“Heart?” Gaishon asked.
“Yes,” Rokai answered, already approaching the abused corpse.
Chapter 23
Moments later Rokai and Gaishon hurried toward the main building. Their adrenalin was in full force, and they barely even noticed the cold dampness as they splashed through the myriad of puddles formed along the route of tunnels from one building to the next.
They paused outside the steel door that would grant them entry to the lower levels of the main hub. “I am prepared to do this alone. If it is too much for you…” Rokai started, earnestly offering to give his friend the option of waiting for him and not have to take a hand in the vendetta he personally had to see through.
“No. If I didn’t assist, if I didn’t fulfill my part, I would never be able to look another female in the eye. How can these fucks have gotten away with this as long as they did? They should have been put down long ago.”
“Vanoth had money. He built a facade that many of the wealthy bought into. This refueling station is so far out, very few ever visited. And those who did — who knows? Perhaps they were even participants.”
Gaishon just shook his head. He couldn’t believe the depravity of these fucked-up males.
“Last chance,” Rokai offered.
“Knock on the door, Rokai. Let our presence be known. It is time.”
Rokai turned, banging on the metal door with the hilt of his hunting knife.
A servant opened the door to grant them entrance. “Enter,” he said simply, keeping his eyes downcast and stepping back out of the way.
Rokai entered, his sharp eyes taking in the entire area in one glance to be sure no one was lying in wait for them.
Gaishon waited a beat before following, waiting for Rokai to signal it was safe to enter as well. Once he too stepped inside, he waited beside the door. “You move up ahead to lead us. I’ll secure the door,” Gaishon said to the servant.
“I must see to the door. If it is not secured just so, I will be punished.”
Gaishon narrowed his eyes. “They punish you? They strike you?” he asked.
“That would be the least of it,” the servant said quietly.
Gaishon slammed the steel door closed, bolting and locking the door securely. He turned to face the servant. “No one will be punished here again.”
The servant risked a glance up from the floor. He was a young male, perhaps still in early puberty. He glanced down again too quickly for Gaishon to make full eye contact, but his demeanor indicated the boy wasn’t convinced.
“Take us to the gathering,” Rokai demanded, a growl in his throat, his Psi having engaged.
The servant hurried ahead of them, obviously alarmed at the condition Rokai was in. His teeth had elongated, his body had increased slightly in size, his horns had grown and thickened. His hands were now tipped with clawed fingers, and his voice was low and growly.
They entered the large room, set up for nothing less than an orgy. The room was large and circular. It appeared to have been a commissary or food serving facility at one time. There was a raised level going around the perimeter of the room, with a small set of only a handful of stairs set every twelve feet or so all the way ‘round the room. The center of the room was lower by about five feet from the upper encircling level. In the center of that lower level were a dozen handmade benches. Each made with the idea of a person being bound to them and held immobile while any who cared to were free to assault them in any way they chose. Some of the benches were made for the person strapped to them to be face down, their bottoms in the air, thighs spread apart. Yet others were situated so that the person would be bound to it, face up, their thighs pressed back against their chest, their heads dropping off the bench and falling helplessly lower than their bodies, leaving their mouth available for assault as well.
Various whips, canes, iron rods and brands were strewn about, available for any who wanted to be able to use them as tools of torture. An open hearth stood nearby, so the rods and brands could be heated before use. Strapped to these benches, already in various stages of torment, were three females. Their bodies were bound, their breasts and nipples clamped, one already burned and blistered. She was face down, her bottom in the air, her thighs spread wide, and a large phallic-shaped object protruding from her vagina. Fresh raised and blistered brands were on her buttocks and back from the heated iron rods the male was using on her. One male was standing beside one of the females bound face up, the fingers of one hand thrust inside her as he steadily tightened the tourniquet around her throat.
“Stop!” Rokai bellowed, charging down the stairs nearest him and into the center of the room.
“Why? Because you’re late to the game? That is on you, not us. We’ve already begun, either wait your turn, or take advantage of the piece you asked for,” the male tightening the tourniquet answered with a condescending tone, while lifting his chin in the direction of a very pink, very naked male strapped ass up on a bench of his own.
Rokai glanced toward the pink male, then returned his attention to the male currently torturing the female. The male withdrew his hand and slammed it into the female again. Rokai was sure if she’d been able to make a sound, she’d have cried out, or at the very least whimpered. Her face was red, and tears fell steadily from her nearly bulging eyes as the male tightened the tourniquet relentlessly.
Rokai snapped. He released a roar that would have made Zha Quin Tha proud and rushed the male, hunting blade held high.
Gaishon released his own snarling roar and advanced on the next nearest male, holding a hot brand in hand, having stopped on his way back to the female he was tormenting to watch what played out with his friend and the new guest.
The first male dropped the tourniquet in an effort to steady himself and fend off Rokai, but it was too late. Rokai was on him faster than he realized, the blade in Rokai’s right hand gutting him throat to belly, then twisted and ripped its way back up. “I said to stop!” Rokai screamed as the male’s intestines spilled to the floor and his body slowly slipped down to lie on top of them. He turned toward the rest of the room.
The male holding the hot poker was crumpling to the floor as well, the hot poker stabbing through his own chest.
Rokai looked around and found two more males. They were standing beside what appeared to be a very young female, tied face up. Her mouth was held open by a gag of sorts that consisted of a smooth metal ring that had been fitted just inside her teeth; the straps attached to the ring were then pulled behind her head and fastened. It held her mouth open for any male to thrust into without danger of her biting down on him. Her body was bound tightly, her breasts trapped painfully between lengths of chain fastened so tightly that the tips of her breasts were turning blue.
One male stood just to the side of the female’s head where it hung down lower than the bench she was bound to. His cock dripped with saliva and had obviously just been forced down her throat before he stepped back to see what all the commotion was about. The other stood between her legs, holding what looked like a small weapon of some sort. It emitted electrical charges, and from the marks and burns on her body, it was clear they’d used it on her. The male held it aloft in preparation of applying it to the softest flesh between her legs.
Rokai loosed another battle cry and attacked. Gaishon joined in. Both males met them halfway across the room, prepared to fight for their lives. The males grabbed whips and iron rods to fight with. Rokai and Gaishon used their blades. The battle lasted for less than ten minutes, and at the end of it, Rokai and Gaishon stood in the middle of a blood-soaked floor, their breath heaving, as they took a moment to regain their composure.
“Free me!” they heard whispered hurriedly from behind them.
They turned to find the servant boy huddled on the far side of the room, Navon trying to convince the boy to free him before they could kill him, too. The boy looked worriedly from Navon to the two terrifying males, covered in blood, standing amongst the four bodies they just kil
led, and back again.
“Be quick, you worthless bag of bones! Free me!” Navon whispered urgently, unable to turn his head to fully see what had taken place, but knowing it was not good.
“Boy, you move to free him, it will be your last move,” Gaishon said harshly.
The boy raised his eyes to Gaishon and nodded his understanding before again casting his eyes down at the floor beneath his knees where he huddled.
Rokai started with the female nearest him. The one who’d been nearly strangled by the tourniquet around her throat. He slashed through the leather bindings with his blade, freeing her from the bench. She was sobbing, and crying openly. “You are free. Sit here, gather your wits about you. We shall take you to freedom when we leave here,” he promised as he broke the clamp on the chain binding her hands and allowed the chain to fall to the floor.
Gaishon went to the woman who’d been burned with the iron rods. She was face down and had not been able to witness much of the battle, only experiencing the screams and sounds of fighting and death. He removed her bindings which it turns out were attached to the phallic shaped object, which removed it from her body as well, and loosed the clips holding the chains in place. He very carefully helped her sit up. “You are safe now,” he said softly before moving to join Rokai.
Rokai hurried to the third female, the one who appeared to be very young. She whimpered when he approached, unable to speak because of the brace in her mouth. “Shh. You are safe. No one will harm you,” he tried to assure her. His Psi was still fully engaged, causing a constant growl in his throat.
Rokai knelt beside her and reached behind her head, loosening the straps. The metal ring had been forced between her teeth, and she couldn’t remove it since her hands were still tied. Rokai reached into her mouth and pushed on the top of the ring, causing it to shift. Once it shifted, the woman was able to use her tongue to push it further onto its side, then opening her mouth wide, her eyes met Rokai’s, asking him silently to remove it. He grasped the end between bloody fingers and pulled gently. The ring was so wide, the female had to open her mouth painfully wide to even have it removed. Then he went to the middle of the bench she was on, slicing through leather bindings, and breaking the clamps on the chains used to secure the females. As the blood began to rush back into her breasts, the female sobbed and held her breasts with her own hands.
Rokai then went to the end of the bench and released her legs, helping her to support them as he turned her and placed her feet on the floor beside the bench she sat on. “You are free. We will not harm you. No one will harm you.”
Rokai turned to look at Navon, still strapped to the bench. His eyes wandered over the room once more, landing on the various whips and torture instruments strewn about. He stalked over to the whips, lifting and inspecting several before settling on one with blades and barbs sewn into it. The very type that would have inflicted the same damage as evidenced on Rosalita’s back. He started toward Navon, but then came to a stop, noticing an open vat of a pungent-smelling liquid on the floor beside the fire. “What do we have here?” he said aloud.
The last girl he’d freed spoke up. “It seeps inside your flesh. You won’t heal and eventually you will die if it’s used on you.”
Rokai looked up at her. He nodded, then stepped toward the vat of liquid, submerging the lengths of the whip beneath the surface. Satisfied that he’d prepared the whip the way he wanted it, he strode toward Navon.
Navon giggled nervously. “Rokai, I am here as you requested. Do you see? I trust you. Do not cause me harm,” the male simpered.
“You are a fool,” Rokai answered.
Navon giggled again, then belched. “I even drank all the lager you instructed.”
“Excellent. Then tell me the antidote for the poison you soak the whips in.”
“We do no such thing. It’s simple sex play — all those involved volunteer and participate at will!” Navon exclaimed.
“You lie!” another of the females screamed through her tears.
“Seems they do not agree, Navon. But it matters not, I’ve decided to test this concoction on you. Perhaps I will learn of its properties if I see it in action first hand,” Rokai said, pulling back his arm and bringing down the whip with all of his strength across Navon’s back.
Navon squealed. “Why do you behave so? You wished to pleasure me! I’ve prepared exactly as you requested,” he cried.
“All I wished to do is locate those who harmed my female. Make a gift of their heads and hearts to her. Then I learned you had other females here that you continued to torture. It is unacceptable to my very soul to allow you to continue to breathe. Having you strapped to a device of your own torture, having the others in the same room with you, and having you all at my will is exactly what I wanted, what I needed. All else was only in your warped mind,” Rokai explained calmly as he knelt beside Navon with the whip he’d struck him with in his hand.
Navon, bound as he was, could only turn his head, not lift it. He turned his face toward Rokai, and his disgusting, red painted lips begged for Rokai to give mercy. “It’s not my fault. I was taught these things by Vanoth.”
“I believe you were taught by Vanoth, but I also believe that you have continued on after banishing him to your twisted version of imprisonment.”
“I have never lifted a finger against these females, only observed the play between them and my males!” Navon screeched.
Rokai sensed movement behind him at the same time Gaishon called out a warning. Rokai dove to the side, but needn’t have. He turned to see what was headed in his direction only to find the servant boy, with a white hot iron bar in hand descending on Navon. “You have caused more harm than all of them combined,” he sobbed, his face a mask of fury as he brought the hot metal down again and again anywhere he could reach on Navon’s body, searing the flesh.
Navon screamed and pleaded for Rokai to make the boy stop.
“Tell me what I want to know! What is the antidote for the poisons soaking the whip?! Tell me, and I’ll make him stop.”
“It’s a paste, a green paste, it is stored in my chambers. It is the only thing that will neutralize the oils once they enter the flesh!”
The boy brought the branding iron down on Navon’s back once more, causing Navon to scream in pain.
“Make him stop!” Navon screamed sounding as high-pitched as a female would. “You promised!”
Rokai laughed, deeply, richly. He squatted down beside Navon once more, signaling the boy to back up. “I lied.”
“No! You gave your word!” Navon cried.
“Don’t you know, Rokai ahl has loyalty to none? You cannot trust me, you fool.”
“Rokai, you do have loyalty to one,” Gaishon said calmly.
“That is right, I do now have loyalty to one,” Rokai said, glancing back at Gaishon over his shoulder. He looked back at Navon. “Shall I tell you of her? She’s beautiful, curvy, strong, sassy. She has long, heavy, dark hair. Golden skin marked with almost as many tattoos as I have. But hers are pretty, colorful. She’s got huge eyes her soul peeks out of. And right beneath those eyes is a very special tattoo. It’s a teardrop.”
Navon’s body tensed. His line of sight jerked away from Rokai’s face and toward the floor. But it was too late. Rokai had seen the reflex jerk when recognition snapped in Navon’s brain.
“Ah, I see you remember her. Well, since you do, I’ll tell you a secret.” Rokai lowered his voice and leaned closer. “You see, I’m half Cruestaci. The stories you've no doubt heard are true. And, as a Cruestaci, I recognize my Ehlealah on sight. Guess who my Ehlealah is? That’s right, the very girl I just described to you.”
Navon sobbed.
“And I’m here to collect a vendetta on her account. As a mating gift, I’m presenting her with six heads, six hearts. Your uncle’s — he’s already dead. Your males, already dead as well, all four of them. And that leaves just one — yours.”
“You cannot get away with this! You’ll need me
to swear you were not here when these males were murdered. You’ll need me for your survival!” Navon screamed, desperately grasping at straws.
Rokai stood, dropping the whip to the ground. “No. I won’t. I don’t care what they do to me. My Ehlealah will live free of fear, knowing that all who hurt her no longer breathe. That alone is enough for me.”
Rokai held his hand out toward Gaishon, who walked closer to him and tossed him his broadsword.
Rokai caught it and held it down for Navon to see. “Say goodbye, Navon.”
“Nooooo!” Navon shouted.
Then just as suddenly as Navon began to scream, the sound stopped. There was only the sound of sobbing and quiet tears from the females in the room and sniffles from the young boy.
Rokai turned to the boy. “Can you gather coverings of some sort for these females?”
“Yes, sir,” he answered, actually raising his face to look Rokai ahl in the eye.
“And the green paste he spoke of, do you know where to find it?”
“Yes. He used it on me after the whip.”
Rokai couldn’t help the snarl that left his throat. He took a deep breath trying to maintain control. “Bring it, too. Are these the only females left on this godsforsaken rock?”
“Yes, it’s just us. The other two died a few days ago,” the younger female answered.
Rokai looked toward Gaishon, who was busy putting heads in Rokai’s sack. “I’ll take care of the hearts,” he said, taking his hunting knife in hand.
Rokai noticed that two of the females looked away as they took the heads and hearts of the males. But the younger one, the one he’d assumed was the younger and more innocent of the three, looked on expressionless, refusing to look away. This one was stronger than he’d thought. Even through her tears, and recent pain, she refused to cower. This one would not only survive, he’d bet all his credits she’d recover and succeed in spite of it all.
Haven 2: Redemption Page 20
