The Torture of Midnight

Blood Price

I opened my eyes, and found myself in a very large canopy bed. I rolled over in the bed, yawning, and stretching, but groaned afterwards regreting it. This was the second time I had woken up to a sore, and aching body.

After the pain subsided a little, I looked around the dark room. The windows were covered by huge drapes, with only a dying fire to light the room.

"How are you feeling?"

I screamed, and looked behind me to find Lonan standing a little ways away from the bed I was in. I had the comforter pulled up over my chest, with my hands gripping it tightly.

"Would you quit doing that please? I hate having a heart attack everytime we meet." I said, exasperated. His face was shadowed mostly, but I thought I saw a smile.

Neither of us said anything for a long while.

"About yesterday," He walked out to where I could see his whole face, and he didn't look like he was smiling anymore. "Since you've decided to stay-"

"I was forced to stay." I snapped.

He closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring. "As I was saying," He ground his teeth. I decided not to say anything to anger him further, for fear of what the outcome might be. "You're now forced to stay here. As sad as it seems, you need to come to terms with the fact that you are here perminately. There is no going back home."

A cold chill went down my spine as realization began to hit me.

He continued. "Second, I will tolerate no more behavior such as yesterday. To me, you are no more than a slave, and I will not hesitate to punish you for disobedience." He came closer to my bed. "You've seen how my kind treats humans. Understand that I am doing you a favor."

"Favor? You call abducting me, and forcing me to be your prisoner a favor?" I half shouted the last part, to which I regreted later.

His hand wrapped around my throat, and lifted me off the bed, and into the air. "Speak to me like that again, and I will make it to where you never speak again. Do you understand me?"

I nodded my head as much as I could, before he dropped me from where I was, to the ground next to my bed. I coughed, and hacked, trying to open my throat again.

When I had caught my breathe, I looked up from where I sat on the floor to find Lonan with his back turned to me.

"Good behavior, and cooperation will earn you proper meals, and a warm bed to sleep in." He looked over his shoulder at me. "Resistance will earn you many nights locked up in the lower parts of the manor, with nothing but stale bread and water. Is that understood?"

Tears spilled over, and I pursed my lips to keep any sound from escaping. I hid my face, trying not to let him see me cry. When I heard no more, I looked up, and he was gone, and that's when I let myself cry out loud.

*

I cried for hours. Sometimes curled up in a ball on the bed, or over in a corner on the cold floor. My fate had been sealed, and my life ruined. All my hopes and dreams, all crushed by one man. I prayed that my parents would be able to move on in peace without me, and that my little brother would grow to be a great man.

All those years of training to be something that I was never going to be. Being a ballerina, and dancing on a huge stage, and stunning the audience........all if that was gone now. All I had left was to die slowly in this hell.

The door opened on the other side of the room, and I wiped the tears away, and sniffed.

"Madam?" A man asked.