Bound

Chapter Twenty-Four

Gareth went about his work with a smile.   He had not yet checked on Brianna, he knew she would need plenty of time alone just now.   Grinning he recalled her face as he'd advanced on her with the whip.   Yes, he thought, she would learn and be broken quickly.    

He frowned as the phone on his desk shrilled.  It was a rare occurrence that it rang, being a single private line from his office at the Superior Court.    Disdain filling his eyes he raised the receiver and briskly said, "Yes?"

His brow darkened noticeably as he listened to his secretary.   For a moment he suppressed the urge to throw the phone across the room.  He replied, " Tell her I will meet her here.  She can come up tommorrow.  She can meet my wife then."   The voice on the other end went on a moment and then he interrupted. "Do I or do I not pay you to mind the door for me?  Then do it.  Either she comes up here to see me or she doesn't see me at all, is that clear?" 

With his secretary's trembling affirmative he slammed down the phone and restlessly paced his darkened office.   He had expected Savannah to react to the marriage certificate, he thought, perhaps just not as quickly.    He frowned again.   He had not been prepared to begin this stage of Brianna's life so soon, but his hand had indeed been forced.  The only way she would play along with him tommorrow was to know the full truth.  Sighing he stepped from his office, locking the door behind him.  

He strode purposefully down the basement staircase and along the dark corridor,  his eyes gleaming.  It would have been anyway, why not now?  Smiling again Gareth reached for the door, tapping in the code by rote...

Brianna's world was one of pain.  Pain and the darkness.   She'd made little effort to leave the bed since the beating she had endured.  Everything hurt and to cope her mind was a blank canvas, empty of thoughts and reactions.   Bruises from the whip ran up and down her legs, buttocks and back, leaving her face pristine and seemingly untouched.  The sting had faded but she felt throbbing pain from every lash.   

She didn't know how much time had passed, she had no recollection of anything but the pain.  The mind numbing, soul draining pain.   Groaning she turned over, her ears detecting the all too familiar beeping of the electronic lock.  "No, no, no" she mumbled into the pillow, hysteria threatening to swamp her again.  Scrambling off the bed as best as she could, she dropped her gaze to the floor and stood shivering as the door swung open to admit her tormentor. 

His gaze swept over her, from her downcast eyes to the meek way she held herself.   He saw the bruises on her bare legs, the torn nightdress hanging around her in tatters.   "Brianna, look at me" he commanded and was pleased to see her head snap up alertly, eyes flying to his face.  There was no mistaking the fear there, and that was good, he noted.  Fear would keep her in line, and he was about to make it so much worse.  

Brianna stood as straight as she could, body aching in protest.   He looked at her in a way that made her skin crawl and the bile rise in her throat.  He looked at her if she was a meal to be enjoyed as one would a bite of fruit.   It was only the small flicker of her self preservation that kept her eyes on his, her voice steady as she said, "Yes sir?"  

He stepped forward, noting the tiniest cringe she made as he did so.  Very well.  True acceptance would come in time, now he would use her terror to his advantage.   "We, my dear, have guests visiting tommorrow." he started smoothly,  using the tip of his finger to raise her head up still higher, fingers deftly nimble at her chin.   He felt the thud of her pulse.   "You have a very important part to play, and it will keep both you, and more importantly, our visitors safe."

Brianna stood stone still, digesting the last part of his statement.  Visitors could have meant a means to escape, but something about the way he said it caused her pause.   Gareth looked deeply into her eyes, drawing close enough so that she could smell a rusty odor which was not entirely pleasant.  

He smiled, a large smile, and said to her, " You will behave, in all ways tommorrow when our visitors arrive, or I'm afraid you will watch them die agonizing deaths before your very eyes.  You will watch as I kill them, drain the life's blood from them and then turn towards you." 

All the color departed from Brianna's face as she looked at him with horror.  "I, I don't think I understand sir." she said.   Drain the life's blood from them?  He was the worst of serial murderers, the most evil person she had ever had the misfortune of meeting.     Gareth smiled, pulled her tight to his body and smiled as he felt the tremors shaking her.   Ah well, he thought, perhaps a bit of a demonstration?

Her pupils dilated in terror as she was enclosed in his embrace, her mind shrieking as his head dipped toward her, his lips touching her neck where her pulse thudded wildly.   She tried to push him away, he was too strong.  It was like shoving a solid stone.   And as his mouth descended on her throat she had a strange thought.  Though she strained against his chest, she didn't feel the thud of his heart.  An agonized cry rose from her lips as sharp teeth pierced the smooth skin of her neck, sinking deep.  

Gareth crushed her to him as the warm flow of her blood passed over his bloodless lips.  The taste of her was unlike any he'd ever known before and his urge to completely take the life from her rose like a serpent in the dark.  He struggled with his baser instinct, forcing himself to still.  He pulled back from her, watching her closely as he licked his lips.     To her credit she didn't faint as he touched her neck tenderly.  "I must say you are delicious, so much more so than I ever anticipated.  And now you know why fighting me is a waste of your time.  You'll play nice from here on out, won't you." he purred, studying the emotions sweeping across her face.

Revulsion so strong rose in Brianna.   This was a nightmare, a waking nightmare.  She remembered reading stories about them, laughing at how silly authors were.   As if, she'd always thought, as if such creatures roamed the Earth.   Vampire.   Nosferatu.  Archfiend.   Yet here he was, watching her with burning eyes, her blood on his lips.  She backed away from him, clapping a hand over her neck, feeling the sting from his teeth.   Shaking her head she said quietly.."No, no please no."

He smiled at her, and said one sentence, her life changed forever, "I am and you are mine, for eternity"