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Fresh cigarette smoke filled my lungs as I gasped for air. I craved sleep in a way I never had in my life, and with each time he awoke me I could feel my sanity slowly slipping from my grasp.
“Wake up, little songbird. That’s enough sleep for you.” He tossed the bucket to the side, the metal clanking off the concrete, the chains ringing out as they were pulled taut, lifting me swiftly to my feet. My body shook as the water dripped off me, my head hanging forward, eyelids heavy as I groaned in exhaustion.
“Have a nice nap?” Marcus lowered his face in front of me, a cigarette tucked loosely between his lips. I lifted my eyes to him, anger clouding my judgement, and I spat in his face, giving him no verbal answer.
He jerked back in response, and his lips curled, jaw tightening as he wiped it from his face. He let slip a low sound before he backhanded me across the face. My head knocked to the side, and I hung for a moment, feeling the sting of my busted lip. I licked the blood from my mouth, spitting it onto the floor.
He jerked my chin up to him. “Now, let’s try this again. Did you have a nice nap?”
I stared into his eyes defiantly, breathing through the pain. “I’m not gonna play this game, Marcus.” He dropped my chin, and I let my head hang forward a moment, my eyes heavy with exhaustion. How I wished he would just end it. “Just kill me and get it over with.”
“Oh, but that would just break Damien’s heart.” He lowered himself to whisper in my ear. “And after he’s been working so hard to find you.”
I tried to hide the overwhelming emotions that welled in me at the thought of Damien looking for me. The hope was dangerous to cling to, but still, I hoped, let that be the one thing I held onto tightly to keep myself from slipping into insanity. Damien. Zephyr. Barrett. Vincent. James.
Kat…
Just hold on a bit longer… Damien will come. I know he will.
“What are you to him?” Marcus demanded, grabbing a hand full of my hair and lifting my face to force my gaze.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I groaned, not having the strength to fight as I closed my eyes.
God, it felt so good to just close my eyes.
“Oh? There’s gotta be something special about you. For Damien to be so interested in a human after all these years, I find it odd. You don’t just fall in love again after losing your mate.”
I opened my eyes, the words clicking through me. “Damien lost his mate?”
“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Marcus asked, smiling now that he’d gotten my attention. “Lost his love over a hundred years ago. It destroyed him. Whatever you think you are to him, you’re wrong. he’s just using you for a good time.”
“You don’t know a thing about Damien."
“Oh, believe me, love." He lowered his face, inches from my own. “I know him better than you could ever imagine.”
I lifted my eyes to stare into his. Oh, how I wanted to hurt him, to chain him where I stood and beat him as badly as he had me. If only I could get a hold of that knife he held, I’d run it into him until the breath left his body.
“Oh, those are some hateful thoughts." He leaned in, whispering into my ear. "If I gave you this knife, could you do it?” Burning pain stretched across my shoulder as he pressed the cherry of his cigarette into my skin, and my body seized as a gasp ripped from my throat. Marcus released my head, letting me fall forward. As he did, the chains released, and I fell to the floor. My arms crossed, shielding my face instinctually as I hit the concrete, and I stifled a whimper as my bones bruised beneath my skin.
I tried to push myself up, the burn searing my skin as I panted, and my arms quivered, unable to lift my weight. His footsteps circled around behind me, and my spine stiffened, remembering the feeling every time he’d forced his way into my mind. Before I could try to escape, he grabbed my arm, jerking me up off the concrete, twisting my arm behind my back. Panic flooded me as his hand wrapped around my throat, releasing my arm before cupping his other hand over my eyes, pressing my back against him.
"By the way." He leaned next to my ear. “Haven’t you been wondering how you ended up in the streets those nights you were attacked by the darklings?”
My spine stiffened and he continued, a low whisper in my ear. “You’re beautiful when you sleep.”
The blinding light consumed me again, claws sinking into that intangible part of my head, shredding and tearing its way in, and a scream ripped from my throat. He held nothing back, invading my mind again, tearing through every memory I held close to my heart. It only ended when I gave in, slipping into unconsciousness.
* * *
The muffled sound of voices outside the door woke me. I was laying on something soft, and for the first time I couldn’t feel the shackles on my wrists. It was the most peaceful awakening that I’d experienced since I was brought to this place.
I sighed, rubbing my tender eyes. They must have moved me when I was unconscious, as I was in a different room. I was in a bed for once, which was a Godsend compared to the floor I’d slept on for who knows how many days now. Sores littered my skin from the concrete, both from sleeping on and falling to it.
Just as it was in the other chamber, the walls were bare concrete with no windows. Adjacent to the bed sat the most basic set of furniture, a dresser with a mirror, a small table and chair, and a sink and toilet. My chest tightened. He had no intentions of me leaving anytime soon.
The pain that had settled in my body made it difficult to sit up. My hands rested palm up in my lap, and my stomach twisted at the sight of the cuts and bruises marring my skin. They spanned up from my wrists, bruised and chaffed from the shackles that had bound me, up until they disappeared beneath the tattered remains of my sleeves.
My head throbbed. Whether from dehydration or his mental attacks, I didn’t know. The mind games and mental invasions continued far longer than I wanted to think about, and I knew he still wasn’t satisfied. I wasn’t safe yet, not by a long shot.
