Warning: Adult content! Sex and extreme violence.



Angel

Naked, and with both hands bound behind my back, I was escorted by three of the reptilian demons along a concrete paved passageway and down a steep flight of stairs cut into the rock. The two behind encouraged my progress with the occasional touch against my hips of their Taser wands, set at a level just high enough to cause discomfort. I guess they had the sense to realize that excessive pain would have a negative outcome on the speed of our progress, although I am sure this was their only consideration.

We entered a room that looked more like a charnel house than the crypt for which I imagine it was intended. Severed limbs and partially dissected torsos were scattered in hap-hazard fashion on the tables with a selection of implements that looked as if they had been designed for dismembering living tissue while inflicting the maximum pain imaginable. Many of the items I did not dare to contemplate on the use to which they could be employed. The dim electric lighting shed a ruddy hue on the slabs and blocks where the tortures were most likely carried out. A smell of decomposing flesh assaulted my nostrils, causing me to gag.

In the center of the room stood a cage, the size of which was little more than would allow a medium size dog to stand. It was constructed from metal bars in a frame, with a rope looped through a ring at the top, disappearing into darkness in the roof of the vault. The narrower wall of bars at one end was hinged to swing upward, acting as a door and to which I was led.

The leading demon turned to me. “On your knees angel bitch!”

Sudden electric shocks to the back of my legs, just above the knee, gave me little option other than to obey, but causing me to fall rather than kneel. My shoulder banging against the corner of the cage was the only thing that prevented me from smashing my face into the stone floor.

“Get inside… Move!”

A vicious kick to my rump from his jack-booted foot emphasized the point, bringing a squeal of pain from my mouth and squeals of mirth from the guards. It was impossible to move with any speed while my hands were tied behind me, especially with the need to lean forward lowering my head and shoulders to combat the restrictive height of the cage. The guards, impatient as ever, twice thrust the prongs of the taser against the up-turned soles of my feet. Spasms of acute pain lanced through the calf muscles of my legs, so that I thought I would pass out.

Once inside, I had no choice apart from spreading my knees as far apart and folding the wings flat against my back to make my profile as low as possible. My knees, shins and ankles were supported on four of the metal bars that made up the floor and pressed painfully into my skin. The door closed with a clang behind me before I felt the cage being raised. It rocked and swung in alarming fashion while the rope creaked and groaned like the rigging of an old-time sailing ship. I could see the two demon lizards with the tazers below, staring up at me. Suspended about eight feet above the floor, I had visions of the rope breaking, to send me crashing on top of them. They obviously had more faith in the strength of the cable than me.

I did not like the feeling of having my sexual parts displayed to their perverted gaze, but I could do nothing to change my position. Even though they were about a foot taller than any human I had known, their upper limbs were shorter and I felt easier that I was now out of reach of their groping hands…

…until I remembered their sick, sadistic infatuation for the wands. The puckered sneer on the face of one looked maliciously evil as he raised the business end through the bars and up between my thighs. Impossible for me to move, I gritted my teeth, waiting for the jolt of the electric discharge through my pelvic muscles. This was going to hurt. This was going to hurt like hell!

The jolt did not come; instead he used the wand to caress my vaginal slit, parting the lips until he could work the tip inside. I prayed that he only wanted to experiment for his sexual pleasure, or that the batteries in the wand were depleted.

The insertion was not painful; I had been with a few men who were larger. The stimulation of the wand brought lubricating moisture oozing from my vaginal walls, a pleasurable experience until I realized with horror, the effect of moisture with electricity.

The explosion felt as if a nuclear bomb had been detonated inside me. I remember very little about the following moments except for pain and, from my peripheral vision, seeing the demon lizard performing some kind of weird dance, before I was sucked into the soothing black hole of unconsciousness. Thinking back, I can only surmise that I lost muscular control of my bladder, releasing the liquid contents over the wand and the arm of my torturer, and thus providing an alternative path for the high voltage discharge through his body. If this was the case, I can only hope it was at least half as bad for him as the pain I felt.

I have no idea the length of time that passed until awareness returned to me. The darkness in the room was almost total, and I could hear scratching and scuttling mixed with thin, high pitched squeaks and whistles of unseen creatures. From the pain in my body, it felt as if my lower abdomen was filled with fire, while every muscle ached with cramp from being restricted to such an unnatural position. I would have given anything to be able to stretch my legs out through the back of the cage, but though I tried, it was impossible to maneuver my feet between the bars.

A guardian angel has the power to heal an injured mortal, and even heal herself, if the pain is within acceptable limits to allow full concentration. The pain I was in was more than I could cope with, but I could alleviate some of the agony by inducing a state of trance through self hypnosis. Setting my internal body-clock for a twenty-four hour period, I shut down my nervous system, in effect, slipping back into a blissful state of unconsciousness.

On my next awakening, the pain inside my pelvic mound had subsided a little, although I could not be sure the demons had caused no long-term damage. It would take hours of deep concentration to repair the cells damaged by the electric current, not helped by the low temperature inside the underground crypt. I had lost all feeling in the other muscles which would add more pain if I was ever allowed to regain my normal posture.

Another six hours had passed before I felt the greater part of the healing process had been accomplished. Still, I had nothing more pressing to engage my time. With no food or drink since breakfast with Bran, however many days ago that was, the heat-loss in my body was now greater than the warmth I could generate, and I could feel the onset of hypothermia. My thoughts were becoming incoherent and I wanted to sleep, perhaps never to re-awake if, for an immortal, that was possible.

I lost track of how many more hours passed before somewhere in the darkness came noises of something approaching the crypt. It was several seconds before I recognized the sounds as two distinct voices, one appearing to be raised in anger, the other whining as if making excuses. Unable to discern words above the hollow echo from the walls of the corridor, I probed beyond the bars of my prison with telepathic senses, seeking further information. There were three figures approaching, two of which from the alien touch of their minds were the guards who had brought me here. My heart skipped a beat at recognition of the third, the one whose thoughts were exuding the anger. Cervilon. Perhaps I could now look forward to being released.

The dull red glow of the lights illuminated the room as footsteps paced across the floor from behind me. Seeing the plump figure in his normal business attire as he came around to stand in front of me, I tried to give a weak smile.

He did not return the expression. “Got yourself into a real mess here, haven’t you?” I almost felt like a misbehaving daughter. It was difficult to know if his anger was directed toward me or the guards. “What ever made you come poking around in this place? Who was that man snooping around with you?”

“Can you get me out of here?” I made my voice sound weak, helpless, pathetic, pleading, without responding to his immediate questions.

“Are you hurt?” His tone was the merest fraction less harsh.

I had no need to feign the look of agony I gave him. He turned to the figure I believed was the leader of the guards who brought me here. “How long has she been locked in this cage?”

The mumbled response sounded like “Two and half days.”

“Two and half days cramped up without food and water?” I thought Cervilon’s anger was about to boil over. “Are you trying to kill her? Why was I not notified sooner? If she has been permanently damaged, I’ll see you suffer ten times the pain. Get the cage down now!”

The thud as the metal bars hit the ground would have caused more pain if I had any feeling in my limbs. With the door of the cage open, I was lifted bodily out. Unable to stand, I lay on the stones as Cervilon cut through the cords binding my wrists. My limbs were so cold, it was impossible to get the circulation flowing. Cervilon must have realized, as he ordered the reptilian creatures to carry me to an upper level.

The room to which they took me contained a small wooden bed covered with a partly filled mattress and two stinking, rough-haired blankets. I had no wish to know what was in the mattress, but it gave little comfort when they dropped me onto it. Hoping to appear weak and close to death I kept my eyes closed as Cervilon arranged the blankets over me. They did nothing to warm me other than to limit further heat loss. Their sweaty stench almost made me sick.

I heard him giving instructions to bring warm soup or broth, but it was some time before the guard returned. While waiting, he propped me against his shoulder, massaging my legs and back through the folds of the covers and murmuring words of comfort. When the reptilian creature returned, Cervilon spoon-fed me. I think the gruel was made from soya beans with small pieces of meat, although I have no idea from what type of creature. Until I arrived on this world, I had never eaten animal flesh. Now, I was so hungry, I would have eaten anything. Our diet at home consisted of fruit and vegetables with sho-bread. Made from a white powder, I believe humans once knew it as manna. The Pharaohs, the god-kings of ancient Egypt used sho-bread to develop their spiritual and psychic powers, and I often wondered if perhaps loss of that knowledge was the reason why humans were so often unaware that they have a soul.

As the warmth returned to my body, the pain in my muscles became so intense that I cried. It was then that I most appreciated the comfort I felt from Cervilon’s touch. I had always treated him with contempt, assuming his every action was for his own gain, but my opinion of him was changing. I began to doubt the things Bran had said to me about him were the truth, especially as Bran had so readily abandoned me when the guards of the imprisoned souls arrived. It took very little prompting from Cervilon for me to tell him about the investigation that was being conducted into the Kitty Kavern.

The pain lessened as I relaxed in the warmth from the food and the blankets. Even the stench from the fibers seemed to have diminished. I felt very tired, my eyes so heavy I could hardly keep them open, and yet I wanted, believed it was my duty to Cervilon, to keep talking. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep.

When I awoke, I was alone. At last, I could stretch out on the bed without every bone and muscle in my body screaming in protest. I felt a bit dizzy, my head swimming as if I was drunk. It was almost dark in the room, a small amount of yellow light filtering through the grill in the door. It was a while before I realized the darker lines against the glimmer were caused by bars. It was almost like being in a prison cell.

I sat up, drawing the blanket around me against the chill. A fear was gnawing at my chest from a source that I could not place. From the affection Cervilon had shown me, I was certain that we would soon be back at the Kitty Kavern. I assumed he was now making arrangements with the leader of the guards for me to leave. He must have left me to sleep knowing the rest would help me to recover, so there was no reason for me to be locked in. I stood, feeling the cold of the stones numbing my toes as I approached the door. I felt where I thought there should be a door-handle. There was none.

Hooking my hands through the metal bars, I pulled and pushed at the door but it remained fixed. For whatever reason, I was still a prisoner. The only thing left for me was to wait until Cervilon came back, although, not knowing how many hours I had slept, it was difficult to imagine how long this would be.