CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST NIGHT
The sea breeze blew in from the half-open balcony, carrying the smell of salt and steel from the city. Blackhaven at night was never silent, it breathed with sirens, police whistles, and the roar of big engines through the raindampened streets.
Evelyn opened her eyes in the darkness.
Or rather… in something heavier. The blindfold was pulled over her face, pressing her eyelids down, cutting off the world to sounds and sensations.
Her wrists were pulled taut against the headboard. Not painful, but firmly secured.
She tried a gentle tug. The rope didn't cut into her skin, expensive enough to be as soft as silk. But the softer it was, the harder it was to escape.
"No need to try to escape."
Viktor's voice came from the left, close to her ear, deep and low like the sound of a loaded gun.
"That kind is for special hostages."
She didn't respond.
From the right, Diego's laughter rang out, as vague as in a dream: "Are we calling her a hostage? I thought she was a breathing peace treaty."
A hand brushed Evelyn's neck, just a light touch, but the veins under her skin immediately tightened.
Not a touch to comfort or to arouse.
A touch like the way one checks the handle of newly bought knife, its sharpness
"What are you going to do to me?" Evelyn asked, trying to keep her voice even, though she could hear her breathing becoming irregular.
Diego gave a soft "Tonight? Not much."
Then he leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath brush against her collarbone.
"I wanted to see how you would react… without the light."
Viktor walked around to the end of the bed. She heard the sound of his belt being undone, the metal buckle clicking against the cold stone floor, very clearly.
There was no violent pull.
There was only the sound of footsteps slowly turning toward the head of the bed.
"You think we'll both rush in at the same time?" Viktor said.
"Don't judge us like the guys at Serrano's club."
Diego laughed. "Hey, they pay."
"You're right," Viktor said. "But they don't know when to wait."
A finger from someone else slid from her jaw to her neck. It was only a fleeting movement, but her body responded as if it were being pulled by a string.
The thin silk of her dress clung to her skin, damper than she cared to admit.
"Evelyn." Viktor said her name again. It sounded like a statement.
She clenched her jjaw. "I'm not shaking."
"It's okay," he whispered. "Your body will shake for you."
Diego reached behind her head, tangling his hand in her hair, but not pulling. Just holding it tight like that animal was about to spring.
"Muñeca," he said slowly, "the most interesting thing is not when the body is forced… but when it betrays itself."
She gritted her teeth.
He was right. And that was more terrifying than any threat.
There was senap, the sound of the buckles being adjusted, not released.
Her wrists loosened a little, but remained in place.
Viktor said, "Tonight, we're not touching you. Not in the way you're thinking."
Diego gently pulled the fabric of her dress down just a few centimeters, not enough to expose it, just enough to expose her skin to the cold air.
"What do you think?" Evelyn asked, her voice a little breathless.
"Big enough to make you blush," Diego replied. "Wrong enough to scare you."
Then silence. The atmosphere seemed to explode
A small *click* sounded like the sound of a tape recorder, or a camera.
Evelyn froze.
"Relax," Viktor said, his hand on her ribs. "We need a copy. Not to release, but to prove that tonight… yyou agreed to stay."
"And if I say no?" she asked.
Diego chuckled, but cut it off immediately: "The war starts tomorrow morning after that."
She fell silent.
A gentle force tugged her chin up. Viktor's hand.
He whispered:
"You're not a hostage, Evelyn."
A smile flickered across his lips.
"You're a pact."
A half-second later, the blindfold was removed.
Light tore through the darkness. Evelyn squinted, uncomfortable… but then she saw them:
Viktor stood at the head of the bed, his shirt open almost to his chest, his hands on the bedpost, his eyefrozen on her.
Diego leaned against the wall, still twisting the silver bracelet on his middle finger, his eyes moving from her lips to her neck as if considering
"to break or to keep."
Evelyn realized something more terrifying than the ropes:
They were in no hurry to do anything. There was no urgency or hunger in the sexual sense. They were waiting for her to give herself up.
"Go to sleep," Viktor said, backing away. "Tomorrow we begin… the main part."
"What's the main part?" she asked.
He stopped in the doorway, not turning.
Just let his shadow stretch out on the cold stone
"Make you forget you were human," he replied.
"And remember that you are the reason this whole city bleeds."
The door closed.
The room was dark except for the streetlights that filtered in through the balcony. Evelyn lay there motionles, her hands still bound, her body still taut as a bowstring.
Only one thought echoed in her mind:
If tonight is just the beginning… then when will I be allowed?
Tomorrow is not the beginning of submission. Tomorow is the beginning of Evelyn learning to choose… who she will give herself to first.