Chapter 22

Icannot wait to watch your life drain away for me. The shadow man"s words repeated over and over in my brain, and I think I had counted every shadow on the wall. Hours had passed and my heart still hadn't lulled. My eyes stung. My chest hurt. My pussy ached, why did it ache? He was a killer. Why did I give him the satisfaction of knowing that I was enjoying his delicious antics? Even as fucked-up as they were. And what made it worse was that the fucker gave me a tampon. A fucking tampon. Did he feel… empathy? I didn't put it in, I didn't want it. I was having no more of his stupid gifts. I tossed and turned in an attempt to escape my intrusive thoughts, and my ass bumped the side of my cage. It wobbled more than it should have. Realisation dawned on me like a bolt of lightning. I gasped and jolted around.

"Oh… shit." I whispered. The padlock wasn't secured. Adrenaline flowed through my veins. Could this be my chance again? I could make it to the garage… if only I had a key for one of the cars. Maybe I could run for it? But not down that forest again. My head raced with ideas, I knew I shouldn't attempt what I had done once before and was heavily punished for. But I acted on impulse and pushed my finger at the open lock, letting it slide through the bars and fall to the floor. Freedom. I leapt out of my cage and made haste toward the elevator door. Glancing briefly at his closet, I found a few capes hanging up and took one. It enveloped me and smelt like him. I was both revolted and intoxicated. It was ten times too big, but it did the job to cover my indecency. I pressed the button for the second floor, as I remembered my way from there.

The hallway was dark when I reached it, but there was a room further down with the door left a-jar, and a light beaming the other side of it, flickering. Like a TV would. This time, I wasn't going to stop. I drew in a big breath to mute my staggered breathing and tip-toed my way. Stopping at the edge of the door. I listened for someone on the other side, checking whether the coast was clear. But the only sound I heard was the hum of electronic devices, like a bunch of computer noises. I blew out a sigh and stuck my head around the crack of the door. But the sight before me made me sick to my stomach.

The entire wall at the back of the room was one big lit-up screen of security camera footage. Every square inch of the screen displayed different footage of me. All me. I had truly underestimated just how much he had been stalking me. Before he took me. At home. At the clubs. At college. At the café with Tilly. On the bus home. Me in the cage in the basement. Me in my old room. The one time I fell asleep naked on the bed on that really hot night, legs sprawled, you could see everything. Me, Damon, Ruby, and Tilly in the room I was first taken, along with the other three hostages. Me spying on him when I caught him playing piano. Me running out of the terrace into the forest. Me putting on my formal gown. And earlier, dangling for him by his fucking ropes. With his cock in my mouth.

And right at the bottom left corner was his room, and my cage. Empty. Then there was live footage of me standing at the doorway in the hallway dressed in his cape. He had been watching my every move. Fear swam through my veins, threatening to swallow me whole. Fuck. I couldn't hide. He was everywhere.I shrank into myself, gasping as the sound of footsteps sounded from the stairs to the other end of the hallway. Shit, shit, shit. I panicked and bolted into the room, spinning my head to look for somewhere to hide. I bolted to the other side of the room, where it had the least amount of light reflecting from the screen, and a low bench I could hide under. I ducked under it, using the cape and its hood to envelope me and my pale skin. With his slow unrushed shuffles, the shadow man walked in, closing the door behind him and locking it. He looked exhausted, vexed even, hunched over and seeming somewhat defeated.

He walked straight to the marble bench in front of the screen and poured a scotch into a glass before sitting on the sofa with his back to me. I gulped hard, with my hand over my mouth as he pulled his mask off and plonked it on the bench before him, taking in his drink in one gulp. My breathing grew unsteady. I could see the silhouette of his profile, his jawline, and his impressive Adam"s apple. But only his silhouette, nothing else. The lighting hit him differently. He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped a few buttons. Thankful he hadn't yet noticed I was gone. I watched silently in awe as he unzipped his jeans, prying them down and dropping them around his ankles. Oh, holy… shit. The screen changed to a single view of me in the ropes dangling from the ceiling. He rewound the footage to the start and set it on a loop. The footage of us began to play, volume included.

Moisture, his groans, my moans, the sounds shot pleasure immediately to my pussy. I sucked in my lips to mute what I knew was threatening to come out, a fucking moan. He began to stroke himself over the footage of us. His hand banded his cock with a firm grip, not at all fazed by the piercings down his shaft. The metal-on-metal sounds of them twanging against his rings between each stroke sent an erotic shiver down my spine. This feels illegal to watch. Heat pooled between my legs, and a sense of desperation hit me.

Acting entirely on impulse, I shuffled my back against the wall with one hand cupping my mouth and the other at my pussy. I placed my finger over the sensitive little bud between the slit. Right where the shadow man was not too long ago. I had never done this before, touch myself. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. Whatever I had been feeling recently was enough to trigger the curiosity. Fuck the rules. Fuck the sin. The fucker had me on edge for too long, and I needed a release. The sensation of my sensual touch made it hard not to come right here and now.

But I figured, if I could maintain my rhythm, I could unfold at the same time he did. I swirled at my clit and found a rhythm that almost matched his. Focusing on all of my core and body. When he sped up, I sped up in unison. When he slowed, I slowed. He built up his orgasm, and in turn mine. Granted, I was probably closer than him given that I was now sweating. I panted heavily for him, scrunching my face to mute my moans. This was harder than I anticipated. He had no idea I was here. His grunts and groans hit a new level of volume, and he shuddered and spiralled. Silky white liquid spouted from his cock like a fire hydrant. And then, I was seeing stars, fireworks crackled, and I dived into oblivion. Colors of the rainbow shot through my mind like I was having a stroke or something.

"Oh, fuck." I panted without realizing. Ecstasy hit me in full force. I instinctively rolled my eyes back into my head and suddenly, I shuddered from the sensation of pissing myself. The warmth gushing between my thighs hit me as I faded in and out of my orgasm. I trembled and rolled between shattered breaths and darkness. I started to come back to the here and now, still trembling as I regained awareness of my surroundings. I peered at the pool of juices left around me, as though I had just had a shower. It was coming from my pussy, wait… did I… piss myself? It wasn't blood. It was clear. And had an unfamiliar sweet smell. My cheeks flushed crimson and his cape that I was wearing was soaked. My hand glistened with the shimmering liquid between my fingers.

Like Caine's did at the ball, only this time, it was in massive quantities, and everywhere. What was happening to me? Before I had the chance to come around more and make sense of what the fuck just happened, the silhouette of legs stood before me. I gulped hard, peering up under the top of the desk I was hiding under. Beads of sweat ran down his chest over his sculpted torso, washing away more lines of his paint, exposing more of him. His scars included. He had pulled his jeans back up and thrown his mask back on. That fucking mask. Shit. All I could do was sit here in shame and fear as he puzzled me.

"Did you just…?" he breathed, trailing off as though he couldn"t believe what had happened. Yes I did just. I muttered something in a pant but I had no idea what, my brain was short-circuiting. I thought he would have been mad because I was out of my enclosure, but he was the complete opposite. He did not have a slither of anger or revolt in him. I wish I could see his face. Both his arms tugged at the nape of his neck, as if in astonishment. "Fuck." he grunted breathlessly.