Dark Saviour

Circe - Part 10

My body was one screaming nerve ending. Anthony had lashed me so many times with the whip I couldn't count the strikes against my skin anymore. It felt like I was burning alive and all I could do was to try to close off my mind from my body. I didn't even try to stop myself from crying out anymore. Every new point of contact was just one more starburst of pain against my eyelids.

It was all I could do to breathe, just exist in that space and breathe. I knew I had to be healing... my new body had to be good for something, but it hadn't translated into taking the sting away. Not yet anyway.

And then there was momentary relief.

I felt rather than heard her the first time she spoke. The words didn't immediately register in my brain. All I could concentrate on was the fire that was burning me, eating me alive, and fraying me at the edges. I could feel myself unravelling, becoming nothing more than pain and anticipation. My mind was retreating into nothingness and that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted me to be aware, to feel everything, to know she was responsible for my loss of self, of consciousness, of hope of rescue. And she was an expert at it.

"Anthony, enough." She said again firmly, stopping his arm before he could finish the downswing then she stood in front of me and help up my chin with one finger. "Oh, no, no, no, no, Blanca. You aren't going anywhere." She said against my ear as she ran another finger over my back and the bare skin above my wings.

"They're so pretty." Anthony remarked as he joined her standing next to my prostrate form, hanging from the chains.

She touched one of my feathers and then tugged on it. It barely registered in the blizzard of firing neurons in my brain. But then she pulled it out and that wasn't something I was prepared for, at all. I'd never had a whole feather purposefully removed before. When it came out I screamed and opened my eyes again from the unusual pain. It wasn't such a huge amount really, but added on top of the rest of it, it was agony.

"Ahhhhh..." The bitch smiled and then tugged on another. She lifted my eyes to meet hers again and asked the questions I was dreading. "So Blanca tell me, how did Zass get away with lying to the Council? You're not human. How did you become known as his human companion? Do they know about your wings? What are you?"

I wasn't going to answer, but she tugged on another feather and I knew she'd rip it out without a moment's hesitation if I didn't. But then I also knew she'd rip it out anyway. Better to refuse to answer and slow her down than give in. I didn't want to give in to the bitch even once. Besides, the more time I gave Zass to get here, the better off I'd be.

My head hung down when she let go of my chin and I breathed in and out as deeply as I could. I needed to stay strong, I needed to remain alert, I couldn't crack under the pressure. I couldn't let her win.

It made thinking about what Zass had been subjected to at her hand easier. Now that I knew a small amount of what she was capable of. I didn't know exactly how much torture she'd put Zass under, exactly what she'd done or why he was so concerned, nor how long he'd endured before cracking. This was mere hours, but he'd endured years.

It was one more eye opening glimpse into what had gone toward making him the man he was, and how lucky I was that he'd chosen me. I repeated to myself that this was nothing, the scars would heal, and I would survive anything if I had him. Even so, the punishment from her ripping out my feathers was stretching my capacity for pain way past its limits.

"Hurry Zass." I whispered. I didn't know how long I could last if she just kept pulling feathers out. The sensation intensified each second that ticked by and left me waiting for the next sharp pain. It was like I was being stabbed with an ice pick at the base of each feather. She'd only pulled out two, but there were hundreds even in my small wings that she could remove. When she plucked the next feather I shrieked again, but I used the pain as a missile. I screamed from that part of my brain that I communicated with Zass by, hoping he'd hear me.