WHITE OUT (24690)

by Dark,A. A.

  The despair lacing my words were too much. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I couldn’t hold in what was driving me crazy—me. I walked on a tightrope of evil and hope. If I didn’t stay on track, I’d fall to a place I wouldn’t come back from. A place that would destroy not only me but maybe everyone around me.

  “If you give this to me, I’ll never ask you for anything again. Bram … I need this.”

  Seconds went by while he studied me.

  “You need that and I need you. Doesn’t look like we always get what we want, does it? Let me ask you this. What drives you to such responsibility? Does this have to do with the voices you hear? Do you really hear them or is it all part of your game?”

  My hands flew up, pressing against my mouth. I wanted to run and hide from the embarrassment of him seeing what I had become. Heat burned my cheeks and I couldn’t contain the sob that drew in my shoulders. At my break, he immediately softened.

  “Oh, slave. You do hear them. You hear me.” Bram held out his arms and on instinct my head shook. I couldn’t bear to take comfort from him. I didn’t deserve to. How many times had I seen his phantom face glaring at me? How many times did my mind’s guilt convince me that he hated me? “Don’t be that way, Everleigh. I’m sorry. I am so sorry for what he did to you. If I could turn back time, I would have killed him the moment he looked your way. Please. Come here.”

  Still, I shook my head. “You saw? Of course you saw,” I rushed out. “You mentioned watching, but not being caught up. Why have you only been watching such a short time? Where have you been? I’m so confused. You said you died three times. When was that? Recently?”

  Bram’s arms dropped and he glanced to the liquor on the bar, only to sigh. “There’s plenty of time to go into that. Tonight is not that night. What I want to know about is you. You say you want to be one of my members. Right now, I’ll be honest. I don’t trust you. I know you’ve been through a lot, but I’ll be blunt … you have issues. Ones I’m not sure responsibility will fix. If you want to stand any chance at all, start talking. I want the truth about every little thing in your mind. All of it.”

  To speak about what I didn’t dare say out loud was a form of torture I couldn’t withstand. Embarrassment. Shame. It was either confess my darkest sins or be faced with a life I didn’t think I could survive. To be a Mistress was great, but I still wasn’t doing anything to get my mind off of what haunted me. Too much time to fester in what had happened to me was a grenade waiting to explode in my face. I wouldn’t survive being mediocre. I wouldn’t survive myself. My finger was in the pin. One wrong slip and we were all goners.

  “What exactly do you want to know? You say everything. Be more specific. At least give me somewhere to start. I’m afraid I’m a little fuzzy on the rights and wrongs.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re cautious. Even right this second your mind is trying to figure out how to manipulate this conversation in a way to win over my trust without having to expose too much of who you are. You can’t hide from me, Everleigh. I know the real you too well. I’ve seen how you work, for years. Broken down … you’re no different. Just smarter.”

  The need to lash out, to tell him he knew nothing, was right there. I wasn’t sure how I contained the need, but I stayed silent. Maybe it was because it was Bram. Or maybe I was just getting that good at controlling myself.

  “Did you fall in love with West during your time together? You’ve admitted it enough. You’re keeping his last name. You seem to hold an odd sort of sentiment. I want to know if it’s the truth.”

  Nausea. Yes, I was going to be sick.

  “A part of me loves him, yes. I don’t understand it. I don’t want to feel it, but it’s there.”

  Bram’s eyes lowered to the floor, only to cut back up. “Do you love me?”

  “How is this going to determine my role as one of the members?”

  “Answer it, Everleigh.”

  More burning from embarrassment. My cheeks were on fire and I knew he could see the flaming red scorching my face.

  “I’ve always loved you. I always will. You ask these questions, but you neglect to get to the depth of the answer I believe you seek. What I think you mean to ask is, am I in love with you or West? The answer to that would be no. I love the two of you, yes, but you see, love only goes so far in my mind. I have no problems taking the life of a person I love.”

  “But you didn’t kill West when you could have. You had the perfect opportunity, yet he lives.”

  I stepped back, reaching for my tea. I took a sip before braving the one question that I wanted to avoid

  “No, I didn’t kill him. I wasn’t in my right mind. Rape … erased all rationality. I was too busy basking in fucking him with the scissors that I guess I got a little too excited when it mixed with peeling back his face. But then I remembered what I had sacrificed myself for to begin with. Your book,” I said, meeting his eyes. “He said if I wanted it so much, to get it. If I didn’t, he was going to burn it. I knew what was coming when I got out of that bed. I never got the chance to read the poem Lyle marked. When I suddenly realized what I was there for, West’s death wasn’t my main focus anymore. I read your words and …” I grew quiet, pushing away the choking sensation in my throat. “You never came for me. Not even when I screamed and fought the guards. Did you watch the attack as it happened? Did you hear me continuously screaming to you for help?”

  Nothing. Bram showed no emotion as he peered at me. “No. I haven’t made it that far. Between keeping an eye on you and the other Masters in present time and wondering if I could bear to see you raped or beat again in the past, I’m afraid I’ve mentally exhausted all the ways West can die an agonizing death. I’d very much prefer to just torture him for real. I had every intention to make it quite the show before you ruined that.” He paused, scanning over my face. “I’ll get my revenge, though. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  “Letting you torture him?”

  “Torture. Kill. Bring him back to life. Torture, again. Kill. Bring him back to life. I figure since I died three times, he deserves to at least endure the same thing I have. I’m sure it’ll take a few weeks to let him heal enough to start the process over again, but what do I have if not time? Killing him once will give me no satisfaction. I have an amazing surgeon and a hell of a team ready to do whatever they need to help me carry this out. Question is, do I have a trustworthy Mistress who will stay back and allow it to happen?

  Chapter18

  West

  Come on. Come on.

  The longer it took for the red light, the more anxious I became. I stalked the small room like the predator I was. Causing mayhem was the only thing I cared about. Blood. Death. I craved both, but even it wasn’t enough. There was only one person I wanted to kill. Where I had looked forward to it before, it was only a speck of what was going through my mind.

  Eleven would pay. I was certain of that. I knew he was still in the room. I’d waited and watched for the guards to retrieve him and so far they hadn’t. He was mine. As for my plans afterward …

  An evil smile came as I kept my focus on the small window that sat in the door.

  Come on. Come on.

  The phrase repeated—a mantra mixing amongst my madness.

  They were going to kill me. Maybe not today. Maybe not next week or even next month. But eventually, the Main Masters would want me disposed of. They were traitors. All of them. I’d demanded Master Kunken’s council, but they just laughed and said something about him being gone. Dead? It appeared so. I was doomed. There was only one person who could save me. It didn’t matter that it was her fault I was here. Everleigh would set me free. If she looked inside herself and realized she loved me more than she hated me, she’d put them in their place. Then, we could leave here. Fuck Whitlock. Fuck these Masters. Together, we could try to live a normal life. Well, if one considered us normal. On the outside, we could appear like everyone else. Behind closed doors was a different story. We
could do this. I could control the urges. I fucking had to if I wanted us to be happy.

  “Hurry. Up!”

  My voiced boomed and echoed around the small room. It fed my impatience, leaving me twitchy. How long had I been here? Hours?

  “You ready, motherfucker?” I lunged for the wall, slamming the side of my fist again the cement. The light laugh left me hitting it harder. “Where’s your Mistress, Eleven? Where’s my wife, now?”

  “She’s coming. She’ll be coming all night long.”

  “Ahh!” My palm slapped against the barrier and pain was no longer something I cared to focus on. I’d been aching all day. The agony was feeding me. Leaving me going even crazier as the trapped feeling grew. I hate being confined and this was too much. The light flickered and I blinked, not sure I was seeing things correctly.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Before my door could shoot open, I was already crashing into the metal surface. The jarring impact left my shoulder locking up. Before I could gain composure the door shot open and I was racing forward. Slaves poured from the cells, but I saw no one but the one person I knew I was going to kill first.

  My hand swept down and just as I grasped the handle to an axe, Eleven was sliding and picking up a large butcher knife. A smile exploded on my face while he stayed crouched low. For seconds our eyes stayed locked. Screams were pouring from further down and a dark skinned woman swept in beside me to pick up a weapon. Her nearness and distraction unleashed my need to slaughter. I spun, slamming the axe against the back of her head as she dove for a smaller knife. The crack was like splitting open an egg. The pop reverberated through my hands and blood sprayed and oozed along the thick metal buried deep in her skull.

  With a hard jerk, I ripped it free, pausing as I caught Eleven sprinting in the opposite direction. Adrenaline spiked and where I wanted to run, I knew better. There was nowhere for him to go. Carelessness would only get me so far. Probably dead. There was no way I was dying anytime soon.

  A high pitch squeal overpowered the repeating alarm and I glanced over my shoulder as a woman came running up behind me. She wasn’t as young as some of the females here. Maybe upper twenties from what I could tell by the red glow illuminating her light skin. Terror had her dark almond eyes wide as she kept looking behind her. Within seconds she passed and the growl that rumbled shortly after came from the man I’d heard at the beginning of my walk-through. Chunks that resembled bites were missing from his arms and he was galloping behind her as if he were some sort of animal.

  My brow drew in as I watched her dart behind a man with a machete. The human shield wasn’t having it. He grabbed the woman’s dark hair and for the smallest moment, I could see Everleigh. The slave, Everleigh. Her hair had been longer than this woman’s, but it was so close. When she moved just right, I could picture my wife. I could see the slave I longed for more than anything.

  And it fed me.

  Everleigh put me here. She was probably sitting so sweetly on our sofa waiting for Eleven to arrive. Sipping her fucking lemon and honey tea and eating those goddamn cranberry scones she indulged in when she thought I wasn’t looking. How did she think they got in our kitchen? I didn’t buy them for myself! I knew she prided herself on her strict diet and I knew she couldn’t help but fall into the temptation I provided. I knew everything there was about her. I tried to make her happy when I wasn’t fucking it up. Had that meant nothing?

  “Everleigh!”

  I swung the axe, barely seeing the man feet away. I didn’t even notice the woman anymore. These prisoners were nothing more than bodies for me to slice through. To massacre as I hunted down the slave who provoked my killer. Where had he gone?

  My arm shot out, pushing a man back far enough so my axe could embed in the side of his neck. The connection of the blade hitting flesh and bone was heaven for me. From the grunt, to the man choking out his gurgled last breathe … it fueled me to go faster. To shed even more blood.

  “Help me! Help!”

  The tips of fingers clawed at the floor as I approached another door. Everyone was going crazy either running or chasing. I got even with the entrance, only to see a man holding to a woman’s hips as he fucked her on the floor. His thrusts were hard and fast. Savage, like mine would have been. The sight sent a roar pouring from my throat. Everleigh. Everleigh. Everleigh. Raping her was the best feeling in the world. Seeing her struggle against what she’d never win was better than murder. It was better than choking and fucking women while I let their life slowly slip away with every slam of my cock. Fuck, I had to get out of here. I had to get back to her.

  I pushed myself to a jog, scanning everywhere for Eleven. There was nowhere to hide. He clearly wasn’t in the hall so that meant he was hiding in one of the rooms. As well as he should have been. Whether it was from fear or the fact that he meant to catch me off guard was irrelevant. I was watchful. Even as I approached each cell, I was calculating my next move. If he was going to attack, I was ready.

  “Master Harper!”

  I glanced over my shoulder, fuming as guards ran in my direction. It only drove me faster. Were they trying to protect me? Were they taking me out of here? I didn’t want to know. Not yet.

  Dark wetness spotted the floor before me and I stepped over the blood, swinging my weapon up to block the blow of a bat from a young man positioned not feet away. My fist reared back and I smashed it into his nose causing him to stumble back. Weight immediately connected with my side and the slickness of the tile left me sliding and falling. The axe fell from my hand and I grabbed Eleven, pulling him down with me.

  Yelling got louder in the distance, growing closer as I grasped the slave’s wrist, slamming it repeatedly into the floor. The knife fell away, but he was far from weak. Eleven’s hips shifted underneath me and I knew there was no way he was throwing me off. Not with all the training I’d undergone my entire life. I was bred to kill. Bred to fight in the most extreme situations. With my father as the High Leader, he made sure I had endured hell to the most extreme conditions. This was nothing. This was a kiddy ride in an adult amusement park.

  I brought my elbow down, slamming it into his forehead twice before I drove my fist into his cheek. Eleven’s eyes rolled, but he didn’t stop fighting. He managed to get ahold of my forearm, but that only had me bringing the brute force of my elbow down, again, this time over the bridge of his nose. Over and over, I pounded everything I had into him, trying my damnedest to crush in his face. He was getting desperate, not to mention, winded. He gasped and choked on the blood, trying to turn to the side for relief.

  “You want my wife, now?” Crack! “You’ll never have her. You’ll never touch her!”

  I grabbed the knife, spinning off and ripping him to his feet as the guards came to a sliding stop before us. Eleven’s legs almost gave out, buckling while he swayed. Blood poured over my bicep as I fitted it under his chin to hold him up. He didn’t fight. He could barely stand.

  “What!” I pushed the tip of the blade behind Eleven’s ear as I eased back away from them. They wouldn’t take this from me. I wasn’t going to let them.

  “Just calm down and throw away the knife.” A man’s hand shot up almost in surrender, but it was Jarrett I glared at. Fucking traitor. Hadn’t I knew he’d be, though? “Please, Master Harper. Just hand over the slave and we’ll leave you to whatever you wish to do.”

  “Who the fuck are you? My wife’s new bitch? Was my High Leader not enough for her?”

  “I’m no one’s bitch,” Jarrett yelled over the alarm. “Why don’t you put down the slave and you can fight me if that’s what you want.”

  I smiled, pushing in the knife enough to make Eleven jolt in my arms. “Oh, you’ll get what’s coming to you. But not today. Today it’s his turn to die. Isn’t that right?” My arm tightened and the guard who had talked before, circled around. I could see his fear for the slave, even if I couldn’t understand it. He wanted Eleven alive. An
d badly.

  “Tell me again how much you want to fuck my wife. Tell me again how you’re going to be sleeping in my bed. Tell me!” A groan was all he gave and it did little to sate my need for revenge. “I want you to look at these men. Look at them and know they’re here to save you. Now let it sink in how they’re too late.” I moved in until my lips were level with his ear. “Know the only place you’ll be lying anymore is on a stretcher as they carry you down to burn your body. You’re dead, and you just died for a woman who belongs to me.

  Eleven’s body went rigid as I forced the blade up through his brain. Blood raced over my hand and I let the guard’s horrified expressions soak into my memory. Whatever their order was, I knew in that tiniest moment, they’d failed in carrying it out. Jarrett didn’t seem as upset as the other who was screaming, no. But he was affected, nonetheless, and that gave me satisfaction. I took something away from them. Away from Everleigh. I still had the power. They’d come to realize soon enough that wasn’t the only thing I had.

  Chapter 19

  Bram

  “This is your f-fault! I heard you. You told them to take their time. You knew the red lights were coming, but you made them w-wait!”

  Everleigh’s sobs were making it hard to decipher what she was screaming. There was a madness in her eyes that spoke things she wasn’t. I’d seen it there on more than one occasion during the footage of her time with West.

  “I never meant for that to happen. I was purely telling them to give us some time alone before he was brought in. They could have kept him anywhere. They didn’t have to wait hours before going to get him. That wasn’t my intention when I told them.”

  “You’re lying! Eleven told me about you. He t-told me everything. You hated him. You wanted him dead! He was my … f-friend.”