Chapter 5: A Foundation of Bones

All of Lee’s men currently in Augusta stood in the entry hall of the mansion, scared out of their wits. Even the cops on his payroll had been brought in. All the estate guards had already had their wills broken, either through the injuries Dominion had inflicted on them, or the horrific nightmares he had trapped them in. For hours, they had experienced tortures beyond description, as if he had ripped out their souls and tossed them into Hell. Breaking bones, ripping flesh, pierced organs, burning tissue, they felt it all, despite their bodies showing none of the damage. Those with physical wounds were not exempt from the assembly. They simply had to be bandaged up by the mob doctor.

Standing at the base of the stairs and facing them was Lee. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone, just stared at the floor in a daze. He looked like a corpse hanging on strings. Like them, his will had been broken, incinerated by Dominion’s bloodlust. He now understood what Eric had been talking about, about the men in the bar and why they killed themselves. There was no death worse than being killed by him. To die was escape the pain of living, but to be killed by him was to be devoured and spend eternity imprisoned. The only reason why he hadn’t killed himself already was because of his daughters, now held hostage. If he committed suicide to escape Dominion, then Cho and Hijiri would meet the fate he was so afraid of, but his compliance didn’t mean that their horrors would end. Dominion had made it clear that he would continue to rape and torture them, and there was nothing Lee could do to stop it.

For now, only those ignorant of the situation dared speak, fruitlessly asking what was going on, but receiving no answers. Then, all fell silent, as a pure evil and killing intent flooded the mansion like poison gas. It was a miasma, detected not by the physical senses, but by the soul. It drained the men of their strength, of their courage, of their ability even to think. Sitting on the floor in the corner, Eric gripped his skull, digging his nails into his scalp as he suffered a terror-induced mental breakdown. Everyone could hear them, footsteps echoing in the upper corridors. He appeared at the top of the staircase. Behind him were a row of large windows, with the light of the setting sun shining on his back, leaving him in silhouette with his shadow being cast down the stairs.

Dominion, the men stared at him in terror. Even if they were somehow blind to his bloodlust, the evil in his eyes was undeniable, it was palpable. They all knew it, he wasn’t a normal person. He wasn’t even human.

“Gentlemen, welcome. I had Misato gather you all here so that I could fill you in as to the changes that are being made. My name is Dominion, and as of now, I am in control of this operation, and your lives. I’m on my way to implementing a new world order, but first I need to build the foundations. You can either lay the bricks, or be the bricks. Resistance will not be tolerated, there can be no action aside from total obedience. Your friends, your family, your community, you will hand them over by my slightest whim.

For those who defy me, only agony and death await, for you and your family. But for collaborators, the rewards will be many.”

He snapped his fingers, and gasps filled the entryway as Cho and Hijiri came into view, naked and crawling on all fours. Cho was silent, her face still stained with dry semen, but Hijiri continued to cry, with the blood on her inner thighs visible to all. At his command, they got to their feet.

“Those who serve will lead comfortable lives, the safety of their families ensured.” He then inserted his middle finger into Cho’s pussy without even looking at her. She shivered in disgust, not just from the physical sensation, but from how casually he did it. It was like he was pressing the choke on a lawnmower. “You will also get your pick of slaves to exploit and abuse however you wish. I have already selected these two as my personal property. Obey my will, and I might resist subjugating your wives and daughters in the same way.”

All the men trembled at his words, at the way he treated the two girls. They all knew Lee’s daughters. True, most of them hated Cho, but not even she deserved this fate, and they knew Hijiri to be a timid, but sweet girl. And it was no bluff, they could only imagine the monstrous acts he would perform on their loved ones if they rebelled. The choice had been made for them.

“And to make sure I have your compliance...”

He again snapped his fingers, and an eruption of darkness surged from his body like and oil well. From the darkness, grotesque spirits took form. Mangled skeletons with rotten muscles and molting flesh, they filled the air, flying like hornets and shrieking in rage and hunger. The men screamed in fear like children, many even drawing their guns and opening fire, though their bullets had no effect. The wraiths swooped down, each one tackling a different man and disappearing into his shadow.

“Those ghosts will keep an eye on you for me. There is nowhere on Earth for you to run. Tomorrow, you will all return here at 7:00 am for your new assignments. Now, you are all dismissed.” He pointed to the chef in the back. “Except you.”

The men could not get out of there fast enough. They swarmed through the front door, shoving each other out of the way and screaming in fear. Eric was the first to escape. Soon, the mansion was empty, save for Dominion, Misato, his daughters, and the chef. Dominion walked down the steps towards Misato, but he was too afraid to look around.

“You are dismissed as well.”

It took all his courage, but he worked up the words, “but I...”

A hard strike to the side of the head sent him falling to the ground.

“Dad!” the girls screamed.

Dominion glared at them, his malicious aura robbing them of the ability to breathe. “I don’t recall saying you were allowed to talk. I’ll punish you both later.” He looked back down at Misato, slowly pushing himself up off the floor. “This isn’t your home anymore.” Misato looked back at his crying daughters, and with his own face wet with tears, he got to his feet and walked out the front door. Dominion turned to the chef. “Steak dinner, now,” he barked.

Night fell, and while Dominion had enjoyed a lavish feast, the twins had been denied even a scrap of food as part of their punishment. However, their hunger was the least of their concerns. They were hanging in the basement by their wrists, shackled with the chains looping over pipes in the ceiling. They were side by side but facing in opposite directions, unable to look at each other. Their naked, unwashed bodies trembled from helplessness. They couldn’t even beg for mercy due to the ball gags secured in their mouths.

Dominion walked around them, his eyes displaying a mix of annoyance and excitement. “It seems you two still haven’t learned you place. You spoke, something which I never granted permission for. Your voices aren’t entitlements given to you by God or your parents, they are the result of my mercy, and that I’d only slightly prefer hearing your screams rather than carve out your vocal cords and eat them for a snack. You still think your bodies belong to you. I’ll have to correct this misconception.”

He held out his hand and closed it into a fist. Like a caught animal trying to escape, lengths of black hair began to slide out of his grip. The strands, multiplying and growing each second, wove themselves together into knotted coils. In seconds, a flogging whip had formed in his hand. He walked another loop around them, letting them both see it. Already swollen from endless crying, Hijiri’s face was soaked in fear-induced tears, while Cho stared at the whip with wide eyes and a muffled scream.

It was so fast, Dominion whipping Cho across the stomach without any hint or warning. She shrieked in agony, both from the strength of the impact and the damage to her skin. The hair used to make the whip, it was sharp and abrasive, like a wire saw. Her smooth belly had a red streak as if she had just been swiped with some rough sandpaper. Dominion then turned and struck Hijiri, hitting her under the arm and making her scream like her sister.

He walked behind Cho, the girl hyperventilating in terror, just waiting to feel the whip across her back. Instead, he circled to her front and delivered a downward slash onto her left breast. A scream, at a pitch not yet heard today, slipped past the ball gag. The nerves in her areola felt like they were on fire, as if salt had been rubbed into the wound.

Then, it was back to Hijiri, and an especially hard strike against her ass. In her pain, she writhed and swung her body from side to side like a fish pulling against the hook in its mouth, but the agony of another lash stifled her movement. He circled to her front, staring into her terror-filled eyes. A third strike, whipping both of her flat breasts. Saliva, tears, and snot were pouring off her face as he screamed. Cho got a lash across the back, just as she had expected, but that didn’t make it any less agonizing.

This continued on without any known measure of time. Again and again, he struck them, leaving few spots untouched. Blood was quick to appear, budding on the scraped skin like condensation on a cold window. For Cho, her breasts got the worst of it. Their outrageous size made them an easy target, and the fat just soaked up the abuse. Most of Hijiri’s whips were focused on her labia. Her puffy majora protected the inner sanctum, but the nerve endings were just as sensitive and drew just as many tears. As they were facing away from each other, neither twin ever saw where the other was struck. They could only hear the scream while fear forced them to ponder the area, and wonder if Dominion would hit them in the same spot. The curiosity, the anticipation, that in itself was agony

Then, when their screams finally ended, he stopped. The two of them were drenched in sweat from the ordeal. The salty gloss soaked into their wounds and made them sting with fresh fury, just enough pain to keep them conscious after all they had endured. Their hair and faces were sticky from varying bodily fluids, including the semen from when he raped them the first time. Even messier was the floor, soaked in twin puddles of urine.

“Very well, I believe you two have learned your lesson. But just to be sure, I’ll leave you here to think about it overnight.”

And just like that, he went up the basement steps, turned off the light, and abandoned them. They spent the night hanging from the ceiling, still with the gags in their mouth, but that was Dominion’s plan. Unable to speak, unable to even see each other’s faces, there was no way for them to communicate, no way to comfort each other. They could only wallow in their own misery, while painfully aware of each other’s, with no way to do anything about it.

Sunlight streamed through the basement window, shining directly into Cho’s eyes. However, due to how puffy her eyes were from crying, the presence of light didn’t mean she could actually see. She then dropped to the floor, released from her shackles, along with Hijiri. If that wasn’t enough to wake them up, the sudden splash of cold water was. They were both sprayed with a hose, washing away the filth that caked their bodies. They shielded themselves with their hands, only looking up when it finally stopped. But while they were expecting Dominion, what they saw left them screaming in terror.

It was a creature, resembling a human but without skin. The limbs were twisted and bent, many bones the wrong length. Its exposed muscles were black, as if from gangrene, and its eyes were glazed as if with cataracts.

“Time ... for ... break ... fast...” the creature groaned.

It then disappeared, returning to Dominion. The sisters clutched each other on the floor, trembling from the cold and fear. They had seen Dominion’s undead pets before, but this was the first time up close. They didn’t want to get up, they didn’t want to face a new day of this nightmare. They wanted to stay hidden, unseen and then forgotten, but Dominion wouldn’t let them escape pain so easily. If they made him wait, he would surely torture them again like last night.

Hijiri wanted to cry, but she couldn’t produce anymore tears.

‘We’ll get through this.’ Cho wanted to say it, to say anything that might boost her sister’s spirits, but the wounds on their bodies were the result of them speaking out of turn. Dominion’s pets could be watching them, he might know if she spoke, which would just bring them both more punishment. Their voices no longer belonged to them. Likewise, the gags were still in their mouths, and while their jaws were throbbing from being forced open all night, Dominion had not given permission to remove them. All Cho could do was hug her sister and pull her to her feet.

Upstairs, Dominion sat at the head of the dining table, enjoying a sumptuous feast. He could sense Cho and Hijiri moving up the basement steps. Good, the wraiths had done its job. Unfortunately, that seemed all it could do. He had been experimenting with his pets, seeing the limits of their capabilities beyond simply gathering souls. It didn’t matter whether their personalities were stripped away or not, the demons and human spirits were naturally clumsy and unstable existences.

He had given several the task of mimicking the chef as he prepared breakfast, but they were like toddlers. The only way they could perform precise actions was if he telepathically controlled their movements, but that simply wasn’t feasible. He only had so much attention he could direct, and the more effort he put into controlling his puppets, the less he could put into controlling his own body. In the coming future, it would be unwise to allocate all complex tasks to human workers and leave his pets simply with the job of hunting. He’d have to find a way to improve their autonomous capabilities.

“Ah, good morning. I do hope you got a good night’s sleep.”

At the entrance to the dining room, Cho and Hijiri stood. Their naked bodies shivered with the chill of the water on their skin and the sensation of his presence. They kept their eyes downcast, with Hijiri partially hiding behind their sister. Their bodies were covered in scabs and welts from all the whipping they had received. They didn’t respond.

“I see, you now know that the ability to speak is a luxury I have granted you. I’m glad the lesson sank in and you’ve learned the proper order of things. I believe I said good morning. I permit you to remove those gags and say “good morning, Master’.”

They removed the rubber gags locked in their mouths, wincing from the pain. “Good m-morning, M-Master,” they both murmured.

“One shouldn’t mumble when addressing their superior. Again.”

“Good morning, Master,” they said, louder this time.

“Thank you. Now, I believe we got off on the wrong foot. Your bodies and souls belong to me, they are my property to use however I see fit. On a daily basis, you will be subjected to my wrath, my lust, my curiosity, and my whims. However, that doesn’t mean your existences will be nothing but pain. Obedience and submissiveness will be rewarded with kinder treatment, pain at a level that you will come to enjoy. I suggest you develop a sense of masochism.

You’ve learned your lesson about speaking out of turn. I’d say that deserves a reward.”

He held out his hand and a glowing fog poured off his palm like he was holding a piece of dry ice. It was pure spiritual energy, supplied by the untainted human souls in his collection. The fog flowed towards Cho and Hijiri, who huddled together in fear of the unknown, but as it enveloped them, their wounds healed and their mouths and shoulders stopped aching.

“As you can see, I command not only the power of death, but the power of life. Now, I can imagine you’re both hungry. You may eat.”

The girls looked at the table, seeing only Dominion’s plate. Their eyes were drawn to the floor, where on either side of him, two bowls had been set out with food as if for a pair of dogs. The stomachs of both girls stung, first with hunger, and now with humiliation. At least it was actual breakfast food, not cold dog chow out of a can. Reluctantly, they separated, each kneeling on all fours by a bowl at Dominion’s feet. They knew how he wanted him to eat, like animals. All they could do was swallow their pride and lower their heads.

Dominion took a sip of coffee. “Ah, they’re here.”

Outside, all of Lee’s henchmen, well, technically they were now Dominion’s henchmen, were arriving at the mansion. He had expected several to try and leave town, or at least for some to be late, but it seemed the wraiths he had tagged them with did a good job in instilling obedience. With a flick of his wrist, Dominion opened the front doors and let the men in. The entered the mansion nervously, pilgrims in an unholy land. The undead hiding in their shadows poked and prodded them, guiding them towards the dining room.

Before they arrived, Cho and Hijiri raised their heads from their bowls, instinctively wanting to flee the eyes of the men while unclothed, but Dominion gave a loud tap of his foot. They knew it without being told, it was his way to telling them to remain where they were and keep eating. Along with the sound of food being chewed, there was tearful sniffling, both girls crying in humiliation. The men entered the dining room, Lee and John first, as well as the other echelons of the syndicate. The twins could feel eyes on their naked bodies. Despite being shanghaied into working for Dominion, and the terror of the wraiths clinging to them like a parasite, the men were not free of their lust, and despite the situation, their eyes licked the girls from head to toe. Even worse was the state in which they were being seen, eating out of food bowls like a couple of dogs. Once again, Dominion was showing off how he had subjugated them.

It was painful, knowing their father was watching them. They desperately hoped, they prayed that he had arrived with a way to save them. That he’d draw his gun and plant some magic bullet or holy relic between Dominion’s eyes and they’d be free from his wrath. They wanted to apologize, apologize for the shameful state he was seeing them in. How easy, for feelings of humiliation to turn into feelings of guilt. They felt like he was judging them, disappointed and disgusted with them. They wanted to tell him that they had tried to resist, that they had tried to fight back, that they were sorry. They couldn’t even raise their heads to look at him, but even if they could, their shame wouldn’t let them.

Dominion could see Lee, see the conflict within him. He looked like he was actually going to vomit in rage, but his fear was as real as it was the day before, his soul still charred by Dominion’s bloodlust and killing intent. He was utterly helpless, he knew it. It was impossible for him to do anything to save his daughters. He hated himself, even more than he hated Dominion. He hated how weak he was, unable to keep Cho and Hijiri safe.

Instead of protecting them, it was like he just gave them to the Devil to save his own skin. Did they know? He desperately wanted to tell them that he was sorry, that he wanted to rescue them, how much it hurt to be so powerless? He wanted them to look up at him, so that maybe they could see the anguish in his eyes, see that he still loved them, see that he wanted to save them. But he wasn’t sure he could bear their gazes, the gazes of his daughters enslaved due to his impotence.

“Am I to understand that you men before me form the upper caste of this organization? The managers, so to speak, under Misato?” His words shook Misato from his thoughts, as around him, his friends nodded fearfully. “Good, then I shall assign you your new tasks. Take as many lackeys as you need, you can decide numbers amongst yourselves. Now that you’ve arrived, we can get down to business.”

Dominion tapped the table, and from his fingertip, lines of red light stretched across the wood like trails of burning oil. The men stared in shock as the lines seared the table, forming a map of the city. Dominion pointed to a few of the men.

“You five, see these big buildings and warehouses down along the river? Any that this syndicate doesn’t already own, you are to acquire, as well as the surrounding properties. Seize them and clear them out. Use whatever means necessary; bribery, extortion, murder, I don’t care. Take as many men as you need.” He pointed to three more. “You are to acquire all the farm lands within a hundred miles. Again, use whatever means are necessary.” Another three. “I want earth-moving and construction equipment, logging machinery, farming tech. Anything you can find, get me.” He moved his gaze over to another group. “I want information on every single person living within a hundred miles of this mansion. Tax records, census records, voting records, get me names, ages, and addresses. I want to know who works in medicine, who works in engineering, construction, farming, any military and ex-military, catalogue all of them. Go door to door if you have to.” He then looked to Misato. “You, prepare a map of all the territory this syndicate controls, as well as a list of properties and businesses. Then get me a register of everyone working for you and all business ties.

The spirits I attached to all of you will give assistance if needed. However, they will also be watching you, so if you slack off on the job, they will punish you in my stead. I’ll handle any costs, just get the job done. Now, divide the work force amongst yourselves and get busy. Dismissed.”

The men couldn’t get out of there fast enough, but Misato fought fruitlessly against his fear. He wanted to speak to his daughters, but the gaze Dominion was sending him said that it would be unwise to go against him. Once Misato was gone, Dominion turned to Cho and Hijiri, still with their faces in their bowls, even though they had stopped eating.

“You two are confined to your rooms until further notice.” He then tagged them with two wraiths, tasked with making sure they didn’t come into contact with anyone and that they couldn’t kill themselves.

Fear drove Misato’s men, the breath of the wraiths on the backs of their necks hurrying every movement they made. On the river, old mill buildings had been repurposed into warehouses and office space, the largest being a yacht-building company. They’d craft them and sail them down the river towards the buyers and dealers on the coast. Work was as usual, even in winter. They had orders to fill in the spring. But over the sound of wood and fiberglass being cut and bolted together, there was the unmistakable banging of the front door being ripped open in a hurry.

A man named Harrison, Misato’s second in command, stormed onto the factory floor with two other manager-level members of the syndicate, and a dozen lower level workers. He was a gruff-looking guy, the kind who always gave off the impression of being angry, while his black suit was always kept in perfect condition. All of his men were armed and openly carrying. Harrison knew exactly where to go, and everyone who saw him ducked out of sight and ran. They made their way to the main office, strolling right past the secretary who instinctively stayed out of their way. Harrison forced open to the office of the man and charge, the one guy in the building who didn’t fear him, or, at least, didn’t fear him as much as the others.

“Harvey, clear out of here. We’re seizing this building,” said Harrison.

“Hey, I already paid you protection money for this month!” he barked as he got to his feet.

“This isn’t about protection money. We’re under new orders. This building belongs to us, and you can either walk out of here or have your corpse dumped into the river.”

“Like hell I’ll let you kick me out of here! I’ve put up with your threats and extortion for years, but you’ll have to pry my business from my cold, dead hands!”

Harrison pointed his gun straight at Harvey. “Damn it, listen to me! Things have changed! Trust me, you have a lot more to be afraid of than just dying.”

Harvey looked at him, seeing something he thought the hardened killer was incapable of feeling: fear. He looked genuinely terrified, like he was being timed on how fast he could deal with Harvey. This was a man who made a living by breaking kneecaps, executing loose ends, and burning everything behind him, but he was spooked, and it sure as hell wasn’t Misato that was causing this sudden change. Harvey stood his ground, staring down the sights of the pistol aimed at his forehead. He had sunk everything he had into this business, worked his whole life to get where he was, and even if he were somehow willing to ignore all the sacrifices he had made, abandoning this building would be tantamount of suicide. Bankruptcy, lawsuits, a dark spiral ending with him dying in the gutter. At least this was quick and painless.

“I’m sorry,” Harrison muttered, something he hadn’t said since he was a child. He then pulled the trigger, splattering Harvey’s brains across the back wall. He then looked back at his subordinates. “Clear out this building, kill anyone who gets in your way. Then we’ll move on to the next.”

Down at City Hall, a similar scene was happening. Larry Mercer, originally one of Misato’s money launderers, had now been assigned the job of collecting public records on everyone in the city. He was used to working behind a desk in a climate-controlled office, safely guarded against any enemies of the syndicate, but now he was in the field and had two guns pointed at him. He and more than half a dozen men had simply walked into City Hall, forced their way to the records department, and were now stealing whatever they could get their hands on.

The mayor would never go against Misato, and the security guards were supposed to know that, but it seemed that they couldn’t just ignore what was going on.

“Put the box down and raise your hands!” the female guard barked. Around them, people were fleeing the building, not wanting to be caught up in what was about to happen.

“I can’t do that!” Larry shouted back, drenched in a cold sweat.

“Do you idiots have any idea who we work for? This won’t end well for you,” another syndicate member said.

“Your boss isn’t getting his hands these!” the other guard said.

He reached out to yank the box of files out of Larry’s hands, and in the corner of his eye, Larry saw his shadow suddenly darken.

“No, don’t!” he screamed.

It happened before the guard could even process the words. There was a spurt of blood as his severed hand fell to the ground. It had happened so fast that he didn’t even see what cut it, he didn’t even feel it happen. He just stared in disbelief at the bloody stump, then breathed in and released a terrified shriek. As frightened as her partner, the female guard accidentally pulled the trigger of her gun, grazing Larry’s ear. That seemed like enough provocation, for in that moment, an arm made of gnarled bone and rotting flesh shot of Larry’s shadow. Stretching like rubber, it punched through the woman’s chest and ripped out her heart.

Larry’s friends all ran screaming back to their cars, while Larry, now splattered with blood and deaf in one ear, fainted.

While this was going on, Dominion was busy down in the basement of the mansion. Atop a large work table, one of his demons lay. Its torso and limbs had all been cut open, and Dominion was now working on its skull. It twitched and gurgled with every slice of his silver knife, the only thing that could effectively cut its flesh. The purpose of this was to study the physiology of the demons and undead, once he gave them form. Had had enslaved them and had mastered the use of their powers, but it was apparent that he still lacked an understanding as to their nature.

With a bit of elbow grease, he managed to crack off the top of its skull, thus revealing its brain. He ripped it out and examined it in the light, with the demon continuing to twitch and gargle. As an undead, it was next to impossible to kill. It could only weaken, becoming a fainter version of its existence. Its current body was like ice, its ethereal form was water, and it could be damaged infinitely down to the form of vapor, but it could never be destroyed and it would always reform.

As he examined the brain, Dominion grimaced in disappointment. It wasn’t so much folded gray matter as ... a tangled mess of fluid-filled tubes. Rather than chemical and bioelectrical changes between synapses, its thoughts seemed to exist through the flowing of this fluid from different areas of the brain. If a human brain was a super computer, then a demon brain was like a mechanical calculator. By design, it was primitive and malformed, same with all the other parts of its body. Its organs didn’t show any signs of functionality, they just looked like giant tumors dangling in its chest cavity. Its circulatory system was a mess and its muscle fibers looked like they were made of pure cancerous tissue. Dominion had even managed to get his hands on a microscope and examine a tissue sample, but there weren’t any discernable cells. Its body was just made out of some kind of unknown black matter.

For such an exquisite predator, it had the constitution of a Chernobyl crack baby.