Subdued

by Sara Fields

  I hung my head with sorrow.

  Now, it probably never would. I’d never get the chance to tell them I believed their story and that I couldn’t wait to join the cause and help take down Nix and his cruel men. I was Nix’s captive now and even I knew that was a fate that was worse than death.

  I’d never get the chance to tell them I loved them.

  I choked on a sob and struggled against the pole. I tried moving my arms and legs, but the only thing I could wiggle was my fingers and toes. I was bound so tightly that I only really had room to breathe. The rope bit into my skin, scratchy and tough and I wondered if it was Vakarran rope. Caleb had mentioned it in passing once, describing how it reacted to Vakarran DNA in order to uncoil and release me. I wasn’t going to escape from this without one of them, or at least, without the help of a Vakarran.

  In an attempt to quell my panic, I looked around, trying to take in details of where I was being kept prisoner.

  It looked like I was in a room off the side of a parking garage of some kind. One of the walls was glass, and I could see faded paint on the pavement outside, marking parking spots as far as I could see. From what I could tell, I wasn’t underground, but either on the ground floor or above based on the window on my right. I wondered if Nix had brought me to Atlanta or somewhere close by. I hoped it wasn’t somewhere else.

  Nearby was a desk, made out of dark gray metal, scratches covering the surface. It was very industrial. There was a leather chair behind it, studded with metal bolts, and a few simple wooden chairs in front of it. There was little else in the room and definitely nothing that would prove useful if I wanted to escape. Everything was covered in dust. On the ground, I could see the footprints of a multitude of Vakarrans. I assumed they were from the men that had bound and imprisoned me.

  Bastards.

  The sound of footsteps echoed outside the room in the parking garage, ominous and powerful. I lifted my head, telling myself I had to be strong. I knew Nix was coming for me and would seek information from me. He wouldn’t be afraid to hurt me in order to get it. I had to remain focused, no matter what. I wouldn’t show him even a single ounce of weakness.

  The glass door swung open and with a flick of his fingers, the room was suddenly bathed in a white light. I squinted in the brightness, blinking and trying to adjust to the intensity. When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw that he’d brought some sort of levitating light ball with him. I stared at it for a moment in awe, before he snapped his fingers and it dimmed a bit. It had to be some sort of Vakarran technology or alien technology of some sort.

  Nix cleared his throat, garnering my attention then.

  He stared at me for a long moment, before he said a single word. He used that time to study my face, then my breasts and the rest of my naked, rope-bound body. The grin that came over him was sickening and I had to work to quell the nausea deep in my belly.

  Up close, the disfigurement to his face was even more revolting. It appeared as though a bullet or some sort of laser had torn through his jaw, flaying the skin apart on the side of his mouth. It had healed some, but in a way that reminded me of a terrible burn scar, bubbled flesh that would never quite be the same. His teeth, yellowed with plaque were exposed, as well as some of the bone on his jawline. The mutilated flesh continued down into his high-necked shirt. I assumed the scars continued down his useless left arm.

  “I’d recognize those features anywhere,” Nix growled. “I vowed that I’d kill every single one of you for what your sister did to me.”

  “Fuck off,” I spat.

  “As always. You Stryke girls are feisty ones. Treasonous little cunts that deserve to be taught a lesson in humility,” he replied, and I felt my upper lips curl up in a snarl. I wanted to lash out at him. He was insane if he thought he was going to teach me anything.

  How dare he?

  He stared at me then, probably relishing the thought that I was his prize, thinking about how he was going to hurt me. How he thought he was going to break me.

  In the light, I could see just how dark his eyes were. Hardly even a glimmer of copper like a typical Vakarran, they were like vivid pools of darkness, a boundless black hole of cruelty and greed. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that he was going to hurt me very badly, and he was going to enjoy every single second of it.

  The only question now was, would I survive it?

  His face was a mess and I studied it to make a point. Then, my eyes flickered to his useless arm. I looked back to him in disgust.

  “Compliments of your sister Danika,” he said, his tone full of anger and hatred.

  “Shame she didn’t finish the job,” I retorted, and his eyes narrowed. Out of nowhere, his right hand swung around and slapped my face hard. His hand was huge, his palm encasing the entire left side of my face. I didn’t make a sound, despite the fact that my entire cheek stung with pain. My jaw throbbed, but I lifted my chin all the same. I tensed, staring at him with my defiance.

  Fuck if I was going to sit here and whimper for his amusement. If he thought I’d scream or beg for mercy, he had another think coming.

  No matter what I said or did, he was going to hurt me and, in all likelihood, kill me and string me up to serve as an example to any human or slave that dared defy him.

  Whatever was about to happen was going to hurt, but I’d keep my dignity. I’d hold my head high and remember all the lives I’d held to avoid monsters like him, and how many more were still surviving in the caves, free of his enslavement and depravity. My sisters and I had all played important parts in that.

  He chuckled.

  “You Stryke sisters are all the same. None of you know who your masters are. You forget that this is Vakarran land now. We own you and we get to decide what to do with you,” he replied.

  “You’ll never fucking own me.”

  “You doubt me?”

  “You don’t scare me,” I retorted. I gritted my teeth, showing him nothing. I could see his frustration building within him and knew I was getting to him. He was the sort of man that was used to being obeyed and if he wasn’t, he’d use his money and powerful friends to make things happen. I couldn’t stand men like him. He didn’t deserve any of it.

  I wouldn’t show him a single ounce of fear. Even if the man skinned me alive, I wouldn’t let him know that I was terrified. Fuck him.

  “What’s your name, Ms. Stryke,” he asked then.

  “Kaela,” I replied. It didn’t really matter if he knew my name now. He’d find out eventually.

  “Kaela. Pretty name, pretty little mouth. Lucky for you, I know many different ways in order to keep you quiet,” he said, his eyes narrowing with eagerness and cruel intentions.

  Well. Fuck. That.

  I spit in his face. His head jerked backwards, and he looked at me in shock. For a long moment, he just stared at me before he hit me again, only this time, he backhanded the other side of my face. I felt my lip split and my nose started to bleed. I struggled to keep a hold of myself, but eventually, I swallowed my yells of pain.

  Fucking bastard. I was going to make him pay for that one way or another.

  “You know, in a different world, we may have once been allies,” he growled.

  “Fat fucking chance,” I spat back.

  He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

  “You’ll learn that it’s unwise to displease me,” he said.

  I didn’t reply. Instead, I just stared at him with hatred, thinking of all the ways I would kill him if I had the chance. He released my chin and dragged his fingers down my body.

  I wanted to throw up. His touch was revolting. I wanted him to remove his hand from my flesh that very second. His skin on mine felt so terribly wrong. When he finally took his palm away, I sighed with relief, but not before he slapped my face once more. My body pitched forward with pain and I struggled to draw in a breath. When I regained control of myself, I lifted my head back up, courageous and defiant.

  I hadn’t made a sound. I hadn
’t cried out and I could see the frustration glimmering at the corners of his face. Good.

  He wasn’t going to break me. He never would.

  “Where are your sisters?” he asked.

  I scoffed. He didn’t know. All his Vakarran technology and he couldn’t find the revolution building up under his nose. Fucking idiot.

  “You can’t find them on your own?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow and casting as much possible judgement into my tone.

  “I know where one is, and she’s on my ship, under the protection of the First Battalion. Where are the other two? Tell me now or I’ll make you rue the day you were born,” he pushed.

  So, Kira was still safe. Fantastic news. I grinned.

  “You want Alaina and Danika?” I pressed.

  “Danika preferably. She’s the little bitch that did this to my face,” he growled, his anger so palpable that it made me shiver. Whatever I did, I had to ensure that Danika was never in his presence, ever again. I’d protect all my sisters with my life if I needed to. So, I decided to goad him instead.

  “I think she missed a spot. Should have put a bullet right between your god damned eyes and straight into that useless thing in your head they call a brain.” I laughed, ignoring the fact that my body still throbbed with pain.

  “Fucking cunt,” he yelled, his disfigured face turning from a dark purple to a mottled blotchy scarlet, which made him look even more foreboding. He was getting angry and I didn’t care. He leaned toward me, bathing me in the putrid scent of his breath and grinned. I watched as his tongue licked what was left of his lips and I shivered with revulsion.

  “I’m going to enjoy slitting your throat as your sisters watch. I’m going to revel in the moment when they see the life fade from your eyes and I’m going to treasure the moment when I can slice their pretty little necks too,” he whispered threateningly.

  “Fuck you. You’ll never find them.”

  I didn’t say another word. He stared at me for a long time then, toying with the knife on the loop of his belt, likely contemplating whether to end my life now or later.

  Eventually, he scoffed and turned away.

  Frustrated with the lack of information, he left me then and he didn’t come back, not for several days at least. I was left tied to that pole, alone. No food. No water and no place to relieve myself, I was forced to survive in my own filth. At night, the building was cold. During the day, it was very warm. I was wet with a layer of sweat constantly, only to shiver it away in the darkness. I tried to sleep in order to pass the time, but soon, the dryness in my throat began to keep me awake. I felt sluggish and weak from lack of food and tried to rest as much as I possibly could in order to keep my strength. My tongue felt like cotton.

  I wondered if he’d left me to die here.

  Eventually, he sent someone to deliver a cup of water. Thankfully, his lackey must have been instructed that I drink the entirety of it, because he dribbled it into my mouth, slowly enough so that I could drink it all. Maybe he was feeling sympathy for me, because he fed me a hefty piece of jerky too. I’d never tasted anything so delicious, and I savored every bite. It could have been terrible, but I didn’t care. I was so damn hungry. The Vakarran soldier wouldn’t meet my eyes and I didn’t try to speak to him either.

  It didn’t matter anyway.

  Another day passed, and Nix finally came back to visit me again.

  When I saw him walking toward me through the glass wall, haughty as ever, I wanted to punch him in the face. He’d left me here to rot, while he went off to make plans to destroy me and my sisters and the rest of those who inhabited Earth. If there was anyone in the world who was better off dead, it was him. I wished I had a knife, so I could slit his throat, just like he’d threatened to do to me. I’d settle for any manner of gun too, be it a 9mm, a laser gun, or a flamethrower. Anything would do.

  He entered the room and stared at me for a long time, before he spoke.

  “Are you ready to tell me where your sisters are?”

  I huffed with amusement.

  “I’d never betray my family, you fucking bastard.”

  “Such a filthy mouth on a human. If I don’t kill you, I’ll have to remember to remove your voice box in order to keep you quiet, just like a slave is meant to be. Maybe I’ll even grace you with my sons in your rebel womb. Teach you exactly who conquered who, that is, if I don’t decide to kill you,” he warned.

  “Fat chance, asshole,” I replied.

  He grew dangerously quiet, before reaching down and releasing some of the bonds of the rope. He knelt and forced me to bend my legs by pressing hard on the skin on the back of my knees. My body fell down a short way and my knees smacked onto the concrete floor below. My breath left my lungs in a single whoosh as I struggled to maintain control.

  Pain lanced up and down my legs and for a moment, I thought my kneecaps had shattered. Gradually, the hurt ebbed away though and I was able to lift my head and show him exactly how pissed I was. Only now, I had to tilt my head way back in order to look up at his face. If I didn’t, I was only staring at the bulge of his dick in his pants. He chuckled knowingly, and I snarled back at him.

  “You just don’t know when to shut up, do ya, bitch?” he muttered as he started fumbling with his belt with his one good arm. I stilled, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

  Shit.

  He wasn’t doing what I think he was doing, was he? I drew in a shaky breath and turned my head, listening as he unzipped his pants and pushed them down.

  “Don’t you fucking dare,” I yelled.

  He grabbed my head and then forced me to look at his cock. I swallowed back my disgust as he thrust toward my face with it.

  His dick was smaller than all four of my Vakarrans and I was not impressed. His balls looked like a shriveled-up bunch of grapes and it was very clear that he didn’t take much care in cleansing himself. I gagged inwardly, but kept my mouth fully shut. The scent of his body would have made me puke had I not done so.

  “You’re just a noisy set of holes to fuck, human. Your place is by our sides, legs open and mouth shut, unless you’re sucking my cock,” he reprimanded, before grabbing my chin and pressing hard on the pressure point behind my jaw, forcing my lips apart.

  “If you just give in, it would be so much easier for you,” he said. My jaw throbbed with pain, and I tried to ignore it. I knelt there in shock for a long moment. Fucking asshole.

  But then, I got an idea. If I could get him to loosen the ropes, I could make him pay for this and then get away. I could escape. When he finally removed his hand from my jaw, I sighed with relief.

  “The ropes are too tight. I couldn’t do a proper job, all tied up like this,” I said, taking as much care as I could to sound like I was giving in to him, like I was scared.

  I wasn’t but he needed not to know that.

  “Open your mouth. Show me you want to apologize for your behavior,” he demanded.

  I complied. Reluctantly. I knew what was about to happen.

  Then, he shoved his dick in my mouth.

  He leaned forward, brushing the rope with his fingertips as he did so. I felt the bonds loosen a bit more.

  I tried not to focus on the fact that he was fucking my mouth. If I did, I knew I was going to get seriously nauseous and throw up all over him.

  But then the ropes loosened again, distracting me. They were slack enough for me to start shimmying them down my body. If I worked hard enough, I could get out of them.

  One by one, I worked my arms out of the ropes, but he wasn’t even looking. His eyes were closed as he used my mouth for his own sick pleasure. Not only was he vile, but he was an idiot too.

  I worked the rest of the rope down my body as he thrust forward again and again. He was hardly even big enough to reach the back of my throat when he did so, which was amusing. I wanted to laugh, but it was hard when he kept shoving that revolting thing between my lips. Compared to my Vakarran men, he was clumsy and disgusting. Nothing like my men and he d
idn’t deserve to use me in such a manner.

  Once my arms were free, the ropes practically slid from my body.

  I pretended to be a good girl. I pretended to suck his cock like a well-behaved human slave should, but I was preparing myself for the moment when I was going to fight back. He wasn’t going to know what was coming.

  “That’s right, Kaela. Suck your true master’s cock,” he said, his voice thick with sordid arousal. I gagged around him then and he reached down to tweak my nipple.

  But I was done. Totally fucking done.

  I wasn’t going to do what he said, and I wasn’t going to allow him to use me like this, ever again. He wasn’t going to break me by shoving his revolting dick down my throat. He wasn’t going to break me by causing me pain. I wasn’t made to be broken.

  So, I bit him instead.

  I gnashed down with my teeth, hard and I felt them break through the skin beneath. I tasted the coppery flavor of blood on my tongue then and I screamed with victory.

  Nix shrieked, a high-pitched sound I wouldn’t have known he was capable of, and he staggered backwards, tripping over his pants as they tangled around his knees. He fell down to the ground, catching himself just barely with his arm, and curled up in the fetal position as he cupped himself.

  A humiliating picture, but if there was ever a man who deserved it, he did.

  I didn’t care though. I shoved away from the cement pole and started to run. He yelled for his guards, but he hadn’t come with any. He’d been overconfident and underestimated my resolve. Stupid fucker. I’d teach him.

  I raced out into the parking garage, searching for an exit and finally finding one. I burst out onto the street and ran for my life, sprinting down alleyways, between buildings and vaulting over fences when I needed to.

  The sun was setting, and it was beginning to approach nightfall. The moon hadn’t risen yet so the shadows were overtaking the city quickly. I was thankful for my luck and ducked into one of the darkest alleys I could find. I sprinted down it and put as much distance as possible between myself and Nix.