Some warnings for this chapter include sexual explicitness and attempted dubcon, and gore. This is where the good stuff starts. My favorite chapters, if I'm being honest. Poor Zannah. I love her so much, my troubled daughter. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Lubido

Mid-afternoon caught Jex unawares and he answered the door to his apartment still wiping sleep from his eyes, shirtless and with his pants slung dangerously low across his hips. Zannah hadn't waited for an invitation, but pushed her way past him into the dark of his apartment, looking around as though deciding if this was adequate for her needs.

"Mornin' to you too," Jex grumbled as she took in her surroundings.

That he sounded irritated wasn't a concern of hers; she had nothing to apologize for and he would soon be compensated for having wasted his time last night.

His apartment was relatively nondescript. There was a couch, a desk, some shelves that held simple curios and a few books, and a kitchen. Another doorway led to what she assumed was the bedroom and fresher, but she didn't think she needed to make it that far.

"How'd you even find me?"

Zannah shrugged.

"I asked around," she said.

The truth of the matter was a little more complex, but she didn't think Jex would be too thrilled with how she hacked into the hangar terminals and located his personal information from his landing records...or the fact that she now knew had made several suspicious jumps to unknown locations after loading up his cargo hold with unmarked containers that hadn't been accounted for beyond their number.

His private bank statements told her nothing that she hadn't already suspected at that point, just the usual story of a smuggler caught up in too much debt and the Banking Clan lording it over him. She also didn't think he'd care to know that she had saved copies of those files to her personal data-chip, just in case.

He had picked her pocket, however, and she couldn't find it within herself to pity the man.

It had taken her less than a minute to decide that Jex would be the best candidate for what she intended to do; though their original plans had fallen through, she knew he would prove a willing participant once they made it past the awkward formalities required by social standards.

It was easier than seeking out someone else and taking the time to flirt and coax and woo her way into their bed. Currently, she didn't think she possessed the patience for it.

Her blood felt as though it were on fire, every nerve and vein alight with the desire to feel someone between her legs, hot and living, something she could pour all of her anger and hatred into without fear or remorse, fucking herself against them until she found her release.

Maybe then...then she would be able to reclaim her connection the Force.

The Iktotchi leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his bare chest, glaring at Zannah. She turned to him, adopting a somber and penitent expression.

"I didn't intend to wake you," she lied, her mouth forming the pretty shape of vowels with an accented lilt that some men found alluring, but didn't come across as too much. "I...just wanted to see you. I'm...so sorry about last night. Something came up that I couldn't pull myself away from."

"Yeah, well, it happens," Jex shrugged, not moving from his position. "I figured I'm used to it. What's one more rejection on top of the pile?"

"It wasn't a rejection," Zannah said, taking a step forward. "Truly, I had every intention of meeting you, I just...my guardian was worried, and I couldn't leave him. He's...very particular about my activities."

"He sounds great," Jex sneered, and she began to see the cracks in his carefree facade as he allowed his indignation to take hold of him. She had a good feeling that he wasn't always the perfect gentleman he had originally come across as. Good, she thought to herself, good, that'll make this so much easier.

"I didn't choose him, but he's all I have left," Zannah sighed, running a hand through her hair. "He's family...and he cares about my well-being. He just didn't want me running off into the night with some guy I met only once. I tried to tell him you were okay, but...well, he thinks he's my brother, and he insisted I stay in."

"You're a grown woman," Jex said, looking her up and down. "Seems to me like you can take care of yourself."

There was a suggestion of a challenge in his tone, but instead of rising to his bait Zannah pressed forward, letting him believe that she was properly contrite. She pouted, clasping her hands behind her back and swaying gently in place, as though she were expecting a scolding.

"I like to think that too," she said softly, looking up at him through her lashes, "but...right now, I could use a little help."

Coy and innocent, that was how most men liked their women, equal parts virgin and pleasure slave. Jex couldn't have been more easily manipulated than if he were dangling on strings. She watched as a revelation dawned across his face and his sneer dropped into a predatory grin. He approached, his gait a near prowl, and tilted his horned head in mock confusion.

"Help with what?'

"Things," Zannah breathed in a shaky whisper. "I...was thinking of you all night."

"Oh? You were?"

She couldn't tell if his surprise was genuine or not, nor did she care. She took another step forward, a peace offering in trying to meet him halfway. She could practically smell his lust, the way his eyes dilated and the sudden hitch in his breathing. The rise and fall of his chest increased and she allowed her eyes to fall to the hemline of his trousers, where she could see the barest outline of his cock as it began to grow hard.

Men. They were all the same, deep down.

"Mmhmm," she hummed, biting her bottom lip. She brought her hands out from behind her back and made a show of playing with her fingers, as though she were nervous. "I-I know you're busy...and I know I don't have the right, but...I was hoping…."

"Hoping for what?" Jex whispered back.

He was very close to her now. If she reached out, she'd be able to touch his shoulder, and she hoped his skin was as burning hot as it looked because she wanted nothing more than to pin him beneath her and press her entire body along the length of his.

He was a tool, a means to an end; what she felt for him extended no further than what he was capable of doing for her, and he was all too easy. It was, in a way, almost disappointing. There was no fight, nothing beyond the limp dialogue she had provided, knowing what each of his answers would be, knowing how easy he'd be to coax into bed.

This wasn't a challenge, she decided with some disappointment. It was hardly even fun, but it was better than her own hand, and it was certainly better than nothing.

"To make it up to you," she said, raising her eyes to his. He was close enough now, and she reached between them and grasped at him through his pants.

He came undone at that action, snatching at her arms and pulling her close for a kiss that was equal parts sharp and soft as his pointed teeth pressed against the insides of his lips when he covered her mouth with his own.

Zannah allowed herself to be swept up in the motion, curling her hand around his length and squeezing when he jerked her against his body. He was all hard muscle, which was good, and he kissed like he knew what he was doing, pulling back for a breath of air before attacking her again, urging her mouth open and slipping his tongue past her lips.

She wove her other arm beneath the sharp curve of his horn and around his shoulders, clinging to him with the barest hint of desperation, all the while tugging and pulling him closer to the couch; she didn't have the patience to make it to the bed. Whatever fueled Jex, a similar fire burned within Zannah, climbing her ribs and torching her lungs until she panted against Jex's face, the tip of his horn catching her cheek in a way that almost broke the skin. That she was saddened it hadn't wasn't a surprise.

Her lover came alive beneath the steady stroke of her hand, groaning into her ear as he tugged her tunic over her head and threw it to the floor. Jex's thick hands cupped her breasts with a gentility that almost made her spit, but then he was lowering his mouth to her and the sharp promise of his teeth culled her impatience.

He licked at her, testing, and when she raked her sharp nails from the middle of his back to his shoulder he pressed forward, taking a nipple into his mouth and plucking at it with lips and teeth until Zannah began to feel the harsh curl of pleasure uncoiling from her intestines.

Jex wasn't forceful enough for her tastes; she wanted him to throw her onto the couch, rip her trousers apart, and fuck her like there was nothing holding him back. She wanted to feel him inside of her, wanted his teeth to bleed her, wanted his horns digging into her skin as he lavished her with attention, and she wanted those thick fingers of his shoved so far up her cunt she'd feel the pain long before she felt the pleasure, but he wouldn't move.

The Iktotchi seemed content to lap at her breast like a babe, fondling her slowly, kissing her with some passion but clearly intent on drawing this encounter out far longer than necessary. As wound up as she was, it wouldn't take her long to get herself off if she took matters into her own hands, and so, when the flick of his tongue turned into not enough, she quickly took hold of his arm and flipped him over her hip, landing him right on his back against the couch.

Zannah fell on top of him immediately, yanking his pants down past his erection with one hand and working the clasp of her belt with the other.

"Whoa," Jex said, momentarily stunned by the speed with which she had manhandled him into position. "You weren't kidding."

"I rarely kid," she said tersely, working his length over hard and fast. Jex moaned and stretched, closing his eyes. Leaning forward, Zannah threw her hair over the flat plane of his belly, hiding her face as she took him into her mouth, laving him with her tongue and soaking him with her saliva.

She didn't want to take things slow, she didn't want this to be gentle—she wanted a violent coupling, bloody and vicious, and she wanted to feel it for days after, through bruises and bite marks and an ache between her thighs that she could enjoy knowing that she had achieved something for herself.

She deserved this.

"H-Hey," Jex panted, maneuvering the drape of her blonde curls away from his stomach so he could watch, "slow down, there's—ah—no need to rush. It's not a competition."

That's what you think, Zannah thought as she pulled off of him with a wet pop.

"I'm just eager," she said, dropping the false accent and flashing Jex a roguish grin. He gaped when she leaned up towards his face, pressing a messy kiss to his open mouth. She licked into him, catching her tongue on his teeth and moaning when she tasted blood. Perfect.

"You don't wanna move to the bed?" Jex asked, wide-eyed and hungry for her. His hands grabbed her hips, sliding around to cup the curve of her ass and drag her forward.

Zannah knocked one hand away and folded a knee beneath her to strip off her boot and one leg of her trousers. She didn't bother with the other, letting it slouch against her ankle as she busied herself with pushing her underwear to the side, so desperate to feel the hot length of him inside of her she didn't even notice when he came away from her hip with her lightsaber clutched in his hand.

"What's this?" he asked, turning it over in his palm.

Zannah looked up and froze in place when she saw her weapon being casually hefted about like child's plaything. It must have fallen from the clip when she had undone her belt. All of her desire turned cold in that instant, as though she had thrown herself into an icy stream. Her breath caught in her chest, burning, pained, and she reached for the hilt.

"Give that back," she whispered, as stiff as stone when Jex thumbed the button on the side.

"Is this what I think it is?" he asked, playfully, like it was a joke.

Stop that, she thought, eyes wide as he jerked it out of her reach.

"It's mine," she said—whimpered.

Pathetic.

"It's a lightsaber," Jex laughed. "Isn't it? I thought only Jedi carried these." His eyes went wide and he barked out a laugh, curling his other arm around her waist. "Stars, are you a Jedi? Please say yes, it'll make this all the more interesting."

"Stop," she tried, reaching again. She couldn't move past the pressure Jex asserted across her back, and she dropped back down against him with the curve of his cock trapped between his belly and the crease of her thigh, no longer the welcome instrument from before, but a nuisance that she wanted nothing to do with. Jex hissed at the contact, arching his back in enjoyment.

"You've got more than a few secrets," he said, voice thick with lust. Zannah tried to push away from him, but he was stronger than she gave him credit for.

Too late she realized that he had exercised gentility because it would have been all too easy for him to hurt her accidentally. The band of his arm over her hips was like durasteel and she began to struggle.

"Get off of me," she snapped. "Let me go, that's mine!"

"Hey, calm down," he said, pinning her with a leg over the back of her calves, trapping her more thoroughly. "I'm not gonna break it, I was just looking."

"Give it to me!"

The more she struggled the harder he held her down. She tried to get her hands between them, prepared to dig her nails into the sensitive flesh of his erection until he screamed and released her, but he intercepted her arms and managed to wrangle both her wrists into his hand; free from the oppression at her back, Zannah sat up and tried to pull away, but the damage was already done.

Jex looked at her with renewed interest, something dark in his eyes that hadn't been there before, a cruelty to his smirk that she wished she hadn't been too blind to pick up on.

"I gotta say, this wasn't what I expected when I opened the door," he hissed, shoving her against the other end of the couch and following her on his knees.

"Before I was just being polite; Iktotchi don't go around prying into people's minds because that's seen as 'insensitive' and a 'violation'...you were so guarded anyways, I couldn't even get into your head if I wanted to. I didn't think it any loss, and then you showed up here, like this, and...well, now you're just asking for it."

Zannah snapped a curse as he forced a kiss on her, his horn gouging her cheek, deep enough to draw blood, though this time the effect was lost on her as she kicked at his stomach, aiming for between his legs. If she could incapacitate him long enough to drop him….

"So let's see...not a Jedi," he grinned against her lips, "obviously, 'cause they don't run around throwing themselves at people like this...and you're not a bounty hunter because I know the type and you definitely don't fall under that category…."

Blood dripped down her cheek and seeped under her chin. His weight was against her shins, her legs folded to keep distance between her body and his, but he pressed against her with such insistence that she knew she wasn't going to be able to break free.

Between the two of them, she knew he was more physically powerful. What she lacked in muscle mass, however, she more than made up for in speed and agility. He was still languid from sleep, his mind addled with lust, and he was looking at her like he wasn't at all concerned that she had been carrying a lightsaber. He was strong, but he wasn't that bright.

"Now, I take offense at that," Jex said in direct response to her thought, and Zannah blanched.

"Did you forget that my species is telepathic?" he asked, condescension dripping through his tone. "Or did you not know? Like I said, I normally keep it under wraps, but you...you're practically broadcasting. What are you?"

"If you let me go and give me back the lightsaber, I'll leave and I won't say anything about this to anyone," she said, desperate to be free of his touch and his mental probing.

She couldn't feel him reaching around her brain and plucking at the strings, but the fact that she was open and unguarded frightened her. She was helpless before this mental siege, helpless like Davorit had been before she struck him down with her sorcery. She hadn't known what nightmarish images had pierced his psyche, but they had driven him instantly insane.

This wasn't the same, wasn't anywhere near the same level, but the knowledge that Jex was casually rooting around her brain disgusted her, violated her, made her feel as though she would never be clean again, never rid herself of his touch; in that moment, she would have preferred it if he had simply held her down and raped her, rather than desecrate the sanctity of her mind.

"You're not going anywhere for a while," Jex laughed. "Now that I've got you, we're going to finish what we started, and you're not going to say a word to anyone…."

He paused and tilted his head again; she realized it was a tic of his that indicated he was using his abilities. His eyes glazed over the same way Davorit's had, but there existed a keenness behind the veil, a brutal intelligence as he looked through her thoughts.

Desperately, Zannah tried to think of nothing, tried to fill her mind with the inane sort of drivel an average woman her age might have enjoyed.

"You're trying too hard...I can tell you're trying to hide something. If you're not a Jedi and you're not a bounty hunter...then what? A politician's daughter, maybe? A runaway slave? Slaves couldn't come by a lightsaber, though, and certainly not one like this."

He released her hands and sat back on his heels, pressing the button that activated a single blade. Zannah stared, watching it twist in his grip as he tested it out, praying he knew better than to press the button again, which would activate the second blade; positioned as they were, it would cut right through her leg.

"Nice," he whispered in appreciation. "I might keep this one for myself."

"It's not yours to keep!" Zannah snarled, reaching for the handle before he could cause any damage. Jex stopped her with a meaty hand in the center of her chest, his reach longer than hers, and shoved her back.

No! Stop!

"It'd be a shame if I had to ruin that pretty face of yours any more than I already have," Jex snapped, his good humor apparently at its limits. "Keep fighting me and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Kill him.

Zannah tried to draw on the Force, one last futile attempt to reclaim that piece of herself she felt was just within her reach. Jex pulled apart her legs and leaned over her, his breath hot and stagnant against her collarbone. She closed her eyes and grimaced as he nipped his way between the shallow valley of her breasts and down her stomach.

There was nothing there, nothing!

What vestiges she had felt earlier, in the forest, eluded her now. There was only the void, empty and deep, and the heat of Jex's mouth against her skin.

He thought she was just going to lie back and take it? That this was how this all ended, according to his whims, and his desire? Like he was the one in control?

He chuckled against her belly and she knew he had heard her indignant thoughts, but she was past the point of caring. His horns were cool against her skin and he nudged her legs apart with his shoulders, pressing kisses to her knees and the inside of her thighs.

Why? She asked herself, staring at the dull ceiling while Jex buried his nose against the crotch of her underwear, inhaling deeply. Why was this happening? Why couldn't she just...why couldn't she just do this? The Force was still there. She knew it...and yet, this was all that was left for her? A few mistakes and an unwanted lover nipping at her underwear?

Stars, she hadn't even had the foresight to conceal her lightsaber. This was the second time in as many days she had lost control of a situation.

Help me, she thought, to no one in particular.

Help yourself, the thought bounced back.

How?

Remember your training.

She thought of Bane, of everything he had taught her, of all the times he had dragged her through grueling training, countless katas, perilous tasks, and she tried to remember every revelation she had ever had under his tutelage, every spark of realization that had only made her stronger. She thought of the books he had given her to study, the massive tomes of sorcery he had gifted to her with the encouragement to focus on her strengths.

He had always been there for her, not in the way she wanted but in ways that counted, and his teachings had never failed to spur her to further heights, to become stronger and more resilient.

If he saw her now, what would he think?

You don't care what he thinks, remember? This isn't about Bane...you have to help yourself.

'The power of the dark side will elude those who are not strong enough to possess it; this is the underlying principle of the Rule of Two. Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding onto it.'

Suddenly, she found herself ten years old again and kneeling before her Master as he imparted upon her everything he had learned from Darth Revan's holocron.

The words were his own, but the teaching had been passed down over the course of a thousand years. He had built the idea into her head, rewiring her until the understanding that she would one day be expected to kill her own Master was no more unusual than anything else about their lives.

It wasn't some great secret—it simply was.

Those who are not strong enough, she thought to herself, distantly aware of Jex's teeth worrying a hickey into the flesh of her hip.

In that moment, with her mind cast back in time to her ten-year-old self, crying against the cooling body of her beloved Laa, she knew what she had to do.

"Jex," she said, her voice oddly calm. "Jex, if you don't stop...I'm going to kill you."

He bit into her thigh with no preamble, this time his intent to cause real pain. Zannah flinched and her flesh jerked against his teeth. She could feel blood trickling from between his lips, felt his tongue swathe across the wound as he pulled back, amusement in his eyes.

"Kill me?" he echoed. "I doubt that. You're just a little girl; what could you possibly do to me?"

"All sorts of things," she whispered, staring him right in the eye. He looked taken aback at her sudden lack of spirit, and this time, when he peered into her mind, Zannah permitted him to find exactly what he had been searching for.

"You're...a Sith?" he asked, confused. "But...the Sith are dead. The Jedi wiped them all out at the Battle of Ruusan, ten years ago."

"Not all of them," Zannah said. She forced a smile to her lips and reached out to touch Jex's face. "It's a pity you'll never live to see our plans come to fruition."

He almost asked a question, and she almost let him.

Within seconds, she had wrapped her strong legs around his head, suffocating him between her thighs. His horns tore into her unprotected flesh as he twisted, but this time Zannah had the element of surprise on her side. When his hands came up, she grabbed his wrists, digging her thumbs deep into the tendons and muscle until she felt something give way.

Jex's scream muffled against her skin and he threw himself back in an attempt to dislodge her, but she held tight to his arms and allowed his momentum to carry her back. Her lightsaber clattered against the floor, its blade gouging a blackened line across the thick duracrete.

The moment Jex tried to push her away with broken, ineffectual hands, Zannah rolled off and onto the floor, scooping up her saber and twirling it expertly across her body. Its heat didn't frighten her, the danger it held bringing her comfort and ease as she stared at her tormentor, collapsed against the couch and holding his damaged wrists to his chest, angry tears dripping down his cheeks.

Pathetic, she thought, and this time it wasn't aimed at herself.

He didn't deserve the mercy of a quick death, but the longer Zannah lingered, the more she felt like her heart might beat out of her chest. Bane wouldn't have taken his time, and he had often complained that she cared too much about style and showmanship. She normally never agreed with him on the matter, but in this instance she knew it was within her best interests to end this as quickly as possible.

"It's a pity," she said, speaking only just loud enough to be heard over the sound of Jex's violent whinging. "I was looking forward to this. You were my first choice."

He could barely speak, his mouth moving without forming words, his tongue a useless, thick lump in his mouth, filling the back of his throat and inviting hyperventilation with every passing second. His cock had softened between his thighs and her blood smeared across his chin and lips.

It was a prettier red, she thought, than the color of his skin.

Holding out her saber, she pressed its activation button a second time, allowing the twin blade to emerge from the other end of the hilt. Perhaps realizing that his life was forfeit, Jex threw himself on his knees before her and clutched at her legs, his fingers slipping through the blood from the bite he had inflicted on her.

"P-please," he stammered, eyes wildly searching her face for a hint of compassion, "please, h-have mercy! I-I wuh-won't tell a-anyone! I-I swear! I'll disa-disappear! You'll never s-s-see me again!"

This was how she had wanted him, broken and begging at her feet, but not for his life. Not quite like this. She raised the blade, spinning it along her side before bringing the tip of one of her blades against the curve of his horn. Jex stiffened and leaned away, his throat working in small convulsions.

"You're not going anywhere," she said in cold repetition of his earlier words to her. "In fact...you'll never go anywhere, ever again."

Her blade cut through his body from his left shoulder all the way down to his side. His mouth opened in a scream, but she jammed her hand over his face and shoved him backward, sawing him open and cauterizing flesh and intestines. He severed at the point of his waist, where she finally pulled free, and watched as he flopped onto his back, thoroughly, and finally dead.

Through victory, my chains will be broken.