Chapter 2
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Was I meant to feel fear? I felt nothing but emptiness as I stared at the arched metal in front of me. I had killed for Bram. I had been beaten for him. Hadn’t that shown him my loyalty? My love? Perhaps not. He was angry at me for the love I had grown for West. It didn’t matter how big or strong it was. It was clear where he stood. I meant nothing to him.
The thickly barred door that set in the middle emitted clicking sounds before the automatic lock slid back. I didn’t have to be through to see what lay ahead. The olive-skinned guard pulled me forward, shifting as he swung it open. His gray eyes only settled on me for a moment before disgust crept into his features.
“Let’s go, Mistress.”
The white hospital-type gown I wore went down to just below my knees and ice cold air bit into my nude body underneath. Although I was slightly trembling, it wasn’t because of the frigid temperature. Anger was returning, as were thoughts.
Was this my life now? I knew there was a chance for something like this to happen weeks ago, but I never saw it coming. I thought I had more control. More time. Dammit, I had been wrong. My plans were ruined. Hours went by while I processed my attack on West. I had tried to formulate a new route to take, but thinking was almost impossible. The white padded room I waited in was bigger than I suspected I was getting. If that was the case, it wasn’t good news. How was I going to get the upper hand? Even in that short amount of time, a clear course of action wouldn’t come. There was something about the color surrounding me that messed with my mind. It taunted me, but more, it made my demons taunt themselves.
I lifted my head higher, staring ahead as we walked through the entrance. Doors aligned the long white hall on both sides. Yelling and pounding against the barriers were almost deafening as we began our walk. Tighter, the guard gripped to me, keeping silent as screams grew in volume from further down.
“Kneel! Kneel!”
My head turned to see dark eyes peering through the glass window of the door to my left. The banging grew, as did the man’s voice as he slammed against it.
“Kneel! Kneel!”
My lips twisted while I waited to feel … something. Fear never came. Just more anger. We passed another door. Bloody fingers clawed at the small window and the growling that echoed inside sounded like some sort of animal. Snarls mixed with the deep reverberations and a tug against my arm drew my attention to the next cell. Silence met us and I kept looking at each one as we continued. Men, women, even fingers so small I knew they were adolescents displayed their presence through the only view they had. If they were lucky enough to be able to look out.
“This will be yours.”
Crack!
The slap had my face snapping to the side.
“Red light! Red light!”
The woman’s voice across the hall echoed in my head as I reached for my cheek. The hit had been unexpected when it shouldn’t have been. pushed back my hair, moving my stare up to meet the guard’s. I let the hate shine through my eyes for only a moment before I smiled. His jaw flexed and his hand reared back again.
Crack! Crack!
The last slap knocked me to the ground, but he immediately jerked me back to my feet.
“That’s for our Main Master. It’ll pale in comparison to what’s coming for you.”
Blood streamed from my mouth and I reached up letting my fingers slide against the wetness. Crimson enveloped the tips, hitting a chord inside of me as I stared at it. The fury soared and I struck the guard’s face with such force and speed that it was seconds before he could react.
“Red light! Red light!”
“Bitch!”
The sound that left him followed as he lunged toward me. I managed to slide out of the way at the last second, but he had my hair before I could get far.
“I’ll have your face just like I’m going to have my husband’s. You tell him I’m coming! Tell him I’ll love him to pieces!”
I kicked my feet out, throwing my body in every direction I could as the guard grasped me around the waist and swung the door open. I was thrown in so hard that I slid against the tiles only seconds before I hit the back wall.
“I’ll tell him, alright. God, I can’t wait to see what he does to you. In the meantime, expect me.”
“Red light! Red light!”
The woman across the hall shouted out again and I tried to ignore the pain burning my skin as I pushed to stand.
“I’ll expect you. I’ll bite off your face!”
He threw me an evil grin and I couldn’t help but think he knew something I didn’t. It left me cautiously watching as he shut the door. Sadistic thoughts pushed through—murderous little lullabies that whispered of slaughter and butchery. My adrenaline was racing. I wanted to cut them all apart, limb by limb. Perhaps I would have been a good choice for Master Kunken after all. Maybe he wouldn’t have killed me, but let me kill the others. But slaves? No, I didn’t want to hurt them. Just the Masters and guards who wanted to torture others.
“Red light! Red light!”
My lids lowered while I tried to calm and ignore the woman. With how bright the light was, darkness didn’t come like I had hoped. I opened my eyes looking around the small white room. It was barely big enough to fit the bed. The facilities were not three feet away from that.
Nothing. Nothing but white. No windows except for the one in the door. No color. Even the metal frame of the bed was white. I took a deep breath, sitting on the edge as I forced my mind to think over what I had done, again. Should I feel guilty for hurting West? If I did, I didn’t feel it. In truth, a strange arousal came with wanting to do it again. I wanted him to pay more for treating me like he had. Maybe it was the part of me that believed I had finally taken control over him. That I had made him fall in love with me and won. I had been wrong. You couldn’t tame monsters. Not even with love.
My stare rose to the top of the walls while I scanned the space. I didn’t see a camera, but that didn’t mean one wasn’t there.
Bram.
“Are you just going to leave me here? Where are you?” I yelled.
Rage returned and I didn’t push it away. Was he truly watching? Was he getting some sick enjoyment out of what was happening to me? The questions were just another stab into my nearly dead heart. How could he do this after everything we’d been through? After everything I’d been through for him? There were so many things I wanted to ask and say.
“Red light! Red light!”
My gaze went to the door in annoyance. Even shut away, I could still hear the yells. Multiple people kept shouting out random things. If I thought I might get some form of peace being isolated, it was gone now. Is that what I would become while I rotted away trying to come up with some new scheme? Them?
I eased to stand, heading to look out of the window. My eyes barely made it over the bottom as I tiptoed, taking in the door across from mine. A woman with dark skin and dark eyes peered back at me. She went silent as she stared. Fingertips pushed to the bottom of the glass even with her mouth and she gave a hard shake of her head as if to try to tell me something.
“Red light!”
“No, white.”
Thin eyebrows drew in and her gaze glanced toward the ceiling.
“There is no red light. We have white lights. White.”
“Red light!”
A sigh left me. “White! The light is white.”
“You argue with a mad woman, now?”
I spun around, seeing nothing but my facilities and white walls. My pulse jumped and I knew it was Bram’s voice I was hearing. I also knew it wasn’t real. This had happened before, in my most stressed moments. “This is your fault. Go away.”
“You don’t want me to go away. You want me to come rescue you. To be your savior. I already told you that wasn’t me.”
“I want you to stop talking to me. People will think I’m crazy.”
“You are crazy.”
My jaw clamped closed and tears came, but I wouldn’t allow them to fall at my biggest fear. If I was crazy, this was only the beginning of my hell. Who would I become? What would I become? I couldn’t think that far ahead. I needed a fucking plan. A way to outsmart everyone before it was too late.
I turned back to the window. The woman continued to look at me, but her stare jerked to the side at random times. It was as if she were afraid of something or someone.
“I’m Everleigh.” I paused. “Twenty-four-six-ninety. What is your name?”
Silence.
“Do you have a name?”
My voice stayed loud and I knew she had to have heard me, but she didn’t talk back.
“You sure you want to make a friend? You remember what happened to the last one. Will you skin this one, too?”
“I didn’t want to skin Julie. And I said leave me alone.”
“You may not have wanted to skin her, but you enjoyed it enough to do it to your husband.”
“He deserved it. He raped me. He made me participate in Julie’s preparation. Besides, I didn’t skin West. I didn’t get that far.”
“Red light! Red light!”
The pounding of boots had me turning back to the window instead of staring blindly at the white wall like I had been doing.
“Red light!”
Banging began all along the hall and yelling increased from all over. The woman across from me disappeared and I pushed higher on my tiptoes to get a better view. I jumped back at the face that was suddenly before the glass. Abbot, the new High Leader.
Clicking sounded and where I expected him to open it, he didn’t. He moved back and the door swung open on its own. At his hard stare, I slowly walked backward. My mind was spinning and I still wasn’t sure what route to take with West. I had an idea, but what if I was wrong?
“How’s my husband?”
“Your Main Master? Alive.” He stepped in and my chest constricted at the three guards that eased in behind him. I took them in nervously, trying not to show how afraid I was.
“He’s still my husband.”
An evil smile pulled up Abbot’s lips. “I don’t think he’ll be for long. You tried to kill him.”
“If I wanted West dead, I could have done so in seconds. I wanted him to pay for raping me. But I guess you’re ignoring that crime. I am still a Mistress, you know. Why is he not in one of these cells for that?”
The smile disappeared while he studied me. “He’s our Main Master and you butchered him. You’re here on his order.”
“But I’m a Mistress and he attacked me. We both know that’s not allowed. I keep up on the law. Tell me, High Leader, do you think me so naïve? When two Masters attack each other, what is done? I’ll tell you since you want to play dumb. They usually get fined and threatened banishment. Fine me, threaten me, but fucking by God get me out of here! I am no slave. When Bram hears about this. All of this. What do you think he’s going to do? I’ll tell you that, too. He’s going to massacre your Main Master for attempting to kill him in the first place.”
The guards in the back looked at each other, but Abbot didn’t so much as stir. “Bram Whitlock is dead. From what I hear, you saw him buried, yourself. Did you not?”
“It wasn’t real,” I argued. “He was pretending or something. Read the black book, he’s alive.”
“He is not!” Abbot turned and I gasped as one of the guards handed the black book over. I wanted to run and grab it from them. I wanted to hold it like the treasure it was. “You, Mistress Harper, are sick. You’ve obviously been sick for some time.”
“Read the damn poem. The page is marked. Bram is not dead, he’s alive. It says so right there.”
Abbot flipped through, flashing me pages. Each one seemed to have something different scribbled in the available spaces around the words. My head shook in confusion and before I could say anything, he stopped on the marked poem.
“I knew Bram Whitlock. I’ve seen plenty of his orders and I have access to the final ones left behind. I have compared the handwriting. Look closer, Mistress Harper. Look at the words. Remember. Bram did not write this poem nor did he write the other things added in, did he? It was you. You wrote this.”
My head was shaking and tears were pouring down my face for reasons I didn’t know. I couldn’t have destroyed that beautiful book with the ramblings of a mad woman.
Did I?
“No. No. I didn’t do that.”
“Yes, you did. I want you to look at the handwriting. Look how close it is to your own.” Abbot pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, opening it to show a note I had made for West. The sight had my world tilting. It was close. Close enough to make me question his accusation. “Same loops, same curves. Bram is dead. He is never coming back. He will not be here to rescue you for what you’ve done. But you will wish you were dead after Master Harper gets done with you. He’s going to kill you, Mistress. He’s going to slice you up just like you did to him.”