27. Bruises.

Damien was very pleased. He had gotten on the surface, thanks to Bran who had in his jealousy after Mimi's last heat, given Damon one specific drink that allowed him to surface. Without that drink, it would not be possible because Damon had gotten so much stronger during that heat and he had planned to take Mimi to the Azores, but thankfully, Bran was a jealous idiot and so easy to manipulate. Bran had noticed what he was planning to do to Mimi in the opening and Bran had chosen to look the other way. Good for him.

Now it was time to act. Damien opened his unconscious wife's mouth and inserted the spreader so he could easily reach her molars. He took a dental drill and mercilessly drilled a deep hole in the back molars, right down to the root. He took a vanadium tube.

This would mess with Mimi's metabolism, speeding it up while reducing the absorption of nutrients. He had already put metals in another form into Mimi before, and they were already having an effect. Mimi's temperature was already a degree higher, and Damien reckoned the metabolism had increased by 20%.

He injected vanadium deep into the root of the tooth, and it would be absorbed mercilessly from there. When the vanadium solidified, he injected magnetic iron on top and waited for that to solidify, too.

Damon had done big damage in his and Mr. sarks relationship, meaning Mr. Sark did not work with him anymore after all those times when goddamn Damon had pretended to be him and killed Mr Sark, so Damien had not so much all the nice new things to try, but he had to improvise what he had. He was furious about that because his work relationship with Sark had guaranteed him in the past all of that delicate equipment, most of them, and now, not so much. But he still had sheds to use on. 

For the next molar, he did the same, except here he added iridium. Iridium would lower the immune defenses and resistance and sensitize to drugs—the same thing with the tooth's root. The metal would be absorbed slowly and surely to guarantee the effect. Again, he coated the tooth with a magnet. He would take his time with her and maybe kill her again. It was always so nice crescendo to do. To take her life, cut those straps. The best enjoyment that there was. 

On the other side of the lower tooth, he first put rhodium. This would lower pain tolerance and sensitize the sense of touch. Everything feels more, and the same magnetization on the last molar tooth becomes cobalt.

This would slowly lower Mimi's healing ability to near human or even lower. He also coated the corresponding upper teeth with the same metals and magnets and then carried his unconscious wife out of the room. Those metals would absorb, already all the time, ensuring that she was weakening all the time, not getting better. Their effect would last up to a year. 

It was time to treat her further. Damien tried to emulate Damon as much as possible, making Mimi hate him. But his little cocktail kept Mimi's willpower helpless so she would not get allergic to him. He had his tricks. He used a lot of stuff that Damon would do to her, but with his own twist, making it seem like Damon was gone off the rails for good. 

When I woke up, I sat or rested against something hard, and I couldn't move my arms or legs. I was sprawled on some sort of bench top, and in front of me was a large white box that reached almost up to my neck when I was sitting down. I was slumped against it.

My legs and arms were chained forward to the sides of the box so that I was tight against the box. And I couldn't get out. I tried to get my muscles moving, but the pain was still there and so were sedatives. I was just too limp to even try to get my mind cleared much.

A quiet, sadistic sneer was heard beside me, "Awake already? Did you know, Mimi, that we've only been here four weeks? Luckily, we still have time to be alone together. As for Adam and Charles, they only saw us when we left after the opening night gig. No one will miss you for any length of time." 

Damon's voice was ominous.

" Did you know it was my secret dream to have a child with you? And you, you ungrateful, stupid..." Damon was furious. He still fumed about that.

"I'll teach you and teach you good and proper what comes of that. And then I'll find a way for you to carry my child. And I'll hold you captive for the entire pregnancy, even if you get nothing done. And I'll keep you in perpetual pregnancy. You don't do any missions. Your job is just to carry the kids and breastfeed. Don't worry, I'll find nannies. I wouldn't trust you not to kill my kids."

Then he came in front of me and pressed a button. I was getting a little more propped up. Not much, though. The panel on the top of the machine slid aside, and out of the bottom of the machine emerged a mask that looked like a full-face mask, except this one was black and had strong straps to tie the mask on.

Damon came over to me and twisted my mouth open with some sort of spreader before I reacted. He pushed something into both sides of my mouth, and I felt something catch on my molars. Then he took the spreader out. I couldn't close my mouth. Damon pushed the button, and the electromagnet locked. I couldn't get my teeth apart. My mouth was open, so much so that my lips weren't touching.

Damon took the mask closer and, with one hand, pressed on the back of my neck to get the mask to close once. His hand was merciless as he pushed me close enough to get that mask on. The mask covered my eyes, too. I felt him tighten all the straps and press the mask on the outside so it molded and sealed to my face.

it was silicone, so it clung to my skin, suffocating me almost, but I could be without breathing. There was an opening in the mask, just in right on my mouth, meaning whatever it would push into me, would hit in my open mouth. My mouth was open, and the mask tightly covered my cheeks and even my eyelids. As I instinctively put my eyes closed, I felt Damon's fingers seal the mask over my eyes.

He did not talk about anything, and his fingers were hard and unrelenting as he pushed and molded that damn mask all over my face. Ensuring tight seal all over. He took the heat gun, and after a time, with it still warming up, I felt the mask shrink tightly over my face.

The panic started deep, but I decided to control myself and focus on stopping my breathing. However, after a moment, a sharp prick in my diaphragm told me that Damon had put another stimulant in there, and I couldn't stop breathing.

A sharp prick on my elbow told me that yet another drug was in my veins. So he injected me with some medicine, and I felt myself clearing up. He reversed the effect of all the sedatives. My mind was clearing up, but I was so damn helpless, and my panic escalated.

He turned the machine on. My mouth, nose, and lungs were hit with a stinging rush of air. I felt like my lungs were going to burst, and no matter how hard the air went in, I felt it wasn't oxygen. I flailed and struggled and shook, but couldn't get out. It was everything else than air and I could not breathe out so well against the gush of air.

It was horrible. And it lasted. Damon's voice at the base of my ear said, "You've only been there an hour. There's still at least 23 hours left."

24 hours! I would never last that long. But hour by hour, Damon announced how many hours were left. He was there, touching my sore body from time to time but as the mask blacked my vision out, my panic was so damn much on, the pain did not really register that much at all.

I struggled the whole time; every muscle in my body was aching, and my jaw was on fire as I tried to open my mouth and turn my head, but the airflow was relentless. I tasted the metallic blood in my mouth, and I didn't know if it was blood from my teeth or my lungs. It was forever before the machine shut down. The airflow stopped.

I moved my diaphragm, but my lungs were pretty damaged to get air in. I felt Damon release first my legs, then my arms, and finally the mask. It ripped off almost my skin with it. The light was dazzling, and I kept my eyes closed and opened them little by little.

He pushed the button and opened my jaws, taking out some kind of metal cubes between my teeth. My mouth was dry and sore. I was exhausted, limp, and slumped against the machine. My jaw ached. Panic was slowly getting better but it would take time for to it go away fully.

Damien unhooked his wife from the device. For 24 hours, the device had been pushing Mimi inside dust debris, metal chips, other metals, herb shreds, and gases. Mimi lay against the device, her sides heaving, but the air wasn't moving very well. 

He thought of her as his wife, even if he would get someday on top and kill Damon, change his name, and reveal the truth to her, he would not be his husband but it was just a simple process of getting married if he wanted to. He was not sure about that.

His obsession with her had cooled down a little, as he had gotten her to be his victim so many times and there were plenty of fish in the sea. She would have been the perfect vessel for his offspring, and it was difficult for him to make sure that he had his own sperm in his balls. Not Damon's, but bitch had gotten herself barren. 

It was time to enjoy and torture her so he had made his plan beforehand, everything was loaded up and he was not sure if this would be yet another half year with her and this time, most of it would be in the shed. 

He had smelled the honey in Mimi's mouth as he removed the metal caps he had used to make sure the gas got well into her lungs. The smell of honey told him that the four metals had begun to soak in and do their job. He lifted Mimi's armchair as he moved the fans elsewhere.

Mimi began to recover a little. At least she was already lifting her head. Soon, they would resume, and Mimi wouldn't need much more treatment when there was a shed time. He could use Damon's telepathy to feel her panic. It was still there but receding; she had plans too. Oh, how he loved it when she tried to fight back.

Damon lifted me into an armchair, and although I didn't seem to have any sedation at the moment, I was exhausted. I tried to get some air in me. Slowly, my lungs recovered a little. Every muscle in my body was tired, and I could feel the effect of the metals I had been given somewhere in between.

I got a metallic feeling. A kind of specific fatigue accompanied by a very recognizable restlessness and this distinct, familiar joint pain that had been bothering me for weeks. I was far from my best, but I should try to escape. There were secret passages in the Italian castle that only I knew about.

I tried to gather my strength, think of a sudden attack, and escape. The entrance to the first corridor would be after the stairs, and I wasn't at all sure how quickly I would clear the stairs. I'd have to break Damon's neck. It was the only thing that would give me enough time. It would be a real Hail Mary, but I had to try. And then contact Charles or anyone and escape as fast as possible. Not even try to manage him.