Chained - Jenlisa

Hell Bent

Tight ropes pull at my wrists and ankles as I come to. I groan and flop my head around, trying to figure out what's happening to me, but failing. It feels as though there's water in my skull, clogging my brain and misting the backs of my eyes. To prevent a major headache or nausea, I remain still for long moments, blinking slowly and forcing myself to focus. It takes much too long for my liking, but eventually my head clears and I can see without much blur. With my newfound clarity I take a second chance and start trying to find out what kind of situation I'm in.

I find that I'm in an uncomfortable chair, my arms behind me, bound, and my ankles tied to the legs of the chair. My chest is held to the back of the chair with rope, too, as an extra precaution I'm guessing. My dress is definitely going to be wrinkled when this fiasco is over. But why am I wearing a dress? How did I get here? I remember going out with Lisa, dancing, drinking, and then...

"These conditions were the best that could be done," someone says from behind me with a sad sigh. I twist in my chair to see the owner of the voice and find Jungkook walking in a lazy circle around me. She flicks the hair dangling over my shoulder and turns her nose up at me. "Your... accessory prevented me from caging you. Shame. I had to use more human ways of keeping you still."

Now I remember what happened. It's murky, but it's definitely there.

I mentally thank Lisa for getting me my bracelet, as it saved me. It didn't prevent me from getting kidnapped but it did stop magical means of keeping me compliant from working. I'd take ropes over burning bars any day. I'm strong in a lot of ways but I'm not so sure I could handle magical torture.

Moving to stand in front of my chair, Jungkook leans down and puts her face in mine, resting her hands on my forearms. She studies my face with a blank expression. The fact that she doesn't blink for an unnaturally long time is creepier than anything else that she's done to me. "You are a hard one to get alone. You've cultivated quite the following." She stares right into my eyes. Still, I have yet to catch her blink. "Turns out the one person that was supposed to protect you, couldn't. Too bad for you."

My hands slowly flex. The ropes binding me are strong, much too strong for me to attempt to free myself. "What do you want from me?" I hiss. It's more to get her out of my face rather than from anger. She really needs to blink. "I'm human."

"Ah." Jungkook pushes off me hard to stand up straight, and she shrugs. She does a quick spin, head falling slightly to the side. "That you are." She hums in something close to amused delight. "Normally, that would have you walking out of here." Two of her fingers walk on air. Then she shakes one of them at me.

"But you've been naughty. You've been sleeping with a dog." Her words are sharp, disgusted. The school girl attitude is gone, replaced with anger only a spiteful adult could muster. "You spread your legs for an animal. Willingly. Whore," she spits.

I fight in my seat at her words. "Shut your mouth." I'm not even upset at being called a whore, that's no insult, but it's upsetting to have Lisa be referred to as a dog or animal. Jungkook could call me every name in the book. But Lisa? No. No one insults her in front of me.

"If you had shut your thighs you wouldn't be here." Her lip curls. She breathes in, growing to her full height, and I flinch, thinking she might hit me. But no blow comes. Instead, she breathes out, lifts her chin, and looks down her nose. "But you can cleanse yourself. You can leave here alive and intact, reborn, if you would only help the cause."

"What cause is that? The one that tortures and kills innocent people?"

Isa snorts derisively. "'People'? They're not people, and they're certainly not innocent. You should know better than that."