*Tristian’s P.O.V*
I knew what they had meant now. The attraction. The urge never to hurt her. But I had to, or both of us would have horrible futures. Until I could help her, I would have to pretend to be on their side. ‘Their’ being the old souls. At that moment, they were in hiding. I hadn’t been told where they were yet, and I hadn’t had the chance to find out. But what I did know that here were ten beings that, when together, could destroy all human existence. All they had to do was complete the ritual. Cassandra, being the leader, would make the sacrifice. One of her followers. And I knew it was going to be Aaron. He would die, painfully and slowly, whilst all the life was drained out of him. Cassandra would think that he knew too much. Way too much. She would see no other option than to kill him. Although I couldn’t say that he didn’t deserve it.

“Tristian, Cassandra wants to see you,” Bree said.
“I’ll be right there,” I answered her. Quickly, I stopped what I was doing. If I made Cassandra wait, she would get angry. That could pose a threat to Tasha, and I couldn’t have that. It would be impossible to me, as I was her soul mate. I still couldn’t believe that. I was the Soul mate of an Old Soul. Of course, all Old Souls had to have a soul mate. But for me… and Tasha… I was still trying to get over it. She didn’t know yet, and hopefully she never would. The Old Souls didn’t feel the same level of emotions as humans, so hopefully she wouldn’t feel the same way about me as I felt for her. It was better if she never knew. It was always going to be the best way.

As I entered Cassandra’s study, I found that Aaron was already there, standing in front of her desk where she was sitting. I stood in front of the desk also, but away from Aaron. I didn’t want to be within a metre of the vile idiot.
“Tristian, it’s about time. Honestly, when will you ever learn that I need to be obeyed or I tend to get angry? I’m going away for a night, I’m sure you’ll know why. Please alert the rest of the staff. I will leave Aaron in charge of the household as usual, and I shall leave tonight at seven. Any questions? No? Good. Get going, I want my car prepared to leave,” she dismissed us and I instantly turned to leave. “Actually Tristian, not you. I’ve changed my mind. Aaron, please continue,” she waited until Aaron was gone before she proceeded to speak to me.

“Now Tristian,” she started, “I believe you, Aaron and I are all aware of your current… situation, with our prisoner, no?”
“Yes.” I said, so low that I could tell she only just heard.
“Good. Then you will realise that whether you want to or not, you will feel an urge to rescue the prisoner, or to help her. With me away, this may just happen. We both know your capabilities, Tristian. You could easily do it. And so, for that reason, I hope you will understand what I am about to do.” She closed her eyes, and immediately I was out, unconscious. God, I hated some Old Souls.

*Tasha’s P.O.V*
I had previously thought that dungeons were unpleasant places, but I didn’t really realise how unpleasant they could be. Aaron came and poked his head through the door once.
“Don’t tell me, you’ve brought me a five star meal on a silver tray?” I asked sarcastically, with my eyes still closed and my head against the wall, facing upwards.
“You’re an old Soul. You don’t need to eat, drink, or sleep. And that might come in handy, seeing as you’ll be stuck here a while. I was just popping in to make sure you hadn’t killed yourself trying to escape. Although,” he added in a low voice, “If you don’t shut your stupid little mouth, I might kil-” but his threat was cut off when he noticed Bree standing behind him in the doorway. She was wide eyed, and a little shocked. I guessed that she hadn’t seen this side of Aaron before.
“What do you want?” he demanded rudely.
“Um… mistress… umm.. Mistress Cassandra w-w-wants to see you,” she stammered.
“Fine. Lock this door, and get out of my way!” he ordered. Immediately, poor Bree pressed herself against the wall for him to get past. He still shoved past her, pushing her back into the wall a little.
“Arse hole!” I yelled after him, because it was obvious Bree wasn’t going to.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am,” Bree apologised.
“It’s not your fault, Bree,” I smiled at her. My smile quickly faded and my mood turned dark as soon as the door shut. I would be stuck here for a while, and there was nobody who was going to help me.

*Tristian’s P.O.V*
I woke up on a cold stone floor with a killer headache. I was in a cellar-like room. They would have put me away from Tasha, who was in the dungeons. So…. I was probably in the opposite side of the house, underneath Cassandra’s study. She would have thrown me down the trapdoor underneath the carpet, explaining the headache and the pain all around my body. Meaning there was only one way out. The way I had come down.

Contemplating the trapdoor from below, I wondered on the strength of my jump. I was about six foot, whereas the ceiling where the trapdoor was about ten feet high. I could do that. Hopefully. Flexing my muscles, I noticed that my shirt was ripped down the side. That wasn’t much use. I took it off, discarding it on the floor. With a quick run up, I jumped the four feet, almost impressing myself. It took all my muscle strength to grip on to the edge of the trapdoor with one hand and open it with the other. My feet were dangling off the side. Thank God I worked out. Barely keeping my grip, I pushed the trapdoor until it was about ten centimetres open. Then, I balanced it on my head, and used both hands to push myself up until I could see out. Thankfully, the carpet hadn’t been replaced over the trapdoor and I was able to get a good view of the room. As I had suspected, Aaron was in the study, but he wasn’t conscious. Instead, he was asleep on one of the sofas that Cassandra never used but still made Bree clean every day. It would need cleaning now, after that vile f***wit had parked his filthy himself on there. Deciding that I would risk it, I silently hoisted myself up over the edge of the trapdoor, wedging the rolled up carpet there so that it would make no noise. As quietly as I could, I walked over to the door and opened it, scouting for anyone who might pose a threat. After seeing nobody, I checked the time on my watch. It was half one in the morning. I had been out for four hours.

“Going somewhere?” a voice asked from behind me. I turned to see Aaron the d*bag pointing a gun at my head. Being expertly trained, I ducked and rolled perfectly just as he pulled the trigger, putting a hole in the door. His face showed how angry he was at not being able to blow my brains out.
“You may have been trained by a warrior, Tristian. But you never will be one,” he taunted. Rolling my eyes at his words, I said, “You know, you get really annoying,” then I moved up on him.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, a glint of fear showing in his eyes.
“Something I wish I could do every minute,” I answered, and walloped him around the head with my gun from my waistband. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

Setting off out of the room at a sprint, I nearly crashed into Bree who was coming the opposite way. She screamed when she saw me, and I put my hand over her mouth to stop her. Once she had calmed down, I pulled my hand away and she started talking.
“Tristian, you can’t be here. If Aaron finds you, he’ll kill you.”
“I know, he just tried to. I knocked him out with the barrel of my gun. You might want to push him down the trapdoor and lock it,” I replied.
“Oh... um, okay. May I ask, what are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to take Tasha and get out of here,” I answered.
“But… Tasha.. she’s an Old Soul!” Bree exclaimed.
Sighing, I said, “Yes, I know, Bree. But she’s a good person. I’m going to take her and run. You might want to go, too. Take Jayme and Sam. You are all god people but this is just too much. Who wants to live here?” shrugging, I touched her lightly on the shoulder and then sped off in the direction of the dungeon, scouting ahead with my gun pointed down.

I trusted some of the people in this house, like Bree, Jayme and Sam, but the others I couldn’t trust. Luckily, I passed nobody as I headed d own towards the west side of the house and into the dungeons. This place was absolutely massive. If I didn’t know it, I would have gotten lost. Finally, I reached the dungeon and located the keys hanging on the hook outside them. Tasha saw me as soon as I opened the door. The beauty on her face was still evident; even though it was clear she had been through so many emotions. Her reaction to my being there changed from shock to fear to hurt to anger to… be that lust? No, too much to hope for. Her expressions finally settled on sarcastic.
“Well it’s about time,” she said- sarcastic as I had predicted- and shook the chains and ties imprisoning her. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Well, it really is a great plan, I thought of it all by myself…” I drifted off when she raised one eyebrow, “No, I really don’t have a plan.” I admitted.
“Nah, I thought not. So, we have a great, non-existent plan! Whoopee!”