Taken (16 page)

Maybe she could kill him.

The thought popped into her head, and once it appeared, she couldn't get it out of her mind. If she killed Deese, it would solve a lot of problems.

"I'm going to give you the beating of your life," he said, but his voice sounded feeble. He fell into the chair. He didn't seem like he could catch his breath. Lyzette lifted her head. "I just have to rest a second. Moorlal!" A man entered from the hallway.

"Yes, sir," the man said. Lyzette looked at him, and he met her eyes with compassion for a moment, before he quickly looked away.

"Give this slave ten more lashes," he ordered in a quiet voice, still gasping for breath.

The man looked her up and down dispassionately.

"Respectfully, sir, she can't take ten more lashes. You'll kill her. The blood loss alone will weaken her, and she doesn't have the strength to stand it."

Lyzette disagreed. She could take it. Still, she didn't want to have to endure ten more lashes. She would inevitably pass out if she didn't die from blood loss or sheer mental agony. Didn't they beat people to death on Earth a long time ago? Maybe the man was trying to help her, and she sent a silent thank you his way if he was.

"Good," Deese said. "I want her dead."

"I thought you wanted your revenge for Mikael fucking your girl and ruining your life. You can't get use her for revenge if she's dead," he said, reasonably. "Your plan is on track. And you need her alive to make it work. Just because you're angry, sir, is not a good reason to throw away years of planning."

"You're probably right," Deese mumbled. Lyzette thought he was drifting into unconsciousness. A moment later, the servant caught him and threw him over his shoulder.

"He'll be out all night, now," he told her. "I'm one of Mikael's men. I infiltrated Deese's clan last year. Whatever you do, don't tell anyone about me. And you ought to thank your lucky stars he's sick right now. You could be dead or so broken that you wouldn't even recognize yourself."

Lyzette swallowed hard. She knew that now.

"I can't tell you much, but I'll let you know this. You're bait for Mikael. This disgusting situation is all about Deese getting revenge. He wanted to rape you in front of him but when that didn't work, he upped the ante. He still wants to do that, but he's going all-in. You're both in big trouble, girl. I admire you for trying to get away, but there's worse coming, you should know."

"Like what?" Lyzette said.

"I'll be the one beaten to death if I tell you," he said, shaking his head. "There's no way to disarm it. Rip it out, throw it, and get the hell away as fast as you can."

"What? I don't understand."

"You will," he said, grimly. "Oh, and one more thing. He's too weak to fuck you right now. I don't know when that will change. I have to go now. Good luck."

Lyzette didn't understand anything until she walked down a long hallway into an arena. The stage looked like a ring where animals fought. The room was dark and had a strange smell. A bright spotlight illuminated the ring.

Her captors laid her down on a table with her wrists tied together and stretched over her head. She had on the leather outfit from her first night with Deese. The servants put her feet on the table far apart. Her breasts pushed up out of the holes in the bra. Her sex was on display in the crotchless underwear.

She was scared and humiliated, but she tried to stay calm. Somehow she would find a way to escape. She was going to get away from Deese without being broken. She felt confident. But when the people started filing in — all men — and began hooting and hollering things at her, she wasn't sure anymore.

Her hopes collapsed when they brought in Mikael with his hands tied behind his back. He walked stiffly and looked exhausted. His old bruises were almost faded, but new ones took their place. She wondered how he got them. Had he been fighting to get to her?

He gave her one anguished look before his guards dragged him to the side. He sat down in a chair where he would have a perfect view of Deese fucking her.

When Deese came out, things got worse.

He looked invigorated. Lyzette was instantly afraid. If he had recovered, he would be back to his old strength and could perform once again. The one thing she had been counting on to save her had vanished.

"As many of you know," he said into the microphone, "Mikael and I have been enemies for many years. You also know he was cruel enough to lure my girlfriend away from me and fuck her. The time has come for me to return the favor."

He turned and smiled at Mikael.

"I'm going to do the same to him. His new consort is a favorite of his, and he's going to watch me take her, just like all of you," he said. A roar went up from the crowd, and Lyzette swallowed hard.

Deese walked over, and the crowd gave a cheer. He came to stand beside her and played with her tits while he whispered in her ear.

"You will act like I'm fucking you, or I will pull out a gun and shoot Mikael point blank. Work hard, sweetie, or he dies," he said. "It doesn't matter if I fuck you or not. Either way he's tortured."

She stared at him as he moved around to stand between her legs and undid his pants. She was stunned. He couldn't get it up.

He made a thrust with his hips, and she screamed, a second too late. Had anyone noticed? He gave her a menacing look, and she writhed as he pressed his hips against her, trying to moan as if she was being raped. She could feel his flaccid cock touching her sex. Gross.

Then he found a rhythm, and she imagined that he was raping her. She remembered her fear and her the moans of terror became realistic. She made horrible sounds with each thrust of his hips.

She screamed several times, for variety. She was worried about being convincing enough. Would he pull out a gun and kill Mikael in front of her?

Lyzette twisted her head a little and looked at Mikael. She could see him. He was hurting. He had a look of horror on his face.

She felt terrible, but she couldn't help it. There was no way that Lyzette was going to risk his life to spare him mental anguish. She couldn't have him, but she would do anything to save him.

That's when it hit her. She would do anything to save his life because she loved him.

Now she could never have him, but she would save him just the same.

Mikael couldn't believe the scene in front of his eyes. He felt like he was going to cry in front of all these people. He hadn't cried since he was a boy.

After everything he had done to get to Lyzette, he had failed her again. It didn't matter that he had people searching the city and that he had tried to get into Deese's compound on three separate occasions. The last time, he had been beaten up so badly he could hardly walk.

Deese was raping her in front of his very eyes. His Lyzette. His funny little Lyzette, who couldn't stop saying strange quotes from her mother and radiated fragility. He remembered her initial reluctance to be with him and her unbelievable response when he had made love to her.

He swallowed and blinked back tears. He needed to pull himself together. He couldn't show weakness in front of this crowd.

It seemed to go on forever, and Mikael thought he might vomit when she started crying. Finally, Deese groaned and pushed against her. He shoved himself back in his pants and raised his arms overhead, victorious. He came to Mikael so he could laugh in his face.

The crowd started chanting his name. Lyzette curled up on the table and wept. Mikael thought it was over. Now they would take him back to his cell, and he could let his tears fall.

But it wasn't over yet.

Deese was signaling for someone else to come out. There was more coming in this freak show. He wondered what the Delanor had come up with now.

It was a doctor in a white coat.

Mikael knew Deese had a cruel streak, and he hoped Deese wasn't going to do something horrible to Lyzette. She had been hurt enough already. He hoped nothing repulsive was about to occur.

The doctor forced Lyzette to sit up. He took out some instruments and laid them on a white cloth. In the meantime, Deese picked up the microphone again.

"I've got some more entertainment for you today. Do you want more?" he said, working the crowd. They screamed, and it hurt Mikael's ears. They were already ringing from his earlier pummeling.

"My friend here is going to help us out. He's going to make Lyzette a scorching hot girlfriend."

He laughed to himself. No one else laughed because they didn't know what he meant.

"What you see in the doctor's hands is a tiny explosive."

The crowd went crazy.

"Yes. Scientists on Earth developed it. Earth is the home planet of our slut of a slave. Isn't that right, Lyzette?"

She didn't even look up. She stared listlessly down at her lap.

"It can be inserted anywhere in the body. I nearly put it where the sun doesn't shine, as they say. But I didn't want to give Mikael any pleasure before he died. So I've decided to embed it in her lip. Doctor?"

The doctor loaded the device into a gun. Lyzette thought it looked like something used to get her ears pierced.

He pulled her lip out and placed the gun against her skin. With a deft flick of his finger, he pulled the trigger and shot the explosive into her. It looked like a lip stud and poked up slightly above her lower lip.

She made no noise. She didn't acknowledge the doctor's presence. Mikael felt devastated to see her that way. He remembered how she had looked the day he noticed her artwork was fantastic. When she realized that he meant what he was saying about her creations, her eyes lit up with happiness.

The contrast with the way she looked now was too brutal for him to contemplate, and he turned his eyes away.

"Thank you, doctor. Can you arm it, please?"

The doctor pressed on the device, and it began blinking.

"Perfect. That will do, doctor. That will do."

He strode into the center of the ring and held out his arms. The crowd roared again.

"Now, the next thing to do is to tell you something I've learned about these two. They're lovebirds!"

Mikael froze. Lyzette lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes with an expression of surprise on her face.

"Yes, Mikael. You talk in your sleep, you know. And the night you spent in my cell proved to be quite informative. Can you believe it? The Markanor of the entire planet has fallen in love with a slave."

The crowd booed.

"I know. I know. It's inappropriate, and I think we should severely punish both of them. Do you think they should be punished?"

The crowd started cheering again.

"And what better way to punish lovers than to take one of the most pleasurable things two people in love can experience, and turn it into something that will kill them both."

The men started chanting.

"Kill them. Kill them. Kill them."

"Mikael, if you would come over here."

His guard gave him a poke with a gun and Mikael got to his feet. He tried not to show his pain. He couldn't help being stiff from all the bruises on his torso and broken ribs.

"Stand up, slave."

She gave Deese a look of hatred, then slowly got to her feet. Mikael wanted to cover her up from all the prying eyes, but that was the least of his problems right now. How was he going to stop this?

"And now. Our two lovebirds will treat us all to one last show of their affection. A kiss."

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" The crowd wound up to a fever pitch.

"Don't worry about your safety. These wonderful little explosives can be set precisely so the explosion won't leave this ring."

The chanting stopped as the men realized Deese was going to do something dangerous. Mikael noticed some of the smarter ones leaving immediately, but that left all of his dumbest clan members. One of them yelled, "Explode that whore," making Mikael even more nauseated. What kind of men were they to be saying such things?

"Yes, yes," Deese said soothingly. "All in good time. First, the rules of the game."

Mikael stood in front of Lyzette. He had his hands tied behind his back, and she had hers tied in front.

They were about a foot apart, and he could see a tiny bump on her lip where the bomb was. The other end of the explosive protruded from the skin under her lip. It had a knob holding it in place.

"You cannot touch, other than your lips."

He walked around them, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Don't try anything fishy, Mikael. Lyzette, we all know that you're not intelligent enough to come up with anything innovative."

Lyzette met his eyes while Deese turned and faced the crowd.

"Kiss her until the explosive detonates. Don't worry, it's a hair trigger. It won't take much pressure."

"I love you," he whispered, looking deep into her eyes. He had to tell her, and this might be his last chance. Her eyes grew round, but she didn't say it back.

"Be ready," Lyzette said instead.

Mikael held his breath.

"If you refuse to kiss her," Deese went on, "she will be shot dead in front of you. We will torture you until you wish you had died while kissing your love."

A man stepped forward with a big weapon and aimed it at Lyzette. Mikael showed no reaction, but his brain was working. He wondered what Lyzette meant.

"Are you ready?" The crowd hooted. He opened a door that let him out of the ring and into the stands. He still held the microphone.

"Mikael and Lyzette. You may kiss for the last time," he said.

The cheers became deafening, and Mikael started to move toward her, knowing that any hesitation could spell her immediate death. Once they were clearly going to kiss, Deese motioned for the man with the gun to lower it so everyone could see.

Lyzette kept her eyes on him as he slowly moved towards her. She stretched up as if she were reaching to press her lips to his.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss," the crowd roared.

He shifted his weight from side to side, trying to be ready for whatever was about to happen. With his eyes on hers, he could see the precise moment that she decided to take action.