The Discarded

Alone Chapter 17 - 2

Taking his spot in the middle of the ring, he set himself for the first one. Cesare never went into the fights with an idea on what he wanted to teach, he let the fight pull it out of him. There was no lesson plan, no overreaching idea of what they should become, only a drive to make them stronger.

Flowing around them, his strikes cut into their bodies. Flinching and wincing, they recoiled from his blades of flesh. He taught with pain what couldn't be taught any other way. Each bruise a signpost to weakness. They came and he hurt them because things learned in the crucible of pain were never forgotten. The thing that separated a survivor from a victim was as thin as a willingness to hurt others. All things being equal, a sadist would always come out on top.

They'd been savaged by life, betrayed by parents that valued getting along over standing up. Wrapped in the smothering arms of depression, choking on their own rage, hating themselves for never being strong enough to stand for themselves. They'd learned to throw themselves away, so others had something to step on.

Cesare taught them the one thing you should always fight for was yourself, to carve a home for herself in the flesh of the world. No one would protect you better than the man behind your eyes. Those that said they loved you would always put their needs first because that's what it meant to be alive.

He'd hurt them, drag them through the gauntlet of pain, hammer, and beat them into the ground, until the lesson was seared into bone. He couldn't give them strength, you had to take it for yourself with blood and sweat. By the end, they'd know what it felt like to hurt someone, to see them bleed because of you, and the pleasure would call to them like it did him. They'd have the fucking balls to take what they wanted from the world instead of begging on their knees for scraps.

In the middle of the storm of deliberate violence, they walked up to the fence. Anastasia and Alexandra had come. He'd thought they'd meet up at the entrance to the Ludus Noctis before the meeting with the Mistress. Instead, they'd taken the open invitation and used it as an excuse to check up on him.

Alexandra wore a shy smile, a vulnerability in the smile he didn't often see. This wasn't about killing, weapons or war, it was just a girl playing a trick on her friend. She might be a psychopath that killed for kicks, but she was used to that reality. Those claret tainted shadows didn't scare her; no, it was the normal world that left her feeling unsteady.

Anastasia gave him a wicked grin with a low wolf whistle. Sweeping his body with a delighted, wanton look, her eyes shone black on black. Leaning forward on the fence, her breasts pressed together, creating a canyon of creamy flesh. Her smile turned knowing as she watched his eyes lock on the tempting sight.

Desire tightened his body, heat and need twisting into a rush of violent want. She'd accept him, it was the acid tipped point on the jagged knife that slipped through his heart. Black as sin and as tempting as fresh snow, she pulled at him on a primeval level. She called to him, not just in body but in soul, to join with her, to lay his claim to her body, mark her as his. He wanted to consume her flesh, devour her in an orgy of pain and ecstasy, to feel her wet warmth, luxuriate in her pain filled cries.

Pulling away from the need, he focused on his student, letting the wants of his body, heart, and soul drift away. The moment cared nothing for the past or future, it was only the now that held sway. Everything loves to fuck and fight, if you can't get one, you can always take the other. He wouldn't take the akathartonto bed, but he could soak himself in the barbarity of his tainted soul.

His last student twirled the trident in desperate sweeps to keep Cesare at bay. As the trident passed, Cesare darted in, slapping his hand against the poll. Leaning back, his foot snapped forward, slamming into the boy's chest it launched him air born, trident falling from surprised hands. Hitting the ground hard, his breath exploded into the air, leaving him little more than a gasping fish.