Chapter Three #2
Lucien stands up and looks over the candidates. I know this is an act. He already knows who he wants. He makes a bit of a show of dithering around, keeping the candidates nervous and then he points to three candidates in quick succession.
I’m called up next and I select two; I take the blonde girl first.
We walk side by side into the house.
“I’m Zander,” I say.
“I know,” she says. “I’m Leona.”
“Are you a boxer or a wrestler?” I ask.
“I was,” she says. “A boxer. I was the middle-weight champion in my state age group when I was at college.”
“You have the physique, but your face is wrong,” I comment. “How come you don’t have a boxer’s cauliflower ears and broken nose?”
She smirks. “Well, you’d have to get close enough to do that damage and I never let anyone near.”
“Cool,” I say, meaning it, and impressed despite myself. She is certainly not like the other lily-livered women that tend to hang around at Valens.
“So, if I knock you out in this test thing and you stay unconscious for the entire time, do I pass?” she asks.
I throw my head back and laugh. This girl is in for a rude awakening when we get in that room, but at the same time, I like her spirit.
“Technically yes,” I say. “But that’s not going to happen, so you may as well let go of the idea right now.”
We reach the room we will be working in. A Valens member stands at the door acting as a guard. He greets me and then smiles at Leona before he pushes the door open. Leona and I enter the room. There is a desk, with a wooden chair placed on either side of it, and that’s all.
“Your three minutes start now,” the door guard says and he slams the door shut.
That always gives away the most nervous candidates. They jump at the sound of the door closing. Leona doesn’t flinch.
“So, are you going to make this easy for yourself, or are you still planning on knocking me out?” I say with a playful grin.
Leona doesn’t answer, she just smiles at me.
I guess she’s waiting for me to make the first move.
Normally, with a female candidate, I would force her to do something sexually humiliating, however, I’m curious about Leona and I want to come up with something new.
She doesn’t know any of this of course, so I can still intimidate her with that kind of tactic, maybe just let her think I’m going to hurt her that way.
I move closer to her and then I grab her by the neck and throw her up against the wall. I can’t help but notice how smooth the skin of her neck is and for a moment I think about running my teeth across it and inhaling her perfume. I shake my head and force myself back to the present.
“Tell me the code,” I say.
She smiles and shakes her head. Her eyes are looking straight into mine and I don’t see a hint of fear in them. It’s almost as if she is enjoying this. I apply a bit more pressure from my body onto hers.
“Tell me the code,” I say again.
She shoves me and it catches me unaware. I stumble back a step. Before I can recover, she punches me hard in the jaw. It’s not hard enough to knock me out, but it’s hard enough to make me see red. Fuck the fact she’s a girl. If she can punch like that, she can take a hit back.
I’m glowering with anger as I stalk back towards her.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I say, my voice low.
“I’m sorry,” she says. Tears form in her eyes. “Really. I’m sorry.”
I pull my fist back, ignoring her pathetic apology. “Last chance to tell me the code,” I say.
“Nine, three, four, seven,” she says quickly, the tears running freely down her face now. “Nine, three, four, seven.”
I lower my fist. I’m really surprised and a little bit disappointed that she has caved so easily. I go towards the door.
“Wait,” she says. I look back and she smiles sheepishly. “Look, I know it’s stupid, but my brother is out there and I can’t bear the thought of him thinking I gave in so quickly. Can we wait a bit? Let him think that I at least came close?”
“Sure, why not,” I say.
It’s not about her. It’s about my next candidate. I want to let him sweat for a bit and if he thinks that this one got through, he’ll be expecting me to be even more brutal with him. That will serve to make him a nervous wreck before he even gets in here.
“My dad is my brother’s biggest supporter,” Leona says, hopping up onto the desk and sitting swinging her legs as she talks.
“With him, it’s always been “Ben this” and “Ben that” and “Ben can rule the world if he wants to”.
Fuck the fact I get better grades than Ben, have gone further in sports than he has and have gotten offers from several of the best universities in the country.
No, Ben will always be better. I hate it.
I fucking hate it. And Ben loves it. He taunts me with it every day and that’s why I need him to think I almost passed this. ”
“Will it matter though?” I ask. “If he passes and you don’t, having those few extra minutes isn’t going to mean much.”
“If that happens, then no it wouldn’t matter at all.
But, I don’t think he will pass. The other tests were more up his street, but I don’t think he’ll like this one.
He doesn’t like having some guy shouting in his face and torturing him for information isn’t something he can handle,” Leona says. She flashes me a smile. “I hope.”
I check my watch.
“OK, we’ve been in here for two minutes and thirty odd seconds. I reckon that’s enough time to show your brother that you’re not a pussy,” I say.
Leona nods and jumps down off the desk. Then, she looks down and makes a tutting sound. “Sorry, my lace came undone,” she says.
She crouches down and starts fiddling with the lace. I’m starting to feel impatient. I’m more than ready for a real battle of wits with the next guy I have waiting.
The door to the room opens at the same time as Leona straightens up.
“Three minutes is up,” the guard says. “The candidate passes.”
“No,” I say. “She gave me the code ages ago.”
“Did I?” Leona says.
I don’t know what game she’s playing now. Does she really think I will have forgotten the number she gave me?
“Yes. Nine, three, four, seven,” I say.
Leona smirks and reaches into her pocket. She pulls out her slip of paper and unfolds it before turning it around. The guard and I can both clearly see the number written on it; nine, eight, eight, five.
She played me.
“Give us a minute,” I say to the guard. He looks uncomfortable, as if he is about to say no. I raise my voice. “Now.”
He backs out of the room and closes the door. Leona looks a little nervous. She keeps her eyes on me and maintains some distance between us.
“Relax,” I say. “You’re one of us now, if you so choose.” She relaxes visibly, but I can see she doesn’t one hundred percent trust me yet.
“That was a clever little stunt you pulled there. Your brother will be proud. Except you don’t have a brother, do you?” I say as the truth hits me.
Leona shakes her head ruefully, and I can’t help but laugh a little bit.
“Fair play,” I say. I can’t help it. She is a great combination of the physical and the mental. I pull the door open.
“This one passes,” I say.
I walk off and go back to the grounds for my next candidate. I meet his eye and beckon to him, and he follows me. I lead him to the same room and by the time we get there, I know his name is Liam and he grew up in London.
The door closes behind us and I smile coldly.
“Give me the code Liam, let’s save some time,” I say.
“I’m always down for saving time,” Liam says. “So you can just let me out now and let me into Valens.”
“Oh, great a funny one,” I say.
I close the gap between us.
“I’m not playing Liam,” I say.
I shove him hard, and he stumbles backward until his legs hit one of the wooden chairs and he finds himself sitting down with me standing over him.
I punch him in the side of the head, and I feel that familiar tingle of pleasure inside of me as his head swings to the side with the momentum of my hit.
His head comes back to the center, and he looks at me, meeting my eye.
I don’t like that — it’s fucking disrespectful — and I hit him again, this time square in the mouth.
His head snaps back and I punch him in the ribs over and over again until I feel one snap.
It feels so good to hear that snapping sound and a rush of warm adrenaline floods my system making me feel sated like a need in me has been fulfilled.
At the same time, the feeling urges me on, needing to feel more and more of the warmth.
“Ready to tell me the code yet?” I say.
Liam shakes his head. “Go to hell,” he says.
“Well, that’s just plain rude,” I say shaking my head.
I slap him backhanded, full force across the face, catching his mouth with my knuckles.
His head whips to the side and blood pours down his chin.
It leaves a delicious looking rosy red mark on his cheek.
I punch him next, hard in the mouth once more and then again and again.
When I stop for a second, he leans forward and spits out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. He straightens back up. His eyes are glassy but he still holds my gaze.
“Tell me the code,” I say.
He shakes his head and I bring my face down to his. I am so close I can smell the blood on his breath.
“Tell me the code,” I yell.
He shakes his head. I move around him, yelling into each ear and then yelling in his face again but he is unmoved.
He continues to shake his head and when I yell in his face again, I stamp down on his left foot at the same time.
He sucks in a breath that I can see is agony filled and he lets it out in a shaky sigh.
Still though, he doesn’t tell me the code.
I stamp on his foot again and tears run down his face as I feel a metatarsal snap.
“Tell me the fucking code,” I scream.
I’m actually starting to get pissed off that I can’t break this fucker. I know if he doesn’t give up the code soon, he’ll anger me to the point where I will lose control and then I will go too far and he will likely end up dead. I just have to hope the time runs out before that happens.
I punch him in his already broken rib, and he screams in pain, but still he refuses to tell me the code.
I estimate about two minutes have passed.
I push the chair and it falls onto its side on the ground spilling Liam down there with it.
I pull my foot back and kick him in the face and more blood explodes from his mouth, another tooth coming out with it.
By the time the guard opens the door and says that the three minutes are up, Liam has a broken metatarsal, a broken rib, and a dislocated elbow. His face is a swollen, bloody mess and he’s lost at least three teeth.
“Welcome to Valens,” I say to Liam.
I force my anger away. Now that he is one of us, him being able to hold out like that is a good thing.
“Take him upstairs and clean him up and get him any medical help he needs,” I say.
Liam looks at me and smiles. I see one of the teeth that is missing is the front right one.
“I’m really in?” he asks.
“You’re really in,” I confirm.
I watch him limp away with the guard and as they round the corner, Liam obviously thinks I am out of earshot, but I’m not.
“I would have given in after the first minute,” he says to the guard and laughs, a hysterical sounding laugh that echoes back to me. “I couldn’t give him the code because I couldn’t fucking remember it.”
I can’t help but be pleased to know that I haven’t lost my touch. I broke him within the first minute, he just didn’t have a way to stop me. After what had happened with Leona, I know that I wouldn’t have believed him, even if he would have told me he had forgotten the code and wanted to quit.
I go upstairs to my room and strip off my blood-stained clothes and step into the shower. All the time I am thinking about Leona. She played the game really well, and not just the one on the field. An almost-smile plays on my face.
When was the last time I found anyone interesting, man or woman?
Strange. How much I want to taste her fire, shove myself between her legs and see what comes out that brave little mouth then.
My cock twitches and I scowl.
‘Feelings,’ ‘vibes’ and ‘gut instincts’ I normally leave for hippy pussies, but there it is, as sure as an itch: There’s something else. Something that makes Leona different.
A trauma? Everyone’s got ‘em these days.
No. No.
Either way, it’s time to work that woman out of my system. Make her pay for this afternoon. Make her beg for mercy – and then withhold that mercy until she breaks into a thousand pieces.
Her resistance won’t last long. I always get what I want.