Bitch, you a lie. You know good and damn well why they throwing the coochie and dick at him.
I growl at myself, disgusted that my mind would even go there. Even Asad’s haters—mainly me—couldn’t deny the man’s face card. After years of being in my stepbrother’s presence, you’d think I’d grown some kind of resistance to it. But like a virus that mutates into a stronger, deadlier variant that renders immunity useless, his beauty only matures, deepens… darkens. He reminds me of the orchid mantis that uses its beauty as a disguise to lure in its prey before it attacks them. Since I’m a biological animal, my body’s primal response to Asad’s appearance can be excused. The heating of blood in my veins, the hardening and ache in my nipples, the tug and tightening low in my belly, the swelling and quiver in my pussy, the moisture that spills from it, dampening my underwear… They’re all instinctive responses to that lovely mask. Nothing more than an animal jerk.
The difference between me and the many people who fall victim to that lure is I know what monster exists behind that brutally pretty face with its silver eyes, fierce angles, and fuckable mouth. I’ve witnessed and been on the receiving end of those claws and teeth and forked tongue.
Giving my head a small, abrupt shake, I purge my Asad-stained thoughts and return my focus to the tablet and the most recent results regarding Fairy Dust.
“This is amazing. And huge.” I look up, smiling at my assistants. “Great work.”
A whimper from subject one’s cage draws my attention back to him, and a ripple of excitement undulates through me.
“Get him out and ready,” I order Gus.
I don’t miss the gleam in his eyes. This is his favorite part. It is for all of us. And not just because of the scientific work we’re doing here.
No.
It’s for the pain we’re about to inflict.
Subject one’s whimpers elevate into ear-piercing howls as Gus opens the cage door and enters. It begins to flail and try to fight, but its skinny stature and weakened state are no match for Gus’s much larger, heavier frame. My lab assistant doesn’t even seem to flex a muscle as he picks up the subject with ease and carries it over to a black surgical chair with chest and thigh straps, as well as wrist and ankle cuffs. Jaq assists Gus in securing subject one in, then they fix the halo brace over the subject’s head, attaching the bottom to the chest strap. Next, they insert a “bite block” into his mouth to hold it open.
“Perla, do you have the new sample prepared?” I ask. With this altered sample, we hope for a reduction in the adverse effects.
“It’s ready.”
She approaches subject one with a pair of tweezers, and it attempts to buck and strain against the bindings with no success. Gurgles roll out of its throat, and it tries to rear and thrash, but all of it is useless, and that shit doesn’t move any of us.
Perla lifts a small, square film from a white, round dish, lays the drug on his tongue. With the piece in its mouth, the subject can’t spit it out. But even if it could, the construction of the film is intentionally thin, intended to quickly dissolve.
We step back, our tablets out, and study the subject like a specimen. Well, that’s whatitis. Because the moment this piece-of-shit excuse for a man decided to rape the seven-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, he ceased being a human and became athingthat deserves to suffer, to die. What the laughable justice system refuses to hold it accountable for, I will. The laws of society claim no person can be judge, jury, and executioner.
I say, you got me fucked-up.
And every cage in this lab contains a rapist, a molester, an abuser, a murderer—those who prey on the weakest and most vulnerable of our society.
God forgives.
But before they leave this earth and discover if He will indeedmeet them with open arms, they’ll fuck around and find out with me.
Ten minutes pass with no change in its demeanor other than the panicked roll of its eyes, the soft but rapid pants and heaving of its chest. But at eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds, its body slumps into the chair. Subject one’s facial features go lax, and its eyes glaze over. A throaty, almost hedonistic groan fills the room, and a smile curves its mouth, softening its features. It appears euphoric. Hard to believe that just minutes earlier it’d looked like a cornered, terrified rat.
For the next eleven hours, we rotate shifts. I study it, recording notes, and Perla remains alongside me, taking vitals and keeping it hydrated. Gus and Jaq head back to the main lab and attend to our regular workload. Aside from my secret work, I’m still the lead scientist for House of Cross… for now. If anyone wanted to investigate, they would appear like employees engaging in overtime that I signed off on. We do have a couple of irons in the fire though, so it’s a good thing our schedule isn’t exactly nine to five.
Right now, I’m perfecting a new drug called HEA for them. It was almost there and ready to roll out. The first batch had tested well with local fiends. But I wasn’t satisfied. The high hit like cocaine, with none of the crashing-out side effects. Plus, it was intended to be an aphrodisiac. A dopamine agonist increased sexual arousal, making it the perfect party drug for its intended target customer—the wealthy, young party crowd.
Right now, Asad has enough Glass Slipper supply for the next month. And besides that initial test batch, none of HEA. But I’m not unreasonable. I’m willing to sell the formulas for both to him.
For a price.
“Ember.”
I lift my head from the microscope and slide I was hunched over, and Perla waves me over to where she’s standing next to subject one. Immediately, I turn and head toward them. Moments later, the lab door hisses open and Perla and Gus enter.
“Subject one. Test group. After eleven hours and”—I glance down at the timer on my tablet I started after the dispensing of the drug—“thirteen minutes, the subject is heavily perspiring. There’s rigidity of the muscles in his extremities. Teeth are clenched. Acceleration of breathing.” Another ten minutes pass. “Subject one is seizing, foaming at the mouth. Blood is leaking from the corners of his eyes and his ears. Subject is choking on his tongue.”
None of us move to perform any lifesaving measures.
Cries and screams of horrors fill the lab from the other subjects in the cages as they witness this one die an agonizing, bloody death. Probably because they’re scared this will soon be their immediate future.
