Chapter 3
As she watched Michael Horden giving his speech, Darla James tried hard to ignore the troubling sensations she had been feeling for over a month, now. She gazed at the tall, handsome man, his body leaning into the podium, his right hand punching the air with authority as he spoke.
She was angry at herself, for sitting there, she knew that she should be the happiest, most excited girl in the world. Here she was, seated at the United States place in the General Assembly, and she was having doubts to the core of her soul.
That she felt as foolish and stupid as a teenage girl could be, she was well aware. To even begin to doubt the strong, powerful man in front of her was insane, yet she could not escape it.
Intently, she watched the way he moved his body, smooth and graceful, never the slightest degree out of rhythm. He had the ability to use every bit of himself when making a speech. Not the smallest portion of his body was at rest, nor unused. He was never stiff and awkward, but always completely in control.
She could not see how they could possibly argue with him. Even if they did not agree with what he was saying, they would be overwhelmed by his sheer presence alone. She certainly had been. She was as captivated as a young child around the man. And that too, disturbed her greatly.
After the first love-making session in his apartment, she had gone home, sore and confused, wondering just exactly what had happened to her. She had heard of people that enjoyed either tying someone up, or being tied up themselves, but she never imagined she would ever meet someone like that.
To her, it was rather silly to want to go through all that, just to make love. It was not that she. found it disgusting, just simply a waste of time. Why be all bound up, when you could be free to maneuver, she thought.
For awhile, she simply imagined that it was a quirk he had, some little game he liked to play for amusement. Even, perhaps, a test to see how much she truly loved him. She didn't mind the test at all, though her wrists hurt badly for a week afterward, and she would gaze at them now and then, in shock that she had gone through all that.
He had had to leave town, go back to Washington to speak to a few important people, and thus had not been with her for almost ten days. She could not figure out whether she was depressed by his absence, or relieved. For truly, her own reactions to the session with him, had been confusing to say the least. While she did not feel she enjoyed pain one little bit, she could not deny there had been something about it that stimulated her.
She hated to think she was looking forward to it again, but as she watched him now, finishing up the speech, she realized she was feeling a vague, yet powerful anticipation. Tonight would be their first night together in a long time.
Her wrists were now completely healed and of course, they did not bother her any more. But still, she could sense the ropes around them, almost feel the pressure and pain they had given her, and when she remembered the night, strange, powerful sensations rippled through her flesh that were much stronger than mere passion.
She slipped out of the room as he concluded the speech and raced down to the car port. A limousine was waiting for them, and she climbed into the back seat, trembling with growing excitement.
"Ohh, if he is only kind to me tonight," she murmured softly to herself. "Maybe it was just a little experiment, something he wanted to try out for once!"
As Michael Horden slipped into the back seat beside her and took her into his arms, she prayed that this was true, though she could not forget the room where it had happened, nor the strange and almost evil manner in which it was decorated.
"I have a little surprise for you, my darling," he whispered as he gave the driver of the car his address. "I am going to promise you an exciting evening!"
She trembled with excitement, wondering what that could be. "Where are we going?" she asked, breathlessly. "A show, after dinner?"
He laughed and patted her knee, affectionately. "You might call it that, my dear," he said mysteriously. "Though we won't have to leave the apartment to attend the performance!"
He would not tell her anything further, and her excitement at the surprise he had planned grew so powerful, that she forgot all about the worry and dread she had been experiencing earlier.
They had dinner on the terrace, delicious roast beef, prepared by his personal chef. He served them a delicate and rare wine, filling her glass again and again as she drank the sweet tasting liquid readily.
Strangely enough, though she was very, very excited, and could barely keep her hands off him all through the meal, she began to feel sleepy, once their dinner was finished. She yawned, and sighed, shaking her head in embarrassment.
"God, I don't know what's the matter with me," she moaned. She felt a little dizzy and he reached out to squeeze her hand.
"Perhaps you should lie down for a bit, my love," he said affectionately. "A little too much wine, maybe. Why don't you take a brief nap?"
She yawned again and nodded, allowing him to lead her over to the sofa. She lay down on the big, wide divan and he tucked a pillow beneath her head for comfort. He pulled up a chair beside her, and held her hand in his, whispering softly.
"Sleep now, my precious one, sleep a bit before the entertainment begins," he said, his voice rich and mellow, almost hypnotic, it seemed. "When you awake, it shall be to a different state, a feeling as you never have had before! Sleep, my lovely, and prepare!"
Darkness swirled around her and while she did not seem to fall completely asleep, she could feel and see nothing for the longest time. She heard faint voices, as if they were drifting down from a long way away, and then she felt strangely as if she were being lifted up from the divan and carried somewhere.
The voices grew louder, then and light began to reach her eyes. She blinked them rapidly, and when her vision was clear once again, she realized with a start that she was back in the same room Michael had taken her into before.
This time, however, they were not alone. There were perhaps a dozen other men in the room, all dressed expensively, mingling in groups of three and four, obviously quite excited from the anxious expressions they wore on their faces.
She stared around the room, gasping a bit as she saw Michael in the center of the luxurious and vaguely threatening chamber, standing in a long, flowing black robe, beside a huge, antique chair. Seated in the chair was a beautiful, attractive girl, naked, her long, thick red hair flowing over her shoulders and breasts.
She was just a few years older than Darla and seemed to be staring directly at her, though her eyes seemed dull and lifeless. She was sweating, it appeared, for her skin glistened under the glow of the hundreds of candles that were placed around the room. Darla stared at her intently, trying to discern the meaning of all of this.
"Ahh, my little playmate is with us again," Michael chuckled as he noticed Darla staring at the girl in the chair. "The entertainment can begin, gentlemen!"
Instantly, all the heads in the room turned toward the "spot where Michael was standing, and the buzz of conversation stopped. A sense of anticipation, so powerful and real, filled the air, that Darla felt her own flesh beginning to grow wet with the super-charged atmosphere that surrounded her.
Michael lifted the huge, golden pendant that hung around his neck and held it up for all to see. In the center of the pendant was a ruby gem, shaped like a diamond, twinkling brightly from the flickering candle light.
"This is our sacred charge," Michael whispered softly. "Those who know of this symbol of our power, bow to it, willingly!"
"All bow to the sacred power," the men responded, dropping to their knees in front of the sparkling pendant.
"Throughout the centuries we have struggled to regain the power the ancients bequeathed to us," Michael continued. "Now, our hour is at hand. The time of our reckoning swiftly approaches!"
"We shall abide, we shall triumph," echoed the men, their voices clearly chanting together as one, now.
"Gaze upon the symbol of our power, the mighty jewel of your destiny," he commanded them. "Learn the strength it gives your, for we are all as one hand, in the Brotherhood!"
"The Brotherhood, the Brotherhood," the men chanted. "All hail the Brotherhood!"
Michael stepped forward, and for the first time, as she tried to rise, Darla realized she was tied, tightly to the chair she was seated in. She gasped as she stared down at her wrists and ankles, tightly lashed to the arms and legs of the chair. Fear raced through her then, and she trembled as Michael continued his chant.
"Many have joined the Brotherhood, many of the greatest have served its aims!" he barked. "Remember them, Hitler, Stalin, Bismark, all back through the ages, all have been members of our most secret society!"
"Hail our former brothers, they shall live again," the men called out in harsh, compelling voices, the sound strange and terrifying to Darla's ears.
"We rule, as we logically should, through our women," Michael went on. "They are the key to our triumph, for they can bring our enemies down!"
"Train them, train them to obey," the men echoed. "Teach them their rightful place, show them how to serve us!"
Michael held up his hand to quiet the other men. Gazing around the room, Darla recognized, with a shock, a number of important businessmen and statesmen from around the world. She could not believe it, but they were all wearing similar pendants around their necks, though theirs were not nearly as powerful-looking or expensive as Michael's.
"As you know, the only way we can be sure of victory, is to subdue our enemies through the power women have over all men," he told them, his voice less demanding and forceful, now. "We can only hope to win, by enslaving as many females as possible."
He turned and smiled, coldly, at the young girl in the chair, now. He pointed to her, then turned his hand over and beckoned her to her feet, indicating that she should join him in front of the assembled men.
"This exquisite child is a new recruit to our cause," he whispered softly. "She has not yet learned to love us totally, without any thought to herself."
The young girl stepped carefully over to where Michael stood. Darla could see a thin bead of moisture between her breasts, and she noticed that the full, firm mounds were rising and falling rapidly, now, indicating that the excitement was building steadily in the girl, though her eyes were still vacant and dull.
"Come, Karen, come and greet your Masters," Michael whispered harshly. "They can give you what you crave, the pain and suffering that you desire."
The girl moaned as he spoke, shivering visibly, as if a sudden chill had swept through the room. She nodded her head, extending her arms out in front of her, now, her knotted fists pressed tightly together.
"Bind me, Master," she whispered softly. "Take my flesh, and make it captive, let me feel the cruel caress of a rope around my skin!"
Her voice was urgent and fierce, as if she felt a powerful, urgent passion searing her flesh deeply. Darla licked her lips, nervously, wondering what all of this meant, fearing, strangely, for herself and the girl as she watched what happened in front of her with intently staring eyes.
Michael smiled at the girl and took a piece of leather thong from within the folds of his robe. He quickly bound the girl's slender wrists tightly together, pulling on the ends of the thong until the thick cord cut deep into the girl's flesh and she winced in obvious discomfort.
"You wish to be my captive slave, do you not, Karen?" Michael asked. His voice was thick and harsh, now, clearly intent on demanding the correct response from her.
She nodded. "I ache to be bound. Master," she replied, the trembling in her voice an indication of her excitement. "I yearn to be completely helpless. My wrists are not enough. Master, I do not wish to be free to move at all!"
Michael laughed abruptly and turned, nodding in the direction of one of the men. "You have trained her well, Brother Devane," he said. "She is nearly to the point where she will be unable to do. anything but serve us unthinkingly."
The man he was speaking to stood up and nodded. "I thank you, Brother Horden," he replied. "The bitch had a set back, but she is over that, now. I do not think she will give us any more trouble!"
Michael motioned for him to kneel once more then he turned to Darla, smiling broadly. "You are about to witness a transformation, my dear," he told the young girl. She saw his eyes blazing fiercely, and she shook her head, wondering if she were only dreaming, now.
"You are about to see this young woman suffer, but suffer gladly. She will endure pain, and beg for more! She is about to undergo a change from normal, dull young woman, to a perfect and willing servant of our Brotherhood. She will do this willingly, and she will be rewarded with exactly what she desires."
He turned his attention back to the girl, now and took hold of the strands of thong that dangled from her bound wrists. He pulled on it harshly, dragging her with him to a curiously shaped piece of furniture to the right of where they had been standing. It was an oval shaped object, standing on four legs, that rose up to nearly waist high on the young girl.
Willingly, she bent over this object, and remained still as Michael slipped a heavy noose over her head. He pulled it tightly around her neck, until she was gasping for breath, then he bent down and slipped the end of the rope through an iron ring set in the floor.
He reached beneath the oval shaped object then, and quickly lashed her ankles to either leg of the stand, tying her feet far apart, so that she was trembling, dangerously, in position.
She groaned as Michael stood up again, the other end of the rope around her neck, now clasped in his hand. He pulled sharply on the length of rope, "dragging her head downward and her body over the oval base of the stand.
She gagged, her whole frame quivering with the tautness of her position, now. Michael secured the rope to a beam that ran up to the ceiling, effectively trapping the girl in place, leaving her hardly room enough to breathe, so tightly was she stretched over the oval object.
"How do you feel now, my dear, helpless, trapped?" he chuckled. He moved around behind her, running the palm of his hand over the smooth, sleek curve of her strained spine. "Are you quite unable to move?"
"Yes, ohh, God, yes, Master," the young woman moaned. From the sound of her voice, it seemed to Darla that she was deep in some sort of rapture. As if she could feel nothing but waves of pleasure rippling through her, from her helpless position. Michael patted her full, firm buttocks almost tenderly.
"Do you like being in this position, my dear?" he asked, slyly. "Do you like being naked and defenseless, unable to escape at all?"
Once more the young girl moaned, this time so clearly sexual in manner and tone, that it shocked Darla from the sheer intensity of her response. The young girl's head strained at the rope around her neck and she attempted to nod.
"I am in ecstasy, Master," she whispered, her voice thick and muffled from her desperate attempts to breathe. "I felt more alive than I ever have before in my life!"
"Look at her, Darla," Michael suddenly commanded. His voice was so sharp and loud that it startled the girl out of her trance and she gazed at him in fear. "Look at the way she trembles with pleasure and excitement! She is completely consumed with passion, now! A state of ecstasy to be desired, wouldn't you agree?"
Darla was sweating fiercely, now, trembling as she tried to clear her foggy brain of the effects of the wine she had taken. Her arms and legs were heavy and dull, her body seemed lifeless. She thought, vaguely, that she might have been drugged, but she could not understand, as yet, to what purpose.
Now, Michael turned to the wall behind him and unlocked a large, glass cabinet. He peered over the contents of the rack behind the doors and selected a long, thick, multi-stranded whip. He turned and cracked the strands of the instrument against the floor.
The sound ripped through the air with startling violence.
"Brother Devane, come forward," he hissed. "You shall be the one to discipline this slave, and give her the rapture of suffering she desires!"
The short, stocky man that had stood up before quickly made his way to his feet. He crossed the room in moments and took the ugly, black weapon from Michael's hands. He balanced the whip in his own hand, testing its weight and drag until he found a suitable grip on the tool.
Darla watched as he took up a position behind the trembling girl, drawn tight over the oval object. Her flesh was covered with sweat now, and she was uttering soft, quiet moans as he spoke to her in a cruel, harsh voice.
"You have come this far, bitch, but you have not surrendered completely," he snarled, draping the strands of the whip, teasingly across her shoulders. "I must drive all other thoughts from your flesh, now, so that you may be able to do your duty without hesitation."
Darla was certain the young girl would begin to beg him for mercy, for the cruel, black strands of the whip frightened her, even though it was not she that was about to experience the pain they could bring.
Instead, the young, beautiful red head nodded wildly again. "Teach me, Master, teach me to obey," she moaned, trembling anew as he pulled his hand back and the strands of the whip slithered down along her curved spine.
"Do you want to feel my punishment, do you want to feel my manhood?" he asked, brutally. "Are you ready to accept your proper place in the service of the Brotherhood?"
"Ohh, God, yes, Master," the young girl moaned, wildly. "I only wish to be completely in your power! The rope is my lover, it holds me in its cruel embrace, the pain is the symbol of the only love I crave! Now, Master, do it now!"
The short, stocky man stood back a few feet and lifted the whip high over his head. He brought it down savagely against the damp, naked shoulders of the girl in front of him, and Darla herself screamed, with the cruel sound of the strands of harsh, black leather lashing her defenseless flesh.
The crack of the whip meeting her skin made the young girl scream in pain, shuddering against the tight strands of leather and rope that held her fast. Almost at once, a deep, red welt rose up along the top of her shoulders, and the air became thick with the scent of musky desire.
Clearly, the man that struck her was now in some sort of state of passion. His eyes were glazed over and he trembled as he brought the whip down hard against the girl's firm, pert buttocks. The crack of the whip crashing into her flesh filled the room once more, followed again by her cry of torment.
"Suffer, suffer for your foolishness," he snarled, lashing her bottom once again with the whip, the cruel, cutting strands now opening her flesh and allowing a thin stream of blood to trickle over her thighs. "Love the pain, love it deeply!
"Ohh, God, yes, yes," the girl sobbed, rocking her buttocks from left to right, her face etched with a mixture of pain and pleasure, now. "Ohh, I feel so good, Master, your pain is so wonderful! Again, dear Master, hit me again!"
Once more the man brought the whip down, this time crashing it hard against the base of her spine. She screamed in agony, jerking violently under the effects of the blow. Her body twisted savagely, even against the tight pull of the ropes that held her ankles to the legs of the stand.
Her arms moved up and down, her wrists turning back and forth against the leather that bound them. She bit her lips and nodded, willingly offering her pert, creamy half moons for another blow, the flesh now smeared with the blood of her wounds.
"Will you serve us, bitch?" the man snarled, merely draping the whip across her shoulders once more. "Will you serve us without question, without any desire to do anything other than obey!"
"Yes, ohh, yes, yes," she moaned, shuddering so violently that Darla thought she might faint from her wanting alone. "I am in you command, now, Master, I can not escape you! I can only obey, for I am bound by the blessed rope to your will!"
The man called Devane chuckled harshly and began to strike her with the whip once more. Darla looked on in horror as blow after blow fell, cutting and slashing the girl's flesh until her back was a mass of dripping wounds, ribbons of torn flesh bleeding freely.
But the young woman did not appear to mind the punishment and torture one bit. If anything, it was clear to Darla that she welcomed each blow, lifted her body up eagerly to receive them.
The man continued to beat her with the whip for several more minutes, until Michael Horden stepped forward once more and shook his head for the man to stop. Michael held out his hand, and the man, breathing wildly now, his gasps loud and fierce as his excitement tore through him, seemed reluctant to give up the tool.
"Come, you know what must be done, next," Michael snarled. "She must be given your manhood, to seal the promise. You must please her, Brother Devane, if she is to obey. Loyalty must be repaid!"
Darla could see the girl writhing against the surface of the oval object now, her arms jerking violently, her fingers entwined as the pain she had to be experiencing continued to throb in her damaged body.
She watched, carefully, as the man behind the girl, now reached out with his hands and rubbed them over her battered, torn back. She winced in pain as he brushed his fingers over her wounds, slithering them down to her trembling buttocks.
She gasped softly, jerking forward, suddenly, as the man slithered the tips of his now blood-stained fingers down along the cleft between her poor, bruised buttocks. Her face twisted into a mask of pure ecstasy as the man began to knead her soft, spongy half moons with his sticky fingers.
"Ummm, ohh, yesh, Master, take me in the ancient manner," she groaned, shivering as another spasm tore through her, now. "Ahh, your fingers feel so good, there. Master! So strong and powerful, where I am weak and helpless! Yes, Master, give me yourself, there, r take me in the way I should be taken, now!"
The rope around her neck had cut so deeply into her flesh, that she was bleeding there also, now, her skin chafed and torn by the harsh strands. She gasped and shuddered, her body enveloped with pain, her back bent and strained from the pull on her neck.
Darla watched in sickening horror as the man named Devane rode his fingers back and forth along the damp, warm cleft between Karen's buttocks, now. He was eagerly massaging the moist, hot valley, kneading the fleshy pit between her cheeks. Her lips trembled with excitement and the sweat poured down her forehead as the man anxiously pressed his fingertips tightly against her anal dot.
The young woman gasped with the pain of his brutal probing. Her buttocks quivered violently as Devane pushed his fingers against the unyielding pit. She moaned thickly, shivering uncontrollably, the pain racing through her unrelentingly, now.
With a cry of triumph, the man forced a' single digit into the girl's throbbing ass. She sobbed with the harsh pain of his invasion, her body bucking against the oval standard in response to the plunging digit.
"Deeper, deeper, please," she moaned, rocking from left to right in spasms of agony.
"Ohh, God, please, give it to me, now, Master, now!"
Laughing cruelly, Devane forced his finger further along the hot, taut passage of Karen's anal canal. Her flesh quivered around the seeking prong, unyielding to the advance as the man continued to shove it deeper into her passage.
The pain was savage and fierce and her bottom felt on fire, but the young girl sobbed with obvious delight in her agony and the man laughed with pleasure as he felt her rectal muscles eagerly gripping his driving prong.
His free hand went to his trousers, now and he pulled down his zipper and began to knead his exposed cock. He rode his fingers back and forth along the length of his meat, soon joining the rhythm of his pumping hand with that of his finger pounding in and out of the girl's asshole.
Darla watched, unable to tear her eyes away from this strange and fascinating scene. She could see the pain written all over the girl's face, yet there was clear and certain ecstasy in the girl's eyes.
Even as she rocked and swayed with the cruel, plunging digit, Darla could tell that she was quaking with more than the violence of her torture. Pleasure, pure and undeniable, was racing through her at the same moment.
The man joined his first finger with another, and began to turn them both back and forth in the girl's throbbing pit. She gasped and moaned, trembling with the savage power of the thrusting digits, her lips drawn tightly across her teeth, in an almost animalistic snarl.
"Ohh, God, your manhood, you must give me the pleasure of your cock, now, Master," she moaned. "Please give it to me now! I need your manhood in my ass, right now!"
The man glanced up at Michael and he nodded swiftly. "Her time is ready, she yearns for the pain and pleasure of your assault," he said in a thick, tight voice. "You must please her, Brother Devane, even as she pleases you!"
Eagerly, now, the man removed his fingers from the girl's throbbing anal pit and gripped her buttocks in his hands. She gasped as he pulled them as far apart as possible, slipping his thick, long shaft between them.
Darla gasped in shock and horror as she realized that he did indeed intend to have her that way. Any shame or embarrassment she might have felt was long gone, now, for the incredibility of this event, mixed with the strange excitement she felt viewing it, had erased any other emotions she might have had.
She watched as if her eyes were frozen in place, now, as the man inched his prick deeper into the girl's anal cleft. She saw the look of shock and anticipation cross the girl's face, as the man's thick, hot prick head pressed against the entrance to her hot, tight chamber.
"Now, ohh, yes, take me, now, Master," she moaned, thrusting her buttocks back hard against the man's groin. "Ummm, yes, I want you in me, Master, in me, now!"
Devane groaned with excitement, his cock throbbing wildly, his balls churning with need as he thrust forward, now, driving his prick into the trim, narrow pit of the girl's quivering ass. She screamed at the harsh, sudden invasion, feeling her taut, rectal canal being torn by the cruel presence of the man's shaft.
She gasped, breathlessly, feeling her ass pounding with pain, her head tossing wildly on her shoulders as Devane groaned and pushed deeper into her, now. His cock slowly slithered down along the tight, small channel, every inch forcing the slender path to widen beyond any normal limits.
The girl shuddered violently, groaning as the pain grew more and more fierce, and the exquisite ecstasy of her suffering began to consume her. Her head nodded wildly again, and she began to laugh with overwhelming satisfaction.
"Ohh, God, yes, Master, yes, all the way inside of me, now," she moaned. She rocked from left to right and kneaded the plunging shaft with her firm, rectal muscles. "Umm, give it all to me, Master, every inch of your manhood, now!"
Devane gasped in effort and thrust forward once again, bucking hard as he forced the final inches of his prick into her wet, steaming chamber. He groaned as his cock buried itself to the hilt in the girl's ass, and he lay over her back, shuddering as it throbbed wildly in her burning pit.
All eyes in the room were on the two people, then, gazing at them fiercely as Devane began to rock his shaft in and out of the girl's tortured hole. He held her firmly by the hips, riding his cock back and forth in swift, savage strokes, grinding his belly against the luscious curve of her buttocks each time he. buried himself in her narrow passage once more.
His cock was throbbing fiercely in the girl's tender channel, now. He could feel the flesh surrounding his rod, quaking and kneading his prick with every stroke he took. The young girl could feel his prick throbbing violently, each pulsation giving her pain beyond belief and she nodded, sobbing and laughing her pleasure at the assault.
Again and again he powered his shaft into her ass. She sobbed and shuddered, bucking with the effects of the attack as the pain continued to roar through her.
Darla watched, her eyes wide as the thrilling rapture spread across the girl's tortured face, clearly showing her to be in a state of ecstasy beyond belief. She wondered how that could possibly feel, how anything so fierce and savage as what Karen was undergoing could give her such pleasure.
But there, was no escaping the girl's body as she eagerly thrust herself back to meet the plunging spear attacking her. She groaned and shuddered, bucking wildly as the prick pumped faster and faster along her aching canal.
The man moaned in pleasure, his fingers digging deep into Karen's hips, hugging her to his belly tightly as he buried his tool inside of her again. He could barely speak, now, so wild and compelling was the need that was throbbing in his loins.
"Ahh, yes, yes," he groaned, shuddering violently, now. "I'm going to come, going to come in you, Karen, now!"
"Ohh, Master, yes, let me have your seed, fill my ass with your seed," the girl sobbed. "Now, Master, come inside me, now!"
Darla imagined the room was shuddering with the savage and sudden effects of the man's climax. She thought she could see his cock slam hard and deep into the girl's tortured pit as the savage release swept through him.
He sobbed and shuddered, bucking wildly back and forth as the hot come spurted from his tool and seared the girl's inner walls with its creamy force. The girl's face was one of complete rapture and contentment as she felt the man climaxing in her pit.
She sighed and moaned, rocking from left to right, completely delighted with this final, and brutal moment of pain she was enduring. The moans that escaped her lips, were clearly those of intense and completely consuming passion.
Michael Horden smiled at Darla then, his lips tight and firm as if in a grimace. "Do you see, my love, all that awaits you?" he chuckled softly. "You have tasted the rope's caress once, the further ecstasies are yours for the asking! You need only to surrender to the gift they offer you, my dear!"
Darla James blinked and felt her stomach rumbling wildly. She felt as if she could not breathe, then, so powerful was the fear that was racing through her. She closed her eyes, as blackness descended upon her once again, and she thought she heard her own voice screaming in horror, though it seemed to come from much further away than her own, raw and quivering throat.