Stripped Bare

I am my pain...

A/N: Since I updated Derek/Damien's story, it was only fair to also update Dante's story since it ties in with everything happening. We discover something very unique about Agent Dante Andreas...something that Dante himself thought he could forget and bury forever in his psyche...

Photo Above - Placerville, CA - a memory Dante would prefer to forget...

Prayers for Ukraine!!! Prayers for Peace in the World!!! Prayers for Healing for Every living soul!!!

Dante had been exposed to such physical brutality even at a young age, at the hands of his foster-father...but still, it caused such painful memories to flood through him as if he had been transported back to the days when he was just a child.

As he closed his eyes, those dreaded images loomed up before him, causing the pain to hurt thrice-fold...

Flashback – Somewhere, 18 years ago in Placerville, California:

"Get your ass in here, boy and drop your pants!!!"

Dante loathed the man who even dared to call himself his foster father. He did not even deserve the title. Dante dropped his rucksack to the floor. He wondered what he had done wrong to deserve punishment.

"Well, well...I heard you were a bit of a smart mouth with your teacher, huh? She called me to complain about how you told her off for giving the other children the wrong information...during history class. Is that true?" The man looming above him stank of hard liquor and it was only mid-afternoon.

Dante cleared his throat slightly stammering "But...but she did say something wrong...I...I was just p-pointing it out..." Before he could finish his sentence, a giant hand came down on his left cheek. Dante felt the sting of the slap burning into his skin, causing his cheek to heat up and turn red instantly.

"Smartass!!! Get over here!!" But Dante fell back, not wanting to be hurt again, but the man grabbed Dante by the shirt and swung him over his shoulder.

He made the boy bend over his desk, undoing the boy's belt in the process. Dante felt his trousers and boxers being yanked down hard until they pooled around his ankles as he gripped the edge of the desk tightly.

He knew what was coming...

This was not the first time nor was it the last. He felt a brief gust of wind as the first blow from the man's leather belt struck him hard, right across his buttocks, and then the next one and the next one after that..."I'm not finished with you yet!!!" the man bellowed into his ear as Dante attempted to stand up and pull up his trousers.

He put a strong, firm hand over the boy's neck, keeping him bent down as he undid his own trousers with the other hand. "God please...please no" the boy prayed silently under his breath. 

"God can't help you now, son!!!" the man spat near his ear as Dante squirmed beneath him, struggling underneath his grasp.

After it was over, the man turned him over and pinned him on the desk while he still pressed himself against the boy, breathing down hard into Dante's face.

The child, fearful at first shut his eyes. But then, a surge of power seeped through his tiny body, rendering his eyes open. He turned his head and stared defiantly, looking at the man straight in the eye.

The man gasped as if an invisible pair of hands had wrapped themselves around his throat. Gasping desperately for air, he let go of Dante and gripped his head. Coughing sounds came from the man, as he gripped the edge of the desk. The room seemed to spin, as he clutched at his papers on the desk, trying to regain his consciousness.

Blood was soon seeping out of his ears as he let out an ear-splitting scream, as he felt his brains explode. The man's legs caved and he lay in a crumpled heap on the floor...then there was silence...

Dante pulled up his boxer shorts and trousers, his fingers trembling as he struggled to get them up. The young boy could not understand fully what had happened.

He only knew that if he stayed, more misfortune would befall him.

He opened the door wide and burst from it running, not bothering to check whether the man was alive or dead.

He did not look back...

Present Day:

The two men inflicted more pain by inserting large, intrusive foreign objects into his body, while smacking him across his buttocks using a small leather quirt. They then took turns abusing him repeatedly, until Dante's lower half was numb from the pain inflicted upon him.

Dante was totally de-sensitised to it all as they beat him senseless. They then covered his head entirely with a hood that allowed only his mouth to be seen which caused Dante to panic until he totally lost consciousness.

When he came to, he was back inside his hotel room feeling beaten and bruised from the inside out. He could barely get out of bed but attempted to. He gripped the edge and swung his feet to the floor, as he reached out to a nearby chair to steady himself.

He padded painfully across to the bathroom in order to splash his face with water.

As he stared at his reflection in the mirror, he began to understand that the Prince was not to be toyed with.

If he ever inflicted any pain upon his wife sexually or otherwise, it would be hell to pay...It made him even more determined to break this contract but he had to play his cards right.

He started to research the origin of these 'mystics' the prince mentioned that had led them to him in the first place. He wanted to know who and what they were and why they had chosen him.

He needed to discover the true intention of the Prince and his wife. There was something deeper, more sinister to all of this. The guy had a lot of clout with the higher-ups but for now, Dante had to sit tight and play possum while checking these mystics out.

He wondered what part these people had to play in all of this. He had only very briefly met them back at the mansion. They were part of the entourage that had anointed him with the oils, while chanting over him. He tried to remember the words...somehow the language they spoke did not seem foreign to him at all.

It suddenly dawned on him that his mother used to coo to him in the exact same Romanian language....

Now things were sort of beginning to make sense...