We'll Let The Fires Just Bathe Us

“As hilariously humiliating as this is for you, it’s for your own safety.” Jack said, locking the metal ring as I glared at him with as much hatred as I could muster.
“How the fuck is this going to keep me safe?” I asked.

He had locked a collar around my neck then attached a five foot chain to it for him to hold. It was basically a leash.

“Well you were going to be collared anyway, all the slaves are, but I’m putting you on a chain incase someone tries to grab you.” He said.
“Why would they want me?” I asked.
“Because look at you.” He said, running a hand up and down my torso.

I flinched away from his touch.

“To them, causing others pain is beautiful. And you’re gorgeous. So to them, seeing you in pain would be amazing.” He explained, straightening my shirt.
“If they got me, what would they do?” I asked, knowing it wouldn’t be fun but I still wanted to know. Jack smiled softly and watched my skin as he ran his fingers down my cheek while he spoke.
“They’d press a blade to your skin and watch it dent before finally rupturing, causing a stream of blood to run down in beautiful red lines. They would squeeze searing bars of metal between your arms and body and watch as your skin blisters and sizzles against the heat.” He looked straight into my eyes. “They would take over your mind and soul, forcing you to relive every horrible memory and they would draw amusement from the way your subconscious crumbles. They may even take you the way I did, forcing their body into yours. But they wouldn’t be gentle like I was. Their animalistic nature would override everything and they would continuously rape you with no regard to how much pain you’re in or whether you’re even alive when they’re finished.”

I wanted to vomit. He made all of it sound so beautiful, as if it were poetry. Well I didn’t want to be those words.

“Why do you care?” I whispered, being him, I couldn’t see why he’d give a shit whether I was safe.

His head snapped up at me. Here we go again. His impulsivity could be triggered by almost nothing.

“Because you belong to me. If I want to torture you I will. If I want to possess you, I will. If I want to beat you, I will. Me. Not some other piece of shit who you don’t belong to.” He snarled, roughly yanking the chain making me wince and pulling me after him.

We got in the car but this time, he made me get in the trunk. It was dark, hot, and claustrophobic. I needed to remember to stop saying things that make him snap.
I didn’t know how long it was, I tried counting but that wasn’t till halfway through the ride. By the time I’d gotten up to five hundred twenty-three, the trunk was opened. Jack still looked pissed and he grabbed the chain and pulled me out.

“While we’re in here, you will do anything I say, the moment I say it. If you don’t, you’ll pay dearly and I won’t show mercy as I normally do.” He snarled.

It never occurred to me that he ever showed mercy, I shuddered to think what he’d be like without it. He lead me up to the house with a smirk on his face, leading me like I was just some dog but then to him, I probably was.

“Jack! So glad you could make it!” Laughed a man who had two girls on either side. The man dismissed them and hugged Jack, each of them slapping each other’s backs.
“Flyzik!” Jack grinned once they broke apart, tugging at my chain signaling me to come forward.

I wondered why that name was familiar.

“This is Alex, my new slave.” Jack introduced me. I looked up at Flyzik’s face, not being able to pin point where I’d seen him before.
Then it hit me.
“You’re him!” I exclaimed. Jack smacked me behind the head, before hissing,
“Shut up.”

Flyzik looked puzzled for a moment but then seemed to remember.

“Oh yeah, it was at the camp I work at. It was going to be slaughtered for food but then I saw what a beauty it was and knew it’d go for a lot at the market.” Flyzik smiled at Jack.
“Well I did, one hundred thousand.” I said, glaring at him for calling me an ‘it’.
“Shut up.” Jack yanked the chain down making me fall to the ground before his feet, he towered over my small body.

I glowered up at him but I didn’t retaliate.

“Damn Jack, it’s a little talkative but you’ve got this one trained pretty well.” Flyzik smirked, looking down at me.

I pulled my back up straight, trying to look bigger.

“Not trained, just scared.” Jack smirked.
“I’m not scared of you.” I shot back.

To my surprise he didn’t hit me or kick me, instead he said,
“Really?” with a thoughtful tone and immediately I regretted my words. “Flyzik take everyone’s bets. We’re going to have a match.” Jack smiled.

Flyzik grinned and rushed off leaving me gaping at Jack.

Matches were…Well think back to the Roman Colosseum. They throw a weak person and a strong person together and tell them to fight.

In a match, the loser usually gets mauled by the audience once it’s clear who’s the victor. Sometimes the opponent is another slave and sometimes its a demon and judging by the way Jack was removing his shirt, it was going to be him. That made my stomach drop because demons never lose.

Flyzik had slips of paper in one hand and money in the other. Jack put his hands on my collar and broke it as the demons surrounded us, making a circle about eight feet in diameter. I looked up at Jack who was cracking his knuckles and smirking at me with black eyes and knew that wow. I really did not want to do this.

“Go on Lex, shirt off.” Jack urged and the demons cheered.

I gritted my teeth but I didn’t dare try to correct him in front of all these demons so I pulled it off without a word in one quick motion.

“There’s only one rule!” Jack said, more to the demons than I. “When I win, nobody touches him. He will be beaten enough.”

Well that didn’t really comfort me but at least now it wasn’t exactly certain I was going to die. Jack nodded to Flyzik and faced me.

“BEGIN!” Flyzik called and the demon’s roared.
“Go ahead, hit me.” Jack smirked, stepping closer. “Hit. Me.” Jack repeated making me grit my teeth.

I balled my fists and aimed at his jaw. He grabbed my wrist, pulled it back, completely exposing my right side, and dealt a punch which knocked all the air out of my lungs. Then he let me go and I almost fell down but I caught myself.

“Go ahead, go for it.” He mocked.

I knew that trying again would just feed into his game so to fight back, I did the only thing I could think of.

I sat down.

I sat criss-cross motherfucking applesauce right on the floor.

“Go for it.” I copied his words and mocking tone, looking up at him. He stared at me for a few seconds while the demons screamed,
“KILL HIM!”

Then he shrugged and kicked me in the face. I fell back and my head hit the floor. A loud thud in my ears drowned out the demon’s cheering. Jack got on top of me, gripped my collar, and he raised his fist before punching me. If this were any other circumstance, I’d probably be mouthing off but right now my voice would surly be drowned out by the cheering. I really couldn’t do anything. I don’t stand a chance at beating him physically and if I tried, he’d just laugh and I was not willing to give him the amusement.

So I just took deep breaths and went with his abuse. He hit me again and again, my vision would black out and I’d go numb before returning to blurry sight and pain. I was about one hit away from unconsciousness and I think he knew that because he brought his fist back slowly before hitting me so hard I saw flashes of white then nothing.

Then I felt weird.

I couldn’t see, feel, or hear anything but I was still conscious. Then I heard a very faint sound, like someone whispering. I knew my eyes were open but I still couldn’t see anything. I whipped my head around but it was just black. I tried digging my nails into my hand but I wasn’t even sure I had a body. The whispering got a little louder, I strained my ears to try and hear it then suddenly it was as if whoever it was, was right next to me.

No.

It was more like as if they were in my head.

“I will have you, Alex. You may have Jack’s protection now, but it won’t last.” The voice sounded like Jack’s, but deeper and more raspy. A wave of fear and impending danger overcame me and I strongly suspected it was Jack’s shadow.

“Why do you want me? Why go through all this trouble?” I asked.

I heard my voice but it was muffled. Kind of like when you talk with headphones on.

“You really have no idea how special you are do you?” The voice mused. I couldn’t see but

I could tell by his tone that he was smiling.

Oh yeah, I’m so special what with living in a concentration camp my whole life only to be bought by the king of Hell. Honestly the only special thing about me is my master.

“Well I’ll level with you, I am a joy to be around and incredibly attractive so I’ll give you that.” I replied. The voice chuckled making a chill run down my back.

“That attitude must be what he likes.” He murmured.

“What he likes? Have you seen him?” I scoffed.

“Like I said, no idea how special you are. Remember Alex, no matter what he says or what you do, I am coming for you and nothing will stop me.”

Suddenly my vision started fading into grey and the faint sound of cheering reached my ears. I slowly came back to reality and when I opened my eyes the lights directly above me poured into my skull. I squinted, trying to adjust to the light.

“GO!” A voice screamed and suddenly hands were ripping at me, I was being punched and kicked all over.

I couldn’t breath and I tried to cry out but the sound died in my throat.

“I SAID LEAVE HIM BE!” Screamed my master and suddenly everyone backed off, leaving me in a crumpled heap on the floor.

My eyes were half lidded as I lay limp, every breath met with agony. I watched Jack stand over me and lean down to pick me up.

“It’s been fun, Flyzik.” He said before carrying me out.

He was warm against the cold air outside so I shifted my cheek so it was against his chest. He opened the car door with his foot and placed me in the car seat. I slumped back into it, in too much pain and exhaustion to try and move as he buckled me in. He shut the door and walked around the car to get in the drivers seat. We pulled out of the driveway and my mind wondered to my weird…dream…thing. I wondered if I should tell Jack and I almost didn’t, but his shadow said I was special and Jack might know what he was talking about.

“Jack?” My voice was quiet and small but it was loud enough to penetrate the choking silence.
“Yes.” He replied sounding cocky, probably because I was so bruised and bloody.
“I heard him.” I almost whispered. Jack slammed the car to a stop.

The only thing that kept me in my seat was the seatbelt.

“You what?” He snapped. I tried to sit up but my bones screamed so I gave up.
“He said he was going to get me and I was special. Jack, why am I special?” I asked. He glared at me and gritted his teeth.
“You aren’t. Nothing is special about you.” He snarled, speeding the car up again.
“Suuure I’m not.” I mumbled, closing my eyes but I had no intention of falling asleep.
“You disagree?” He asked.
“Well from what I’ve heard you aren’t exactly master of the year okay? You seem like the kind of person who kills people just for shits and giggles but you haven’t killed me yet which leads me to believe there’s something different about me!” I ranted, opening my eyes.
“Who did you say your mother was?” He asked, ignoring my outburst.
“I didn’t.” I growled through gritted teeth.
“Damn it, Lex who was she?” He exclaimed.
“It’s Alex and she was no one! She just worked at a bakery before you dicks took over.” I said.
“And your father?”
“Never met him.” I replied, “Mom said he died when the demons flooded in.”

All the talking drained me and the last thing I heard was Jack murmuring,

“Interesting.”

Notes

Title cred: Stolen Dance by Milky Chance

(I thought the title was clever what with the whole 'fight' thing)

Who was puking all day yesterday and is currently not on speaking terms with their father?

*Raises hand*

anyway do you guys hate jack yet?