Another to the Party Who: Wes, Eily & Anne Marie When: Evening Where: Wes's place, then Anne Marie's
After retreating from the basement, Wes took a shower, dressed, and left the house. He ran a few errands, checked in at work. He feigned surprise and expressed sympathy at the news of multiple house fires, and people who had gone missing. Some people seemed genuinely upset. Some simply had that look in their eyes as they speculated and gossiped. That look that clearly said Finally, something exciting in this place!. When Wes returned home, it was getting dark and he knew he would have to take Eily to Anne Marie. Obviously he would need to knock her out, which was something he was actually looking forward to. Wes knew she wouldn’t cooperate otherwise.
Walking upstairs, he listened for the other girls. He thought he heard one of them scream for help, which prompted a small smirk on his lips. It was nice that there was obviously still a spark of hope that they thought they might be rescued. Pushing open the door at the end of the hall, Wes took a step inside, looking over at Eily to see if she was awake or sleeping.
Eily had eventually passed out. She was still bound to the bed, and she'd lost blood, and the pain was awful. Her shirt was sticky, just like the bed beneath her. She felt disgusting, an kept waiting for people to crash the door down. She was in and out of light, fitful sleep when Wes entered, stirring her from her state of near-sleep. Opening her eyes, they landed on her own personal monster, and she said nothing.
Wes smiled at her when she looked over at him. "Our time together is almost over. It really wasn't long enough, was it?" He walked over to her, crouching down beside the bed so he could get a better look at her skin and the clover he had given her. "It's going to look really nice, once you're all cleaned up," Wes said. "You'll appreciate it more without all the blood." His lips twitched in mild amusement. "Avery's not a fan of blood. Did you know that? Almost passed out at the sight of it downstairs. Covered in her own vomit now. It's pretty disgusting."
Eily actually hissed at Wes, and struggled, trying to kick at him – even if it didn't work in the slightest and really just made her pain level spike up high enough that she let out a soft cry. “You're going to be gutted,” she told him through clenched teeth. “Gutted.”
The fury in her tone prompted a broader grin from Wes. It was always so much more fun when they got angry. Anne Marie would have a lot of fun with this one, whatever it was she planned to do with her. "That seems to be a rather popular opinion between the three of you," he said, chuckling softly. "But I'm convinced that of the four of us, only two will actually be gutted, and I'm pretty confident it's not going to be me." He reached out to touch Eily's thigh, running his hand upward. "Shame about your family though. All those fires last night... there was bound to be casualties."
Eily tried to hit him again, pulling very hard at her restraints. It caused her pain, not only in her fresh wounds but her wrists and ankles, but she had to try. Her right hand even gave some, though not nearly enough to actually strike him. “Anything you do to Avery I'm going to find you and do to you, and trust me I'll drag it out, you sick freak,” she snapped. Keeping her cool had been easier before the torture. Obviously at this point she didn't have the emotional fortitude to keep with that. “Anything you do to any of my family or Lily is coming back on you!”
"To be fair, I haven't touched any of your family," Wes said, squeezing her thigh when she thrashed. It only spurred him on, and he slid his hand higher. "Well, except Avery. But there are others out there, causing trouble. Houses burning. Haven't you wondered why your family hasn't found you yet? Have you given any consideration to the fact that maybe they can't? Maybe they're hurt." Wes slid his palm to her stomach. "Or worse."
His touch on her turned her stomach, especially when he made it rise up higher. It made her skin crawl. “You're going to die horribly,” she snapped, again trying to strike out, pain radiating from the tight binding. “And you don't know my family. No. I haven't considered they might be hurt. Even if they were, they'd still be coming. They would never, ever stop.” There was conviction in her tone, a shining belief that couldn't be shaken.
"Sure. They could be badly hurt. Or dead. There's a lot of chaos out there. It seems like you're not letting yourself believe some of them could be in the morgue. You want to ignore the facts. Which is fine. Women only ever hear what they want." Wes trailed his hand to her chest, brushing his thumb across her breast. "I know one thing. If someone is out looking for you, they're not going to find you here. It's time for me to take you to her."
Eily actually smiled at him. “I'm not ignoring facts. I just know them, and you don't. You keep telling yourself that you're fine, that this isn't going to blow back on you, or they won't show. They will. Reckoning will come, and I'm going to laugh when it does.” She actually tried to bite him when he put his hand on her breast, really going for it, trying to sit up to sink her teeth into him.
Wes snatched his hand back before she could do any damage with her teeth. He stood quickly and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing his fingers tight before bending over close to her face. "You think I don't know how this could end? Maybe you're right. Maybe I die. Maybe you'll laugh. But you're a fucking moron if you think I won't be taking someone down with me if I go. You can bet your pretty little ass those two girls downstairs will be dead and rotting before I am." Wes released Eily and stepped back. "If I didn't have to give you away, you would be joining them."
“You're going to wish you'd taken me out while you had the chance,” Eily growled at him, after she got her breath back and stopped coughing.
"Yeah, we'll see." Wes breathed in and then smiled again. "But after tonight, you're no longer my problem." He flexed his fingers. "I just have to decide if I want to choke you into unconsciousness, or if I should just knock you out. Got a preference?"
“What, can't handle a conscious girl?” Eily snapped. “Got to have me tied down, then knock me out? Not man enough to deal with me awake?”
Wes laughed. "I'm not stupid enough to try and take you to her while you're conscious. You're a fighter, which I've enjoyed by the way. I can't tell you how much more satisfying it is when my girls challenge me before they die. It's just too bad I can't finish you off here. So how about we go with the option that leaves you with less of a headache when you wake up."
Eily kept her eyes on him. “Take your best shot.” She knew this wasn't going to end well. But at the same time, she just couldn't go down quietly. She had no idea what was next, who she was being 'given' to, or whatever, but she'd fight there too. And Avery had better be fine.
Cocking a brow, Wes studied Eily with some amusement. “I like that you think you could do any damage to me with your hands and feet tied up. You should really be more appreciative toward me. Who knows what she’s going to do to you, how she’s going to keep you. I think I’ve been a pretty decent host.” He paused then grinned. “Should I untie you? Then you can have a go at me before I knock you out.”
“Yes.” Eily answered, figuring he'd never actually do that. But hell, even if she didn't imagine she could win this fight – she was weak, she hadn't eaten, she'd been tortured, she'd been tied to a damn bed for...god knew how long, she really did want her shot.
"Yeah?" Wes cocked a brow, and then grinned. He knew he could overpower her, even when she was at full strength. Now, just moving was bound to cause her pain, with her side all cut up and bruising from the knife wounds. But if she wanted to get a punch or two in, maybe he'd let her. He turned and walked over to shut and lock the door. Just in case she did manage to get one over on him, he didn't want to give her an easy out by having the door hanging open. Wes returned, watching her face as he stopped at the end of the bed where her feet were tied together. He kept his eyes on her as he worked the knot, pulling it apart after a few attempts. Then he stepped back and moved to her hands to do the same. "Careful," he instructed, tugging at the rope around her wrists. "You open up those wounds again, you're going to be a hell of a lot weaker for her than you are for me."
Eily didn't actually care if she was weaker. She fought herself not to struggle while she was still bound, shocked he was actually going through with this. The second her wrists were free, however, she struck. She kicked with both feet as hard as she could at his hip and groin, goal to get him on the floor to pounce. The motion did rip open her wounds, and she cried out, but that didn't actually stop her.
She made contact with his side when she kicked and Wes stumbled back a few feet, a grin crossing his face again despite the mild pain her kick caused. She was too weak for him to feel any real threat, but he had promised let her have a go, so that's what he was going to do. He made a beckoning motion toward her. "Come on, sweetheart. We've got limited time here."
She kicked at his face, then rolled to the opposite side of the bed, looking for anything to use as a weapon. Either way, however, she was back on her feet, which felt good, even if she felt so much fatigue in her muscles, blood already running fresh down her side, that 'good' was a relative term.
Wes watched Eily, his adrenaline starting to pump wildly through his body. This would have been perfect if he didn't have to hand her over to Anne Marie. "Do you think I'd leave anything laying around for you to use against me?" he asked before starting toward her. "Come on, Eily. Take a swing so we can get this over with. You're bleeding all over my carpet."
She was actually thinking he was probably overconfident, and therefore would have left something lying around. Still, if she was left with hand to hand combat, she was left with that. She made it look like she was going over the bed again, but instead went for his knee, putting every ounce of strength she had. If he couldn't walk right, it would at the very least slow him down for a while.
He had to hand it to her. Despite being weak and bleeding, she still had some strength to her. Wes felt the contact to his knee and he grunted loudly. There was pain as he reached out for the bed to keep from buckling to the floor. Then he laughed through the discomfort and annoyance rising in him, his eyes still on her. "You done?"
She didn't have an answer for him, already moving to go out the window. Just...jump. She might make it. She'd take 'might'. Eily dove for the nearest window, knocking it hard with her shoulder, the glass breaking, though she didn’t actually fall through. It would take more than that to actually get out the window. Mostly she just sliced into her shoulder with the glass accidentally, not that she even felt that pain in the adrenaline fueled moment.
The sound of glass shattering prompted Wes into action. Pain shot through his knee when he moved, but he ignored it, pushing away from the bed to close the distance between he and Eily. She broke his fucking window. Wes snatched a handful of her hair to yank her away from the window, his other hand reaching around to cover her mouth in case she tried to scream. He was done with this game.
Eily trying to bite his hand, she scrambled at the broken glass, grabbing a shard of it to slash into the back of his hand. Sure, it sliced her palm open at the same time, but she was a fighter. She'd go down that way first. Eily O'Reilly wasn't ever going to go down without one hell of a fight.
Wes cried out when she slashed his hand with the glass. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he turned them both away from the window. As rage surged through him, Wes slammed Eily's forehead into the nearest wall to knock her out. He would have kept on it until her blood splattered against the paint, but there was still enough sense within him to hold up. He wasn't allowed to kill her.
The impact did the trick, Eily sagging, boneless as she blacked out. The glass dropped from her hand and shattered on the floor. The only movement left from her was her breathing and bleeding.
Panting when Eily fell limp, Wes dragged her to the bed, dropping her to the mattress. He looked down at the gash in his hand and had to resist smashing her pretty face in. Once he had his hand bandaged, Wes did the same to Eily's wounds before wrapping a sheet around her body. Wes had to wait for his temper to die down, but once he was calm again, he picked up Eily's body to take her to Anne Marie. He would have to go through the woods to get there unseen.
Anne Marie was becoming impatient. She expected to have all four girls by now, but she only had one. To make matters worse, Maggie’s house had been burned to the ground and the girl was missing. She was positive someone had taken her, but she didn’t know who, and she could hardly go asking around town without drawing attention to herself. She would just have to wait and see if someone dropped her off. She would wait, for now. Once she had the other two, then she would start pushing the buttons of her co-conspirators. She needed all four girls to complete the spell.
Clementine had been quiet in the last hour, probably finally giving in to sleep. Anne Marie had seen to her needs, made her as comfortable as possible in her cage. Without anyone else there, she was thinking she might as well get started on Clementine when she heard someone outside her house. Running to the window, she peered through the curtains, then grinned. Finally, another one of her girls had arrived! She opened the door for Wes, taking a step back so he could come inside. “Took you long enough,” she smiled.
"She was a pain in the ass," Wes said, stepping inside with Eily and shooting Anne Marie a look. Then he grinned. "But she's all yours now." And for as many people who were supposedly looking for her, he got her to Anne Marie's with minimal trouble. He shifted Eily in his arms. "Where are you putting them?"
“I knew one of ‘em would be. The first is a pushover,” Anne Marie smiled. It was always good to know what she was dealing with. This one had such a pretty blue aura around her, she couldn’t wait to see what she could do. “In the basement. I have cages there. Can you take her down for me?” With no special powers, she needed just a bit of help carrying a girl downstairs.
Wes snickered softly. "I'd take the pain in the ass over a pushover any day. But you'll have your hands full, I'm sure." He started for the basement door, thankful that Eily hadn't woken up yet. Wes started down the stairs carefully. "She's bloody. Probably needs water. I'm sure you'll be more hospitable than I was." Despite the fact that she had said cages. "You don't have the others yet?"
“I know what I’m doing,” she said, her grin a bit wicked. She might not look dangerous, but she had a plan and nothing would deter her from it. “I give them food and water, blankets and pillows,” she said, holding the door open for him. “But now that I have two, I’ll start the process, get them practicing on the spell. And no, I only have one other. And one of mine’s gone missing in a fire. You don’t happen to know where Maggie is, do you?”
Wes shook his head. "No idea. I heard about the fires, though. You don't think she's dead, do you?" He had no idea if Anne Marie could do what she needed to do with three instead of four, but that wasn't his problem. He just hoped Anne Marie killed the lot of them if they turned out to be useless.
“I fuckin’ hope not,” she muttered, her southern drawl coming out with her sneer. She needed four witches, one of each wind, not three. If she couldn’t find Maggie, she wasn’t sure they could complete the spell. But that could be tomorrow’s problem. “Put her in here,” she said, opening one of the cages. It was equipped with a pillow, blanket, and a bucket. While it wasn’t comfortable, she knew it was probably better than what Wes provided.
Wes laid Eily down on the blanket, wiped his palms on his hands, and then stepped out of the cage so Anne Marie could close the door. "I'll see if I can find anything out about Maggie. I hope you get the other two soon. Apparently the entire O'Reilly brood is out searching for this one. You need anything else?"
“Any intel would be appreciated,” she smiled, closing the cage door and locking it. “And they won’t find her here. I’ve insulated the basement and I don’t intend to let her, or any of them, out of it.” Not until she got what she wanted out of them, and then their only destination might be a grave. It depended on how generous she was feeling.
"Sounds like you've got it taken care of." Wes spared one last glance toward Eily, feeling only mild disappointment now that he didn't get to be the one to kill her. Mostly because he had two others waiting for him at home. His gaze shifted toward Anne Marie again. "I'll let you know if I hear anything. And you know how to get ahold of me if you need to. At least it doesn't seem like you'll be getting lonely anytime soon."
“Oh no, I’ve got plenty of company to take care of,” she grinned, leading him back up the basement stairs. She was grateful to those that had helped her capture the girls she needed, since she didn’t think it was a job she could accomplish on her own. Now that she had them, though, she knew how to keep control. And with two in her possession, the fun was just about to begin.
Wes followed Anne Marie up the stairs, unable to keep his eyes from roaming over her. Even if she wasn't an option, appreciating female form only reminded him that it had been awhile since he indulged himself with sex. Maybe after he got rid of the two girls in his basement, he would reward himself. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Wes started for the door, shooting Anne Marie a lopsided grin. "Good luck."
Anne Marie wasn’t used to boys noticing her in that way. Usually once they saw the crazy, they weren’t interested in anything but running. If Wes was looking her over in a way that was different than the rest, she didn’t notice. “Thanks, you too,” she grinned, giving him a wave as he walked out the door. It was time to get this party started.