Wow! Over 500 reviews! This is absolutely amazing! Really, I couldn't have done it without everyone of my faithful reader and reviewers! Thank you all! And I'd like to send a shout out to JudgePhanSexy for being my 500th review! And here's the next chapter! After the few angry reviews I had gotten, I really thought about ending it cause I didn't think anyone was enjoying my looong story, but now I can see that everyone does, and so on with the story!
Christine's POV
Everything felt normal that night. I was laying with Erik, in a bed that could have been my own for all I knew. Perhaps I would wake in the morning and be back in my own room, with Gustave jumping on our bed to bid us good morning. But one thing kept my mind in panic mode; the shackle. No matter how hard I tried to imagine us both back at our flat, the cold and heavy shackle that was around my leg wouldn't go away. Believe it or not the shackle was more uncomfortable to sleep in than I first thought. I tossed and turned, the hard metal clamping tighter around my ankle as I did so. How badly I wanted to break my foot just to slip out of it. Erik, who seemed to be used to it, was asleep beside me…or was he?
"Erik?" I wasn't sure how late it was because we didn't have a watch or a window to look out upon, but I was guessing it was rather late. "Erik, are you awake?"
My husband rolled over, and pulled his pillow closer to him.
"Erik?"
"Hm? What is it, Christine?" he asked, his voice filled with exhaustion.
"I can't sleep. The shackle is pinching me."
"It won't pinch you if you keep your leg still."
"But I can't."
Like the loving husband Erik was, he sat up in the darkened room, and removed the white pillow case off of his pillow.
"An old trick." he said, sticking it in between the shackle and around my ankle. I could no longer feel the cold metal against my skin, and when I moved my leg, the shackle pinched the pillow case and not my flesh.
"It worked." I said.
"Of course it did. I used to do it all the time."
He then laid back down, and closed his eyes.
"You should rest now. No telling what will be coming for us when morning comes."
Even though I was now comfortable, I didn't sleep that night. I laid there beside Erik, wide awake as he slept on. I wasn't sure what time it was when the door to our chambers opened, but what did it matter anyway? Two men in Persian robes came barging in, one unlocking the shackle around my leg, as the other did the same to Erik.
"No funny business now, or it will be death for the both of you." one warned.
We were walked down a long hallway, and taken into a room that had a large dining room table set in the center, with the Khanum sitting at the end of it.
"Good morning, my two favorite corpses." she teased with a smile. "Please sit down. You must be starving."
Both Erik and I were forced to sit down across from each other a few seats away from where the Khanum was sitting.
"I do hope you slept well. Especially for you, my dear corpse, you have much work to do today."
"What?" Erik questioned. "To build you a balcony to overlook Coney Island? I'd be happy to."
The Khanum laughed at Erik's taunting, before snapping back into reality.
"Oh, I know how much you want to kill me, corpse, but that's not going to happen. I want you to build me my own kingdom, just like the one you built, only better. I want more contraptions, higher buildings, and a palace for me to live in and look out upon it."
Erik looked at the Khanum as if she were crazy. She wanted Erik to build her an amusement park…but better than Phantasma…What could be better than Phantasma?
"You do know that what you're speaking of is clearly impossible."
"And why would you say that?" she growled. "I seen what you could do."
"Phantasma is my greatest work. How do you expect me to build something better? Better rides? Higher contraptions? Seriously, it's impossible…"
The Khanum didn't like this at all. Not one bit did she like hearing the word "no." She snapped her fingers, and looked Erik right in the eye.
"Perhaps you've been free too many years, my corpse. It seems as though you've forgotten who you belong to. You used to know that the first rule of being my servant was to never ever say "no." I think it's time you permanently knew who owns you."
It was then that one of her men grabbed Erik and dragged him over near the doorway where another man was standing with something metal in his hands. I wasn't sure what was happening, but kept watching. They tore off his shirt, and flipped him over onto his stomach as Erik kicked and yelled for him to be let go.
"What?" the Khanum snarled. "What are you waiting for?"
"His back…." one began. "There is no flesh left to mark."
The Khanum groaned, before standing to her feet to see what all the commotion was about.
"Well, well, seems as though the world hasn't been kind to you, corpse. You have no back after all."
What was she going to do to my Erik? I wanted to stand, but knew better than to cause problems to myself.
"Fine, mark him on his thigh. As long as it's there, I don't care if you mark his hideous face."
Still I didn't know what was going on. Everything happened so fast, his pants were torn down, exposing his left thigh. The man holding the metal rod then placed it onto his flesh….but that wasn't all…Erik screamed in agony, and smoke was rising from where the rode was poking. When he pulled away, there was a black and red mark indented into his thigh…KP…God! He had been branded!
"There!" the Khanum snarled. "Perhaps now you'll remember who you belong to. If I have to treat you like my cattle and brand you then so be it."
I wouldn't stand for this! I tried to rush over to Erik to help him, but the Khanum snapped her fingers to motion me to sit back down.
"Move any closer to him." she warned. "And I'll brand you too."
Erik limped back to the table, and painfully took his seat.
"Aw, my poor corpse, you're deathly pale." she laughed at her joke, and sipped on her tea.
It got quiet when her men set breakfast down in front of us. I looked down at my plate of pancakes, and looked up at Erik to read his mind on what to do. Who knew if she poisoned our food or not.
"Go ahead and eat." she instructed. "You all must be completely famished."
I was starving, and began to eat. I didn't taste anything weird, which probably meant that the food wasn't poisoned. I knew if I didn't eat, I probably wouldn't be eating for a long time. But my poor husband who was on a strict non solid diet, played with his pancakes, as the likely pain in his branded thigh coursed through his body.
"Not hungry, corpse?"
I had to tell her. I had to tell the Khanum about Erik's condition before she harmed him even more.
"He's sick." I blurted out.
Her emerald eyes moved to me, and I could feel them burning into my skull.
"He's a living corpse, of course he's sick."
"No, I mean he's really sick. He's on a non solid diet. He's not allowed to eat solid food or drink anything but water."
"Christine, enough!" Erik shouted in between his pain.
"No." the Khanum laughed. "Go on. I would enjoy hearing this."
God, had I made things worse?
"He…he was shot. He has a hole in his stomach and can't have solid foods until it heals."
The Khanum didn't say another word about Erik's condition, nor did she make him eat. When breakfast was over, Erik was taken away, and I was taken to my chambers. For hours, I laid there on my bed with the shackle bolted around my ankle. I worried about Erik, and wondered if he was alright, and if his pain was still agonizing. I also wondered about Gustave, and what he was thinking about or if he was looking for me? What did the Khanum have in store for me? What part of her plan did I come into? Once again, I lost track of time, and was brought out sometime later. I was taken back to the dining room where the Khanum was seated right in the same spot she was in this morning. But where was Erik? He was no where to be found…no, this meeting was going to be between her and I.
The man dragging me along, placed me down in a seat closer to the Khanum than I was this morning, and left us alone. It was silent for the first few minutes, as I tried to remember to stay quiet and not tell her anything about myself.
"I bet you're wondering why I brought you here?" she purred.
I kept my head down, and simply nodded, hoping it to be a good enough answer for her. I waited for her reply, but only got a few drawings shoved in front of me. They were Erik's sketches! I knew they were right when I saw them. Beautiful ink drawings of his idea for the Khanum's new amusement park. The drawings looked realistic, but I knew the contraptions he had drawn were nothing more than a fairy tale taken out of a dream. These rides and buildings were simply impossible to build…not only that, but they would most likely cause injuries and casualties beyond belief. I flipped through each of Erik's drawings, sinking my eyes into such beauty…Oh, Erik what a genius you are.
"I brought you here because I wanted your honest opinion about them. I want to know what you think about these drawings? Tell me…"
I already knew how I felt about them, but my concern was what the Khanum thought about them.
"It looked like it took him all day to do these." I said, neither telling her that I hated or liked them.
"Indeed. He's spent at least eight nonstop hours on them."
Wow, had I really been locked away in that room for that long?
"What do you think about them?" I innocently asked.
That was defiantly the wrong thing to say, because as soon as I asked the question, her hand struck me so hard across the face that I felt the stinging for five minutes afterwards.
"It seems as though your corpse husband has not explained the rules of being in the presents of the Khanum. Rule number one! The servant never questions the Khanum! The servant only answers them! Now tell me, I want your honest opinion about your husband's drawings!"
"I love them!" I cried. "I think they're the most beautiful thing in the world!"
Once more her hand slapped my face.
"Wrong! They're hideous!"
"But they're not…." I corrected.
Her hand struck me again.
"Rule number two! The Khanum is always right! These drawings are horrible. Now I demand to know why!"
I rubbed the pain from my face, and shot out anything I could think of to make her happy and to stop slapping me.
"Why?" she demanded. "Tell me why these drawings are hideous?"
"Because the rides and buildings are not realistic enough!" I blurted out.
"Any why else?"
"Because….because…" I had nothing.
"Why!" her voice echoed off the walls, causing me to scream out what ever came to mind.
"Because it's not big enough!"
A huge smile stretched across her face, and she purred my name ever so softly as if her slapping me had never happened.
"Christine…I always knew there was a reason I liked you. Great minds do think alike."
This woman was completely psycho. "Great minds think alike?" I wasn't even agreeing with her….I was only doing it to save my ass from getting the life beaten out of me. She snapped her fingers again, and demanded that Erik be brought to the dining room. She hated his drawings, and now because of me, Erik was probably going to be punished. My husband was dragged in moments later, his once clean shirt covered in black ink, and his hands blistered and slightly bleeding from the amount of drawing he had done. He was brought before the Khanum, who slammed his drawings down in front of where he was standing.
"What do you call these?" she asked, her voice showing much disappointment.
"The drawings you requested."
"Seems like I'm not the only one who believes your drawings to be just as hideous as your face."
Erik's eyes arched at such a comment.
"My drawings are not….."
"Silence!" the Khanum shouted. "Your wife had something to say about them…" she gazed at me, silently demanding to talk horrible about Erik's hard work. "Didn't you, Christine?"
What could I possibly say? If I told Erik the truth, I would be beaten, and if I lied to him, I would crush my husband. But then I remembered the advice he had given me just last night on how he never meant to hurt me if he had to hurt me…The room around me was spinning, and the Khanum was waiting for my answer.
"They…." I paused, looking Erik directly in the eyes, hoping he would understand and forgive me later for what I was about to do. "They're hideous."
It was like a bullet had shattered his heart. He wasn't used to hearing such things from me, but he had to know it wasn't true. Never did I ever call his work hideous…even when he used to paint posters of Meg all those years ago to hang around Phantasma.
"And why are they hideous, Christine?" the Khanum taunted.
I bit my lip, dreading having to continue.
"Because…because the rides and buildings aren't realistic."
"And why else?"
"B…because the park isn't big enough."
And like putting the icing on top of this torture cake, the Khanum complete it by taking Erik's drawings into her hands, and tearing them to shreds.
"I'd say it's back to the drawing board, corpse. But not tonight, no….Tonight you can rest and start anew tomorrow with that fresh decaying brain of yours."
My husband's work, his blistered hands, all for nothing! He was forced to sit down across from me, his face completely lifeless and dumbfounded over all the wasted hours he had spent on drawings to be torn up by the Khanum.
"Dinner shall be better." she assured, patting Erik on his back. My husband was so broken by his wasted work, that he didn't even flinch when her hand made contact with his non existing back.
"So tell me, Christine." the Khanum folded her slender hands together and faced me.
"What is it like making love to a living corpse? I would have asked the one he lost his virginity to, but as you can see, it's hard to get a reaction from a woman who has no pulse."
My eyes that had been fixated on the table, slowly moved to meet Erik who was shaking his head, begging me not to say a thing.
"Well, I'm waiting on my answer."
How was I going to get myself out of answering this one. With a question? No, that wouldn't do me any good. I would only get slapped again.
"The Khanum asked you a question! Christine, answer me!"
Thoughts, so many thoughts ran through my head. What could I possibly say to that!
"I never made love to him!" I lied.
Everything got quiet, and Erik was still shaking his head….had I given the wrong answer. The Khanum seemed to enjoy my reply, for a smile formed across her lips.
"You know, Christine, I don't know if my corpse mentioned it to you, but I hate liars. Now, I know that is a lie. You mentioned before that you have a son."
"From another man!" I quickly confessed.
"You delightful whore…" she purred. "But I still don't believe you. Tell me how is it that you've been together all these years and never once fucked him?"
My palms were sweating as I buried myself deeper and deeper into this lie, but at least if the Khanum believed my son to be from another man and not Erik, she wouldn't bother with him.
"I searched the pleasure I so lusted for from other men because….because…"
"Because why?" she purred.
"Because I couldn't look my husband in the face and make love to him." I lied.
The Khanum slammed her fist down on the table in delight, and laughed.
"I knew it! I knew my little corpse fucker would only love a corpse! She was your first and last! But how I would enjoy watching my corpse make love to a living woman….."
Oh no….what have I done! I thought Erik and I were going to be forced onto the floor to have her standing over us, forcing him and I to make love in front of her…but that thought quickly left her mind when our dinner was brought in.
"Well, looks like we're a little late on that brilliant entertainment." she announced disappointedly. "Perhaps another time then."
When a bowl of brown chunky stew was placed in front of me, I twirled my spoon around in it, wishing that bedtime would get here soon. I kept my eyes on my dinner, and away from Erik or the Khanum, hoping to stay completely invisible.
"You know, Christine, I had this dinner made especially for my corpse. You mentioned that he couldn't eat solid foods…"
Oh god….
"He certainly must be hungry because he didn't eat breakfast this morning…"
I looked up from my dinner, a look of calm horror plastered across Erik's face. Did he know where this was leading to? Because I sure did…
"Well, corpse, eat…." she said, gazing his way.
Erik's hands trembled at his side, and angered the Khanum when he didn't move.
"Don't make me treat you like a baby…" she violently forced the spoon into his hand before placing it into his serving of stew. "Eat! I want every morsel in that bowl gone! There are starving people in Persia that would give their left arm to have that in front of them."
My body was trembling as I watched Erik scoop a spoonful of the stew onto his spoon and begin picking away the chunky vegetables so he would only be eating the broth part of it. When the Khanum saw him doing this, she forced his hand to dip back into the bowl to scoop another spoonful.
"You're not getting out this easy." she warned. "Corpse's need their vegetables to grow big and strong."
It broke my heart when Erik forced the first spoonful of stew into his mouth, vegetables and all. He cringed when he swallowed them, and was forced to dig his spoon back into the stew over and over again until it was gone. By the last spoonful, his face had lost all color, and he was having a hard time eating.
"That's a good monster…" the Khanum cooed at his success. "Now for some dessert."
I had completely lost my apatite over watching Erik suffer through his meal. But dinner was far from over… After snapping her fingers to get her men to clear away the dishes, they brought out dessert, and it wasn't ice cream…No, it was hard chocolate chip cookies. That evil bitch! She had planned this dinner to have non solid foods just to torment Erik for her entertainment. Just trying to fit in and stay invisible to the Khanum, I reached for a cookie, when she slapped my hand to let it go.
"Really, dear, you don't need such a thing. You do wish to keep that girlish figure of yours."
That was fine by me.. I didn't want a cookie anyway.
"On the other hand, your corpse needs one, maybe even two or three. His body could really use the extra poundage."
I shut down, and wished for nothing more than for god to make me invisible.
"Feed them to him like a loving wife…"
No, there was no god…and if there was one, he certainly wasn't listening to me right now. I didn't move from my seat when she demanded me to feed Erik the cookies. How could I? How could I possibly torture my own husband?
"Now! Before I feed him myself, and you wouldn't want that!"
This scared me, I moved from my seat into the one beside Erik, and picked a cookie up with my trembling hand. He was deathly white, and looked as if he were about to vomit at any moment.
"Now feed him the cookie…" The Khanum was sitting in her chair, seeming to enjoy the sudden entertainment she had playing out in front of her. Trying to lessen Erik's pain, I broke a small piece of the hard cookie, and placed the crumb past his malformed lips and into his mouth.
"What the hell is that!" she growled. "Is that how you eat a cookie! No! Who truly breaks off a small piece and eats it like a chipmunk savoring a nut!"
She paused to calm herself.
"Stick the damn cookie in his mouth and let him bite it!"
In Erik's misshapen eyes, I could see him pleading me to continue. As much as it hurt me, I knew he wanted me to continue. I stuck half the cookie into his mouth, and he bit down on it, spending an extra amount of time chewing. Over and over again, she forced Erik to eat cookie after cookie. I lost count after eight, and the boredom of her entertainment came quickly when nothing happened but a few cringes of pain from my husband.
"Sleep well, my angels." she purred, snapping her fingers for us to be sent back to our chambers. "Tomorrow is another day."
Once back in our chamber and shackled, Erik plopped down on the bed and grabbed his stomach in agony. I knew he was feeling terribly ill for what he had done at dinner.
"Erik?" I rushed to his side and massaged his shoulders to get him through the agony. Horrible sounds escaped his lips, as his hands clenched his thin abdomen in excruciating pain.
"Erik, tell me what to do?" I pleaded. I believed it to be half my fault, but he soon reminded me not to blame myself. She would have beaten me for disobeying her.
"G…Get me…Get me the chamber pot."
I didn't waste a second, and grabbed the chamber pot that was underneath the bed, and held it over his mouth as the first heave of vomit erupted from his throat. I stayed with him all through the night as everything he ate came up in spurts of vomit, some of the bile was even covered in blood.
He lay there after a while, taking a break from his vomiting, breathing heavily, and clenching his stomach to calm down the next burning mass of vomit that wanted to come up.
"Erik? I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have fed you those cookies."
"An..and if it wasn't you…it…it would have been the Khanum. You did good."
Then I noticed his hands… how blistered and sore they looked. I tore away a piece of the pillowcase, and wrapped each hand lovingly in the pieces like a bandage, kissing his broken blisters before wrapping them. Oh god, the brand! I totally forgot about that as well. I gently lowered Erik's trousers, to see a hideous branding on his left thigh. The letters KP were branded into his once flawless thigh, the same one he had injured a while back.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not as much as it did when that damn thing was burning into my skin." he groaned.
I took another piece of the pillow case, and wrapped it around his thigh to cover the horrible marking and protect it from infection.
"What does the KP stand for anyway?"
"Khanum of Persia." he softly said. "She brands all her cattle with it so other shepherds don't mistake them for their own."
Once again, another episode hit Erik, and he leaned over to vomit.
"You've been vomiting for hours." I said. "You should almost have out all the food you ate."
"One could only hope so." he replied, wiping his mouth.
"Get some rest, Erik."
"Hold me, mon ange…" he begged.
I wrapped my arms around his thin body, and hummed a soft tune. He was weak, and I knew it was because he wasn't getting the nutrition he needed. I swore for the following day to make it my job to find him some applesauce and water. If I was going to survive, I needed Erik, and in order for him to survive as well, he was going to need me to care for him…not matter what it took….
Ok everyone, hope you enjoyed I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Sort of busy this weekend, but I promise to try my best as always! Love u all!
