Waking with a start, Ali clutched her chest and willed her heart to stop beating so fast. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked at the clock on her bedside table. Only it wasn’t there. She was in the holding cell again. Cold and naked. With no idea what the time was, Ali tried in vain to find sleep once more. But sleep would not come. She couldn’t rest after the nightmare from which she had woken.
Closing her eyes, she saw herself falling down a black hole, frantically gripping the sides and trying to claw her way back out and into safety. Her colleagues stood around her and watched, laughing and jeering as she fell. She had failed her tasks, too weak to complete the challenges that The Darkness had put in front of her. She shook the dream from her mind and instead thought of Abaddon. Ali wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into. Any shame she’d felt had left her. Already, after only one day, she had let Abaddon delve between her folds; and allowed herself to be shackled into a cage where three women kissed and licked and sucked and fucked her. She felt a pang of guilt, as if she had betrayed herself, but it was fleeting.
The door creaked open and Abaddon entered her room, his expression hard and sombre in stark contrast to that of the previous day. Opening her mouth to speak, Ali was quickly stopped by his harsh words. “You would do well to remember that you are the property of The Darkness, and as such are not permitted to speak unless spoken to. Even a brazen whore such as yourself knows this. Now activate your brain and remember how the hell to behave. Come.”
Ali swallowed, tears prickling at her eyes as she nodded mutely and followed Abaddon through the door and into another room on the right hand side of the corridor that led to The Great Chamber.
Then he was gone, leaving her alone and confused. She was sure that he was sincere in his caring yesterday, but perhaps it was all just a game to him. It’s a game to you too, she reminded herself. There is no room for feelings of sincerity in The Darkness. There wasn’t time to wallow as the door swung open and Orifiel walked in. He grabbed the collar around her neck and pulled her from the bench on which she sat. Standing face to face he regarded her, a look of disgust in his eyes.
His eyes! She thought. Even though his face was concealed by the mask, his eyes gave him away. Adler! Sneaky bastard!
“Ready for today’s task, Parisa?” he asked, spittle hitting her face and making her gag.
“Yes, Sir.”
He sneered and squeezed both breasts painfully, causing Ali to wince and recoil, delighting him all the more. He clipped the leash to the silver loop that decorated the front of her collar and led her out of the holding cell, along the corridor, through the chamber and into the Dungeon.
Ali grew cold, the colour draining from her cheeks as she surveyed the room. Another cage sat in the far corner of the room, though smaller than hers of yesterday. This was a cage for an animal, yet inside, curled in the foetal position was Lailah, who glanced up at them as they entered. Lailah, the tall, exotic vixen who so lovingly tended to her yesterday, now lay cuffed, bound and gagged on the cold floor of the cage, red welts patterned across her back, bottom and thighs.
Orifiel grabbed the back of Ali’s head, fisting her hair tightly before snarling in her ear, “Today we test your pain threshold. On the cross. Now.”
Abaddon appeared to her left, no longer dressed in his customary black suit. Now, he wore black trousers, without shoes and socks, and without a shirt. She looked him over, his taut muscles rippling as he moved. Placing a hand on the small of her back, Abaddon steered Ali towards the tall Saint Andrew’s cross that stood proudly in the centre of the room. He tethered her in place, her belly pressed to the center of the cross, her wrists and ankles bound tightly to the beams.
Ali was silent, unable to speak through fear, genuinely terrified of what was to come. She saw a blindfold on the floor to her left and prayed that they would use it so she could shield her terror from their gaze.
“Outside these walls, Parisa, what is your name?” Orifiel asked as he paced around the cross slowly.
Abaddon visibly stiffened, unnerved by such a brazen breach of a candidate’s anonymity.
But Ali answered just the same, “Inspector Aliyah Smithson, Sir.”
“Your desire?”
“To be Chief of Police, Sir.”
Orifiel stopped behind her, roughly palming the fleshy globe of her ass. “And why do you want such an esteemed accolade?”
“To be the best, Sir.”
“Greed, dear Parisa, is a very, very ugly sin. You may very well be the best, but whether you deserve such an accolade remains to be seen.”
Ali winced as his fingers pinched her flesh, nails biting at her skin.
“It drives a person mad, wreaking havoc with their mind and causing them to do crazy things. Strange things. Nasty things. Depraved things.”
He pulled her cheeks apart, slipping two fingers deep into her cunt. Despite her fear, Ali had grown wet the moment she saw the sweet Angel Lailah curled in the cage, her big icy eyes twinkling at Ali, even through the poor woman’s obvious discomfort. There’s something about her, Ali thought as Orifiel fingered her pussy, and there’s a reason she is here in this room with me.
Flinging her head back in pain, Ali screamed as Orifiel roughly breached her forbidden hole, an ungreased callused finger rasping in and out of her anus making her recoil and twist against the restraints.
“Not a fan of the Greek manner I see. Perhaps this derriere prefers a different kind of treatment instead.” Orifiel withdrew his fingers and slapped her right cheek with his large palm.
He retrieved a paddle from a box to the left of the cross, a sturdy rectangle of hard, black leather, with one side bound in coarse muslin. He rested it against her flesh before dragging it slowly across each ass cheek.
“It is time that you were truly punished for your sins.”
Thwack!
Ali yelped as the first blow hit, stinging her right cheek with spiteful leather. The second hit was worse, intense pain shooting through her as Orifiel administered smack after smack to her delicate flesh. She could see Abaddon out of the corner of her eye, watching closely as she was beaten by the Elder, watching her reactions to each spank of hand, each sting of paddle.
“The crop please, Abaddon,” Orifiel said, throwing the paddle to one side and holding out his hand. “She’s stubborn this one, needs to be taught a real lesson.”
“Careful, Orifiel,” Abaddon warned as he handed the crop to his superior.
Shoving two fingers unceremoniously between Ali’s thighs, Orifiel coated them in the juice of her cunt before holding them in front of Abaddon’s nostrils and saying coldly, “Does this really look like someone with whom I need to be careful, Abaddon?”
He stared at the younger man before licking his fingers clean. “No, this is a whore in the purest form. A lovely little pain slut for us to play with.”
The crop bit at her thighs as Orifiel hit the backs of her legs over and over and over again, until she was wriggling against her restraints in an attempt to escape. Her breaths came fast and heavy, but Ali was stubborn, unable to ask for mercy no matter how much it hurt. No — Ali would not beg.
“Abaddon,” she whispered in laboured breath. “Please.”
Approaching her from the side, Abaddon drew the backs of his fingers along her cheek, brushing her hair over her shoulder. The act a tender contrast to the beating she was receiving.
“Yes, Parisa?” His voice was soft and low, a sweet hum amidst the deafening echoes of Orifiel’s crop.
“My pussy,” she said. “Please...hit my pussy.”
It appears Inspector Aliyah Smithson would beg after all!
No sooner had the words left her lips, Orifiel obliged, slapping her open cunt with his weapon. Shackled to the cross as she was, her nether lips were nicely split, vulnerable to attack from whatever means deemed necessary. Ali screamed as the folded leather tongue licked at her loins, catching her swollen clit roughly with each turn. Her flesh burned, but her peaking arousal pained her more than any whip of the crop.
“Please, please!” She begged, tugging harshly at the chains that bound her wrists.
Orifiel laughed. “Why dear girl, I do believe you are enjoying this a little too much.”
Orifiel set down the crop and turned to Abaddon. “It seems we have a genuine pain slut on our hands. Her rear is raw from the flogger and her pussy tender from the crop, and yet she has not yet begged for me to stop. Instead, she has begged to be allowed to cum.”
Abaddon nodded, looking at Ali before setting his gaze upon Lailah, already looking so broken and bruised in the cage on the floor. Following his line of sight, Orifiel smirked. “Ah yes, but of course. Fetch the Angel, Abaddon.”
“What? But Sir, it’s not time for them to...”
“I know! Fetch the Angel.”
Abaddon grew cautious, but he opened the front of the cage and helped Lailah through the hatch. Crawling across the room to Orifiel, Lailah looked pathetic, her skin grubby and her hair unkempt. She glanced at Ali and marvelled at the welts that glowed on her derriere, wishing that she could cope with such pain and channel it into pleasure as the officer had done only moments before.
“Put her in the cage,” Orifiel demanded as Abaddon freed Ali from the cross. Dragging Lailah to the cross by her collar, the Elder shackled her arms and legs roughly, making easy work of her struggling form. She twisted and shouted for him to stop, though each plead was swallowed by the black ball gag that squashed her tongue and rendered her mute.
Ali watched in horror as Lailah was manhandled and flogged against her will. “What is he doing to her? She’s in pain!” She clung to Abaddon, her voice quivering with fear and her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Oh, so you do have a conscience?” he asked.
“What?”
He pushed her into the cage and locked it before stalking his way back to Orifiel and Lailah. He always hated this part — the real punishment. It was so cruel and malicious. And it was so very harmful to the beautiful Angel now suspended on the cross. Lailah did not deal with pain well. Unlike Ali, she derived no pleasure from such depravity; and unlike Orifiel, Abaddon derived no pleasure from administering it.
From her position low down in the cage, Ali could see Lailah’s profile, noting the expression of terror on her face.
“Please...no...” She heard the Angel whimper seconds before Orifiel drew the cane across her already abused bottom. Her distress seemed to encourage Orifiel, who took great pleasure in caning this sweet woman.
Lailah screamed as the rattan stung her flesh, red welts blossoming across her charred skin. Shocked and silent, Ali swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw tears spill from the eyes of the Angel. Another blood-curdling cry sounded from Lailah’s throat as Orifiel brutally abused her tender flesh.
“Stop it! Please, stop it!” Ali yelled, her hands gripping the bars of the cage so tightly that her knuckles grew white.
The caning ceased as the Elders turned to face her. “Of course, Parisa, all you had to do was ask,” Orifiel said. His eyes bored into hers, black and beady like a snake. Her blood grew cold under his gaze. “I can untie Lailah now, free you from the cage and you can leave. No harm done.”
“L-leave?”
“Yes, Parisa, leave. And fail. No Chief of Police title for you.” He whipped the cane through the air, startling her. “So what’ll it be — free this poor, hurting Angel from the cross, let her seek attention for her wounds, and go home. Or stay, and watch in silence as I administer the remainder of Lailah’s punishment.”
“Punishment...?”
“Parisa, you really must pay attention,” Abaddon said, walking towards the cage. “You are here to face challenges set by The Darkness. Each challenge set specifically to suit your soul. You have a dark aura, Parisa. So tell me what lengths you will go to in order to attain that golden badge?”
Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes as she looked from Abaddon to Lailah and back again. “She’s in so much pain,” Ali whispered.
He nodded. “Yes. She is.”
“But if I set her free, I will forfeit my chance to be Chief of Police?”
Nodding again, Abaddon ran a finger across her cheek, pleading with her silently to let Lailah go and turn her back on the greed that gripped her heart. Shaking her head, Ali felt a slight twinge of shame before admitting, “I can’t do that. I can’t let this opportunity go... Continue with the punishment.”
“Good girl, Parisa.” Orifiel was delighted, resuming his position behind the weeping woman in the centre of the room.
Lailah turned her head and stared at Ali, with tear-stained cheeks and eyes filled with the sadness of betrayal. Ali felt sick, growing nauseous at what she had just done. At what she was about to witness, but the motive was there and greed was rife within her veins.
Unable to watch after the fifteenth strike, Ali turned in her cage and curled into a ball with her hands over her ears to muffle Lailah’s screams. A pang of guilt hit her stomach, but she brushed it aside as a weakness she couldn’t afford to have.
The cage door opened and Lailah was pushed roughly inside. Unable to turn her body easily with another person inside the cage, Ali didn’t move. The Angel was quiet, curled tightly into the foetal position with her back to Ali. The room was silent, save for the heartbreaking sound of Lailah’s sobs. Her body shook with their effort and Ali wanted nothing more than to ease her pain.
Ali shifted, twisting in the cage as best she could. Reaching out, she brushed her fingers gently across Lailah’s shoulder. “I... I’m so sorry, Lai-”
“Sorry! You’re sorry!? Who for? For me...my pain? Or for yourself? For your conscience?”
Ali was stunned at how Lailah recoiled from her touch as if burnt.
“Please, Lailah, I would never, ever hurt you,” Ali pleaded as she gazed at the woman in front of her. She ran her fingers through the thick crop of black hair at the back of Lailah’s head and began to massage slowly. “You’ve been so kind to me, I never...I would never...”
“Never what?” Lailah said, her voice a dull whisper. “Never cause me pain? Never harm me intentionally? Look at me Parisa. You broke me.” Lailah turned with difficulty inside the cage until she faced Ali, flinching in pain as her body ached and stung with every movement. “You and your greed.”
The look in her eyes made Ali’s head spin, conflicted emotion swimming through her mind. Lailah was right, she was evil, driven by sin and greed, and not caring who she hurt in the process. She ran a thumb across Lailah’s bottom lip, slightly swollen from Orifiel’s ravenous kisses.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, unable to hide the crack in her voice.
“Show me.”
Ali regarded Lailah for a moment, cautious that this could possibly be an act of deceit or trickery, a test that she needed to pass in order to survive the week. But as she looked into the eyes of this delicate creature, Ali rid her mind of such thoughts. Inching forward with care, she reached out and trailed her fingers across Lailah’s cheek before brushing a thumb over her lips, soft and yielding to the touch.
She didn’t know how exactly she had manoeuvred herself in the tiny cage to nestle snugly between two tanned thighs. She didn’t know when her tongue had started to lap at Lailah’s pussy, flicking back and forth across her swollen clit. She didn’t know at what time her fingers had made their way into the warmest of channels and began coaxing more syrup to seep from the slickest of cunts.
Time seemed to stand still as she feasted on the woman at her behest with focussed dedication. She longed for nothing in that moment. No Darkness, no prestigious accolade. Everything she wanted was right there with her. She kissed each pink lip of her Lailah’s cunt, taking her time to savour every taste, every scent, every tremble of her flesh and noise from her throat.
Ali looked up at Lailah, so utterly breathtaking in her beauty. Celestial and otherworldly. Gazing down at her were the bluest of eyes — eyes that were alight with lust, ablaze with desire, full of love and adoration. She drank in the sight of the Angel’s face — hooded lids, plump pink lips parted as soft whimpers burst from between them, caramel cheeks flushed with the rosiest of tints, a blush that crept towards heavy breasts and ruby red nipples peaked in arousal.
“Mmmmm...please...Parisa,” Lailah moaned as she wound her fingers into Ali’s hair. “More...”
Ali smiled against her pussy and upped her game. She closed her eyes and focused all her attention on rousing the orgasm from her lover, her tongue swiping along her slit in long, smooth strokes, dipping further down towards the small puckered hole of her anus with each lick.
“God... Yessss!”
Maintaining the rhythmic thrusting of her fingers inside Lailah’s cunt, Ali engulfed her clit between her lips and sucked hard, teasing the swollen bud to a powerful climax. She opened her eyes and looked up, wanting to watch this exotic beauty as she hit her peak. Lailah’s eyes fluttered closed, her lips pressed tightly together and her jaw tense, orgasm was fast approaching. Her head fell to the left and her grip on Ali’s hair tightened. And then the sexiest sounds came from her throat, rising from deep within her chest — a soft purr, a loud mew as she began to shatter against Ali’s mouth. Her back arched and a long moan of ecstasy escaped her throat as her pussy convulsed around Ali’s fingers, weeping over her skin, honey flowing freely into Ali’s greedy mouth.
They remained silent, Ali hoping that she had taken Lailah’s pain away, or provided a moment of distraction if nothing else.
“Come to me, honey,” Lailah said at last. “Sleep now, for soon you will face your toughest challenge yet.
Wondering what could ever be tougher than watching Lailah being beaten on the cross, Ali tried to free her mind of thoughts of tomorrow. She relaxed into Lailah’s embrace and sleep soon took over. For now, Ali could rest easy.
Abaddon emerged from the corner of the room, his presence clearly forgotten by the two subjects in the cage. Such wonderful Angels, he thought as he gazed down upon their entwined forms. Despite the day’s ordeal, they looked content, resting peacefully in each other’s arms. Good. For the days ahead, they would need all the rest they could get in preparation for the challenges to come.