You Always Build It Better the Second Time Around

Chapter 16 - Tantalizing (Innocence, Stolen)

A/N: I will most definitely rewrite this chapter, but I'm too excited. Maybe when I'm done with this whole story will I go back and edit all the plot holes and mistakes.

Also, this chapter is going to be 1,000 words or so (maybe more) over my 2,000 word limit rule. Enjoy!

...

It's been three nights since Nikolai touched me, and since then I've slept inside his room at night when I'm not being experimented on during the day. I hate this man's touch almost as much as I hate how I allowed him to do this to me. I will not allow his indecency to be targeted at me for any longer. I care not what he does to Mikaela. He won't kill him, because he needs me in ship-shape for his experiment. Mikaela will just have to endure whatever is given to me, no matter how much I hate the mere thought of him getting harmed because of me. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Tonight, however, will be different, because I asked Nikolai, who has grown quite fond of me, if I could stay with the other familiars tonight. He agreed. Well. He agreed with strings attached. Only once every three days will I stay with them for a night, and Nikolai is allowed to conduct more experiments on me as he pleases. These terms don't concern me at the moment, so I agreed, of course. This all happened early in the morning before he drugged me, but not without a kiss on the lips I was neither expecting nor wanting, and it wasn't a chaste kiss.

All night while Nikolai is personally seeing me off to the chamber where the rest of the familiars are, I;m trying to get the disgusting taste of his lips and tongue out of my mouth while he isn't looking.

Upon entering the room, I can tell right away that, compared to gods, us familiars are treated as kings and queens. Well, four kings and one queen (me not included for obvious reasons). 

"Look what the bastard dragged in," Shinoa comments, uncharacteristically sad and without her once annoying and now greatly missed sarcastic charm. Her voice is low despite how she tries, and it's graveled from her locked up throat from her recent tears.

"While you're off fucking around with your newfound boyfriend," Kimizuki hisses, "we're in here 24/7 it feels like. We don't even see the other side of the door before we're sedated for testing so early in the morning. At least tell me you've seen our masters. Is Yoichi alright?"

"Do you want me to lie to you?" I sincerely ask. "Because I'm capable of doing just that, but we both know it's not the answer you're looking for. It may be the more desirable answer... But it's not the truth."

Crowley sits up from his place on his bed, a long, deep sigh flowing from his lips. "We want the truth. No matter how painful."

He seems hesitant about his answer. They all do, but no one is denying that they want me to tell the truth. I give him one last look for confirmation, to which he nods softly in reply. Koutorou sits up, too. Ferid is the only one continuing to lie on his bed, his back facing me. He seems to flinch just barely noticeable when I give them the daily news, which I will make a point in doing every time I'm here. "They're terrible." Everyone stares at me in disbelief for my bluntness without allowing them to prepare themselves for the worse. I turn my head toward Ferid, directing it more towards him who has been Krul's most trustworthy familiar since she formed her very first contract with him. "Krul especially."

Ferid may seem carefree to what happens to anyone else other than himself, but I can tell that even after just about a month, a familiar and their master, under normal circumstances even with myself and Mikaela, are able to form a great, sturdy, and trusting relationship with each other. Ferid and Krul are no exception. In fact, they're the proof of it.