Free Dark Creations: Dark Ending (Part 6) by Jennifer Martucci, Christopher Martucci

at bay.  She’d never heard of Terzini creating members who were rapists, but conceded that she did not know much about Lord Franklin Tezini.  Perhaps he’d charged the one stripping her with violating her to break her spirit, of torturing her sexually before showing her ruined body to Gabriel.  Maybe Gabriel would be forced to watch. 
    Too ma ny terrible prospects existed and she felt her mind fracture, felt the thin threads that kept the rational part of her brain anchored to sanity begin to fail.  “No!” she screamed and managed to free one hand.  She clawed at the man closest to her.  Her nails raked against the soft skin around his eye and a thin streak of red appeared.  Blood trickled from it, yet the man did not react.  He did not cry out or wince and his hands did not slow.  Her hand was promptly restrained and she continued to be manhandled.
    When her bra and underwear had been stripped from her body, the members, shockingly, backed away from her.  Melissa was left naked sitting on the cold, tiled floor.  None of the men eyed her lewdly and none showed any signs of undressing themselves.  The franti c pounding of her heart gave way to agonizing smarting at her temples and her entire body trembled forcefully.  When half of the men turned and stepped out of the room, leaving only three with their guns trained on her, she wasn’t sure what to feel.  Relief was not even a remote possibility as she was still naked and being held hostage in Terzini’s lair.  She closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds and thought of Gabriel, of her father, of all the people she loved, and tried to summon strength she simply did not feel. 
    Her eyes snapped open at the sound of boots shuffling across the hard floor and were met with a strong and steady stream of ice-cold water directed at her body.  She inhaled sharply, the icy water stinging and stabbing at her skin like thousands of needles.
    “On your feet,” the blond man in the doorway commanded her.  She had barely heard him over the blast of water rushing at her , but attempted to oblige by moving.  She slid her feet under her then stood slowly, all the while trying to preserve a shred of dignity, though dignity flew out the window the moment they’d torn her clothes from her body against her will.  Still, she hunched her shoulders and used one arm to block her breasts while the other covered blow her navel.  Every muscle protested and throbbed and she shivered from the piercing water.
    “Okay!” the blond man raised his voice over the roar of water, and suddenly, the flow stopped.  “Put your arms out to your sides,” he said in a tone that screamed, If you don’t do it, we will make you do it.  She did not know what he wanted from her; just that she did not want to be groped and fumbled with again, did not think she could withstand it .  Reluctantly and with trembling arms, Melissa lessened the grip she had on her midsection.  Sobs racked her body and tears streaked down her cheeks.  The sound of booted feet entering the room sent a fresh wave of terror-induced tremors through her core.  Two members approached her.  One held a bucket while the other clutched a long-handled brush.  The brush resembled one she’d seen her father use to clean his tires and hubcaps with when she was younger.  The bucket, the brush, none of it made sense.  Would they be needed to clean her blood once they finished with her? She wondered and felt the last meal she’d eaten rocket up her esophagus and spew from her mouth. 
    She lowered her arms and clutched her abdomen, heaving and gasping until her stomach had emptied, only to feel the freezing spray return and aimed at her face.
    “Up, Melissa!” the blond man called and her arms were jerked and pulled until she stood upright.  “Arms at your side,” he told her.
    She raised her trembling arms and tried to hold them at her side as her stomach pitched and roiled angrily.  Soft bristles touched