Dark Swan 1 Read online

  I was a jaguar, but it was difficult for me to outrun their cars because they were made for this shit. The engines were created for high speed chases.

  There were still some guards on foot, but they were trailing significantly behind by now, clutching the stitches in their sides and doubling over to catch their breath while holding their knees with their heads ducked down.

  I allowed a smirk to stretch across my snout, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn’t get too cocky about the gap I was building between me and them. Anything could change in an instant. I was just buying time, really.

  Every second counted, and every moment that I spent breathing the crisp valley air was precious. Hearing the hum of traffic and the occasional horn honking, listening to music pouring from pubs and restaurants, it was all valuable.

  It kept me going.

  I raced past a bakery and inhaled a glorious whiff of butter, sugar, and, baked goods as I sped by. My mouth watered. Damn, how I missed delectable treats. I would kill for a chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing. I could practically taste the buttercream melting on my tongue like soft silk with a burst of strawberry flavor sending my taste buds on a wild ride.

  Freedom was essential. Being in the center of the town gave me the fuel I needed to charge forward no matter what. This wasn’t the first time I had escaped, but last time I had gotten caught.

  One would think I wouldn’t be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. I had been sexually abused, whipped, and beaten to a fucking bloody pulp, but I had survived. I was the Master’s favorite, which meant my life was spared. But it came at a price.

  Sometimes when I was locked away in the dungeons of the castle and forced to have painful sex, I wished for death.

  It was a pathetic existence when you would rather rot under the dirt than have a beating heart and air in your lungs. My mind kept ticking. I kept my pace.

  Now wasn’t one of those times for me to wallow in my own self-destructive pity. I craved the crisp air. I loved the sting of the radiant sunlight above and the cobalt blue sky that looked as vast as the world itself.

  I had to push through a little bit faster. Just a little while longer. I had this. I had learned from my mistakes from last time. I had grown wiser and mentally mapped out a route. But that was all just about the superficial planning.

  In the thick of it, when I was actually out there living it and racing away from the guards who wanted me dead, it wasn’t as easy as it looked in my vivid and elaborate imagination. The reality was brutally different.

  I didn’t need to rest. My legs didn’t throb. My lungs didn’t burn. I lived for this thrill. Freedom wasn’t so far away now. It was just on the brink of the horizon as I stared straight ahead, pursuing my dreams and living in the moment. It was the only way I knew how to be. It was ingrained into my mind and had been since I was a little kid. The hard part was the pursuit.

  I didn’t have a family anymore. I was alone in the world, aside from several bonded brothers I had in captivity with me. They hadn’t escaped with me this second time, but I had vowed to come back to them, come hell or high water…if I ended up really making it through this.

  I powered down another street, but the traffic at this particular intersection happened to be particularly heavy. Shit. What had I done? I had practiced this charge over and over again in my mind.

  How was it that when the moment came for me to pass through this intersection, it was congested with cars?

  I grumbled and growled, snarling at the guards as they caught up to me. I bared my teeth. Saliva dripped from my jowls and I narrowed my eyes. I was certain I appeared menacing enough to them that they would cower and reel back, but they didn’t.

  Their eyes were manic, devilish with a hunger to tame me no matter the cost, regardless of the risk to themselves. I had never killed anyone before, but if it came down to them or me, you could damn well be certain that I would defend myself.

  I swallowed hard and tensed my muscles. I was in a pouncing position, but by some miracle from the gods above, the light switched to red.

  I barreled through the pedestrians, doing my best to pass through them without inflicting any harm, but it wasn’t easy.

  There was a woman pushing a stroller up ahead. I had to leap out of the way before plummeting into her and her bouncing bundle of blanketed joy at the very last second.

  I relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief as I finally maneuvered to the other side of the street, but I wasn’t in the clear yet. I hadn’t crossed the finish line into freedom, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.

  I glanced over my shoulder again. I had to know how far away the guards were.

  They were closing in at an uncomfortable rate. My eyes widened in horror at what I saw between their white-knuckled grips.

  They had dart guns aimed and ready to fire directly at me. I knew what these darts were. They were capsules with tranquilizers in the tips that were engineered to pop open and inject into the victim upon impact with skin.

  I may have been in animal form at the moment, but the guards were the true monsters here. They were hunting me as if I were their prey, and they would stop at nothing to make sure they won the battle against me.

  I had lost my bearings upon witnessing the gleaming darts targeted behind me. I stumbled over a bump in the sidewalk and nearly rolled over. I was able to recover at the last moment and keep going, but it was all in vain.

  I felt a searing pain in my hind leg. I wailed and jerked to a grinding halt.

  My jaw went slack.

  My eyes glazed over.

  My tail went limp and my knees buckled.

  It felt like one side of my body started drooping and I collapsed to the concrete with a thud.

  I blinked as I stared at the fuzzy whirlwind going on around me. I felt a net land over my body and when I glanced down I saw that I had shifted back into human form, an involuntary trigger set by pain. The guards knew that this would happen once they fired the dart at me.

  Everything felt numb and cloudy in my mind and in my body. The tranquilizer was kicking in, and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt helpless, powerless to control the situation any longer.

  I had fled for as long as I could. I had given it my all. Right before I passed out, a guard with a devious smile crouched over me.

  “You aren’t so fast now, are you, you little bastard?”

  The last thing I heard before I blacked out was the wicked peal of his laughter ringing shrilly through my ears.

  * * *

  My eyes jolted open and I sat up in bed, dripping with cold sweat. My eyes darted suspiciously through the room, taking inventory. The covers had been thrashed off of my legs. I was panting as if my life depended on each gulp of breath that I swallowed down. My brothers were sleeping soundly in their bunks beside me. They weren’t my real brothers, but we had endured hell together and I considered them family.

  A warm fire crackled and popped in the hearth in the center of the room. I was safe, at least for now. I placed my flattened palm on my chest to soothe my pulsing heart.

  “You’re losing it, James,” I whispered to myself. “It was only a nightmare.”

  Only, it wasn’t a nightmare. It was reality. A memory. The images in my dream were so vivid because they had really happened to me, but as I glanced around the warm-toned and cozy room, I realized that I was luckier than most slaves still chained to Masters.

  I felt my shoulders relax. There were no Masters here in this underground bunker. This was my refuge. There were no guards whipping me while sadistically laughing about it with their friends.

  That life was behind me, a horrific part of my past, but the chapter had already been closed, never to be re-written or read again. I sagged back down onto my fluffy pillow, a material luxury I would never have been able to enjoy back in the Master’s dungeon.

  I closed my eyes. “It was all just a dream of the past,” I said one last time before drifting off into o
blivion again, hopefully minus the terrifying flashbacks.

  One could try their best to forget the demons that haunted them, but was there ever a way of escaping them for good? If I ever found the answer, I would be home free.

  But for now, I was going to get a good night’s sleep in the security of my bunker.

  5

  Sophia

  There was a puddle of water on the outside of my cell door on the cold concrete floor.

  Drops of dank condensation lurked on the ceiling just outside of the iron bars that kept me locked in my bedroom that was only slightly bigger than a jail cell.

  The water droplets dripped down and made a plunking sound as they fell into the puddle below.

  All was quiet in Thom’s castle. Order had been restored. I assumed that the slave in question had been captured, because the alarm bells were no longer piercing through the air. I sat on the edge of my bed and did my best to swallow the growing lump in my throat.

  I was in for it for escaping Thom’s sexual, burning wax fantasy before the disturbance of the fugitive on the loose. I glanced at my bony knees. There was dirt caked in the crevices of my body.

  I didn’t get to bathe often. I ran a hand through my dark hair. I wasn’t able to enjoy the luxury of feeling sleek, silky locks on my fingertips. My hair was grimy and greasy in some areas and crusty at the tips.

  Thom made me shower with him most of the time. I assumed that was probably because he didn’t have showers or baths down in the dungeons, but I wasn’t in the dungeon tonight. I was in my separate cell, the one on the floor directly above the dungeons. It was where I had sought refuge during the tussle on the castle grounds.

  I had been waiting here for several excruciatingly anxious hours. There was no way to tell in advance what my fate might be, but I couldn’t exactly hope for the best. Thom’s rage got out of hand sometimes, and it would be even worse tonight.

  Thanks to the slave who had managed to get loose, Thom would be fraying at the edges. The fire of wrath and anger that resided in Thom would be out in full force tonight.

  I wrung my hands together nervously. My lips felt cracked, my eyes puffy and swollen. I glanced over my shoulder and assessed the tiny twin bed that I had to sleep on. It had a metal frame and a scratchy gray blanket that itched at my skin and made it raw in the morning when I woke up.

  I didn’t even have the luxury of a pillow. Thom didn’t want us to have them. He said our posture would be improved by the absence of a pillow. I sighed, feeling labored. It was as if the energy in my body was being sucked out with each breath I exhaled.

  I glanced up at the tiny slit of a window above my bed. The window itself was impenetrable. It was a little less than a three-inch slit that brought in a sliver of natural light, but I couldn’t reach to even see outside because it was too high, even when I stood on the headboard railing of my bed.

  Thom may have been a monster, but he sure wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly how to keep his slaves locked away. Well, most of the time. The events of this evening had been an exception to the general rule. Regardless of the mishap, Thom still knew how to rule the slaves and guards under his watch with an iron fist.

  My gaze wandered absentmindedly across my room. I had a toilet and a bed and that was about it. I didn’t even have a mirror to see my reflection, but it wasn’t as if I actually wanted to see the gaunt and phantom-like face staring back at me. I was certain my appearance was probably worse for wear, and probably would be as long as I stayed stuck in this captivity.

  I didn’t know much about the world beyond these gray stone walls — only the things that resided in my memory, but even those didn’t seem to last, fading over time as if I were looking at them through a cloudy vase.

  I stared blankly at the wall. It was a coping mechanism that I had learned to use for recovery purposes, but also for when I knew a massive sexual beating or liaison was about to happen. It was only a matter of time before Thom made his appearance in my cell, demanding sex and whipping me “literally” into shape.

  I closed my eyes as I heard the thundering boom of footsteps crashing through the hallways. It was Thom. Who else would it be?

  I licked my lips. They felt dry and cracked. My entire body was robbed of proper care and nurture. It was a torturous life, but I had no idea how to save myself.

  “There you are.”

  I didn’t open my eyes when I heard the lashing tone of Thom’s voice bellowing through the air.

  “Look at me!” he roared. His bark wasn’t even half as horrifying as his bite.

  My eyes involuntarily bolted open. I glanced over at Thom. He was seething. His shoulders were huffing, moving violently up and down as he panted hard.

  “I’m sorry,” I croaked.

  “Sorry? You are sorry?” Thom mocked. His eyes were bloodshot.

  “Yes.” I nodded meekly.

  So much for him forgetting about the fact that he had tied me up in his special sexual hell dungeon room.

  Thom approached me where I was still sitting on the edge of my twin mattress that was so tired and old that it sagged in the middle.

  I dared to lift my chin and stare at him. He pursed his lips into a sneer and then drew his hand back. I held my breath and braced myself for the impact of the back of his hand against my cheek.

  Slap!

  The sound ricocheted off the walls. I instinctively clutched my stinging face. Thom swatted my hand away.

  “I’m not finished with you yet. This is only the beginning, you weird witch.”

  Thom grabbed a chunk of my jet-black hair into his fist and yanked me off the bed as hard as he could. I wailed under his power and the pain that seared through my scalp.

  “Naughty bitches have to pay for their sins,” he said in an icy tone that sent shivers electrifying up and down my spine.

  I was on my knees. I was in a groveling position, but I didn’t feel much like begging. It would only egg Thom on. The more his slave pleaded for mercy, the less he was likely to loosen the reigns.

  Thom’s fury was about to unleash itself on my body and there was nothing I could do to stop him. I had never felt so powerless in my entire life.

  “I won’t stand for rebels in my castle,” he whispered in my ear in a spiteful tone. “You all think you can make a fool of me, but I will have the last word.”

  His hot breath was on my neck. I was breathing fast now too. I set my jaw and waited for him to make his next move. If I just sat here and took his abuse, my chances of having it be over quicker would increase by twofold.

  “Stand up,” Thom demanded, towering over me with a sinister leer.

  I did as he said, scrambling to my feet in about a millisecond. My shoulders were wilting like a flower that didn’t get enough water or sunlight. How ironic was it that I was so similar to those beautiful things found in nature when I didn’t feel beautiful at all?

  “Pull down your panties,” he instructed. His voice had calmed down somewhat. He was back in his sexual zone, which was unfortunate for me.

  Thom walked over to the bed and sat down on it. The mattress springs of the bed frame creaked.

  “What are you waiting on?” he asked with a domineering chuckle. “Get the fuck over here.”

  I gulped and began to warily walk over in Thom’s direction. My feet were barely shuffling along.

  “You aren’t going fast enough,” Thom spat. “Hurry it the hell up before you get yourself into even further trouble.”

  I didn’t want that at all. I nodded and was over by his side in an instant.

  He grabbed me by the arms and pushed me down so that I was laying across his lap, bare-assed and exposed.

  “That’s better.” Thom chuckled wickedly like a spoiled child finally being appeased with his own way.

  I knew what was coming. Thom was going to teach me a lesson by painting my ass cheeks raw and red with his opened palm. I would just have to bite down on my bottom lip to get through the pain until he was satisfied enough that h
e had hurt me to stop.

  The first slap didn’t hurt as much as I had expected it to, but by five or six times of Thom raising his hand over his head and then hitting it onto my bare skin, I was really starting to feel the effects. The sting felt like it was being buried underneath my skin. I knew I would have a bruise later.

  Tears stung in my eyes, but I had to choke them back. I didn’t want Thom to feel the vindication of seeing me cry over the pain and suffering that he had induced. He would get off on that revelation for sure.

  I was furious too. He was taking advantage of me and using my body for his own devious pleasure. How dare he? My body was my own property, not his. That was the way it should have been, but it wasn’t a fact in actuality.

  I had no rights. I was his slave, and if I wanted to live I would continue to let him torture me. But I couldn’t stand for it. I had to be stronger.

  Rage festered inside of my mind and spread like wildfire. It was a sensation that I couldn’t manage. It was something brewing inside of me that I couldn’t sustain. I was out of control.

  Before I knew what was happening or could concoct a way to suppress the rousing in my being, my wings unfurled and protected me. The tips were like daggers, pointing directly at Thom.

  He pushed me off of him and stumbled off the bed, instinctively reeling back to the corner where he protectively shielded his face and torso.

  “What in the hell are you doing?” he asked in a malicious tone. “What has gotten into you?”

  I stood there in the center of the room, breathing rapidly and staring at Thom as if I couldn’t drum up any kind of explanation either for what had just happened. As if reacting to my own surprise, my shocking wings disappeared again.

  I was horrified and humiliated. Nothing like that had ever happened in front of Thom before. I wasn’t sure what to do or say, so I just stood there like an arrow poking straight out of the ground.