My eyes darted to the door at the top of the stairs as it burst open. My eyes instantly shut as light flooded across me and I instantly backed up into the surrounding darkness, crouching forward on my feet and hands. The chains around my wrists and ankles clanked around the cold ground as I moved.

After what seemed like several minutes, I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs descending towards me. I blinked rapidly as I saw a man slowly come towards me. I tried backing up more, but I was already close to the far wall in the small basement.

Soon, the man hovered over me and I looked up, a slow creeping fear rising up as he grinned down at me. A foul odor radiated from him and he swayed in place. We stayed like several seconds before he grabbed my wrist and lifted me into the air.

I instantly tried to pull away, but was already dangling helplessly. He threw me down and I struggled not to cry out as pain erupted across my body. I kept my head down and curled up, but the man would not be deterred. This was to be expected. He came down here frequently to hurt me and I was already covered in bruises and scratches. He grabbed me by the hair and lifted me up again, forcing my face up to look at him. The odor was stronger close to his face, but I refused to look at him. He held me like that for several seconds before laying a blindfold over my eyes.

Fear instantly blossomed inside me and I started struggling to get away. This day would be far worse than I originally thought.

With a grunt, he pressed my body against the wall with his while he tied the blindfold around my head, instantly taking away my vision. I continued to struggle until he grabbed my hair and banged my head against the wall. I instantly became disoriented as pain shot through my head and I couldn't help but whimper. He untied my arms and legs and threw me over his shoulder. I lay unmoving as he went back up the stairs.

I knew our route well and was able to anticipate when he stopped. He knocked on a door and it soon opened.

Powerfully sweet aromas wafted over us as he walked into the room and set me down. Hands were instantly on me, pulling at the small slip I wore and pushing me further into the room until they lifted me and set me somewhere else.

The surface was cold underneath my feet and I couldn't help but shiver as I wrapped my arms around my now naked body.

The rare good memories I had shot through my head as I tried to ignore the gaggle of women around me. Few of the maids had taken pity on me and would occasionally visit, though only briefly. They would try to bring me some of the better food and books, lots of books. It was difficult to read in the dingy basement and hard to learn how to read, but I managed and it was worth it. They even brought me a stuffed animal: a tiger.

Hot water was poured over me and I gritted my teeth. Hands were soon pulling at me and brushes scraped against my body until every inch burned. They pulled at my hair, wrenched my mouth open to scrub it, and poured more of the water over me.

They quickly dried me off and dressed me. First a corset, tightening around my body until I could feel the strain in my bones and I could barely breathe. Each breath hurt as several other layers were fitted over me and finally a dress.

Several hands held onto me firmly and led me from one room to another.

An overwhelming array of scents assaulted me as soon as we entered and I struggled to not be pushed fart my into the room, but to no avail. More hands grabbed at me and forced me first down onto my knees and then flat onto my stomach. They held me down flat and pulled my dress up until a I felt a heat hover over the back of my left calf. After only a few seconds the heat pressed against my skin and I cried out in pain. I tried to writhe away from it, but the hands kept me in place. After what seemed like too long, the heat left and the pain pulsed across my leg. I didn't struggle as they flipped me over onto my back and tied my arms and legs, pulling them taught so I wouldn't be able to move.

The only noise for several moments was shuffling until it was completely silent.

Then, all at once, the voices began chanting in low slow voices. I instantly pulled at my restraints as fear threatened to overpower me. The voices grew louder and faster until I tried to cry out. My voice was choked into silence as a darkness pressed against my mind.

I struggled harder and could feel the restraints dig into my wrists and ankles, but would not come free. The darkness slowly grew stronger and started to envelop me, seeming to grow in strength as the chanting came to its climax.

The darkness soon washed my consciousness away until my body was an empty Ill for it to control. I had to wait helplessly as it slowly twisted my arms and legs and rotating my head to get used to its new home. I tried pushing back against this thing, but it barely noticed me. The new inhabitant of my body was a demon.

A demon who for some reason wanted, needed my body to fully exist in this world.

He seemed to pull experimentally at one of the restraints before a creeping smirk spread across my face and in one inhuman tug, pulled an arm free. Pain shot through my arm which seemed to irk the demon, but he soon ignored it and pulled free the rest of my limbs. I struggled to push against him again, but he was so strong, and I was nothing compared to him. He shakily stood up and tore the blindfold off.

The room's only light was candles that were scattered throughout the entire room, but it was light enough that he had to shield my eyes until they adjusted.

Men and women knelt in silence as they stared at me until a singe man lowered his hood and stepped forward. I instantly recognized him as my fat my, although I had only seen him a handful of times in my entire life. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he so much as uttered a noise, my hand was suddenly buried in his chest.

Blood welled up around my arm and started to stain my father's strange clothes. Blood trickled down my arm and he looked up to see my father's eyes open in shock, his mouth open as he struggled to speak, but soon the only thing that came out was a gurgling noise. He collapsed to the floor as the demon pulled my arm out and let the blood drip into the pool flowing from my father. My arm ached from moving at such an inhuman speed.

The silence in the room was deafening as the others looked on in horror. As soon as he looked up, the room erupted into chaos.

People scrambled over each other, all trying to get to the door. Candles and all manner of objects were knocked over in the rush to escape.

He spotted one woman cowering in the corner and made a bee line towards her with a wicked grin on my face. He stood over her and slowly reached my arms out, wrapping around the woman's neck as much as he could. He slowly began to squeeze as the woman clawed at my arms and squirmed in his grasp. The pain became a minor annoyance to him, but he would not let her go.

The woman's face twisted into a silent scream as he squeezed until she choked, until bones cracked, and until her body drooped back, lifeless.

He turned back to the rest of the people scrambling to escape and killed one after another until we were the only living thing in the room.

Bodies were scattered everywhere and blood spread over the entire floor. In the aftermath of his wreckage, the pain in my body screamed out. He suddenly seemed to lose control and I took the chance to push at him again.

This time he was unable to keep full control and we struggled back and forth until I was able to gain control again. He would not let me go completely, but I had enough power to seize my body back.

My eyes fluttered open and I realized I was curled up in a ball on the floor, half covered in blood. I quickly tore at my clothes until I was bare except for undergarments. I staggered in the blood and fell again, not realizing just how much I ached and how tired I was. I managed to pull myself up and pushed out of the room. My only thoughts were on escaping as I tried to shut out the demon, but he was still there, seeming to wait for something I knew not.

It was my first time seeing the house and it took me several minutes to find the stairs and make myself down them and out the front door that was already open. Being outside for the first time left me stunned as the sun overpowered my senses. I stood motionless as tears flooded down my face. I was finally able to see and looked around to see the end of the street with thick trees beyond on one side of me and more houses to the other side.

I heard distant shouts and cries from fart my in town and panicked. I dashed into the trees, ignoring as much pain as I could and ran until I couldn't breathe.

I forced myself to a stop as I gulped down air, my body shaking as I collapsed in a pile on the ground. The demon had seemed to be fading away from me, but he suddenly attacked in full force.

I struggled against him to maintain control and it was much easier this time. He seemed to be much weaker than before, though I wasn't sure why. I thrashed on the ground, arms swinging out and hitting whatever I could. It soon became apparent that pain made it harder for him to overcome me. It weakened me as well, but almost seemed to do twice the damage to him. He had soon been forced to retreat again and I staggered back to my feet.

The light was beginning to fade around me as I stumbled through the woods and it was soon difficult to see, both from the lack of light and from my failing vision. I felt a haze spread over my mind and fought to stay awake.

Suddenly, I crashed into a gate, collapsing again, this time unable to get back to my feet. I lay there, gasping for air and squinting, trying to see past the gate, but it was already too dark to see anything clear.

I let out a loud groan as pain pulsed all over my body, making it difficult to concentrate but keeping me awake.

The demon was suddenly back, trying to force himself into mind and over my body. I was so drained, I barely stood a chance against him even in his weakened state. With every last ounce of strength I could, I lifted my hand up and bit down as hard as I could.

Pain burst from the point of contact and a muffled scream drowned against my skin. Hot blood soon filled my mouth and made me gag, but the pain seemed to deter the demon. I kept biting, my free hand digging nails into my arm until the pain was almost too much.

I finally felt him pull away, from both annoyance… and something else. It almost seemed like fear, but I had no idea why he would be afraid and only made me more confused.

I could feel myself slipping into darkness when I noticed a figure coming towards me. It moved so silently, it wasn't until it was only a couple yards away that I noticed. It stopped over me and fear spread across me again. I stared up with wide eyes, but my body would not move. All was silent around us except for my strained panting. The figure seemed to wait and just a few minutes later, I felt myself slipping away again. My eyes fluttered closed as the figure bent down over me.