Chapter Eleven
Summer was horrible.
The sweltering heat made me thankful that I was naked most of the time. I even kicked the blankets off me and I just laid on Julius's bed, trying to enjoy the cool breeze from the open tent. Julius had went around and cut windows into the tent to allow air to pool in, but even the breeze wasn't enough to soothe me.
Sweat soaked the blankets beneath me and I had to pull my hair back from my face, just closing my eyes and trying to distract myself from the heat, but really, there wasn't much I could do. Julius must have noticed that I was reading his books, because he stopped leaving them on the nightstand the other night.
I heard the sound of birds chattering outside, men shouting and yelling as they trained, Julius barking orders. I heard someone started the transport vehicle, a few men bellowing obnoxiously about the heat, and the splash of water that made me ache to bathe in it.
Even worse, since the heat wave struck, I'd lost another twenty pounds. In total, I probably weighed half as much as I did when Julius first captured me. I could feel my ribs now, running my fingers down them to count before I got depressed and just went back to laying in the cool shade of the tent, but even then, it wasn't enough to stop the sweat.
But, at least I would no longer have to look forward to gang rape nights anymore. Everyone was too hot to do anything, and even training was exhausting for the men, so as soon as they were done, they ate and went to bed. I was finally getting a break. Even Julius only did it once a night before he gave up.
I savored this long period of nothingness.
The long sleeping periods, the privacy, the few hours under the sunlight with the mystery novel I'd read at least six times already and never got tired of it. I liked pretending I was one of the characters so I could get away from this darkness. I would make up scenerios where I joined the characters on their epic journeys, what I would do if I were in their position, what if this happened, what if that happened. It was amazing what I could do with one book.
Not that I had one book for very long.
Alexion arrived with another shipment of weapons and supplies. He brought me two packages of crackers and another tiny book.
"This one is a big thicker," Alexion told me as he handed me the tiny book while I sat in the grass, nibbling on the crackers so they would last longer, "It's a classic." I nodded my thanks and took the book, moving back through the grass and sprawling out with the little book. When Alexion didn't leave, I frowned and cocked my head to look at him past the book. He stared at me in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable. I sat back up slowly and shut the book. As if realizing he was making me uneasy, he moved back and averted his eyes. I thought he wanted to say something, but he didn't, so he left me alone with the seven guards again, all of whom were bitching and groaning and insulting me because it was somehow my fault they got stuck with babysitting me.
Good, I wanted to sneer at them. I hope you suffer long and hot and bake in your armor, you shits.
I went back to reading, then buried my book when it was time for me to come back inside. The moment I was undressed, Julius shoved me back on the bed and climbed on top of me. I grimaced at the reeking odor of sweat and blood on him. I could tell he was angry because the heat around me became unbearable. To the point where I was dizzy and sick from it.
Unable to stand it any longer, vomit rose in my throat. I tried to roll over to spill it onto the floor, but Julius shoved me back and the vomit bubbled out of my mouth and I choked on it, feeling it spill down the sides of my face. Julius cursed in disgust, reeling away before shoving me roughly onto the floor where I could finish puking. I gasped for breath, clutching at my stomach. Julius grunted, sliding off the bed and getting to his feet.
"You've become awfully good at avoiding me, whore," He snorted, "Come." I turned my head toward him and he laid his hand on my forehead, then hissed and tore his hand back.
"You've got a fever. Goddamn it. I'm wasting more money on you than making it." He muttered and heaved himself to his feet, heading for his medical kit. That was the last thing I remembered during my next two weeks of having the flu. After that, I was zoning in and out of consciousness, wracked with violent chills, all of the food Julius tried to feed me was coming up. He was finally bringing me full meals, but I couldn't even hold them down. Most everything else was a blur, until I finally woke up one day.
I still felt dizzy and weak, but I could actually stay awake again. Julius was sitting beside me on the bed, dabbing a cold pack against my head while reading a scroll, his reading glasses sliding down his nose before he pushed them up and continued reading. He didn't seem to notice that I was awake right away.
"Water." My voice sounded awful. It was clogged and hoarse at the same time. Julius blinked, looking up bewildered, then relaxed when he realized I was awake. He snatched a water bottle off the nightstand and helped me drink it before setting it aside. He touched my forehead, then sighed as he sat back.
"You're still warm. We'll give it another week. After that, you have a list of clients waiting to see you and you owe me extra time for this fiasco." He commanded. I didn't answer. Just laid there, enjoying the peace and quiet. Julius wasn't beating me or cursing me. He just went back to reading his scroll. After a while, he left and came back with a full meal for me. I managed to hold this one down, savoring the warm bread and cheese and meats.
He let me sleep the rest of the day.
The rest of the week as I recovered was just like this.
And after that, things went back to normal.
Julius went back to selling me to different soldiers, went back to coming to me when he was angry or horny. And it was difficult to get used to it after being pampered so well while I was ill. The pain all came rushing back like a huge tidal wave. I pathetically screamed and cried the first few nights we got back to things, but no one stopped or even slowed down. It was just like before.
Even worse, as punishment for getting sick, Julius took two hours off of my daily time outside. Now I was only allowed two hours to soak up sun and roll in the grass, which was steadily wilting as summer faded to fall.
Around the time the air became a bit chillier and the blanket was required again, we received a new shipment of slaves. And by shipment, I meant about twelve or so. They took up a lot of the soldiers' time now, much to my relief, so the clientals each night decreased.
I didn't talk or make friends with the other slaves. There was no point. None of them could replace Gloria, and only getting attached to them would hurt when they died. Not that it mattered, though, because I was only outside Julius's tent two hours out of every day. Even then, Julius had ordered his guards to beat anyone who came near me. Only one slave tried to break that rule, a young boy who claimed he knew me, but I didn't recognize him at all.
It didn't matter. He died two weeks after arriving. He'd made the mistake of stealing bread and had his hands cut off before he bled to death.
Another slave was killed for asking for water without doing anything to deserve it. It was rather stupid, really. Or maybe it was because I was smart by now. If I wanted water, I knew what I had to do and I did it.
It didn't matter.
What little dignity I had clung to was swept away. It felt eerie to know that once upon a time I had fought hard against this cruel harsh life. I would have done anything to get away from it, but now I couldn't care less whether I stayed or left. Either way I was going to be broken, alone, and a whore.
The seasons came and went in a blur, like each passing day.
My routine was to wake up in the morning, nibble on whatever was left from Julius's breakfast, take a nap or daydream about the grass outside, or of ways I could convince Julius to let me stay outside longer. In the afternoon, after a lunch of usually bread crusts, fruit peels, dirty water, and sometimes even sour yogurt if I had behaved for the week, I'd go outside and enjoy reading the three tiny novels I'd collected from Alexions visits. I started threading the dried grass together and made strings to tie my hair back or wrap around my ankles. I tried making little people, but for some reason, each time a finished one, it made me cringe, so I buried it in the ground.
After I was forced back into the tent, Julius and I usually had sex on his better days. On his worse days, he'd beat me, then go to dinner. Either way, I was allowed his scraps for dinner, then the night of entertaining men began. I still hadn't learned all of their names. I tried not to remember them, even when they forced me to say them.
Worst of all was the praise they gave me, like a well-behaved dog. They would even pet me on the head or scratch under my chin or try and make me come as a reward for behaving. According to Julius, I had become a well-trained whore and in their world, I would fetch for a very good price and I don't know why, but that made me sick to my stomach.
For how much I hated this place, I didn't want to be sold to someone else.
This place was hell itself, but I would much rather stay where I knew the rules, how things worked, and that if I got sick, Julius would take care of me until I was better again. I knew very well that any other place would be worse. Julius promised me that. It was one of the many threats he used against me if I tried to escape, which I never did, or if I disobeyed, which I also never did.
I'd grown far too used to Julius's ownership.
Nothing else mattered.
Just doing my job as a slave was it.
That was my life.
Until one cold bitter night, as fall became winter, and I realized it'd been at least a year since I had been captured and branded as a slave. I wasn't sure whether it depressed me or sickened me or what, but I just didn't want to get out of Julius's bed. I felt queasy from the night before, from the amount of violence they'd forced on me. Taking three men at once always made me sick afterwards, especially if they paid extra for another hour. I was looking forward to this next night like a kid looked forward to visiting the dentist's.
I laid on Julius's bed, listening to the cool wind nip at my feet as it blew under the tent and across the cold hard floor. Julius had bought a new blanket a few weeks ago, and this one was much thicker than the thread bare knit blanket I'd used for over ten months. This one kept me warmer and I could curl up in it and enjoy it.
But in that moment, I was thirsty.
So desperately thirsty.
My throat was cracked and dry, and I swore I tasted blood in my mouth from how dry it was. My lips felt stuck together, chapped. I tried to lick them, but it didn't help with my tongue being dry too. My chains only allowed me to go so far, and no matter how far I reached my hands out, I simply could not read the water bottle on the nightstand. I had a feeling Julius purposely put it just out of my grasp to taught me, because I had accidentally squeezed his cock too hard this morning and he'd been angry at me ever since.
I hadn't meant to.
He'd almost broken my shoulder with the position we'd been in and the sharp jut of his hips caused my muscles to spasm and clench, including the ones in my fingers wrapped around his thick cock. He should be grateful it was my hand and not my mouth. I had only made that mistake once and he'd bashed me over the head so hard that I'm pretty sure there was still a scar there.
I kept staring intently at the bottle, trying to will it towards me, which obviously wouldn't work, but the thought still helped. I stayed focused on it, but I couldn't really move. My body was sore and throbbing everywhere. I just laid there and stared at it when I heard the faint sounds of men shouting and roaring at each other. It sounded like a usual night. If I had to guess, there was probably a fight going on somewhere in camp. The soldiers were always having disagreements over the stupidest things, like blankets, armor, shower time, who'd face fuck me first, their paychecks. Silly things, really.
But something about this one felt different. It was a chill that crept through the air and stole up my spine. I went absolutely rigid, listening to the sound of footsteps moving toward the tent. They sounded nothing like Julius's. They sounded bigger and more menacing. I held my breath, watching someone duck into the tent. I watched with an alarmed stare as a stranger entered the tent.
And I'd been with all the men, most of the women, of this camp, so I knew for a fact that this was a stranger.
He was extremely tall, definitely over six foot five, at least. Even from here, I could see his well-washed and groomed black hair, silky and shiny, glowing in the dim lights of the tent as it fell over his shoulder in a loose ponytail. He was dressed in the black and gold trimmed Greek armored uniform, except something about it was different. The more I stared, the more I realized it was a symbol etched in white on his left bicep. It looked like the symbol of open angel wings with an arrow going through it, pointing up, with a snake wrapped around it and the tip of the arrow shoved through its head.
At first, I couldn't see the stranger's face, because he didn't even see me when he came in. He went straight to the bookcase and started ripping things off the shelves, going through them, then tossing them aside. He shredded scrolls and set a few books on fire, making my heart drop.
I hadn't read some of those.
He went to the desk and tore out all the drawers, even the ones that Julius normally kept locked tight. The stranger moved onto the China box, shattered it, then seemed appeased by the destruction. He started to leave, but the moment I swallowed at the dryness in my throat, he stopped. I felt my blood turn to ice as I watched him turn to face me.
And his face was gorgeous.
Even with the long scar that cut through his left eye, which was a deep milky white. The scar forked off into the corner of his mouth, and off towards his jawline. His right eye was bright blue, and seemed to glow with the power that radiated from his bulging muscles, visible even through his armor.
Something about that seemed vaguely familiar.
Had Julius mentioned someone like this? Probably not. He spoke to me on occasion about his personal life, but usually he only mentioned things he knew would scare me into submission or would mock me, like how he and his father and brother celebrated Christmas while I had to rot in his tent while he was gone.
Not that it bothered me.
I'd rather rot in a tent by myself, than sit at a table with a bunch of bastards.
The man and I just stared at each other for the longest time before his eyes slid away from me and followed my arms over to the water bottle. I held my breath, waiting for him to come over and beat me for drinking without permission, but instead, he moved to the water bottle, picking it up and placed it in my hand. I was so stunned, and weak, that the water bottle fell right out of my hands to the floor. I expected the man to strike me for it, but he only silently stooped down, picked it up, then sat on the edge of the bed that severely dipped with a pathetic creak under his massive form.
I squeezed my eyes shut when he touched my head. The way his long tapered fingers stroked my hair, but it wasn't like he was doing it on purpose. It took me a moment to realize he was lifting my head so he could hold the water bottle to my lips. The moment my mouth was around the nose of the bottle, the water flowed in. I choked for a moment, and he waited patiently, before I greedily gulped deep swallows. My stomach cramped and protested the sudden wash of fresh water, but I wasn't sure when I'd next get something this wonderful to drink. I drank the entire bottle before the man carefully set my head back down on the bed and he tossed the water bottle aside.
I flinched when it struck the floor, then watched as the man moved around the side of the bed to stare down at me. I swallowed hard.
He was going to make me pay for drinking all of that, wasn't he?
I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for him to just hurry up and get it over with when the tent flap opened. I actually found myself hoping it was Julius here to save me, because this wasn't one of my regular clients, but much to my agony, it was just another soldier with the same imprint on his armor.
"Hannibal, we have ten minutes to get out of here. You might wanna hurry up." He commanded. The other man was noticably shorter than Hannibal, with sleek black hair pulled into a short ponytail and vivid blue eyes. I froze at the scent of vampire on him. I hated vampires. He ducked out of the tent, thankfully.
The man, this Hannibal, stooped down and picked up the chain that connected my ankle to the floor. I frowned, watching him before my eyes widened in horror as I realized he was pulling the stake out of the ground. The chain fell free to the floor and he moved to the side of the bed. The moment he came to the side, his hands reaching out like he was going to pick me up, horror swallowed me and I scrambled to get away from him, but he caught me by the elbow and pulled me back.
I wanted to tell him to stop touching me, that Julius will destroy me if he found out I was lose without his personal guards, but my voice was still broken and harsh and unavailable to me. I squirmed as he managed to get his arms around my waist. I flinched as he scooped me up into his arms like I weighed nothing more than a child. And I probably did.
He held me in his arms and quickly made his way toward the tent. I pushed at him, but it was useless. While he may have freed me from the stake pinning me down, he didn't take the shackles off me and I was sure that by now, my powers were probably non-existent for how long they'd been inactive. Hell, I couldn't even remember how to use them, so it didn't matter.
Hannibal carried me out of the tent and instantly the smoke in the night air blinded me. There was so much of it that it choked me and I coughed and gagged, pressing a hand to my mouth as Hannibal moved quickly. I looked up to see if Hannibal was scared or something, anything, any kind of emotion, but his expression was completely stoic.
I continued to squirm in his arms, and after a moment, by the time we made it to the south side of the camp, I managed to find my voice, even if it was a mere croak.
"No," I choked, grabbing at the air behind him, even though I couldn't see for all the smoke and darkness that cloaked us, "He'll... be angry... He'll take my outside." The horror of that struck me hard.
No! If Julius came back and I was gone, he'd blame it on me. He'd take my time outside away from me, and even though it was too cold to spend too much time outside, it was better than suffocating inside in the nude. Agony spread through me and I tried to fight even harder, but it'd been so long since I fought that it was difficult to coordinate my movements. I also didn't want to hurt him, because if I did, Julius would crush me for that too.
"Please," I rasped helplessly, pushing at his arms around me, "Back... put me back!" Hannibal ignored me until the camp was only a tiny orange dot in the distance and exhaustion was steadily swallowing me as we moved away.
Why was the camp all orange like that?
Was that fire?
Was that where the smoke had come from?
I was too scared by the fact that Hannibal had run off with me. Why was he taking me away? Why was he doing this to me? Was he one of the people who'd offered to buy me off Julius? Had Julius sold me to someone else?
Tears choked me at that as I tried to grab toward the tiny orange dot that was fading in the distance. I felt a sob creeping up my throat.
Why did he sell me like that? What had I done to deserve this? I'd done everything he asked me to. I'd gotten so much better at what I did. I could make a man come in less than two minutes now. I hadn't gotten sick since that time in the summer. I even started to moan when he came to me before dinner, because it gave him a sick thrill to think I was enjoying it. I'd done everything he wanted and now he was selling me off to someone else?
Someone worse?
Why?
"Please." But Hannibal ignored me and after a moment, I smelled something sweet and pungent cover my nose and mouth. I tried to push his hand away, but my grip was weak and I had already inhaled the drug. My eyes rolled back in my head and I passed out.