Wraith

by Joy Blood

  “No!” I bellow, the word ripping from my throat, I allow myself to feel it and all its meaning. “No!”

  “What the fuck?” I hear Sebastian behind me as he continues his quest in assaulting me, but I push back, bringing the back of my head cracking into his face. I feel him slip from me then fall away from my body. When I turn around I find him on the floor, pants around his ankles, his hand clutching at his bloodied nose. “You, little bastard!” he roars, leaping to his feet as he pulls his gun from his boot. My immediate response is to duck. The gun fires and the sound rings in my ears, but I don’t feel any pain when I hit the floor. Sebastian scrambles to pull his pants back on when my door flies open with Roman on the other side, a gun pointed directly at me. “The fucker bloodied me!” Sebastian yells through his hand, trying to hold in the blood pouring from his nose.

  “Of course he did. He’s twice your size and stronger.” Roman huffs lowering his weapon, “I’m surprised he hasn’t done it before now. And you should count your lucky stars I’ve looked away for so long. The boy is an asset now, not your play thing. Find another one. You’re done with him.” Roman storms out of the room leaving me, still naked with a sore ass, and Sebastian with a bloody nose.

  “Get out,” I grit between clenched teeth, and just like that he does as I say. Getting to his feet with a scowl on his face, he storms out of my room never to walk back through it again.

  It turned out that my eighteenth birthday was the best day of my life.

  Chapter Twelve

  The man is cunning. Giving me the knife is obviously a trick. There’s no way will he just allow me to get free and kill him. I won’t take his bait. Why he hasn’t killed me already I’ll never know, but I’m going to use it as ammunition later. There has to be a reason. I know his background and his kills do not discriminate. He kills anyone in his path—man, woman…or child.

  Keeping a vacant stare, I don’t allow myself the pain that tries to make itself known on my body. From my palms to the aching headache that still lingers from the blows I received to my nose and forehead, to my empty stomach and parched throat, it is only my body telling me I still draw breath. I’m still here and the mission is still in play. “I’m sure, since you are here to kill me and all, that you know who I am. Can I assume that?” he asks me, looming above me now. He is obviously trying a different tactic of questioning so instead of starting off into space, I decide to make eye contact. “There. Is. Something,” he says, his gaze locking onto me. “Well then, I will just come out and say this. I have been in this cabin for seven months now. No human contact, no…” He makes a motion with his hand. His fist making a slow punching action. “If you know what I mean?” He smirks. “And you are one very good-looking girl.” His eyebrows raise suggestively and like before, when I awoke to his body pressed up against mine, my core heats.

  “No.” I let the word slip out. Giving him what he wants.

  “She does speak.” His words have a playfulness to them that I didn’t anticipate. It’s almost as if he finds this whole situation…funny. Obviously he is enjoying himself, but there is something else, too. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to go all rapey on you. Earlier was an exception, I was…dreaming.” He shrugs. “Besides, you really aren’t my type.” I let out a snort at his words and immediately regret it when he flashes a sharp smile my way. “Better get to work on getting free. There is another storm due in the next couple days. If you aren’t down the mountain by then you may have to stay the rest of the week,” he tells me before reaching for the door and stepping outside. I know what he is doing and that it will only take him a few short minutes before he is back inside.

  Quickly, I give a pull on both of my wrists to gauge the tightness of the restraints, the texture. Nylon. It won’t be very easy to get out of the rope and getting the knife to my hand will take a lot of maneuvering and I highly doubt he will just sit in his chair as I do so. But it is the only way. I need to get the knife to my hand.

  “There may come a point where you are captured. Your captor will most likely keep you restrained somehow.” I hear Master’s voice in the dark room, my arms extended up above my head. “What will you do, Sobaka? How will you get away?” His voice comes closer until I start to feel the heat of his body at my back. Panic runs through me and I lurch forward, my body flailing, trying to get away, but it doesn’t happen. His hands snake around my middle, pulling me close to him. His naked chest connecting to my naked back. “Calm, Sobaka. Find your center,” he purrs into my ear, bringing me to the here and now. “You will face this—head on. They are cowards and will use your body how they see fit. You will find yourself here with someone who isn’t me. What. Do. You. Do?” His hands roam my bare skin, callouses scratching and leaving gooseflesh in their wake. A foot kicks mine out to the side, spreading my legs open for him before a hand leaves and the jingle of his belt rings in my ear. No. No. No. No. No.

  My head snaps backward connecting hard with something—his head or maybe nose— but I don’t care. With all the power I can summon, I pull myself up with my arms and start rubbing the blindfold on my bound hands until it falls from my face. Letting my arms relax once again, I bring myself back to the floor, my feet barely touching the cement. I try to look behind me but I can’t see much, only Master’s booted feet as he lays on the floor. I knocked him out. I know I don’t have much time, so I access the rope. He didn’t go easy on me, the knot he used to hold me in place is near impossible to undo. Pulling myself up again, I get to work. My arms burn from the strain, my flesh is on fire from the rope cutting into my skin, but I don’t let it seep in. Pain is nothing to me.

  I have to let myself drop back down two times before I start to make progress. By that time, Master is already waking up. “Very good, Sobaka, but you are still tied.” His face comes into view, blood dribbling from his now crooked nose. His pants are undone and now falling from his hips, exposing himself only slightly. He pays no attention to his state of undress, only to mine as he comes forward and hooks one of my legs around his waist. “You let your assailant wake again, and now he is even more mad. Even more determined to control you.” My other leg goes around him, his pants dropping far enough to be fully visible. “Shall I take what is mine?” he asks bringing a hand between us. My fingers are looser in my binds and if I get just one more chance I will be free of my restraints, so I take this opportunity of him being face to face. With my legs hooked around him I pull with force, and use his body to rise myself high enough to give my hands just enough relief in pressure to slip through the knots I untied with my teeth. My fingers slip free just in time for him to notice what I have done before I swing myself around his body and force him to the ground. He hits hard on his chest, the air leaving his lungs in a whoosh before I flip him over to face me. “Excellent, Sobaka. Now that you have me here. What will you do with me?”

  The door swings open letting in a cold gust of air accompanied by snow before being flung shut. “You haven’t made much progress. I’m a little disappointed. I was expecting to come in and be met with a knife to the chest,” he tells me sounding almost genuinely disappointed. Almost like he wants to die. “I know what you are thinking, and you can just forget about it. It’s the challenge, little girl. You are a challenge. I know you are some kick ass ninja, I just want to see how kick ass.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  She didn’t make the knife move an inch in the short amount of time I was outside. But she still has time. Perhaps when I go hunting. The one single word she let escape her lips still echoes in my head. No. The way to get to her might just be to let her think I’m going to take advantage of her. She seems to have an issue when I got too close, not that a woman in her position wouldn’t, but her reaction seemed to carry an edge to it. Maybe she was assaulted in the past? Playing on that would make me a terrible person, but I already am one, so what would it matter?

  I go about my day, checking my battery-operated weather tracker, filling the wood pile next to the stove, all
while watching her make little progress on the position of the knife. Each time I walk inside from carrying in a pile of wood, I swear the blade has moved a tiny bit further up the side of her body. It isn’t all that sharp, but if the person using it knew how to use it they could do some serious damage. And she knows how. No fucking doubt about that. Giving her the blade might be the equivalent of signing my death warrant, but I see it as a challenge. A challenge to her and also a challenge to me. If she gets the blade to her hands and somehow sets herself free, maybe she will get what she wants or maybe I will get what I want—an explanation to why she is here.

  Finishing off my bowl of soup, I take it to the sink, rinse it out, and turn to her. “Any chance you need to pee?” She still lays there, stoic, not even a flinch as I step closer. “I’d rather you use a pot this time,” I say reaching down to grab the pan I set aside for her to use. There is a slight grimace to her features as I get closer. She knows I’m not going to let her go outside and if she needs to relieve herself, this is her only option. She doesn’t nod or even chance a glance my way. She only raises her hips far enough off the mattress for me to get the hint that she does need to go. I place the pan under her ass, lifting her just a slight bit more to pull her panties from her hips.

  Now, I have been known to be on the kinky side of things but when it comes to the golden shower bit, it does nothing for me. So, I step away from the bed and slip my feet into my leather slippers to go outside, giving her the privacy that I probably shouldn’t.

  Standing in the brisk cold I wait, listening to the howl of the wind as I count down the seconds I give her. Three, two, one…turning the knob I open the door, “Ready or not—” I warn before stepping back into the cabin. She is still in the same position and its only when I start walking toward her that I realize I don’t have toilet paper in here. Only in the outhouse. I contemplate letting the girl drip dry but find myself taking a wash cloth and wetting it down to clean. I quickly go about taking care of the pan and cleaning her up before pulling her panties back into place, she continues to keep her focus from me and entirely on the wall. “There. Better than freezing to death while trying to kill me, wouldn’t you agree?” She still doesn’t move. “Sure as shit is for me,” I mumble as I drop down onto the chair, turning off the lamp I have scooted closer to me so she doesn’t get the wild idea to burn the place down by knocking it over.

  Silence takes over the cabin and once again I can’t sleep. “Would you like a bedtime story?” I ask her about an hour into the darkness. I don’t wait for an answer, nor do I know if she is awake, but I find myself wanting to talk. “There was this kid once who had an evil step father,” I start, the creaking of the bed letting me know she is still awake as she moves. “He didn’t have any evil step sisters though, only a boss who didn’t care what the evil step father did to him. Every night the stepfather came into the boy’s room. And every night the boy got more and more confused.” I can hear her breathing pick up as I continue with the story, my own breath getting harder to grasp. “It wasn’t until the boy got bigger that the boss found out the boy’s true potential. The boy was given a new job. Instead of cleaning he was promoted to doing book work. The boy was good with numbers. But still each night the stepfather would visit the boy. The boy started to almost enjoy it when the step father would come at night, he anticipated it even. Then he met a girl. That girl sparked something inside him. Made him realize what the stepfather was doing wasn’t right.” Clearing my throat, I pause for a moment, lost in the story. “The boy decided that he would fight back, and to his surprise, he won. He thought the boss would be mad, but he wasn’t. He actually rewarded the boy with more privileges.”

  “What happened to the girl?” Her words break into my telling of the story, bringing me to the here and now. I didn’t even realize I had still been telling the story until she spoke. My eyes find hers glistening in the dark, the slight glint in the moonlight facing me.

  “She died.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “She died.”

  The words send a chill down my spine that I don’t expect. His story is almost haunting.

  “What happened to the boy?” I can’t believe I’m willingly talking to him but his story has me opening my mouth and asking questions.

  “He died, too.” He sighs and shifts in his chair. “Go to sleep, tiger, story time is over.” I listen into the still of the night, the fire crackling along with Wraith’s slowing breaths is the only thing hitting my ears as I continue trying to move the knife closer to my hands. When he had me go to the bathroom, the pan brought the blade further up the mattress. I push past the embarrassment of the whole ordeal, trying not to linger too much on the fact that he saw—and touched—my most intimate parts. The warm wash cloth sent an unwanted thrill through my body and I hoped that there was no sign of my arousal when he finished. The thought only makes the situation that much more unbearable. How could I have such a reaction to him doing such an unwanted and intimate thing? The question brings me back to his story. Was it his story? Was he the little boy? It shutter thinking of something like that happening to a child. My own memories coming back to me as I imagine a young Wraith being forced to do things no child should be subjected to. I shake it off. He’s the enemy, plain and simple. There isn’t a sob story out there he can tell that will make me change my mind.

  Not even if it involves me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I began earning things. First, a calendar, then a watch. Even the occasional trip outside the walls of the compound I found out I was living in. I was sent to train for a large amount of the day which I enjoyed because I was able to go outside. But with my privileges also came more responsibility. I had more bookwork, and was able to find out more about my employer. Roman had his sausage fingers in everything. His main source of income was selling women to the highest bidder. He also has many enemies.

  I impressed Roman at every turn, but even with the power I was still harassed by Sebastian. He couldn’t get over the fact Roman had chosen me over him. Then one wondrous day I found a glitch in the accounting. Some numbers were off and didn’t add up right. I knew I found my golden ticket. The one that would get the prick off my back, literally, for good. “You don’t know shit, pet,” Sebastian snarls, spitting with each over-pronounced word.

  “I think Roman would disagree. The account I found has over a million dollars in it and it’s in your name. Damning evidence, don’t you think?” He paled slightly but still held his defiant stance.

  “You always were a cocky little shit. Always so disrespectful.” At that I let out a booming laugh and stalk toward him, looming over his now visibly shaking body.

  “Little?” I towered over him nearly seven inches and probably had about a hundred pounds of pure muscle on him now. Yeah, I wasn’t little anymore, and the free rein Roman gave me allowed me to express my true self. “I am thinking that you should make a run for it before I slit your throat right here and now.”

  “You c-c-c…can’t” he stutters out, starting to shifting away from me.

  “Run, pet. Roman will be on your tail any second now!” I call after him as he stumbles down the hallway from me. It doesn’t take me long before I reach Roman’s room and relay the information. Sure enough, Sebastian has hightailed it and is nowhere to be found.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The sled sinks down at least three inches in the fresh layer of powder making the trek down the mountain slightly tougher. Memories of last night come flooding back to me as I park the sled around the area where she jumped me. I snuck out of the cabin early this morning when it was still dark outside, hoping that she wouldn’t see me leave, also knowing she did. The fact I shared that story with her. My past, maybe not the complete rendition, but close enough. No one got those stories, and for me to tell her was something completely out of character for me. Shaking my head, I keep moving, pushing away thoughts of the girl tied up in my bed back at the cabin.

  Before long, I come
across fresh elk tracks blanketing the area letting me know I’m close to some nearby game. Readying my rifle, I stalk along the trail. I’m following at least four sets of tracks. It isn’t until the sun starts setting, maybe three hours of traipsing around the thick white blanket, that I get a visual on the small herd of elk attempting to dig under the snow for food. Their hooves plowing into the deep snow. Three cows, and what looks to be last year’s calf, graze at the uncovered ground, completely unaware of my presence. Preparing to take my shot, I aim for the cow closest to me, and squeeze the trigger. The piercing bang echoes off the blanketed earth causing the four elk to jump and start running, the cow I hit leaving a trail of crimson in her wake.