Death Row 4 - The Mastering

by Black, Jaid

  Her breathing stilled. Her eyes widened. It was as if he could guess her plans and was letting her know she’d never get away from him.

  Never.

  “Yes, Master,” Nicoletta dutifully whispered. She lowered her lashes, concealing her gaze. “I will always belong to You.”

  Chapter 2

  August 20, 2250 A.D.

  (25 years later)

  “…I said, would you care for a chalice of spirits, Mistress?”

  Nicoletta Kan blinked, the serving droid’s words finally registering. Lifting her gaze up to meet that of the naked silver female, she shook her head in the negative, too focused on memories to so much as consider imbibing a hallucinogen, even if it was but a mild label. She wanted her wits about her. “No thank you,” she said, a polite smile enveloping her mouth. “I’m not thirsty.”

  The droid nodded and continued down the aisle to offer the next passenger on Federated Earth Aerolines flight 127 a cocktail. The star-carrier was filled to capacity, Nicoletta noted, so the serving wench had her work cut out for her.

  Nicoletta turned her head and absently stared out the window. Since the star-carrier was currently in deep space, there was little to look at beyond the black abyss on the other side of the viewing portal. They’d been en route to planet Earth for over three days now. She imagined it would still be another hour before they broached the Milky Way. She could scarcely wait! Three hours after that and the aerocraft would touch down on homeland soil. And then a few hours later, Nicoletta thought with an excited grin, she’d be embracing her beloved daughter, Nellie. Nellie…

  Oh how she missed her! She had wished to return to Federated Earth the very moment she’d learned of her daughter’s pregnancy, but conversely, she’d been so overwhelmed with melancholia after learning of Abdul’s death that she feared her presence would detract from the happy time Nellie and Kerick rightly deserved rather than add to it.

  Abdul Kan—her dead husband. And what’s more, she reminded herself with a tensed jaw, he was a dead husband whom she had no business grieving the loss of. She had run from him, had she not? Her nostrils flared. Yes, she had been on the run from her husband when death had claimed him. He might have been one of the wealthiest and most feared men within the Hierarchy, but the price of that power had come at the cost of so many dead and tortured lives.

  He was evil. A demon in human skin. She herself had known as much for longer than she felt comfortable admitting.

  It was Abdul who was responsible for Sinead’s death—her beloved friend, his own first wife who had died at his atrocious hands. It was Abdul who was responsible for infecting countless voiceless prisoners. Those Hierarchy chattel had been infected with the most hideous disease imaginable for experimentation purposes. Those unfortunate men had became, at the whim of Abdul Kan…

  Monsters.

  She shivered. There was no better word for sub-humans, Nicoletta decided.

  Monsters. Beasts. Abominations.

  Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she recalled her last run-in with just such an infected creature. When first she had fled from Abdul, a sub-human male had absconded with her. It had carried her kicking and screaming into its den, then mounted her for two chilling days and nights.

  After she escaped the beast-man and was reunited with Nellie, Nicoletta had worried for weeks that the creature’s babe was growing in her womb. But thankfully, oh so thankfully, her blood cycle came upon her and she knew now that the abomination had not managed to breed her. And yet…

  Still the creature haunted her. It was as if her soul belonged to both Abdul and the beast-man, for one commanded her dreams and the other her nightmares.

  Despite her fears and the fact she hated to think back upon those two days and nights, she still felt a certain sorrow for the creature. It had, after all, been a man once upon a time. It had felt hope and despair and love and hate and joy and defeat and…

  Her eyes narrowed. Once upon a time it had been a man. Abdul and his Hierarchy comrades had taken that humanity away to further their own sickening goals.

  Nicoletta sighed as she stared out into the black abyss. She closed her eyes, deciding sleep was better than memories. She didn’t wish to think about the beast-man. Nor did she wish to think about her dead husband.

  Her eyes flew open. Her heart skipped a beat. Even in slumber Abdul was always there—always. She resisted the memories, rebelled against recalling anything at all wondrous about the years she’d spent in his harem. She fought and raged against it just as she’d always done with anything concerning Master Kan.

  Twenty-five years ago Abdul had vowed she would always belong to him. While alive he had seen that promise through to the end. He might have been able to make that a reality during his life, but she’d be damned if he’d wield that power over her in his death.

  Nicoletta agitatedly ran her hands through her long, dark hair. Maybe, just maybe, it would be easier to let go if she understood what it was that had changed him. She needed answers but didn’t know where to look for them. She suspected the daughter of her heart, Nellie, knew…something…something she found difficult to speak of. And so Abdul’s secrets, for all intent and purposes, had followed him to his grave.

  Where had it all gone wrong? Nicoletta asked herself for at least the hundredth time in the twenty-five years she’d been wed to him. When Abdul had purchased her from the marriage auction block her hopes had been so high for a blissful married life, second wife or no. All youthful, idealistic thoughts of fleeing from him had been gone the moment their bodies had joined. That she had to share his heart and body with another wench had been difficult to accept at first, but from the moment she met Sinead she’d been too fond of her to let her spirits sink unduly.

  At first it had seemed that her new husband might very well be that mythical, glorious, romantic lover all wenches dream will buy them. To be the chattel of such a male would make any wife swoon with happiness and Nicoletta had believed her husband to be just such a prince.

  The first couple of months had been all she could dream for and more. He had been kind, attentive, and romantic—everything she’d ever wanted. And, of course, a wife could never ask for a better lover as Master.

  Abdul had always been exceptionally lusty, Nicoletta recalled, settling deeper into her chair. She had found it little wonder he’d needed two wives to satiate his sexual appetite. He could make love for hours, spurting his seed left and right into Sinead and herself, his energy for the carnal seemingly endless.

  But a few short months later, five years after Sinead gave birth to Nellie, everything began to change, including Abdul himself. A man who had always been dangerous became impossibly more so. A man who had once loved and cherished her—or so she’d thought—would turn on her in the blink of an eye.

  She grew to hate him, to despise him, to detest the very presence of him. And yet…

  Nicoletta sighed, her smile sad. And yet she had dared to hope. She had not run from him in the old days because she had dared to dream that Abdul would come back to her and once again be her Arabian prince, the knight in shining armor bespoken of in fairytales by the ancients.

  But that had never come to pass. She had given him his beloved heir and son, Asad, and still it had not come to pass. Every day Abdul grew colder, every day he distanced himself from her more and more until she felt as though she was wed to a terrifying, volatile stranger.

  The distancing continued. More wives were added into their family, bodies for Abdul to spurt into, bodies she suspected he’d purchased simply because he realized they didn’t make him feel—precisely what he wanted.

  By the time Nicoletta had been married seven years, the harem bed the Kan family slept in contained six: Abdul, Sinead, Nicoletta, and three more wives Abdul had bought, none of whom either Sinead or herself had ever taken to liking. Many years after Sinead’s death Abdul had purchased yet another wife—another reason Nicoletta had run from him, though she conceded not the biggest.

&
nbsp; Why, Abdul? she silently asked, her nostrils flaring. I want to know why. Why did you force me to stay when you’ve loathed the very sight of me for years? Why!

  “Federated Earth Aeroflight 127 is preparing to broach the Milky Way galaxy,” a cheerful, disembodied feminine voice announced, breaking Nicoletta from her thoughts. “All mastered and unprotected females are now required to remove their body décor. Thank you for choosing Federated Earth Aerolines.”

  Nicoletta stood up and removed the long, flowing robe she wore. She pulled it over her head and handed the body décor over to a passing by droid to store for her. Naked save her nipple rings and chain just as all mastered women of Federated Earth were required to be, she plopped back down in the seat.

  That her husband was dead would not signify to the port authorities when they docked and had their virtual passports checked at the space station on the outermost cusp of the galaxy. Nicoletta’s right buttock was branded with the sign of Abdul Kan. To them, whether dead or alive, she was and would always be his exclusive property. By law, no other male would ever be permitted to touch her. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen, only that it wasn’t legal.

  Nicoletta took a deep, drugging breath and slowly exhaled as she nestled back into her seat. Her eyelashes fluttered shut. To them, perhaps, she was still Abdul’s property, but Nicoletta knew that she was free…

  From now until forever, she thought, she would always be free.

  Nicoletta’s heart sank as she watched Abdul finish making love to Sinead. His groan was long and loud as he spurted inside of her. It was long minutes before he removed himself from the harem bed so Nicoletta busied herself by pretending to fix her hair in front of the image map.

  “It’s you He loves, Nica,” Sinead murmured, coming up behind her. Her smile was as gentle as her Irish lilt. “You know that, lass.”

  Nicoletta continued combing out her long dark hair in front of the three dimensional mirror. “That’s not true,” she whispered. She sighed, momentarily halting the combing. “I’m sorry for my jealousy, Sinead. I could not ask for a better friend nor confidante than you.”

  “But you want to be his only wife.”

  “I do.” She closed her eyes briefly, pained by her own admission. To wish such a thing was to wish Sinead away and that she could not do. “Please understand this has nothing to do with my love for you. I just want…”

  “The fairytale.” Sinead nodded. Her gaze looked far away. “As did I in my own way,” she murmured.

  Nicoletta set the comb down then turned around and faced her. “I’m sorry, Sinead. Here I am feeling melancholy for myself,” she contritely muttered as she reached out for her hand, “when you were the first wife. I can’t imagine how upset you must have been when He married me.”

  “I wasn’t,” Sinead softly admitted. “I was happy for both of you.” At Nicoletta’s confused expression, she cryptically explained, “There is more to my relationship with the Master than you can know.” She sighed, glancing away. “Just trust in me and in our love for each other when I say I wanted Abdul to find His happiness in you—happiness He will never find with me.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “And I’ve already said too much.” She shook her wine-red hair, then smiled and drew Nicoletta into her embrace. “Just know that He loves you, Nica,” she whispered. She ran her hands over Nicoletta’s large breasts and gently massaged her nipples. Nicoletta’s breathing hitched. “As do I,” Sinead said thickly.

  Their tongue-kiss was intoxicating, just as all their kisses were. Sinead was the only female lover Nicoletta had ever known—the only female lover she would ever know. Her heart belonged as much to Sinead as it did to Abdul, though the love was different. She loved Sinead…

  But she was in love with Abdul.

  “I said stand up. Now, wench!”

  Nicoletta blinked several times in rapid succession as a male she didn’t recognize forced her up to her feet, jarring her awake from the deep sleep that had claimed her. What’s happening! her mind screamed. What do these males do here?

  Her mind was so foggy it was difficult to take in what was going on around her. Women were crying, men were bellowing. What is going on! She fought to rouse herself, to focus her eyes on her surroundings and to think without cobwebs muffling her brain.

  Fifteen to twenty armed men were swarming the aeroplane, the expressions on their faces grim. A quick glance out the nearest portal confirmed that the star-carrier had crashed somewhere within the jungles of Federated Earth—where was anyone’s guess. Another quick glance toward one of the star-carrier’s four retractable wings revealed heavy damage…

  Her breathing stilled. Reality slowly dawned.

  They had been shot down. Sweet Kalast, she thought, her gaze wildly darting about, they had been overpowered by Outsider forces! But what did these bandits who dwelled below-ground want? What were they after?

  She swallowed heavily as two rough male hands reached around her from behind and seized her large breasts. Frightened, she gasped as the lecher began tweaking her nipples, his erection poking against her back.

  Ah gods, they wanted women, Nicoletta hysterically thought, her breathing growing labored. These Outsider males could not purchase wives legally since they dwelled outside the protection of the biospheres. They couldn’t purchase wives, so they were stealing them. She had been freed from Abdul’s harem bed for this? No…no!

  Her heart pounding like mad in her chest, Nicoletta screamed as she tried to break away from the man holding her hostage. He fought with her, snaking her tightly against him so that she couldn’t move.

  “Let me go!” she raged, half hysterical and half venomous. This could not be happening. “I belong to another!”

  “Stop it, wench,” the man snarled. He bellowed when her teeth sank into his arm, drawing blood. “I said to cease,” he gritted out, whirling Nicoletta around and forcing her to face him. Crimson stains showed in her mouth. “Who you might have belonged to before don’t matter.” His anger was a tangible thing. “The only thing matterin’ to you now is who you will belong to.”

  Ah Cyrus, no, she thought, her eyes rounding. Noooo!

  She opened her mouth to scream again, but was brutally backhanded before a single sound escaped her lips. Moments later her attacker detained her by the shoulders as a second man held onto her flailing legs. Kicking and screaming, they carried her off the protection of the star-carrier and into the lair of the deadly jungle.

  “Help me!” Nicoletta wailed. Nellie—Kerick—somebody must hear! “Help meeee!”

  Chapter 3

  Her heart pounded in her breasts as Abdul placed gentle kisses all over her face. They’d been making love a lot this past month without Sinead. Sinead seemed preoccupied as of late and Master Kan had not pressed the issue of returning her to the harem bed even though she had yet to bear him a male heir.

  There were secrets between the two of them, secrets Nicoletta realized she was not privy to.

  “I love you, ana wahib,” Abdul murmured in the dark Arabian accent that had always left her knees weak.

  Ah gods, she loved him too—oh how she loved him! She thought to ask him the meaning of ana wahib, but his intense green gaze found hers as he again spoke.

  “I…” His nostrils flared, his expression pained as he looked away. “What have I done?” he asked hoarsely, as if to himself. His fingers threaded through her dark hair, holding on almost too tightly, as though she was his lifeline to sanity. “Cyrus—what have I done?”

  Nicoletta’s face scrunched up. “Abdul?” She grew alarmed, having never seen him lose his iron control before. Her eyes rounded. “Abdul, what is wrong?”

  The mask was back, the raw emotions as though they had never been. “Nothing.” He pulled himself up from between her legs and fell onto the harem bed beside her. His gaze was faraway, his expression so cold and remote it sent chills down her spine. “Nothing,” he murmured.

  She must have fallen asl
eep. How in the name of the ancient saints she had managed to do so under the present circumstances was beyond her, yet clearly she had. Always—always—Abdul haunted her dreams. Ordinarily Nicoletta hated that he wielded power over her in his death, yet even she conceded she’d rather return to her previous state of slumber, her mind busily recollecting days gone by in the harem, than to face this current, more frightening reality.

  Bound, gagged, and naked, she had been dragged below ground into the catacombs, a series of dark, eerie tomb-like structures carved into the earth’s belly where Outsiders made their homes. The thatched wood and mud place was lit only by torches on wall sconces. She shivered, goosebumps forming on her flesh from the chill in the air.

  Her arms had been stretched high above her on the cold earthen floor and her legs had been hoisted apart at the thighs. Five men were all over her, their hands and mouths exploring all of her crevices. The Outsider rebels keeping her secured to the ground all looked to be brothers in their early twenties to thirties…and they also looked to be virgins.

  They had never before mounted a real woman, she thought, her eyes rounding from over the gag. A droid perhaps, but never a human female.

  Sweet Kalast, they’d be fucking her for days…

  But they hadn’t mounted her yet, she considered with much relief, wondering at that. Nobody was penetrating her now, only licking and fondling her various body parts. She felt no soreness between her legs either so she was fairly certain she hadn’t been taken when she’d been asleep—or knocked out.

  Yes, she had been knocked out. The memory was a threadbare one, but Nicoletta possessed the foggiest recollection of struggling with two men in the jungles…and then of a cloth that reeked of a chloroform-like substance called sarsi being wrenched over her nose and mouth until she knew no more.

  She also suspected there had been illegal goings-on in the star-carrier itself. Like as not, the rebels had acquired help from the inside because only a gassing would account for being able to sleep through such a crash as that one.