Chapter 2 – Punishment : The first Idea (part 1 of 2)

She couldn't believe her ears, couldn't believe what was happening. She thought she had been scared silly before, but that was nothing compared to how she felt now. He removed his lips from beside her ear and retracted his head enough for her to be able to see his face. The cool detachment she saw there chilled her blood and made her doubt she had ever really known him. She had been prepared for death, or so she thought, but not for what he was threatening now. Not from him. The calm, cool, collected, handsome gentleman. Only, he wasn't that person right now, was he? The "handsome" was still there, but the other epithets had vanished. Looking into his face she saw only the Monster, an aroused monster at that.

The closeness of their bodies as he continued to press her against the door leaves no room for doubt just how aroused he is. The bulge just lightly touching her lower abdomen, right next to the hand on her hip, is throbbing slightly and… twitching? Enough for her to feel it straight through the fabric of his tailored dress pants. She tries to regain some semblance of control and manages to calm her breathing enough to get a question out; "Elijah! What do you think you are doing?" She means for her voice to sound strong and demanding, but what comes out is more of breathless plea.

He looks at her with amazement, and something akin to fondness. The kind of fondness someone holds for a prized possession, not for another person. She shudders as she realizes he feels like he owns her, the shudder turns to a shake when it hits her that, for all intents and purposes, he probably does own her.

'What I am doing? I think I am about to… indulge.' he states, his voice as soft as crushed velvet, as hot as a winter storm, purposefully taking her question literally and answering it. 'I think the time for restraint has come to an end and I am doing something about it.' He leans his body away from her and studies her with a bemused expression. 'Fortunately, your actions have caused my desires and the necessity to… correct your ways to coincide. Yet another thing I could be thanking you for, it seems.'

With these words he takes a step forward and, without ever releasing his iron grip on her wrists, glues his silk clad body against hers. His hips and thighs take over the role that the hand on her hip used to have, leaving one of his hands unoccupied, but not for long as he reaches around her and grabs her firm ass, pulling her center even closer to his. The impressive bulge of his rock hard erection digs into her lower abdomen and he slowly and sensually, with no sense of shame at all, grinds himself against her, all the while purring like a big cat. The deep sound is as much a feeling, a vibration that enters her bones, enters her soul and sings a powerful siren song for her to join in. Her knees go weak, at this point she might very well fall if he releases her hands, but that seems very unlikely to happen. He is clearly enjoying her occasional feeble attempts to free her wrists,

At such close proximity it becomes overwhelmingly clear how masculine he is, how powerful he is, how he will stop at nothing to get what he wants and how what he wants right now is… her. She didn't sign up for this! All the time she's been kept here he has never shown any signs of coveting her. She's rarely seen him, except as a seemingly ever present shadow, except when she's tried to flee. Somehow he has shown an uncanny ability to pop up just as she's getting out the window, climbing over the fence or reaching the edge of the woods. Every attempt got her a little bit farther before getting caught, so she kept trying. Right now, that seems like a giant mistake and she can't hold back a small sob of fright at the look in his eyes. If it's his anger or his lust that scares her the most she doesn't know, at the moment it is hard to tell the difference. She draws a ragged breath and tries to regain some semblance of control. "Elijah…"

'Shhhhhh. Quiet, little one.' He says with a small smile. He towers over her with his head bent down to whisper in her ear, a finger lightly placed on her lips to complete the shushing. 'You seem to be under the illusion that what happens next is in any way under your control. Let me tell you now. It. Is. Not.' He flashes her a crooked smile before continuing down her throat, breathing in the scent of her as he goes along. He raises his head again and gazes deep into her eyes, while his smile slowly fades.

'You are so fond of running, my luscious girl. You really want to get away from here, don't you?" he asks her, seemingly surprised at the sudden insight. She can only nod, a tear slowly running down her cheek, dripping onto her exposed collarbone. 'Well, that just won't do. Never let it be said I did not give you a fair chance. Listen to me closely, because I will not repeat myself. In a moment I will let go of you, from then on the clock starts ticking so I suggest you start running immediately. I will give you a five minute head start and if you manage to get into the edge of the woods before getting caught, I will let you go; I will even help you get back home. On this I give you my word.' If there is anything she knows about Elijah, it is that his word is sacrosanct.

Her eyes widen in surprise as she takes in his words. "You would let me go? But. but why?"

'I already told you. Every prey deserves a fair chance. Even game hunting wouldn't be fun if you used a machine gun, now would it? Now, have you understood everything I just told you?'
Of course, she is still prey to him, the thought doesn't surprise her, but she thinks he might be surprised at just how far she can get in five minutes. That should be ample time to get to the edge of the forest surrounding the estate. She looks at him and nods slowly to confirm that she has understood.

'Well then, off with you, my little deer. Run like the wind!' He flashes her another breath taking smile, releases her wrists and moves back from her hips so suddenly that she nearly collapses on the floor, her knees still weak. 'I wouldn't dally; the clock has already started ticking.' He casually leans back against the wall and crosses one foot over the other while glancing at the near priceless Omega that adorns his left wrist.

'Four minutes and forty five seconds' He arches a perfectly shaped eyebrow in an unspoken question; did she want to get away or not? She gathers her wits about her, momentarily thinks about replacing her ripped shirt or grabbing a pair of shoes but quickly decides this would take precious seconds from her remaining time, and bolts out the door, her feet drumming against the carpeted corridor floor.

She runs down the stairs, taking two, three, four steps at a time and reaches the great wooden front door, pulling it open. Or, she would have pulled it open if it hadn't been securely locked. "This is not playing fair!" she mutters under her breath while quickly scanning the entry way for other means of escape, trying to ignore the slight chuckle of amusement from upstairs that her words have caused. Damn vampire hearing!.

The windows are all stained glass, the non-opening and quite priceless kind, where every piece of glass is set in lead. She quickly dismisses her first impulse to grab something hard and smash one of the windows in, as she realizes the lead setting would remain as a spider web, keeping her locked inside. He may like to refer to her as a 'silly girl', but she is anything but unintelligent. This is when it strikes her, it is another test!
She leaves the hallway, purposefully stepping through the servant's door where she assumes, and hopes, the windows will be of the normal kind. She is rewarded for her efforts right away, the hallway behind the door is lined with windows, all of them thin glass and able to be opened.

Quickly looking around her and trying not to think of the seconds ticking by, eating into her 5 minute window, she settles her gaze on the nearest window, opening it as wide as it will go. Carefully she slides out through the rather cramped opening, immediately finding herself in the rose shrubbery planted right below the window. The smell of crushed roses is extravagant, but at the moment all she can think about is how the wicked thorns have caught her clothes and the skin of her upper body, and how much pain it is worth not to be delayed. Thorn wounds will heal, if she is not caught again.

With this thought in mind, she steels herself and tears her body from the grasp of the shrubbery. She can feel some thorns breaking off to lodge deep in her skin, others stay on the branch and leaves long, oozing gashes before they release her. At this point she doesn't feel the pain. Her whole being is focused on the flight, where she needs to go, and the inner sound of the seconds ticking by.

Through the window, she sprints down the gravel pathway toward the front gate. For a moment she is grateful for the soft round stones that dress the path – her naked feet is surely sending her mind some sense of relief. She reaches the gate and pushes the button to open it. This time it comes as no surprise when nothing happens.

This scenario she has been through before, so she doesn't have to search for another way to get over the walls, she just runs straight to the old oak at the edge of the garden. Swiftly scurrying up its stem she evicts all thoughts of anything but the necessities for escape from her mind, promising to return to them later. Reaching the right branch she takes a graceful leap to land on top of the wall, at the exact place she landed earlier today. There is new shredded glass on top of the wall to replace that which she carefully removed during her previous attempt, but she is expecting it and manages to avoid all the shards but one. It slices deep into her foot and she bends down to remove it with a whispered profanity, but does not allow herself to feel the pain. Time for that later.

The offending piece of glass removed, she shimmies along the edge of the wall to the point she recalls is lined with soft, fall-breaking hazel bushes. Once she reaches the correct place she grabs a hold of the side of the wall and gently lets her body stretch along its outer surface, held up only by her fingers on the edge. When she feels she has reached a point of balance and is ready for the drop, she lets herself fall, picking up speed before her fall is intercepted by the non-thorned bushes. She stands up and quickly looks around; relieved she got another step done without speed limiting injuries. The glass shard was quite enough, thank you.

Tick-Tock

She tries to keep this thought out of her mind as she takes aim on the line of trees nearest to her current location. There is a fairly large cleared area around the estate, but the forest line is still easily within reach by an extended sprint.

Tick-Tock

She focuses her sight on the nearest tree and takes off. She does as he told her, she runs like the wind.

Tick-Tock Tick-Tock Tick… Tick… Tick… [silence]

She has no explanation as to how she knows this, but the moment her five minutes are up, her heartbeat picks up. There is nothing to worry about, she tells herself. She is mere seconds away from freedom. There is no way he will get from her room to where she is in the few seconds she needs to reach the tree line. She tells her conscious mind this, while her feet keep running and her sub conscious is sending out every hormonal danger signal that evolution of man has created. She is terrified beyond words but she keeps running at full speed.

She's nearing the trees now, close enough to make out the texture of the bark. When she is only a fraction of a second, mere steps away from safety, from freedom, she turns her head to force her racing, terrified subconscious to realize he is not there, right behind her.

TOCK!

The impact as she runs straight into a tree is profound. As she ran with full force into an immobile object, her body bounces back violently and leaves her, breathless, on the grass. But she made it! She made it to the tree line!

Or wait, did she? The bounce sent her back a few steps. Carefully peering to her left and to her right she sees no stems there. How could she not have noticed she was aiming straight for a tree before turning her head to glance behind her? A very uneasy feeling builds in the pit of her stomach and she slowly raises her gaze straight before her to glare at the offending tree.

It, no he, is right there. It takes her a moment to focus and realize that this is not a nightmare.

'Hello there.'

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