I don't like the sound of that. The lights in the room flick off suddenly, leaving just an orange light flickering at the wall, imitating a medieval torch. I blink quickly, forcing my eyes to adjust to the eerie, gloomy lighting. I can finally see the whole room clearly, and what I see makes all the hairs at the back of my neck stand as a chill slithers down my spine. That imitation flame torch may not look very authentic, but the rest of room number five takes the medieval theme very seriously. Much too seriously. It looks too realistic.
If there is a theme to each room in the Red Lantern, then it seems that the theme of Room Number Five is medieval torture chamber.
The single window in the room is closed so that no moonlight filters into the room. The cavernous room is lit only by that flickering orange light, so that strange, gnarled shadows shift and stretch across the walls with our movements. There are hooks and chains hanging from the ceiling, cuffs and manacles on the walls, and all sorts of restraining devices on the floor beside a bedded platform in the middle of the room. There is a large wooden wheel in a far corner of the room, with ropes and leather cuffs dangling from the spokes. I manage to recognize a stretching rack, a whipping post, a leather noose before everything starts to spin around me, the torture devices twisting and churning in a violent cyclone around me.
A hand grabs me roughly by the elbow, just stopping me from spiraling to the floor. “You—will come with me,” the man says, his black eyes glinting with anticipation.
He starts to pull me away, but I resist, digging my heels into the stone cold floor. With a snarl, he whirls on me. “You will obey me, satisfy my every whim. Understand?”
I can only blink at him.
“What is your name?”
I open my mouth a few times before I can find my voice. “Ana.” I gulp, remembering what I have to do. “And...how do I address you...sir?”
“You may call me Master Dell.”
“Master Dell, y-you're very...strong. Are you a soldier?” I ask, keeping my voice meek and soft.
He snorts loudly. “Soldiers are paupers! They're just bred to fight and die. They have no wealth, no status, no real power.” Unlike me, are the two words he leaves unsaid.
I take a shuddering breath, refusing to give up. I have to try to find out more. “Of course, you are absolutely right, Master Dell,” I answer sweetly. “But I hear that sometimes the Commanders of the Imperial Army seek out rich and powerful men like yourself to aid their cause.” I pause and lick my dry lips. “Do you...would you happen to know any Commanders, or ex-Commanders of the Imperial Army?”
“No.” There is a touch of anger in his voice. “I don't mix with brutish military men. They're not politicians. They're just dogs!”
He yanks hard at my leash and I lose my footing and careen towards the wooden wheel. My shoulder smashes into one of the spokes and rattles the chains.
Dell's black eyes widen as he breaks into a smile. “Well, well, Ana, I see you gravitate naturally towards the Wheel. Excellent.”
“What? I didn't...”
Pulling me up roughly, he snaps off my collar and pushes me back against the Wheel. I cry out as he pulls my arms up over my head and with a grunt, pushes the cuffs firmly down over my wrists, locking them in place on the Wheel. I try to kick out but he winds the chains around my legs swiftly and steps back.
With my body stretched out on the Wheel, I can only raise my head slightly to glare at him. But he is not looking at me.
Dell is facing away from me, standing in front of Pam and Kylee, cocking his head as if trying to decide between the two of them. He reaches out to touch Pam's hair and she flinches. Her reaction seems to please him. He runs his forefinger down her chest, over her nipple and down her flat tummy. With the same finger, he points to the bedded platform in the corner. Pam bows her head and silently kneels at the edge of the platform.
Pulling out a flat, silver card from his back pocket, Dell slides his thumb across the flat surface and looks up expectantly. I realize the card is a remote control when I hear the ominous creaking and clanging of metal as chains start to lower from the darkened ceiling.
I see the chains snaking down towards Kylee. Dell removes her collar and reaches his hand up to grab a fistful of chains. I twist against my cuffs, trying to see what Dell is doing to her. But a movement directly above me catches my attention. I flick my eyes up, and a cry bubbles from my throat.
To my horror, something is descending from the ceiling directly above my stretched out, naked body. They look like clamps, and they are plunging down towards my bare breasts. I try to jerk away but my body is flattened tightly against the wheel, my back arched with my breasts jutting up in offering to those evil looking clamps whirring down from the ceiling. The clamps are poised directly above my quivering nipples.
“No, no...” I start to shake my head madly when the metal jaws of the clamps widen. As I blink rapidly, I see that the clamps are padded but that does nothing to tamp down my terror.
I can't watch anymore. Bracing for pain, I squeeze my eyes shut as the clamps latch onto my erect nipples. I bite down a cry at the pressure and the sudden shot of pain. But as I force myself to breathe and my body slowly relaxes, I find the pain not unbearable. The pressure is not crushing, and the sensation becomes oddly pleasurable after the initial burst of pain.
I blink hard to chase away the fog from my eyes and mind. Dell is smiling down at me, drawing lazy circles around my breasts with his fingers. “Beautiful. Just beautiful,” he drawls. “Perfect!”
He straightens up and smirks, “I'll go adjust her chains, then we can play.”
Panting, I manage to raise my head a little. I see Kylee immediately. She is being suspended in midair with chains around her body. There are shackles around her ankles, which are attached to the tangle of chains rattling from the ceiling. Dell swipes his thumb across his silver card again, and there is the buzz of pulleys and machinery from the ceiling. Kylee's legs are slowly being spread wide apart as unseen machinery move the chains into the required position.
Dell moves to stand between her legs. Kylee's body is lifted until her crotch is at Dell's eye level. He puts his palms on her taut thighs and presses his face into her pussy. Kylee's face remains stoic, even as his hands and mouth busy themselves between her legs.
With a loud slurp, Dell backs away from Kylee and mounts the bedded platform. Pam is the only one who is not chained and cuffed to any of the gory devices in the room. She is simply kneeling on the platform with her head bowed, her chest rising and falling ever so slightly.
He begins to unbutton his red, silk shirt with one hand. With his other hand, he fumbles with his belt and zipper. Completely naked, except for the black satin mask over his eyes, he yanks Pam's leash violently.
“On all fours,” he orders.
Soundlessly, Pam leans forward on her hands and knees. Dell gently moves her hair to one side and finds the strings to her leather collar.
Growling, he pulls the black string to tighten the collar. He lets out a satisfied laugh when Pam jerks back with a gasp, her small hands flying to her throat.
He pushes her body down, maintaining his hold on the black string. He rubs his short, hard member vigorously between her butt cheeks before pushing into her. He pulls on the string as he starts to pound, throwing back his head and making wordless sounds of ecstasy.
Pam's hands are clawing desperately at the collar, her body shuddering. Between the sounds of slapping flesh and Dell's bellows, I can almost make out tiny, choking sounds emanating from Pam. I try to squint at her, but the clamps are clenching my nipples with so much force now that my own anguish is the only thing I can focus on at the moment. I thrash my head, trying not to focus on the burning sensation radiating from my nipples to the rest of my body.
The pressure on my nipples is now so intense that it is all I can do not to black out. Dell's roar jolts me back from the brink of unconsciousness and back into the darkness of Room Number Five. I shake my head and take
deep, quick breaths. Dell's is cursing and swearing noisily, and his grating voice slaps me fully awake.
I snap my eyes to the bedded platform, and see Dell yanking angrily at the black string. Pam is lying on the platform, her body limp and pale. She doesn't stir even when Dell wrenches the string so hard I hear a loud crack.
“Stop it!” I cry hoarsely. “Stop! You'll kill her!”
I gasp, the full meaning of my words smashing into me like a sledgehammer. “Pam!” I scream, jerking against my cuffs. “Pam! Wake up! What have you done to her? Stop touching her! What have you done?”
Dell whirls round to face me, his eyes full of hostility and frustration. “What are you making such a ruckus for? Just shut up!” he spits. He drops the string, and Pam slumps like a rag doll.
“You...you've killed her,” I choke.
He shrugs and snorts in disgust. “And I'm not even done yet. I haven't finished, and she dies on me. Bitch!”
He turns to snarl at Kylee and me. “One of you will have to take her place.”
Kylee stares straight up at the ceiling, not turning her head to throw even a glance at Pam's body. My reaction is the complete opposite of hers. I am sobbing and screaming uncontrollably, unable to look away from Pam's still body.
How could he have strangled her? Why didn't she cry for help? Why didn't he stop?
The answers are so glaring, and so painful.
He strangled her simply because he could. She did cry out, but he didn't want to stop.
Dell looms over me and I spit viciously at him. He inhales sharply then rears back with a roar. He backhands me, and my head lolls to one side. I taste blood in my mouth, and I turn back and bare my bloodied teeth at him. He slaps me again, and again, until I can't see or feel anymore. I don't even realize I am blubbering incoherently, until Dell places a finger on my lips and shushes me. “Shh, there's no need to get so emotional. Hush. Quiet now. Be good now. She's just a whore. Nothing more. No need to cry and spoil all our fun. I said quiet now!”
My sobs cease instantly at his words, my tears drying in my eyes. She's just a whore.
My entire body stills, and I don't even draw a single breath.
“Good girl.” Dell strokes my hair and releases my cuffs. “I like that. So obedient.”
“You will do nicely. You will take her place. You will be perfect,” he whispers in my ear. He caresses my cheeks and releases the clamps from my nipples. He rakes his fingernails across my sore, throbbing nipples, before pinching them hard. I force myself not to react, biting down hard on my lip against the pain. He squeezes harder, and a stifled cry escapes my bleeding lips.
Kneading my breasts roughly, he chuckles, “Perfect.”
Pulling me up, he takes my hand and leads me to the platform. I stand numbly at the side of the platform and watch him wrench the collar from Pam's slender neck.
He turns around slowly, the collar in his hand. “My turn,” he beams.
I start to back away. No! I will not be strangled to death by the likes of you. I will not die like this!
His hand shoots out and grabs me by the wrist. I am about to scream when he stretches out his hand—and presses the collar into my palm.
I gasp, my eyes round with horror and confusion.
What?
I close my frozen fingers round the collar, scarcely able to breathe. The leather collar is still warm, warmed by Pam's last breaths while Pam's pale, bruised body lies abandoned in the corner, cooling rapidly.
I turn the collar over in my hand, comprehension gradually dawning on me. The corner of my lips twitch, and slowly curve up.
Dell has lowered himself to his hands and knees on the platform. He looks back at me over his shoulder and points to his neck. “Do it,” he pants eagerly. “Make it good.”
My eyes gleam as I nod. “With pleasure, Master Dell.”
I step up to the platform. My turn. He wants me to collar him. And tighten the collar to heighten his erotic pleasure.
I bend forward and clasp the collar securely around his thick neck. He throws back his head and moans as I give the string a tentative tug.
“Are you ready, Master Dell?” I coo, wrapping the string around my fingers.
He nods, smacking his lips and rocking his hips with anticipation. His fist is already wrapped around his cock, squeezing and pumping. He groans as he pumps himself harder, and grits out, “Do it. Come on. Make me high. Do it. Now! Ahh...more...”
I grip the string with both hands, watching his shoulders shake with his own exertions. I pull the string tighter, and he starts to pant and groan.
Gagging and choking, Dell turns his head to the side and smiles deliriously at me as he pumps himself to climax. After squirting his semen onto the platform, he wheezes breathlessly and signals me to stop, but I don't. Instead, I pull the collar tighter.
I watch him start to struggle as he realizes what I am doing. He clutches desperately at his neck trying to rip the collar off, as he writhes and convulses on the platform. I stand up and continue pulling the string even as he lunges at my legs and tries to topple me. I stumble but I push myself up quickly. Even on my knees, I refuse to let go of the string. With my eyes fixed on Pam's body, at the bluish marks around her neck and the blood under her fingernails from clawing at her own body, I don't let go. I can't let go. I just keep on pulling and squeezing the collar tighter and tighter, ignoring the scratching, clawing fingers at my thighs and the screaming ache in my arms.
My knuckles crack loudly as I tighten my grip. With a savage curse, I wrench the string back with all my might, using all my rage and remorse to power my muscles. I throw all the strength I have left into my arms and pull the collar increasingly, satisfyingly, deliciously tighter.
His hands start to claw at the collar, and he tries to twist around, but I don't let up. Making choking sounds, he tries to reach back to hit me, and his legs kick out but I continue jerking at the string with a blind, mad vengeance. I bark out a deranged laugh when I realize how much stronger I have grown. All the training that Irin and Jaxon had put me through in the underground cell has paid off.
As his eyes start to roll back in his head, I yank harder, shaking violently under the strain. In response to his desperate splutters, I manage to grit out, “Yes! Go...to...hell, Master Dell!”
CHAPTER TEN
I don't let go even though my strength is completely, utterly depleted. Dell is no longer moving on the bedded platform. His feeble scratching, sputtering and twitching have ceased, and now all I can hear is my own labored breathing and grunts.
As my numb, shivering arms finally fall to my side, the string slips from my fingers and I collapse onto the platform beside Dell's body.
In a daze, I stare at the black satin mask sitting crookedly over his face. I don't bother trying to unmask him. I have no interest in what he looks like. He is just a corpse. Nothing more. No need to cry and spoil all our fun.
Above the roar of blood in my ears, I can hear a voice hissing at me and speaking much too rapidly for me to make out the words. I shake my head and look up to see Kylee twisting awkwardly in her chains.
“...what have you done? Ana! Ana! Get me down!” Kylee is hissing at me.
“What? Oh. Yes, of course,” I mutter, pushing myself up stiffly.
I fumble off the platform and turn in circles before asking, “How do I get you down?”
Kylee jerks her head. “Over there. On the floor. His card.”
I see the flat, silver card lying a few feet from me. Bending down, I pick up the card with my fingernails and turn it over.
“Swipe your thumb downwards,” she instructs. “Not upwards. That will raise the chains. You want to lower the chains, so downwards,” she says carefully and slowly, as though she is speaking to a child.
“I know that,” I grumble, sliding my thumb along the flat surface of the card in a downward stroke.
I sit down heavily at the edge of the platform as the chains come rattling down from the ceiling.
Rubbing my face hard with both hands, I go over and pop the locks on her shackles. Kylee untangles herself from the chains and strides over to the platform, her expression grim.
“What are you going to do?” she says at last.
“We have to get rid of the body.”
“There are two bodies here.”
At her words, my eyes flit to the female body curled up near the wall. He killed Pam.
I start to back away, putting as much distance between myself and that vile platform as possible.
And I killed him.
I...murdered a man!
“No...no...I...I didn't...” I shake my head repeatedly.
“You did, Ana.” Kylee narrows her eyes at me. “You killed him. Because he killed her. And now we have to get rid of his body. Quickly.”
Her words are short, sharp, matter-of-fact. I suck in a shaky breath and nod. “Okay. Let's...” I can't even repeat after her. How in the world are we going to make the body of a full-grown man disappear without a trace? But I realize the Kylee is trying to help me.
She doesn't have to.
By helping me, she will be getting blood all over her hands. She didn't commit the murder. I did. I shouldn't implicate her in my crime.
“Kylee...” I croak. “You shouldn't...”
“Which part of quickly don't you understand?” she says impatiently.
“I...”
She is already walking away, towards the platform. “We'll leave the murder weapon on him. Don't remove his collar.”
With effort, I push myself off the wall and scramble after her. I nod and look around the room. There is nothing, nothing but those twisted devices—except...
“The window,” I whisper.
Kylee gives a curt nod. “Have I ever told you that I love the sea?” she mutters cryptically.
I frown at her. What has her love of the sea got to do with anything?
With a grunt, I manage to unbolt the window and throw it open. The cold night wind slams into my face, knocking the air from my lungs. Room Number Five is on the side of the castle facing the sea, at the very edge of the steep cliff. I peer down into the dark, black sea below. With a shiver, I realize what Kylee is saying. I swallow hard.
Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) Page 7