15. Bloodstain, part 4.
SCARS THAT MARK MORE THAN JUST THE SKIN
The dark night sky was adorned with many bright stars, the moon a shine of silver. And behind a large window in one of the halls was Bloodstain, admiring the moon with bright eyes and a small smile. The hope for better weather warmed her heart.
Please, great goddess, I ask for your protection for me and for Guila, she prays and continues her path, holding a bucket with water and brush. Her hair is trapped in a thin strip of cloth that she tore from her own dress, so that they wouldn’t get too – or more in this case – dirty while she works.
Although it was late, the genuine alpha warned her to clean out the torture room before she went to sleep. Which means dinner’s been over for two minutes and she tries to ignore the hunger.
“How I wish you were here, Guila… Just to keep me company.” She feels her eyes getting damp and closes them tightly. “Now is not the time, Guila is sick, don’t be selfish!”
The windows in the room are open and the only source of light came from the full moon of the sky. The whistle of the wind makes Bloodstain close her eyes for a few seconds, feeling the cold in her bones. She shivers.
She’s afraid. She’s alone in a room that’s used for evil. For murder. Her fingers trembled. Her whole body trembled.
“Uh.”
She stops mid step as she hears a groan. With her eyes wide open, she stops cold and holds her breath. Maybe it was just her head playing games, maybe she was just tired and thought she heard something.
“Help… Me.”
She heard again, the sound coming from her right. Her heart clenched. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else in that room besides her. What should she do now?
If she helps them, she’ll be breaking the rules. That room was used as a torture room for humans, so they must be one. If she helps them, her pack would see that as treason and they’d kill her in a heartbeat.
“I… Have… A family… Please…” The human’s voice, a male, was dragged, like he didn’t have anything to drink in a long time. .
Bloodstain couldn’t remain indifferent, she’s not cruel, and she never wanted to see anyone suffer. Even with a voice in her mind screaming at her to turn her back and leave the room, she couldn’t do that.
She turns her face and slowly opens her eyes and the tears she didn’t know she was holding fall down through her face with what she sees.
The human has his arms priced above his head and his body… Is all stabbed. His head is crumpled on the right side, and she can see that he is already old, his hair is gray. His face is all swollen, he has a huge cut in the mouth. His legs are also stuck, and equally cut and he is naked. All Bloodstain could see as she looked at him was purple.
He is completely purple and she only knows he’s a man because he has no breasts and because his… his penis was torn off. The urge to vomit hit her hard in the stomach, but she held it back.
“Please,” he said in a thin voice. “I beg you, please save me.”
What should she do? Help him and be accused of treason and die or act like she didn’t see anything, like she didn’t see him and what they did to him and just live her life knowing someone is dead because she refused to help? It’s a hard decision to make, especially when it’s all in the hands of a child. She was only a child.
But there weren’t just the two of them in the room. Hidden in the shadows, someone was watching everything.
He just wanted one reason, one motive to do what he wanted, just one.
“Please,” the human said again. “Don’t let me die, please…”
Bloodstain made up her mind, she would never forgive herself if she left the poor man in that situation. And she was certain that the goddess wouldn’t forgive her either, because in the book, she saw that the goddess was just and her master was Athena herself, the goddess of justice. Bloodstain didn’t want to bring any more bad luck into her life.
“I… I’ll help you!” She said firmly, even though she was trembling.
With confident steps, she approached the man trapped in the wall. But before she could touch the locks, her hair is pulled with such brutality that she falls to the ground. Terror already settles inside her. Now she couldn’t disfarce anymore, her whole body was shaking.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A traitor!” The genuine alpha comes out of the darkness with a wicked smile on his face.
Bloodstain was so scared when she walked into the room she didn’t smell him. And now, with winded eyes, she just looks at him.
Kratos could smell the fear exuded by every pore of her skinny little body and smiled.
“You’re even filthier than I imagined,” he said and, without even looking at him, he killed the human, stabbing him in the neck and watching as the blood squirts on the girl’s face.
Bloodstain has never been so afraid in her life. Watch the human being murdered in front of her is something she will never forget. The smell and the feel of the humans’ blood on her skin makes her vomit and she feels dizzy with dread.
“Now it’s your turn to receive your punishment,” Kratos decrees as he approaches her.
“N-no!” Bloodstain shakes her head frantically as she crawls across the floor, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible. Kratos just smiles still approaching, cornering his prey.
“Don’t beg, I won’t feel mercy for you”
Kratos grabs Bloodstain by the arm and leads her to one of the torture tools, making her knell on the floor. He puts a heavy and bloodied iron collar on her neck.
“What… What are you going to do with me?” She can’t breathe, she knows she’s going to die. “What…”
Kratos tears her dress, leaving her back bared to the cold of the room, the wind touching her skin as if they were sharp knives.
Bloodstain screams and that makes the genuine evil smile grow.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
“Now receive your punishment, killer.”
Her cries for help were a delight for him. The hatred he felt for her was too strong. He’ll never forgive her for killing his heir at birth.
The genuine alpha walks to the table where his torture tools are and picks up a three-strip whip. He hits them on the floor and the sound makes Bloodstain shut up.
Her strangled scream when she sees what he holds is like music to the genuine alpha’s ears. The first hit sends a wave of pain through her body like no other. The second is even worse and after the third she loses count and just screams and prays for it to end.
Please… It hurts too much, I can’t… My goddess, please help me, she prays as she receives the fifteenth hit on the back and feels her skin break.
Outside, a storm begins to form and lightning descends from the sky, hitting the side of the castle. But that doesn’t interrupt Kratos, who’s blind with the satisfaction of finally taking revenge with his own hands and breaking the one who destroyed his life and only brought disgrace to his pack.
Subtly, an omega invades the room and what he sees makes him take a few steps back. Kratos notices his presence and looks at him with murderous eyes. The omega swallows dry.
“A-alpha. The witches… They’re here.”
“They really had the audacity to attack us. All right. Looks like today is your lucky day, bastard. Take her to Guila,” Kratos orders and leaves the room.
The omega, Bruno, is Guila’s mate, and he knows how much she loves this girl. He also knew how sad his mate will be to see Bloodstain’s situation.
“Come with me,” Bruno says, holding her by the shoulders and helping her walk. Together they leave the room.