by Rae, Nikki
He watched me a moment, perhaps waiting for me to fail some unknown test. Then he smiled in what I could only describe as an attempt at a pleasant way, but the scar tissue made it look more like a grimace.
In one motion, he raised his hand and pointed to the ground. I automatically sank to my knees just as fluidly, crawling to the exact spot he indicated in front of him. My knees were inches from his shoes when I looked back up at him for my next command.
It took great effort, but he lifted himself out of his chair and shambled to his feet. “My, my,” he croaked, teeth just as crooked and breath just as sour as I remembered. What else could one expect from one who devoured dead things? “I believe you have even more scars than me, slut.”
I didn’t let the name bother me, keeping my expression pleasantly neutral as polite laughter circled the room, making my already altered state even more unstable as my head rang.
He smiled wider, always happy to have an audience.
“Let me have a look at you.” His gnarled fingers cupped my cheek and I leaned into it as expected, finding it almost easy with the drugs overtaking me to play the part of the affection-starved slave. “I’ve wanted to do this a long time.”
His grin became a new scar, obstructing his face as he leaned closer. I swallowed the acid rising in my chest as I closed my eyes—a lady never watched her Owner kiss her unless instructed to do so.
Then he punched my left eye so hard I fell backwards, slamming my head into Master Lyon’s leg behind me and then the cold ground as he moved away. He owed nothing to me anymore. I was no longer his.
Ignoring the pain in my skull, I let the darkness consume me.
Fifteen
The faint scent of cloves and lavender filled my senses, but before I could entertain the idea that Master Lyon was the one carrying me, the foggy voice spoke.
“It’s going to be all right, Fawn.” Though it was the faintest of a whisper, I recognized Mr. B’s voice.
Once I knew he was with me, other details flooded in. His strong yet gentle arms around me, my body curled into his chest. From the rocking motion, I guessed that we were climbing back up the stairs. That meant I couldn’t have been out for long. The thought awakened a sharp pain in my left eye socket and I could already feel it beginning to bruise and swell. However, it was a distant, miniscule thing I couldn’t quite reach. What did it matter anyway? I’d be tortured worse than this in the near future.
“Where are we going?” My voice was so raw it was difficult to hear myself.
I could feel his lips were close to my head, warm breath in my hair. “Master Jäger has requested I bring you to his quarters and prepare you as a sign of good faith.”
From his tone, I could tell we were back in the territory of cameras and recording devices. I skipped the beginning of the sentence because I could guess what it meant. “Good faith?”
I didn’t understand what that could mean. Had Mr. B reacted when Jäger punched me? Had he indicated that he was against these plans and this was his final attempt at proving his loyalty to the Order?
It didn’t matter. My arms wrapped themselves around his neck and I buried my face in his chest to soak in his scent, his safety, just for a second.
“It’s going to be all right, Fawn,” he repeated, again softly in my ear.
The name hurt more than my swollen eye. I’d never been so far from that person in my life. I wasn’t her anymore. I wasn’t Doe, either. I was nothing, and I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than “Dog”.
I didn’t bother to look as I heard a door open and close. It was until Mr. B set me down that I finally opened my eyes.
My head hung heavily from the drugs as well as the concussion, but the seat beneath me was soft so I concentrated on that. Even the smallest comforts would start to disappear. Mr. B had begun to move things around, which made my head bob slightly upwards in his direction.
I almost missed the scenery around us—the enormous bed, the animal trophies, the statues and the golden cage. We were in the same room Master Lyon and I had spent our last night together. “His quarters”. We had stayed in the Wolf’s den and I was the only one who hadn’t known.
The entire time I’d been at Lyon Estate, I’d believed I saw everything as it was. My Owner didn’t lie. I’d allowed myself to become blinded by Master Lyon and all his promises of safety, freedom, and revenge. I was no better than any other Member following whoever was above them, never questioning any of the poison I was being fed.
The sound of chains brought my attention back to Mr. B and what he was doing.
Though my vision was b more and more tunneled, the bright red and gold wheel was impossible to miss. It seemed the wall in front of me was no longer a wall, but a pocket door that opened to this bizarre apparatus. It was mounted like one of his animal heads and I could just make out the numbers around the outside edge, each alternating rim of color sectioned out. I’d seen this pattern before, but my muddled thoughts collided and made it hard to name exactly what it was.
Mr. B was enough of a distraction to detail my mind as he adjusted restraints which he pulled from somewhere behind the thing. My eyes widened but even that sudden spike of fear fully shook me out of my stupor. All I could do was watch with half-closed lids, limbs too heavy to even consider running.
Before long, he was turning back to me and coming towards the bed where I sat. I hadn’t noticed my hands were shaking until he knelt in front of me and held them. I looked into his eyes and could clearly see them only if I squinted. I could tell he wanted to tell me something. Maybe reassure me or say that it was going to be all right again. Feed me more deadly lies so when I was finally alone their venom could kill me.
In the end, all he said was, “Are you ready, Miss?” His voice was shattered. It made me realize that no matter the pretend world Master Lyon had built for me, I knew without a doubt that Mr. B at least felt guilty. I knew deep down that he truly didn’t want to do this. It was more than my former Owner had given me and that alone made tears well in my eyes.
Mr. B—Marius—was my last link to my imagined freedom and it hurt him just as much as it hurt me to be the one to sever it.
I blinked away the tears and stared back at him with the most even gaze I could manage with my dilated eyes. “Yes,” I answered, standing at the same time as him.
He led me to this circular device, slid a chair in front of it, and patted the seat so I would stand on it.
I did so automatically, and he turned me to face the thing, gently pressing the front of my body into the cool surface. He positioned my arms and legs apart, fastening them to the wheel. Leather straps attached to chains snaked around my wrists, arms, thighs, calves, and ankles. When he finally took away the chair, they were the only things holding me up. Despite the straps groaning with my weight, I couldn’t help falling backwards, leaning into them for support. My own breath met my face, instantly dampening my skin. Silently, Mr. B moved my hair so it was off my back and lay over one shoulder.
“I was instructed to remove your corset,” he whispered, and I was so unprepared goose bumps broke out along my arms.
I didn’t answer; we both knew one wasn’t expected, so Marius wordlessly set to work untying the satin ribbons behind me. Slowly, the constricting garment slid away and he pulled it from between me and the apparatus I was bound to. He made it a point to make sure I could see where he placed it to the side of where I stood. The weapon. He was giving me a chance when I saw none.
Marius looked up at me and I could tell it was time for him to leave and he didn’t want to. He glanced from me to the door until he finally stood straight and took half a step away from me.
I felt his gentle fingers on my back, outlining my previous Owner’s mark as if to remind me of it. He pulled away too soon, prepared to leave this as the final interaction between us.
I heard his footsteps, slow and unsure, as he made his way out of the room. I thought he’d left, but Gregor’s laughter thundered into
the room. I didn’t know how much time had passed between the last time I’d seen him and now, but if I had to guess, he was more inebriated than he’d been before.
“What a fine job you’ve done, Marius,” he commended. Then I heard a whirring sound I couldn’t place for the longest time, and then my sluggish thoughts formed the thought: wheels. He was an old, decrepit man now, yet he’d knocked me out without much effort. At least I could hear him coming now.
“Why don’t you stay a little while?” Gregor said just before I heard the door close.
There was furniture being moved, chairs sliding across the floor, glasses clinking and being poured. I was a victory for House Wolf; it was only natural they celebrate what they’d won.
I heard the wheelchair behind me and if I had the option, I would have flinched. A clumsy, rough hand roamed the length of my bare back. “It seems our dog is still collared by another Master, gentlemen.”
His voice pricked my ears, needle-like and vibrating around the constrictive gold around my throat.
“Would you care to help me remedy this, Gregor?”
I pressed my cheek against the wheel, willing for the first time that the drug pumping through me was stronger. It would be easier to view this from outside of myself, but I was just as trapped as my body. I couldn’t only brace myself and wait for it to be over.
There was no warning before the first lick of the belt, but much like my eye, the pain was in another room. I knew as it went on, the longer I went without a reaction, Gregor would put more force into his blows. Soon my body was slamming into the wheel with each swing. I could feel my skin tearing, the instrument destroying peonies and lavender. Plucking each petal with claws. Still, I was aware of these things in the vaguest sense.
Abruptly, I heard a chair screech against the floor as someone stood and there was a lull in my whipping. I’d been listening so closely for the leather to sail through the air before it hit me again that now, in the silence, the anticipation was worse than the stinging in my back.
“You’re right, Marius,” Jäger spoke up. “I think we’ve done well to remove the dog’s markings.”
I actually heard Gregor grunt his displeasure but then I heard the belt as he replaced it around his waist.
Blood dripped down my back, the adrenaline it had caused surging through my nervous system and making me tremble against my bonds. I couldn’t tell whether I was scared. Truthfully, I didn’t feel anything besides the wounds as they met with the air around me.
“If you’ll excuse me, sir, I must be getting back to Master Lyon.”
The name sent a pain worse than the lashes through my stomach.
All of the men—there had to be at least two more besides Jäger and Gregor—laughed at his announcement. It was so sudden it made me jump.
“So she is awake,” Jäger teased and their laughter became razors, cutting me worse than the belt had. “Master Lyon will be fine without you for a little while longer,” he addressed Marius. “I need something more from you before you leave.”
Marius didn’t answer, but Jäger must have motioned him forward, because I heard his distant footsteps approaching.
“This whole ordeal must have been hard on you as well,” he went on in barely passable French. “Master Lyon has had his wife returned to him, but what have you gotten for all your trouble?”
I snapped to attention, trying harder than before to stay lucid. I’d been prepared for the Wolves to devour me, but I hadn’t once thought they would include Marius or anyone else from Lyon estate. My pulse sped up and my hands turned to useless fists stretched out on either side of me.
“Miss Doe has always been kind and polite to me, sir,” he said evenly, keeping all traced of emotion from his voice. “And I don’t require any reward for serving Master Lyon.”
Jäger chuckled under his breath. “Gregor,” he commanded.
In response, I saw him from the corner of my eye as he walked to my side, and my head turned on its own accord to watch him. On a shelf built into the wall, he pulled a red velvet case from between more Order propaganda and art I couldn’t get a good look at.
When he opened it, revealing rows of glass vials, and syringes with feathers on one end. It was now I realized Jäger’s game: I was strapped to a dart board, and they would tally points according to where they hit me. It must have been Gregor or one of the others’ ideas; Jäger was anything but creative.
“I’m sure,” Jäger said as if Marius was a child who didn’t know any better. “Why don’t you stand right here?”
With my limited view, I could see Gregor as he walked back behind me, to where I assumed there was a table and Jäger and Marius waited there with whoever else the Wolves had brought in. But Marius took the place next to me where Gregor had once stood, looking like he wanted to simultaneously shield me from their shots and run. I wanted to reach out to him, tell him I no longer felt the pain, that the girl these men wanted to hurt no longer existed. My fingers could only wrap around the edges of the elaborate torture device, and when I glanced down at Marius’ hands they were fisted together in front of him as if he wanted to reach out to me too.
“Have you seen our newest form of Cerberus Dust, Marius?” Jäger asked, voice louder as if we were farther than a few feet apart.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”
“Well,” Jäger returned, “this is a new prototype; an injectable form of it that rushes directly to the brain when it hits the spinal cord, but it also has its affects when you miss.”
I heard the vials clink against each other. “Once the formula is refined, any slave it’s used on will become dependent on it. Dependent on their Owner.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, sir,” Marius spoke up. “Master Lyon has trained her well. She will not disobey you.”
They all laughed again. Marius clenched his jaw.
“I’m sure Master Lyon has,” Gregor chimed in. “But these…” All at once, I felt a needle piercing my shoulder blade, warmth spreading from the spot outward. “These are for fun,” he finished and I already felt tingly from one dart.
“Now,” said Gregor, waiting for another dart to hit me before he continued. It sank into the back of my arm, eliciting a gasp from my lungs before the groggy, borderline pleasant sensation traveled down into my wrist and fingers. Marius looked at me and a smile that didn’t belong to me met him.
“There is one last thing I require from House Chimera.”
Another dart sped toward me. I was prepared for the impact this time, listening as it whizzed through the air and the momentum ruffled its feathers. This one struck hard and deep into the back of my neck, and I shut my eyes to better absorb it.
“In my day,” Jäger went on, “When a Member went against another Member, it required a blood sacrifice to atone for such disrespect.”
My eyes shot open and Marius froze, staring straight ahead.
“Since the practice has been deemed too archaic, I’ve come to a compromise.”
There was a pause, and in that time, three more darts penetrated my skin. By the time the third entered the back of my thigh, I couldn’t remember where the first one had hit me.
Finally, Marius spoke, unable to wait for Jäger to go on. “What do you propose, Master Jäger?” His tone was icy. ‘Silence reigned again and then I heard the wheelchair coming forward, accompanied by a pair of footsteps that could only belong to Gregor.
“Take off the rest of her clothes, Marius.” For someone who was so drunk so early, he couldn’t have sounded more serious.
In my peripheral vision, I could see him shifting on his feet. “I’m not sure I understand, sir.”
“It’s quite simple,” Jäger answered. “I’ve been waiting a decade for this slut and I don’t want her inexperienced when I fuck her. I want you to have the special honor of breaking her in.”
Even he sounded like he didn’t believe it was a privilege. Everyone in the room knew what this was: a punishment. One last snip
pet of revenge for House Wolf. Getting me back wasn’t enough; he wanted every member of House Chimera to suffer.
Marius cleared his throat again. “While I appreciate…the generous offer, I am afraid I must decline.”
By the set of his shoulders, I could tell he was having difficulty speaking and I knew I should have been terrified, but two more darts found a home in my skin and it was hard to do anything but stay awake.
“I don’t believe Master Jäger was giving you a choice,” Gregor said from behind me, mocking Marius’ English-French accent.
My vision had become so blurred I could barely make out Marius raising his hands in the air.
“Lyon isn’t as clever as he thinks,” Jäger said. “You think I don’t know she will stop obeying me the minute you’re back in Paris?”
Marius stuttered but then stopped talking.
“I want you to fuck the bitch. She needs to know who controls her life now.”
I heard Marius inhale and slowly release his breath. He didn’t say anything or even look at me as he took the few steps that closed the distance between us and began to slowly undress me. There wasn’t much left to take off, but the straps made it complicated and he had to remove one strap at a time, slip my underwear and stockings down to the next strap, rebind me, and then move on to the next. No one spoke through this prolonged action, and my legs shook as he finally took off my shoes and I lay there, completely exposed and bleeding before them.
Some part of me recognized what would happen next and told me to fight, but the farthest I got was a weak thrashing against my restraints and slurring, “No, stop,” a few times.
The men collectively chuckled as if the two of us were the most entertaining thing they’d seen in a while.
“You see?” Jäger said. “The moment anyone but her precious Master Lyon touches her she reverts back to her old ways.”
Marius ignored him, smoothing the hair that had fallen across my face behind my ear. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.