Holy fuck. Prey ten knows how to survive.
From the first slam of the ground into her small body, I thought she was done for. The second time, I had myself brushing the dust off my trousers, readying for the next candidate. But she took it like a winner.
With every attack, she bounced back up, beaten and bruised but not ready to give up. And then my Goblin showed up. The nine-foot-tall creature of destruction. Even I found myself on the edge of my seat, eager to see whether she’d figure out that he was blind and had no sense of smell. And then Misery gave the little bitch a demon’s claw, something that will disintegrate my creature into thousands of dust particles.
“You fucking bitch,” I hiss under my breath to Misery when the weapon appears in the dome.
Out of the corner of my eye, Misery laughs and rocks back in her chair happily, but I don’t remove my eyes from the scene as Prey Ten spots the weapon in the middle of the room. She leers for it, sliding along the floor, scratching up her jumpsuit until the blood on her knees shines through before throwing herself out of the way. My eyes fix on her blood and images of her giving up the wound for me to taste flash in my mind. My cock throbs approvingly and the monster within me thumps to be released again.
For a second, my fangs flash out and I feel the pull of evil within me, longing to escape. The temptation is too much, and I’ve never had to control myself as much as I must now in front of my family and thousands of wicked beasts, almost waiting for me to screw up and be punished.
The mysterious little mortal figured out my creature’s weaknesses far too quickly for my liking and it vexes me.
She then grabs a rock and throws it across the dome, sending my creature charging like a fucking dog after a ball. The black mist seeps out faster and my fingers curl into fists. Impatiently, I glare up at the countdown on the wall which says she only has two minutes and sixteen seconds left in the dome.
When I turn my gaze back to her, I’m momentarily stunned as she stares down at the weapon in awe, lost in her own world. I expected to see disgust or confusion, but no, she stares at it as if it’s the most mesmerising thing she’s ever held. Then she throws it from one hand to the other and my heart leaps from my chest.
The Beast within me bristles. ‘The bitch knows exactly what to do with it. Fuck!’
“Kill her.” I bark at my Goblin telepathically. “Kill her or I’ll kill you.”
He bristles when he hears the growl in his ears and looks visibly distraught. He charges around, lost and confused, now desperate to get his mighty hands on her. My lips twist into something resembling a smile with his newfound desire to destroy.
Her eyebrows pull together in confusion as she reaches out to feel the poison on the blade. For a short moment, she is curious as she rubs the poison into her fingers. It won’t do her any damage unless it pierces her skin, but she won’t know that, and her awe makes my cock stir. And then, without warning, her entire demeanour changes. Fear flashes across her face and a haunted cry escapes her lips.
The weapon tumbles from her fingers and she makes no move to grab it. It hits the floor with a thud, and the noise echoes around my head louder and louder until it is painful. Desperate, my goblin rears its ugly head in her direction and without hesitation, charges. Wide-eyed, I watch as she shakes and sweats, staring down at her fingers in absolute horror.
She is completely lost in her own world, a world that clearly brings more fear than the creature hurtling towards her. Petrified, her breathing becomes unsteady, and I hear the ridiculous beating of her heart, loud and fast, as though she has seen her death. My body is tense, and then a bitter smell storms my nose.
“Who is it?” I hiss. “Who is controlling her?”
Nobody answers me. Furiously, I spin on my heel and shoot a violent bolt of fire around the viewing gallery, torturing my family. They are the only ones capable enough of interfering with the trial so one of them must be orchestrating the scene. The howls of agony echo around the room as the never-ending burning particles chew away at their flesh. Their screams become a melody that drowns out the anxiety in my chest.
Stressed, I turn back to the little mortal and see my Goblin barely fifty metres from her. She is still locked in whatever it is that is keeping her from defending herself. I don’t know why my whole body shrieks in anxiety but I don’t have time to question it.
“It’s not us!” Misery screams at me. “Let us go, Death! Fuck!”
“Death!” my father booms, his grave voice making the hairs on the back of my neck shot up.
Suddenly, the mortal snaps out of her trance. She is no longer petrified, and instead, pure anger settles on her face. With a dismissive hand, I remove the torture from my family and ignore their miserable complaints. Instead, I find myself stumbling towards the glass of the viewing area, eyes fixated on the little mortal with a strong desire to kill my child.
Fuck, who do we want to die?
She’s back in action, dagger tightly locked in her fingers. The goblin charges, but she just about manages to slip between his legs, ripping the dagger through his skin. The cry of my beast has me completely changing sides again, and I long for him to squish her in the last twenty-something seconds of the trial.
He’s momentarily startled by the sudden pain in his groin and howls. The loud sound vibrates around the arena, shaking the walls and shattering one section of the glass. I hold my breath and ready my fists. If he tries to escape, I’m fucking ready.
The little mortal barely flinches. Instead, she skids on her heels before readying her stance again and charging forward, the dagger held high.
My nostrils flare as I check the clock. It’s no fucking use, she’s about to leap up and plunge the demon claw so far into my baby’s heart that he will hit the bottom circle of hell before he can take his next breath. And what’s worse, he will make me a laughingstock of all of Hell for supplying such a weak beast for combat.
I can’t fucking bare it.
Without hesitation, I flash into the dome. I put myself between her and my Goblin and snatch her by the arm using my body as a barrier for her to slam into. I barely move, but she rebounds backwards. Everything happens so quickly; she doesn’t register it and the blare of the countdown rings around the Colosseum. Before she can fall on her ass, my arm snaps around her waist and I hold her still.
“What? What the fuck? Huh? What?” she’s confused, but what’s better. She’s furious. Her anger is palpable and radiates off of her like the heat of her body. “He was mine. Move!”
Pathetically, she tries to wriggle out of my grasp, but she stops when my fingers curl into her soft skin. A yelp escapes her, and she now focuses her attention on escaping me rather than attacking my beast. It’s the most delicious fucking sound.
‘Do it again! Make her cry for us again!’
The thoughts have me forcing my eyes shut to hide the blackness that now seeps into them as my perverse beast howls to escape.
Just one taste. Just one touch! Wait— what is that?
My eyes shoot back open as I smell her murderous intent shifting around the arena. Without hesitation, she raises the weapon at me and strikes. Before she can take her next breath, I snatch the weapon from her and dispose of it across the room. Her eyes widen in horror as she is left completely defenceless.
As her gaze meets mine, she spots the black spreading through my eyes, forcing her to fight harder. Every wild punch and kick I receive only makes the monster howl louder and more violent. My erection is so fucking obvious that everybody in the room must see it, but I don’t fucking care. All her wriggling and reluctance make me that much harder. And then it hits me.
She isn’t fighting me out of fear, but because my Goblin bares his teeth at her, almost as if to mock her. Fury flashes through me when I see my Goblin leer over us teasingly. The little bitch would prefer to fight him than me! Oh no, little mortal, we can’t have that now…
Before I can do anything that I regret to the beast, I click my fingers and he disappears. I don’t know why it makes me feel some sort of sick humour. I’ve had to remove my Goblin from the arena because a mortal might kill him. It should be the other way around. I shouldn’t be able to keep my goblin away from her, and yet here we are.
“Fuck!” she roars. “I almost had him! Get him back!”
She shoves me in the chest and her eyes flash with surprise at the hardness. I don’t flinch once. I shake so hard I could shatter her bones if I held on any more tightly. The fury shoots through me and a red mist stains my sight.
Fucking teach her a lesson! Who does she think she is? Embarrassing us in front of everyone—
“Calm down, Prey Ten. You’ve passed,” Misery’s voice suddenly appears next to me. “Death, let her go.”
I fucking long to have the little mortal on her knees begging for forgiveness. I want her pale skin stained red. I want to fuck her cocky little mouth so she can’t throw any more threats out.
“Death,” Misery warns me, and I feel pain sting my shoulder as she grips me. The beast shrieks at me to attack and everything within me supports him, but that little slither of reason knows I can’t destroy the mortal in front of this whole audience. My father would have to punish me publicly and this will only reveal a weak united front. I fucking hate politics but I despise dealing with the consequences more.
Cold air stings my hands as soon as I let the little mortal go, and something inside of me longs to grab her again. To hold her against my hard body. She should be writhing on the floor in agony, the demon claw plunged so far into her heart that she is sent to the most fearsome circle of hell. She should be pleading for mercy for hurting my monster. For fucking daring to try and attack me, and yet, here she is, hard challenging eyes and murderous intent. She doesn’t realise how much danger she’s in with that attitude alone and fuck do I want to be the one to teach her.
As if sensing my intentions, Misery steps between me and the mortal.
She turns to face the audience , throwing her arms in the air to make them roar in excitement. “There we have it, Monsters and Monstresses,” she quickly regains control of the situation. “We have our first contestant entered into the next trial!”
Behind her, the little mortal doesn’t even flinch. Her furious gaze burns into me before darting to the weapon on the other side of the arena. For a brief moment, she schemes about killing me. I feel that pull within her, one very similar to my own. My whole body throbs in anger until the black mist seeps out of me, fogging up the arena.
And honestly? I fucking long for her to try again. Only then can I justify the awful, torturous things I plan to do to her when I get her alone.
