They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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The world was a dull haze of agony. Theo could see her own blood dripping off the beast's teeth, mingling with its saliva and seeping onto the silver where it burned up in an instant. When her unfocused eyes rolled down in her skull, she could see the shards of bone and tattered shreds of flesh that looked more like torn drapes than muscle and skin.
She didn't know how she got up the stairs, only that there was suddenly fresh snow on her skin that couldn't possibly chill the fire in her bloodstream. It looked like tar had been sprayed on the ground wherever she had moved. There was the faint pressure of hands on her body but she had no idea who they belonged to.
Her screams came unbidden with every jostle of her leg. There was a sharp pinch at the curve of her neck, and a blessedly cool liquid spread across her body. Sleep descended on its dark wings to take her.
—
Molten lava seared through her veins, burning everything below the knee. She could almost feel the poison's slow creep as it moved through every tissue in her leg. Her tongue bled as she bit back a cry and shifted onto her elbows.
The thick white bandages wrapped around her splinted leg were so fresh that they still smelled of antiseptic. Beneath that was the smell of soft lavender that wafted from her bedsheets, and even further below that was something rotten.
Confusion overtook her and she tried to sit up, but the skin on her leg- what was left of it anyways- pulled taunt. She let out a curse and collapsed back onto her pillows with a desperate cry. Movement stirred in the corner of her eye.
A young woman sprang up out of a chair that had been pulled into the corner of her room. She hurried to the door and knocked on it, whispering something through the cracked entry. The woman dropped her head into a bow as Ivan entered, and Theo couldn't help but notice how her slender neck curved. Her teeth ached at the sight of it. She shook her head in disgust and turned her attention to Ivan.
"How are you holding up?" he asked, voice soft and sympathetic. It almost fooled her. Almost.
She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing rose out of her injured throat, so instead she spat at him with what little moisture she could find in her dry mouth. Ivan frowned, brows furrowing as he took a step back.
The young woman hurried to her side and offered her a glass of water, holding it just before her lips. Theo kept her eyes on Ivan, but her thirst overpowered her and she drank deeply.
"Slowly miss. Your stomach..." Her voice was soft, polite, and so young. Theo tried to catch her eye, but the girl stared at her feet as she spoke.
"You kidnapped me, you threatened my life, and now you've tortured me with some... creature," Theo hissed brokenly at Ivan.
Ivan laughed. "Darling, we did something wonderful for you." His green eyes glimmered with mirth.
She put steel into her voice. "What did you do to me?"
