Inferno

by Yolanda Olson

  “If only you cared this much about Eloy. Maybe then he’d still be alive, too,” Pater says to me with a smirk. He’s trying to hurt me, devastate me with his words, and if I still didn’t have one son to care for, I would have felt the blow much harder, just as he intended.

  “She did, and that’s why she couldn’t kill him,” Vaughn retorts bravely.

  I put a hand on his leg to keep him from talking back to Pater, but he must be working on pure adrenaline because he hops to his feet and balls his fists at his side.

  “You’re not as great as you think you are. You can beat us, throw us into the ground, abuse Jocelyn as much as you want; but you’ll never be more than a monster. If you were as great as you act like you are, you wouldn’t do this to us,” he shouts at him.

  “Wow. Look at you go!” Pater says in appreciation. “I see your balls finally dropped. Congratulations, kid!”

  I don’t know where my sudden bravery comes from. Maybe it’s seeing my younger brother stand up and not give a shit about the consequences of speaking back to Pater, but I get up, stand next to him, and place a hand gently on his shoulder.

  “You can leave now. Walk out the front door like I told you to, and don’t look back. He can’t hurt you anymore, Vaughn. You just took control of your life again. It’s okay. I’ll be okay,” I say to him softly.

  “I’m not leaving you here with him,” he replies, his eyes still on Pater, who’s watching us with sheer amusement on his face.

  “Please let him leave,” I beg, giving Pater my full attention. “I’ll stay for as long as you want me to, and die when you deem it necessary, but he’s been through enough. If you love me as much as you say you do, you’ll let him go.”

  Pater smiles and rubs his chin. He gets up and faces us, but doesn’t make any steps to come closer. I can tell he’s mulling my request over by the way he’s looking me up and down. He’s trying to decide whether I’ll be enough to keep him satisfied, and if he gives me the chance, I’ll do every last thing he asks of me.

  “Tell you what,” he begins as he rubs his hands together. The look in his eyes is sickening, but no matter what he says, I will fucking oblige to keep Vaughn free from whatever torment he decides to inflict.

  “I’ll make sure that Vaughn goes free, but you both have to do something for me first,” he says, grinning widely.

  I shake my head vehemently.

  “Hear me out before you say no, otherwise you both go back into the ground until you die of starvation.”

  “It’s okay,” Vaughn says, taking my hand in his. I look at him and he gives me a small but firm smile. “What do you want?”

  Pater smiles at him as he claps his hands together. “Go get the dog and bring it back in here. One little thing I want you kids to do, and then I’ll let you go.”

  Vaughn nods in agreement as he lets go of my hand and leaves me alone in the room with Pater, whose grin is making me feel violently ill.

  One more fucking game and Vaughn will be able to leave.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Pater’s whistling while we wait for Vaughn to return with Tiberius, and I’m still firmly standing my ground. I can’t even begin to imagine what he has in store for us; nor do I want to, but I won’t resist whatever it is with the price being Vaughn’s chance at a normal life.

  “Where do you think he would have gone to?” Pater asks me, a curious smile replacing his wicked grin.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where did you tell him to go?” he asks, rocking back on his heels.

  “I didn’t. I only told him to run as far away as he could and to not look back,” I reply truthfully.

  “Hm,” he says with a nod. “I don’t know if he would have gotten very far, but you did one hell of a job distracting me. That ‘Daddy’ thing got me hard for a minute there.”

  I sigh and clasp my hands firmly in front of me. The kind of fucked up thoughts that run through his head were absolutely beyond me, but I can honestly say that I no longer care.

  “There they are,” he says, turning his attention toward the door. “I got a question for you before we start,” he says to Vaughn. “Where exactly where you planning on going?”

  Vaughn drops down to one knee and proceeds to unclip the leash from Tiberius’ collar, giving Pater a shrug in return.

  “Away.”

  “’Away’. Okay, well I’ll make sure you make your way there after we’re done. But first, you gotta do something for me, remember?”

  Vaughn glares up at him from his place next to Tiberius and begins to get to his feet, when Pater walks over and shoves him back down. “You’re not gonna need to stand for this.”

  My heart begins to race. The first time Pater ever said that to me, what followed next was the metaphorical wildfire that destroyed my garden.

  “Wait—”

  “Ah, ah, ah!” Pater says holding up a finger. “You promised.”

  I stand frozen in horror as he pulls his shirt off, revealing his body underneath. Pater may be much older than us, but he takes good care of himself. He’s not by any means chiseled out of stone, but what he has to offer would be appreciated by someone else in the right situation.

  “Sit down, baby girl. Take your clothes off and spread your legs. Let me see that sweet little pussy.”

  My lower lip begins to tremble violently as I remove my pants and panties and sit on the floor. Closing my eyes for a moment, I turn my face away as I slowly spread my legs open, praying that Vaughn is looking away.

  “God, I can smell you from here,” he remarks, inhaling deeply. My eyes fly open when I hear him begin to unzip his jeans, and I can feel myself dangerously close to vomiting. He’s going to fuck me and make Vaughn watch, and he’ll have this burned in his memory forever, losing his chance at a normal life.

  “Nobody move. I just got an idea,” he says with a smirk, as he walks out of the room. Moments later, he returns with the largest kitchen knife he has, and walks back over toward Vaughn.

  Instinct tells me to get up and try to wrestle the knife away from him, but the very second he sees the fight in my eyes, he grabs a fistful of the boy’s hair and pulls his head back, placing the blade against it.

  “Do you really want to do that? Now? Before we’ve had fun?” he asks with a slight bounce in his stance and that fucking grin on his face. I sit back down on my bare ass and watch the blade carefully. Not only is it the largest, it’s also the sharpest, and even the slightest pressure will draw blood.

  “Now let’s play, shall we?” he says, violently shoving Vaughn back to his knees. “I know you’ll like this because of how badly you wanted to take care of that fucking thing. So spread your legs again for me.”

  I’m crying at this point. There’s no more reason to be brave when I’m so sure I know what he’s going to do to me.

  “Feel that?” he asks Vaughn, rubbing himself against the side of the boy’s face. “That’s what happens when your balls drop. Ever happen to you before?”

  Vaughn tries to move away from Pater, who promptly reaches down and grabs a fistful of his hair again.

  “I guess not. It’s okay, you’re not gonna need a hard dick for what I want you to do,” he says with a chuckle. “Now, let’s start, and if you bite me, I’ll fucking gut your sister. Got it?”

  Oh my God.

  “Pater, no!”

  “Call me Pater one more fucking time and I’ll cut your precious brother’s head off his fucking neck,” he shouts at me. “Get busy with that fucking dog and let me enjoy myself here.”

  Vaughn and I exchange a wide-eyed, horrified glance. We understand now, and what he wants is far worse than anything he’s ever put me through. But it doesn’t stop him; nothing stops Pater when he really wants something.

  Balancing the knife in the same hand he’s still using to hold Vaughn by his hair, he pulls out his hard dick and shoves it into the boy’s mouth, moving back and forth violently, gagging him with a grin on his face.

&n
bsp; “Come on. Find your own pace and it won’t be so bad,” he says to him in a thick voice.

  Tiberius is sitting next to me, watching the entire scene unfold curiously, his head tilted to the side, and I don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t know exactly what it is that Pater expects from me, and I’m so horrified by what he’s forcing Vaughn to do that I throw up all over the carpet.

  “Hm, that’s good,” he says, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “It’s not so bad now, is it?”

  I have to improvise. I have to do something, anything, that will bring this to the fastest end possible. I quickly grab Tiberius by the collar and shove his snout between my legs, rubbing my pussy against his nose until he begins to lick curiously. His tongue is wide, flat, coarse, and I hate every fucking minute of it, but I have to give Pater something so that Vaughn can be free of what he’s being subjected to.

  “How’s that feel, baby girl?” he asks, opening his eyes and looking down at me. “Is he better than me?”

  My jaw is clenched so tightly together that I swear my goddamn teeth are going to start chipping soon, but when the dog attempts to pull back, I move forward and shove myself back into his face.

  Tiberius finally begins to growl, and I know it’s time to stop. I don’t want this poor animal to be treated like we are; I want it to feel loved and cared for, not abused and broken, so I let it go and walk quickly over to Pater and Vaughn. I put my hands on my brother’s shoulders and attempt to pull him out of Pater’s grip, but Pater only laughs and shoves me away.

  “You didn’t finish. I guess it didn’t know what it was doing, cause you always finish with me, don’t you?” he asks, pulling me as close as he can and looking down into my eyes.

  “Yes,” I reply frantically, darting my eyes back down toward Vaughn, who’s gasping for air in between tears.

  “Is that all you got? The both of you? That’s a damn shame,” Pater says, finally pushing Vaughn off his dick. “I did promise you that I would let Vaughn go though, didn’t I? And Daddy always keeps his promises to his sweet girl,” he says, reaching down and grabbing my ass tightly. “Step back. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  I take three shaky steps back and wait. Any moment now, Vaughn will be allowed to get to his feet and walk out the front door, just like it was agreed upon.

  “Come here, kid,” he says to Vaughn as he puts his dick back into his pants, careful not to nick himself with the knife. “You about ready to go?”

  Vaughn is sobbing so violently at this point that he can’t form a cohesive sentence. Pater rolls his eyes and reaches for him again.

  “You sure you wanna leave?” he asks him. He doesn’t wait for a response though. Instead, he shoots me a quick smile, before he turns his attention back to the boy. “Alright, go on, you get to go now. Tell your brother we said hey,” he says, as he pulls Vaughn’s head back, cleanly and deeply cutting his neck wide open.

  All I can do is scream and watch as his hands fly up toward his neck, the warm blood rushing over his fingers, before he finally pitches forward and bleeds out on the living room carpet.

  He’s finally free.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Damn. I really wanted you to do that, but I’m pretty sure you weren’t up for it, were you?” Pater asks as he tilts his head and glances down at Vaughn. The boy isn’t dead yet; I can hear him still gasping for breath and I can see his back moving raggedly up and down. “Wanna finish him off? Put him out of his misery?”

  Pater turns the knife around so that he’s gripping the blade in his hand, and presenting the hilt to me. It’s another test, and it’s one I cannot afford to fail. Being forced to do something so terrible in a moment where my heart can’t take any more, I turn my face away from Pater and reject his request.

  “Don’t have it in you, huh? It’s okay, let him suffer for a little bit. It’ll teach him a lesson before he chokes to death on his own blood,” he says as he crosses his arms and shakes his head.

  He uses his foot to nudge Vaughn’s shoulder, which causes him to sputter, and I hate myself for not having it in me to kill him. But it’s what Pater wants, and I can’t give in, not when I’ve already given him so fucking much already.

  “Hey, where did that mutt run off to?” he asks, suddenly glancing around the room.

  “No more,” I whisper tiredly. “I can’t do this anymore. Please just end it.”

  “Nah, I’m having too much fun, and you’re not pregnant with my child yet,” he replies with smirk. “We’ve got things to do first, baby girl. Then if you want to leave, we’ll talk about it, but as it currently stands, I have no plan of letting you go. Besides, do you have any idea how cute you’re gonna look with a belly? I’ll bet it’s gonna be adorable! Can I tell you a secret, though?”

  I don’t move my hands away from my face. I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing more tears, when I didn’t even know I was capable of giving any more than I’ve already shed.

  “I’m trying to share something with you. Please give me a little common courtesy,” he says quietly as he walks over and pulls my hands away. Pater tries to catch my eyes, but I still refuse, causing him to sigh impatiently.

  “Jocelyn. Stop acting like a spoiled brat and look at me when I’m speaking to you, please.”

  I turn my eyes ever so slightly to let him know he has my attention as much as he has my defiance, but he seems to be okay with it.

  “I’m a little scared. To start over, I mean. Fifty three years on this fucking earth and having to raise another kid from scratch is gonna be a little hard, so I’m counting on you to help me with that. Although to be honest, I bet changing a diaper is a lot like getting back on a bike; you never really forget. I remember the first time I changed yours; the way you looked up at me with those curious brown eyes...” his voice trails off and he pulls me close to him protectively, resting his chin on the top of my head.

  If I didn’t know any better, I would say he’s almost trying to remember how to be a father in this moment, but I know it won’t last long. It never fucking does, and I’ll be back to being his wife in no time while our ‘son’ continues to bleed out on the floor next to us.

  “It won’t be anything like it was with your mom, so don’t worry about that, okay? I took you kids away from her the moment you were born, because I could see in her eyes how much she resented you. I didn’t appreciate the way she would look at you, especially. Which is probably why you kids didn’t remember her when you saw her; you were never around her long enough to form that bond, because I refused to give her that right to my children,” he takes a deep breath to steady himself. I can feel the rage in his words, but he’s trying to make this as meaningful as he can for me. “Listen, I fully intend to raise our kids together instead of apart. I’ve seen how hard you tried with Eloy and Vaughn, and it would break my heart to take you away from any child I put inside of you. You’re a damn good mother, Jocelyn, of that I have no doubt,” he says, as he kisses the top of my head and lets me go. “But for now, we gotta find that fucking dog.”

  He walks out of the room, whistling loudly in an attempt to get Tiberius to show himself, but if he can hear him he’s not falling for it.

  Good dog. Stay as far away as you fucking can.

  “Luke?” I call out timidly. I have another plan, one that won’t fail if I can stand my ground. One that will, at the very least, save the life of the animal if I can keep his attention on me long enough.

  “Not now, baby girl. I need to get rid of this damn dog,” he calls back before he continues whistling. “There you are! Come here, boy! That’s right, I’ve got something for you.”

  I run from the living room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. Pater has the dog by his collar and he’s crouched down in front of him, letting Tiberius happily lick his face.

  “Well, look at that. I can almost taste your pussy when he does that,” he remarks as he glances back at me with a laugh. Tiberius continues to lick Pater’s
face until he pulls away from him. “Alright, that’s about enough of that. Now, you really didn’t think I was going to let you violate my wife and not punish you, did you?”

  “What? Luke, he doesn’t know any better. I forced myself on him, he didn’t do anything to me. I swear! Please, I’ll open the door and he can run away, and I’ll tell Aaron and Crystal that it was my fault he’s gone. I’ll give them their money back and maybe they’ll forgive me. Okay? You don’t have to punish him; punish me, okay?” I plead, ringing my hands nervously.

  “Hm. It’s a tempting offer, but if I can’t resist putting my face in between your thighs, what’s to say he won’t try it again?” he asks, turning his attention back to Tiberius. “I think he’ll be okay after this.”

  Pater pushes the dog down firmly. I move forward to try and stop him, but it’s too late. Tiberius lets out a loud yelping noise as Pater drives the blade under his chin, up through the top of his head.

  “I always did like animals,” he says, more to himself than me, as he turns the blade viciously so that the dog doesn’t suffer any more than it needs to. “Just not this one.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Numb doesn’t begin to describe how I feel anymore. I’m hollow, empty, void of life, and yet here I stand watching Pater as he turns the dog onto its back and splits it open. He’s talking to me, telling me how he’ll skin the dog and make a blanket for our newborn child when we have one, but his voice is so distorted that I’m sure I’ve lost most of his words in translation. Or maybe this is all just a bad dream, and I’ll wake up in a world where it all starts at the beginning and never makes it this far.

  I turn away from what he’s doing and wrap my arms around myself as I walk back into the living room. Vaughn is dead at this point; his back is no longer moving up and down, and as I walk over and place a hand gently on his back, I can feel him starting to become cold to the touch. The sweet peach colored skin that once shown so warmly on him before our lives became this Hell, is slowly turning a soft shade of pale. I know that when it’s over, he’ll be bitter blue and no amount of trying to keep his body warm will make him the beautiful boy he used to be again.