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Rory should have known that Zenos is not a man for empty threats or promises. She had barely been able to pay attention anymore at some point, but she distinctly remembers him saying he wanted to keep her like a pet. Something about leashes and collars... But for now, he simply leaves her where she is, exhausted, in pain, and with his seed leaking out of her as she is sprawled across the table.
When she finally becomes aware of the fact that he no longer holds her down, no longer even seems to be close, a spark of hope runs through her, and even with her abused and battered body, she manages to get her muscles to move by sheer willpower alone.
Rory grinds her teeth as she pushes herself up and nearly collapses onto the ground. Desperately, she grips the table to support herself.
Where is Zenos?
She can't make him out, but then her reflexes finally kick back into gear. She needs to get out of here, needs to run, and with every muscle in her body protesting, she tenses and breaks into a run. Or rather, a pitiful excuse for a run. It's more like a pathetic hobble, but it doesn't matter as long as she is moving. All that Rory knows is that she has to get away.
She doesn't make it very far.
The moment Zenos suddenly steps into her field of view, Rory knows she's in for a world of pain.
"An attempt at escape when you are too broken to even try to run?" he drawls, exuding boredom with every word. "Alas, what an inferior sport such a chase would be."
Rory barely has time to bring her arms up in defense before a blow so strong hits her it knocks her off her feet. Landing a few yalms further on the ground is painful. She clings fiercely to the pain, trying to scramble up, but every part of her body hurts. Her breath is going fast and irregularly, and before she can give it another try, she finds her arms giving out from under her as she slips away into the welcoming darkness.
When Rory regains consciousness, she is somewhere else. Inside. In a room she's never seen before. She blinks a few times, only to realize it's a bedroom. And a lavish one. She has no idea for how long she has been out, and pure fear rushes through Rory as she scrambles up, trying to ignore the fact that every part of her body is screaming in pain. There's a door at the far end of the room, and her feet move before she can even think further. It's only then that she realizes she isn't alone.
Someone grabs her and throws her down mercilessly, and she's back on the floor, a heavily armored boot nearly crushing her as he is above her, making sure she can't move under his searing look.
His long, blonde hair falls wildly around his face, no longer sleek and orderly after what happened earlier. A scratch on his face looks still fresh, and Rory dimly remembers lashing out and, for once not completely missing her mark. A small part of her feels a grim satisfaction at the fact that at least some of her anger has found its mark. If only she hadn't been caught in the first place. If only she had been faster…
Zenos seems to be in no hurry to end her misery, though. He looks at her with a look that is thoroughly unsettling with how… warm it feels. Personal.
"I did not expect you to be the key to my long-awaited victory," he says, and it sounds eerily friendly before his eyes narrow, and the smile on his face turns sharp. "And now I get to collect twice-fold, what a wonderful day for the hunt this has been."
Dread fills her at the thought of him getting his way. To be used the way he already had is bitter enough, but to be used as bait to lure someone she loves dearly into their doom is an unbearable thought, and it manages to wake her fighting instincts once again.
"No!" Rory shouts, and her arms shoot up to claw at his face.
Zenos doesn't dodge, nor does he flinch, he simply weathers her assault, not reacting at all except with a raised brow, even when she leaves deep scratches on his skin. He doesn't let her get a second hit in, though. When Rory tries, he simply swats her arms aside like a pesky insect. Before she can keep fighting, his hand closes around her ankle, dragging her closer in one rough move. It's more than evident that he plans to continue what he started, and where she had given in earlier out of pure self-preservation, Rory knows she can't do it again. Can't bear even more of his brutality. Every part of her body feels bruised and in pain. If he takes her like that again, she might not recover.
"Get off me," she snarls, managing to grab a handful of his long hair and pulling with all her might, but it doesn't even phase him. Zenos simply moves with her, and then he grabs her wrists and slams them to the ground hard enough that she has to let go. A pulsing pain runs through her, and for a moment, she is terrified to even wiggle her fingers, scared that he may have broken something.
"Now, don't make this difficult," he chides her in a far too calm voice. "You are a fairly won trophy. I'm just taking what's now rightfully mine."
She can't believe this is actually happening. Not again. The first time Rory had held hope that she might find a way to escape if she only would manage to play along for a little while. But her escape has failed, and now her situation looks even more dire. Maybe if she only manages to hold out long enough to give Meteor time to find her, she can still make it out of here somehow.
Zenos' callous hands are on her breasts, grabbing and squeezing her painfully hard. There is no finesse to what he's doing, no subtlety or build-up. And yet Rory knows that even despite all his brutality, he had managed to make her body react in the end. She doubts he even tried or cared for it at all, but it still happened, and perhaps that's the worst part of it all. A man like him should not be able to cause her any pleasure.
For a moment, she thinks he is going to crush her, break her ribs or tear her skin open, and then his mouth is on her, snarling lips biting harshly into her supple flesh. Through it all, Rory doesn't stop struggling, but it feels utterly irrelevant against his might. His strength is absolute, and Zenos doesn't care one bit if he hurts her. She feels like she is about to pass out from fear and disgust as he drags his hands over her bare stomach, ignoring her snarls and curses as one of his hands roughly goes further down.
His fingers are between her legs, parting her folds and making her flinch in discomfort. It's only the beginning, though. Rory knows she isn't the least bit aroused, but the mess he's left in her and between her legs earlier makes it even easier for him to ignore that fact as he unceremoniously rams three of his fingers into her cunt. She wails in pain as he pushes as deep as he can, still feeling raw and sensitive from before. Almost viciously, he moves them inside her, stretching her around him before he draws back a bit just to plunge right back in.
"Don't you worry, my new pet," he says with an eerily serene smile. "I will train you to take me with ease. You can learn to like this enough to help you get ready, or you can resist every single time. In the end, I'll have you wet enough to take me." There is something gleefully sadistic in his eyes as he adds with a deceptively soft voice, "If not by your own slick, your blood will do just as well."
Pain wells through Rory as he forces a fourth finger inside her, and for a moment, she wishes she could just pass out. It hurts, she wants him gone, and she is certain that this is the worst thing ever to happen to her until he proves her wrong again. His thumb brushes over her clit, and she twitches, mortified by the small burst of pleasure it sends through her.
Not again.
She bites the inside of her cheek until she nearly draws blood in an attempt not to let him see any of her reactions. She can't fight him off physically, but she refuses to give him this satisfaction yet again.
But Zenos has already noticed, and the sadistic look on his face darkens even further.
"Trying to deceive your new master? A poor choice when I can see your body singing for me so clearly already," he whispers as he does it again, only to immediately overwrite the good feeling with another painful thrust of his fingers. "You and I, we will fit well together. You may not be made to battle me, but your body can't help but rejoice even in pain. An admirable quality for any pet of mine."
As if to illustrate his words, he spreads his four fingers in her wide, twisting them harshly.
"No, stop, please!" Rory straight up begs, not knowing if it will do her any good. Bile rises in her at the way he speaks, like he is practically doing her a favor, but she doesn't want any of this.
"You protest now, but rest assured, with a bit of training, you'll change your tune. I will bestow pain unto you beyond anything you ever imagined," Zenos says with a pleased smile. "All the while, I will ruin you, making your body sing with release at its own torture like only a true wild beast would be capable of."
His lower arm lies on her chest, pressing her down onto the floor as his hand finds her breasts and brutally twists one of her nipples until she cries out.
"I will force you to come around my fingers, on my cock, by the void, I am inclined to force you to come while taking your ass, making sure every part of your body gets to enjoy it just the same until you beg on your knees for more."
With a hungry look, Zenos' eyes run over her before he suddenly pulls his fingers from her, and a second later, he moves and pulls her up with him. Rory shakes under the thought that she isn't sure if the hunger in his eyes is for her body and the pleasure he takes from her or merely for the idea of causing her unimaginable pain. She doesn't know which answer to fear more.
She can barely manage to find her balance and stumble along, trying to wrestle out of his bruising grip when he drags her over to an imposing writing desk. He shoves her down onto it, face first, and bent over at the waist, kicking her legs apart. Rory tries her best to kick back, to get him off her somehow but weakened as she is, it does absolutely nothing. It only serves to incite something even more sinister.
"If you are behaving like an undomesticated animal, I will treat you as such," he growls before a sharp pain runs through her.
A slap so hard Rory nearly sees stars, but it's not his hand. With a groan, she twists her neck to look behind her to see the length of a dull training sword in his hand.
He hits her again with it, the flat side bruising the soft flesh of her ass instantly. Zenos gives her no leeway, and no respite, causing her to wail in pain as he hits both her ass and the back of her thighs in sharp, hard, and painful strokes until she is a sobbing mess over his desk, her claws leaving deep scratches behind on the wood. She thinks she can feel skin breaking just before he speaks again.
"Try to kick me again, and this is going to feel like child's play to what I am going to do to you," Zenos rumbles, his hands painfully digging into her bruised flesh. "Next time, I am simply going to break your legs. It's not like you need them for what I've planned for you."
Rory can hear in his voice that he is not at all opposed to that. That maybe a small part of him even hopes for more of her defiance. Zenos' threat goes through her like a knife, and she tries to be as still as possible, fighting against the sob locked in her throat.
Roughly, Zenos forces her legs further apart, and Rory can't do anything but howl in anguish as the wood comes down directly on her folds with a vengeance. Her voice breaks and her thighs shake, but there is no reprieve. Zenos does it again, and a third time, sending pain so sharp through her, Rory thinks she might just pass out from it. It would be a relief at this point, one he doesn't grant her in the end.
She is no longer sure if she might get another chance to make a break for it, but Rory knows that if he uses her as bait and there might even be the lightest chance that she can somehow aid her friend when he comes for her, she would never forgive herself for being helpless because she let herself get crippled. More bile rises up in her as she realizes she will once again have to play along and stop fighting back.
With an angry yell, Rory forces herself to go lax under him, to stop struggling. All in the vain hope that maybe, if she lets him do whatever he wants, she will somehow make it through this.
"I see my pet is capable of learning."
A breath of relief escapes Rory as she hears him put the practice sword aside. Maybe he won't completely break her. It doesn't take much to show her how futile that thought is.
Zenos' hands are all over her, squeezing her flesh. He doesn't touch her, he bruises her with grips hard enough to make her hurt to the bone. He scratches over her skin, nails leaving gashes behind like they were claws. He delights in digging them deep into her red and still throbbing asscheeks. In between, he pinches her skin until the spots he chooses start to turn blueish and purple.
The only thing she can cling to, the sliver of hope that keeps her from suffocating despair, is the thought that Meteor will not fall prey to such an obvious trap.
He will come.
He will win.
He never lets her down.
Her throat is starting to feel raw from how much she has screamed in anger and howled in pain, but Zenos never even falters. And then his fingers are on her clit again, rubbing harshly, and Rory can't help the tears that spill over with a vengeance as he, despite the pains he puts her through, gets her body to react to him, to betray her once again. Rough, fast movements have her scream in agony as she fights tooth and nail to resist the pleasure, to not give him the satisfaction of making her come - but it's too late, and with a wail, Rory shakes and thrashes on the desk, his self-satisfied laughter in her ears.
"Look at that, my pet. It seems like it is not just in battle that I can bend people to my will, break them to my satisfaction."
Hot tears run down her cheeks at the sheer mortification, and she yelps again as Zenos suddenly grabs her hair and pulls her head back.
"Perhaps a last goodbye is in order as a gesture of goodwill. You would appreciate that, wouldn't you?" he murmurs hotly against her ear, twisting his grip even further until Rory whimpers in pain again. A second later, she has to scramble as he yanks her up and drags her along by her hair. She barely manages to hold on to his wrist to lessen the strain when he lets go and sends her tumbling to the floor.
"Go on then, I'm sure someone is just dying to see you," he encourages.
For a brief second, Rory is horribly confused, and then pure panic shoots through her when Zenos gestures at the outside. Every muscle hurts as she clings to the windowsill, and when she weakly pulls herself up enough to glance outside, it takes her a few seconds. It's starting to rain outside, and when Rory finally finds what he wants her to see, she can do nothing but scream in despair at the sight.
There, on a bloody battleground, lies the blood-smeared body of her closest friend. His limbs in odd angles, broken and shattered beyond repair, and his head... Rory's stomach turns as she sees it lying a few feet away. Severed cleanly at the neck. Meteor's usually so kind and friendly face frozen in the moment of his defeat, an empty mask of pain and surprise.
Rory realizes too late that Zenos is moving again, and she can't move fast enough before something slides around her neck.
"You were the perfect bait indeed, worthy of the reward I'll bestow upon you."
Zenos' praise burns like acid on her soul as he pulls the collar tight and closes it firmly. The metallic snap of the leash attaching echoes through the room over the sound of her blood rushing through Rory's ears. Her friend and her last hope both lie shattered on what looks more like a slaughterhouse than a battlefield. Her screams have stopped, and she can feel her tears running dry from pure exhaustion, but it doesn't matter anymore. The rain slowly washes away the blood, and as it slowly dissipates, so does Rory's last hope of escape.