Tales from Arondell: Sodom - Prologue

Prologue

~Anonymous~

She calls to me again, screaming my name across the Ether and I fly to her without hesitation. Wintry air and stale smog lashes at my hair and cheeks, sliding effortlessly over my body and shadowy wings. Sluggish grey rain makes navigation a little difficult; even in this form I'm still half-blind and affected by the elements. A gibbous white moon, one of three orbiting this world, glares down at me.

Tonight is just like most other nights for the past year: When my Dove isn't lonely or weeping she's in terrible pain.

All because of that bitch, Sinah Darian! How can she do this to her? Why?

Oh, I believe I know the answer to that question...

I growl in my half-sleep and clench my fists, my nails piercing skin and drawing blood. Because in my desire to save her, I place myself and those I love in greater jeopardy. Damn the Watch and my wretched form!

I twist and splash about in the healing pool, only vaguely aware of my mutterings and the noise I make. No one upstairs ever hears me, and my companions never disturb me. Unless they know I'm actively Dream-walking. As for my Love...

My Dove shrieks again, her agonised cries slicing into me like rusted meat hooks and barbed wire. My scars flare up. I snarl through the pain. I can't see it. I'm still too far away, zipping silently across the bleak skyline. But I know what that bitch is doing to her.

Fly faster, damn it! I hiss, ignoring the sprawling city below. She needs me! At least if I can get to her, I can soften the blows and ease her suffering.

Forcing impotent astral wings to beat harder, faster, I swoop over Sodom in a spiralling arc. My tail, made of the same shadow substance as my wings, whips through the darkness and my horns lead the way.

I'm not in my truest form. There's so much my battered shell can't do any more, but the sight of me as I am is more than enough. At least my Dove won't see me like this. She never does, and I prefer it that way. She will see me when the time is right, and when she does, she will know, even if it isn't on a conscious level.

Drawing nearer, the grand facade of Darian Manor eclipses my vision, and the horrors within fill my head. The crack of a leather paddle, then a light rattan cane, rises above my Dove's screaming, while downstairs the arguing continues unabated.

No! Leave my Dove alone! Sinuous and slick with rain – or is it the heated water of my healing pool? It's difficult to tell which – I land on the balcony and shift my form. It isn't easy anymore. I groan and convulse, breaking out into a feverish sweat, but I manage to drift through the gaps in the window. I'm greeted by a sight no man should ever see.

My Dove, my angel, my shining light lies doubled over a rough wooden bench, her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles chained wide apart. Her bottom sticks into the air, leaving her ripe wildflower open and exposed. She's wet and her sweet scent hangs in the air.

By Morpheus! I stare at the scene in silent horror. Livid welts cover her from her smooth calves to her lily-white backside, spoiling her porcelain beauty. Worse, she's completely naked and the bitch hasn't spared her genitals either. Her anus, clitoris and downy nether lips are so red and sore I almost cry with her. My poor Dove! I have to save her...

Try as I might, I can't move. I'm rooted to the threshold by some intangible force, helpless like my Dove. Gods be damned!

Her cries cut through me, her dainty wings trembling as Sinah whacks her glowing ass. This time the bitch draws blood.

"P-please Mistress," my Dove sobs, writhing on the bench and struggling against her fetters. Her tangled red mane falls around her face, hiding her shame, her snot, her dribble and her tears. "Please stop! I-I p-promise... I won't..." she gasps and hiccups. Her pain squeezes my chest. "I-I won't run again. Please forgive me..."

I close my eyes and catch my breath. For several months now she's found her only solace in the frequent visits of Zaenack and his kin. They would take her away from this horrible place despite her protests, giving her hope and showing her what it's like to be part of a loving family. They did so only last night, but my Dove was so scared she begged them to bring her back. To this.

We have to get her away from here.

"Silence you worthless little slut." The blond bitch grabs my Dove by her hair and slaps her across the face. I growl and clench my fists at my sides. If only I could move. If only I were here in the flesh... "This is what you get for running from me." Sinah raises her cane again, preparing to strike my Dove's vulnerable labia.

Don't you fucking dare... I lunge forward, breaking free of whatever spell held me and catch the blow across my spine. Hot pain dazzles me. Damn. For an overfed and diminutive woman, she can hit hard. Though I've suffered far worse at the hands of her fiance...

"You!" Her scornful blue-violet gaze falls upon me as I draw myself up, and spin around. "I should've known you'd try to interfere."

Ignoring my surroundings – I've seen this room more times than I care to remember – I advance a step, watching her haughtiness and defiance melt away. Her ample bosom heaves, straining against her too-tight designer black dress. Her painted eyes widen. Her heart races, pumping her body with adrenaline and her rank sweet-and-sour stench assails my nostrils. I cringe in disgust and glower at her.

“Lay another finger on my Dove, and I swear-”

“You'll do what?” She glares at me, although inside she's a quailing mess. The slight tremor in her voice, her skittering thoughts, and her horrid scent betrays this. “Hurt me?” She challenges and swallows hard. Her fingers pluck her focus stone from her plunging neckline, and curl around the jagged shard of obsidian. “I can cast you out of here, you know.”

This is absurd. I throw my head back and laugh at her. "With that puny thing?" I sneer, taking another step closer, slowly backing her into a corner. "I hardly think so. You're not a real Witch. You're not even an apprentice."

“Even so,” Sinah brandishes her cane and her crystal, thrusting them into the narrow space between us, "I can cast you out if I must."

"Do it then. Banish me," I smirk, knowing she can't for all her bluster and bravado. Otherwise she would've warded her entire bedchamber against my intrusion, months ago. No, she only knows trifling magics, designed to make her look sexier, and enhance the act of lovemaking. Or inflict greater pain upon my Dove.

Her sack-of-shit excuse for an uncle never taught her anything else... Which suits me just fine.

“I'm warning you, demon,” she snarls, her blue eyes wide and wary. Her fear wafts about her in a sickly noxious cloud. “Leave now. Or I'll make sure that little slut never sees the light of-”

“Don't you dare,” I hiss. Closing the gap with a terrifying lunge I knock her cane aside, rip the crystal from her neck, and thrust her against the wall. She cries out in alarm and struggles against me, but I've got her pinned. Stupid bitch. I don't like hurting women. Not unless they want me to. But she has crossed me too many times.

First Zaenack and now Isabella. “My Dove is the last person you'll ever dare hurt,” I growl and close strong white fingers, tipped with black nails, around her throat. Slowly I start to squeeze, still glaring at her, fuelling the hate and hurt that rages inside me.

It's not all directed at her, either. I'm as much to blame, because I'm too scared and weak to save Isabella myself. Another day she spends here is another step into Matthias' clutches, should he ever learn of my connection to her.

How easily could Sinah ruin me with a few words? Assuming she hasn't done so already...

“I'm not going to lose another woman I love!” Shutting out my Dove, still dazed and weeping behind me – Morpheus, please, don't let her remember me – I tighten my grip. Sinah's eyes bulge and her hands fly to mine, desperately trying to pry my fingers away.

No way am I letting her go. If she says anything to him, I'm finished. But I don't always get what I want, and perhaps this time it's for the best.

A commanding voice and an equally firm hand reaches across the Ether and pulls me back.

Madam Verune has caught me Dream-walking again. Fuck!

My grip on Sinah loosens as I feel myself fading away. Falling back to my ruined, half-immortal shell.

“For all your bluster and bravado, Mister Scarlett,” Sinah splutters, wheezing for breath and starts to laugh at me. “You're not as strong as you used to be. My fiance ensured that.”

Continued in Chapter 1