodding to himself slightly, before he grabbed at the keys on his hip, and moved to unlock my chains.

As soon as one hand was free, I moved out from under him and as far as the chain would let me. "You'll not touch me." I took the blade from my shoulder, holding it out defensively, my own blood dripping from its hilt, and my chest heaving.

Tyler pulled uselessly against his binds.

The man chuckled. "Put it down or I kill the hybrid."

"No, Morgan, don't-" The man snapped Tyler's neck before he could finish and he slumped.

"Choose."

I hesitated.

The knife clattered on the ground.

He crossed to me, unlocking the other cuff. I looked down at my wrists, they were raw and angry, puffed up around the edges of where they'd been bound.

My mouth had gone dry.

The man forced my jaw upward. "You're breaking, little Mikaelson."