It’s finally here! A few things really fast. 1. Thank you for all of your support! You are amazing! 2. There will be a Part Eleven. 3. There is much more violence in this chapter than any of the others. WARNINGS!! There are themes containing rape, violence, torture, kidnapping and branding. This may be disturbing to some. Mature Content. ---Now Enjoy.
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I ran as fast as my suddenly imposed blindness would allow. My breath came out in haggard gasps and I cried out as I tripped; falling to the ground. My palms burned as they scraped the jagged gravel and I could feel the warmth of my blood as it rose to flow freely. A menacing laugh spurred me to push myself to my feet again and run.
Suddenly a red flashing light came on; disorienting me. It flashed so quickly that it hurt my eyes, making me raise my now wounded hands to shield my eyes.
“Yoohoo…(Y/N), I’m coming.” I heard him call in a sing-songy voice.
The sheer joy that was in his voice sent chills down my spine and made me feel as if my heart was in my throat. I could hear gravel crunching as he came closer.
I pushed myself to my feet once more and ran. My fear and anger made me run faster. I was not going to let him win. No matter what…he would not win. That thought ran through my mind over and over and over again.
I had no idea where I was in this hell labyrinth. The tunnels curved and dead-ended randomly. I could still hear him laughing in the distance. His enjoyment only served to spur me on. I came to another dead-end.
“Damn it.” I swore under my breath as I turned to double-back.
I turned right and paused in shock. I almost couldn’t believe it. I found her. I found Marie.
She was still tied to the chair with the newspaper in her lap. I rushed forward and took the gag out of her mouth after motioning for her to be quiet. I untied her as she gasped in relief.
“Shh. He’s still here looking for me.” I whispered to her.
“He said he’d kill you if I brought anyone.”
“He’ll kill us anyway. He’s obsessed with you…you’re all he ever talks about.”
“Marie, listen. We need to be quiet and find a way out of here, ok? We’ll get through this together.”
She nodded as I finished untying her legs and helped her up.
We went through another entryway that led from the room and walked as silently as possible down the tunnel. The red light still flashing so quickly it only had about a quarter of a second between flashes. The gravel softly crunching beneath our feet. I hadn’t thought to change before coming here and still wore my dress and blazer for work. At least I had picked out ballet flats for this outfit. I would have been dead already if I showed up in heels. The skirt of my dress brushed my knees as a slight breeze caught the hem.
“Marie? Do you feel that?”
“What?” She stopped for a moment before it clicked. “Wind.”
“Come on, it might lead us outside.” I said as I headed towards the breeze.
“(Y/N), where are you going? The fun hasn’t even started.”
I looked over my shoulder and saw the dark outline of a man.
Turning back towards Marie I whispered a single word. “Run.”
I pushed Marie towards the breeze and I took off in the opposite direction. I didn’t know how far away the exit was or if it was even there…for all we knew it was a fan. I knew neither of us would make it if we ran for it together but if forced to choose between me and Marie…he would run after me. And maybe Marie would make it out and bring back help. Even if I died at least Marie would be safe and he wouldn’t have completely won.
Suddenly something came swinging at my face. I’d felt this pain before. Looking up from where I now was on the ground I saw him holding a crowbar. I could feel the warmth of my blood as it ran down my face.
“This is the same bar I broke your car window with. Fun Fact.” He said with a chuckle.
I could see him now. His jade green eyes were shining with devilish delight and the largest grin I’d ever seen on a person was resting on his lips. His blonde hair curled over onto his forehead and his tall height made his curls brush the low ceiling. The red light made his high cheekbones seem sharper and his white skin reflected the light. I knew I recognized this man. He was so familiar but…I just couldn’t place him.
He stooped down, hauled me up and started dragging me behind him. I tried to resist him but he was so strong and my head was still spinning from when he’d swung at me with the crowbar. He took me to the same room he’d been holding Marie. I studied the room trying to find a way out that I might have missed. All I discovered was a fire blazing in a pit nearby with something sticking out of it. I was sure that hadn’t been here before. And that terrified me. That meant he’d been closer than I’d thought. He’d herded me towards Marie and set this up while she and I had been trying to escape. He was always a step ahead.
“Let go of me!” I shouted at him.
But he kept silent as he shoved me into the chair that I had released Marie from not fifteen minutes ago. I tried to stand but he just shoved me back down; dropping the crowbar.
“I’ve waited so long for this.” He said staring down at me.
I stayed silent. I was still trying to place him.
“I love the way your eyebrows scrunch together when you think.” He said as he sunk down to his hunches as to be eye level with me. “Do you know who I am?”
“I know that I’ve seen you before.”
“I’ll say.” He responded with a soft chuckle. “Imagine me about a hundred pounds skinnier. I’ve thought of you every day since we graduated. Every day since we left that small corner of hell”
“Graduated?” And suddenly it clicked. “Kaidan Hall?” I gasped in confusion and shock.
He smiled. “Very good. I thought it would take you longer.”
Memories were rushing back now.
“How long has it been since you’ve thought of me?”
I shook my head that I didn’t know. “Why? Why are you doing this?”
“Do you remember how they used to treat me? Your jock boyfriend was the worst of them. Every day I suffered. Suffered through the beatings, the mocking…everything. What was worst was they knew I was better than them. That I was smarter. They knew it! And that’s why they treated me so horribly. But you…whenever you showed up…you stopped them. You defended me. You were the only one in that whole school who bothered to care for me. Even the teachers looked the other way. After all…it’s only high school…they hoped it would tough me up…make me more like them.”
“I don’t understand. I was kind to you! I...I stood up for you! I even broke up with Brad because of how he treated you.”
“You were worse than all the bullies. I was in love with you for years and then one day…one day I suddenly understood how stupid I was being. I finally got why you were so nice to me. You were only kind so you wouldn’t have to deal with a guilty conscience. You didn’t care about me. You were selfish…at least everyone else showed their true colors. I got my revenge on Brad. I couldn’t help myself. After my first kill when I realized that I could do this and get away with it…I went after him.”
“But Brad died from a wild animal attack while out hunting.”
He smiled again. “No, he didn’t. I knocked him out while he was hunting and took him to a little abandoned shack I found in those woods. I tortured him for days.”
“Oh my…but how have you gotten away with all this? How did you even get into my apartment?”
“That was easy. I’ve been your building manager for the past two months.”
“The actual building manager was some old man who didn’t have anyone to care about him. I killed him so I could have easy access to you whenever I wanted. It came in handy more than I thought. Before I did anything I made sure to unplug the cameras so when the police asked for the tapes I could hand them right over and they’d still have nothing.”
“I was in love with you and you never cared!” He shouted. His hands were clutching the arms of the chair now and his face was only inches from mine.
“Exactly. You didn’t care enough to see. But it doesn’t matter now. I’ll finally have what I want…after all these years I’ll show you. I’ll show all of you.”
He strikes. His hands are clutching my upper arms now and he’s dragging me out of the chair onto the floor. He’s on top of me, using his weight to hold me down. His teeth were on my neck and his hands are under my skirt.
“No! No!” I screamed as I try to push him off. “Stop! Please, you don’t have to do this!”
His hand was grabbing me now. He was clutching the most center part of me. The place where only Rafael had touched.
The thought of Rafael brought a whole new wave of emotion. I thought about how Kaidan had made it his mission to make sure I never saw Rafael again and a sob escaped from my throat.
“Stop!” I screamed again as he started yanking down my panties.
I finally got my hands on his face and used my thumb to push against his eye and into his eye socket.
He rears back, howling in pain.
I scrambled to get out from under him and flipped over onto my stomach and started to get up.
He grabs my ankle and drags me back to the ground with him. Blood is running from his eye and He reaches over to the fire and grabs whatever it was sticking out of it. I gasp as realization hits me. It’s a brand. He wants to brand me like cattle. I start fighting even harder now.
“No! No! No! Get away from me! Stop!”
“Everyone will know that you belong to me!” He growled as he brings the brand down.
I tried to dodge but he’s holding me down with his free arm and the brand scorches my skin on my left shoulder. I scream louder than I ever thought possible. The pain is horrible and I can feel it through out my whole body as my nervous system tries to reject the pain. I open my eyes and see the crowbar he had dropped when we first came in. I don’t even think…my body is in control now and it wants the pain to stop. I reach out with my right hand and grab it. Twisting I hit him harder than I ever would have thought possible across the face and he’s knocked off of me.
Getting up I run as fast as my legs will carry me. The adrenaline doing little to numb the pain from the wound. I took off and turned a corner as I clutched at my shoulder. A shot ricocheted off of a wall. Where in the hell did he get a gun? I ran down a long hallway until it turned sharply to the left. Stumbling, I turned the corner intending to never stop but what I saw shocked me so much that I fell backwards trying to get away. I used my good arm and feet to get as far away as I could manage. A scream was stuck in my throat as I gazed with wide tear-filled eyes.
In this large room that was at least 20x40 was filled with the dead bodies of several women. Some hanging from hooks that were mounted on the walls and ceiling. Some were discarded in large piles in the corners and some were just randomly laying on the ground. This room of death would have been enough to send any person into hysterics but what I saw was so shocking…I didn’t know what to do. My mind wouldn’t work…it was as if the inner gears of my brain were jammed….they couldn’t turn. These women…were all in some stage of being skinned. Some were completely devoid of skin…almost making it impossible to discern that they had once been living breathing…humans. Some of the women were in the middle of the removal of their skin and some only in the beginning.
I screamed and ended up sprawled in an attempt to get away from him.
He stood at the entrance to this hell-room;
Turning towards me I was faced fully with the eerie awe in his eyes.
“I’ve wanted to show this to you for so long.”
“You skin them…that’s what Nick wouldn’t tell me.”
“You can only see peoples true colors when they have nothing to hide behind…only when they’re completely stripped.”
“Is that what you’re going to do to me?” I said looking him straight in the eyes as tears flowed down my face.
“I already know your true colors. I’m going to do all the things I’ve dreamed about growing up. All these women were just to hold me over until I finally had you. I’ll take you every way I want to. I’ll torture you in every way. I’ll make you scream like you never have before. It will be so beautiful.”
I wouldn’t have thought that he could have done anything to frighten me any more than I already was but the look of child-like wonder in his eyes proved me wrong.
I tried to run but I was so exhausted from everything. The running, the fighting, my wounds, my shoulder that was bleeding, almost being raped, this whole twisted sick game…I was already so weak. He grabbed me once again and pinned me to the wall.
I scream as my wound is ground against the rough stone and he once again reaches under my skirt.
“No! You can rape me but you’ll never have me! I’ll never be yours!” I scream as I try to fight back. I’m so tired…so weak. But I have to fight. I can’t let him win. I won’t let him.
We were too distracted to see or hear anything outside of ourselves. Two people struggling with everything in them. One determined to invade and debase the other. And the other struggling to prevent the worse thing you can do to another.
Suddenly he’s gone. I look and see two men fighting. Fists flying through the air. It’s Nick.
Amanda is by my side almost instantaneously. “Are you ok?” She asks in a clear strong voice.
Before I can answer a shot rings out causing my ears to ring. I look to see who fired. I see Fin in the entryway. We all hold our breath waiting to see who was hit. Both Nick and Kaidan are standing, holding on to each other. After what seems like ages Kaidan falls to the ground…his blood on Nicks vest.
Liv comes around the corner a gun in her hand. “What happened? Is anyone hurt?”
“We need a bus for (Y/N).” Someone says.
I don’t know who. All I could see was Kaidan on the ground…his eyes open and staring at me.
The next thing I know I’m being led through the tunnels. We emerge above ground and I’m loaded into an ambulance. We arrive at the emergency room and I’m surrounded by doctors immediately.
Hours later after tests and stitches and burn treatments I’m finally left in a room in the ICU and allowed to sleep.
After a week in the ICU I’m moved to a normal hospital wing and allowed visitors.
I sat up in my bed watching The Nanny sitcom while I ate from a pudding cup. Out of the corner of my eye I could see someone standing in the doorway and knew exactly who it was.
“Caniro, are you alright?” He asked as he came to me and encircled my head with his hands.
“Yes, I’m ok.” I can see tears in his eyes.
“What about your shoulder? Does it hurt?”
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew that. The team would have a whole file on what happened that day for the investigation.
“So far there isn’t any infection and the surgeon said that in about six weeks I can start laser surgery to remove the brand.”
Rafael lets out a bated breath. “I don’t know what I would have done if…if…you…if he’d…”
“At least Marie finally did something right.” He said, and I chuckled.
Apparently, I had sent Marie in the right direction. She’d gotten out and used a strangers cell phone to call the police. She was the reason I’d been saved.
I leaned my forehead against his. “I knew you’d come as soon as the nurses would let you through.”
He chuckled. “Nick had to physically remove me at one point.”
“(Y/N)…I’m so sorry.” He said in a broken whisper.
“None of this is your fault.”
“I should have stayed with you. We all knew he’d gotten into the building before…and I left you.”
“Rafael…I wanted you to leave. I couldn’t stand the thought that anything might happen to you.”
“Might happen to me? Did you ever stop to think what would happen to me if I lost you?” His voice broke again even though there was slight anger in his eyes.
“All that mattered was keeping you alive.”
“That’s not all that mattered or matters. You are my life, my world…I cannot exist in a world that doesn’t have you in it.”
“No, you have to promise me that you will never push me away again. You have to let me protect you, Caniro.” He said as he stared straight into my eyes unblinking.
I could see the relief that he felt at my words.
“Caniro…I love you so much.” He said.
“Rafael…I only said those things when you asked me to marry you because I couldn’t handle the thought of anything happening to you. And I’m not sorry for protecting you but I am sorry for hurting you. Rafael…I want to marry you. I want to be your wife. I want to have a family with you. I want us to be together.”
A laugh escapes his lips at my words and joy shines from his eyes. Leaning forward he brings his lips to mine and kisses me so that I feel it even in my toes.
