by Poppet
How can the internet be down? It's just not possible. The content you require is unavailable at present.
Annoyed, I push the laptop away, getting up from the kitchen counter and stomping to the bedroom. It's time to change these sheets. Ripping the linen off the bed with big angry puffs, I fling something behind the dresser.
What the hell was that? Dropping the sheet I go padding over the mound of duvet and pillows, leaning down and rummaging my hand under the narrow gap. Hooking something hard and flat, I edge it out.
Kenan's phone. That's weird, he never goes anywhere without it, except church and cloaked gatherings at the lodge. Maybe I can connect to the network using his cell phone? It doesn't depend on a router, it uses cell phone towers.
Sitting on the mound of bedding, I lean against the end of the bed, opening the browser on his phone and typing in Gmail. I get the sign in window and put my password in, when it beeps loudly, flashing a red bar that says User Denied.
Denied? How can I be denied? It's not a freaking bank account. I give up on the internet and dial the directory service. I'll just ask them to give me Jan's parent's home number.
It beeps loudly in my ear, an automated voice saying snidely, “User in violation. Access denied.” And then the fucking thing goes dead in my hand, just switching off.
What the hell?
This is eerie.
The loud bang on the front door makes me jump guiltily, as if I was caught doing something I shouldn't. My legs are jittery when I get up and walk down the long hall to the door. The person bangs hard enough to clang the bars securing it. Kenan locks me in when he goes out.
I argued, saying what if there was an emergency? What if I wanted to spontaneously meet Celia and Sue? He just smiled, saying not a problem, he's always five minutes away. I just need to press the pager button he's installed and he'll be notified.
He looked at me with such compassion, almost pity, muttering, “I bittersweet smile destroys heroes. Do not look at me with such reproach, everything I do I do to protect you. This key doesn't lock you in, it shuts them out.”
He's taken us into kinky territory, filming us in bed for his personal collection, often tying me in weird positions, saying, “These bindings are not restraints, they balm your spine with my strength, we own this story and it's my purpose to cover your delicate and unblemished pages with the whispers of my love.”
But when he holds me and soothes me, when he's gentle and soft, I fall all over again. When it's spontaneous, just us being silly and playful, I'm in paradise. I know I'll never find another man like him. All we need is time. And if not, well I'll call 911 and hand myself in. Although, if truth be told, I have never felt more sexy or appreciated in all my life. This environment doesn't skirt the issue so he tells me often how he feels about me, how I make him feel, how I feel when he's inside me, what he likes and doesn't, and the artiness of the kink factory is liberating. I never knew two people could have so much fun in the sex department.
He makes me feel so little, and wanted, and loved. Sighing with a moment of infatuation, I block out the hammering on the door, just appreciating good times. Times that took a special man to open a hidden door in my soul. They may say we're under authority but when he takes control, when he's firm and bossy, it's a super turn on.
Jan, she's filled my head with so many horror stories, so many tales of how good people take the fall for the guilty, how good men are assassinated because we're a commodity for them to exploit. And whenever I feel unhappy I remember her paranoid ravings and I know that maybe they framed Jan because she was onto them, and the story of my arrest isn't because she rolled on me but because I know what she's shared with me and they want to shut me up too. If I leave Kenan now I'm signing my own death warrant.
Not that I want to leave him, I just want a little more normal, a little less wild, and I desperately need purpose. My purpose is gone, no life goal, no work, no paycheck, and instead of finding something to fill the gap I instead find myself working out in the gym and perusing his kinky bondage room, nosing in all the drawers and drinking his vodka.
I'm lost, aimless, my direction in life gone now that I'm 'pampered and provided for'.
Reaching the door I yank it open while the person rumbles his rage through my house, “Alright already! Jesus, breaking it down isn't going to make me walk any faster!”
My rant dies at the sight of the huge dude that was here the other day. He's got three more huge dudes with him, a radio in his hand, speaking into it, “She's here.”
She? Me? What do they want with me?
He offers me a booklet, a stupid photocopied and stapled thing, “Matthew wants you to have this. Everything you need to know about the bible is in here. It is not a bible, it's a door to freedom and blessings.”
My stomach plummets. They knew I was browsing the internet for the bible?
He holds it aloft, “You taking it, or what?”
I reach through the diamond bars stretched wide where they cover the front threshold, and the second I do he snares my arm in an iron grip, slamming handcuffs on my wrist and securing the other end to the bars.
“Candace Caine, you are in violation of the code of the Sons of Cain. Read that booklet, familiarize yourself with our laws, you do not get to read the bible, you get to read the sections pertaining to female behavior and conduct. You are reminded of the power of man-kind. When Kenan gets home he can get the key for your cuffs from me.”
And with that the thug brigade go ambling back to their Hummer, their shoulders as wide as the front grill.
What the hell just happened?
Looking at the booklet, it's nowhere near the thickness of the bible. It's eight pages of how women are not equal to men, we are redeemed by them, we're the reason mankind fell into sin, we're to live in shame for something that no one can prove ever happened.
Paging through it I read snippets, tears and panic rising in me. I'm in big trouble and I don't know why.
The glory of young men is their strength, Proverbs 20:29
The man has become like one of us, and has knowledge of what is good and what is bad. Genesis 3:22
I do not have a command from the Lord, but I give you my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is worthy of trust… woman was made for man's sake. On account of angels then a woman should have a covering over her head to show that she is under her husband's authority… woman is not independent of man. But if anyone wants to argue about it, all I have to say is that neither we nor the churches have any other custom in worship. 1 Corinthians. 11:7 / 11:10
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment. Prov. 10:11
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 1 Corinthians 11:7
You are gods, I said; All of you are sons of the Most High, but you will die like men. Psalms 82:6
For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 6:14
The people who live in darkness will see a great light. Matthew 4: 16
Pay attention to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for I have sent him, and he will not pardon such rebellion. Isaiah 14:29
Oh my god, I'm going to be beaten! He's made bold the important bits, only men have knowledge of what is good and bad, they are gods, they won't pardon rebellion, I am not independent… oh jesus!
•
Kenan:
Celia hands me her phone, eyes wide and curious. I take it, “Hello?”
“Ken, it's Duke. Candace has been summoned to the lodge for an exorcism. Get home pronto.” It goes dead.
Adrenaline spikes, my blood instantly sludgy
, my heart thudding, alarm ripe and overpowering. Handing the phone back I grab my keys, which now has a key for every bar on every window, making it heavier than sin, “I have to go. Emergency! Sorry sweetie, I'll make it up to you.” I don't wait, I'm hurdling over the couch, out her lounge and over the waiting exercise ball, out the door and into a flat sprint.
I run like I've never run before, my long stride swallowing the distance, sweat exploding between my shoulders, fear of Matthew and what he's done enough to detonate my heart.
Pounding the pavement I rocket down my road, running for the driveway when I see the front door open, Candy hanging on the bars in nothing more than a camisole and knickers.
She has tears streaming down her pretty face, looking at me with anguish and despair. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. They knew–”
“Knew what?” I demand, finding the right effing key and unlocking the security gate, my hands trembling and making the task damn near impossible. She's stuck with her arm up, the fingers cold to my touch, meaning she's been in this position for some time.
“I went online, I looked for the bible, they knew I did a search for the bible. I tried to check my email, and Facebook, and I used your phone–”
“You what?! Do you have any idea what you've done! Fuck Candy, I thought I could trust you.”
“B-but, it was innocent–”
“No, it wasn't. You knew exactly what you were doing! You knew we've made a trail that leads anyone looking for you outside of the country, keeping you safe, and you stupidly went ahead and threw that work in the crapper!”
“I didn't! It was all blocked! I couldn't access anything–”
“And thank god we set that up as a precaution! Do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison? I thought we had something good going here, Candace. What the hell are you trying to do to me? Now I'm in shit. I had the whole network protecting you and now Matt thinks you are doing this to deliberately defy me. He will see this as a direct contravention of biblical law!”
Shit! Fucking fuck you stupid bitch!
“Where's my phone?” I snap, knowing I have to call the heavies in because she's secured to my front gate like rape bait.
“Bedroom.”
She doesn't look at me, just staring at the floor looking sorry for herself. Taking the step over her, I take three more before hingeing back, “Don't you fucking get it? I can't protect you now. You fucked it up! You fucked up everything!”
How the hell am I going to talk my way out of this one?
There's nothing I can say to prevent this. An exorcism. Holy crap! This is bad, so bad that hell is going to seem like a ten star hotel when they're done with her.
Stupid cow! Stupid fucking pathetic bitch!
Finding my phone in a bedroom that looks like a bomb went off in it, I switch it on, sitting down and breathing, trying my damnedest to get my hands to stop shaking. Fuck!
You're mine, I brought you home, I was ready to vow to you, I covered you, and this is how you repay me?
Adam was right about Eve. If she sits on you on your first night she thinks she's an equal. What the hell was she thinking using my phone, email, what else? How long has she been trying to contact the outside world?
We have an internal cell network, an internal server for browsing, she sent up red flags all over this place today.
Grim, I pad the number into my phone and press call. One good thing will come of this; after her time in the lodge she will see me as the angel and god that I am. They will break her and I get to put her back together. The way I want her. Under my authority, always.
“Duke, it's Ken. I'm home. Come and get her.”
It chips the courage out of my soul watching him wheel her to the van, locked down on a gurney, the ball gag in her mouth, her tremors so severe that it ruins my mind.
I need to go see Matthew. As her man I have to at least try and talk her out of this clusterfuck.
Fuck!
Walking this time, sweat drenching me and plastering my t-shirt to my back and chest, I grind my teeth and fret the whole way there.
My gut is loaded with weight when I climb the steps and knock on the door. Boris opens it, smiling triumph, pointing up the stairs. I know the way. This is a path I've walked many times. You'd swear I'd have worn a trench in the tiles by now.
Snatching at scripture locked in my brain, I pause on the second flight up. I've never been afraid for a woman before. I've enjoyed their punishment, laughed at it, seeing it as just and pure and right. We were given women by Alpha, when he made us Omegas, assigning us our roles in his kingdom. They couldn't scream, they were kept weak, they lived to serve us. I didn't ever care. I used them the same way everyone else did. So then what the hell is this dread? Where is this sense of doom coming from?
God spoke the world into being. I have spoken the words, I have convinced her, I have made her eager for me and willing to experiment, I have seduced her, I have softened her doubts and shredded her fears. I have given her rational explanations for everything, always making sure she knows I do it to protect her, to love her. And now… did I speak it into being? Have I become a creator?
I told her I do everything out of love for her, and in the process I bound us by my words. I'm in love. I'm crazily in love. That means when they hurt her they hurt me. Shit. I'm up the sewer without a snorkel, and swimming in it now. How could I fall in love so soon? She isn't even inducted yet.
Realization makes me weak and I lean against the bannister, gripping it for support, shaking my head and trying to get my war on.
His voice ricochets in the vacuous stairwell, “Searching for me? Save your breath.”
Looking up at Matthew gloating is enough to punch rage back into my blood and I turn and run up the stairs two at a time, marching toward him with the boldness of Vengeance. “It was my error, not hers. I forgot I told her she could –”
“Bullshit. Save your lies for an idiot who'll swallow them.”
Shoving his shoulder I bear over him, nose to nose, “Find a wife and you find a good thing; it shows that the Lord is good to you Proverbs 18:22. She's mine, and I'm here to take her back. She's my good thing, he gave her to me.”
“Oh you can have her back, but only when these bouts of evil and corruption are cleared from her soul.”
I punt him again, forcing him to stagger back, “Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame like a raging fire. Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. Song of Songs 8:6. Do you understand that Matthew? Love is as powerful as death. I feel it and you are going to put me into that hell. I am your brethren, she's mine and I need her. I demand you hand her over.”
He folds his arms, watching the goons coming to rescue him from me, “And I'm sure Alpha, our god, is very pleased for you, but she broke the law. You are to keep her protected inside these walls, she's to have no outside contact because they are corrupt, satan's halfbreeds and lackeys. She was about to invite satan into your home and you'd really let me stand back and let her?”
“You can't do this! It's kidnapping!” I shout, my nerves racheting at Duke and his boys now squaring off behind Matt.
“That's where you are wrong. We can't do it to men, but women are not subject to that rule. Whoever kidnaps a man - is to be put to death Exodus 21:16. Women do not get kidnapped, they are saved or sold.”
It's my last ditch and even I can hear the desperation in my voice, “She makes me whole. Woman was taken and formed by man's rib. I reclaimed it when we became one flesh, we are now one. What you do to her you do to me.”
“Good, consider yourself thoroughly fucked. Then you'll feel the discipline when she's subjected to it. You will be reminded of shame and fear, you will be reminded that it's your duty to keep her in line and if you rebel by allowing her untold freedoms then you invoke god's rage, and he'll put you both to death. Now fuck off Ken, I have work to do.”
I don't have a say, Duke and Jared have me by the a
rms while Garth points a Glock at my head, dragging me back the way I came, ousting me.
Fuck!
I tried, but it's too little too late.
She's mine goddamit, she's mine!
~ Chapter 17 ~
I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love
as a chariot driver for battle
~Song of Songs 6:12
Matthew:
Now that Kenan has had his fill of humble pie I am eager to get to the succulent woman waiting for my blessings.
My pace is fleeting as I descend to the lower levels, trotting right to her chamber at the end of sub-level two. This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait to see the pretty pout, the quivering lips, to hear the sweet pitch of her muffled screams. A man must not take his father's wife; he must not withdraw the skirt of his father's cloak from her, Deuteronomy 23:1, but I can certainly have Kenan's. Looking at the buxom blonde bound to the chair, one scripture fits her, How pretty you are, how beautiful; how complete the delights of your love Song of Songs 7:6. Undoing the top button on my leather jeans I watch her eyes bug, saying softly to her, crooning to her soul, “If you do what is wrong, you will be severely punished; you will die if you do not let yourself be corrected. Proverbs 15:10.”
She shakes her head, her words garbled by the ball gag, precious tears drizzling down her cheeks. Walking right up to her I free my cock, her eye level at groin height, and I stroke it, laughing at her panic, at her futile struggles against the restraints.
“Did you read the booklet I sent to you, Candy Caine? Hmm little Candy Caine, with her name that beseeches men to lick her, suck her, to taste her sweetness until her hard edges are sucked off and all her stripes have gone. Hmmm? Did you read the words of wisdom, Candy?”
She nods, fervently.
“So then you know what I'm about to do. Because the bible says, Cover their faces with shame, o lord, and make them acknowledge your power Psalms 83:16. Did you read the next line about shame, Candace? Did you read the wise words, Her discipline is the gift of God. Such is a wise and silent woman, and there is nothing so much worth as a well instructed soul. A holy and shamefaced woman is grace upon grace. Sirach 26:17. First I will shame you, and then I will discipline you. I will return your grace to you Miss Caine. If it takes me a week I'll purify you of this evil festering in your soul.”