The Sweetest Rose-LokixOC

Chapter 47

Cassandra ached all over. Woman Beater had really gone all out in his last session. She didn't think there was an inch of her body that wasn't bruised by his fists. Mad Scientist had cleaned and bandaged her wounds like usual before sending her back to her cage with another one of those infernal cherry suckers tucked between her lips.

Someone pounded on the door to her cell. The darkness made it impossible to see anything so she waited.

A key turned in a lock, the metallic sound loud in the quiet gloom. Three women dressed in matching red dresses and white aprons marched into the room to where Cassandra lay on her cot.

Cassandra had never seen them before but that didn't mean anything. Every corridor in this hellhole was mired in dark secrets and blood.

The woman in the middle, a blonde, with cold blue eyes scanned Cassandra from head to toe. Her thin lips pursed, not liking what she saw. "It'll take a miracle to get her ready."

The other two women murmured in agreement.

The blonde snapped her fingers at Cassandra. "Get up!"

Bracing herself against a wall, Cassandra slowly eased herself up, wincing at the throbbing pain spiraling through her body. Ready to face whatever new horror was planned for her. With her mom captive, she had no choice but to obey.

Cassandra committed the women's faces to memory, vowing to make them suffer once she and Madeline were free.

A guard met them in the hall with a pair of shackles. The blonde waved him off. "Those won't be needed."

Squinting at the bright light in the hall, Cassandra followed the three women. They led her in the opposite direction from her mom and the torture chamber. After several twists and turns up a few flights of stairs the cinderblock walls gave way to clean white plaster and the cement floor was replaced with plush red carpet.

Cassandra studied an oil Renaissance painting of a Greek goddess, her mouth twisting to the side. They really had kept her tucked away in the basement like some dirty secret.

"Keep up!" The nameless blonde snapped, jerking on her arm.

Cassandra winced as the woman's red talons dug into a bruise. "Alright, just don't touch me."

"We've wasted enough time." The blonde told her coldly. "I have better things to do than to pander to his whims."

Cassandra glanced at her sharply. Him? "I thought you worked for Morgan le Fey."

The blonde's brittle laugh made Cassandra's cheeks burn. "Nice try. You won't be getting any information out of me." She gave Cassandra a hard shove between the shoulder blades. "Now, hurry up!"

The three harpies quickened their pace forcing Cassandra to lengthen her stride to keep up with them. They arrived at a room at the end of the hall.

Blondie shoved her inside. Cassandra barely caught a glimpse of the four-poster bed with red velvet curtains before being propelled into the bathroom where the three women stripped her filthy clothes off her and forced her into a steaming tub.

"Hurry up and bathe." The blonde's lip curled. "Goddess knows you need it." She motioned for the others to follow her and slammed the door behind her.

Cassandra heard the lock click. Once she was alone, she wrapped her arms around herself. Whatever awaited her wouldn't be pleasant. She had no idea how long she sat there. When the water began to cool she reached for the shampoo and scrubbed her hair before applying a generous layer of soap to her skin.

She went through the motions mechanically until she felt clean. Cassandra was surprised at how good it felt to be clean given her current circumstances but she now felt a bit more confident in facing her enemy.