Afraid New World (Part 2)
The guards led JC down a long hallway, then turned right down another hallway, then another, until they stopped at their destination. It was a small room that looked like it might have once been someone’s office. Now it was nothing more than a testament to the war that had changed everyone’s lives. Books and papers had obviously been burned, furniture was overturned and broken and there were numerous bullet holes and gashes in the walls. The carpeting was so thick with dried blood that JC imagined he could still smell its coppery odor in the air.
One of the guards righted a chair and motioned for JC to sit in it. He did, grateful to be able to do so; he wasn’t sure how much longer his legs would hold him up.
The guard leaned down close to him. "Stay there. Move and you lose a leg. Understand?"
JC nodded fearfully then gasped when he felt a clawed hand grab his hair harshly.
"I said – do you understand?" the guard repeated.
"Yes sir," JC answered quickly.
The guard seemed satisfied with that and he let go of his grip on JC’s hair. "Someone will be with you soon," he said as he and the other guard walked out the door.
JC watched their retreating backs as they exited the room. As soon as they were out of sight, he rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth in disgust, trying to get rid of the feel of the Emperor’s lips on his. It wasn’t working however, no matter how hard he rubbed, he could still feel that "thing" on him. He finally gave up after he had rubbed his lips raw and felt no better for it. He then slumped forward in the chair, his head falling into his hands. The tears came easily and he didn’t bother to try to stop them.
"Oh God…oh God," he said as he sobbed into his hands. As before, he wasn’t really crying for himself. True, he was afraid of what was going to happen to him, but he was more afraid of what was going to happen to his friends. The "sentences" they had been given, the new lives that had been chosen for them, were cruel and harsh. He could not imagine any of his friends being able to handle what was in store for them. And yet at the same time, he prayed fervently that he was wrong.
He continued to weep until they came for him again. Completely oblivious to everything but the turmoil in his mind, he didn’t even realize they had returned until he felt a hand on his bare shoulder.
He looked up, startled, then hastily wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand. There were three of them in the room now. Two of them were the guards that had led him here. The other was a demon that he hadn’t yet seen.
"Don’t cry human. Others have it worse than you do. Much worse," the new demon said as he stepped directly into JC’s line of vision.
JC stayed silent and looked at the one that had spoken. As his eyes wandered over the demon’s tall body, he noticed that he held something in his hands. His eyes focused on it and he realized that it resembled a needle.
"What is that?" he asked breathlessly.
"We are going to mark you," the demon answered. He saw the look of confusion on JC’s face and continued to explain. "We are going to mark you as the Emperor’s property."
"Oh God," JC said as he shrank back in the chair.
The demon ignored JC’s obvious fear. "Tilt your head to the side," he ordered as he lifted the needle high in the air.
"Wait, please…I…" his voice trailed off into silence as he realized that these demons wouldn’t care about his fear of needles. If anything, they would probably revel in the knowledge and make everything twice as painful for him.
"Do you have something to say to me?" the demon asked with a smile.
JC shook his head and studiously avoided looking at the object of his phobia. "No sir," he said.
The demon looked pleased. He turned to the two guards and addressed them. "Hold him down. We can’t have any mistakes."
The guards nodded and stepped forward. One of them grabbed JC’s arms and held them behind the chair while the other grabbed his head and forced it roughly to the side.
JC whimpered as he closed his eyes. He felt the demon’s hand on the side of his neck and then felt the sting of the needle as it pierced his skin. He gasped, more from the shock of it than the actual pain. He forced himself to stay still as the needle exited and then entered his flesh over and over again.
At first the feel of the needle was a tolerable discomfort but the longer the procedure went on the worse it became. Soon it felt like his tender skin was repeatedly being stabbed with a white-hot poker. He bit his lower lip to suppress the groans that were building up within him and ended up biting it so hard that he drew blood.
Finally, just when he thought that he was going to start screaming and never stop, the needle was taken away from his neck and his arms were released. His hands automatically began to rise to the source of the pain, but the demon beat him to it by placing a wet cloth against the area. JC grimaced in pain and looked up.
The demon that held the needle smiled down at him "Keep this pressed to it. It will bleed while it heals."
JC gave a small nod and pressed his hand down on the cloth. The pain flared instantly. "It hurts," he said in a small voice.
"Others have it worse," the demon repeated, then looked to the guards. "I’m done here."
"A work of art as usual, Ardad," one of the guards said.
"Thank you," the demon known as Ardad replied. "I just hope that the Emperor is pleased."
"I’m certain he will be," said the guard. He looked down at JC, who sat shivering from the pain and the chill in the air.
"Time to go, human," the other guard said as he pulled on JC’s arm. JC rose to his feet immediately, too afraid to dare resist. He passively allowed the guards to lead him out of the room and through the winding corridors of the damaged building. They finally stopped at the threshold of a room with double doors that stood open.
One of the guards pushed him inside roughly and he stumbled but managed to stay upright.
"The Emperor will be with you as soon as he is able. He will expect you on your knees with your head bowed when he comes in. He will be very angry if you do not greet him like this. Do you understand?"
"I understand," JC said sadly. And he did understand, all too well.
"Good," the guard said as he turned around to walk away. The other guard gave JC a small, secretive smile before he too turned around and left, closing the doors behind him.
As soon as the doors were shut, JC turned around and quickly scanned the room. Directly behind him, he saw an open door that led into a bathroom. He ran inside it and stopped when he stood in front of the bathroom’s long mirror. With shaking hands, he slowly pulled the cloth away from the side of his neck and stared at his reflection.
The mirror showed in clear, merciless detail what was now forever imprinted on his skin - several dark lines merging together in a concentric circle, and in the middle of that circle, an undecipherable symbol that vaguely resembled an animal of some kind.
It sickened him to see it, but he could not seem to take his eyes off of it. As he leaned towards the mirror and stared at it, the thought struck him that he had been branded.
Branded. Like some kind of fucking animal.
He choked back a sob of despair. What had he been expecting anyway? He had seen how his friends had been treated. He had watched as the world he knew was systematically destroyed; human lives viciously snuffed out simply because they stood in the way.
The ugly fact was that they were all considered animals. Every last one of them. His friends, his family…God, his family…
He tore his eyes away from his reflection and turned faucet in front of him on. As he rinsed the blood out of the white cloth, he was dismayed to find that his hands would not stop shaking. He left the cloth underneath the faucet’s spray until the water that ran down the drain was clear. He then placed it back on his neck, wincing at the pain it caused him. He turned off the faucet and slowly walked back into the room, not even bothering to dry his hands.
He stood there for a few seconds and finally took in his surroundings. He was in a bedroom. A bedroom suite large enough to accommodate a cherry wood four-poster bed and a sitting area just beyond it. The room was decorated in hues of sand and gold and it looked so beautiful that it made him want to cry.
He wondered if this was where the Emperor stayed. That might explain why the room had been damaged so little.
Sighing softly, he forced the useless thoughts out of his mind. He then walked over to the side of bed and slowly lowered himself to his knees to wait for his new master.
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The Emperor did not come to him right away. JC, having no watch and no clock to look at, had lost track of how long he had been kneeling and waiting, but he knew that it had been a long time. By the time the Emperor finally stepped through the threshold, the bleeding from his neck had all but clotted and his knees throbbed with pain.
He hadn’t dared move however. The last thing in the world he wanted was to find out what the punishment was for not being in the proper place when the demon walked in.
With his head bowed, he could only see the Emperor’s dark boots as they moved across the lush carpeting. He watched with growing dread as they approached him.
The Emperor stopped directly in front of the young man on his knees and stared down at him. He breathed in deeply at the sight of his shivering, slender frame.
"You can look up now," he commanded.
After a brief hesitation JC lifted his head and the Emperor was once again reminded of why he had chosen this one.
So pretty. He was so very pretty. Especially with those blue eyes that gave away far too much of his soul.
Pretty…and exceedingly vulnerable.
"Let me see your marking," he said softly.
JC tilted his head to the side and exposed the side of his throat that had been marked.
"Beautiful. Just beautiful," he said as he stroked the reddened flesh. He heard a whimper of pain coming from the man below him and he savored the sound.
"You can stand now," he said as he removed his hand.
JC stood, groaning when his legs protested after being still for so long.
"Can you walk?" he asked in a solicitous tone.
JC nodded. "I think so," he answered in a shaky tone.
The Emperor couldn’t help but smile. This human was so afraid.
"Good," the Emperor said as he ran a hand across JC’s stomach. "I want you to walk over to the bed and lie down for me."
He was pleased to see the human obey him so quickly even though it was obvious that it pained him to walk.
The Emperor sauntered over to the side of the bed and gazed down at the human that he had claimed as his own.
He lay on his back, atop the covers, his hands clasped tightly across his stomach. The blue eyes that stared at the ceiling were shining with unshed tears. His entire body shook, if only minutely, and a thin layer of sweat covered his naked torso, giving further evidence of how frightened he was.
To the Emperor, he looked absolutely delicious and he could wait no longer to taste him. He practically threw himself on the human, swallowing his gasp of surprise by pressing his mouth to his.
‘Mine…all mine,’ the Emperor told himself as his hands began to explore the soft flesh beneath him.
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JC lay curled up on his side, shivering slightly despite the thick comforter covering his body. The Emperor had left him only a little while ago to attend to business, and he could still feel the traces of the demon’s hands on his body.
He tried telling himself that it could have been much worse. He tried telling himself that the demon could have hurt him much worse than he had. That in fact the demon had been somewhat gentle with him. But knowing these things did not take away the feeling of being dirty, of being used. It did not take away the knowledge that he no longer controlled his own life. And it certainly didn’t take away the physical pain that was emanating from below his waist.
No. Don’t think about that.
His hands gripped the comforter tightly. He wouldn’t allow himself to think about the physical pain and what it meant. Instead he concentrated on the rules that the Emperor had outlined for him before he had left. He was determined to commit them to memory so that he would never have to be punished.
If this were what happened when the Emperor was happy with him, then he would make damn sure that he was never punished.
And besides, the rules weren’t difficult.
Never leave these quarters unless he had permission.
Never speak unless spoken to first.
Always address the Emperor as Master.
Always greet the Emperor on his knees with his head bowed.
And never, ever disobey a command.
JC shifted as he sought to find a more comfortable position. And when he felt the small trickle of liquid running down his thighs; he merely closed his eyes and repeated the rules to himself. Over and over again, until nothing else existed in his mind.