NATASHA
With the mask and cloak on, James whisks me out of the apartment building after sending the doorman on an errand for him. He’s been extremely careful about not having me seen at all.
His driver opens the door of the town car and I slip into the back, then James comes in after me. “On the floor, Slave.”
I quickly comply, trying to reserve my energy for a fight later, when I’ll need every ounce of energy I can muster. “Yes, Master.” I move to the floor and take a position of submission.
Although my body has been ravaged by the drugs my father had me on for over a year and then the fasting James has made me do, my mind is sharper than ever. There has to be at least one man in the audience tonight who will listen to me when I shout to call Nic.
I’m prepared to take all I can before the actual branding occurs. I will fight to my death to stop that from happening. James Hawthorne is in for a rude awakening. I did warn him about myself.
After I fell apart and cried for over an hour, I found a reserve of strength and faith hidden deep inside of myself. I also recalled some things about the people I’ve met at the club. Though not many, I did manage to meet a few and I have faith those people will step up and help me when I ask for it.
With James’ confession of having quite a few irons in the fire, ready to be aimed at Nic, I have all I need to have the man arrested for blackmail. When you add in the fact he has to have the bonds he has with his other slaves on file with the BBC, that should be all anyone needs to put the man away for a very long time.
There’s no way more than a few of his other slaves hasn't found the way they’re being treated unfair and inhumane. Perhaps my fate was to walk into the club that night for the other women and future women James Hawthorn would torture and terrorize.
I’d like to think it was merely to meet Nic, the man I love, even though I never saw that coming. It seems my reason may have been two-fold for following Dani’s advice and joining her that night. The night that changed my life.
The car stops and James pulls my leash that’s attached to the collar he has tightly wrapped around my neck. He’s never gentle about anything he does. When he gets out of the car, he jerks the leash, making me run forward and nearly fall.
My bare feet are what helps me not to get tripped up and I walk quickly behind him with my head down. The smells of hay, animal shit, and cotton candy hit my nose as he hurries along with me into a large wooden gate.
As we walk inside, I can tell we’re at a zoo. It’s dark but the half-moon’s light glows off the white snow-covered walkway. My feet are freezing but that’s okay. It’s making my mind sharp as the snow bites at the soles of my feet.
We meet a man who unlocks a cage and I am placed inside of it. “You will wait here until the show begins,” James tells me as he takes my cuffed hands and pulls them up, looping them over a screw that’s jutting out of the enclosure.
My toes barely touch the snow-covered ground as my body is stretched to its limits. Then he does something I did not see coming. My mask is pulled off and he puts a gag-ball in my mouth and ties the straps so tightly, I can’t make more than a slight sound. My mask is put back on with no one the wiser that I am unable to scream or make loud noises.
I had relied on his desire to hear my screams and cries so I could shout for someone to get Nic. Now that’s gone. He must’ve thought about it and decided it was too risky to expect me to comply with the bond.
Growls fill the air behind me. Large cats, lions perhaps. Bears, for certain. And wolves howl in the darkness behind me. My body heats with the terror I’m feeling. I am at the mercy of the animals in the position I’m in.
Would he really allow the animals to rip me apart? Would any of the members who will soon be here allow that kind of show to be put on?
I have no idea to what extremes any of the people, who make the BBC their hobby, will go to in order to push the envelope. James seems to want to scare the shit out of them all. Especially me.
I watch as other women are brought into the cage. They all give me sorrowful gazes as they enter the cage, all wearing the same thing I am. Some of their red cloaks blow apart as they walk in, showing me the same little leather straps I have on, that merely accent their private areas, covering none.
All the other women, who are around my size, have their hair pulled back into a high ponytail and we all wear the same full facial mask to hide our identity to the maximum effect.
I, alone, am cuffed and hanging up. Dropping my head lower, I can see out of the corners of my eyes they are being placed on either side of me. Six on one side and six on the other.
The animals who I hear have to be in other cages behind this one or we’d have been attacked by now. Two gurneys are brought in and I have to wonder why that is. Does he plan to kill a couple of the women tonight?
The gurneys are put at the end of each line of the other slaves and then two chairs are brought in and placed at the front of each line. My heart starts to beat harder as music begins to well up and I hear claps and cheers.
Looking up for a moment, I realize a heavy black curtain is shielding us from the audience’s view. The members of the BBC and their slaves are waiting on the other side of the curtain for the show to begin.
A man, wearing tight spandex pants that reveal a huge bulge between his muscular legs, walks up next to me. He has on a black mask and horns protrude through the top, making him appear demon-like. His mask is slit at the mouth and he leans up, licking the length of my neck. “Prepare to find out what hell is really like, Slave.”
I had an idea it was James and nod as I can’t speak at all with the thing in my mouth. My body already hurts and the real torture hasn’t even begun.
The music comes to a crescendo then falls to complete silence. And I am doomed!