Halfling (editing in process)

Chapter Eleven

Aria screeched and fought as the barbed tendrils dragged her further into her father's realm of shadows. Unlike her previous trip, she noted that she could see much better than she had been able to before. She could see dozens of human bodies littered around as she was dragged. The shadow creatures were there, barely visible to her, enacting their form of tortures upon the damned. When she saw her father again he had shed his clothing, and it was more than obvious her pain excited him. He moved to her and caressed her cheek.

"You and Lucien have been conspiring against me." He shook his head as a soft 'tsk tsk' left his lips. "You should have known that you couldn't hide from me forever Aria." He took her arm that Lucien had marked, his finger tracing over the intricate lines. "Put his mark on you... I'll fix that."

Aria tried to jerk back from him, panic and fear pulsing adrenaline through her in waves. She watched as a sliver of darkness snaked around her father's wrist and moved to her arm. It slithered up her skin and circled over one rune in particular, Lucien's mark.

"Now just to rid your lovely arm of this filth, the rest of the design was my own, but this little rune..." He traced his finger around it, "Was to be mine, not Lucien's. Tell me Aria, how long did you think you could get away with this little scheme? I would have allowed you freedom when I grew bored of your company but not now..." He smirk, his fingers stroking up her arm, her neck, her face, only to bury into her hair and jerk her head backwards. "If you thought your first time here was torture, wait until I am through with you."

She let out a soft sound as the shadow pierced into Lucien's mark, squirming as the flesh of her arm began to crawl and shape itself while the mark was changed. When it was formed into her father's mark it began to burn. She set her teeth hard into her lip, determined not to make a sound; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Her arm jerked when the little ribbon left her and dissipated into the world around them.

"Now you're mine." He growled, lust gleaming in his eyes.

The shadow released her abruptly, sending her to the 'ground'. The wounds on her arms began to heal slowly as she scrambled to her feet, the bracelet on her other arm pulsing with an angry red glow.

He approached her and she lashed out, a mixture of elven magic, amplified by the bracelet, and demonic leaving her. The ground pulsed underneath her, threatening to throw her off balance. He traded blows with her, and suddenly disappeared, cracking the back of her head with his elbow. Her ankle was gripped from another tendril and she was lifted off the ground upside down. She fought its hold, her father moving up behind her to trace her backside, drifting down her spine. The dagger necklace Payne had given her dangled in front of her face and she grabbed onto it and ripped it from her neck. She whirled around, the dagger held between her fingers carefully as she thrust it towards him. She had aimed for the flesh above his shaft, but the blow missed and the small blade buried into his thigh instead. His leg buckled, nearly sending him to his knee. He growled and backhanded her hard enough to bust her lip and make her see stars. She was dropped abruptly.

"Get up." He demanded, a sharp cry leaving Aria as the band around her middle finger glowed, an unseen force moving her to her feet as if pulled by strings. "Clothes off."

Her eyes burned with tears as she was forced to obey. Her hands trembled as she undressed, the glow from the bracelet nearly blinding her. When she couldn't free the ties that held her top, he ripped the strings himself. She stood naked before him and he smirked, moving behind her he pulled her to his chest, his hand moving to cup one of her breasts.

"I wonder..." He whispered crudely into her ear, "... if you will be as good as your mother? Will you scream like she did? She never stopped screaming." He purred and stepped back from her. "To your knees."

Aria felt anguish and shame wash through her as she fell to her knees, the sob that burst free from her lips mixing with the cries of the others that were trapped within.