Page 11 of Possess Us

I know the only way I get out of here is if I’m set free. I slump, my head hitting the steel table hard as I try to calm my breathing. To slow down my heart. I close my eyes.

‘Please help me,’ I whisper to the demons still inside me.

They don’t reply. I don’t even feel them.

Calm. The fuck. Down. I won’t be any better off if I let fear claim me.

When I open my eyes, the ring mistress stands over me, grinning like a sly cat. She tilts her head and sighs.

‘No one has ever willingly walked back into my little playhouse. Did you miss us?’ She bops the end of my nose and lets out a sickly little giggle. ‘I am so glad that of all my little birds I have sold, you are the one to fly back home. I missed you.’

Flashes of our time together crash through my mind. The way she tormented us in the cages, locked up like animals. She would hold dog bowls of scraps and refuse to give them to me unless I performed.

Sometimes she just wanted me to sit in the corner. Once, she made me slap myself over and over before she would give it to me. And she liked to prepare me for my new masters.

A virgin conduit is no good.

She “broke me in” with various toys she more than enjoyed using on me.

Strapped down and sobbing as she descended on me with vibrators and large dildos.

I lunge and sink my teeth into her outstretched finger.

I know I’m fucked, but I’ll be damned if I don’t give her something to remember me by before I go through whatever she has planned.

I bite down hard. Harder than I ever have before, and if her bony little finger wasn’t between my teeth, I think they would have shattered.

She screams, and my mouth fills with blood as flesh and muscle tear.

I rip and snarl like a dog until my teeth meet bone, and with a final yank, her hand pulls back with a beautiful stub and her finger in my mouth.

I spit it out and force out a laugh, looking her dead in her soulless eyes.

Her blood drips down my chin as she looks at me in utter shock.

She never expected that to happen.

And yes, I know I’m in serious shit now, but the shock and pain I see in her is worth anything that may be to come.

It’s a strange peace when you know you’re doomed anyway. So what the fuck. I may as well give these fuckers a bad day, too.

Her shock turns to disdain as she steps back.

‘A special show for you all, ladies and gentlemen,’ she pants through angry breaths she desperately tries to control. The veins in her neck bulge as she clasps her bleeding hand. ‘A true Halloween massacre worthy of my wonderful guests.’

She steps away and takes a towel that one of the men in suits offers, pressing it to the wound.

She stops by another and takes a roll of money.

‘You better make her scream for this,’ she snarls.

‘She’ll scream,’ Lust replies. ‘Don’t worry about that.’

Lust stands over me, grinning a sly and mischievous grin.

‘Get me out of here,’ I warn.

‘Why would I want to do that?’ he replies, the tips of his fingers trailing up my inner thigh. ‘You look so beautiful strapped down, Little Soul. It’s inspiring many ideas.’

I tug against the restraints again.

‘Lust. Let me go.’

He reaches out his arm, beckoning someone over.

Nate. He slowly walks towards us, the crowd parting and his eyes searching for any sign of immediate threat.

He glances at the doors. He won’t get there before they catch him.

He joins Lust.

‘What the fuck are you doing here?!’ he hisses at him. ‘You brought her here? Are you insane?’ He takes another look around. ‘Is Xion here?’

‘She’s a gift for you,’ Lust says, resting his arm over his shoulders and facing me.

‘I made the ring mistress here aware of our arrival and paid handsomely to allow you to play with her in front of all these good people. A little mid auction show.’ He sighs happily and reaches for a blade before placing it in Nate's hand. They watch each other, and it’s clear Nate is confused.

But the promise of me as prey, and the bonus of an audience, is too great even for him.

His fingers curl around the blade Lust offers, and he walks to the foot of the table.

I look at Lust with more hatred than ever before.

‘Fucker,’ I snarl.

He fucking winks at me and steps back, ready to watch whatever acts Nate plans to do to me.

Nate removes my shoes and caresses my feet, rubbing their soles with his thumb. Clearly, the promise of pain has overtaken any fear he had of a potential threat.

No. He is no longer prey. He is my carver and killer. And the demon I so foolishly trusted has handed me over to suffer in front of a crowd.

‘I want her unrestrained,’ Nate says darkly. ‘Where is the fun in playing with her if she’s tied down?’

‘Like shooting fish in a barrel, huh?’ Lust replies.

But Nate’s hardly listening, focused only on me and his twisted little scenarios running through his mind.

His thumb trails straight down the centre of the sole of my foot, following the scar from the night I was first brought here.

I tried to run. I almost made it to a door.

Almost.

I was dragged back to my little cage, and to make sure I didn’t try to run again, they sliced the base of my feet just deep enough to make them bleed every time I stepped on them.

‘Don’t…’ I warn.

Like my words ever made a difference to this fucker. The more I cried, the harder he went. The more I screamed, the stronger he got.

The tip of the knife pierces the skin of my heel, and slowly, he drags it upwards, splitting my flesh right along the scar.

I try not to scream. I try not to cry, determined to show my defiance and keep my strength. But my body betrays me as pain rips me apart.

He finishes one, and quickly moves on to the next, slowly cutting the soles of my feet. The heat of my blood mixes with the heat of the pain, blending it all into one unbearable mess of agony.

Nate tilts his head back and releases a heavy moan, his entire body slumping in pleasure.

I can’t stop the pain-filled, yet angry, sob that forces its way up my throat.

I catch it in my mouth and hold it there so all they hear is a pitiful whine.

Lust watches on, along with a crowd of wealthy pricks who have paid thousands to be here and will pay thousands more to get a plaything of their own.

I’m a fucking preshow.

As he cuts me on my other foot, the scream I had held inside bursts free, bouncing off the dirty walls over and over again.

As it does, the crowd erupts in applause and cheers.

Cruelty, pain and joy become a melody that rebounds off every piece of stone, every piece of steel, and lands straight back on me.

The dark power inside churns as my pain claims me, as old wounds are torn wide open. The pain of the blade. The pain of remembering all the things done to me in this place.

Two very different types of pain swirl into an all-consuming storm of agony. And they make the demon inside claw at my insides, desperate to reach the pain. To smell it. To taste it.

I feel his need as though it were my own, and as I do, the thrill of the agony has become tainted with something else.

Need. Power. Strength.

The tip of his knife trails up my leg and torso until he stops by my head. His eyes are wide with excitement as he looks down at me.

‘Try to run,’ he whispers. ‘Or I will make it much worse.’

He undoes the buckles on the leather restraints, and he watches as I force myself to sit. I throw my legs over the side of the metal table, my fingers gripping the cold steel as I consider doing precisely what he wants me to do. What they all want me to do.

To try to run. To slam my gushing feet onto the hard floor and fall. To wail and drag myself on the filthy floor as they watch and laugh.

I did it before. All the girls do.

Blood sport. That’s all this is. And I refuse to give them any more satisfaction than my pain already has.

I will not run from this. From them. From my revenge.

I have a promise made. A vow with the demons I have been bound to. And I will see this through no matter what.

Lust doesn’t want me dead. He wants Nate possessed.

Nate loves pain.

I know what demon he serves now.

Let’s set him free and revel in his wrath.

Nate waits, his eyes focused on my feet and the building puddle of blood beneath them.

He holds his breath, expecting me to do what I am supposed to do. Run. Cry. Plead.

Never again.

I feel my demon even more now. The monster inside.

He wants out.

And now I know what he is, what he needs; I know each sting of radiating pain I have felt has made him stronger.

Slowly, I slide to the edge of the table, my feet hovering an inch from the ground. The room falls still as everyone takes a collective breath, and Nate lifts his gaze.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

The sound of my blood hitting the floor brings bile to my throat. I’m fucked now. I can’t run from anyone or anything.

But I never could before. So fuck it.

I grab Nate’s collar, slam my feet down and stand. His eyes are wide, and he swears as I pull him in, slamming his lips onto mine with such force our teeth clash.

I scream in pain and grip onto him so I don’t fall.

He tries to push me off, horrified and disgusted that I have forced him to kiss me. His hands grip my shoulders tightly in preparation for delivering a hard shove.

But as I scream, it’s not my voice that comes out, but a force so fucking powerful I think my body is going to explode before I can release it.

It’s the same expulsion as before, as the lust demon left me and filled up Tyler. But this time it hurts. It’s like razor blades forcing their way up my throat and out of my mouth, shredding everything they pass.

And when I taste blood, I think that’s precisely what has happened.

More blood spews out, seeping between our lips and into his mouth. Black veins spread over the whites of his eyes, slamming into his dark pupils and drenching them in obsidian.

His hands grip my shoulders tighter. His fingernails dig in and claw at me, freeing more blood from my body.

I only cling to him tighter. I can’t fall. I can’t separate from this twisted kiss, even if I wanted to.

My body shakes and convulses for only a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

The fear in Tyler’s eyes is slowly darkened by the invading evilness I have released. His life taken.

His soul sent away.

Then… the darkness settles. Every muscle in his face becomes slack. His arms fall to his side.

He’s empty. A beautiful shell ready and waiting to be corrupted by an evil greater than himself.

I feel it. See it. Fuck, I think I can smell it.

Death. Nate’s a standing corpse. His lips still tethered to mine, cold suddenly, and breathless.

My legs buckle, the pain is too much. The blood pooling beneath my feet is too deep and slick.

Our lips part. And I fall.

The ground gets closer, and when I hit it, I know I’ll never get back up.

But before my knees meet the stone floor and crack into pieces, two hands grip my waist, catching me.

I look up to see Nate looking down at me.

No. Not Nate.

His body. His face. Not his eyes, though. Not his soul.

His hazel eyes are now a deep red. As red as blood freshly spilt. As the blood around my gashed feet. There’s not a shred of humanity inside them. Not a drop.

He lifts me as though I weigh nothing, holding me before him so my feet dangle an inch from the ground.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

He blinks slowly, not looking away from me.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

I take a shaky breath, watching him cautiously. Waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.

I remember what happened when I released Lust and the carnage that followed.

And as I look into these eyes, I’m sure of what I have set free.

Who has been feeding Nate his power.

He raises me so our eyes are level.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

He pulls me closer.

I’m nose to nose with him now.

A demon who thrives on pain.

There has been plenty of that here. I felt him stir as soon as I arrived. Years of pain and blood have soaked into the walls.

Of screams.

Of death.

And he finally speaks.

‘I should like to hear you whisper my name, Conduit. Because soon, all you will be capable of is screaming it.’

‘Alistor…’ I whisper through trembling lips. I swallow, blood sliding down my throat. 'A prince of Hell who becomes stronger the more suffering he causes. Lord of Pain.’