The clattering of metal against metal was the thing that woke Jonathan up. The second thing he noticed, was that he was unable to move. His hands and legs were chained onto the wall he was hanging against.

Across the room, which might’ve been in the basement or just a dedicated room for keeping victims, he could see Sadie and Charlotte being locked up in a cage.

“Charlotte! Sadie!”, he shouted but then was hit in the face with something thin and sharp.

“Shut up, Hunter!”, a man in a simple shirt and jeans said. He had slicked back brown hair and crimson eyes.

Jonathan wanted to respond with something snarky, but remained silent, once he saw the other man hold his blade.

“This is a very interesting blade”, the man said, “Would be a shame if it was used against its own wielder.”

“Don’t you dare!”, Jonathan hissed but gasped in pain, as the man ran the blade across his right arm. Just slightly, to only cut the first layers of his skin. The cut burned like fire as blood was slowly dripping from it.

“The others were surprised that you’re healing so fast. You hunters are truly something”, the man laughed.

A few other men, all dressed in similar simple clothing entered the room, all carrying different kinds of blades and knifes.

“What are they doing?”, Charlotte whispered to Sadie, who had watched the entire scene with a stern look on her face.

“I’ve seen this before”, she mumbled. “This is how they torture hunters.”

“What are they going to do to Jonathan?”

Sadie remained silent for a moment, as to gather her thoughts and then said: “They probably think that we’re hostages and not hunters because we weren’t carrying visible weapons. They’ll probably keep us alive as food sources, especially now that we’ve forced them to retreat from the city in the past months.”

“But why do they torture hunters? Why don’t they keep them as food supply?”

“Don’t know. Revenge? Fun? They’re going to make little cuts over his body, especially the areas that are sensitive. They’re going to wait until they close and then repeat it.”

Charlotte turned away after they had started doing exactly what Sadie just described. But she couldn’t turn away from Jonathan’s screams of agony.

“They must stop!”, she whispered a she crouched down.

“They’re going to stop after they can’t make any more cuts. They’re going to feed him Vampire blood when that happens.”

“Why?”, Charlotte asked, voice shaking as she was almost in tears.

“It has incredible healing abilities. His body would be completely fine after drinking just a bit of it.”

Charlotte started sobbing, covering her face with her hands.

“I’m so sorry you have to go through this”, Sadie tried to calm her down. She crouched down next to her, hugging her and softly stroking her back. “We need to wait for Sergeij to arrive. Everything will be fine.”