Author's Note: I wrote this particular chapter for my favorite client a few years ago, but I'm just now able to go back and start editing all the other chapters. We've been collaborating on this story for years and it's been a fun journey! Please note that neither of us condone abusive behavior towards women in any way. This is meant to be a dark fantasy with eventual romance, but I can see this chapter being a bit triggering for some with the themes of abuse.

The clock was ticking and Aimi's life was hanging by a mere thread. Riharu's eyes were closed as she steadied her breathing, focusing all of her attention on the girl's injuries. Maybe if she believed in herself hard enough while blocking out all distractions, she would be able to save her younger sister. She envisioned images of Aimi's cuts and scrapes magically sealing up, only to open her eyes and see that nothing happened. When that didn't work, she pictured a surgeon sewing up her cuts with stitches until Aimi was good as new. She had hoped that focusing her thoughts on nothing but her sister's condition would be the key to tapping into her healing abilities so she Aimi could miraculously make a full recovery as if nothing had ever happened.

"I'm waiting, priestess," said a very impatient voice from behind her.

Having an irritable demon rushing her wasn't helping in the least. This was a race against time but no matter how hard Riharu concentrated on the task at hand to call forth her abilities, nothing was happening. Not a single wound was healing up, and Aimi's breathing grew shallower by the second. If she really possessed strong, spiritual powers then why wasn't it working? Why wasn't her sister healing?!

"I'm going to count to ten." Suzaku stood up from his chair as a scowl formed on his face. He was tired of waiting around for something to happen. If this priestess truly did possess incredible powers then he needed to see it for himself. "If the child can't so much as open her eyes, then I am done wasting my precious time on you both."

A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as Riharu placed her cold hands on Aimi's cheeks, trying her best to stir her sister awake but to no avail. "Come on, Aimi! Please! Get up! If any gods or spirits are listening to my voice, then please give me the strength to help my sister! Please enable me to heal Aimi!" She tried calling out her name, shaking her lightly, and even praying to the gods for assistance but the only thing about Aimi's condition that changed was her complexion. She was starting to look even paler than before.

Riharu could already hear the young man behind her counting down from ten, ticking off each finger as he held his hand up.

"Please! Let me save Aimi!" Riharu whispered under her breath as she reached for the small girl's hand so she could hold it gently in her own.

"Three…Two…One. Time is up."

His voice made her blood turn to ice as he suddenly appeared behind her. He reached for Riharu's wrist before yanking her to her feet roughly, pulling her away from Aimi. "It seems like you're more useless than I thought. There is no point in keeping you alive then. I will just have to kill you now and extract all the blood from your body and store it into containers for later use. Fresh blood directly from the source always tastes better, but it looks like I don't have any other options. It's a shame I won't be able to use you for more than just your blood, though. I did have high hopes for you, priestess."

"W-Wait!" She panicked, trying to break her arm free from his grasp. The difference in their strength was apparent since he didn't even budge as she tried to yank her arm back and pull away from him with all her might. "I'm sure I can do it! Maybe I just can't work under harsh, stressful conditions! Maybe if I was able to meditate in a quiet place where it was just me and Aimi then I'm sure I could—"

"ENOUGH!" Suzaku roared, his commanding voice instantly making her snap her mouth shut as she trembled underneath his ice-cold gaze. With just one word he was able to let her know who was in charge and had her cowering beside him. "I will not waste any more time on you filthy humans. Just know that you and your sister's death is entirely your own fault since you were not competent enough as a priestess to even use the powers you were blessed with." He loosened the hand that was holding her wrist before bringing it towards her delicate throat. His fingers curled around her neck as he started out squeezing her softly only to gradually tighten his grip around her.

He watched her face as fear consumed her. She was powerless against him and was unable to break his hand away from her. Her airwaves were slowly being constricted until the poor girl couldn't even speak. She hadn't the faintest clue that Suzaku wasn't foolish enough to kill a priestess just because she couldn't conjure up a healing spell. Priestesses were rare commodities and he knew better than to just dispose of her out of impatience, but watching her squirm around while her breath remained trapped inside of her lungs, unable to escape, was quite amusing to the sadistic demon. If he held her throat captive in his hand too much longer, she would soon pass out from the lack of oxygen. Even so, he wanted to keep pushing her to her limit to see just how much it would take her to break.

He waited to see if putting her in another life-threatening situation would draw out the powerful, offensive abilities he knew were sleeping within her, but nothing was happening. The light inside of her was fading as she clawed as his wrist, trying her best to get him to release her.

Her eyes, so wide and full of terror, began to glaze over as her cheeks turned a soft shade of purple. She tried to hold on as long as possible, her lips quivering as she prayed for air. On the verge of actually strangling her to death, Suzaku began to ease his grip on her since it didn't look like breaking her into submission like this was going to work.

"Suzaku! Look!" Murugu cried out from behind his shoulder as she rapidly flapped her wings about.

His attention darted away from the breathless girl down to the unconscious child on the floor. A white light had enveloped her, shining down warm rays over her various injuries. In seconds, the cuts were starting to seal up while her bruises began to fade. Even the bloody gash on the back of her head was starting to close up and all remnants of blood were slowly seeping back into her body. It was as if she was reverting back in time to her previous state before she had ever gotten hurt, and it only took a few seconds until there wasn't a trace of blood or dirt upon her small body.

"Remarkable!" Suzaku gasped, amazed by how quickly the girl was recovering. He had been so mesmerized by Aimi's condition that he had almost forgotten to loosen his clutches around the priestess's throat. He quickly released her and Riharu collapsed to the floor, coughing and choking as she was finally allowed to breathe. He took a step back from her as he watched the priestess begin to glow as the white light that healed her sister began to gleam down upon her own body as well. The soft veil of light cloaked Riharu in its warmth until her own cuts and scrapes began to diminish until not even the indents from Suzaku's finger prints remained on her neck.

"Well, well, well, priestess," Suzaku grinned, folding his arms over his chest and cocking up his chin in a haughty manner. "You're not as useless as I thought."

Riharu slowly opened her eyes and gasped as she looked around at the aura radiating from her body. She no longer felt any tightness in her throat and there didn't seem to be a single scratch left on her. "Is this…my power?" She asked aloud to no one in particular as she held her hands up to her face, amazed by the glowing texture of her body. She then quickly darted her attention back to Aimi who was slowly starting to awaken.

"Ai-chan! You're okay!" Riharu cried out, relief crashing against her like a tidal wave. She watched her sister's eyelids slowly flutter open and she released a tiny groan, and for a moment Riharu believed that everything was going to be okay. She was just so happy to see that Aimi was alive, and she had almost completely forgotten about the dire predicament they were still in. Suzaku was more than happy to remind her of it as he came up behind her and reached for her arm, returning her back to her feet.

"Come with me, priestess. There is so much work to be done," he said as he pulled her against his chest. From the moment her frail body collided with his masculine form, the gentle light that had been glowing around her instantly her flickered out. Riharu's first instinct was to push against his chest to put some distance in between them, but he did not take too kindly to her defiance and held her to him even tighter.

Riharu glared up at him, appalled by how he thought he could just yank her around like she was a rag doll. "No way! I don't know what you're planning but I want no part of this!"

She was too feisty for her own good and she possessed the kind of fiery personality that would soon get her into perilous trouble if she didn't learn her place. "From now on, you are my prisoner. I will keep you alive for as long as I see fit but you will remain in Maze Castle until the day you die," Suzaku hissed as he dug his sharp fingernails into her hip to make her cringe in pain. "I need your powers and you will give yourself to me and become my pet. If you decline, then I will kill your precious sibling."

"That wasn't part of the deal! You said that if I healed her you wouldn't kill us!" Riharu snapped back, continuing to struggle against him. The more she tried to push him away from her, the deeper his fingernails bit into her flesh. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to get away from him without being torn to bits first.

"Deal? There was never a deal. I only said that I would kill you both right here if you couldn't heal her. I never said I still wouldn't kill her even if you did manage to pull off a healing technique," Suzaku answered with a dark laugh. "I make the rules around here. I'm the King of Maze Castle, after all, and you will obey me."

Riharu's teeth grinded against each other painfully as she trembled with anger. "Fine! I'll be your stupid little servant or whatever! Just don't hurt my sister!" The contempt in her voice was slowly slipping away as she turned to look at her Aimi who continued to lie defenseless on the floor. She had almost lost her a few moments ago and now that she was healed there was no way Riharu would let anything else happen to her. "Please…Don't hurt her. I'll do whatever you want as long as you promise not to harm her."

Her selfless act of bravery was rather admirable but it was futile nonetheless. "You're going to do whatever I want regardless," he told her. "But if you behave accordingly, I'll make sure she lives a long, boring life down in my dungeon. I won't say she'll be better off alive down there after spending a few decades with my faithful, demon minions, but at least I won't kill her. Satisfied?"

Dungeon?! "No! That's not what I want for her at all! Let her live and let her go!" Riharu pleaded as she tugged on his shirt, begging for him to change his terms. "She's not a part of this! She's just a normal human! Let her go and I'll stay here with you for all eternity! You can have all the blood of mine that you want! Please!"

"You certainly are demanding, aren't you? Just be grateful I'm allowing her to breathe right now," he scoffed.

Aimi was finally starting to sit up, dizzy and lethargic from the effects of the healing spell, as she slowly looked over to Riharu with a dazed look in her eyes.

"…Haru?" The younger girl asked quietly before Suzaku snapped his fingers. In seconds, he had two demon guards emerge from the other room and surround the human girl. They looked like lizards in the face but they both had a body that resembled a human's that was covered in slimy, green scales, and their beady eyes and sharp teeth made Aimi shriek loudly in horror as they dragged her to her feet.

"Take that girl to the dungeon. You're prohibited from injuring or killing her. Understand?" Suzaku ordered his guards who promptly dragged the screaming girl down the hallway.

Aimi was stretching out her arm as far as she could reach, confused and terrified as the two lizard-men pulled her towards the door. "RIHARU! Help me!"

"AIMI!" Riharu shouted back. If it wasn't for the fact that Suzaku was holding her tightly to his side, she would have run to the hand reaching for her. "Ai-chan! Stay strong! I'll get you out of here! I promise!"

"Riharu! What's going on?! What are these things?! Don't let them take me away!" She had no idea what was going on and couldn't seem to recall how she or Riharu had even gotten there. Suddenly being awoken to two demons carrying her off was more terrifying than any nightmare she had ever had, and her screams could be heard echoing down the hallway even after the door of Suzaku's chambers was slammed shut.

"Riharuuuuuuu! Help me! Riharu!... Riharu!"

Riharu's arm fell limply to her side once the door was closed. She continued listening to her sister's shrill screams until they faded out, and her heart sank like an anchor inside of her chest. Hot tears stung her eyes before she shot a glare at Suzaku that was sharp enough to cut through steel. "Why won't you just send her home if you don't need her for anything?!"

Suzaku finally let Riharu slip out of his arms as he retracted his nails so he could shove his hands into the pockets of his white pants. "It should be obvious. I need her to help control you. If I just sent her home, you wouldn't be as willing to help me with my plans. It'd be troublesome if you refused to give me what I need."

"You're using her as bait. As long as I comply, she lives. And if I don't, you'll kill her," Riharu growled as she pieced it all together. He was nothing more than a sick, conniving bastard. He knew how much her family meant to her and was going to dangle Aimi's life over her head so she would be his willing puppet. As long as Aimi was still in the mix, he could get whatever he wanted out of her. That is, of course, until Riharu could find a way to break out of this place and bring Aimi and herself back to their own world. If she had the power to heal even the severest of injuries, then maybe she had some other tricks hidden up her sleeve that she didn't know about just yet. Maybe she could bring Suzaku to his knees using her powers and open up a portal back home. If there was a way into this place then surely there was a way out. She just needed to play his little game and follow his rules until she could break out of this stupid castle.

"All right. I'll do whatever you say as long as you don't hurt her. Do we have a deal this time? A solid deal? Meaning one you won't go back on?" She held out her hand in attempts to shake on it, but her gesture was met with nothing but air as Suzaku rolled his eyes at her. When he didn't say anything, she pushed him even further. "Real men keep their words. If you so much as lay a finger on her, I'll set myself on fire. A priestess's body and blood won't do any good if she's nothing but a pile of barbecued ashes on your floor. Although I'm sure my remains would make a lovely seasoning on some steak, I doubt they would heal your body."

He could hardly believe the audacity of this girl. She was the first person to ever try to stand up to him and lived to see another day. He had no idea how annoying human girls could be but he had a feeling things were only going to become more of a hassle if he couldn't find a way to tame her. "I'll make a mental note to keep all matches and candles out of your room then."

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be!" Riharu spat, growing more and more irritated over his stubbornness. "Just promise me you won't hurt Aimi and you'll have yourself the most obedient slave you've ever met. You can work me to death and you won't hear a single complaint out of me! Not even a peep!"

Her voice was beginning to wear on his nerves and he took a step closer to her, lavender eyes burning into hers until she could almost feel heat radiating from them. Rage was written all over his face and Riharu quickly dropped her gaze down to the floor to avoid looking at him. He snatched up her chin, forcing her to keep her eyes focused on him as he growled dangerously at her like a wolf about to strike its prey.

"Listen here, priestess. You belong to me now. If you so much as cut your eyes at me when I tell you to do something, I will crush your sister's skull with my bare hands. This is non-negotiable. Do you understand me?"