Episode 15 - City of the Dead
What... was this place?
I stared into the blackened room ahead of me, eyes widening when flashes of my past burned through my every being.
Red.
Everything red.
The hand that held the gun shook, rattling in my grip as I kept the gun trained to Charles's head.
I stared through the window of the viewing room, witnessing the surgical chambers just across the glass. The one with the exact replica of that night Sebastian saved me.
That night I was almost killed.
The aim of my gun faltered.
But I heard a scream, Sam's scream:
"KILL HER!"
I flipped around, eyes widening when Clarice and James pulled another gun from their pocket in a millisecond, aiming it toward me.
But Scarlet and Maddox moved faster.
It all happened in seconds.
Before their fingers hovered over the trigger, Scarlet's blade sliced gracefully against James's neck, and he immediately toppled forward, eyes rolling backwards.
And secondly, Maddox's weapon went off before anyone could blink, slicing a bullet straight through the center of Clarice's head.
Both Clarice and James fell to the floor, their death immediate.
I suddenly felt distant from the world.
Sam screamed then, in grief, and pulled a knife from his belt.
He ran straight at me, screaming like a maniac.
He shoved his blade forward, and my eyes widened when it lightly sliced my cheek, cutting the string of my eye patch with it.
But Sebastian moved quicker than I could see.
One second, he was behind Sam, and the next, a light from a blade cut through Sam's wrist, dismembering it in seconds.
He screamed then, his hand falling from his wrist and collapsing with the ground, separated from him. The hand that held the weapon.
Sebastian then stood behind him as he collapsed to his knees, holding his handless wrist and screaming in agony.
As blood lightly slid down my cheek, my eye patch just slipped onto the ground gracefully, as if it fell like a feather.
Scarlet and Maddox's eyes widened when they saw the pentagram glistening in my iris, and they blinked and looked up, clearly to see if they were delusional or something.
But they weren't.
Sebastian stood above Sam who was still screaming, holding his blade gracefully as he watched him in boredom.
But Scarlet recovered quickly, immediately aiming her dagger at Sam, and Maddox followed with his gun.
Sebastian then stepped away, clearly done with his threatening, and stopped next to me.
"Ooh!" Charles said then, making us gaze over. "Look! Look!"
He was staring into the viewing room, completely unfazed that two of his children were murdered, and the last had his hand cut off.
And was still screaming.
He clapped his hands excitedly. "They're doing it! They're doing it!"
I gazed into the room then, eyes widening.
The same two men dragged the lifeless girl into the room, pulling her onto the table in the center.
She didn't fight even a little as they strapped her wrists and ankles down with belt-like bindings, and the returned to grab some tools.
The grip on my gun tightened. "What are they... doing to her?"
"She screamed," Charles stated as if it was obvious. "So they're taking her vocal cords out."
My entire being stilled, tremors racking through me.
Everything darkened.
Red. Red. RED.
I watched them raise a scalpel, and then suddenly they weren't two random men anymore... they were the men who kidnapped me.
And the girl wasn't a girl anymore... she was me.
I dropped my weapon, feeling myself grow delusional.
The girl wasn't lifeless anymore, she was screaming and kicking, and they held her down. Their laughs filled the room, sending chills through me. Charles was gone, and it was just me fighting them as he lowered the scalpel to my neck.
Flashes of red burned through my vision, irises beating in fear.
Blood splattered on the window, my sight growing dark around the edges.
I watched myself tip my head back, blood spraying from my mouth, but then it was the lifeless girl, and then me again.
I snapped back to reality, nausea shoving itself up my throat.
I immediately hurled, vomit splattering onto the ground below me as I covered my mouth.
My breath shook, entire body growing cold and numb, and I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe.
I stumbled backward, eyes widening when my previous cries echoed through my thoughts:
"Someone, help me! Please, anyone! I don't care who it is! Help me!"
I gazed up at the room, where the lifeless girl had her eyes rolled to the back of her head, entire body spasming.
I reached out to her, breath shaking.
But Sebastian just stepped in front of me.
I gazed up then, eyes widening in horror.
He just caught my hand, pulling me against him as he set his hand on my back.
He suddenly started swaying with me, holding me to him and swirling around with me.
We were... dancing.
I felt my dress blow with our moves, but for some reason, I could follow along with him.
He kept holding me to him, clasping out hands together as he spun and rocked with me.
And... suddenly... the visions changed.
I was no longer in the room with the monsters, the blades and the scalpels, the blood and the gore...
I was dancing with Sebastian in my study; the first night I met him—when he took me back to the manor—when he taught me how to dance for the queen's ball.
His red eyes were focused on me, his smile soft and gentle, but with a touch of anger.
He spun with me and continued to hold me to him.
He remembered this night, too...? He remembered this moment?
The night that I put my life in his hands, and he chose to dance with me?
Dancing with the devil, and dancing with my death.
It was a very odd sight, and something I never thought I'd ever do before, but I remembered that it comforted me. It calmed me for some reason.
Sebastian just pulled me against him, cupping my cheek in my hand. "Master," his voice was quiet, "you have nothing to fear. I am here now. Nothing can hurt you."
The moment settled in again, the happy moment between him and I faded and this one entered back inside me, devouring me.
I stared hazily as he ran his thumb over my bottom lip, still feeling my irises beating in fear despite my delusions. "All you have to say is two words, master," he promised me as my body shook. "Two words and all this will end."
I parted my lips, feeling the cold cover me completely and abandoning my voice.
"Say my name," he whispered, "order it. I will do it. You have nothing to fear."
I breathed shakily, unable to speak.
He ran his thumb under my marked eye, trying to soothe me. "Order me to do it, master. I will do it."
The cold fear suddenly drowned in a sudden heat, and I breathed shakily, anger burning through me.
I grew enraged, fire devouring every inch of me as my irises doused in pure hatred.
I shot my head up, eyes blazing in anger. "I WANT THEM TO DIE! KILL THEM! KILL ALL OF THEM!"
Charles gazed up in confusion.
Sebastian just threw his dagger forward in a second, and it spun around like a circular saw.
It sliced through Charles's neck completely, making him gaze up in shock.
His eyes flew upward, and I buried my face in Sebastian's chest when his head slipped off his neck and toppled to the floor, rolling around like a ball.
His body then fell, colliding with the bloody cement.
Sam shot up then, screaming in pure agony as tears slipped from his eyes. "FATHER!"
Sebastian just picked me up like a child, holding his arm under my bottom as I gripped his shirt, staring at his chest shakily.
Maddox lifted two guns then, immediately aiming to the window of the viewing room and started shooting.
Sebastian stepped forward as the glass caved in and shattered at impact, and all bullets sliced through the two men's foreheads.
They toppled over, deceased.
I just clutched onto Sebastian as he stepped over to Sam, who reached toward his father's dead body, tears slipping down his cheeks.
Sam fell over, colliding with the cement as if he couldn't keep himself up, and he gazed up at Sebastian to find his red eyes piercing down at him in pure rage.
"He just wanted a perfect daughter," Sam whispered. "That's why he was doing all this. It's not his fault. He wasn't in the right mind."
Sebastian didn't respond, just brought his foot down on Sam's head.
I clutched tighter onto his jacket when I heard his skull crush in, and Sebastian just stepped over to the door with me, Scarlet and Maddox following in silence.
"There, master," he said quietly, "it's done."
I shop up then, making him blink. "NO! ALL OF THEM! KILL ALL OF THEM!"
His brows drew together. "Master...."
I just caught his face, staring him deeply in the eyes even though mine were completely shaken in fear. "KILL EVERYONE IN THIS MANSION! KILL THEM! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? THAT'S AN ORDER! KILL THEM! EVERYONE! THE VIEWERS, THE BUYERS! ALL OF THEM! I WANT THEM TO DIE! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? AN ORDER!"
He stared at me for a moment, his cheeks pressed in as I gripped his face, but then his lashes lowered.
I let go of his face and buried myself in his chest, the fear still consuming my every being.
He just closed his eyes and sighed, stepping out from the room.
Scarlet and Maddox followed with silence.
We made it back to the viewing room, where the auction was still taking place, and Sebastian stood on the highest perch, a smile spreading across his face.
"I'm sorry to intrude, but I must do so."
Everyone gazed up at him in question.
"Who the hell are you?!" the announcer said. "This is for special guests only!"
"Oh, don't say special," Sebastian replied then, lashes lowering as his smile widened. "All of you are but weak little worms. And it's time that I rid of the worms that hope to use such damaged teenagers as your slaves."
His eyes then glowed a dark red, and I kept holding onto him as his jacket morphed and his entire form darkened to black.
The tails of his coat flipped around and waved like black fire, his shadow darkened on the walls and grew endlessly.
The crowd in the room screamed and scattered among the place, but we were blocking the exit.
Sebastian just chuckled, the sound echoing through the room like his voice was a speaker.
I stared at his chest lazily as lights in the room snapped and cracked, immediately dousing the room in pure darkness.
"It's alright," Sebastian promised, grinning as his shark-like teeth glowed in the darkness of the room, although his hands tightened on me, "you all deserve to die either way. And I am very hungry, indeed."
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