Shackles of a Demon

Prologue

Shackles of a Demon

"The echoing screams of the damned can only be heard by those who choose to listen to the broken hearted..." - ME

Prologue:

The dimmed light from the candles was excruciating. I could hear someone down the stone carved passage screaming out to somebody they knew wouldn't come. I stared up at the steel ceiling of my cell and a smoky stream of air burst out of my pale blue lips. The rusty chains clinked collectively and groaned as I adjusted my ankle to accommodate the shackles around them. The lingering red scar tissue around my wrists tingled with pain as I twisted them around to cover my ears and drowned out the horrific screams.

I'm next. My head kept reminding me. He's getting to me next...My heart screamed out in futile frustration. I didn't want to be next...I didn't want him to come here again... I wanted him to leave me alone. I hated the feeling of his cold, jagged hands touching my skin, breaking my body, killing my soul. I wanted peace; just one night of falling asleep without my body aching.

"Hello, Zakaru." His unsympathetic cracked voice greeted me through the bars of my cell. I listened carefully to the door of the cell opening up with a screeching yell.

"No..." I whispered desperately. No more. please...any more and I'll shatter...

"You know, Zakaru, You're my favorite... Do you want to know why?" I braced myself as I watched his shadow move more rapidly towards me. "Because, even though you know it's useless to defend against me..." I felt his hands touching my back and my body went ridged. "You always struggle." He said kissing my neck.

"St...op..." I muttered fighting against his paralyzing spell.

"And you always scream..." He hissed brutally in my ear. His nails dragged down the side of my arm; I felt a drop of blood tickle my muscles as gravity pulled down the length of my long arms. My vision went hazy and my head felt light.

Screaming never did much. It never made the pain anymore endurable then if you didn't scream; and fighting just made it worse. Trying to do anything to stop it was pointless; although trying to stop it always felt better to my pride then just sitting there and doing nothing.

"Good boy, Zakaru..." Xeno chuckled. "That's why you're my favorite." I shivered when I felt his body move off of mine. I scanned the floor of my cell through my tears, looking for my clothes, but something told me he tore them up...again. "I'll have some new clothes brought down for you soon." I listened carefully to his footsteps and the sound of the cell door screeching to a close once again... Relief washed out of my body and I slowly sat up.

Bad idea...

My body jerked and yelled at me for even trying to move, but I forced myself to lean upright against the bars of the cage. I coughed and wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them close for warmth. A scream erupted from somewhere down the passage way and I silently felt sympathy for his next in line. I didn't really know how many of us were actually down here, but I knew that there were three different sounding screams before me and only one after. So somewhere around five or more... I thought peering through the bars of my cell down the passageway. Xeno is our "master". Most of the screams I hear around here, I've heard my entire life. Sometimes they're different, sometimes they stay the same for a while. I've lived her as long as I can remember. I've called this 10x10 cage my home for seventeen years.

What we demons do down here is, well, I'm sure you can guess... Xeno is ruthless and uncompassionate, and all we are to him are tools. All except for me, perhaps... I'm the oldest down here, not age wise but I've been here longest. One thing I've realized while being down here:

I'm never getting out...