Author's Notes: Okay... This'll up the rating of the story a lot, considering it's my first attempt at writing what I may begin to believe is total, outright bloodletting of the worst degree. I hope you don't mind if it Darius becomes the most hateful individual in the history of vampirism.

--Amanda--

I knew the moment he had me in his grasp that it was a long time coming before I could escape it. Darius was choking me as he dragged me along the stone streets, the heat of day rising from the earth and stifling my breath even further. It was useless to struggle, but I did it anyway. I refused to let him have his way without some sort of fight. I managed to choke out a scream, but I was rewarded by a sharp and scarring slap. His nails opened up my cheek and left it bleeding.

Darius bent close, stopping in the darkness as he kissed my mouth chastely, trailing his cold lips to the trickling gashes in my face. He licked them, working his tongue into them and purring all the more. His tongue made the slashes sting so much that I whined, straining to get my head away from that mouth.

"Stop it," I hissed, pushing my hands against his face, pulling on his hair. He was not phased in the least.

"I will stop nothing, my girl," he murmured, capturing my gaze and holding it like a python in its coils. I felt like the rodent, and he the snake. "And you must learn to obey."

I moaned as the pain siphoned through my mind, like rusted razors slowly sawing back and forth against my brain tissue. The next moment we were flying with vampire speed through the streets until we reached our chambers. The balcony doors slammed shut behind us. Before I knew what exactly had happened, he had thrown me to the floor and brought out the object of most of my terrors.

It was a simple object, but it wrought the results he desired, and more - it was the beginning and the end of all my suffering whenever I had done anything to so much as 'spark' his rage. The back of my head stung as he pulled me slightly upright, my legs tangled together. He brought the whip over my back with little hesitation.

He tore at my shirt, laying my back bare, even ripping whatever else was in its way. My skin was burning and I felt hot welts breaking open all over my back, and reopening old ones all over again. I cowered on the floor like an animal, lacking the willpower to move myself out of the way. I was worthless human body filth to him, and I felt like it just then. It didn't matter to him how much I bled, nor how much I cried. He would never be satisfied because of his insane infatuation with causing me pain.

He was momentarily satisfied before I passed out. With my face bleeding and my back covered with what felt like thirty pounds of smoldering hot coals, I looked up through my puffy eyes and glared with every ounce of my remaining hatred. My mind was roaring like waterfalls were falling inside of it with voices rising and falling like undulating souls of the dead.

Darius pulled me to my feet with very little ceremony. He needn't tell me what was coming next; I knew. We crept into the darkening halls of the inner sanctum. The walls themselves were constructed of harsh, wet stone that stank like death and sometimes when I stepped I almost slipped on something slick on the floor.

The stagnant reek of dying flesh hit my nostrils. I gagged, and spit something unpleasant that came up from my evening meal, but Darius was yanking me to the nearest available wall which was hanging with chains. He shoved me up against them and my bare back with its bleeding welts were forced to grind right into the dirt, muck, and grime that covered it - along with who knew what else. The agony was making me nauseated.

"Perhaps three nights here will teach you the kind of humble obedience I require from a little worthless whore like you," he hissed, roughly tightening the chains and pulling on the main length, yanking me so far up the wall that I was barely even touching the floor.

The doorway we had come through was unceremoniously shut. I was left to the pain of his passing and the feeling of things crawling across the broken skin of my back.

"No," I whimpered, lifting my legs and pushing myself away from the wall as best as I could. "Please...!"

I gasped, sinking back against the wall and moaning quietly. Three days. Darius would do something like that. He hadn't done anything as long as three days before. I'd been left for a whole day, and that was bearable. But this...

I chewed my lip. If he wanted me to suffer, that was too bad - I had enough magic in me to at least get myself healed to some degree. I closed my eyes, suppressing a wild array of stabbing pains in my temples as he tormented me just for fun until he finally sought other things to amuse himself. Once I gained some concentration, I spoke in a low, quailing voice the words that poured warmth and some comfort through me.

The lash marks on my back were not safe, but they were covered. Any harsh movements would have them torn open again if the stone behind me happened to rip them up. My shirt was slipping, and luckily my garment under that was still mostly intact enough to stay secure.

Three days.

Sometimes I started to try to sing. Taking the breath necessary proved difficult without shifting my ribs too much. So I sang under my breath, staring at my feet, and feeling all the while my arms burning. I was used to that sensation as the first time I was locked down here. The day drew on, and very soon I began to lose feeling in my hands from the circulation loss.

The singing eventually grew dull. I had sung all the songs I could remember, and even hummed made-up tunes that sounded right. But my voice was failing and I was thirsty, not for blood but for water - this led me to the time Raziel had told me how vampires in his world were burned by water as if by acid. And then I was crying a little again, trying to keep my motions still as I sobbed.

Was it down to two days now? Or still three? I couldn't see anything. But I could hear quite plainly the voice inside my mind. He was speaking to me, and I could have staked my life that it was 'him'... Raziel. Telling me everything would be fine. I wanted the voice to shut up... but I knew it was the one thing struggling to keep my sanity intact now.

It was slipping. I felt as if centuries were slowly passing and I was slowly wasting away. I didn't really fall asleep, ever; once in awhile I would realize I was unconscious and snap myself awake again, hoping that Darius will have been merciful for once and took me down early. But my nightmare continued without a conceivable end.

I began to see things. Just out of my vision, maddeningly close. I thought that they were touching me, trying to sink their rotting vampire teeth into me... the moment I opened my mouth to scream, the horrible wraiths vanished and the voice of Raziel seemed even farther away than ever. I started to whimper, pulling on the chains. I fought the undeniable truth. I heard a cat yowling from somewhere, yowling and crowing its agony. I imagined it writhing on the floor and foaming at the mouth, its eyes rolled back while its unnaturally long teeth gnashed and clipped together as its gnawed on its front paw.

I was slipping into the darkness, and worse yet was the thing I couldn't prevent, the one thing I feared the most.

I was simply going insane.

Author's Notes: I love cats. I hate to see them suffer. I've actually had nightmares where there are sick, dying cats everywhere and not a damn thing I could do. It's not a pretty sight, especially when my mind just turns against me like that.

Don't be afraid for Amanda's sanity. I think it should be restored once Kain jumps onto the scene. Don't worry; be happy. Thanks for being so patient!!