BOUND TO HIM BY FORCE

20. WELCOME TO THE MORGUE

My body was lifted, feeling myself in warm arms that seemed so different. I was thrown up, the person wanting to get a good grip on my frame before walking. I wanted to get up, wanted to peel my eyes open and see who it was, but the darkness kept me buried in unconsciousness. Whatever they were going to do, they would because my body was lucid, my head lolling back and forth as my eyes closed shut again.

I had never felt such cold in my life.

 I shifted on the bed I was in, my body aching so bad, feeling sharp things pressing on my body, threatening to tear my skin apart. I tossed and turned, something warm on my body, but it was not warm enough. I pulled the blanket but it was too narrow to be a blanket and it smelled of cigars and lemon. My mind was trying to process but sleep was not willing to let go. My eyes clenched shut with my body curled into a ball but suddenly something was moving around. I tried to ignore it, tried to push away the thing that constantly scratched on my toes, but I could not stay silent for long with sleep giving up the fight and letting me go.

My body shifted, groaning, every part of me aching and there being a creaking sound of what seemed to be a mattress.

Where was I?

 I had never in my life slept on such a painful mattress, it seemed as if its sole purpose was killing me.

My thoughts were scrambled.

Hounds and voices with screams.

 I flinched, pushing all those memories away, but then one memory hit; cigars and lemon, a rough hand on my cheek, brushing it over and over again with myself drifting away. I held onto that memory, loving the feeling I felt with each stroke on my cheek.

“…It’s not your fault.” The voice echoed in my head but I could not ponder on it for long, something brushing up and down my leg and another biting my toe having pain surge through my body.

I shifted, kicking and screaming as my body shot up only to be met with nothing but darkness, a darkness that had me heave, scrambling away with the wires of the mattress tearing my skin because they were exposed.

My eyes went wide, heaving as whatever was running up and down my leg rushed up and went back to my toes. I stared only to scream even harder.

The largest rat I had ever seen, chewing on my toe. I kicked and kicked but it did not let go, its teeth deep in my feet. I fell off the bed with a thud, realizing it had fallen off. I quickly scrambled up, rushing to step on the bed, standing and watching in horror as the rats moved around on the dirty floor.

“SHUT UP!” The voice of a man, loud and deafening, came.

My body ran cold, tears filling my eyes and streaming down.

where was I? What sick game was Azrail playing?

“Take her to the morgue.” The words echoed in my head.

“I will bleed it out of you.”

I could not help but scream, the rats rushing up with Azrail’s coat lying on the floor. They were chewing on it and I could not let that happen. I jumped down, hitting with a thud. I was not even thinking, screaming, and kicking the rats away, but they were not scared of me. They let go of the coat and came running for me. I screamed and jumped, the coat in hand, waving it around and trying to beat them. In the process, they were sent flying from the floor, falling on my body and it was bloody murder.

I screamed so hard I would die, jumped, and tried to pry them away with my hands until I had a large bang on the metal doors.

“The princess is awake; you can’t keep it down, can you?” A voice came, filled with nothing but anger. I turned, eyes wide with them burning with tears. On the other side of the metal bars stood a man so tall he surpassed the length of the bars. He was large, tattoos all over his body, even on his eyelids. I did not know what to be afraid of, the rats or the man, but looking at his tattoos, I began backing away. Names littered his body and he could not have that many family members. Those names counted for bad things he had done. I shivered, the scream in my head, just throbbing there as I hit the wall.

I thought the bars could protect me, thought they would keep me away from him, but he just tugged them once and he was in.

I looked all around, my hands feeling for something I could use to defend myself, but there was nothing and the man was swallowing the distance between us and leaving me panicking hard.

Not again.

“Please.” What was I even begging for? I could hear how pathetic I was and it nearly made me gag.

“You can’t sleep? You want to scream. Let’s give you something to scream about.”

My hair was pulled, fighting with my fists flying out but they were useless, the man pulling me with my hair so hard I thought my skull would rip out.

“Everyone, wake up, the princess here wants to scream for us.”

I shook my head, the man banging on other bar gates with men groaning.

What had Azrail done? Crying and heaving with the man tugging my hair now and again, having me scream harder.

“You want to scream, scream. I want you to wake up everyone with that scream, scream and do your worst.” The man’s voice was cold, shaking so badly as I stumbled forward. From my lack of screams, he pulled my hair with me screaming out.

“Scream or what I will do to you will rip your cords apart.” He said, pulling my body to him, smelling my skin to throw me to the ground. He walked closer to me, hearing as the bar doors all around us opened, men shuffling out.

The man with tattoos reached my body as I tried crawling away. His laugh left me so scared.

Some mercy, please.

“Scream princess, scream for me.”

No amount of pride could stop me from screaming, him gripping my hair again and pulling me hard with it. I screamed as if the world was on fire. The man laughed out loud, his laughs having me cry.

My body was thrown to the ground, feeling my skin tear. I did not stay down, scrambling up with a lot of men walking out.

“To the fighting pits boys, she wants to put on a show for us.” I was shaking my head, looking all around, seeing nothing but trees. Trees caged wherever we were with tall buildings not painted, as if it was a prison. Men walked around, no guns in hand. They did not need any guns because they were weapons themselves. They wore a look I had only seen on Azrail, the look as if they had nothing to lose, so going against them was the worst thing you could ever do.

I had no chance; I knew I had no chance, but I tried stumbling away and running for the forests.

“I would not do that if I were you, nothing but hounds guard the forest.” The men’s voice echoed all over the area with my brain bringing up the image of a hound chewing on a screaming man.

Defeat washed on me, not knowing what to do and where to go. I felt helpless, my legs slipping onto the floor with my body still covered by the flimsy dress that hid nothing at all.

A hand came on my hair, pulling me up and I did not fight, stumbling over.

“Wake the others, we have a show to watch.”  The man told the others as the other men rushed away.

I was the show, I was their entertainment.

I would not cry anymore; I would stop crying but the tears kept coming. It was all I could do, it seemed.

We walked for long with my feet bleeding from the rough ground where ragged stones tore my skin apart. The hand on my hair let go. The man did not even have to tell me. I knew I had to follow, I knew I had no chance for escape, but maybe I could die trying.

I stumbled through a circular entryway, my head bent with the lights turning on as people shuffled and stood on the concrete bleachers. Mud filled the ground and I had watched Spartacus too many times to know where I was. I was in a fighting pit, a place where people fought to death with nothing but blood spilled. My blood ran cold, where hell was I? What had Azrail done?

My body turned around with more people walking in to stand and they had already began cheering. The man besides me laughed, his fists raised to cheer the crowd on. He pushed my body to the mud, sliding and slipping but caught myself with my hands covered in nothing but heavy mud.

“You and you, get down here.” The man called, turning to watch in fear as two men jumped from the bleachers to the ground with a thud. They were tall and large, as if a place where Azrail kept all his wicked murderers. I took steps back, the crowd laughing sure they were laughing at me.

“We have ourselves a match. Anyone who can kill her can go home as soon as the sun rises to the sky!” The man said out loud, the crowd having fell silent. There were too many people but the words said kept echoing in my head over and over until they clicked.

I gasped, my eyes wide and filled with tears, stepping back even more.

The man who had tattoos all over him turned once again to me, a smirk on his face.

“If you get killed, rest assured your brother will be dead before the day breaks and your little cute boyfriend has a class at eight. Imagine what I would do with those tiny ears.” The man said as I heaved.

“This is not a place for a little princess like you but if you get killed, you will be taking your family along with you. Let’s not forget that cute boyfriend and little…who was the boy’s sister Max?” The man called with my body shaking as if to shatter, my breath held, waiting for the name.

“Angelina.” A man shot out from the crowd, knocking the breath out of me along with all sense. I froze, everything ringing, my body staggering as if to fall.

“Yes, Angelina.”

I would never forgive Ivan; I would never forgive him for what he did, even on his death bed.