Predator (Chapter 6)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Narrowing her eyes in fury, Victoria briefly considered striking her captor in spite of his warning – yet, in disregard of her desperate situation, there was a small bit of common sense left within her which knew she would be suffering in vain. There was simply no way for her to even hit him once, considering the strength he had showed during the time – what had it been, one hour, two hours? – she had been at his mercy. So why should she start trying if all it was going to do was cause him to hurt her more?
She risked another gaze at Devane, consciously trying to keep her anger from showing – and apparently succeeding, if his almost complete lack of reaction was anything to go by. Figuring a question might not reignite his previous fury since what she wanted to know was no apparent display of disobedience or protest, Victoria began to speak softly.
“What… what do you mean by ‘beg’?” she asked, relieved when he only raised his eyebrow, then grinned.

Devane had found it very easy to observe his captive’s inner struggle. Yet, as she chose to push those emotions to the background, he decided to taunt her with them another time. Her question surprised him, though – he had thought the word ‘beg’ would convey a quite obvious meaning. But then again, she could always be stalling the inevitable, maybe even believing he would let her off the hook eventually. Of course, knowing how delicious the moment she succumbed would be, Devane was not about to let it slide.
“I am sure you know exactly what I mean – if you don’t, I suggest you think quickly”, he replied, satisfied when her eyes flashed barely contained anger at him for a split second before her façade was back in place. Giving her some time for his words to sink in, Devane proceeded to rise to his feet to sit down on the edge of the bed again, the collar still in his hand, his gaze focused on her and alert for any signs of active defiance. When she continued to sit on the floor with her eyes averted, her body shaking slightly every now and then, he concluded he hadn’t intimidated her enough for the moment and rose to his feet again.

Victoria jumped backwards, startled, when her captor stood and walked towards her – yet was incredibly relieved for a moment when he simply passed by without even looking at her. Once she noticed him crouching down next to the bag from where he had retrieved the cane and collar earlier however, her relief dissipated. Shaking her head, she began to frantically try and crawl further away from him, her fear-clouded mind not once understanding how much higher her chances of succeeding were were she to rise to her feet.

Dimly, she realised the rustling of him going through the bag’s contents had stopped – heard an amused chuckle behind her, yet chose to ignore both indications of his focus being on her again. Scrambling to reach the door – or to simply hide somewhere – she cursed herself for being too slow, all the while still forgetting about her ability to walk. Only when she had managed to reach the door – accompanied by an actual laugh from her captor, sinister as it was – her mind was reminded of the normal kind of movement. Not daring to glance backwards for fear of his expression stopping her from feeling, Victoria rose to her knees, sliding one foot beneath her body to push herself up. Yet, before she could even attempt to do so, she was stopped by a low growl right next to her ear and two hands on her shoulders keeping her pressed down. It took her a couple of seconds to realise that, somehow, the man who had been standing at a rather safe distance seemingly only moments ago was now right behind her – and, apparently, not exactly pleased with her.
Briefly, before her kneeling form was turned around so her eyes were staring at his denim-clad legs, she wondered if he had actually retrieved something or if he had only meant to scare her into succumbing to him yet again. But when a single finger beneath her chin forced her to look upwards and into her captor’s dark eyes, the menace combined with tight control in his gaze had her mind become blank.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew how important it was to keep fighting him – still she couldn’t find the will to move, trapped simply by his look.
“I believe you should rethink your attitude, pet”, his low voice reached her, causing her to unconsciously shake her head only to have it held still by his fingers beneath her chin. “If I have to force you to wear this, I might just decide to go with a slightly different… model…”
He trailed off at that, presenting a strange-looking device to her. It looked similar to the collar he had presented earlier, though not as elegant simply due to the fact it was not made of leather. Instead, the material looked like it was meant for use in all kinds of weather. But what puzzled her even more was the little black box attached to it, two tiny, silver points protruding to what seemed like the inside of the device.

Devane grinned diabolically upon noticing his captive’s confusion – he had been hoping she wouldn’t know what the device was, yet hadn’t been sure until instead of appearing fearful, she merely looked puzzled. This, of course, gave him the opportunity to show her exactly what the object would do to her – and why it would be preferable for her to beg for the other collar.
Victoria had already figured the device would cause her pain, yet hadn’t counted on the extent of her captor’s satisfaction at showing it to her. He even seemed to be amused by her confusion, knowing something she had missed entirely. Unfortunately, that fact became apparent to her only moments later when he spoke.

“Since you don’t seem to know what this is…”, his eyes pointed to the collar, his grin becoming even more evil. “…I suppose I have no choice but to show you what it is.”
Almost jumping to her feet, but being kept on the floor by just one of his hands, Victoria stared up at the man in front of her in fear. While she still had no idea what he was holding, the thought of him using anything on her – especially something she couldn’t identify – made her panic once again.
“No…”, she gasped as his hand approached her but was quickly silenced by a slap to her cheek executed by the hand which had previously been holding her chin.
“I didn’t say I wanted your opinion, now did I?”
His words had her open and close her mouth a couple of times, too shocked to form her rage into words. Finally, she bit her lower lip violently to keep herself from actually replying, knowing his previous threat had not been an empty one. Her captor seemed satisfied by that for the moment – yet his hand holding the object continued to approach her until he put the two silver points protruding from the box against her upper right arm.

Victoria’s first instinct was to jump back, strike at him and show as much resistance as she could – but to both their surprise, one dark, foreboding look was enough to cause her to freeze. Unable to turn her eyes away from his, she noticed every facet of the sadistic glow in his eyes before there was a low click. She jumped back with a low yelp, her hand covering the spot of skin the device had rested against. She had been expecting pain, yet was unprepared for a sensation which reminded her of the shock one sometimes got when touching something – highly amplified though. Fearfully raising her eyes to meet those of her captor’s once the first moment of panic was over, Victoria knew from his expression he wasn’t joking. A dark kind of promise was shining back at her, leaving no uncertainty about the seriousness of his threat. Still, she could not make herself submit to him.

Devance frowned. He had believed the shock collar would be enough to make her grovel and beg as much as he liked, yet she remained silent.
“For your information: That was the lowest setting – it’ll get about a hundred times worse if you continue to defy me”, he whispered darkly, giving his words some time to sink in until revealing his ultimatum. “I really do believe you would like to beg me to let you wear the other collar instead of this, don’t you?”

Victoria kept staring at the man in front of her for a couple of instants. While her conscious mind seemed set on fighting him, disgusted at the prospect of actually being coerced to beg him – subconsciously she had already lost, her fear of his wrath greater than her pride. Still, the task he had set her seemed unbelievably difficult – lowering her eyes in shame, her voice barely audible, she finally managed to form the words she thought she needed.
“Can I wear the other collar…. please?” she asked, biting her lip as she felt herself blush, convinced her words would suffice. As her captor buried his hand within her hair to pull her head back so she had to look at him, she knew from his expression he was not satisfied.

“Has no one ever taught you that it’s rude not to face someone when you’re talking to them? Also, I believe you are quite capable of speaking loud enough so I can hear your words instead of having to guess them”, Devane drawled while keeping her head in place. Outraged at his haughty behaviour, Victoria barely managed to contain her rage, yet was only stopped from uttering a couple of words which would have doomed her by him continuing. “So, would you like to wear the leather collar instead of this one?”
“Yes…”, she replied, figuring he had never mentioned anything about her having to use complete sentences. Her triumph was cut short by his low chuckle combined with a brief shake of his head.
“I hope you’re not deluded enough to actually believe I’d consider that begging. Try again”, Devane whispered, emphasising his words by increasing his hold on her hair. “And if you were thinking of accidentally forgetting about such a little word…. I do of course expect you to say please.”
Victoria glowered at her captor even though her thoughts of struggling were quickly cut short by his low growl. Telling herself the small, almost pleasurable tingle low in her belly was from nervousness instead of some strange reaction to what he was doing to her, she took a deep breath before she spoke…