by J. E. Taylor
His slow smile sent a shiver through me.
“Breaking you by any means necessary,” he said. His voice had zero inflection. He moved the hem of my underwear to the side and stabbed a finger deep within me. He was not gentle, either, and the fact that Samantha was watching was even more humiliating.
“They will rip off your feet first, but then I think they’ll go for this, especially if it’s dripping with cum. Maybe they’ll even fuck you before they kill you,” he said as he kept the relentless pace with his fingers. “I think that’s a show everyone will want to see.”
I had no hands available to push him away. He squeezed my breast hard, pulling a wince from my lips.
“Goddamnit, Jaden, wake up!” I cried but I couldn’t pull away, not even when his free hand started to unbutton his pants.
He moved closer. Close enough so our faces almost collided. Jaden was going to rape me, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to recover from that.
“Stop this,” I yelled and head-butted him with everything I had.
My forehead collided with his nose, and I heard a satisfying crunch. Stars filled my vision. Jaden stumbled back a few steps. His hands flew to his face to cover the blood gushing from his broken nose. His eyes glazed with tears of pain. When he blinked the tears away, my Jaden was back in control.
“What the...” he started as he stared at his bloody hands. His gaze lifted to mine before traveling down my torso, focusing on the path of bruises now marring my stomach. After his gaze fell on the chains holding my legs wide open, it dropped to his unbuttoned jeans.
Jaden’s lips thinned, and he turned a fiery glare in the direction of his mother.
Another dart flew towards him.
“Stop,” he commanded in a low, soft tone, and the dart obeyed, halting a fraction of an inch away from his skin. He ripped it out of the air. “You want to see what I’m capable of, Mother?”
Murderous fury painted his features. The chains holding my legs in place shattered. My feet dropped to the ground like lead weights, pulling out a gasp as the impact traveled through my beaten form.
As much as it killed me to stop him from attacking his mother, and doling out some much needed justice, I had to.
“Don’t,” I whispered, and his gaze turned to me in disbelief. “Killing her isn’t the answer.”
“Why the fuck not?” he snarled, still clutching the dart as blood flowed freely from his nose. One of his eyes was now red as well, as if he blew a boatload of blood vessels when he annihilated the chains.
“Because without her, there is no barrier,” I said. As much as I hated his mother, she still held the key to sector eleven’s safety. I couldn’t let his momentary anger put everyone’s lives at risk.
Jaden’s hands slowly dropped to his side, and his face squeezed in defeat. We both knew he didn’t have the strength to hold off a horde of ravagers. I certainly had no strength to lend at the moment. I needed a reprieve from the beatings, from the loss of blood and dignity.
I needed more than a moment or two of rest, and so did he.
Another dart hit him, and he looked at it and then back at Samantha.
“Take him back to his cell,” she instructed.
A pair of guards passed by, grabbing him before he collapsed. Her footsteps approached and she stood staring at the hole for a moment before she moved her hard gaze to me.
“I think Jaden will be my new guinea pig,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’ll make sure he survives tonight, and then I’ll keep trying to cure him. But you...you’ll die here when I open the gates below. Those beasts will tear the flesh from your bones until nothing is left. I imagine they will toy with you a bit first. They seem to like it when their victims scream.” She uncrossed her arms. “Especially your father.”
I glared at her, at the confirmation she just made, but I didn’t speak. I let her leave without comment. The swish of the elevator doors left me in the silence of the cages. Only Jaden’s soft breathing broke the quiet. I glanced over my shoulder to where he lay on the concrete, bound by chains once again.
I leaned my head against my arm before the tears started in earnest.
Hope was a fickle bitch, and right now she left me standing in a puddle of blood, battered and broken.
Chapter 21
I jerked and the chains rattled. I had actually dozed, enough to make everything stiff again. My stomach and ribs still throbbed, but I regained my footing, shifting to try to turn but it hurt. My back burned with every shift, and I could only imagine how many bloody welts traversed my skin. I sucked air through my teeth.
Jaden was still lying on the floor, but his eyes were open. I didn’t know how long he had been studying his dirty work, but the self-loathing was visible in both his scrunched face and clenched fists. I forced myself to turn as much as possible without dislocating my shoulder.
“Stop looking like you killed someone,” I said.
He huffed but didn’t speak. Instead his gaze traveled to the shackles holding me in place all the way to the floor and then back to mine. “It looks like that’s exactly what I did. The sentence just hasn’t been carried out yet.”
“Spare me the pity party,” I said. “Did you know?”
“Did I know what?” he asked and slowly sat up. The corner of his left eye still looked like it was filled with blood.
“Did you know my father was locked up downstairs?” I wasn’t in the mood to dick around.
His eyebrows rose and then fell before knitting together as he tilted his head. The question in his eyes was enough. He didn’t know, and then the horror of it hit him, drawing a gasp from his lips.
“Frankenstein?” he asked.
My heart squeezed. Jaden and I had found a legible book in one of the old buildings. It was preserved in an airtight cabinet, so we broke into it. We read that book over and over until the pages were ragged. It was an appropriate name, and the fact he used that sad monstrosity to describe my father made my heart ache.
I nodded and he closed his eyes, dropping his head to the ground. “Jesus, Frankenstein is your father?”
“I think your mother is going to send him to kill me.”
He let out a near hysterical laugh and looked at me with tears sparkling in his eyes. “That would be the ultimate screw you, and I wouldn’t put it past her.” He started coughing and winced.
I turned back towards the dark pit below. The noise had gotten so loud, I couldn’t imagine lasting long enough to evoke any sort of protection spell once they were let loose. I glance up at the chains.
“Can you get me out of these?”
“I don’t know. Mine are magically enhanced. I don’t know if my mother bothered to do the same to yours.” His eyes narrowed in concentration.
The chain attached to my right arm started vibrating.
“Open,” he whispered and it unlatched.
My arm fell like a dead weight, and I let out a groan of combined pain and relief. I turned around so I could see Jaden. Blood leaked out of his left eye, and his gaze was locked on the second shackle. The slight trembling of the metal along with the heavier flow of blood from his eye, and now his nose, set off my internal alarms.
“Stop!” I yelled, startling him. This was obviously taxing him beyond capacity. “You might need some energy to stop the ravagers.”
“And then what? I can’t come back and I can’t keep this up indefinitely, so why not help free you? Why not make sure you live?”
“Because.” I stopped myself from revealing my plan, however lame it seemed at the moment. If I voiced it, the camera would pick it up, and then Samantha would know I was a witch.
“Because what, Star?” He sat up and shrugged, holding his hands up, showing me his binds. “I can’t break these. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’m as good as dead, and I’d really rather bite it than become one of those things.” He nodded towards the opening.
“What if we both survive?”
He wiped his face on his arm and then lean
ed back against the wall. “What if?”
I nodded. I needed to hear his what-if scenario. I needed some level of calm because my heart had upticked a few minutes ago, like an alarm clock in my soul had gone off and we had run clean out of time.
He smiled and looked up at the ceiling. “What if.” His gaze dropped to mine. “I’d marry you.” The light laugh that escaped made me smile, along with the distant longing in his eyes. “Actually the first thing I would do is make love to you right and proper. Not that rushed desperate excuse I attempted the other night.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” I said. To me it had been a slice of heaven, but what did I know? He was my first. My only, and all I wanted was for another chance to lie in his arms.
The smile that surfaced on his lips conveyed all sorts of naughty promises. “Honey, I can do so much better than that.”
My face heated, and I looked away.
“Our wedding wouldn’t be a production like the one Eleanor insisted on. It would be you and me, either on a beach on the south shore or up on the top of a mountain, with only the heavens and a high priest as a witness.”
“I’d like to wear a pretty wedding dress,” I said and his dimple appeared for a minute.
I hadn’t thought much about what kind of wedding I wanted. All I knew was I had wanted my mother there, but that had been stolen from me. Just the thought sent an ache all the way to the bone. I hadn’t had proper time to mourn my mother. And thinking about her not being at my wedding clenched my throat.
“You’d be beautiful in anything...or nothing,” he said, nodding at my current condition. “But whatever you wanted, I would make sure you got.”
I tried to smile but my lips wouldn’t obey, so I pressed them together and looked away. “I wish my mother could see me get married.”
He sighed and tilted his head. “I wish she could have been here, too.”
“I like the idea of a beach wedding,” I added to try to keep the despair at bay, but it circled like a pack of ravagers. “Where would you take me on our honeymoon?”
“To the ritziest hotel in this sector, and I’d pamper the hell out of you.”
“How?”
“I’d feed you strawberries and champagne while we soaked in a tub together.” His smile was far away, and his eyes almost closed.
I could see the dream forming between us. “Then what?” I asked, finding solace in what his future might hold.
“Then I’d make love to you all night until the sun burned through the sea mist.”
Just the thought sent a tingle through me.
“Well, isn’t that just special,” Samantha said as she strolled down the hall.
Neither one of us heard the elevator. I glared at her, angry at her intrusion on this much needed conversation.
Six guards flanked her, and when she stopped in front of my cell, they continued to Jaden’s and roughly hauled him to his feet. My blood still spackled his bare chest, and his feet were equally as bare and blood ridden. The scent of fresh blood would drive the ravagers feral, limiting his chance of survival.
My gaze met his, and the loss of hope in his eyes clenched my stomach so much I had to fight to keep upright. Terror formed in the center of my body. I wanted his dreams. I wanted him, and I did not want either one of our lives to end in such a horrific fashion.
“We have just enough time to see at least one ravager attack.”
“Let her go, please?” Jaden pleaded as the guards secured his hands behind his back and yanked him into place for a full viewing of my demise.
“No. You’ve sentenced her to this fate,” she said to Jaden, trying to pin my death on his already damaged soul.
“Bullshit!” I snarled with a tremor in my voice. Despite my attempt at a brave face, I was already shaking. My bladder clenched, sending a few stray drops of piss into my panties.
She pressed a button on a remote in her hand, and the creak of metal sounded in the open entry. Footsteps echoed. I tried to yank my wrist from the cuff, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried to hide in the farthest possible corner and traded a pained gaze with Jaden.
I would give up every crazy sick adrenaline rush we shared to wake from this nightmare. I didn’t want to die, and I certainly didn’t want Jaden to watch this massacre. Hope had fled, and with it went all sense of self-preservation.
“Please, please let Jaden go. He doesn’t deserve to die, not for this. He didn’t kill Eleanor... I did. I found a spell book...” The words tumbled from my lips at the same rate the tears blurred my vision.
“Interesting,” Samantha said with a hardness that matched my unyielding panic.
When the beast that once was my father stepped into the cell, he sniffed the air, glancing between the chain holding me in place and the group standing outside the cell.
“You chained my offering?” He waved towards me.
“I want her bones picked clean, and sometimes a running victim gets away,” Samantha said, sending me a glare.
“Stay the hell away from her,” Jaden burst, struggling against the guards’ hold.
My father stumbled back as if he had been shoved, but he shook it off. With each step closer, the frenzy in his eyes flared. He came right up to me and took a big sniff.
“Blood and fear. My favorite,” he said and then ran a nail down my bound arm, splitting the skin.
Jaden thrashed in earnest, like it was his life on the line and not mine. When he nearly ripped from one of the guard’s grip, Samantha pointed the remote once more. Seconds ticked and then the horde of ravagers burst through the opening.
Terror washed over every cell as they came directly for me. Their teeth snapped at the air as saliva dripped from their snouts.
“That should do it,” Samantha said and started down the hall towards the elevator.
Jaden bellowed, twisting from the guards’ hold. His gaze locked on the remaining shackle. The metal burst outward, narrowly missing my father, but a chunk shot clean through one of the ravager’s heads, dropping the beast instantly to the ground.
Before any more could be taken down, the guards dragged him towards the elevator. Neither Jaden nor Samantha had a line of sight into the cage when teeth sank into my calf. The worst kind of pain froze my muscles in place. I screamed.
My father reached down and took the beast by the scruff of his neck. He yanked him off me, sending the animal flying into the far wall. The rest of the pack formed a semicircle around us, but remained at a distance, warily watching my father.
He gnashed his teeth and squeezed his fists tight before unclenching and reaching for me. I flinched back, unsure of whether to be frightened or not. The obedience of the rest of the pack seemed unnatural, but then again, I’d only seen them in the wild outside the walls.
His hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me closer. “Scream again like you are in unimaginable pain,” he whispered. When I didn’t react, he squeezed my arm, sinking his nails into my flesh.
I let out a choking scream until he covered my mouth and brought me close. He turned his gaze to the unconscious ravager and gave a nod to the pack. Instead of attacking me, they turned on their own, ripping one to shreds so all that resounded in the cell were the growls of the beasts and the tearing of flesh.
“I will kill y—” Jaden’s scream was cut off by the closing of the elevator doors.
All that followed was a muffled wail.
I leaned in to my father’s chest as the tears flowed. Jaden thought I was the one those beasts were tearing apart. He thought I was dead. I needed to get out, to stop the madness before he willingly let the ravagers outside the barrier kill him.
I knew the routine. I had witnessed similar executions. They always began with the orchestrated public trial asking for any reason why the accused shouldn’t be exiled. All pleas would be ignored, no matter how valid. My voice wouldn’t be heard. Not in time to stop the guards from catapulting Jaden through the barrier where the beasts would be lined up for their next meal.
I knew that defeated look in Jaden’s eyes. I knew he would drop to his knees and let them kill him. I had to stop this. Now.
I pushed away from my father’s chest and took a limping step towards the locked door with only one focus.
My father’s hand gripped my arm, stopping me.
“You have to let me go. I can’t let Jaden be exiled for something I did.”
His grip on my arm tightened, and he bared his razor-like teeth. The growl that rolled from his throat gave me a start, but he had yet to attack. The pack was still tearing the meat from the bones of their fallen, and until this moment, they hadn’t given me more than a cursory glance. But now they all turned to witness the showdown between father and daughter.
“The reason he’s here and being exiled today is because I put a protection spell on him. One that prevented him from being kept in a loveless marriage with a cold-hearted witch.”
“I dislike that boy,” he said in a tone completely unfamiliar, yet very fatherly and protective.
“I don’t have time for this.” I pulled out of his grip. “Either kill me, or let me go.”
His gaze dropped to my injuries, including the bite on my leg. He pressed his lips together and pulled me close.
My heart leapt into my throat until he whispered, “You will need this.” His hands grasped my shoulders, and he dipped his forehead to mine.
On contact of our foreheads, raw energy circled around me. I went rigid under the power passing from him into me. My back and calf flared with a burning itch that only lasted seconds. My aching ribs reset in a symphony of pain followed by relief. I gasped.
Knowledge of the power I possessed seeped in as the magic fused with my cells. All sounds of feeding stopped. My father’s hands dropped from my shoulders as he straightened. His eyes flashed feral for a moment before he harnessed his inhumanness back in place.
The rest of the pack focused on us, and they growled as one unit and took a stalking step forward. The itch to take the lead took over, but I needed answers before I could concentrate on communicating with the rest of the ravagers.
“Samantha knew you harbored this?” I asked.
