The dungeon

Iris’s POV

The fear had just started to morph into instant shock, and I wasn’t even given a chance to catch my breath before I felt a rough hand close around my arm and pull me forcefully to my feet. My eyes flew open at the same time, to see one of the men pulling me into his arms.

The one with the scar across his left eye.

Wait a minute, what just happened? How had they gotten to me so fast?

The last thing I remembered, which I’m sure only happened a few nanoseconds ago, was that deadly black mamba rising on its belly and staring me dead in the eyes. Baring its poisonous fangs.

I was very sure it had almost bitten me too. I mean, that was why I had screamed, right? The sight of the snake had scared me to the core, and I had let my guard down.

“Let me go!” I screamed as the perverse man threw me against his pudgy body. I felt even more disgusted as he rubbed his lower body against my arse.

“Stay still, will ya?” The man purred in my ear, shoving my hair away from my face. “Where do you think you’re headed?”

“Just, get away from me!” I lifted my knee and gave him a pretty good jab in his groin, and he yelped, letting me go for a moment. I seized the opportunity, and bolted away from him, further into the forest, at the same time wondering where his partner had disappeared to. I was sure there were two of them that had come after me.

My eyes darted sharply around the forest as I ran, silently praying to not encounter any more reptiles or dangerous forest things, or else I’d faint. I still did not know where the first snake I had encountered had disappeared, but I did not care. All that mattered was that I wasn’t bitten, or shot to death.

I was still alive, and as the popularly faith-based saying went, once there’s life, there’s hope. So…I would make it out of this forest, away from these people.

Consumed by my whirling thoughts, and blinded by fear so deep, I suddenly bumped into something rock-hard, which brought my flight to an abrupt halt. Before I could recover from the impact, and realize what I had bumped into, a set of rough, strong arms grabbed me and lifted me off my feet, throwing me against a rock-hard wall.

As I failed my arms and legs, crying and screaming, I realized that whoever this was, he was most probably with the other man. Why else would he throw me over his shoulders? He was capturing me.

No wonder…I had fleetingly thought about where the other partner could have disappeared. So, they had set a trap for me?

“What do you people want from me?!” I wailed, “Just let me go, please.” As expected, my whimpers and wails fell on deaf ears.

“Hush now, pretty girl. You’re a property of the Don’s, and he would not take it so lightly if you escaped.” This man seemed a bit kinder, from the patience in his voice as he spoke to me, but his grip on my frame was nonetheless strong.

“So, this is your way of showing me gratitude, huh?!” It was the voice of the other man with a scar across his left eye.

What was he talking about?

The one carrying me set me down, still holding onto my arm in a death grip, and just as my feet touched the ground, the man with a scar flew at me, landing a stinging slap across my face. My free hand flew to my face instantly, a subconscious, fruitless effort to stop the redness and hotness from spreading.

I glared at him, fuming. Out of all the men I had encountered in this ugly journey I had been forced to embark on, I despised this man the most. Well, I still despised Adam Culver the most—I mean, no one could take the place of that monster.

But this particular man, this underling, was just..vile, and perverse. And evil.

“Do you also want me to slap away that glare from your eyes? Keep your eyes down, brat!” he screamed, the veins on his neck almost popping out.

“That’s enough, Julian,” the one holding me said from behind me. “We should head back now. This forest’s occupants aren’t very friendly to trespassers-“

“Shut the fuck up, you!” The man with a scar, Julian, screamed at his colleague, his mad eyes still trained on me. The streetlights that filtered into the forest made it easier for me to see the mixture of pure rage and lust in his eyes.

How could a human be so devilish?

“And as for you,” he shoved his hands into his pockets and closed the short distance between us, “I mean,” he scoffed, “I just saved your life back there. Is this how you thank me?

My brows furrowed in confusion, and he caught a hint. “That poisonous reptile, that snake!” He was panting now, breathing down my face. He closed his eyes, biting his lips. Why did he seem so agonized? So…distraught?

“That snake, just now, almost bit you death,” he seethed, “if I hadn’t shown up just in time and blown its bloody brains away, it would have sunk its teeth into your supple skin.” He lifted a hand and trailed it down my cheek, while I trembled in rage and fear.

“I couldn’t let that happen, you see,” he continued, "because the don gave very clear orders, that no one, or nothing, should lay a finger on you.”

“Then why are you touching me?!” I fired back defiantly.

Julian opened his mouth wide in a derogatory laugh, mocking me. “You would soon get to know that Don and I are somewhat on the same level. So, the orders he gives aren’t for me to follow. Do you understand me?”

I just glared at him as he spoke, feeling the rising need to hurt him just as much as he was hurting me. In his words. His eyes. His hands.

In the blink of an eye, I raised my free hand and slashed my fingers across his face, drawing his blood underneath them.

He yelped and stepped backward, his hands flying to his face, which was a mask of bloodied horror. He looked from his hands to me, the horror on his face quickly giving way to stark rage. Pure rage.

Despite being afraid, I was somewhat satisfied that I had hurt him, even if it was just a little bit. His already scarred face was now even more bruised, and I’m sure it wasn’t just his face that was bruised. His ego too.

I managed a weak, victorious smile, and that was his undoing. He charged towards me, ready to tear me apart, and before he could get to me, his partner, who had quietly watched the exchange between me and Julian, whilst still holding on to me, stepped in front of me, shielding me from the wrath of the man.

“That’s enough, Julian. You can punish her later. Let’s just get out of this goddamn forest.”

Julian glared at him for what seemed like an eternity, and then, finally; he stepped aside, sneering. “Things just got more interesting, man. Let’s get back to the manor, then.”

His gaze flickered to me, and I felt my heart somersault in fear, as no one had ever looked at me with such malice.

“Throw her in the dungeon once we get back.”

And, my mouth ran dry. Dungeon?! There was still a dungeon in this day and age?