My stomach plummets to the floor. The cell. Oh,fuck.
Devil has always presented itself as a respectable company. But there are cracks under the veneer. Rumors that there’s a secret cell in Devil Tower, some sort of medieval prison in the depths of the earth. It’s filled with all sorts of torture devices, and if you get locked up in there, you never leave. You die slowly, either from hunger or from torture, or some combination of both. And then your body is entombed in the walls, never to be seen again.
So the rumors are true. The cell exists. And that’s where I’m headed.
4
Damien
I’m surprised at my pet’s reaction. Her face is naturally pale to begin with, but at the wordcell, it loses what little color it has. She goes white as a sheet.
The long fringes that border her eyes beat down on her light cheeks once, and then she turns her irises up to me. My breath nearly leaves me at the sight of those two pleading eyes, the deep violet swirling in them.
I realize then that the rumors of the cell must have gone beyond our circle of enemies. It’s really grown a reputation of its own.
The truth is, it’s the least scary thing about us. Just a tiny stone room with a humidity problem. Though I know it’s been embellished over time. We actively encourage the rumors, because they’re useful. Nothing like instilling fear in your enemies.
She’s not my enemy, though, and while I look forward to instilling just a touch of fear in her, this isn’t the kind I had in mind. It’s a little too violent for my pet.
I bite down on my first instinct, which is to reassure her. Idoneed to punish her, after all. Get the others off my back, especially Vale. And it won’t hurt to make her a little more malleable. I was not expecting her to be so rebellious. She seemed so withdrawn.
I can’t say I hate it, though. If anything, it turns me on.
The only thing I regret is that taking her to the cell means clothing her again. Having her naked in my arms has been intoxicating. Everything about her is a surprise.
More than anything, I’ve grown addicted to the way she unravels at my touch. I can read the fear in her eyes, yet her body loosens when I stroke her. She’s arched into me twice already. Shehasbeen lonely after all.
Not anymore.
Well, I’m going to have to keep her lonely for a little while longer. Until the boys are satisfied she’s been punished enough, and until her rebellious streak has been tamed.
I can’t bring her up to the apartment until I’m sure she’ll behave.
I lift her up from my lap and stand up beside her. I can’t resist dragging my hand down her back and onto the curve of her hip. She tenses again, but I don’t go further.
I begin to stroke her, my fingers rubbing her lower back in a repetitive pattern that causes her once more to relax against me. She’s been hungering for someone’s touch, I can tell. From now on, she’ll have mine, and only mine.
But not yet.
I remove my hand and hear her exhale in a needy shudder. Biting down on a chuckle, I go to the door and grab the pile of clothes that Logan has slid under the door. He knows me well. He knows I wouldn’t want to bring her down naked through the hallways, with all the cameras that the boys have access to.
I keep an arm around her at all times. I’m amused by the way she stays docilely beside me after her silly attempt at escape. I won’t make fun of her, though. I’ve noticed she grows furious when I laugh at her. She’s already visibly terrified, and that’s enough. I won’t add anger to the list of emotions she’s currently struggling with. Still, once she’s left the cell, I’ll have to deal with those little bursts of temper.
I pull the rough smock over her head. It’s not very nice, and it makes her look like a prisoner, which I guess she is.Myprisoner.
I open the door and she walks quietly next to me, her bare feet padding on the marble floor. I glance down with a pang as I take in their appearance, bruised and bleeding. She must have done a lotof walking in her life, and not with the right footwear. But the days of walking are over. From now on, she can spend her time going from one end of a locked room to the other.
We walk down the hallway, passing Vale who looks at me with an arched brow.
“Taking her to the cell,” I say hotly.
“Just kill her now,” he says in his raspy, gravelly voice. “No point in dragging it out.”
I feel her collapse slightly in my arm, and I turn a furious glare at Vale. He merely shrugs. If she weren’t here right now, I’d punch him for that. But I’m not letting her go. Not after that little escape attempt of hers, though in any case she wouldn’t get very far. Both the staircase and elevator are accessible only with a code.
I walk her into the elevator. By now she seems more dead than alive and she’d probably fall if my arm wasn’t propping her up. Sighing, I thread my fingers through her hair, and she relaxes once more. I smile at the thought that I’ve already taught her to relax under my touch. She won’t be very hard to train, after all.
Pretty soon she seems to forget everything but the touch of my fingers on her body. Meanwhile I’m breathing in her soft, thick, beautifully tangled hair, the little curls mingling with long wavy strands. I wonder when she’s brushed it last. It must have been a long time, and yet it’s clean, a faint odor of peach rising above the enticing scent of her own body.
