REWRITTEN.
When Violet opened her eyes she became aware of two very troubling things.
One, her hair was matted to the side of her head with something that could only be described as blood; the blasting pain in her skull was so immense it made her eyes water the second they prised open.
And two, she was tied by her wrists and ankles to a chair.
The muffled whir of voices around her span through her pounding head. She clenched her fists only for a whimper to escape her lips at the sharp shooting pain that went up her right hand.
It took a long moment for her eyes to focus but when they did, they landed on the knife pinning her hand to the arm of the chair. Blood coated her pale hand, seeping out from the centre of the stab wound and dripping down into a puddle on the dirty carpeted floor.
The pain began to slowly register, causing her to release a shaky breath to ease her blinding panic. Everytime her pulse thumped a wave of pain coarsed through her arm, burning at her nerves like a hot poker.
Her eyes trailed up her bare arm, noting she no longer had a jumper on and was left in a black tee-shirt that had sections crusted over with blood stains that she didn't remember getting. Her eyebrows furrowed and she swallowed thickly, focusing on healing the wound on her head first and foremost so that she could think.
Her thoughts were sluggish, slow to catch up with her surroundings. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and fought the urge to grimace at how sore it felt - the taste of Iron on her tongue was sickening.
She released a slow, deep breath in an attempt to snap herself out of the fog she was stuck in, blinking hard to dispel the blurriness in her vision.
"You picked the two worst people for this... no one will even notice I'm gone and she..." Klauses giggles met her ears and she tensed. "I mean, she doesn't even talk!"
She lifted her head.
Klaus was in a similar situation to her, except he wore only a towel round his waist and was much more awake and talkative.
Time between being at the house and her waking up now was a vague blur of discomfort and confusion that left her heart racing with uncertainly.
Two masked figures stood in front of him, dressed in sharp suits.
The motel room was dingy. The scent of old blood and dust was suffocating. The light above them had barely enough power to illuminate Klaus, let alone both of them. The door was bolted locked at the top and bottom, old curtains next to it drawn shut.
Violet shifted at the thought that she didn't even know what time of day it was.
Her mind went back to the attack at the diner - she vaguely wondered if these people had the same motive, or with the same people.
"Hey," the womans voice cut in. "She's awake."
Everyone looked towards Violet and she shrank back in her chair, fearfully catching Klauses eyes.
The man with the bear mask leant in closer to her. As much as she wanted to lean away, she had no where to go.
Her good arm strained against her binds, digging into her skin at how tight they were.
"You gonna tell us where the boy is?" The man asked monotomously.
Violet kept her mouth firmly shut, glancing rapidly between them, words dying in her throat.
She flinched when she hit her across the jaw, head snapping back, eyes screwing shut. She lolled her head to the side, shifting her hair from her face.
She became aware of faint ringing in her ears as Klauses pleading raised volume in the background. His attempts to divert their attention from her were futile.
Violet was asked the same questions.
And all she could do was try not to cry out as she was hit again for not responding.
But even if she wanted to, she couldn't. And they just didn't understand that they were wasting their own time.
At one point she felt her nose break beneath a punch and coughed on the blood spilling quickly down the back of her throat, tears quickly welling in her eyes. She angled her head down to the right, trying not to gag through the metallic taste in her mouth.
Given the fact the knife was still in her hand, she gathered they had realised she had some form of healing abilities, else they would have taken it out to inflict more pain elsewhere. Still, when her nose audibly cracked as it healed over, the woman glanced back at the man.
Finally realising they were getting nothing out of her, not even a cry of pain, the two - she faintly recalled Klaus calling them Hazel and Cha-Cha - went in the bathroom to have a private talk.
The second the door shut behind them, tears sprung freely from Violets eyes as she closed them, trying to keep her crying at bay. The menial bruises and cuts she could heal fine, but the blood coating her skin made her feel ill, and every tiny flinch from every hit had searing agony shooting through her right hand like fire.
"Hey, no, we'll get out of this, okay?" Klaus assured her in a hushed tone.
She blinked through her tears and looked over at him, trying to take a deep breath to console herself.
Her thoughts were on the pain she was in, the constant flare of pain she couldn't seem to escape, not for a minute, not until now - and all of her panicking thoughts filled the silence in her head along with a high pitched ringing that never seemed to go away.
Klaus eyed her warily at her lack of response. "We'll get out of here somehow, okay?"
She gave him a very weak, wavering smile.
"Just keep quiet."
She could have nearly rolled her eyes at his humour.
All of a sudden the door to the bathroom clicked open and she flinched on instinct, pressing her lips together to fight back a whimper at jostling her hand.
Cha -Cha walked in front of her and placed her hands on her hips, looking between them.
"So you can talk," she mused accusingly, making her blood run cold.
Violets eyes scanned the masks of the two desperately, eyebrows drawing in in confusion. She didn't understand.
She gestured to Klaus. "'Keep quiet.'" She echoed his hushed words. "You can talk, you just don't want to, is that it?"
Panic clawed up her spine as her fight or flight kicked in, sensing the dark turn this was going. She clenched her good fist, nails digging into the wood of the chair.
"What? No, no-" her brother shook his head, sitting up in panic. "That- that was a joke! You know, because she can't speak, so its ironic telling her to keep quiet because..."
He trailed off as Hazel grabbed a glass off the side and smashed it against the tv stand. Shards fell to the floor and her eyes flitted back and forth nervously trying to figure out what was going on, as her heart picked up pace.
Klaus was bouncing his knee in worry for his sister as Cha-Cha picked up some of the shards, turning them nonchalantly in her hand.
"What are you..." Klaus shifted uneasily.
Violet jerked her head away from Cha-Cha as she grabbed her jaw tightly, unable to even comprehend the fire shooting through her hand as she jolted in place to get away from her touch. Her other hand quickly covered her mouth, fingers sharply prising her mouth open and forcing the shards past her lips before she could snap her teeth down again.
"No no no, are you- what's wrong with you? She doesn't speak! You're wasting your time!" Klauses voice raised an octave as he rocked back and forth in his chair, struggling. "Stop!"
Violet glared defiantly and jerked away, turning her head so the woman couldn't catch her jaw again - but she did - nails scratching against her cheek, fingers latching around her jaw in a bruising grasp as she covered her mouth. The glass on her tongue made her hyper aware of what they were doing and panic clawed at her throat as she covered her mouth and nose.
Her skin crawled as she pulled at her leg restraints and struggled to breath.
"I'm not letting go," she bargained coldly. Tears burned her eyes as her chest ached horrifically. "What happens next is your choice. If you pass out I'll just force feed you the glass whil you're out of it. Either way this gets messy."
"Stop!" Klaus exclaimed in fear, just as Hazel put tape back over his mouth to silence his protests. He stuggled against the ropes and watched his little sister who was becoming increasingly paler by the second.
Violet closed her eyes as tightly as she could, trying to come to terms with what was happening and what she was going to have to do - she turned her head to the side but she forced it forwards, choking her even more.
Violet tasted blood as she forced the tiny bits of glass down. Hot liquid pooled in the back of her throat immediately. Sharp agony tore slowly down her throat like a razor blade, her nails digging into the chair making the wood groan as she hoarsely screamed against her hand, still unable to breathe.
The ringing in her ears cut out all sound of Klaus struggling and yelling behind the tape, her vision cutting out - just as the woman let go.
Immediately Violet inhaled a raspy breath that rattled her lungs. She lowered her head, red liquid trailing down her lips to her chin as she fought between the need to breathe and being unable to catch her breath from the agony tearing down her throat. Choked gasps forced their way out.
Black spots filled her vision as tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the metallic blood. She was a trembling mess, muscles so tense she felt like she could break a bone. All the while muffled screams and yells from Klaus rang through the room along with her raspy breathing.
"All we want to know is where the boy is."
They removed Klauses tape.
"Okay! Okay okay... but leave her alone, please. She's a kid! She's just a kid!"
Violets mind slowly began to shut off, the burning sensation through her throat and deep inside her chest making it unbearable to even think coherently.
Hot, scalding, ripping pain tore through her chest, her throat. The taste of metal and bile invaded her senses, her nerves screaming as she fought to inhale and exhale despite the pure agony it caused, simply because she had no choice but to.
Klaus revealed what he knew about Five and Violet didn't have the strength to stay awake, let alone tell him not to.
And it wasn't like she could have, anyway.