"Get down on your knees," Jacobi ordered me without emotion. His expression was so blank, it was unnerving. I would have given anything to see that familiar suspicion or rage painting his features. At least then I would know exactly how bad of a lashing I was going to be getting.

I was trembling uncontrollably, the fear so thick in my veins that I was beginning to be unable to recognize it any longer for what it was. My breath was coming short and choppy, trying to appease my racing heart that thudded painfully in my chest. I lowered myself on shaky legs, the cold floor harsh against my knees.

I kept my grip on my torn dress, clinging onto it against my chest as though it were a sole life raft in the midst of an ocean. I jumped when Jacobi moved my hair over my shoulder, baring my back except for the fabric of my bra. His rough fingers snapped the latches apart before moving it to the side as well, leaving my back completely vulnerable. My panic was rising with each passing moment, causing me to begin to hyperventilate.

When I sensed Jacobi's form backing away from me, no doubt preparing the whip that would be eating my flesh soon; I closed my eyes and lowered my head. I was afraid I would be hit around the face or head area. I'd seen horrible things like that on television. It left people deformed and in pain for the rest of their lives. But so many people in films took the beating like professionals, as if it wasn't too painful during the process. I was hoping it would be the same for me.

"Please," Aveline suddenly cried out, causing me to jerk in surprise, "I'll take the flogging. I'll take hundreds of floggings! Please, Royal Audrina Roslind, let her go."

"You may start," Audrina ordered, ignoring Aveline's request.

I heard a deep rumbling growl emit from Jacobi's chest at the order. The rage was terrifying, but the emotion eased me as compared to the void from before. It was while I was musing over this that I missed the sound of the whip swishing through the air before it bit its first bite into the flesh of my back. The sharp pain was shocking. I didn't even respond until the rapid second blow.

A scream tore from my throat, renewed by the third blow. It was the fourth blow that caused my mind to go blank. Suddenly, I wasn't on my knees anymore. Instead, I had Jacobi pinned against the ground with a grip on his hand with the whip, a knee on his other wrist, and my other hand balled into a fist before delivering a ferocious blow to his face. I was deadly silent, with calm over my veins that held me firm rather than the trembling mess I had been just moments ago.

Jacobi was only surprised for a moment before he pushed himself off of the ground, knocking me to the side and pinning me down instead. I struggled wildly under him, the pulsing pain of the bleeding wounds on my back beginning to bring me back to my terrified normal self once again. I screeched, fighting against him for fear of the future lashes.

"Hold her," Jacobi ordered sharply. I was pulled back onto my knees by him, but now had Xander in front of me grasping my upper arms nearly painfully. The pain of the next blow of the whip sent fire through my body. Xander winced as if the blow had hit him instead. I screamed in agony as another strike came. I lunged at Xander, but instead of attacking him, I clung to him desperately. I buried my face into his chest, screaming and sobbing with each following blow until it was only his hold on me that kept me from falling uselessly onto the ground.

The twenty lashes felt like hundreds. By the time it was finished, my back was wet with blood, raw, and pulsing as if its own painful life form. I had passed out multiple times for only a few seconds and was now a whimpering, panting figure of agony and exhaustion.

"Let me heal her," Xander begged with a heartbroken voice, though I couldn't identify who he was begging. He shifted to cradle me against him, his arm pressing against a small section of my back just enough to still send sharp pains throughout me. There wasn't any way he could hold me without hurting me at this point. He was brushing my hair, damp from sweat, from my face affectionately. I could see him only as a blur between my fluttering eyelids.

"She will heal by herself," Audrina scoffed at the plea. "The punishment has been completed. You and your coterie are forgiven for your offenses." There was a flurry of movement as the Royals made to leave now that the trial was finished. Xander made no move to take me elsewhere. The warm sensation, though dull, was buzzing over my flesh letting me know Aveline was close. I felt her soft hand grasp mine, squeezing gently. It was then that things began to get confusing. A figured moved from the gathered coterie towards us, hesitating as though unsure of what he was doing.

"Protector of my protector," The figure said abruptly, halting cautiously, "Family of my family. That which sacrifices itself for my coterie, sacrifices itself for me," The figure lowered before me and brushed the back of his fingers over my cheek softly.

"Where you shield me from harm, I vow the same for you." I didn't understand what this figure was talking about through my pain. I closed my eyes, leaning my head against Xander's arm.

Before the darkness could take me, I felt the cool touch of another hand brushing over my flesh for a moment. "I vow the same," Another voice said. What started a small stream became a flood. Touches over voices repeated the words. I vow the same. I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't even process or understand what they were saying or vowing. But the cool traces over my skin kept coming, followed by the same words. I vow the same. Finally, I was drowned in dark oblivion.

~...~

Time after the trial became nonexistent once again. I couldn't wake up. Or rather... I wouldn't. I developed a terrible case of fever, in which my life became a constant state of gasping for air, crying, and burning in agony. I was constantly being stirred by voices that said words which didn't translate past my ears. My wounds were being cleaned, ointment constantly being applied to help ease the pain, but it never was enough. Water was being dripped past my lips and sometimes soft food which I struggled to swallow. Wet cloth was being wiped across my skin to keep me clean and even more embarrassing; I couldn't even wake to relieve myself. I officially became an invalid, drowning in fever and unconsciousness.

I didn't dream of ghosts or pleasant fields of memories. I only dreamed of scarlet pain and flames.

My Hell didn't change until my fever broke. I awoke in darkness, lying on my stomach shivering from a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. Only the dull pulsing pain which sharpened when I shifted let me know my back hadn't healed completely yet. I couldn't tell how long exactly I'd been out until I searched the quiet television to see it had been two days. Two days only and it had felt like decades. I suspected my pain levels being as they were now, my healing was indeed a lot faster than a normal human beings.

When I turned to look at my vampire companions, I found them sleeping in each other's arms with the unhappiest expressions on their resting faces. Knowing they had felt the torture I had gone through, and still felt the aftermath, I felt a rush of guilt at agreeing to let them claim me. Somehow, the whole thing made me feel very selfish.

Though I was still half-dazed, my subconscious mind was pulling at my attention. I wanted something, which is why I had awakened in the first place. I wasn't sure what it was, but my exhaustion prevented me from refusing to pursue whatever it was that called for me. I pushed myself from the bed slowly, the raw pain of my back making me weak with tremors.

When I had arisen completely, I took a moment to see what I had been dressed in. It was only a silk chiffon slip, ivory so that it was just about see-through but backless so I understood why it had been chosen. Before I could really understand what I was doing, I had already exited the room and was making my way down blurry halls and between tilting walls. I closed my eyes while I walked, exhausted and aching. But still I followed that call which tugged at parts of me I couldn't describe.

I paused in my steps, raising my hand to rest on my face as though it would completely wake me up. It was only when I opened my eyes that I realized why I had stopped. His door was looming in front of me; nearly pulsing as though begging me to tear it down because what I wanted... was on the other side of it.

I stepped forward hesitantly, confused. I reached to touch the cool door, tracing my hand over it before leaning forward to rest my forehead against it. My back was throbbing terribly after the strain I had put it through. It probably had been too soon for me to bother it so. I stayed where I was, wanting to push forward but holding myself back. The feeling would pass, I was certain.

I nearly fell over when the door abruptly opened for me. I lost my breath when I saw Jacobi panting before me, his body stiff and his expression intense. He had obviously been in bed, being that he was shirtless and wearing only a pair of pajama pants. That hum grew around me, the tugging sensation intensifying so that the call was practically screaming for me to touch it... whatever it was. I only knew it was a part of him. On instinct, I reached out to trace it, sighing when that cool electricity pulsed over me powerfully. Jacobi growled dangerously, grabbing my wrist and tugging me towards him. Flames erupted throughout my body at his touch, causing me to gasp pleasantly. His flesh on mine caused me to forget the pulsing pain throughout my back.

"No," He said forcefully, as though he very much wanted to say yes instead, "I don't consent. Do you hear me?" Something told me whatever he was saying; it wasn't directed towards me exactly. Whatever or whoever he was talking to; it dimmed the hum to a quieter call so that I wasn't completely suffocated by it. Would that help me, as well?

"I don't... consent," I whispered to nothing, to myself, and felt that call dull to an even quieter whisper. For some reason, it felt more like whatever it was, it wasn't going to stay quiet forever. Still, I felt a sigh of relief released from me now that I felt more in control of myself. This sigh was cut short to a sharp yelp of pain when Jacobi accidently moved his grip a little too close to one of my wounds. I nearly seized up and fell to the ground, but he quickly shifted his grasp on me to keep me from falling.

"I apologize," He said deeply, looking at my face, my lips and nose, before capturing my eyes with his. "I didn't want to... I promised you..." A flash of guilt crossed his expression before he caught himself and hardened his features. I watched his face, the only clear thing I'd seen in days, with fascination.

"You promised a quick death," I giggled then, thoroughly amused in my mad state regardless of my exhaustion. "I thought you just didn't want to hurt your Kindred." My amusement didn't travel to him. He only watched me determinedly.

"I can speed your healing, in return for forgiveness," Jacobi stated, his golden chocolate gaze intense.

"You were told...," It was too exhausting to speak further. I wavered.

"The Royals left a witness, yes. As long as I use my spirit and don't completely heal you, it'll be believable that the Eastmund's claim on you accelerated your healing," He explained.

"You won't be punished again?" Fear flashed through me just thinking about it. Jacobi smiled then, his smile both stunning and equally devious. I would have blushed, but the fever seemed to have robbed me of reddening my flesh further.

"I'm usually very good at getting away with things."

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I know the happenings in this update probably has driven a majority of you insane. Please, don't kill me. xD

I'm off to catch up on my shows, let me know if you're really into any of em: Supernatural (duh, and I know I'm almost a week late watching this one), the Originals (I CANT BELIEVE I HAVEN'T WATCHED THE LAST EPI), Walking Dead (as said before), Once Upon a Time, and Revenge! For the anime watchers out there, Psycho-pass 2, Nanatsu No Taizai, and Akame ga Kill tonight! wooot wooooot I'm gonna be up for houuurrss. ♥