“Shut up,” I snapped, my tone sharp and unforgiving. My hands were steady as I checked the shackles around her wrists.
“Is this necessary?” she whispered, her eyes searching mine for an ounce of mercy.
“Everything I do is necessary,” I said. For a moment, I allowed myself to brush my fingers against her arm, almost a caress, before I recoiled, disgusted with the weakness that surged within me. When it came to Hollis, I felt conflicted.
“Please… don’t,” she pleaded.
“Can’t help it, doll,” I said. “This is who I am.”
“Who you think you have to be,” she corrected. “There’s more to you than this, and you know it, Riot.”
“Silence!” I barked, my hand involuntarily flexing into a fist. Her bravery was a thorn in my side, and my desire to break her mingled with an infuriating urge to protect her.
“Riot, you can be more. You are more.”
“Enough! You know nothing about me. You think reading a few journals means you know everything? You don’t know shit!”
“Then show me. I want to know who you are. The real you.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” I warned, my voice low and threatening. The weight of my body pressed her into the mattress as I secured her ankles with leather straps, the finality of her captivity sending a rush of power through my veins. “You might just get it.”
She went still beneath me, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. In that instant, something unspoken passed between us.
I stood back, observing my handiwork. My heart thrummed with a sick satisfaction, yet the echo of her words haunted me. Then show me. What a cruel joke -- the monster and the maiden, caught in a battle neither of us might survive.
“Get some rest,” I said, my voice a cruel mimicry of tenderness. “You’ll need it.”
With those final words hanging between us, I turned on my heel and left her alone, confined and vulnerable. Each step away felt like tearing flesh from bone -- agonizing, yet impossible to stop.
I stormed out of the mansion and sought to silence the monsters whispering in my mind. It didn’t take long for me to find someone who’d dared to wander into a darkened alley. Walking up behind the woman, I sank my blade into her side. She cried out, falling to the ground. Rolling to her back, she stared at me, eyes filled with terror.
“Please! Don’t kill me,” she pleaded.
I felt… nothing. Why did I want to spare Hollis, but not this woman? My gaze scanned her body, and I didn’t feel so much as a twinge of attraction for her. Kneeling over her, I pinned her wrists over her head with one hand, while I sliced the skin of her breasts, belly, and arms with my knife. After I’d made her a bloody mess, I slit her throat, and let her bleed out.
I prowled the streets a little longer but didn’t find another victim. Returning to the mansion, I went straight to my room, and Hollis.
I sat on the edge of my bed, the darkness clinging to me like a second skin. Could Hollis peer into my soul, see the maelstrom within, and not flinch? The thought gnawed at my insides, a hunger for something more than fear in her eyes.
Can you really understand what I am? My hands clenched, the memory of her warmth under my grip still fresh. Could you accept this… beast?
A laugh ripped from my lips, bitter and sharp. Acceptance was a fairy tale, and I was no prince. No, there wasn’t a point in asking my questions. I no doubt wouldn’t like her answer, and then I might actually kill her.
The bed creaked as I leaned toward her, a predator closing in. She lay there, restrained, yet defiance sparked in her gaze. It was intoxicating -- a challenge.
“Comfortable?” I asked, looming over her.
“Go to hell,” she said, glancing away.
I grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. “You’re already there, sweetheart. Might as well embrace the darkness. It’s all you’re going to know from now until the day you die.”
Hollis tried to jerk away, but I was an immovable force. “I decide when you sleep, when you eat, if you scream.”
“Riot --” she began, a plea lurking beneath her bravado.
“Shut up.” I cut her off, my tone leaving no room for argument. I tightened my hold, relishing the power that surged through me. This was my world, and she was just living in it -- by my rules.
“Remember this. You are mine to command.”