by Dark,A. A.
Eleven hesitated. “I shouldn’t say anything. If he really is alive … God, I shouldn’t.”
“If you want any chance of leaving here, you’ll tell me.”
“Fine. Once, he made Bram fuck one of the slaves meant for me. And not just fuck her to have sex with her. He made his son do it right in front of both of us. Like a show, like he did with me. It knocked Bram down to my level like he was no one. Anyway, Bram didn’t want to. They got into a huge argument. He even yelled something about making the pampered slave—me—do it. It’s what I was there for, after all. God, the look he gave me when his father wouldn’t let it go… I thought Bram was going to murder me on the spot. But he didn’t. Instead, he damn near killed the girl before I was made to finish her off.”
Eleven sniffled. “And that was just the first time. What I watched Bram Whitlock turn into over the years was absolutely terrifying. He is not a good man, Mistress. I don’t care what you’ve seen or what you know of him. I’ve witnessed what I doubt few others have. He’s like no one I’ve ever met before. Not even here in the White Room. That side of him goes beyond scaring me. I’ve had nightmares about what I’ve seen him do.” He paused. “Some of the slaves were shattered on the inside. Some completely unrecognizable. Sometimes I wouldn’t have to kill them at all because he did. And he seemed to love it at times. He’d finish with one and ask for another. Maybe it was to spite his father, but girl after girl. Over and over. I think he got up to six girls one night. All dead. All … dead.
Everleigh’s lips separated and it took her a while to compose herself. Me, I already knew this. I’d been there, myself. It was nothing. It was our lives.
“Why should I believe anything you’re telling me? Bram changed the ways of Whitlock when he became Main Master. He closed down the Cradle. For all I know, you could be lying.”
“I hear the doubt in your voice. I think you believe me. I think you’ve seen a part of him that scares you, too. It should. You should be terrified.”
Everleigh’s head lowered to her knees. Minutes dragged on before she lifted to look up at the wall. She was so gone. So closed off as she stared ahead. And me … although I worried about her mental status, I reveled in the fact that Eleven’s words turn her more away from Bram. I knew they had to. How could they not? She’d had a taste of Bram’s dark side. She knew what he could be capable of.
The door opened and her head jerked over to the side. Everleigh scrambled to her feet, wiping her hands down her gown.
“Master Kunken. Thank God you came.”
I’m not sure you should thank God, but I’m here, nonetheless. You asked for me?”
Dark hair swayed just below her chin and she stepped forward, clasping her hands. “Yes. I would like to request that you listen to my side of the story and have me removed from this place. I know what I have done is unforgivable, but my actions were justified. I’m a married woman. I am a Mistress. That has weight in our world. I understand that my husband is the Main Master, but I asked that you please take into account my status. If I’m to be punished, I accept that, but not with this as the sentence. Surely, I can be placed in an apartment after my lashing?”
Beady eyes narrowed as he came closer. The guards were right behind him while they stared wearily ahead.
“Is that what you wish your punishment to be—lashings?”
“It is. I feel it is more than what I deserve, but I’m willing to pay for my crimes in that manner if it means I’m set free.”
“Hmm. I don’t believe your husband wants you out of here. He’s rather upset at what you did.”
“He raped me,” she said, stronger. “He raped me more times than I made him pay for. I was his wife, not his slave. In truth, I should be demanding you make us switch places, but I will not go that far. I know it will not happen. What I will make clear is who I am. I am the wife of the most important man in this place. The others will know I am being wronged. That has to mean something.”
“Oh, it does.” He glanced around the room, rubbing his lips together as he seemed to think. “If I set you free, you do realize your husband is still your husband? He can continue to do to you whatever he pleases.”
Anger swept over her face. “Without consequence?”
“I didn’t say that. I just stated that I won’t keep him away should he decide to … seek revenge. The choice will be his, no matter the repercussions. You will be on your own. There will be no guards to protect you. These men belong to our Main Master.”
Everleigh nodded and her breath turned shaky. “I’m worse off here. He can get to me just as easily within these walls. May I be pardoned from his order of the White Room? May I leave here and get my own apartment?”
“Is that what you want?”
“It is.”
“Is there anything else?” he asked, smiling.
Everleigh’s head turned to look back at the wall that separated her from Eleven. “I do have one more thing I’d like to ask you. If you set me free, I’d like to take someone with me. I will pay for him. I’m aware he’s a prisoner brought here by Master Bram Whitlock, but he has no crime other than belonging to Master Whitlock’s father. He’s the slave next door to me. I wish him to be my slave and protector. If you name your price, I will pay.”
Surprise lit Master Kunken’s face and I could feel my blood boiling as I held my breath.
“That’s asking a lot of me, Mistress Harper. It’s one thing to set you free, but to go against the wishes of our former Master? Especially without your ownership coming from an auction. I’m not sure I can do that.”
“Whatever the cost. Money, or … you once said you liked my help. Perhaps there may be something you need help with, again?”
Everleigh couldn’t hide her discomfort from me. I could see through her emotionless expression. The weakness sunk its hooks in, feeding me pleasure from the plans I had in store.
“Help me? Yes,” he said, lightly. “Yes, I did like your help.”
“I can do it again.” She took a step, keeping her voice coaxing, yet calm. “Free me and give me my slave and all you need to do is call. I will do whatever you wish.”
The blank look on Master Kunken’s face turned evil while he blinked rapidly and smiled. “Perhaps, that can work. I can release you and let you take your slave. After all, like you said, he has no crime.”
“No.” My voice growled as I pushed my fingers into the laptop.
“He doesn’t, I swear to you. He is innocent. We will stay out of trouble. We will keep to ourselves. Just let us be free and you won’t hear anything from us again until you wish to.”
The smile stayed as the Master bowed his head. “Done. Just not yet. I have a meeting tonight with the other Masters. I will prepare them and get your quarters set up in the meantime.”
“May I have Bram’s old apartment? Please.”
The hesitation from Master Kunken only lasted a moment. “Absolutely not. You will be escorted to your new place in roughly one week. Good day, Mistress.”
“A week?” Everleigh’s voice cracked as she rushed after him. “A week is an eternity here. I’ll be dead by then. My husband may be healed in that time!”
“Not my problem. Good day.”
Chapter 8
24690
“Duck!”
Fatigue mingled with instinct and I was beyond following orders. My body was reacting, but my mind was gone. I couldn’t focus on anything besides swinging the club I held. The impact it made with the man’s bare knee left him screaming and the thunk from the spikes hitting his bone reverberated through my entire body.
Blood showered over me and I knew Eleven had finished him off at the same time. The man’s body fell back and I was already being pulled to my feet. I swayed, staying upright only by the hand that held to my arm.
“I have to get to the other hall. I have to find Bram.”
Tighter the fingers gripped as they led me closer to our door. “I already told you, just like the High Leader did�
��Bram is not who you saw, Mistress. He was right about Master Norris. I’ve heard of him. It is he who waits for you. Not the Master you seek.”
I jerked in his hold, but it was useless. For four days Eleven kept watch over me, and for four days, I let him. He was mine, now. My slave and protector. Secretly … my friend. Even if I couldn’t show it.
“I gave you an order. Do I need to withdraw my offer and find a new slave?”
“Don’t threaten me. If we go to Master Norris, we will both die. I can’t kill him and get away with it and neither can you. I’ve told you this time and time again and you don’t listen.”
“The man lives here! If he’s part of the game, why should we have to pay for his death? Besides, it’s Bram. It is not this Master Norris.”
Eleven nudged me into my room, just like he did through the numerous lights we’d gone through since Master Kunken left.
“If it is who you say it is, why go? Don’t you think if Master Whitlock wanted you to know he was alive, he’d come for you, himself? You have no business there, Mistress!”
A grunt came from Eleven as he reared back, slicing at the crazed woman who raced toward us. It had my stare going toward the cell across from mine. The slave was on her floor again, curled into a ball and screaming. Why she fought sometimes and not others baffled me. It was as though she were two different people. But I didn’t ponder my confusion. I was beyond being able to think. I was exhausted from lack of sleep. My nightmares were getting worse. Bram was coming to me more and I knew they were hallucinations from the insomnia and events I was being faced with.
“If you won’t go with me, then stay, but get out of my way or so help me, I will bash in your fucking skull. I don’t have time for this. My days are running out and with freedom, I will never be allowed here again. Not even as a Mistress. Now, move!”
My hands gripped tightly to the club as I brought my arms back to swing.
“You’d kill me for trying to save your life?”
“You’re not saving my life. You’re keeping me from discovering the truth. I have to know for myself.”
Eleven’s eyes squinted and he slammed the side of his fist into the door frame. “I don’t know what’s worse, Master Norris or Master Whitlock? We’re both dead, regardless. At least I am. Go!”
He waved his hand with a slash and I didn’t make it around him before his grasp locked onto my shoulder. He lunged forward and I stayed at his side, swinging at the slaves who dared to approach.
“We don’t have long. I want you to see that it’s not Bram and then we go. That does not mean you get close to him. Do you understand me?”
With how fast we were going, I barely caught Eleven’s words over the alarm. I quickly glanced up, nodding, but he was so focused ahead that I wasn’t sure he even saw my response.
“No! No!” Screams poured from a cell off to the side and I knew the terror in them all too well. Rape or death was coming for the woman whose pleas nearly stopped me. My feet thought to plant, but Eleven’s pull pushed it away. He brought us forward, wrapping me close while we approached two men swinging weapons at each other. He didn’t slow, but broke us to the left, pushing us even faster to the hall.
“Maybe I should go alone,” he breathed out, unevenly. “I’ll be honest. I’ll tell you if it’s Master Whitlock.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Eleven spun us around a woman running from a room and my feet slid from the pooling blood. Once again he saved me from falling and once again I stayed silently grateful. I liked him when I shouldn’t have allowed myself to feel anything. It would lead to pain one way or another. That was a given inside our world.
As the hall approached, I forced our stop. My eyes met his and I gripped to his white gown. “I haven’t said thank you for any of this. Thank you. I mean that.”
Arms crushed around me for only a moment before he stepped back. “Never thank me. You’ll be a good Mistress to serve … if we make it that far.”
With his words, I turned. I couldn’t stop the anxiety from edging in as I peered into the dimness. What if it wasn’t Bram? What if I was wrong?
Darkness deepened, almost seeming to swallow us whole as we stepped into the beginning of the empty hall. The eerie red lights were so faint I wondered how I was ever sure it was Bram standing so far down. My heart was racing and with a blink, a red illuminated silhouette was suddenly emerging from the shadows.
“You see him? Tell me you see him.”
Eleven’s hand clamped onto my shoulder, pulling me closer. “Someone is there, but I don’t think it’s who you hope it is. Truthfully, I don’t see any light at the end of this tunnel, even if it is. He will not help you. He hasn’t yet.”
“Maybe not, but I have to know if that’s Bram. I have to see if he really lives.”
The grip tightened and he stepped us forward. I immediately yanked myself free at the fear that came with wanting to protect him. “Not you. He may not see me if you’re there. I have to go by myself.”
“Hell fucking no.”
Desperation had me rearing back and putting everything I had into the slap. “You are my slave. You will listen when I give you an order or you will not be leaving with me. Stay!”
The distaste that came with his title was like a blowtorch to my tongue. I didn’t see Eleven as any other Master here would have. I craved his companionship more than I craved a servant or play-thing. That was a mistake. A huge one.
“Stay, slave,” I repeated, again. “But listen for my screams if they should come. Then you may save my ass, because I very well may need you to.”
Nausea swarmed within me and fear almost made it impossible to walk as I turned to face the shadowed man. He was so far down. The fact that he may have been Bram allowed me to start running forward. Just like before, he turned and began to walk away. The sight was like lead to my legs. They wanted to stop. To make me run the other way as fast as I could. It was getting darker … and colder. God, even as sweat beaded my skin, it was as if ice was flowing through my veins.
“Bram? Bram, wait!”
Faster, I pushed myself. When he turned into a room, I kept my focus trained on the entrance. All the other doors were opened, but not his. That was a sign right there that something wasn’t right, yet I kept going.
“Bram!”
The frigid air burned my lungs, only increasing as I slowed. My body was trembling and each pant that left me increased the shaking. My hand hesitantly came out, freezing as the door swung open. The massive form that dove in my direction was so fast I couldn’t even get out a scream before I was grabbed and pulled into the black. The click that followed was immediate.
He’d locked the door. Locked us in together.
“Bram?”
The light red glow breaking through the small window revealed the quickest glimpse of a broad shoulder. Where I expected the figure to attack me, it didn’t. Fingers trailed down my arm so tenderly my whole body softened. The path ran down my inner forearm until the connection moved to my hold on the club. He didn’t have to pry open my fisted grip for me to drop it. The loving, yet possessive hold that latched to my hip, drew me in like some of the most cherished memories I kept locked away. It was like a light within my darkness. Hope.
“Bram? Please … talk to—”
Before I could finish, a hand locked on my throat and air exploded from my lungs. My back was slammed into the wall with such force, oxygen was impossible to take in. Shock registered and my eyes flared as the truth became an all too tragic reality. This wasn’t Bram. It couldn’t be, could it?
From nowhere a scream tore from my closing throat. Immediately, the hold tightened and my feet were all but off the ground. My hands flew to his wrist and my legs went wild. Why had I made Eleven stay? Why hadn’t I listened to him and Jarrett? The questions left tears racing down my cheeks as the pressure built to extreme measures. It was so intense that I wasn’t sure if he was going to crush my throat or if my eyes were going to pop.
“I’ve missed you so much, slave. Have you missed me?”
Confusion left my mind spinning. The voice was raspy but deep. Air brushed against my lips as he stepped in, pushing his body into mine. When teeth tugged against my throat painfully, I still wasn’t sure. The actions were Bram’s, but the brutality wasn’t. Not really. Even in Bram’s worst moments, he’d never been so ruthless. But hadn’t I learned anything from my husband? From what Eleven told me? I didn’t know the Bram behind the mask. Not yet.
Oxygen seeped into my burning throat as the hold eased. The coughing and near gagging were automatic. Suction tugged at my neck while he sucked cruel and hungrily.
“Nod so I know you missed me, slave. Fucking nod!”
My head hit the wall at the thrust of his hand, but his yell told me what I now knew. This definitely wasn’t our Main Master. It wasn’t Bram.
Quickly, I gave a nod.
“So good. Show me how much you missed me. Open your legs.”
I was lowered the smallest amount, but I couldn’t obey. “Fuck … you.” My toes brushed the floor and my knee drew up, slamming repeatedly into his thigh. The separation of my kicks was exactly what he need to push his hand between my legs. My fist swung, connecting with his back and I used my grip on his other wrist as leverage to try to crawl and draw my legs up between us. Anything for me to try to separate the two of our bodies.
“You did miss me. I’ve waited so long for you to come.”
His face was still at the junction of my neck, still biting and tugging at my skin as if he wanted to eat me alive. And maybe he did. I knew nothing about this man other than what Jarrett had told me.
“Mistress! Talk to me! Mistress!”
Pounding slammed into the door and Eleven’s voice had me fighting harder.
“Help! Not … Bram! Bram!”
Once I said his name, I couldn’t stop. I went from fear coating my call to downright rage at the dependency I still held to.
“Let go of me! Let … Go!” My body wiggled harder through the fury and I managed to draw one of my legs up between us. His fingers were pushing harder into me, tearing my channel as he tried to force in more. A high pitch yell left me and the ball of my foot caught his hip. With everything I had, I extended and scrambled to the side enough to somehow crash to the floor. I barely got to move before long fingers were scraping the surface of my arms and sides. Frantically, I kicked out, inching my way to the door. Pain exploded in my palm from one of the spikes and just as I reached out to try to get my club, I was jerked back toward him. Weight crashed into me and the loud slams against the door were fading into the background of my brain. Survival, like so many times before, kicked in as I stopped trying to get away and returned to fighting.