by Dark,A. A.
The sound that left him followed as he lunged toward me. I managed to slide out of the way at the last second, but he had my hair before I could get far.
“I’ll have your face just like I’m going to have my husband’s. You tell him I’m coming! Tell him I’ll love him to pieces!”
I kicked my feet out, throwing my body in every direction I could as the guard grasped me around the waist and swung the door open. I was thrown in so hard that I slid against the tiles only seconds before I hit the back wall.
“I’ll tell him, alright. God, I can’t wait to see what he does to you. In the meantime, expect me.”
“Red light! Red light!”
The woman across the hall shouted out again and I tried to ignore the pain burning my skin as I pushed to stand.
“I’ll expect you. I’ll bite off your face!”
He threw me an evil grin and I couldn’t help but think he knew something I didn’t. It left me cautiously watching as he shut the door. Sadistic thoughts pushed through—murderous little lullabies that whispered of slaughter and butchery. My adrenaline was racing. I wanted to cut them all apart, limb by limb. Perhaps I would have been a good choice for Master Kunken after all. Maybe he wouldn’t have killed me, but let me kill the others. But slaves? No, I didn’t want to hurt them. Just the Masters and guards who wanted to torture others.
“Red light! Red light!”
My lids lowered while I tried to calm and ignore the woman. With how bright the light was, darkness didn’t come like I had hoped. I opened my eyes looking around the small white room. It was barely big enough to fit the bed. The facilities were not three feet away from that.
Nothing. Nothing but white. No windows except for the one in the door. No color. Even the metal frame of the bed was white. I took a deep breath, sitting on the edge as I forced my mind to think over what I had done, again. Should I feel guilty for hurting West? If I did, I didn’t feel it. In truth, a strange arousal came with wanting to do it again. I wanted him to pay more for treating me like he had. Maybe it was the part of me that believed I had finally taken control over him. That I had made him fall in love with me and won. I had been wrong. You couldn’t tame monsters. Not even with love.
My stare rose to the top of the walls while I scanned the space. I didn’t see a camera, but that didn’t mean one wasn’t there.
Bram.
“Are you just going to leave me here? Where are you?” I yelled.
Rage returned and I didn’t push it away. Was he truly watching? Was he getting some sick enjoyment out of what was happening to me? The questions were just another stab into my nearly dead heart. How could he do this after everything we’d been through? After everything I’d been through for him? There were so many things I wanted to ask and say.
“Red light! Red light!”
My gaze went to the door in annoyance. Even shut away, I could still hear the yells. Multiple people kept shouting out random things. If I thought I might get some form of peace being isolated, it was gone now. Is that what I would become while I rotted away trying to come up with some new scheme? Them?
I eased to stand, heading to look out of the window. My eyes barely made it over the bottom as I tiptoed, taking in the door across from mine. A woman with dark skin and dark eyes peered back at me. She went silent as she stared. Fingertips pushed to the bottom of the glass even with her mouth and she gave a hard shake of her head as if to try to tell me something.
“Red light!”
“No, white.”
Thin eyebrows drew in and her gaze glanced toward the ceiling.
“There is no red light. We have white lights. White.”
“Red light!”
A sigh left me. “White! The light is white.”
“You argue with a mad woman, now?”
I spun around, seeing nothing but my facilities and white walls. My pulse jumped and I knew it was Bram’s voice I was hearing. I also knew it wasn’t real. This had happened before, in my most stressed moments. “This is your fault. Go away.”
“You don’t want me to go away. You want me to come rescue you. To be your savior. I already told you that wasn’t me.”
“I want you to stop talking to me. People will think I’m crazy.”
“You are crazy.”
My jaw clamped closed and tears came, but I wouldn’t allow them to fall at my biggest fear. If I was crazy, this was only the beginning of my hell. Who would I become? What would I become? I couldn’t think that far ahead. I needed a fucking plan. A way to outsmart everyone before it was too late.
I turned back to the window. The woman continued to look at me, but her stare jerked to the side at random times. It was as if she were afraid of something or someone.
“I’m Everleigh.” I paused. “Twenty-four-six-ninety. What is your name?”
Silence.
“Do you have a name?”
My voice stayed loud and I knew she had to have heard me, but she didn’t talk back.
“You sure you want to make a friend? You remember what happened to the last one. Will you skin this one, too?”
“I didn’t want to skin Julie. And I said leave me alone.”
“You may not have wanted to skin her, but you enjoyed it enough to do it to your husband.”
“He deserved it. He raped me. He made me participate in Julie’s preparation. Besides, I didn’t skin West. I didn’t get that far.”
“Red light! Red light!”
The pounding of boots had me turning back to the window instead of staring blindly at the white wall like I had been doing.
“Red light!”
Banging began all along the hall and yelling increased from all over. The woman across from me disappeared and I pushed higher on my tiptoes to get a better view. I jumped back at the face that was suddenly before the glass. Abbot, the new High Leader.
Clicking sounded and where I expected him to open it, he didn’t. He moved back and the door swung open on its own. At his hard stare, I slowly walked backward. My mind was spinning and I still wasn’t sure what route to take with West. I had an idea, but what if I was wrong?
“How’s my husband?”
“Your Main Master? Alive.” He stepped in and my chest constricted at the three guards that eased in behind him. I took them in nervously, trying not to show how afraid I was.
“He’s still my husband.”
An evil smile pulled up Abbot’s lips. “I don’t think he’ll be for long. You tried to kill him.”
“If I wanted West dead, I could have done so in seconds. I wanted him to pay for raping me. But I guess you’re ignoring that crime. I am still a Mistress, you know. Why is he not in one of these cells for that?”
The smile disappeared while he studied me. “He’s our Main Master and you butchered him. You’re here on his order.”
“But I’m a Mistress and he attacked me. We both know that’s not allowed. I keep up on the law. Tell me, High Leader, do you think me so naïve? When two Masters attack each other, what is done? I’ll tell you since you want to play dumb. They usually get fined and threatened banishment. Fine me, threaten me, but fucking by God get me out of here! I am no slave. When Bram hears about this. All of this. What do you think he’s going to do? I’ll tell you that, too. He’s going to massacre your Main Master for attempting to kill him in the first place.”
The guards in the back looked at each other, but Abbot didn’t so much as stir. “Bram Whitlock is dead. From what I hear, you saw him buried, yourself. Did you not?”
“It wasn’t real,” I argued. “He was pretending or something. Read the black book, he’s alive.”
“He is not!” Abbot turned and I gasped as one of the guards handed the black book over. I wanted to run and grab it from them. I wanted to hold it like the treasure it was. “You, Mistress Harper, are sick. You’ve obviously been sick for some time.”
“Read the damn poem. The page is marked. Bram is not dead, he’s alive. It says so right there.”
Abbo
t flipped through, flashing me pages. Each one seemed to have something different scribbled in the available spaces around the words. My head shook in confusion and before I could say anything, he stopped on the marked poem.
“I knew Bram Whitlock. I’ve seen plenty of his orders and I have access to the final ones left behind. I have compared the handwriting. Look closer, Mistress Harper. Look at the words. Remember. Bram did not write this poem nor did he write the other things added in, did he? It was you. You wrote this.”
My head was shaking and tears were pouring down my face for reasons I didn’t know. I couldn’t have destroyed that beautiful book with the ramblings of a mad woman.
Did I?
“No. No. I didn’t do that.”
“Yes, you did. I want you to look at the handwriting. Look how close it is to your own.” Abbot pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, opening it to show a note I had made for West. The sight had my world tilting. It was close. Close enough to make me question his accusation. “Same loops, same curves. Bram is dead. He is never coming back. He will not be here to rescue you for what you’ve done. But you will wish you were dead after Master Harper gets done with you. He’s going to kill you, Mistress. He’s going to slice you up just like you did to him.”
Chapter 3
West
Laughter echoed around me, leaving my eyes scanning around the darkness panicked. No matter how hard I tried to force myself to move, it felt as though I was wading in quicksand. I had to run. I had to get away from that tempting voice swimming around in my head.
“Husband? Husband, where are you? Come to me. I want you. Don’t you want me, too?”
My ragged breaths were growing louder while I spun in a circle, jerking against the invisible force that tried to pull me in.
“Oh yes,” her voice whispered in my ear. “Yes, I feel your cock so hard for me. You want me, too. Let me love you. Love you. Love you to pieces. Love you.”
My eyes flew open and I panted through the nightmare that lurked even though I was awake. The immediate jerk as I became aware left my entire body seizing from pain. The guard’s words repeated in my mind. Everleigh’s message for me. She’d love me to pieces. Probably skin me alive if I made her angry again.
“Main Master, are you okay?”
The unfamiliar male voice had me looking over. I nodded, rubbing my hand over my face. The bandage had me growling and reality only brought back her words.
“Where’s Abbot?”
“The White Room. He told me to stand guard until he returned. It shouldn’t be long.”
My head lifted and I blinked through the slight blurriness. My voice was groggy as fuck and I still felt out of it. How long had I been out? Was it the same day? Nothing was making sense at the moment. Nothing but the fucking laugh and the threat that kept coming.
“The red light. Has it happened?”
“Not yet, Main Master.”
So I hadn’t been out as long as I thought. I hit the button to sit, letting out a hiss as pain jolted me, again. “Water.”
“Of course.”
The man scattered to the bedside, handing me the cup. I barely got to sip the cold liquid before the door opened and Abbot appeared.
“Main Master, you’re awake.”
My hand was shaking as I handed the plastic cup back to the guard. “What happened? What did she say?”
One look to the guard and he swiftly swept by the High Leader, disappearing from the room.
“She wants you sent to the White Room for her rape. She holds to her status as a Mistress and says what you did was a crime.”
I laughed under breath. “Did you tell her to shove her status up her bloody ass?”
He paused and I immediately ground my teeth at how she’d probably laugh at that now. Hers wasn’t the only one bloody anymore.
“I wasn’t as clever as that, Master.”
“What else?”
“She’s not … well. I did research into Master Whitlock’s book. The thing is a mess with writing throughout—scribbles, pictures, and other poems. I did pay extra close attention to the one he supposedly wrote. Although close to his handwriting, it appears more of a match to her own.”
I blinked through his words. “Wait. Are you saying Everleigh wrote that poem, herself?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Impossible, she didn’t have access to the book. I kept my library locked when I wasn’t with her. Besides, she was genuinely shocked by what she read. I remember that. Her face was glowing with hope.” I squinted through my hazy memory. “You said it was a mess throughout?”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t before. I glanced through the damn thing when I placed it on the shelf. I even read a few of those stupid poems.” My head kept shaking through what my mind was trying to comprehend. “Something’s not right.”
“I’m only telling you how it was when I retrieved it from the floor a few hours ago.”
“Someone else had to have done it. She didn’t. She couldn’t have. What would be the point of her wanting to see the book if she had already been through it doodling, as you make it seem? No. The poem she read me had to have come from Bram. One of the guards must have written through the pages as a joke or to make her look even crazier.”
Cautiously, he disagreed. “No, I think you’re wrong. I’m almost certain that poem never came from Master Whitlock. It was her. She even began talking to him before I left the room. Talking to someone who wasn’t even there. I believe she’s worse off than we could have imagined. Maybe she doesn’t even remember breaking in and writing throughout, but I’m telling you, it had to be her.”
Flashes of the attack came. I’d chased her to the library … and it wasn’t locked. Had she done it before I arrived? Had I even locked it? I could have sworn I did. But if not and Abbot was right about everything, even the talking to herself…
“I broke her?” I whispered through the gut-wrenching thought. “I fucking broke her? No,” I quickly snapped. “Her mind is stronger than all of this. She didn’t write that and she’s pretending to be crazy so I’ll take it easy on her. I know Everleigh. She’s fucking smart and conniving as hell. She’s scared of what’s happening. She’s remorseful for what she’s done. That has to be what it is. She’s tough. I always knew that. She was just angry at me for what I did and she snapped in the heat of the moment. She did what any of us Masters would have if we were in her situation. Everleigh was never a slave at heart. She’s a sadist, like me. I brought out her need to hurt people by forcing her to hurt others. By hurting her, myself. That’s what it is. It has to be. This is all just … a fucked-up misunderstanding.”
“Master Harper, I’m sorry. I don’t believe that’s what it is. I think she’s truly sick.”
At Abbot’s sympathetic look, I closed my lids through the need to strike him. If she was sick, it was my fault. I would not believe I ruined the only person I had every really cared about.
“You think I’m making excuses because I love her? I do love her, dammit! But I didn’t break my wife! I fucking didn’t. She’s just …”
I trailed off, too choked up by emotions to go on. I was so conflicted. I wanted her to pay for what she’d done. I wanted her to suffer as I was, but I had hurt her, too. My love wouldn’t let me overlook that.
“Do you want me to cancel the red light? There’s still time. You don’t have to do this, Main Master. We can put her under lockdown in your wing until you’re better and then you can decide what you want to do with her.”
“Are you stupid?” I asked, glaring. “Put her in our wing so she can kill the guards and try to finish me off? I may love her, but I’m no fool. The red light will continue as planned. The simple fact that I’m letting her continue to breathe after what she did to me is testament enough of my feelings for her.”
“As you wish.”
“What of Bram’s book? I want to see it.”
Abbot’s mouth opened, only to close. “She asked to
keep it. I let her. I didn’t see a reason not to.”
“You left her the book? Abbot! It’s the principle of the matter. She’s a prisoner. Prisoners don’t get rewarded for cutting up their Main Master. Their fucking husbands,” I said, lowering my voice.
“I’ll get it back.” He took a step while I shook my head.
“No. Let her have the stupid book. She can form a bigger dependency on it and it’ll be that much more pleasurable to burn it in front of her. And tell them to stop doping me up so much. I don’t want to sleep. I can’t sleep.”
I pushed the button to lie back down, already feeling the heaviness of unconsciousness beckoning again. I didn’t want to close my eyes or drift back to the nightmares that tortured me, but staying awake for long was impossible.
****
“Main Master.”
My groan sounded far away as I battled through the dreams that begged me to return. Everleigh was so loving in our moment, cupping my face and kissing me. Her hips rotated while she took my cock even deeper. She was becoming clearer as I focused on the dream instead of the man who was in the distance.
“I’ve missed you.” Heavy breathing brushed over my lips and I wasn’t sure if it was coming from her or me. The dream was warping while she rode me faster. Her fingers were gripping into my face almost with enough force that her nails were going to draw blood. “I knew you’d come to me. Now, I want you to come for me.”
“Stop talking, wife. Kiss me.”
My arm wrapped around her waist, controlling her speed. Just thinking about her wanting my cum inside of her left me right on the edge. Her pussy was gripping each inch like a vice and I could feel her channel pulsing around me.
Teeth tugged at my bottom lip and I blinked, looking at her cautiously. Instinct was triggered and fear had me pulling from our moment to look at her more clearly. Something wasn’t right. What was I forgetting?
“I want to feel you come. Don’t you love me?”
“Of course.”
She moved back in, running her tongue across my mouth before she glided to my cheek. When her face turned and she nuzzled against me, I went back to focusing on the way she was moving up and down my cock. She had always put everything into her rhythm. She fucked me like I was the only one she’d ever want. Even when her passion was hate-based, Everleigh’s love for me never failed to shine through.