CHAPTER 12

Mandy pulls the bolt open and hears a loud clang of metal striking the strike plate. A sigh escapes her lips as she presses into the door and gasps as pain shoots down her arm from her shoulder. Cursing under her breath, Mandy presses her back into the door and pushes her body back as the heavy door begins to creak and move forward, one step before the other as she hears a guttural sound of forced screaming that barely is heard.

Walking forward, her feet step against the polished marble, making a near-defeating sound in her ears as she sees the men encircled two rows deep. The rings of gold, tattooed hands and necks, and dark silver hair hold her in her steps. The way they hold their rigid bodies gives her a sense of safety and protection, but Mira is nowhere in sight. Cursing under her breath, Mandy moves forward once again.Touching a man's shoulder, she feels the body tense as he looks down at her with steel blue eyes. His eyes never leave hers, but it seems to ask her a question that causes her stomach to flip. Mandy nods as she bites down on her lip and moves past him. Moving a few steps forward, she hears the man behind her carefully clear his throat. The man before her, the second ring, appears to be as strong, less tattoos, no rings, and slick black hair. As he turns and looks at her, his eyes dart to the older man. Without speaking, Mandy realizes that the son is obeying the father as he stands aside.Looking into the older man's eyes, she moves past the second group of men as she feels his desire to hold her back. Almost like there was something the father and son were begging her to avoid; shaking her head, she pushed forward. As soon as her eyes focus on the sight before her, a shrill scream escapes her lips, and she collapses as the growing pool of blood inches before the man she saw in the wheelchair thrashes in pain."Amanda!" Viktor's voice booms.Mandy feels her face whip back as if struck, terrified to look anywhere but the floor. Her body trembles as she hears him call her name again. Her shoulders bounce up and down, and she cannot catch her breath, hiccupping in the moment's shock. Peering around the room, she sees a woman she has never seen before, fully dressed, gently stroking the hair of the young woman she was there to save.In the depth of her animalistic prey nature, she feels the terrible harshness of the world. Looking up at the last fleeting moment, she sees Viktor with a dangerous smile. Blood dripped down his face, chest, and arms. In a moment she knows it is not his as she weeps silently for what was once a man."I... I need to go..." Mandy says, surprised, as she vomits across the ground beside her. Doing her best to scurry away from Viktor and the horror before her."Stay!" He commands, almost stopping Mandy's breath for a few moments."Sir... please.""Why are you here?" Viktor demands.Mandy looks at Mira with sadness and desperation. "I need to escape, to get away, but I must save Mira first.""You want to save her?" Viktor pauses as he looks at her keenly, "To save her and escape yourself?""Yes.." Mandy says, still trying to control the hiccups that are getting the best of her."Yes, what!?" Viktor says in a harsh tone."Yes, Sir... sorry." Mandy looks back down to the ground to her side. The number of missing tips of the fingers, the fingernails pulled out, the tongue still nailed to the board with several teeth scattered across the floor. This isn't a punishment; he is ridding every notion that this man is human."You want to save her from what?""You..." Mandy says and gasps, putting her hands over her mouth.Viktor laughs wildly like a monster, looking back to Mira over his shoulder, "Do you need to be saved from me?"Mandy wishes she had run away, wished she had never come back. They sent her like a lamb to the slaughter. Trembling and crying, she hates Kama anew as she can't believe she sent her here. "Please, her mother begged me."Viktor sighs and looks at the door that has closed on itself under its weight. "Alexandra should know that her daughter will not leave, nor will you until he has taken his final breath.""Please, Sir," Mandy begs.Suddenly, she gasps, kicking her feet wildly as Mandy feels his hand gripping her hair and lifts her. Her head drags in the air beneath her, and she is pulled closer to the body, vomiting as her legs are dragged through the blood. Her body goes limp as she is dropped next to the tortured man."You want to escape and bring Mira with you? Is that it, slave?" Viktor demands."Yes, Sir..." Mandy says as her vision is blurred with tears.He grasps her hands and places them on the hilt of a knife pressed against the back of Boris's neck. Mandy, trembling so much, drops the knife before he rights her back up and puts her hands in it... "Neither of you will ever be free as long as he lives. Kill him.""What?" Mandy moves her head up, her eyes wide."He rapes, sells, and murders children. Kill him, and you and Mira will be free."Mandy feels the body twitching and moving beneath her. She can't imagine this man could still be a monster. He is broken into too many pieces ever to be a threat again. "Please, Sir.""Do as I command. Make it a path to your freedom, one single act of submission and you are free." Viktor demands.Pressing down with all of her weight, Mandy grants Boris a final mercy. As he passes through this life, she curls into a ball, vomiting and convulsing in fear and panic. Scanning faces, she sees the older man she first saw and sees pride. A strange feeling mixed deep within her as she had to do to earn freedom was a single but profound act of submission.