Ruined

(Zorya)

(The content of this chapter might be disturbing for sensitive readers. Read with precaution.)

I tried to keep eye contact, but the intensity of his eyes had me trembling with fear. He held my life in the palm of his hand. Seeing me lost and still standing, he slowly and lazily shifted on the sofa, his movements fluid like that of a serpent. Even his eyes reminded me of one. 

“You are my slave. I spent a fortune buying you. And I like my slaves docile, not…” His gaze lazily took me in, and yet the probing depth of it had me recoiling into myself, wishing to hide my exposed skin. 

“... stubborn. Or I know how to make them compliant.” 

Slowly, he stood up. I was tall, but he still towered over me. “So kneel before I make you.” The threat in his voice left me reeling. The need for survival overshadowed the defiant spirit inside me. I chose survival, not wishing to be punished. I would think of an escape plan, but for now, I needed to obey him. 

Slowly, I bent my knees and knelt, keeping my eyes on the ground. 

“Good girl.” His heavy voice was like a velvety whisper, and yet all I felt was fear rippling through my body. 

The clinking of the metal told me he had opened the collar. He wrapped it around my neck, like a stiff snake coiling. The coldness of the collar pressed against my skin, making me experience the bleak, unforgiving reality. 

“You are my slave now, and I am your master.”

A small click, and it closed at the back of my neck. His cold fingers lingered there, not in assurance but as a warning. 

“Never try to take this off. Only I possess the key. Any tampering and you will get a shock, which can even kill you,” he grimly added, and my terrified eyes shot up towards him.

Did he just attach a ticking time bomb to my neck? Crippling me, my movements, my freedom, my very individuality. 

“Why?” Only one word left my quivering lips. 

An evil smile danced on his razor-blade thin lips. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, his grip tight and unforgiving.

“Because you are a slave and they ought to know their place in the Sunken Pit. This is my fortress, and everyone acts the way I want them to.” 

My shaking hands reached towards the cold and stiff band around my neck, and I wished to tear it off, rip it apart. The tears scalded the back of my eyes. 

The smirking devil took a step back and resumed his seat, elegantly placing his elbow on the edge of the armrest. His face rested on his hand, enjoying my misery. 

“Remove the gown, I wish to see my purchase,” he ruthlessly commanded. 

If the devil had a face, this would be his. 

Mournfully, I blinked at him. What was I expecting? 

My hands clutched the metal ring around my neck, my body shivering, and yet I refused to obey. He couldn't shred my dignity. 

“Can we…I mean…if you,” every sentence I tried to speak came out broken. 

“My patience is wavering with every second. Strip and get on the table, belly down and legs spread.” He pointed towards the wooden table in front of him. 

My head spun. I had never been naked in front of a man before, and this one didn't only want me naked; he was going to take me. 

The thought had me shying away from him in fright. My hand coiled against the white fabric of my chest. 

“Please….I haven't done this…I am not read…” My words didn't completely leave my throat when he pressed the golden band on his wrist, and a jolt of electricity hit me. 

My whole body spasmed, my hands went stiff, and my eyes almost rolled back into my sockets. 

“So much jabbering. I hate women who talk unnecessarily.” His voice wrapped around me like the cloak of darkness. 

“If you had behaved, I wouldn't have to electrocut you.”

His hands were over me in a split second; I didn't even see him move. Reflexes so fast, like lightning. 

My white gown and dignity were ripped. White is the colour of purity, and mine was going to be tainted. 

I didn't know when the screaming started. Was it when he smashed my body against the hard wooden table that my stomach and breasts got bruised?

Or was it when he brutally yanked my silver hair back? 

My nails tried to dig into the flesh of his arms and face. But a green tail wrapped around my wrists, arresting them above my head. 

“Listening to my first command would have prevented this…, but you wanted the hard way.” His legs pushed open my trembling ones. 

“No, please …have mercy. I beg you. Just a few days….” 

I pleaded. I begged. I lamented. I cried. I screamed. 

But my words fell on deaf ears. 

The screams he didn't even try to halt. 

The screams of my pain and misery. The screams of my innocence being ripped apart. The screams of battling a monster. 

But I was a frail girl, and he was a devil incarnate, a savage brute who mangled my honour and shattered every ounce of my dignity. 

I bled on that damn table. 

I bled on the tattered remains of my gown. 

I bled inside and out. 

My screams died when my throat gave way, and I was left on that table. 

His tail brutally bruised my wrists, and I couldn't even feel my legs. 

“I like it when they fight back. Was indeed worth the money.” He leered at me, adjusting his shirt on his torso. 

“...rot…in hell,” I breathed out heavily. My throat refused to properly form words. He mirthlessly smiled at my words. 

“Someone will come and get you. Assign you a job according to the skills you possess. Try not to die.” With a hefty smirk, he was gone, leaving me to bleed. 

My eyes slowly closed, and I slipped into unconsciousness.