Alexandra Knight
My arms hurt like they have been wrenched from the sockets, I can't feel my fingers.
I'm suspended by my wrists. The pressure on my spine makes my knees weak.
Little by little my brain returns to normal.
And with my conscience, my hatred.
I feel repulsed by Pietro.
There is no reason for him to do what he did.
Because of him I lost the person I loved.
Lucca.
He will never come back.
I will never again be able to smell him, feel his warm skin against mine, feel the comfort in his kiss, hear his voice whispering in my ear.
I will never have him again.
I feel my eyes fill with tears, stinging and threatening to fall.
But I won't cry.
I need to be strong.
Sinuhe is gone from my side, I don't know if he entered the space but I can't communicate with him for a moment.
The sound of chains moving brings me back.
I can't open my eyes, just feel the pain in my body.
I focus on our connection.
It works.
Through his eyes I see myself.
I am bound by the wrists with thick chains.
My legs are also bound by chains.
I'm half naked.
It's a dark room.
Oops, half naked?!
Am I really half naked?
Yes, I recognize myself, even with my new body.
Why am I half naked?
What kind of pervert caught me?
Sinuhe looks at himself.
He is also imprisoned.
His snout, paws and neck are all bound.
I feel sorry for him.
He wasn't meant to be trapped, he could just enter the space but he chose not to.
It's all my fault.
The connection breaks.
I return to my body.
I still can't open my eyes.
Someone enters the room.
I feel a twinge in my arm.
And I return to unconsciousness.
***
I wake up again in the same position as before.
This time I can open my eyes.
The darkness doesn't hinder my vision. The room is small and bare, with just us bound here and nothing else, not even a table or something.
Voices echo in the distance.
I try to focus on them.
"What will we do with her?"
"We will test until they are satisfied."
Test? They?
The sorority!
Now it all makes sense.
I know where I am.
I don't want to be here.
I'm not supposed to be here.
I spent almost a year running. All in vain!
Lucca died so I wouldn't get caught.
I feel an urge to cry again.
I suppress it. The despair tries to tear it's way over my mind, but I can't fall right now, I need to be alert.
"When will we start?" Someone asks.
"Now." Says an authoritative voice. "Thank you Pietro for the beautiful gift!"
"It's my duty, doctor."
I hear Pietro's voice, different from before, with no sarcasm, this time it has no inflection, just respect.
Pietro. That bastard!
I'm convulsing with rage.
I try to free myself from the chains, but they are very resistant.
The lights come on.
Where did these voices come from?
I look around me.
Nothing.
How can such a thing be?
"Which one do you want to start with?" It's Pietro's voice.
"I'm still considering, it would be madness to destroy such beauty," Says the same authoritative voice as before.
I'm seething in contempt. Trying hard to discern where they are.
Glasses.
That word echoes in my mind.
I look at the wall in front of me.
It's not totally like the other three, it's smooth.
Now I understand.
It's one of those types of reflective glass that shows what's outside and hides what's inside.
They are watching me.
Perverts.
Lucca once told me that when they caught him, for days they performed cruel and painful tests on him to test his resistance.
They will do the same to me.
"Don't be a coward, Pietro, don't hide behind a glass wall. I hear your annoying voice, I know you're there! Come out!"
"Can you hear me?" The same authoritative voice asks.
"Who are you?"
"You don't know me, I'm Dragon BloodHunter, I'm the tutor of the 13th sorority, which you might go to after we're done here."
"Oh, sure. And when can I be near Pietro? I have something very important to talk to him about."
Absolutely. Talk with my fists.
"Maybe you'll have the opportunity to talk to him."
"Who else is there besides you two?"
"Why should I answer?"
"I don't know, maybe I just want to know who is also admiring my beautiful body." A sardonic smile forms on my mouth.
Maybe then I'll go after whoever's there and wring their necks too.
"I see, but it's okay, we have Tobias here, the guard who brought you Trevor, who will be watching you when I'm not present and Frederick, our best "Seeker". Are you satisfied with the information?"
"When will I see your beautiful faces?"
"Shortly."
"You don't want to see them, they're all as ugly as sin!" A deep rough voice sounds.
But it didn't seem to come from someone behind the glass, but from behind the wall to my left.
"Shut up Ares!" Barks Pietro.
"Sorry I didn't introduce myself. My name is Ares Lobaczewski, your fellow prisoner." He says mockingly, his voice grave as if he hasn't drank water for a long time.
I can only hear his voice echoing around and the sound of chains moving, he doesn't seem to be far apart, maybe all the cells here are small like mine.
"It's a shame I can't see you Ares, but I'm glad I'm not alone, by the way, my name is Alexandra Knight." I answer back, like this is a normal situation and we aren't imprisoned.
I'm really glad I'm not alone in my misfortune.
"Shut up, both of you."
I feel a shock wave invade my body, in other circumstances I would have screamed, but now, I don't feel it's effects.
"That's it?" Ares and I say in unison.
He had also received an electric shock. Somehow I feel like I'm being treated more like a beast than anything.
I feel another jolt of energy being conducted by the currents and traveling throughout my body, and again I feel no pain, I guess my pain receptors are so overworked they become numb. It works for me.
"Do better than that." I laugh.
"We'll see if you'll laugh at 11,000 volts."
I feel a shock, a very strong electric shock. I feel it running though my body like a caged beast trying to escape, there's a sizzling sound, the smell of burnt meat, but I still feel no pain. I'm starting to feel something's wrong.
I concentrate, and again it has no effect on me.
"I just felt ticklish." I scoff.
"You're lying, that was enough to strike down a mortal, and stop the heart of a supernatural!" One of them says.
"It doesn't seem to work for me."
"Not even with me." Ares agrees.
I want to see him.
When I hear his voice I feel something strange, and at the same time special.
I don't know how to say what, or how, I just feel.
"Since the electric shocks don't work, I'll move on to the tests." This time it is Dragon.
I hear a whistle, and my chains come loose.
I drop like dead weight, with no strength on my arms or legs but at least the pressure on my spine is gone. I just sit on the cold floor. Waiting.
***
"Don't try to do anything, these walls are highly resistant. Go through the door."
"What door?"
"The one behind you."
I look back.
A door that until a second ago had remained invisible is now mysteriously open, it seals perfectly with the wall.
My legs are cramping hard, now, this is true pain. I can actually see the muscle spasming. The blood is returning to my arms, but it only intensifies the pain.
They continue urging me but I wait quietly until my legs stop spasming and try to get up.
I manage to stay upright on the second try and slowly cross the door.
It opens onto a large, windowless, yet extremely bright warehouse.
It is packed with gym equipment, including specific equipment for lifting weights.
It looks more like a gym than anything else I can think of.
"Head to the easel. We'll see how balanced you are."
Seriously? Right after keeping me like a meat block? These people are truly insane.
I wonder if Ares knows gymnastics.
I had already done artistic gymnastics when I was a child, my mother thought it would improve my balance (let's just say I was very clumsy).
I push myself up, and climb onto the easel.
I begin a series of movements that, thanks to my trainer, I have never forgotten.
With each movement I remembered the sequences I had learned.
It's incredibly easy. I feel so light right now.
It helps with all the cramping and numbing.
Movements that were once so complicated become so simple.
I finish with a jump and a double spin in the air.
I don't need to balance when my feet hit the ground, I don't feel any impact.
"Perfect, now do some weight lifting…"
I cooperate, until I get a better understanding of the situation.
Until I can kill every single one of them.
***
Tests became my routine.
Days passed, weeks perhaps, I can't say for sure.
I'm drugged, I wake up, lift weights, or else go into a glass dome and run in circles as fast as I can so they could measure my speed.
They placed a tank of water in which I would stay submerged until I felt the urge to submerge (my record was one hour and twenty-three minutes).
I eat little (who knows what they put in the food), meals basically consist of a plate of meat, rice, and vegetables, enough to keep us alive.
Dragon comes to see our progress from time to time.
And when he comes he would occasionally annoy me with his cliché pick-up lines.
But he never shows himself.
And when it's late I'm drugged again (I suspect it's in the food, but over time it was no longer effective, and they had to increase the doses to extremely high doses), as it was the only way to make me calm down so they can lock me up.
And whenever Ares and I refuse to do something, we are punished.
Electric shocks don't work so they used chains filled with spikes and burning coals.
They tied us with chains to a pole that mysteriously appeared in the room, so that our limbs were completely paralyzed.
I bleed where the boiling points hit, and the fact that we stay in the same position with the chains for hours doesn't allow me to recover right away.
I don't feel pain.
It's just uncomfortable.
But I pretend I'm suffering (just in case Dragon decides to make the punishments worse).
But what's really worse is that during the entire time I was confined, I remained only in a bra and panties.
They really are perverts.
During the time I wasn't talking to Ares (which was almost all the time I'm in the room, since we became friends and I discovered that we have a lot in common, like he has no family, he was also hunted by Theodore - he had arrived just a little before me - he's a hybrid, he knows how to fight martial arts, he too wants revenge for his family as much as I do, and he also has a wolf that he found as soon as he needed help, the wolf's name - it's a female - is Niethyw, but he calls her Nyw, and among other things like music, bands, books...)
He helps me not to think about Lucca and Sammy. I can't think about them, or I won't be able to function.
When it comes to hygiene, we have access to the bathroom every five hours.
One of these times I find a knife, it must be a test.
An idea crosses my mind.
And if...
I take a lock of my hair, it's so long.
But I need to let go of the past, and by that I mean not only my hair, but the memories that constantly torment me, I really need to stop being weak, fragile, and losing my cool.
I wet my hair in the sink then try at least not to make a big mess, but it still ends up looking like I was going for a wolf cut and did it wrong.
I look at my reflection in the mirror.
I feel lighter.
The ends of my hair, which were once curly, are now choppy.
I feel older. My short bangs are still intact, they haven't grown an inch since Amanda cut them.
I will never be the same again.
I don't feel afraid anymore.
I need to be ruthless.
Blood doesn't affect me like it used to.
I had proven it when I ripped Theodore's heart straight from his chest.
And I liked the feeling.
It's something inexplicable.
It sounds strange, but at that moment I felt happy.
I felt pleasure in taking his life! I don't know where all those feelings are gonna take me, but right now it doesn't matter anymore.
***
"I have good news for both of you. The council has decided that you will stay in the sorority, but under my supervision!"
"Then it's not good news." Says Ares.
I agree.
We just woke up moments ago, the familiar sensation of pain cursing through my limbs.
I hear the chains clicking unlocked. Even Sinuhe is let go this time. He is much skinnier than before and it breaks my heart, but I can't take food from the space to give to him because I don't want anyone to know about the space.
We can only endure.
For now.
***
They drug me enough to make me a little impaired.
They take Sinuhe and me to a room with a bathroom.
Sinuhe also looks a bit drugged, as he staggers.
On top of a bed with a thin mattress is a black jacket, a black long-sleeved blouse, black pants, and a pair of large black boots with silver buckles.
I recognize these clothes, they are mine, I remember the day I bought them (it was when I still lived with Amanda).
I notice two wristbands and a bracelet called "the devil's hand" because it clamps on the wrist and ends in three claw-shaped rings, one on the index finger, one on the middle finger, and one on the ring finger.
I go to the bathroom and check if there are any cameras.
None.
But there's no escape anyway, there are two mountains outside the door and the room has no windows or air intake.
I take a long shower, the dirt had crusted over my skin mixed with blood from so many days, the water turns dirty very quickly and I scrub like mad. After bathing I feel reborn.
I get dressed fast and just as a guy dressed in black enters without knocking.
"Don't you have any manners?" I grumble.
He ignores my question.
"Put this on your dog."
"He's a wolf, idiot!"
"Whatever." He scoffs.
He hands me an iron muzzle.
"How will he eat? And drink?"
"You will be notified."
What.The.F.
"Why do I have to put this on him?"
"Security measures."
To hell with security measures.
I angrily snatch the muzzle from his hand.
It's better for me to put on him than for anyone else.
I attach the muzzle to Sinuhe, two black leather buckles tied behind the head hold the monstrosity to my faithful friend's snout.
The man attaches a black collar to Sinuhe's chest and hands me the leather rein.
"Control him or we'll bring him back here. And you don't want that." He gives a menacing smile.
I smile back showing my fangs.
He leaves before I can punch him in the face.
A few minutes later he returns, in his hands he has another kind of metal mask (also black), only it is shorter and flatter.
It looks like the half mask Sub-0 wears in Mortal Kombat.
It wouldn't fit any dog, as there's no way to shelter the snout.
Like Sinuhe's, it has two buckles, but smaller and narrower.
"Put it on." Says the man.
"No way!"
I look at him in disbelief.
"Then I will. Ripper, help me hold down this girl."
One of the guards outside walks towards me and holds my arms behind my back while the stranger fits the mask over my face.
"Hey! You can't do that!" I yell.
Surprisingly my voice doesn't come out muffled like I expected, it comes out completely normal.
"We can and we did, these are just security measures."
I want to tell him to put those security measures in there...
Control yourself. I order myself.
The brute releases me when the man finishes buckling the mask.
"Why a muzzle?" I ask, my hands tight into firsts.
"It's not a muzzle, it's a dangerous youth restraint, abbreviated to DYR, it was the Council's express order that you wear it."
As if there aren't already enough reasons to hate the Council.
"Why? Do you think I'm going to go around biting and sucking everyone's blood?"
"You have beautiful eyes, put this on."
He gives me a big pair of sunglasses and doesn't answer my question.
"Avoid eye contact with another person as much as possible."
Why? Those rules are all non sense.
I reluctantly put on the glasses.
"One more thing, your new last name is Lobaczewski."
"Why? That's Ares's last name!"
"Because the council wanted it, so get used to it."
Does this guy has something up his ass already?
They lead me down a corridor.
The hallway opens onto a huge Gothic-style hall with a divan, fireplace, and red carpet.
In the center there are two men.
One is dressed elegantly.
The other one is the same as me.
I don't know how I know it. But he's the person I've been dying to meet.
Ares Lobaczewski.