by Laura Hysell
The pain subsided before the finger had fully healed, but I had no rest as Sarah grabbed my hand and broke all the fingers in quick succession. Since my fingers weren’t enough she grabbed my free arm as well, popping it backwards at the elbow. I was screaming and crying but she paid me no mind as she turned away and set the pliers down.
It took longer this time for my fingers to heal, and even longer for my elbow. As soon as I was healed once more, Sarah removed the chain holding me to the chair. I had no fight left in me as I slumped in the chair, thankful for it to be over. Sarah’s hands grabbed my upper arms and pulled me into a standing position. In her heels, Sarah towered over me by a good foot.
“We still have a little time left,” she mused softly and I gasped as she grabbed me and pulled me across the room.
Manacles were hanging from the ceiling and I got a much better view as Sarah grabbed my wrists and forced me into a set. I was short and my feet hung several inches above the ground. She picked up the tools off the table and carted them back to the cabinet. She pulled open the bottom drawer of the cabinet and pulled something out.
My arms were already aching at my shoulders from hanging, and the manacles dug into my wrists. Jared was hanging across from me and I caught the look of fear on his face as he watched Sarah. I turned my attention back to her as she stroked the item in her hands. It was a small whip all in black that was maybe as long as my leg. Sarah flicked the whip out quickly, the end digging into the flesh of Jared’s thigh and leaving a bright red welt. Jared jerked but didn’t cry out. I guess I knew what had caused the welts all over Jared and Kirk now.
Sarah turned back and sashayed toward me. She moved her body in close to mine, trailing the end of the whip over my shoulders as she circled behind me. I tried bracing for the pain, but it was like nothing I’d ever felt. The first whip lash came across my shoulders, causing me to cry out in surprise. I was more mentally prepared for the second whip and stifled my cry as it slashed across my lower back. The pain from the first blow still stung as she lashed out several more times, pulling small whimpers from my mouth.
I felt her moving my shirt around, probably examining the welts as they healed. The pain receded quickly while I waited for another strike. Several moments passed while she stood behind me silently. My breathing returned to normal and the pain was nothing but a memory when she struck out again, the whip slicing across the side of my stomach and pulling a scream from my mouth.
Sarah moved into my line of sight, watching the wound she had inflicted with keen interest. As soon as the wound healed she struck out again, slicing across the front of my stomach. I closed my eyes as she hit me again across the chest, the end of the whip biting into my collar. She flicked the whip out once more and it struck me across the cheek lightly.
Tears welled in my eyes and I opened them to see Sarah’s face inches from my own. “Don’t close your eyes,” she ordered as she flicked the whip across my other cheek lightly, making me flinch.
The whip sliced across my face again in two consecutive movements, harder this time. I screamed as she hit me repeatedly without stop, the whip slicing across my body. She moved around me, dancing, as she flicked the whip out with varying degrees of strength. Sometimes the whip barely touched me and other times she used such force I could instantly feel the blood flowing from it.
Over and over the whip flung out, I screamed, Sarah smiled, and the pattern continued. Every time I began to lose consciousness Sarah would stop the torture, waiting until my body healed enough for her to begin again. She spoke very little, only commenting now and then about how she was going to break a new record on the number of times one person could be whipped.
Time was immeasurable. It slowed down and it sped up. The pain would grow until I could hardly stand it, and then Sarah would take a break so I could heal. Then her torture would resume worse than before. Eventually I stopped crying out, my throat hoarse from screaming as she whipped me repeatedly for what felt like hours. Then the torture suddenly stopped. I thought it was another of the breaks where she’d let me heal, but when I looked up she was at the cabinet putting the whip away. I tried to focus on her, but darkness was threatening to take hold of me.
“You did very well,” she said as she moved in front of me. “1000 lashes and you’re still alive. That’s a new record. Next time we’ll try for 2000.”
Chapter 17
“Izzy,” Jared said softly.
I struggled to open my eyes. Where was I? My hands hurt and my shoulders ached. Damn it; I had lost consciousness again. This was beginning to be a very bad habit for me.
I blinked, waiting for my eyes to focus. The room was dim and smelled lightly of lavender. Slowly, Jared came into focus across from me and I jerked against the restraints still holding me. Jared was still hanging as well, but the pins had all been removed and he now had small dots of dried blood all over his body. Nasty red blisters also covered his body from his stomach to his knees from the burns. The pain he must have been in was unimaginable, since he had no vampire blood in his system to heal him.
The pain from Sarah’s whipping was thankfully gone already. I tried to look around, but it was hard to see anything while hanging from the ceiling. I looked down at my body, but all I saw was red blood staining my clothes and dripping onto the floor below me. I looked up at my hands, seeing dried blood across my wrists. I wriggled around and fresh blood flowed from my wrists. I didn’t seem to be healing very quickly any more, and my wrists and shoulders ached with each movement.
I couldn’t see much else in the room from my position, but Kirk and Jared’s empty cages were both in my line of sight. “Where’s Kirk?” I asked Jared, my voice still hoarse.
“He’s on the floor behind you,” Jared replied. “Hey, Rover, can I get a little help here?”
I didn’t hear a response and I looked worriedly at Jared. “Is he all right?”
Jared was glaring down at the floor behind me. “She ordered him to go to sleep and he just curled up and did so.”
“Is she coming back?”
“No, I don’t think so. She usually leaves when the sun comes up and comes back when the sun goes down.”
“So we’re stuck here like this until the sun sets?” I screeched, wriggling around in panic. Blood wasn’t circulating through my body properly anymore and my arms were tingling. I swung myself to the side, where I could just see the chair. Each swing brought fresh blood from my wrists, but I didn’t care. There was no way I was just going to hang here all day waiting for Sarah to come back and resume her torture. Vampire blood in my system or not, I doubted I would survive another session.
I swung back and forth, kicking my legs out until I grabbed the chair with my feet. I held on and pulled the chair closer, until I could stand on it. I smiled victoriously at Jared as I put my weight on the chair. I was able to relax my arms a little and I could see that the manacles I was hanging from were coming from holes in the ceiling. It was too dim to see anything beyond that.
I turned in my chair so I could see more of the room. Sarah had left the tools on the table, as well as the keys. She was apparently confident we weren’t going anywhere. This only made me angrier. I turned the other direction and was able to see Kirk lying on the floor, his uninjured arm curled under his head. He was completely naked and devoid of any apparent injuries.
“Kirk, wake up!” I said in a loud stage whisper. “Kirk! Kirk! Wake up! Kirk!”
“Try Rover,” Jared offered.
I glanced over at Jared, wondering if he was serious, before I turned back to Kirk and said, “Rover, wake up!” Kirk stirred, but simply rolled over so his back was to me. I tried again several more times, but he never moved.
“I think Kirk has left the building,” Jared mumbled.
“Well then, we’re just going to have to rescue ourselves. If it’s daytime then the vamps are asleep, right?”
“Mostly.”
I didn’t ask him to elaborate. Mostly was good enough for m
e. I didn’t really see many options at this point. I turned my body again so I could see the table. Carefully, I stood on one foot and reached out with my other foot toward the table. My foot rested on the table and I stretched out, trying to reach the keys. They were just out of reach, but if I swung out, I might be able to bring them closer.
I adjusted the footing on the chair, leaned back and swung out. The pain in my wrists was immediate and sharp, but I tried to ignore it as I kicked my feet out and put my foot on the table. I was almost standing on the small table, leaning sideways because of my manacled hands. I picked my left foot up and put it farther onto the table, but I lost my balance and swung backwards off the table, the manacles digging into my wrists as my body jerked against them. I gasped at the pain in my wrists and made the mistake of looking up as blood dripped down my arms and into my eyes.
“Are you okay?” Jared asked, concern etching his voice.
There wasn’t really anything to say, so I just ignored Jared and tried again, blinking and shaking my head to clear the blood from my eyes. I wasn’t as lucky the second time. My feet had barely touched the table when I fell backward again, immediately feeling the sting of the manacles biting into my flesh. The third time I made sure I had repositioned myself on the chair before I swung out. I tried a new tactic this time and grabbed the top section of the table leg. I braced both my feet around it and pulled.
The table was heavy and laden with a variety of tools, but I managed to scoot it a tiny bit closer before I lost my grip. I took a breather, resting briefly on the chair before I tried again. I managed to get a better grip on the table and scooted it a couple inches closer before I tired and had to take a break again.
After several more tries I had managed to scoot the table close enough to stand on. The candle was still sitting on the table, but it had scooted to the edge with each jarring of the table. As precariously close as the candle was to falling, I figured I shouldn’t take any more chances moving the table. I slid some of the tools out of the way with my feet and concentrated on the key ring. It was small, holding just three keys. I used both my feet to lift the edge of the ring up and slide it over my toe.
I was relieved at my first victory and I very carefully lifted my foot up as high as I could. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very limber and only managed to get the ring to shoulder-height. With my hands chained so close to the ceiling, I couldn’t reach down to grab the ring. I lowered my foot and carefully pushed the key ring further onto my toe before I turned toward Jared. We were several feet away from each other, but I was fairly certain if I swung out I could reach him with my feet.
“I’m not flexible enough to reach my hands, but I think I can reach yours,” I said to Jared.
He nodded and wriggled his fingers and hands, trying to get the blood flowing. “I’ve lost a lot of feeling in my hands from holding them above my head so long,” he said solemnly. He looked over at me with a large grin plastered on his face. “But, after all you just did, I think I can do my part to help out. Just don’t drop the key!”
“Right.”
I carefully stepped off the table and onto the chair so I was closer. After double-checking that the key ring was all the way onto my big toe, I took a deep breath and swung with all my might. I didn’t have enough momentum to reach Jared’s shoulders, so I had to swing back and forth several times. My wrists hurt with each movement, but I did my best to ignore them as I kicked my legs up and out.
After several swings, I manage to make contact with Jared, hitting him in the face with my left foot. Fortunately, I managed to get my right foot, which held the key, up onto his shoulder. He closed his eyes and licked his swelling lips. “Ow,” he muttered.
“Sorry,” I replied as I strategically placed both my legs onto his shoulders.
The manacles on my arms were straining to pull me backwards, so I knew we needed to move fast. I used my left leg to hold onto Jared as I lifted my right leg up toward his hand. My body was shaking with the effort, but I managed to get my foot up to his fingers. Jared reached out, feeling along my toe until he reached the ring. He slowly pulled the ring off, holding it tightly in his hand.
I lowered my right foot onto his shoulder before I let myself fall backwards, trying to minimize the pain. The manacles jerked against my arms again and I heard a loud pop as pain radiated from my shoulder. “Damn it,” I muttered, guessing that I had just dislocated my shoulder.
I ignored it, focusing on Jared, who was fumbling with the keys. “I can’t see them,” he said, turning to me. “Can you scoot the chair over here so I can stand on it?”
I nodded and grabbed the chair with my feet, simply swinging it over to him. Jared grabbed it with his feet and stood on it, his head almost touching the ceiling. The first key Jared tried unlocked the manacles, and he quickly undid the other one as well, rubbing his wrists as he climbed down.
Jared grabbed the chair and pulled it close to me, so he and I could both stand on it. He shook his hands out, trying to return feeling so he could unlock me. He reached overhead and undid the first clasp and I nearly fell off the chair. Jared quickly grabbed me, keeping me from falling. I pulled myself close to him while he undid the second manacle.
As soon as I was free, we both climbed off the chair and collapsed to the floor. My arms tingled as the blood began flowing normally through my arms. My shoulder was definitely out of socket, and still throbbed. I waited until I had feeling back in my arms before I spoke.
“Jared.”
“Yeah?”
“Would you put my arm back in its socket?”
“Crap,” he said, sitting up and looking at me. He took my arm in his hands, feeling carefully along my shoulder. His eyes held mine. “This is going to hurt.”
“What’s new?” I muttered in reply. “Just do it.”
The words had barely left my mouth when he wrenched my arm, jerking it back into place. I cried out at the sudden pain and cradled my arm to my chest, lying back on the floor. After several minutes the pain subsided and I sat up, examining my wounds. Dried blood caked my wrists and I moved them gingerly, wincing at the pain. Fresh blood flowed as I moved my wrists. I watched the wounds, waiting for them to heal. I’d noticed that I seemed to be healing slower and I wondered if that meant the vampire blood was leaving my system. I wiped at my wrists so I could see the wounds better, and breathed a sigh of relief as the wounds slowly closed up. Even though I didn’t want to be linked to any vampires, the fast healing was a welcome side effect.
I moved on to examining the rest of my body for injuries. My legs had been mostly untouched, while my entire upper body had been whipped repeatedly. I had long ago lost my shirt, and my bra was dangling by one strap. I took it off and examined it briefly before tossing it aside as a lost cause. Under normal circumstances I’d be covering my nakedness, but now wasn’t the time to worry about modesty. Dried blood covered my body. I licked my finger and tried wiping away at a spot, revealing unblemished skin below. I ran my hands over my skin, but I didn’t feel any welts and there was no more pain.
Jared had stood up and was moving around, stretching his arms. He didn’t have vampire blood in him to help him heal, so he was moving gingerly. His wrists were red, but not bleeding since he hadn’t been swinging around the way I had. Burn marks littered his body, along with the tiny dots of blood from the pins. One angry red welt stood out on his stomach, but he didn’t seem to be in a lot of pain any more. On the other hand, perhaps he was just very good at hiding it.
I stood up and walked over to Kirk, who was still sleeping on the floor. Sarah’s coat was pulled around him and I jerked it off him angrily. He woke up immediately and stared up at me as I pulled the coat on. The thought of wearing her coat gave me chills, but it was better than running around topless. I buttoned the coat up and turned toward the door, determined to leave this place.
Jared followed me quickly, putting a hand against the door before I could open it. “We need a plan first,” he whispered.
/> I sucked in a breath and nodded. He was right; I needed to stop and think first. I looked over at Kirk, who was sitting on the floor where I’d left him. “Rover, come here,” I ordered briskly. Kirk quickly stood and walked over to me, his head bowed. I was surprised that he had listened to me so quickly, sharing a startled look with Jared. That was something to figure out later. “You said you’d been here before. Can you get us out of here?”
“If it really is daytime, we can probably walk out the front door,” Jared replied, a small smile playing at his lips.
“How?”
Jared leaned back against the door and scratched at his beard. “The young vamps pass out first and they don’t move until the sun has set. I’m not sure if they’re dead for the day or they just don’t move when they sleep, but either way you could probably have a marching band walk past and they wouldn’t stir. The rooms back here are for Sarah’s human pets, but I think we’re all that’s left. Justin was always housed somewhere else, but I’m not sure where or even if he’s here now. Another set of rooms looks like they were living quarters at some point. That’s where Sarah and her bodyguards always stayed.”
“What do you propose?”
“I’m sure there’s a watch here somewhere, so we can find out the time,” Jared commented as he moved back into the room and picked up the candle. He moved to the filing cabinet and began rifling through the drawers. A minute later he came back with a large rusty knife, but no watch.
“Whether it’s daytime or not, we can’t just stay here. Let’s take a look,” I said, pointing at the door.
