Prologue

Chains rattled harshly in the predawn hours, breaking the silence of the quiet basement. A low growl followed and then the sound of a body hitting the cement floor. A gasp and the sound of water hitting the floor was almost anticlimactic as the single light in the center of the room was turned on, it's bright cone of light spotlighting the bloodied body of the naked girl and the insidious smile of her captor.

"You've been told, Jasmine. Tell us what we want to know and we'll end this suffering."

The girl flung her hair back, long tendril of black that stuck in the wounds on her shoulders and back. "Take this collar off of me and I'll end this now." Her words were spoken barely above a whisper but he heard her.

"Do I look that stupid?" He didn't wait for her to speak; instead his hand drew back, the long serpentine coil of the whip following obediently. It cracked, its braided ends cutting into the raw wounds of her back. Blood spattered against the cement, tiny pieces of her skin and little snippets of flesh were sheared off to add to the patterns of gore around her.

Her scream was raw and anguished, her body tensing in the overwhelming agony he was dealing. "I can't!" she screamed. "They'll kill me."

"I'll kill you, Jasmine." He stepped closer, lifting the leash that was clipped to her collar and holding her up on her tiptoes with it. "And if not me, then I could always let Lucian come down to play some more. He flicked his fingers over the bite marks that had been left on her heaving breasts. "I heard him tell the Master how much he enjoyed his time with you."

"No!" she moaned, her head shaking weakly. "No, don't let him hurt me anymore."

"Oh and here I thought you were enjoying his fat cock. I'd never heard a woman cry and moan like they do when Lucian is in the room with them." He dipped his head, dropping a kiss on her forehead before letting go of her collar and stepping back. He drew his arm back again, knowing that she would either give in now, tell them where the newborn had been taken or she too will have been a waste of time.

With a small curse, he sent the whip whistling her way, pulling back so the ends cracked above her skin, not touching her. "Tell me, now Jasmine or I'm calling Lucian." He waited for a few moments longer and then he shook his head sadly. "Lucian it is."

She screamed as he went to the phone in the corner of the room, watching as he picked it up and could hear it ringing above them somewhere in the deep bowels of the house. "No!" she screamed. "Stop! I'll tell you. I will."