CATRINA

I am staring into the darkness when the door to my room swings open and Lance walks in.

"Come on," he says and hauls me up by my elbow making me stumble a bit. I gasp in pain when his nails bite into my skin.

"I'll get up myself. Don't hurt me," I whisper and regain my balance. He grunts and then hands me a glass of water.

Being grateful, I drink it since my throat anyway is dry. After a glass, he hands me another one. He's being nice?

I just mutely take that glass and try to finish only half of it and then return it back to him. For a moment he just looks at the glass and then at me all the while frowning.

"Drink it," he orders and his voice is lower but gruffer. Not wanting to anger him, I drink all the water and hand it back to him.

Now he gives me a bottle of water and I stare at him in shock. What's this guy doing? I can't drink that much.

"Xanthos will come in the next hour. Finish this now," he growls loudly making me flinch and I literally grab the bottle from him and gulp it now. I feel nauseous with all that water but somehow do not retch.

"Hmm, good," he says once I am done and then takes the bottle from my hands.

"I'll be back in an hour. There's a toilet for your use. Don't even think of running because I can sense you. Even the slightest sound and I'll be on you in a second. Is it clear?" he threatens. I nod, mutely because I know that this is his promise. Now that I know that he's a rapist and a sadist for hurting his own kid, I don't want to be the victim of his wrath.

~~~~

Just as I walk out of the small closest sized bathroom, I bump into someone. Stumbling now and screaming at whoever it is, I back pedal and find the nearest wall, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"Shut up," growls Lance. I want to claw at his arrogant face but somehow even thinking about it makes me feel tired.

I just want him to let me go, I don't know what is Xanthos's agenda and now all this is getting on my nerves. I think I had almost an hour to think and during that time all I could think about was Lance's plans for me and Xanthos's plans for Fenris's kingdom. I need to make this Lance guy talk at least a little so that I get some idea of this situation.

Just when I am about to ask, he pulls at my hands and starts walking.

"Come on, it's time. Let's go," says Lance and pulls me roughly.

"Is Henry alright?" I ask, nervous that he's hurt the kid.

"Scared for him?" he asks and I nod.

"I won't kill my son. He'll be useful," he whispers and I wonder if he's using Henry as a messenger for their work. What if he sends Henry to collect the ransom?

"Walk faster, dormant," he growls again and this time pulls me so hard that I fear for my arm. I don't want to dislocate it, so I start jogging behind him.

He takes me from the corridor, down the stairs of this ruined castle and then into one of the rooms. The moment the door opens and after having a good look at the things inside, all I want to do is run and scream.

Scream, I do and when I turn to run, I am picked up by Lance and am actually thrown into the nearest corner of this room. I feel disoriented for a minute but then turn to the crowd in front of me.

All around me are females of different age groups. Oh my god! There is also a child and she's approximately 2-3 years old.

"Shut up, bitch," he growls but I keep shouting. I don't realise half of what I am saying but I can't help it. The state of all these girls is as if they are slaves. Female slaves. For flesh trade?

"What are you doing?" I scream at him when he bends down to clamp my mouth. I struggle in his hold, wanting to say a lot more but his hold on my mouth increases and I feel that he'll smash my jaw but at the last moment he releases me. I gasp and hold on to my cheeks which are no doubt bruised now.

"This is my laboratory. These are my subjects," he says, his eyes glinting in the darkness of the room. I watch as the other girls cower in fear.

"You're messed up in the head," I yell at him. He turns to me and then bends down. I think he's going to clamp my mouth again but he slaps me instead catching me by surprise. I fall back on my ass with the force of his slap. It hurts, fuck does it hurt. I feel warm liquid trickle down my cheeks and realise that I am bleeding.

I hold on to my cheek and glare at him. I won't give him the satisfaction of watching me cower.

"One more word out of your mouth and I'll strip her naked and fuck her as a punishment for you," he says pointing towards a girl who looks barely a teenager. The sight of the girl he's pointing at makes me shut up immediately. From the look in the girl's eyes, I know that he'll do it and that's what scares me more.

She's already been through it and I'll only make it worse, not for me but her.

"That's good," he mutters when I shut up and pats me on the head as if I am some good pet. He then walks toward the main part of his laboratory where there is a cot on one side and lots of machines surrounding it.

I watch every one of the girls who look scared, tired, half-sleeping and some are staring into nothing as if just a shell of their former self. There is a total of 13 girls and I am the 14th one, also appearing to be the oldest.

My gaze moves to the small girl, the youngest - almost a year old girl, only she seems to be the least affected but it's because she doesn't know anything. She doesn't know that it's a bad guy. She can walk I assume because she's standing near a girl who looks like her mother. The mother herself is young. I watch her as she watches me, assesses me with her childish brain, not knowing that she's living in the devil's home.

"Come here, Catrina," says the devil and I turn to look at him, almost giving myself a whiplash. He's looking at me as if I am some type of candy, which adds in to my terror.

Looking at the other girls and their scared faces, I get up, wincing at the pain in my back from being thrown into the wall, and walk towards him. As soon as I am closer to him, he snatches my hand and pierces the back of my hand with a syringe. He takes my blood very cruelly and I can't help but mutter that it hurts.

"It will. Sacrifices always hurt," is all he whispers and continues to take my blood.

"This will tell me what's wrong with your body," he says and once again I stifle a gasp of shock. He's really bent on finding my wolf anomaly.

God! Where have I landed?

It's been some time now since Lance/Mr Hyde took my blood and I am now sitting near the baby and her mother. The baby is in my lap, fiddling with the buttons on my top and playing with them quietly. It's as if she's conditioned to not make noise.

Even a small gurgle from her makes her mother freeze which the baby notices and then she turns back to playing quietly. It's as if the baby knows that if she makes a sound her mother will get hurt. It's a horrible fate.

Just then the door to this big hall opens and there stands the witch and my fucking half-brother.

"Is my sister ready?" he asks, slyly. All around me the girls cower in fear. I watch them because there's not even a single one who's not hurt by him. The child in my lap is quiet, stiff even and her head is bent as if she's trained to not look at Xanthos. Is this some kind of defence mechanism?

"I do not do this of my free will," I snap at him after pushing the babe in her mother's lap. I stand up and meet Xanthos toe-to-toe to make him know that I'll struggle all the way before letting him take my blood for his evil deeds.

"Fiery and feisty, just like her mother, isn't she?" whispers Lance from behind me and then pulls my head by my hair, making me turn to look at him. I struggle to get out of his hold but he doesn't let me.

"Did you collect the blood?" asks Xanthos to which Lance nods and then both Xanthos and the Witch walk into the hall and occupy the seats near the main part of Lance's laboratory.

"Did the heat serum work on any of these females?" asks the witch. Heat? As in werewolf heat where the wolf feels an unbearable need to constantly mate?

What kind of healer is this Lance?

"No, I am making a new formula," replies Lance quite drily. He has maintained his hold on me and now starts walking toward them.

"What formula?" asks Xanthos.

Lance looks at me, he knows that I am listening or maybe he doesn't want to disclose this information in front of everyone that's why he just says, "I've still not furnished it. Will tell you later?"

Xanthos nods and then whistles. The whistle itself is so haunting that I shudder and the females all turn into a foetal position.

A man walks into the room. He's large, really very large in height as well as in his body structure.

"Take all them to their respective cells, Odin."

"Yes, master," whispers the Odin guy.

"How's she?" Xanthos asks and I watch the Odin guy look up at Xanthos just for a split second and then lowering his head again.

"She's not eating, Master."

"Did you touch her?"

"No, master."

"Tell her that if she doesn't eat the meals then I'll pay her a personal visit," says Xanthos. The way he says it tells me that it's not going to be good for that person.

"Yes, master." Odin lifts his head, signals all the women with his chin to move. Within a second, all these females scramble to their feet and walk out of the hall.

"So, let's begin with this," says Xanthos and rubs his hands together in glee. His excitement terrorises me because it's at my expense.

"No, I don't want to give my blood," I whisper taking a few steps back, but Lance comes and pulls me forward almost carrying me toward Xanthos and the witch.

"Keep her here. Since the last time the cold blood of your sacrifice didn't work, I suggest you drink from her vein directly," says the witch. Her words are like a bomb on me and I nearly collapse but only lance's hold on me keeps me standing.

"NO!" I don't know when I start screaming but now, I am on a screaming rampage and Lance is having a hard time keeping a hold of me. I struggle a bit more and successfully escape from his hold only to be captured by Xanthos this time.

Xanthos's hold on me is stronger and rougher which makes me gasp for breath and I vaguely realise that the witch handed over a potion to Xanthos which he makes me drink.

I take it and spit it in his face which enrages him further and then he slaps my cheek, the other one since my left one has a fresh wound. The impact almost knocks me out and now being in a daze renders me helpless.

He forces that liquid into my mouth and then clamps both my nose and mouth, forcing me to gulp it down. Some of it enters my throat but a little goes in my airways which chokes me and causes a coughing fit to erupt. My entire attention now goes to coughing and breathing, trying to get the liquid out of my lungs when I feel a sharp pain in my wrist.

I yell out at the pain and lift my head to look at Xanthos's head as he drinks directly from my wrist and that's when I feel my conscious slowly slip. My legs give up but no one picks me or holds me. Only Xanthos has a hold on my wrist while I am on my knees, coughing and gasping for breath. The burn of his canines in my flesh with the loss of blood calls the darkness with a rushing force.

I finally give up, gasping my last breath and trying to say no to this barbaric event of my life but soon, I can only see stars in the sea of darkness and then nothing. The only sight of Xanthos's dark head on my wrist plays in my mind when I fall prey to my half-brother's deeds.

~~~~~

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