Page 46 of Jagged Souls

Back in my room, I stare at the red splodge on my folded cotton shirt. She has been placed on my bedside table. On Micha’s side of the bed.

I couldn’t bring myself to let Khalid take her into his shadows. I’m not ready to let her go, so she’s frozen with magic, waiting for her mother to come home.

Waiting for her to say goodbye.

Turning from her, I open my laptop to start detailing the area we need to search for my wife.

I’m going to get you out, little monster.

Then we’ll bury our daughter together.

Ten

HER

I come to in a different room, lying on my back in bed. A bright overhead light shines in my face, so I turn my head while blinking fast. My eyes focus on a metal counter full of surgical tools. The white walls of the place mock me with their sterile cleanliness; all I feel is dirty.

Used.

Rotten.

Infected with the touch of Grubs and Sadist and all the other men who raped me.

Hating the feel of being on my back, I go to stand. As soon as I sit up, I find my hands and legs are strapped down with thick padded cuffs. A chill runs through me as I glance down at my body. I’m naked and tied to a hospital bed by my wrists and ankles. The surgical tools finally register, and my heart jumps into my throat. I need to get out of here.

Sadist and the others were experimented on.

I tug against my binds.

My skin burns from the pain.

I grit my teeth and pull harder.

My skin rubs raw.

I twist and yank and fucking curse.

But the cuffs still bite into me, deep and unyielding.

Fuck!

Breathing hard, I give up trying to free myself. Fighting against the impossible will just make me break faster. I am not naive enough to think I’ll never break. That I’ll survive this place with my mind intact. It’s the number one rule to torture:everyonebreaks eventually. Whether during their time of captivity or afterwards.

So I need to keep my goals realistic, need to give myself something I “can” control. I can’t get out of these binds, but I can keep my dignity. I can take whatever they do to me today. I can survive until tomorrow.

I can learn valuable information – like what was done to the fourteen men who raped me, if they’re still undergoing experimentation, and who does it. I can use that to build a rapport with them, a shared hatred, a shared pain. Then I can work on manipulating them. Get them to see me as more than a pussy. Maybe even get a few of them to help me escape…

The idea of that, of playing nice to the men who raped me curdles my very soul. But I’ll do what I need to in order to survive.

The door opens, and a man with short black hair comes in. He doesn’t smile at me or glare at me with cold malice. He doesn’t look at me at all as he moves over to the counter with all the medical tools.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I snarl.

I don’t need to ask him who he is; his face is one I will never forget. This bastard is the one who helped Antonio portal me here. He was the one who stepped on my hand as I reached to hold my little girl for the first and last time as she lay in a puddle of blood – a mixture of both mine and hers. He stole that moment from me, and so I will steal his life.

It won’t be easy though. He knows transportation magic, so that means he’s a strong witch, intelligent, and fucking crazy. Given he’s also the guy who experimented on all the wolves, though, is a good thing. Maybe I can convince them to help me kill this fucker in between raping me.I’m not trying to leave you, Grubs. I just want to beat the shit out of Eduardo and then shove his face into his excrement until he chokes on it.

He picks up a bone saw and comes over to me. It takes everything I have not to tug against my bonds. Show no fear.