by Terry Towers
He chuckled, tracing my lower lip with his thumb. “Tired of my company already?”
“No. quite the opposite. Just… drained.”
He pulled me closer to him. “Go to sleep, pet. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
~*~*~*~*~
Lance
Lying on my side, I watched Gwen sleep, twirling a lock of her hair around my index finger over and over again. The dim light of the room bounced off of the golden strands beautifully and formed a golden halo around her head on the black pillow. She was an angel in this hell.
Being with her gave me a sense of normalcy. Her presence triggered memories of when life was good, normal. She made my mind wonder about what life could be like outside of this world. I could see myself taking her out on a date. You wouldn’t believe how good the idea of taking her out to dinner and a movie sounded to me. I’d lavish her in romance; there would be flowers and a sweet goodnight kiss at the door, which left me longing for more and anxious for the next date.
I was surprised at how relaxed and content lying next to her made me feel. It felt so damned good. She was like a drug to me and to my dismay I was quickly becoming addicted. She was filling my mind and causing me to make decisions I normally wouldn’t make. Damn these emotions. No matter how hard I tried not to, when I was around her I couldn’t help but feel. But I knew feeling for her was an exercise in futility.
I huffed at myself and my silly ideas. A life that involved dates and friends and college and doing stupid things for the sake of doing stupid things died for me when my mother’s life was violently taken from her. My hope for the future died that day with her and was replaced with one and only one goal – vengeance.
~*~*~*~*~
Gwen
I can’t see who or what they are, but they’re there. Invisible hands are all over me. Pulling me in a million directions. Grabbing me. Touching me in places I don’t want to be touched. I scream. I scream so loud and long that my voice gives out and all that remains is a squeak.
The shadowy figures gradually come into focus. Strangers. Men, but not men, with eyes that glow red and teeth that are more like fangs. They’re going to rip me apart. Shred my flesh until all that is left is a bone in a puddle of blood.
And then Lance comes into view and I’m relieved. He’s going to fend them off and save me. But he changes, until he’s not him anymore. All of a sudden I realize what he is, he’s one of the characters from the Hellraiser movies and he’s going to tear my soul apart.
“Whoa, whoa. Hey!”
My eyes flew open and I screamed, a loud bloodcurdling scream as I came eye to eye with Lance. I punched at his chest, crab walking to the other side of the bed, my eyes wide in terror. I needed to get away.
“Gwen. Whoa. Calm down.” He slipped from the bed and spread his hands out, palms up. “It’s okay. You were having a nightmare. I’m not going to hurt you.”
My heart rate began to slow as I examined my surroundings and reality separated from the fantasy of the dream.
Sensing that I was calming down, he slipped back onto the bed and held his arms out to me, but not approaching, treating me like I was a deer, ready to sprint at any moment – which I was. “Come here Gwen. It’s okay.”
And it hit me again. The room felt like the air had been drained from it. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. The room felt like it was spinning around me and my heart felt like it was going to explode through my chest. I was dying. I had to be.
“Oh Jesus! Gwen.” He closed the distance between us in seconds, pulling me into his arms and stroking my hair. “Just breathe. It’s okay. I’m here. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
I’m not sure how long I stayed suspended in the state of terror, but he was eventually able to pull me down from my elevated state. My fingers dug into his back, holding myself so tight to his body that I began to tremble from the pressure. But he didn’t move, just stroked my hair whispering reassurances in my ear.
When I was calm enough to pull back from him, the concern in his expression tore at me. He was my captor yet he was acting as though it was killing him to see me hurting.
“I’m scared,” I murmured, leaning forward and placing my forehead against his shoulder.
“I know.” He brushed his lips against my temple. “I have to take you back now. I have to check on the new girl and have matters to attend to. Are you going to be okay?”
No, I’ll never be okay ever again, I thought. However, I nodded. “Yes, I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll check on you later, if you like.”
“Okay.” My voice sounded so small, barely audible.
As soon as we left the room, it was like Lance flipped a switch and became the distant captor I expected him to be. All tenderness was gone. So I reverted to “good slave” status, eyes cast downward and not saying a word. The guards who usually accompanied Lance were standing in front of the dungeon door and opened it as we approached.
As we approached the cages I couldn’t help but lift my eyes and a gasp escaped me as I saw the new girl. Her hands were cuffed and she was suspended from the ceiling by her cuffed hands, her toes grazing the floor. She was blindfolded and a black ball gag was stuffed in her mouth.
Oh Jenny… Tears welled up in my eyes for her. She didn’t look to be hurt, but I could see the strain in her arms from being suspended.
“Who did this?” Lance demanded, spinning around to glare at the two guards.
“Tanner, Sir. Said she needed to learn to shut her mouth and since you wouldn’t allow her to be punished…”
A low growl, just loud enough for me to hear, erupted from him. He turned back to my cell, unlocked it, unhooked my leash from my collar and gave me a little shove at the small of my back. Locking my cell door, he proceeded next door to Jenny’s cell.
Hearing her cell open Jenny began screaming around the ball gag, which wasn’t much louder than a muffled moan, and wiggling against her bound hands, kicking out in front of her presumably hoping to make contact with one of the guards. I had to admit, she had spirit – I prayed they wouldn’t break it.
“Grab her legs,” Lance ordered his men, who sprang into action forcing her to remain still.
“We got her, Sir.”
“All right, Jenny. I’m going to unhook you. As long as you promise to behave you won’t be cuffed.” He walked up to her and removed her ball gag. “Do we have a deal?”
“Fuck you!” she screeched.
Lance rubbed the back of his neck, his shoulders tensing.
“She’s been like this since we got her here. This was the only way to keep her quiet.”
Lance sighed. “Okay. Well, I want her down. Cuff her hands around the bars and I guess we’ll have to keep the gag on.”
“Motherfucker! I’ll kill you! I promise.”
With another sigh, Lance placed the ball gag back into her mouth, but removed the blindfold. Exiting the cell, he waited for the two guards to unhook her hands from the ceiling and re-cuff her hands around the cell bar so she could sit on the cot.
She murmured around the gag and glared at Lance, shooting daggers at him with her eyes. No doubt, if she could, she’d kill him in a heartbeat.
Chapter 9
Jenny collapsed onto her cot and fell into an exhausted sleep. She hadn’t even woken up when the men dropped off our trays of slop to eat. I doubted an earthquake could have woken her up at this point. She had so much will, it scared me to think of what would happen to her over the next week. I wished I could protect her from whatever brutality would be coming her way, but I couldn’t even protect myself at this point.
“What will happen to her?” I asked Becca, biting into a stale roll.
“Don’t know. She’s in for a hard time if she continues acting that way. Around here you need to learn when to pick your battles,” Becca answered.
“So she bit Jazz?” A tiny smile curled up the corners of my mouth. There wasn’t much to smile about here so any little win felt
like we’d just won the Super Bowl, regardless of the pending consequences.
Becca’s smile mirrored mine. “Yeah, took a bite out of his arm. Blood and everything, I swear that girl has vampire teeth or something.” She finished her mashed potatoes, licking off her fingers. “Jazz took her off to punish her, but then came back mumbling to himself and cursing.”
Nodding, I decided not to divulge what I knew. I trusted Becca, but at the same time I suspected Lance didn’t want people knowing about his preferential treatment of me and I didn’t want to jeopardize being with him. I doubted Becca would say anything to the guards, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.
“What happened with you? You were gone a long time.”
I laughed. “How could you possibly know it was a long time with no clocks in here?”
“Felt like a long time. What happened?”
“I learned the fine art of giving head… And swallowing... While pretending I like it.” Despite my words I knew I did like it, no pretending required, but I seriously doubted I’d have that reaction with anyone else. How could they possibly expect us to pretend to like doing something like that to someone we couldn’t stand the sight of?
“Can’t forget about the swallowing…” She rolled her dark eyes, her smile widened a moment and then grew serious again. “How are you? Did he hurt you at all? Did you have another panic attack?”
“I did. After our session.”
“How are you feeling now?”
I forced a smile on my lips. “Better. I’m okay, really. He didn’t hurt me. I did what I was supposed to like a good little slave and it went smoothly enough.”
The sound of footsteps and voices sounded from outside the room so we immediately placed our trays by the cell doors and manned our positions on our cots. I eyed my tray. There was still half of a piece of chicken like meat on it. I wanted that meat, but didn’t go for it. I’d have to wait till the next feeding time, I wasn’t about to bring the wrath of the guards down on me over a piece of chicken. But, damn did I ever want it.
The door was opened to reveal Lance with the two men who normally accompanied him. They must work in some sort of shifts or something – Tanner, Jazz and Connor one set and Lance and his two goons the second.
Lance’s eyes scanned all of the cages and nodded his approval to see all the food trays were at the front of the cells awaiting pickup. His eyes landed on the sleeping Jenny as he approached my cell. “How is she?”
I lifted my eyes to see him focusing his stare on me, his expression not giving away anything he was thinking. “She’s okay. Been asleep for a while, Master.”
“Maybe she’ll have a better attitude when she wakes.” Pulling the cell keys from his pocket he began with Becca’s cage and went down the rows gathering the food trays and setting them by the doors. He saved me for last. Opening my cell he motioned with his hand for me to exit.
“Pick up all the trays, slave, and follow me.”
“Yes, Master.” I glanced over my shoulder at Becca and saw she had a bewildered expression on her face.
“Eyes forward and to the ground 342,” he growled, giving me a little shove between my shoulder blades and I stumbled forward, but I caught myself and didn’t fall down. The trays were heavy enough that in my weakened state my arms strained with the weight, but I didn’t complain. He was doing as promised and coming for me for a second time today so I was more than happy to carry some trays for him – regardless of how heavy.
We went up the stairs and turned left, past The Boss’s office and to the end of the hallway. There was a set of double doors, which he parted and held open one side for me to pass through and into a kitchen. It looked like a normal kitchen, aside from the fact that there was a series of freezers along one wall, no doubt where they stored the slop they fed us.
“Where do I put them, Master?”
Lance turned to the armed guards. “Leave us, we’ll be fine.”
They both frowned, but nodded and left, closing the door behind them. After grabbing the trays from me he placed them on the counter and then walked to the kitchen door and locked it. There was a line of knives – butcher knives, steak knives, paring knives. If I grabbed one maybe… But I couldn’t do it and it wasn’t because of the fact I believed there was no way out.
I began to clean off the trays, dumping the excess food into the garbage can. As I finished cleaning off each tray, Lance loaded it into the dishwasher. Halfway through loading the plates I looked over at him and a giggle escaped me.
His brow knit, giving me a peculiar look.
“We look like an old married couple doing the nightly dishes,” I explained and felt my cheeks grow warm.
He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
Feeling his eyes on me, I lifted my gaze upward and met his eyes.
“How are you feeling?” Lance asked, his smile fading and concern filling his eyes.
“I’m okay. Better. Thank you.”
Nodding, Lance grabbed the last tray and loaded it into the dishwasher and started the machine. Turning his back to the counter, he crossed his arms over his chest and eyed me.
“Why are you doing this for me?” It was a question that had been nagging me since the previous day. What was his endgame?
“I don’t follow.”
“Being nice to me. Why? I don’t understand.”
He cocked a brow up at me, a hint of a grin on his lips. “Would you prefer I treat you badly?”
“No, I just… I feel bad for the other girls.”
He took a deep breath in and slowly released it. “I’m going to tell you something and I need you to take this to heart and really, really listen.”
“Okay.”
“The only person you need to be concerned about here is yourself, Gwen.”
“But…”
“But nothing. Sometimes in life we have to make hard choices. Maybe those decisions fuck with your head and are in direct conflict with your sense of morality, but to survive they have to be made.”
We stared into each other’s eyes and I saw a glimmer of something there, like he wasn’t just talking about me, but himself as well. My eyes narrowed at him as if that would help me see past the mask he had on and see into his soul to discover the secrets he was hiding. I couldn’t.
“Then it makes even less sense that I’m being treated better.”
He remained silent a moment, his lips forming into a tight line. “Come on, I gotta get you back.”
I silently kicked myself. I stupidly pushed him and I was being banished to my cage because of it. When would I learn?
~*~*~*~*~
“I have something I need to tell you,” Lance said, sitting next to me on the bed in the BDSM room and taking my hand in his.
A feeling of foreboding came over me. He didn’t have to tell me, I already knew. “The auction –” I whispered.
“– Is tomorrow,” he confirmed.
It was two days after our moment in the kitchen. Lance had been good enough to tell me the dates, which was nice since it gave me a measure of time. He’d been growing increasingly agitated so I knew it was coming without even being told the date.
“And I’m going up for auction.”
“Yes.”
“How many of us are being auctioned?
“Five.”
“Is there a chance I won’t be sold?” I’d been praying every night hoping there might be something to the whole praying thing that the girl at the end of the line of cells seemed focused on. Ultimately freedom was my dream, but just staying there would do for now. Until I could figure out some sort of plan.
His frown deepened. “I wish I could say there was, but you’re the main-ticket item – so to speak – so I have no doubt you’ll sell.”
“Please. I can’t. I don’t want to leave you. Please! There’s got to be something…” I could hear the desperation in my voice, but I didn’t give a damn. My life was on the line and he was the only one who might be able to save me.
“I have an idea that I’ve been mulling around for the last day or so.”
My eyes grew wide and a wave of relief flowed through me. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”
“Your value comes with the fact that you’re a virgin and unmarked.”
“Unmarked?” I knew what he was referring to despite my questioning, I just needed his confirmation. I saw the marks and bruises that Becca and the other girls had.
“If I mark you and we fuck so you’ll lose your virginity it might make your value low enough then I may be able to swing a deal with The Boss and be able to keep you.”
“What will happen to you? Aren’t you and the rest on strict orders?”
“He’s my father. Family doesn’t hold much value to him, but I’ll just claim you pushed me too far, you were abnormally disobedient. Attempted to attack me and I lost control. I’m hoping he’ll chalk it up to a learning curve and your anticipated value will be docked from my wages and in exchange I’ll keep you as my personal slave.”
“And if he doesn’t go for it?”
“Then you still go up for sale.”
I lowered my gaze. I could already feel the pain from the whip in my mind’s eye as it radiated down my back and ass. Sex was no problem. I wanted him. I wanted every part of him. But the marking. I closed my eyes and gathered my courage. If I didn’t then I’d definitely be sold and go to an owner who wouldn’t have an issue beating me. The lesser of two evils, I supposed. This was my only chance and all I had.
I looked back up and caught his gaze. “I don’t need to even think about it. Whatever you need from me.”
“I won’t lie, it’ll hurt – a lot. I need to use a bullwhip and the lashes have to be hard enough for it to break the skin and scar.”
Glancing at the chains hanging from the ceiling, a tremble rocked through my body. Becca has endured, I told myself.
