Thank you all for the comments! Inspired me to continue writing this story!
Enjoy!
This one is a bit graphic.
I fell for the same trick twice.
Isabel groaned as she woke up from her drug ridden state and found that her head hurt immensely. She attempted to bring a hand to her face to pinch at the pressure at her nose, but it was of no avail. Steel restraints dug into the flesh at her wrists and were held above her head. With further investigation she soon found her legs were chained to the walls below her as well, but where slightly apart unlike her wrists which were held together.
Of course my legs would be separated...She brought her eyes up regardless of the pounding in her head and took in her dim surroundings. There were a few candles that littered the perimeter of the area and wax melted messily upon the floor in neglect. By the state of things she could tell that this room had held many victims before her and in result she felt rage stir within her. I shall enjoy this.
Moments later the sound of stone sliding on stone resonated into the room and then a man appeared before her. She had not seen where he had come from and that disturbed her. Her eyes darted around the room trying to find any point of entry, but with how dim the lights were she couldn't see anything outside of the circle of candles. While distracted, the man had made his way over to her almost soundlessly. He stopped before her and took her in. The man wore a dark cloak and nothing could be seen but the man's mouth. The memory from when she met Cain flooded her mind and her resolve shattered. If this man before her was a demon…
She drew air in to scream to her servant but suddenly the man lashed out a hand to cover her mouth. "Now, now. If you scream you will give my position away." The man chuckled and turned her head left and right examining her face. He sighed, seeming disappointed "you're not the damsel I'm looking for, but I believe I have seen you before. Whom might you be, my lady?"
The woman glared down at the man's hand at her mouth and then flicked her violet orbs back at him, questioning his idiocy. The man barked a laugh, but snuffed it quickly as he leaned in close to his hand upon her lips and whispered "promise not to yell?"
In response Isabel drew back her lips and bit the palm of his hand. The two stood like that for several seconds and just when she was about clamp down with the full intention to draw blood, the man released her mouth. She was about to betray him and scream for Cain, but a flash of silver at her throat stopped her.
"Oh, so you aren't good with orders. Perhaps you're a noble? Shall we teach you how to listen then, Miss?" he inched the knife closer to her throat and she could feel the cold touch of the blade suggesting how close it truly was. "You're name please-"
The man stopped talking and jerked his head behind him, hyper alert. The echoes of footsteps trickled into the room suggesting a group was making their way to the chamber. The man turned to face her once more and sighed. "If you can provide a long enough distraction, perhaps you may live this night yet." The man then quickly ran the way he came and disappeared.
The hell!? What a coward! Isabel glowered as she watched the man flee but didn't have much time to silently curse the cloaked chicken as her captor finally entered the room and he had friends.
Mr. Botly walked in as he was finishing some humorous conversation with the man slightly behind him. When his eyes met hers, he smiled lecherously "and here she is, the woman of the hour. Miss Isabel Crane."
"Greetings Mr. Botly. Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding; I was expecting a party not captivity. You can understand my confusion on this matter." Isabel masked her anger in a polite tone; she wouldn't allow the mask to slip until absolutely necessary.
"There has been no mix up and you have in fact become my toy. Well, our toy." The man outstretched his arms to his two companions "Fredric is to my left, and Kenneth to my right."
"Names hardly matter when it comes to livestock. I wouldn't want to grow attached to them because when their time comes, and they will all be slaughtered." The woman's venomous tone made the Swine's lackeys make sounds that resembled mockery and she felt her jaw clench. They will be first.
"Such a mouth for a lady!" Mr. Botly exclaimed with amusement and hurried over so he could stand before her. He reached out a hand and brought it to her thigh, stroking it through the cloth of her dress. "I like it." With his other hand he pulled out a knife and met her eyes with lust. "Shall we see what's beneath?"
"I think not." An eerie disembodied voice slipped into the room and seemed to surround the people within the chamber. The lights began to dim as the voice sounded once more, but this time the sound was empowered by pure hostility. "You are not worthy of handling my possessions, mortal." Laughter with the power of thunder shook the room and one by one the candles went out until only one remained; the one behind the men. What were once three men now were four.
Cain stood behind Fredric and Kenneth and had one hand on the back of the each of the men's heads. Their eyes fluttered and shut upon contact from the demon's touch and they promptly fell to the floor unconscious. Cain's eyes blazed their ember red and locked on Nathaniel Botly, his prey.
"You! Stay back!" Nathanial warned, his voice cracking in terror.
"Hello, Nathaniel. Now that they are out of the way… let's get to business." Each step the demon took as he closed the distance between him and the cowering man a piece of his glamour slipped. First it was fact that he grew several feet, which resulted in Botly back pedaling away from him. Then it was the fact that those black shadow like tentacles grew from behind him and began to encroach the man. Botly fell and hastily crawled away, but one of the materialized limbs shot out and wrapped around the man's ankle, pulling him back.
"Oh come now, play with me." The tentacle pulled the man into the air and suspended him upside down in front of the demon's face that was now the same size of the man all together. The skin had melted and vanished beneath the swirling form of shadows that was now Cain, fully materialized. The shadow like feelers writhed around as if wanting turns to graze the man dangling from one of its companions, but they stilled as the enormous mouth of the demon opened once more to speak.
"Did you enjoy the feel of her against you, human?" The appendages thrashed and the sound of bones breaking reverberated through the room and Botly immediately began screaming in pain. He sobbed as he brought his shattered hands to his face.
"Did you enjoy dancing with her?" Again those shadows moved and snapped each of the man's legs, bending them in sickening directions. The man screamed out once more, joining the chorus of the demon's laughter.
"Did you enjoy witnessing her perfection and beauty?" Blood erupted beneath the man's crippled hands and the sounds of his sobs were the only reaction.
"Just... kill me... please." Botly sobbed in a faint whisper as blood poured from his limbs, creating a pool beneath him.
Isabel watched the man be tortured before her in utter silence and felt raw terror for the first time in so many years. Her brain screamed for her to order Cain to just finish the man, but her lips would not move so instead, she stood there and watched. She couldn't blink, her brain making her witness every second of the man's pain.
Suddenly the demon released the man and he plummeted to the floor with a sickening crunch. Blood splashed as he hit the puddle he had created and splattered crimson in all directions. The large red eyes of the demon moved to focus on Isabel and several of the tentacles headed in that way. Each shadow took a restraint and the metal broke beneath the limb. Isabel was about to fall but the appendages joined together to create a larger mass in which to catch her.
"You orders, Mistress?" Cain spoke naturally as the shadows began to dissipate in number until the one holding her only remained. Glamour finally collected, he approached Isabel slowly and considered the woman. She looked ill and he pondered if he had gone too far. Perhaps he had said too much? He did enter without being ordered and perhaps she was unhappy with that.
"Cain… I order you to never harm me. When we have completed our contract, you may do as you please, but until then harming me is off limits." Isabel looked down at the man now face down drowning in his own blood.
Cain's brows furrowed, confused "I would never harm you-"
"PROMISE ME, DEMON!" Isabel's eyes shot up, tears falling from the violets. "Promise me…"
Cain blinked several times as he understood how frightened his lady was upon witnessing a portion of his power. He also recalled how in the past he had jokingly threatened her from time to time. The appendage holding her set her back down upon the ground softly and the demon walked over to her. Once there he kneeled down until he was lower than her "if you order it then it shall be written."
Silence ensued as Isabel stared at the top of Cain's head, but their momentary peace was broken by the two men groaning as they began to regain consciousness. She looked down at the demon puzzled.
"They are still alive?"
"I was unsure what you wished to do with them" Cain reported, head still bowed.
"Yet you obliterated Botly" Isabel's eyebrow quirked.
Cain finally looked up with an annoyed expression "that was for pleasure."
Isabel laughed then, the sound merry "Well then. Finish those two and if there are others, dispose of them as well." She stood then and wiped the grime from her gown.
"The others have already been taken care of, as you made me wait far too long, Mistress." The demon stood as well and brought his hands out to crackle his knuckles. "The horses have also been freed in case any were to flee in the process."
This brought an even brighter smile to her face. "Excellent job…" suddenly her eyebrows furrowed. "What of the man in the cloak?"
Cain glanced back at her in confusion while he approached the two stirring bodies "There was none."
Isabel tapped her chin and then turned to find the stairs in the darkness. "Finish them quickly and meet me upstairs."
"Of course, Mistress."
She hurried up the stairs ignoring the screams of agony from bellow. She wanted to find that man and strangle him personally. She began opening doors restlessly and was about to give up as each room only held the remains of Cain's victims. It was then that she found a room in which she heard the faint sound of a woman sobbing. She paused and searched the room and found no one within.
"Show yourself." Isabel called out, crossing him arms in impatience.
The sobbing stopped as if repressed and slowly a woman peeked from behind a dresser. The woman was covered in blood and was completely naked. Her eyes were bloodshot and saturated with tears.
"I shall grant you a choice, girl." Isabel strode over to the woman and looked down at her. "If you believe you can recover from such a hell then take my hand." Isabel offered the woman one of her hands "if not, then I shall free you from your misery. Now choose."
The woman stared at Isabel's hand considering the elegant woman's words. After several minutes the woman suddenly took her hand.
Isabel smiled smugly "you shall serve me loyally as your lady and I in turn will offer you protection and shelter."
The woman nodded and smiled genuinely "yes… my lady."
"What is your name, girl?" Isabel demanded.
The woman looked lost as she stared up at the woman awaiting an answer.
"I will give you one then. With a new name you shall start a new page of your life, Kaile."
The two now stood outside of their carriage after setting the blood stained nude into the cabin.
"Your report?" Isabel questioned as she watched the small flames begin to consume the estate.
"I obtained many documents pertaining to the trade routes Mr. Botly frequented so replacing him with a merchant of our own could be possible." Cain gave the papers he had collected before he had set the house aflame.
"And the man in the cloak?"
"None, I checked all rooms for a disposed cowl or any traces of the man. No footprints, no presence." Cain narrowed his eyes "quite unnatural."
Isabel sighed and turned to the carriage then "then he got away, damn." She then ducked and entered the cabin showing her desire to return home.
Cain climbed up to the driver's seat and whipped the horses into gear. They responded quickly and took off in a flurry of motion.
His mistress had insisted she had seen this mystery man, but he knew of no such mortal who could have escaped his radar. In his free time the demon had busied himself with freeing the horses from the stables and carriages. He had even gone as far as shattering the wheels of the carriages as a precaution. After that he had slipped through each window and killed each man silently. Well, as silent as exploding a body could be.
The demon was quite confident that he would have sensed one fleeing the area as he was hyper aware of each pulse present. However… if the man was not a human… The demon's eyes began to glow in the windy darkness and a ghost of a smile played upon his lips.
At last, a challenge.
To be continued!
See you all next chapter!