Cold ate all the way inside me. Cold like I’d never felt before. Not that I remembered anyway. My thoughts were slow. My memories are hazy, fighting against the icy blast from the air above. One that made my bones ache and my teeth chatter with every violent shudder.
I wrapped my arms around me, wincing at the sting in the crook of my arm.
Who are you?
The words floated from somewhere. I searched for an answer until fear drifted in, floating like fog around my ghostlike thoughts. I turned my head to a sea of red. Rows of women dressed in lace stared with vacant expressions. They lined up like soldiers all the way to where they blurred against the darkened backdrop at the edge of the room.
Who are you?
Those words came again. Think…come on…you can do this. Think. I tightened my hold as a fresh wave of icy air blasted down on me and that fresh sting in the middle of my elbow forced me to twist my arm.
There were needle marks there.
Pinpricks of red were neon against fine white scars on my arms.
There were lots of them. The sight of those dots was chilling.
Oh, shit…oh shit…
I lifted my gaze as movement came from the corner of my eye. A faint blur of darkness came closer, hovering just out of view.
“Who are you?” The deep snarl was met with a soft murmur. One I couldn’t quite catch.
I fixed my gaze on those tiny red dots in my flesh as fear and panic danced inside me.
“Who are you?”
A murmur…one I could almost hear.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
I lifted my head as that darkness strode closer. Darkness that brought with it a face I knew somehow. Sparks ignited in bottomless pools.
“Who are you?” he questioned, and I opened my mouth to speak.
I knew who I was…I knew…I knew.
I’ll see you on the other side, Trouble.
I gazed into that endless stare. My pulse pounded like clenched fists in my chest as I stared at the man.
“I said, who are you?” he demanded.
The words came on their own, cruel and hateful. “No one,” I answered.
He gave a nod, desperation filling his eyes before he turned away and was gone.
No one.
That’s who I was.
No one with a name.
No one important.
I tried to remember how I got here and where here was.
Was this some kind of hospital? I risked a glance at the men standing at the edges of the room. Men who didn’t look like any doctors I’d ever known.
Fight.
Fight…
FIGHT.
I flinched and took a step backwards, the only one now out of line. “Let me out of here.” The words barely made it to my lips. But panic was taking over, screaming and howling on the inside as I turned my head, staring at the sea of blood red and screamed, “LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!”
The sound broke the spell.
I spun around, my teeth gnashing, and searched for the door.
“Riven!” A roar came from somewhere in the room.
But I didn’t care. All I saw was that door.
Let me out.
Let me ooouuttt!
LET ME OUT OF HERE!
I ran, slammed against the woman dressed in red in front of me, and shoved her out of the way. All I saw was the doorway. All I saw was my survival and the end, the end of all this.
Until the blur of darkness came for me, barreling down on me like a hurricane.
“I’ve got her!” the darkness roared, slamming into me and taking me down to the floor.
That cold waited, pressing against my face as I was held down and my arms were wrenched behind me.
I screamed and kicked, unleashing panicked blows. But I moved too slowly, and my punches were weak, too weak to do anything.
“Easy!” darkness bellowed, grasping my wrists as I drove my head backwards. “I said, easy now!”
“Get off me!” I screamed, staring at the open door in the distance. “GET OFF ME!”
“We have a fighter,” came a dangerous voice came from somewhere above.
The blur of movement came again as he descended and gripped the flesh of my arm before the sting happened once more. “Owww!”
“We’re going to need to watch this one,” the deep, smooth tone of the Devil murmured.
I jerked my gaze upward, looking at him as he towered above me.
“I agree,” said the man whose heavy breath was a rush in my ear as he gripped my arms. “I think we make this one an example.”
“Fu…” I tried to find the words. But the room swayed and shimmered, like an illusion. “Fuckkk you.”
That darkness pressed closer against me, his words a whispered rush in my ear. “That’s the plan, Trouble. That’s the goddamn plan.”
I wanted to fight them. I tried to fight them, but I had nothing, no strength, no will. I was nothing more than chattering teeth and an empty stare. Strong hands gripped my arms, pulling me upward.
“You fight against the programming,” he shouted. “So we’re here to make sure the programming wins.”
He looked down at me, taking in my body. His mouth twisted into a snarl. “Who are you?”
I sucked in hard breaths.
He moved fast, grabbed my jaw and clenched tight. “I said, WHO ARE YOU?”
Agony roared through my jaw when he bruised my cheeks against my teeth as I cried, “No one.”
His chest rose hard and fell as he jerked his gaze down. “That’s right. You are no one. No one with a need of their own. Your need is my need. Do you understand me?”
I nodded through his crushing grip.
“Then you’ll get on your knees,” he demanded, his eyes wide. “You’ll get on your knees and you’ll beg for forgiveness.”
I didn’t want to. Every cell in my body screamed in defiance even as my knees buckled and hit the floor.
OBEY.
RELEASE.
OWNED.
The words flashed neon bright inside my head.
He didn’t use words. Not anymore. One look had me eased back on my haunches and my arms sliding to my back.
You are my property.
The words resounded somewhere in the back of my mind.
Good. Now spread your legs.
His lips never moved. Still, I knew what he was thinking. What he wanted. What he ached for.
His chest rose with a heavy breath. His gaze moved instantly to my thighs as they slowly parted.
Wider.
The skin on my knees squealed against the floor. I couldn’t look away from his eyes. Eyes that seemed so familiar. My fingers twitched, aching to touch the red lace at my thighs. I think these are too tight. The words resounded in my head as though somehow…somewhere I’d already said them.
No, that husky growl came. I know it’s the perfect fit.
He wanted me. This man who looked down wanted me more than he wanted anything else in his entire life…and I wanted him. I licked my lips. I wanted him.
“Please,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” he demanded.
My jaw clenched. Still some part of me kicked inside as I answered. “I tried to escape.”
“Do you want to escape?”
I slowly shook my head.
He bent down and gripped my jaw, only this time it was softer. “Then open your mouth.”
My lips quivered and slowly parted. There was a dangerous look of satisfaction. One hard brush of his thumb and it dragged the soft flesh of my lip against my teeth.
“Wider.”
My jaw ached, jerking and shuddering, fighting against the cold. He slid his fingers inside and along my tongue.
“Suck,” he commanded.
I closed my eyes as shame filled me.
“Did I tell you to close your eyes?” he snarled.
I wrenched them open.
“I said, suck.”
I did, drawing his fingers deeper inside my mouth.
He looked down. “You like to cut, Daughter? Is that it? You like to cut and bleed and be empty?”
Tears filled my eyes as he thrust and withdrew, penetrating deeper with every motion. This was not foreplay, this was a violent assault. One that didn’t fill me with pleasure…it filled me with fear.
“You are nothing but my own needs. Do you understand that?” He pushed his fingers all the way inside until my throat closed around him, until he dropped his knees to the hard floor and grabbed the back of my head in a savage grip. “You are no one.”
My eyes teared. My throat clenched, until he let my head go and instead savagely yanked the strap of my bodysuit, tearing it down…and exposing my breasts.
“You are nothing but my entertainment.” He gripped my breast with one hand, his fingers still shoved down my throat. “Nothing but a string to pluck.”
I flinched as he pinched my nipple. Pain flared, the cruel, blinding rush, familiar. He pinched again, only this time harder, until a low animal sound tore free from me.
“I am your blade now, Daughter. I am the honed edge of the razor you crave, the prick of the needle you long for…and the drug you can never escape.”
Saliva strung from his fingers as he pulled them free before he dropped his hands and rose, looking down at me.
“Now, you will go with the others. You will not fix yourself. You will not kick and scream and you will not try to run. Do you understand me?”
My shoulders trembled, threatening to curl.
Some part of me wanted to.
But this was a test.
And more than a test for me.
The…darkness lifted that cruel gaze.
“Walker,” he called one guard at the edge of the room. In an instant, the male obeyed, striding closer. I realized every set of eyes was fixed on me. There were more men here than I expected, each one watching me with ravenous stares. “I want you or your man to watch her every move. You’ll call me the second she steps out of line, or any issue at all. Am I clear?”
The guard’s gaze moved to me and he nodded. “Understood.” He turned his head and waved his man over.
“I do not want her out of your sight,” Darkness commanded, then lifted his gaze to the sea of women behind me. “Let this be a lesson for all of you. Your bodies are no longer yours to command. They belong to someone with far more power than you.”
He lowered his gaze to mine. There was something unspoken in them. A plea…a prayer. One he was desperate for me to understand before he stepped away. “Go.” He turned his gaze away. “Your lessons continue tomorrow.”
Then, on a dime, he turned and strode away, heading toward the men at the edge of the room.
“Sleep well, Trouble,” the smooth, seductive tone of the Devil came behind me. “You’re going to need it.”
I wanted him to leave with the other man. My chest ached with every resounding boom.
Something was happening here. Something I didn’t understand…or remember.
“Move back in line,” the guard called Walker commanded.
My arms trembled as I slowly pushed upward. I didn’t think my body would hold my weight, but it did as I turned and slowly made my way back into line. The woman I’d shoved aside didn’t even glare at me, just stepped aside, allowing me to pass.
That wasn’t right.
I knew that.
Still, I was helpless as I took my place along with the others, feeling every set of eyes from the edge of the room.
Who are you?
The words resounded.
Who the hell are you?
MINE.
OWNED.
RELEASE.
DAUGHTER.
No one. That’s who I was…
I was no one.
Not anymore.
