Doe's POV:
He lead me down a corridor that I hadn't seen the previous time I was here, muttering something about humans and their inability to follow rules. Aswell the nerve they gain while being away from their masters.
I didn't pay too much attention to his voice after that, the thrumming in my ears keeping most of my focus.
The partial relief that I pulled off my lie had cleared enough room in my brain for more of that fear rooted in the unfamiliarity of what was going to happen to me.
As well as the alarms blaring throughout my nerves at his touch
I'd only heard stories about what kind of punishments they dished out here by eavesdropping on the other girls.
Apparently, it varied depending on the vampire who got put on watch at the time.
I've heard many things from getting fed from, whipped, beaten, or something else creative the vampire would come up with.
They didn't have many staff rules here...
Some even mentioned it including... sexual ordeals.
Which, even though that was the specialty from the shop I grew up in, wasn't something I wished to put to use now.
I tried to steal a peek upwards towards his face for some sort of sign pointing one way or the other but instead found myself stumbling as he abruptly turned into a dark room.
Widening my stance, I miraculously managed not to fall.
His hand finally got off of me to shut the door, promptly flicking on the light switch.
Bleach stung my nose equally as fast, the brighter light mixed with the white tile floors forced my eyes to squint.
The vampire trudged past me with an annoyed sigh, bringing my attention to what this room contained as he walked further away.
At first glance, the small room almost looked baren, save for a metal hook nailed into the opposing wall. A wide array of whips, crops, and other leather implements I didn't recognize the use for being hung on either side of it
That was it.
The interior was as simple and straightforward as it could be. Leaving me to believe that this was all the room got used for.
My fate was the whip.
Which wasn't the best but not the worst.
I tried repeating that, using it in whatever way I could to mask the fear out of habit.
I'd only been whipped once, and it was undoubtedly one of my more painful experiences.
It had to have only been a month after I had been purchased that Layla decided to take some of her twisted anger out on me in that way with the whip I believed just came with every room.
I just remember feeling like my skin was burning before blacking out, only to come to when Xander was carrying my shredded body to his brother.
Since it was so soon after that had all began Nico didn't yet have the wide array of medical supplies just sitting around in his room like he does now.
He stitched me up while I was fully conscious, and without anything to numb it.
I never saw another whip in Xander's room after that, much to Layla's constant disproval.
But...this probably shouldn't be as bad right? Or nearly as much?
I hoped so, and hope was all I could do because Xander wasn't here to get me out of this.
No. I volunteered this.
His head turned, cold eyes meeting mine as he grabbed what looked to be a leather band from off of the wall.
"Don't make this difficult. I'm already tired as it is thanks to you," he grumbled, motioning for me to approach.
My feet felt like blocks of cement, but I forced them to move anyway, fighting my breathing to keep it normal.
As I got closer, I looked up at the hook, noticing its higher placement.
Just don't think about it.
Just shut your eyes, grit your teeth and get it over with.
After this, it can only be uphill.
I held my hands out before he could tell me to, hoping that this might go by better if I just complied.
I didn't have time to figure this guy out, and he was never going to be an issue again, so I just settled with that.
It wasn't hard to figure out what position I was going to be in with the band he then put my wrists through.
He pulled the bottom of the band up once I did, forcing my wrists together, tight, before yanking my entire body forward to hang the band and me from the hook.
I felt a little lucky that I was tall enough for my feet to still touch the ground, and have a little bend in my arms.
Not that it would help but...
My hands intertwined with each other the best they could being trapped above my head, keeping my eye on the vampire as he pulled a random whip from the wall.
He didn't carry the same statistic excitement that I'd seen from Layla, still just radiated pure annoyance as he made his way behind me.
My breathing was getting harder to control with the anticipation, my forehead meeting the cool wall in front of me as I just braced for it.
CRACK!
The sound pierced my ears just before the tearing of my shirt and the sting across my back.
I narrowly choked back the yelp, my back arching into the wall.
Okay... that wasn't too bad.
I don't think it broke skin.
A cry ripped out of me with the second one, more tearing in my shirt, and this time my skin with it.
The burning sensation of it hit me in no time, giving me no time to hold it back.
My nails dug deep into the opposing hand, sweat dripping down my forehead.
The third was when I first felt the warmth drip down my back, and the next three came in such quick succession that my reactions from them were completely raw.
Unrelenting and unfiltered shrieks as my skin was split
My legs were beginning to shake, forcing my knees to buckle lest I was going to collapse. And by that, I mean to be left to dangle by my wrists.
I fell forward against the wall as much as I could, colors swirling behind my eyelids with how hard I squeezed them shut with the next crack of the whip against my back.
Each breath came with a fight as the agony of each hit sent wave upon wave of agony through my body.
I couldn't even try to stop the tears from blurring my already hazed vision.
My throat was beginning to sting with the rest of me, and I instinctively began to pull against the strap keeping me there out of pure survival instinct.
I could feel his name begin to form on my tongue as some sort of last ditch effort even though I knew how futile it was.
He couldn't reach me here.
The next hit against my raw flesh cut me off from even trying to form his whole name, taking my entire breath with it.
Stop... Please stop...!
I couldn't form anything to even begin to make my pleads known.
My adrenaline wasn't doing its job and thus I was useless in doing anything but just standing there and taking the following two.
The rush of everything nearly made me miss the sound of the door opening, followed by a quick, horrified gasp.
The blows against me paused, but the pain raking through me didn't share that same relief.
"Your night shift doesn't start for fifteen minutes. What are you doing here?" The vampire asked.
There was a silence. A long one.
Long enough to where I turned my head to the best of my ability, trying to ignore the splatters of my blood across the white floor.
My vision was still blurred, but I could make out a figure standing by the door with one hand over his mouth and the other tangling through brown hair.
I could just barely piece together some features to begin to partially recognize them, but his voice solidified it.
"Oh my god, what have you done," Erik's panicked voice squeezed out.
The smallest flicker of hope sparked in me. If anything, just at the familiarity.
Meanwhile, the still nameless vampire just stared back at him, completely unphased.
"My job? The fuck does it look like?" was his casual response.
"She's a royal's you dipshit!" Erik snapped, speeding to the other vampire's side.
My view cleared just enough to see him look me over, that already terrified look on his face multiplying.
"He's going to kill me," I barely heard his whisper, "Holy shit I'm done for."
The other one wasn't convinced yet.
"What are you talking about? We both know the Bronwyn's don't send their pets to these things."
"Not the Bronwyn's you moron! The Vanderwood's!"
His face finally dropped in realization.
"The Vanderwood's?" He repeated, his face nearly matching Erik's.
I might have had it in me to be amused by the interaction if it didnt feel like my legs were going to give out at any second.
"Yes! Both of them made it very clear that we're not supposed to touch their pets," He gave out a hard sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why didn't you check her file before doing this? I wrote a note for you and everything!"
"Because they're all on the other side of the building! I already don't want to be here what makes you think I'd go through all of that at three in the morning!"
Okay, this was starting to give me a headache.
Which what the absolute last thing I needed right now.
I think I was going to pass out if this went on any longer.
"None of us want to be here, Ian! And it's so shit like this doesn't happen!"
Ian looked me over.
"Well... good luck explaining this to them then. I hope you live." his confidence in that sentence was irritating.
A brisk pause, and a twitch in Erik's brow
"What do you mean me? You're the one holding the whip!"
"The Princes don't know that!"
There was a tense few seconds of silence before Erik slowly rose his arm to point at me, never once breaking eye contact with him.
"She does."
He spoke the words almost as a threat, and I almost wanted to commend him for it.
'If I'm going down you're going down with me.' type attitude.
They both turned to look at me now that it sounded like their futures were now laid in my hands.
Depending on whether or not I wanted to snitch, and right now, I wasn't feeling too merciful.
It felt... empowering knowing that.
Knowing that even if the brothers weren't royals here, their last name was enough to save me from any more of that whip.
Enough for a pet's words to actually mean something to them.
The awareness of that temporary power set me over an edge that made me want to abuse it, just a little.
Piling together the last of my energy, I used it to lift my head enough for them to see the snide smirk I wore.
"You're both fucked."
The whip dropped to the floor as both of their jaws fell open.
Oh yeah. That felt nice.
Even through the physical pain I was working through and the consciousness I was fighting to keep.
They both matched each other in frozen shock as they let my words sink in deep.
I honestly didn't know how true my words were, but I knew I could find out real quick.
Seeing how Xander reacted with Layla.
Erik was the first to break.
"Fuck," He breathes out before stepping towards me, "Clean this up,"
"W-what?" Ian's voice was a lot more hushed this time around.
"Clean up your mess!" His hand gently set on the front of my shoulder, pushing me back away from the wall to put himself between me and it, "I'll get her taken care of while you cover my shift."
I was expecting Ian to argue, but he didn't.
Another quiet string of curses left Erik's mouth before he reached up towards the hook.
The leather keeping me suspended got cut by his claws, sending my arms crashing down, nearly causing my entire body to follow with them.
I probably would have if this vampire hadn't set himself there.
He peered over my back to spot where the cuts were before turning me and moving an arm around my shoulders.
I was surprised that his touch didn't have much of an effect on me before realizing that it reminded me of Nico more than anything else.
In this moment where I honestly didn't have much of an option, I figured settling for him would be my best bet.
I didn't have the energy for any more snarky comments or to push him away.
Erik scooped up under my knees, lifting me fully from the ground.
Either the movement miraculously didn't hurt, or I was just crazy, but I didn't have time to give it too much thought before he was speed walking out of there with my lying partially limp in his arms.
He said he was going to take care of this, so for now I could only hope that he was somewhat decent at his job.
Yeah... I don't know if I can hide this from Xander.