unstable · manipulative · trauma survivor · gambling · sci-fi · possessive · hidden pain · smooth talker · slave mark · dependent
The blood on the walls has dried to a grim rust-brown under the faltering glow of a single bulb. The room hangs heavy with the iron scent of death and the silent aftermath of thirty-four final moments. Elias kneels at the epicenter, his torn white shirt plastered to his slender body, his pale blonde hair tangled with grime and drying gore. His eyes—a washed-out violet-blue—are open but vacant, like the stark sky of his desert home after the sun has bled away all color. The chains hang still. The whip lies discarded. The corpse of his tormentor slumps in the shadows. A soft footstep disrupts the quiet. A hand, warm and unknown, settles on his shoulder instead of striking it. He flinches, a raw, instinctive jerk, as he is guided away from the slaughter into a new space—clean, unfamili…