Warning: This chapter is pretty intense as far as what happens to Kara sexually. If you do not like this sort of thing I would either skip down to the chapter that starts with “A small voice in the back of Kara’s mind laughed…” While I did try to tone it down, not everyone likes to read about rape, even though it fits in the story line.

Chapter 9

 

Kara lay on the tangled sheets slipping in and out of consciousness. Somewhere in the room there were voices talking. Something about rotations, but she did not care. All she cared about was that they were not touching her. The bed dipped, and she tensed, but no one touched her. A voice close to her rumbled a time, but he did not touch her. As long as they did not touch her the lust would fade and she could finally give into the darkness that hovered around the edges of her soul where there were no hands, no bodies, no hunger and no pain.

There was not a spot on her body, inside or out, that did not scream at her. Somewhere in their lust filled haze, pain had become an aphrodisiac. That was the worst part of her curse. Not only did the touch or thought of another rouse the thirst inside of her, it also rose that of the anyone who was in the room with them. Her power, for lack of a better term, amplified those lustful thoughts and spread them, infecting everyone within reach. The one with the strongest mind tended to dictate how the sex would go, and the strongest mind in the garrison had been Captain Hiram who had a cruel streak that rivaled Colin’s. As Kara lay on the bed, the endorphins wearing off so the pain began to override the pleasure, she thought maybe rivaled was not the right word. Dwarfed. That would be the word.

A hand caressed her calf, making her shiver and pulling a hoarse moan from her raw throat.

“My gods, she still hungers for more. Too bad I don’t have time to enjoy her again,” a deep masculine voice chuckled.

“Don’t worry,” Hiram crooned. “I will enjoy her for the both of us.”

“I’m surprised she’s still alive,” another mused. Gentle hands moved the hair from Kara’s face before lightly brushing fingertips along her cheekbone. “The bruises are almost faded. She heals fast.”

“Which is why we must not let her rest. She is here for punishment. Allowing her time to heal would defeat the purpose of this lesson,” Hiram said.

Kara managed to open the one eye that was not swollen completely shut to see the male that was touching her face with a gentle hand. He was squatted down next to the bed frowning at her. Not all the males of the Red Garrison were happy about Hiram’s orders that they were to use her has painfully as possible. Some of them even left, a few had taken her into their rooms and had been very gentle. The majority, however, had been too caught up in the pull of her power that Hiram was directing to care.

“I still don’t understand what she did to warrant this kind of punishment,” the male in front of her said. He looked towards where Kara was sure Hiram sat. She closed her eye, unable to keep it open any longer. “The emperor protects her like a prize possession. To just throw her at us like so much garbage isn’t like the him.”

“Are you questioning our master?” Hiram asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“No,” the male quickly answered, a thread of fear in his voice. He must have stood, because he was no longer touching her. “We should go. Our shift starts shortly, and I need a shower.”

“You do that,” Hiram growled.

The bed moved again as the door hissed open. Footsteps then the door hissed shut, leaving the room in silence, but Kara knew she was not alone. She could feel Hiram’s eyes boring into her, his lustful thoughts fill her head. No, she was not alone, and she would not know the blessed darkness that she so craved anytime soon.

Dropping a naked female in the middle of ten males who had not had a woman in months was like dropping a single steak in a cage full of starving lions. Especially with Kara’s special ability to take the lust of one man’s thoughts and spread it out to others pulsing from her, and Hiram had made sure those thoughts had to do with not only lust, but pain. Within seconds the men had grabbed her arms and legs, carried her to the nearest table and slammed her on top of it. Another second and there was a male between her legs forcing himself inside her while another climbed onto the table near her head, shoving himself into her mouth. When one male was finished another took that male’s place, barely giving her time to breathe between assaults.

More of the garrison’s guards began to appear, saying that they had been released from duty for the rest of the day and were to report to their barracks for an unexpected surprise. When they saw what was happening on the kitchen table, was sucked in by the growing lust that filled the room, they were more than eager to join in the fun.

On his various trips with the emperor to Colin’s planet, Hiram had heard rumors of how easily the witch could be seduced if the right measures were taken. That she may fight in the beginning, but by the time they were through with her, she was begging for more. The most intriguing piece of information was that the harsher the abuse, the more she responded. Ever since he had heard this, Hiram had wanted to see if those rumors were true. As he watched his men brutally rape the female, he decided that today he would take full advantage of this ‘gift’ and find out just how far they could take her before she begged them to stop.

When the last of the twenty-five men had had their fill of the witch and she was on the floor gagging and gasping for breath, her body shaking with pain, Hiram motioned two of the men to pull her to her feet. Taking in the disheveled hair, the multiply bruises and teeth marks all over her body, the blood, his desire to have her grew tenfold. Grabbing a hold of her chin he forced her head up so he could look into her eyes. What he saw hardened him even further. Along with the pain and fear there was a great deal of desire in those eyes. There were many times during the last hour he had seen her body convulse in orgasm. When she had a moment to breathe she had even screamed them.

“So the rumors are true,” he purred. “You crave the abuse of men in your bed. That is good, because for the next few hours that is all you will receive from me.”

Tightening his grip on her jaw, he forced her mouth open so he could viciously kiss her while his hand went between her legs. Kara fought the men holding her until her cries of pain turned into moans of pleasure. Smiling wickedly, Hiram moved far enough away so he could watch her eyes close in obvious pleasure to his harsh touch. Just before she was to orgasm he stopped. Her whimper of protest brought laughter from the men around them watching.

“We will have fun with this one,” Hiram sneered. “And now that you men have had your fill, the real punishment will begin.” Stepping back, he addressed those men. “While the emperor has sent his witch to us for our pleasure, he has also sent her to us as punishment for her traitorous thoughts. I think we should fulfill the emperor’s wishes to the fullest.”

“How much can she take before she dies?” one of the men asked clearly not wanting to be on the emperor’s bad side.

Hiram’s eyes widen in glee as Kara’s eyes flew open, full of dread, as he revealed a secret he had been keeping for some time. One that would be revealed to all later that day. “The witch is immortal, so aside from taking her head, she will survive whatever we decide is necessary to teach her her lesson.” Reaching down, Terrance slowly unbuckled his wide leather belt, “and what better way to start her sentence than a beating she will not soon forget.”

With a nod of his head the two holding Kara turned her around and slammed her over to the table so her ass was exposed for what was to come. A man on each side holding her arms, Terrance wrapped one end of his belt around his hand and began beating her until his arm tired and her screams had turned to whimpers. Throwing his belt to the floor, his breaths labored, he unbuttoned his pants, moving so he was behind her. Rubbed himself along her ass to let her know just how large he was, he leaned over her, making sure he pressed the buttons of his pants against her raw skin, relishing her whimpers of pain.

Taking her long hair, wrapping it around his hand before digging his fingers into it at the scalp, he yanked her head back painfully, his lips at her ear, “Now it’s my turn,” he whispered harshly.

Moving his hips back, positioning himself, he shoved himself inside her with one cruel stroke. Kara screamed, struggling to get free of those holding her. The men that held her arms let go, but Hiram kept his grip firmly in her hair, not relenting until she screamed at least three times in orgasm.

Afterwards he had sat back and watched his men do their worst. Kara tried to fight a few times, but it always ended up with someone’s belt or the cattails that someone had gone to retrieve from one of the torture rooms, marring her already raw skin. They had not cared where they had beaten her. Nothing was safe from their cruelty.

Hiram looked down at her taking in the multiple welts, the bruising, and grew hard just thinking of what he was about to do to her, but first he needed her conscious. Some of the earlier wounds from six hours ago had healed, but with twenty-five men there was little if no time in between each one for her to even catch a breath. Now it was once again his turn. How many had it been? Four, five? He honestly had lost track. No matter.

“Wake up little whore,” he ordered slapping her ass. “Come on. Wakey, wakey.”

Kara groaned as the captain kept slapping her on various parts of her body. When he reached her face, she raised her hands to stop the onslaught.

“I am not done with you yet,” Hiram sneered grabbing a handful of hair and twisting her head so she looked up at him. “The emperor wants you punished for disobeying him and I intend to do just that. But there is another who needs to be reminded of his place and that you are off limits to him.”

“Please,” Kara begged weakly as she grabbed his wrist in an attempt to lessen the pain. “No more. I beg you.”

“You beg me?” he mocked throwing her head back on the bed before taking a hold of her ankle and flipping her onto her stomach. “You have not even begun to beg. I see how he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching. The emperor is very displeased with the both of you.”

Kara cried out when he yanked her towards him, letting her feet drop onto the floor once again. She knew what he was about to do and tried to crawl away. Grinding his knee into her lower back he gave her two hard whacks on her already raw ass. She cried out tears streaming down her face.

“When I am done with you will cringe at the thought of another man touching you,” he promised grabbing her hips and pulling her to him. She screamed when he once again brutally shoved himself into her. “Sahen will think twice before he touches you now, knowing how many men you have pleasured today. Knowing how much you actually enjoyed it every time they fucked you,” he sneered when he heard her moan.

A small voice in the back of Kara’s mind laughed at the captain’s attempt to humiliate her. What these men had done to her was nothing new. She had moved past humiliation a long time ago, but the captain was right about one thing. It was the one punishment she tried to avoid at all cost. Aden knew what Colin had forced on her and had never judged her for her body’s responses to this form of abuse. It had become almost impossible for her to feel anything during sex without some sort of pain. But the fact this was being done to her because he wanted to make a point to Aden. That he had no claim to her, would make it worse for him.

Through the haze of pain and pleasure that had begun to envelope her, Kara realized the captain had stopped his assault. His fingers seemed to reluctantly release her, his body slowly moving away. When he touched her no more, Kara’s legs refused to hold her and she slipped to the floor in a heap.

“You…don’t know…what you are…doing,” she heard the captain gasp as if he had to force the words out of his lungs.

Kara looked up through her tangled hair to see the captain hanging a few feet in the air clutching at some unseen force that held him by the throat. She followed his gaze, whimpering at what she saw, the humiliation Hiram had tried so hard to inflict on her finally washing over her.

Aden stood in the doorway, his hand stretched out before him, his fingers bent as if he clutched the captain’s throat with them. His face was a mask of rage, his eyes glowed red as his body shook. With sudden and frightening realization, Kara knew that it was not Aden Sahen, a powerful sorcerer, standing before her, but a god in full fury.

“I was only following orders,” the captain choked.

“I highly doubt he told you to use her until you killed her,” Aden snarled.

The captain managed a wicked smile even though he was slowly turning blue as he dangled naked in midair. “I was told to use her as I wished, which we all did with the greatest of pleasure,” he sneered.

Aden turned his hand only slightly and the captain neck broke with an audible snap. Lowering his hand, the captain dropped to the floor with a crash. Aden stared at the lifeless body doing his best to reign in his blind rage. The emperor would not be pleased he had killed the captain of his personal guard, again, but when Aden had walked into the room and saw what he was doing to Kara, heard what he had said, heard her hoarse cries of pain he had lost control. A soft sound brought his attention to the huddled creature on the floor and the rage instantly melted into alarm.

Kara had tried to pull herself onto the bed where she could cover herself with the blankets, but her arms and legs would not cooperate. Rushing to her side, Aden pulled her into his arms where she began sobbing hysterically.

“I am so sorry,” he breathed into her matted hair as he held her to him. “I should have never left. I should have stayed and protected you.” When he tried to move her so he could look her over, she cried out in agony. “What have they done to you?” he breathed taking in all the bruising and blood. “I will kill them all,” he snarled.

“No, Aden,” Kara pleaded her voice a hoarse whisper. “It won’t help. They have done nothing that has not been done to me before,” she softly added doing her best not to look him in the eye.

Aden warred between doing as she asked and going on a rampage until he had fulfilled his vow and every man who had touched her no longer breathed. Finally reasoning won out and he allowed the exhaustion from the last weeks wash over him. He was tired of the constant worry, the pain, the anger and frustration, the helplessness that he fought every day so he could be strong for both of them. More than anything he wanted to take Kara someplace where they could live in peace. Someplace where no one, mortal or immortal, would ever find them.

“I don’t understand. Why he would do this to you?” he whispered not even trying to keep the tears from his eyes as he brushed her hair away from her face. “This is Colin’s cruelty, and there are numerous times Caius has raged against Colin inflicting it on you. I never thought he would sink this low.”

“I would not do what he commanded. Could not,” Kara answered wiping the tears from her face, wincing when she touched a tender area.

“What was that?”

Kara’s only answer was to finally look sadly into his eyes. It was all Aden needed. In that one look he saw in his mind everything that had happened after he had left the throne room. That Caius had once again asked Kara to do the impossible, and she had refused him. The captain had been right. This was his punishment as much as hers.

“Kara,” he breathed pulling her close, wanting to take away the pain he had caused her. He quickly loosened his grip when she cried out once again.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered hoarsely, choking back her sobs. “If he finds you….”

“He sent me here,” Aden interrupted furiously. “He wanted me to find you like this. As the captain told you, he thought seeing you with another man would change the way I feel about you. What our master fails to realize is there is nothing he can do to either of us that can change my love for you. Nothing.” Not even her being torn from him. Kissing Kara’s forehead, Aden gathered her gently in his arms. “I need to take you to your room. Today everything will change, and you must be strong enough to survive what is to come.” I must be strong enough, he thought to himself. Somehow he knew he could never be that strong.

Carefully wrapping Kara in a blanket, Aden picked her up. When she fell limp in his arms, he feared he had lost her, but the subtle moving of her chest told him she was still alive. It did not alleviate the dread of what was to come. Today he would lose her forever to another and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Aden was one of the most powerful sorcerers that had ever lived, but as he was painfully reminded just now not as powerful as his master.

The men in the common room had vanished.

“Cowards,” Aden snarled in disgust.

Picking the thin material off the back of the chair, he carried Kara back to her room; the dark foreboding expression on his face as he strode down the hall sending people scrambling out of his way. Once inside the small quarters that were attached to Caius’s, Aden called for the healer and Kara’s serving woman. When they arrived, they informed him that the emperor wanted to see him immediately. The last thing Aden wanted to do was leave Kara, but then Caius knew that. It was yet another test of his loyalty and obedience that left Aden gritting his teeth, but he knew it would be much worse if he prolonged it any further. Not wanting to give the bastard another reason to punish Kara, and with the promise he would return soon, he went to face their master.

Aden stopped outside the room next to Kara’s, putting his hand on the door and closing his eyes. He could feel the occupant’s fear and yet there was something else. With a start, Aden understood Tanis’s strange behavior down on the planet. As far away as he was from the her, he could already sense Kara’s presence, and the prophecy was already beginning to unfold.

Aden pulled his hand away from the door, wondering if the emperor knew what he was doing. If Tanis had half the power Kara possessed, together they could very well destroy them all.

Chapter 8
Chapter 10

Copyright © 2018 Heidi Barnes