Dark Dominion

36. Runaway [M]

[Content warning: This chapter contains sexual assault. For mature readers only. Please read at your own discretion.]

Juniper opened his eyes to blackness. Icy cold dread seized his body. For a moment, he thought he was blind again, but as his foggy senses started to focus, he became more aware of his surroundings. A blindfold had been secured tightly around his head. His hands had been bound behind him. He lay on his stomach on a hard metal surface, and it was moving – a rocky, jarring motion that Juniper recognized. He was in some sort of vehicle, and he was being taken away.

He heard voices. They were distant and muddled at first, but each passing moment added clarity.

"Is this really far enough?" It was a man's voice.

"That's what he said, just a few miles," a second man replied.

"I know. I just don't get it. For all this trouble, I would've thought he'd want us to kill the boy or leave him somewhere far – let animals get him or something." The vehicle lurched to a stop, and Juniper's heart beat frantically in his chest. "He can easily make it back on his own from here."

"I'm not even going to try to understand. Those overbred, high-end slaves have some crazy in 'em, but I don't care. We do what he says, we get the stuff. Come on."

Doors squeaked open, and the vehicle jostled as the two men exited. Juniper only had seconds to think. What would they do if they knew he was awake? Would they try to knock him out? He decided to lay still. Another door opened.

Juniper felt probing hands over the light fabric of his clothes, and he was flipped over onto his back, his bound hands crushed beneath him. The touches continued on his chest, disgustingly hot and roughly palming.

"What are you doing?"

"I just wanna feel a little, maybe take a peek. I heard bed slaves were smooth."

"Well, be fast about it. The vamp that owns him will probably notice soon, and it won't take 'em long to track him here."

The man pinched Juniper's nipples through his outfit, and then he felt the tie at his side being undone. Juniper trembled, and the blindfold became wet with tears.

"I'll be quick. Fuck, look at his lips. That's a mouth made for cock sucking."

Juniper couldn't any longer. He wrenched his body away as well as he could and thrashed his unbound legs wildly until he felt satisfying contact. "No! Don't touch me!"

"You little—"

"Don't hit him! We can't leave marks."

"Tch, fucking vamp whore."

Juniper felt a glob of spit land on his cheek. Why were these men doing this to him?

"Let me go. Please, let me go," Juniper cried out.

"Don't you worry, little whore, that's what we're doing."

Both men grabbed him and slid him along the metal surface. They pulled him out of the vehicle, standing him up on the ground. One walked away, but the other – he could tell it was the one who had touched him, who he'd kicked – grabbed him by the throat, pressing a thumb into his thrall mark. "Hey," he shouted. "Boy's got the mark. Shit, he's one of the high-end ones too."

The other returned. "Then let's get out of here. His master will be wanting such valuable property back. It won't take 'em long."

Suddenly, Juniper felt a blade against his hands, and he froze. With a quick slice, the man cut through the binding, but his hands were grabbed to keep him still subdued. He heard the metal door slam shut, and then another. One of the men had already gotten back in the vehicle, but the one remained, his single large hand holding tight to Juniper from behind. He leaned down, hot breath in Juniper's ear. "I know you thralls heal fast."