Chapter 5 Cold

Present time…

Grace’s POV

By some miracle, I’d gotten used to the cold. In many ways, it was almost worse than the pain. Pain came and went away. It came when the men came and went away once they were done. And I couldn’t feel the hunger pains anymore since food was given to me only when I was “a good girl”. The sting of humiliation and embarrassment came and went after having to beg for them to fuck me, just for a few drops of water that were splashed on my face. So, yeah… Pain came and went away again, much faster than I expected it to…

But the cold remained a constant.

The cold stone floor. The bite of the night, that left me shivering on the ground. The cold metal pressed against my skin and the cold wall pressed against my back.

The cold was constant!

I didn’t know how long I’d been here. Too long if I was being honest. My body was dirty, battered, and tired. I’d lost a lot of weight too. Somewhere in my mind, I was surprised that I hadn’t gotten sick and was dying. But there was time for that still.

The sun had gone down I noted. The shadows got darker at night, and this was the only way I was able to tell time. But I hadn’t seen daylight since I’d been captured. Only darkness was with me.

And this blasted cold!

Cursing under my breath I tried to wrap the silk robe tighter around me. It was all I had to cover myself with and while it now was torn to pieces, it was the only thing that protected my naked body from the blistering cold. And as stupid as it sounded I protected that stupid piece of fabric as if my life depended on it. I guess when you were reduced to nothing but a body of flesh, your priorities changed. Surviving was all that mattered.

Not pride.

Not feelings.

Not pain…

Surviving meant being fed by any means necessary. Surviving meant drinking whatever you could, even if it meant licking it off the walls. And it meant protecting myself from the ever-intrusive cold!

Now you might ask, why I was trying to survive? Why I didn’t just kill myself? Well, because I’d already tried. I’d tried to rile them up, hoping that one of the blows might be fatal. That perhaps a sharp rock would be enough to cut my skin and end it all. It took dedication and hard work, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. They came back and stopped me. They did something to me, healing me and punishing me for trying to take the easy way out---

Well, since I apparently couldn’t die, I was going to survive this. Not like I had a choice, but saying the words enforced something inside of me.

I was going to survive!

I didn’t know what I was going to do once I got out. I’d sometimes fantasized about killing the monsters outside. The werewolves! I fantasized about killing every single one of them, saving Cole for last. And I’d make him scream. No--- first I’d make him beg! I would make him beg for me to spare him. I would torture him slowly, making him feel every ounce of pain that I had and---

And then reality called!

Someone grabbed my ankle and spread my legs. And I was again reminded that I was utterly helpless in this situation, as I didn’t even put up a fight anymore. Not because I didn’t want to fight, but because I knew it wasn’t going to change anything. I just kept my eyes closed and let it happen. I didn’t want to see their faces. They were in my mind as it was every single waking moment already. Hell, they were even in my dreams, and I wasn’t about to let them take even more of me.

I wasn’t giving up!

I was going to survive…!

“What the hell?!” the wolf-man suddenly exclaimed and to my surprise, he pulled out of me and left. First I was slightly surprised. These men had – just like Cole (yeah, that could really have been my first clue!) – had extremely good stamina and could go on for hours. This time he’d barely started before rushing outside…

That was when I finally heard the commotion. The inhuman howls and growls. The sound of flesh and bone being torn apart. It sounded like a dog fight, and it sounded brutal. A new wave of fresh fear made the blood in my veins turn to ice. What was going on out there? Who was fighting?

A sliver of hope made my heart skip a beat.

Was I saved? Were there humans out there who killed monsters like these? But I quickly disregarded that thought. There was no way a mere human could ever stand a chance against a beast like them. Not only were they twice the size of a normal wolf, but I’d seen them come back from wounds that would have killed ordinary humans two times over.

No human would ever stand a chance against them…

Suddenly the fighting died down and everything went still. The last whipper died down and everything was quiet. My heart was beating a million miles a minute as I forced myself not to move a muscle. I had no idea what was going on. For all, I knew it could be someone worse than the ones who kept me for now. Fuck, it turns out that you really don’t know what you have until you lose it. Because right now all I could think about was that at least the werewolves wanted me alive.

Whoever was out there, might not want that…

A deep rumble echoed through the cave, and I suppressed a whimper. Fuck! Someone was out there. I fought my body, forcing it to remain still. But no matter how hard I tried I was shaking and trembling all over, making the chains slater against the stone walls.

Fucking cold!

I couldn’t stop it and when another growl resounded in the cave, I felt a sob burst from my lips. Fuck!

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

For the first time in a long time, I felt tears slowly trickle down my cheeks. I hadn’t cried since after I lost whatever dignity I had. I stopped crying because feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to keep me alive. But now everything was different. I’d just figured out how to survive these monsters and just like that, even that had been taken away from me.

Why?

I’d asked that question so many times, that I’d given up trying to answer it. Yet here it was again.

Why?

Why me?

All I wanted was to live. To get back home and forget this whole nightmare. I didn’t want to die! I wanted to live! For that to happen I knew I had to fight, but I didn’t have any fight left in me. I’d tried and I failed…

I failed…

The sound of bones snapping and reshaping filled my ears, and I knew the sound well enough to know what it meant. The wolf was back in his human form. Soon I could hear footsteps coming closer and I gripped the stupid piece of fabric close to my chest again. As if the thin silk could protect me…

Out of the darkness, I could see the silhouette of a man. My breath hitched and my fear turned to terror. Cole had been a big man. The werewolves had all been big men. But compared to this man, they were nothing but ants. Small and insignificant…

The man was a monster!

His tall frame reached all the way to the ceiling, and he easily covered the entire entry with his stature. In short, this man could kill me with his pinky alone…

As this realization dawned on me, the last bit of fight left me. I couldn’t win against a beast like that. I knew I didn’t stand a chance in the first place, but the thought at least kept me from breaking apart. Now, there was nothing left for me. No hope at all.

All I could hope for was a swift death…

Another sob escaped me when he moved closer. My body already aching body prepared for the pain that was to come, clenching and unclenching to the point where I felt sick. Terror made me shake uncontrollably and if I could, I would have pissed myself.

The shadow came closer and closer…

“P-please,” I begged despite knowing it was hopeless. “Please don’t-don’t hurt me…”

The monster of a man stopped. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t dare to look up and meet his gaze. He sniffed the air just like I’d seen the werewolves do a million times before, but still, I made up excuses. I hadn’t showered in weeks. I’d been forced to sleep in my own shit, and that was why---

“Human!”

The word was a low, guttural groan. As if he didn’t fully open his mouth to speak. Just mumbled it between his teeth as if it was something that disgusted him. But it was enough for me.

One word!

Human!

And just like that, I knew. I knew what he was. He was one of them! He was a monster among monsters and there was no way I was going to survive this time. Fuck!

Fuck…

“P-please,” I whispered, biting back my useless and hopeless tears. I just wanted it to be over quickly. Please! I prayed, hoping that for once I would be heard.

Please let him kill me quickly…

The wolf suddenly moved. I flinched, readying myself for pain and--- and he left! For a stunned moment, my mind went blank. Did he just leave me here? And was that good or bad? Did this mean that he didn’t care and left me here to die? In that case, this was probably my only chance to try and escape! I’d tried before, but there was always someone in the cave, making sure that I couldn’t get far. But now they were all dead and even if he’d just left to get his buddies, I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip by…

Quickly I turned to the chain that kept me here. It was something straight out of some fucking medieval bullshit. Nothing but a long iron chain with handcuffs at the end. But it was looped around a huge ass bolder that I couldn’t get around---

Footsteps!

I wanted to scream in frustration. For a split second there, I’d been hoping that perhaps the gods had heard my prayers. But it was all for nothing! He was back and this time he didn’t hesitate. He closed the distance between us in only a matter of seconds, taking steady, confident strides toward me.

In a last effort attempt, I tried to crawl away from him. And the closer he got, the more of him I was able to see. He was just like the others. Stark naked without a single shame to hide. Like every single one of them always was…

I swallowed a scream when I felt his figure lean over me. My heart was beating out of my chest, and I felt ready to throw up. Let it be quick, I begged silently. Please, let it be---

Suddenly I felt him grip my chains. A hard yank later and my arms were able to fall beside my body. Something I hadn’t been able to do ever since I’d been stuck in this hell hole. Blood rushed to my fingertips and it felt like pins and needles as the blood supply finally wasn’t restricted anymore.

I was free!

Confused, scared, and grateful all at once I looked at the monster--- and gasped when I saw his face.

If you could even call it that!

Half of his face – the right side – looked normal enough. A bright, gray eye was eyeing me with an indifference that made me feel utterly insignificance. His lips were sealed in a thin line and his muscles were tense as if he was constantly clenching his teeth. And then there was the---

Rest!

Or rather the lack thereof!

His left eye was white, which meant he most definitely was blind in that eye. His cheek was sunken, making the bags under the eye look like some kind of zombie reject. His nose was crooked and thick like someone had broken it and rearranged it several times. His lips were torn, almost separated from the rest of his mouth, and his cheekbone look like it was missing.

The rest was just--- scars!

A lot of scars! Some of them even reached his hairline and disappeared into his skull. His hair was a strange silver color that I’d never seen before, and while he didn’t look old, his gaze felt heavy. Heavy with the darkness that roamed his soul…

The man kept looking at me as if he expected someone from me. More than anything I wanted to push him aside and run. To get the hell out of there and never look back. But I didn’t dare to move. I always felt like I was in the presence of a predator when the other werewolves near me, but this guy was in a league all of his own. He wasn’t just a monster…

He was a king among monsters…

“Go!”

The word was spoken softly, yet with the impact of a wrecking ball. Startled, I did what he said without thinking about it twice. As fast as my weak legs would allow me, I pushed myself upright and ran.

Out of the cave.

And into the cold of the night…