Enjoy, My Doves
Songs: Higher by Edenbridge, Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson
42 Days After Belle's Departure
"You should have seen them scramble into action when they found your finger," he taunted the shivering nurse.
He decided today was the first day he should see her, testing Katy's resolve to follow him to the end. She passed beautifully with a few reminders of what he planned for Alex and Annabel if she failed him. He reveled in the power of his control over her. One word made her shiver. One quick movement inspired a dramatic flinch of fear. He controlled her absolutely and rewarded her with his touch.
Lauren fought the urge to jerk against the soft restraints. She recognized them from the hospital. It made sense. Everything he'd needed to take her hostage at his fingertips the moment no one looked because he was so unnoticeable. He'd laid the perfect plan.
"Thank you for the pain medicine," she replied, consciously forcing herself not to look for the aforementioned missing digit. He'd taken the ring finger of her left hand. It was symbolic and emotionally torturous as much as physically. "That was very kind of you."
She breathed into the pain in her jaw, not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing it hurt. She'd not gained ground with kindness. No clear path of connection emerged. The only reserve of power she maintained was the lack of fear. He got off on it, and she wasn't ready to relinquish that small comfort she had.
He rubbed the back of his hand and stared down at her. "I didn't do it for you. I don't care if you're in pain." He squatted, resting his forearms on his knees. "I need you quiet and alive. You're the bait, don't you know?"
Tears burned her eyes. "We trusted you. I trusted you. You were supposed to be my friend." Anger flickered and gave way to the sting of betrayal. She steeled her face, unwilling to give him more fodder for his emotional cannon.
"Aww," he cooed and cupped her face tenderly. "Don't you understand, Lauren. You have no friends. You're useful to them because of your power. They don't care about you."
She jerked from his hand and spit in his face. He stood with a chuckle and wiped the liquid from his cheek with a thumb. "Strike a nerve, Succubus?"
"Go to hell," she seethed. "I'd be pretty damn useless to you if they only cared about controlling my power. My heart is protected. They know this. I'm terrible bait if they don't care about me, you fucking imbecile."
She tried to double over, his foot forcing the air from her stomach. The bonds prevented the movement. She laughed instead, gasping through the pain. "Strike a nerve?"
He turned his back and straightened the already immaculately placed instruments displayed on the surgical tray. Satisfaction swelled in her chest, bringing with it a righteous anger.
"Is that why you went after Katy?" His back straightened slightly. "You're too stupid to manipulate the rest of us?"
"Katy is a magnificent creature. A skillfully trained and conditioned warrior without a true anchor in life. None of you saw the pain beneath the mask, the yearning to belong to something, to someone." A sickening glaze eclipsed his distant eyes. Lauren gritted her teeth. How had they missed that fact that he was a psychopath?
"She doesn't belong to you. I saw her eyes when you took my finger. She's questioning your methods, isn't she? Defying you. That's why none of us have been killed yet, isn't it?" Lauren tried to keep him talking, gather as much information as possible. When she made her escape, she wanted all the details. He'd already believed he'd won.
He squatted in front of her again. "I'll rectify that during our date tonight." His smile unnerved her to the quick. What had he done to Katy to make her so loyal?
She jerked against the restraints involuntarily. "Don't you touch her, you crazy bastard," she threatened coldly. "She may be consenting to you, but you're still raping her, emotionally if not physically."
He laughed darkly, turning her game back on her. She should have kept her mouth shut. "I wish I'd recorded the first time I fucked her. She's so very tolerant of pain. Never made a sound when I ripped open her maidenhead. Didn't mind the blood."
"You're sick. She's 16. She's just a child," Lauren hissed, struggling in vain against her bonds.
"That's where you're all wrong. She's not a child. Captain made her a warrior, conditioned the innocence from her, the softness. She hasn't been a child since her family's death." He stood as he spoke and rearranged the instruments she couldn't quite see yet.
Satisfied that everything rested in the perfect position, he picked up a blue towel and polished them. His back remained to her. "She made her hard but forgot to make her an individual. Without Captain's influence, she leeched onto the first person who offered her the next mission. That's what she was conditioned to do: complete the mission."
He held a scalpel up to the single light bulb in the middle of the room, studying its shining surface. "Child psychology is very complicated. Too much softness, and the child becomes co-dependent, too little and the same thing happens. Captain left her vulnerable, and I made her stronger for it."
Lauren raged quietly, unable to speak. Her powers failed her. Her body failed her. They all failed Katy. He was right, and it killed her inside. They hadn't seen what he saw. Her eyes focused when he suddenly appeared before them once more. She swallowed bile.
"That's why I'm going to win. I'll be the one to defeat Storybrooke's Heroines," he gloated, air quoting the word heroines. He propped an elbow on his knee and held his head, a syringe between his fingers like a cigarette.
"Everyone who has ever challenged The Queen and her minions has been emotional, out of control." He surged forward without warning and grabbed her wrist. She held still, knowing her physical limitations prevented her from harming him in any way.
"I," he stuck the needle into her arm, "don't have any."
"That's what this is about? Revenge on Regina? What did she do to you?" Lauren asked quickly. The burn of the medicine filled her arm. It felt different this time, a sedative perhaps.
"Ahh, I wouldn't want to ruin the big reveal, now would I?" He patted her cheek as her head lulled to her shoulder. "Sleep now. I'll be back to give you another dose during my lunch break."
She wanted to scream, to make him release her and then shove that damn scalpel into his own eye. Her powers glanced off him as though he weren't human, weren't alive, didn't have a chi.
She tried to scream.
Gentler hands touched her hand when she awoke. Katy's blank face appeared, swirling and swinging back and forth for a moment before it focused in the dim light.
"He gave you too much. You've been out for almost 12 hours. I brought you spare clothes," she said in a dull monotone.
"Katy, let me go," she whispered and then strained desperately for any signs that he visited with his mental captive.
"I can't," Katy whispered so low she nearly missed it. He lurked, she felt it.
"Katy, you don't have to do this. Just let me go. I'll tell everyone for you. You won't have to betray him," Lauren tried again, the small attempt at manipulation churning acid in her stomach.
Katy's hazel eyes held hers for a moment. Lauren heard the silent plea loud and clear. Katy needed help, but she was unable to ask for it. He'd threatened her or someone she loved. "It's okay, Sweetheart. Tell someone. Whatever he said he'd do, he can't do it if they know his plans."
Katy shook her head and focused on unwrapping the bandage around her hand. Her chest heaved with each bloody layer of gauze she uncovered. "I'm sorry, Lauren."
Katy winced, gritting her teeth against the cold air brushing against her bloody nub. She stuck a needle in her arm and dosed her with morphine. Lauren sighed gratefully. She refilled it to the brim, enough to take someone's life, and capped it. She glanced over her shoulder nervously and then tucked the syringe beneath Lauren's leg.
She leaned close, lips brushing her ear. Lauren barely heard her soft, shaking voice. "If you can't take it anymore. You're no good to him dead."
"Katy, just let me go. Leave the syringe and release my hands," Lauren pleaded desperately. "I'll do everything else."
A shadow darkened the light, and Katy flew away from her. One strong, scarred hand grabbed the one in her hair. "I'm sorry!" She screamed.
"Katy!" Lauren screamed, accidentally looking away when he bashed the side of her head against the floor. She struggled fruitlessly against the restraints as he returned. He grinned at her futile efforts and retrieved the syringe.
"No!" She yelled and pulled harder, weakened and sluggish by the injury and morphine. "Katy, get up!" Adrenaline thumped at her heart painfully.
Her relief lasted exactly one second when he injected a small amount and then set the medicine on the table. Lauren's face bunched into a painful mass. He grinned at her, nothing but evil on his face, glowing in his eyes. How had she ever trusted him?
"Please stop," she begged, unable to stop the tears that tumbled onto her cheeks. The moment the words passed her lips, she wished to take them back. He'd found what caused her fear.
Her eyes screwed shut tightly, heading turning when he slipped into the girl roughly. Katy's drugged body resisted, hands flailing weakly. Small whimpers echoed with each painful thrust. Lauren forced her eyes open.
"Katy, look at me," a hallowed whisper surprised her. It was her voice. Katy's head lulled towards her.
"Katy, just look at me, Baby," she said with more conviction. They'd survive this.
A solitary tear slid down the girl's nose. Her eyes hardened, telling Lauren that he'd already broken her. She'd endured this before. Her heart shattered. Katy escaped to another place in her mind. He was right. She belonged to him.
He thrust one last time and slumped onto her. Another tear followed the first. Soft kisses spread over her neck and face. "I'm sorry, Baby," he whispered over and over. "You know you shouldn't make me angry."
"I know," she rasped. "It didn't hurt." She lied, and her eyes tore from Lauren's when she realized that the captive saw it. She was weak and sluggish from the drugs and the bump on the head.
"Clean her up when your medicine wears off. I didn't give you much, just enough to keep you under control. You know how bad your temper is. I'm surprised they haven't kicked you yet for being so moody all the time." He cleaned himself on a blue surgical towel and then tucked himself away with a zip.
"I know. I'm sorry I do that," Katy answered, truly believing her words. Lauren hung her head, tears flowing freely. How had they missed this?
"It's okay, my sweet girl," he cooed and pulled her upright to lean against his chest. "I'll never leave you. I love you. I just wish you didn't make me do things like this. It hurts me more to keep you in line than it does you. You know that, right?"
She nodded weakly, reveling in the soft touches, the comfort. "I know."
"Why do you make me do it?" He demanded. Lauren rattled across the room, and his eyes met hers, enjoying her anguish.
"I'm sorry. I get confused sometimes."
"It's okay. I'll always be here to remind you of what's right. Are you sure I didn't hurt you?" His tender tone shot disgust and undiluted hatred into Lauren's heart. He knew exactly what he was doing to the girl they all loved. Their love hadn't been enough to keep the vulnerable teen from this. They'd failed her.
"I'm fine," she said and pulled from his arms. "I have work to do."
He nodded and kissed her slowly, eyes on Lauren's while Katy's slipped shut. "Make sure you remember your lesson. Don't make me punish little Alex like this because you can't behave. Just a little longer, and that bitch will have her reckoning."
"I'll be good," she assured and slipped back into her jeans on wobbling legs. "Don't hurt Alex," a broken voice begged.
"As long as you're my good girl," he soothed in an almost fatherly voice. His big hand petted the back of her head, and he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "Now, do as you're told."
She crossed the room, jeans still unbuttoned, shoes untied and knelt in front of their prisoner. Lauren studied the girl's face, searching for a glimpse of that warrior spark in her eyes. When it became apparent she'd not engage the nurse in conversation, Lauren averted her gaze to him. He removed a memory card from a security camera in the corner near the door.
He smiled at her. Saliva gathered in her mouth, an early warning of vomit. "How awful it would be for Emma and Regina to watch Katy's betrayal."
Katy winced at the blatant threat. "I won't betray you. You don't have to send that to them." The minute he did, she was dead. If they knew of her involvement, she'd reached the end of her usefulness.
"I better not." He nodded once, apparently satisfied, and left the room.
"Katy," Lauren whispered. "Katy, look at me. This is not your fault. Do you understand me? What he is doing is not your fault, and it is not your responsibility to protect everyone, not like this."
Katy dutifully cleaned and dressed her hand without meeting her eyes.
"Katy."
The abused young woman crossed to the table and retrieved a second bottle of medicine, the sedative.
"Katy, you don't have to do this. This is not your fault."
She pulled the amber liquid into the plastic cylinder and returned the vial to the table.
"Katy, this is not your fault."
The needle prick barely pinched. Lauren met those haunted hazel eyes as the medicine slid into her arm. "We love you, Katy. Tell Regi…"
The sedative took hold. Lauren fought desperately against it.
She tried to scream.