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CHAPTER 4
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Nickolas had only been gone for a few minutes, a few minutes of Prue listening nervously to low voices coming from somewhere upstairs. She couldn't understand what either voice was saying. She just knew there were definitely at least two people talking up there.
Then all of a sudden both voices went quiet and were replaced with the sound of someone coming down the stairs. She frowned when she saw who it was... It was the man from before, Otto.
Prue swallowed nervously and stared at him, hoping he was still scared of her like before. He must have thought she had magic powers too. That's why he had bound her hands and covered her eyes. Nickolas seemed to think she controlled her powers with her eyes or hands. Otto must have believed the same thing. Hopefully he wouldn't tie her up again.
"So I hear you don't have powers after all." Otto smirked as he walked up to the wall of bars.
Prue took a step back, but remained silent as she stared up at him with wide eyes.
"You have a nice chat with Nick?" Otto asked as he casually unlocked the cell. He closed the door behind him, re-locked it, and put the key in his front pocket. Was that his way of making sure Nickolas couldn't get in here to stop him from whatever he was about to do?
Prue swallowed and stepped back. She couldn't bring herself to speak.
"So... Are your powers just not working, or are you not really a witch?" Otto wondered as he backed her further into a corner.
Prue opened her mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what to say. Nickolas had displayed what could hardly have been anything but magic powers... He'd mentioned the others having powers too. She wondered what powers Otto had... or if she was hallucinating all of this.
Otto smirked. "I can't believe I was afraid of you..."
Prue felt her lower lip tremble and her brow furrow with worry as he stepped even closer, finally backing her up against the wall.
She gasped audibly and may have even screamed as his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She could have sworn he laughed as he dragged her over to the flimsy jail bed... but she could barely hear anything over her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, which was pretty well drowned out by the sound of her screaming.
"Nickolas!" She sobbed as she shoved uselessly against Otto's chest and tried to squirm out from under him. "Help me!"
Otto laughed again, pinning her wrists above her head with one of his large hands. His legs were on hers, holding her down even further as he grabbed her chin with his free hand, forcing her to look up into his hungry eyes. "He's not going to save you, girl."
She turned her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut as soon as he let go of her face. She whimpered as his hand ran down over her neck, stopping at her breast and squeezing. "Get off of me!" She sobbed. "Nickolas, help! Please! He's hurting me!" She screamed.
"He told me to do this, girly." Otto chuckled.
"What?" She turned her head back and stared up into the man's eyes. She supposed that shouldn't have surprised her though. She'd told Nickolas that Otto had been inappropriate, and Nickolas had just made excuses for the other man.
"Nick said I could do whatever I wanted with you." Otto shrugged, running his huge hand down over her stomach, across her hip bone, and down her thigh toward the hem of her short dress.
Prue heard herself choke out a strange, frightened, shaking sound as she tugged at her wrists, trying to free even just one. She felt one of Otto's hands squeeze her wrists tighter while the other pushed her skirt up over her thigh.
"Stop!" She screamed, looking desperately around the room as she tried to thrash under the man's great weight. She couldn't move. The bed springs squeaked as he crushed her down against the mattress. His bulky body on top of her was so heavy. She felt like her legs might break under his, like his cruel grip around her arms might break them too.
"Shhh." Otto whispered, pushing his hand up her inner thigh. "It won't hurt, sweet little thing."
Prue swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again. Something told her she should keep them open... like it might help for some reason. She looked all around herself again, searching for anything that might save her. Not like she could reach anything anyway with his giant, bruising hand smashing her wrists together above her head...
She noticed Otto wore what looked like an army dog-tag around his neck. She wished she could grab it and pull it tight around his throat, strangle him until he let go of her... But she couldn't. Her hands were very trapped, and Otto was much too strong for that to have been a possibility even if she weren't held down.
Prue tried to pull her legs closer together as she felt Otto's rough fingers inching higher and higher. His legs crushing hers down were just too strong. She couldn't move.
"Get off of me. Right now." Prue growled, staring intently up at Otto's face. She wanted to sound threatening, but she knew she had no real way of hurting the man back. She had nothing at all to bargain with. She couldn't even promise not to call the cops. They would probably kill her before letting her have that chance.
"Just hold still." Otto suggested, letting his fingers run over the trim of her underwear.
Prue gritted her teeth and squeezed her hands into fists as she scowled up at him. "Get off of me!" She screamed again, the most angry, loudest scream she'd ever heard from her own mouth. "Get the fuck off of me!" She shrieked again, trying to thrash her body as she stared in fury at the chain around his neck. She wanted to strangle him with it so bad.
Otto just laughed and started to slide two of his fingers under her panties.
"Stop!" Prue screamed, and suddenly... he did. He let go of her wrists and moved his other hand away from her all at once.
Prue inhaled shaking breaths as she stared up at him with wide eyes. He was frantically clawing at his own throat, making choking noises as he climbed partway off of her.
Prue tried to pull her legs out from under him, but he still sat on them. Her hands were free, but she was still trapped. "Get off of me, you sick fuck!" She growled in a trembling voice, shoving at him as he continued grasping desperately at his throat. She didn't understand what was wrong with him, but she could hardly care. He had stopped attacking her. That was all that mattered.
Finally, Otto got a hold of his necklace and tore it off of himself, literally breaking the chain in half with his fist and throwing it angrily across the cell as he sucked in rather pained-sounding breaths. "You did that!" He accused, staring down at Prue with rage in his eyes.
Prue furrowed her brow. What the hell was he talking about? She shoved against his legs again, pulling desperately at her own and managing to almost free one of them.
"You little fucking witch!" He growled, backhanding her across the face so that she fell rather hard back against the mattress.
With a whimper, Prue put her hand against her cheek. It stung where he had hit her. Her eyes stung with tears too. "Please get off of me!" She sobbed.
"You lying little fucking witch!" Otto went on, grabbing at her wrists again and holding them down, seemingly only so he could hit her again without her hand guarding her face.
Prue gasped in pain and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his hand slam against the side of her face. "Stop!" She begged.
"I should have covered your face again. I was right." Otto growled, reaching toward the pillow as he had before and shaking it out of its pillow case. Someone must have put it back after last time.
Prue shook with fear as she watched him bring the pillow case toward her face. She didn't want that on her. She didn't want to not be able to see.
Suddenly, the pillow case flew out of the man's hand.
Prue gasped and looked across the cell where it had landed. Otto hadn't thrown it. It was ripped very clearly from his hand. Had she done that? Was Nickolas right about her being a witch?
She glared at Otto again. "You better get off me." She demanded.
"Or what?" Otto growled.
Prue glared at him, narrowing her eyes and hoping staring hard enough would move him off of her.
She heard a low growl in Otto's throat as he shifted his weight just enough to quickly flip her onto her stomach. She felt his hand push against the back of her head, holding her firmly down as he let his other hand push itself up under her skirt.
"I was gonna just use my fingers and be careful with you, witch." Otto's voice dripped with anger and lust. "I really was going to go easy on you... but not anymore. I can't honestly tell you it won't hurt this time. This is probably gonna make you fucking bleed."
Prue choked out a pained, panicked sob as she let her eyes scan the room. They fell on the necklace Otto had tossed across the cell earlier. She stared at it as she felt Otto grip the material of her panties under her dress. He began to tug the garment down just as Prue, still focused on Otto's necklace, saw the chain fly up off the floor.
She heard Otto choking again as he released his hold on her. This time, she was able to squirm out from under him. She scrambled off the mattress, staring at him as she backed herself up against the barred wall. She continued glaring angrily as the chain wrapped itself several times around Otto's thick neck.
She glared and glared as the chain squeezed tighter. Otto's fearful eyes met hers. He seemed to try to say something, but with no oxygen reaching his lungs and his throat closing, he couldn't speak.
"Prudence!" Nickolas's voice called out. She heard his feet running down the stairs. Prue continued to stare at Otto, focusing intently on the necklace still squeezing his throat closed.
"Prudence! Ease up!" Nickolas demanded, appearing next to her in the cell and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me." Prue growled, shrugging her shoulder away from his grip, but still staring at Otto. She didn't want to lose focus. She'd finally gotten a handle on this. It wasn't going to waste now.
"Prudence, stop!" Nickolas's voice was stern. "You're going to get hurt like this."
"I already am." Prue spoke in a low voice, breathing through clenched teeth as she scowled at Otto and the chain tightening around his neck. She could feel herself shaking. She wasn't sure she'd ever been this angry ever in her life. Prue wasn't ordinarily one to seek revenge, but this time, she wanted Otto dead.
Nickolas sighed, whispered something under his breath, and waved his hand in front of her face.
All of a sudden the necklace around Otto's neck loosened. He gasped for air for a moment while Prue stared at the chain on the floor where it had landed, trying to will it back up to his throat.
"It's going to take a long time for you to earn enough trust to have that power back, Prudence." Nickolas sounded disappointed.
Prue's breaths were frantic as she looked from Nickolas to Otto. She didn't regret what she had done. Otto deserved it. The large man must not have felt the same, however. It only took him a few moments of deep breathing to recover enough to turn toward her.
Prue gasped and shrunk down as she saw Otto conjure up an energy ball similar to the ones Nickolas used. Otto's looked to be made of fire.
"Otto, no!" Nickolas yelled, moving his arm out in front of Prue and stepping between her and him.
"The little bitch tried to kill me." Otto growled, holding the flaming ball threateningly in his hand.
"You were attacking her." Nickolas spoke, still sounding impossibly calm.
"You told me to!" Otto insisted.
Nickolas shook his head and frowned. "I did not tell you that."
"You said, 'do whatever you want.'" Otto inhaled and exhaled loudly.
"I wanted you to scare her, you fool." Nickolas shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "She was having trouble conjuring her powers. I thought fear would do it... but you took it way too far."
"She took it too far!" Otto exclaimed. "I was scaring her! Like you wanted! And she nearly killed me! You saw her just now... I wasn't even anywhere near her, and she kept going. She was going to strangle me to fucking death!"
"You were trying to rape me!" Prue screamed. Her voice shook with tears, but she was still really angry too.
"Barely." Otto growled, rubbing the spot on his throat where the chain had cut into his skin.
"How do you barely rape somebody?" Prue choked through her tears.
"It was a misunderstanding. I wanted him to scare you into using your powers, Prue. I didn't count on him being that scary..." Nickolas compromised. "You can leave now, Otto."
"It was not a misunderstanding!" Prue cut in. "What exactly did you think he was going to do?"
Nickolas shook his head. "We'll discuss it, Prudence. First, Otto, go upstairs. Leave us. You are not to hurt her again. Do you understand?" He added.
Otto glared at him, and then around his shoulder at Prue, who ducked further behind Nickolas.
"Do you understand?" Nickolas spoke louder. "She's valuable, Otto. If you kill her, you're killing yourself too. I'll make sure of that. So don't even think about it."
"Fine." Otto finally agreed and stepped out of the cell.
Nickolas rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned back toward Prue.
"I'm sorry for what he did, Prue. He was only doing what he thought I wanted him to do." Nickolas insisted. "I wanted him to scare you into using your powers."
Prue shook her head. "He didn't seem to think I had any... and he seemed really mad when I used them. He wasn't on the same page as you."
"Why?" Nickolas looked down at her with a frown. "What exactly happened?"
"He attacked me!" Prue told him, her voice shaking. "He said something about me not having powers and he grabbed me and tried to take off my clothes. When I finally got my power to work, he hit me and tried to take my clothes off again. He told me exactly what he was going to do, and he tried to do it, and he would have if I didn't get my power to work. He wasn't just trying to scare me. He was really going to do it..." Tears welled up in her eyes and she felt her lower lip trembling.
Nickolas exhaled and frowned. "Okay... I understand. I should have come down here sooner. I told him to do whatever he wanted, as I said... I just didn't know he truly wanted that. I thought he'd just tease you... Scare you enough, but not that much."
Prue bit her lip as she tried to hold in her tears.
"You'll stay with me from now on. You won't be left alone with him again." Nickolas promised, putting a hand lightly on her shoulder.
Prue shrunk away from his touch. "I don't want to stay with you!" Her voice trembled. How could she be sure Nickolas wasn't just like Otto? She didn't trust him. He could hurt her if he wanted to, especially if she made the mistake of trusting him.
"My chambers has a guest bedroom attached. It's fairly private. You can stay there. I'll see to it that no one bothers you while we work on managing your powers." Nickolas explained.
Prue swallowed and blinked back tears. She was so scared. She could picture this guy playing nice just long enough... Protecting her to the extent that he felt she owed him... And what more did she have to offer besides what Otto had just tried to take? Why on earth would Nickolas want her here? Her power wasn't that significant when Nickolas and his friends could teleport and produce destructive balls of fire and energy out of thin air. It's not like they needed her just for that.
"Listen, Sweetheart. I see you're frightened, and I understand that." Nickolas touched her shoulder again. "Your life is going to be different now, but in a good way. You'll grow powerful, loved, and feared. You'll have anything and everything you want. I promise you'll be very happy once you get the hang of this."
"Please just let me go home!" Prue felt her shoulders shaking as tears spilled down her cheeks. She hid her face in her hands and shrunk down. "All I want is to go home. I don't need powers. I just want to go back home..."
"Come on." Nickolas spoke in a gentle voice, placing his hand on her back. "This may feel unusual." He noted.
"What?" Prue whispered, looking up from behind her hands in time to see the jail cell dissolve in front of her. It was replaced in an instant with an entirely different room.
Prue gasped and wobbled on her feet. She felt like she could collapse onto the floor below her.
"You'll get used to that." Nickolas told her, gripping her hand with his own. His other hand held onto her arm near her elbow.
"Where are we?" Prue asked, looking around the room. She didn't see any windows, and the only doors led into other rooms. There didn't seem to be a way out of this place... No way besides Nickolas's teleportation ability... but that didn't help Prue much.
"This is where I live. The location doesn't matter. Let me show you to your room." He held onto her hand and led her toward one of the doors.
Without even meaning to, Prue squeezed his hand with hers. She swallowed nervously, looking around the room with wide eyes.
"You've got a bed, dresser, desk." Nickolas gestured around the small guest room. "Your own bathroom... We can get you some clothing, books... whatever else you enjoy..."
Prue looked down at her feet. She couldn't imagine enjoying herself while behind held against her will in a strange house with no windows... with the constant threat of being hurt or abused in some way or another.
"Are we close to my house?" Prue looked up at him.
Nickolas shook his head. "Not at all. We're very far. Far enough that you'll eventually be allowed outside with virtually no risk of anyone recognizing you."
"What state are we in?" Prue asked.
Nickolas shook his head again, but didn't answer. He guided her gently toward the bed, pushing her down onto the mattress so that she was sitting facing him as he bent down in front of her.
Prue held her breath. She felt herself shaking again.
"Don't be scared." Nickolas spoke, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. Prue stared up at him. She was afraid not to, even though she knew if Nickolas wanted to try anything, there'd be nothing to stop him. "Is this where Otto hit you?" His fingers ran lightly over her cheek.
"Yeah." Prue whispered.
"Are you hurt anywhere else? Jack has healing powers... though I'd rather not take you to him unless it's absolutely necessary." Nickolas went on.
Prue felt her eyes widen. She shook her head no.
"Alright. Get some sleep. We'll work on your powers a bit more tomorrow." Nickolas stood up straight and put his fingers under her chin, tilting her head so he could see her face. "You're going to be great, Prudence." He smiled, producing the same charming, half-moon eyes she had fallen for before.
Prue frowned and looked down at her lap as he exited the room. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she doubted she was going to be sleeping any time soon.
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