The Life of Anna, Part 4: Ensnared Read online

  The Life of Anna, Part 4: Ensnared

  By Marissa Honeycutt

  Copyright 2015 Marissa Honeycutt

  Smashwords Edition

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2015 Marissa Honeycutt

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  ***WARNING***

  This book is for grownups. This book is not for people who are easily offended, get nightmares easily, or have difficulty reading books about tough subjects. I do not glorify bad things, but bad things do happen to my poor characters. This is not your typical love story. My heroine does not fall in love and live happily ever after... at least not like the typical heroine. There is a happily ever after, but it is a long, painful journey to that end.

  This is not a stand-alone novel. The series must be read in order.

  Anna’s story is told in five, novel-length books. There is a subculture within our own world that you’ve only heard whispers of. The conspiracy theorists wish they knew Anna’s story. What the conspiracy theorists think they know is only disinformation, put out there to keep them from the real story.

  This book will likely offend you. This book might make you cry; it might make you throw up. It is a dark book. As my friend, Heidi, said, “It’s dark. It gets darker. It gets even darker, and then it gets even darker. And then, just when you think it can’t get any darker, it does.”

  But, don’t worry. I take you to the deep end gradually. ;)

  There are many sexual situations in this series of books. People die. People get hurt. Things aren’t always truly the way they appear. The antagonist isn’t just a bad guy; he’s EVIL. My heroine’s worldview is skewed; things that may appall you are perfectly normal to her.

  Any violence in this book is non-gratuitous and crucial to the plot and character development.

  Do not read this if you are under the age of consent in your country. Do not get angry if the subject or actual book upsets you. If you're reading this, you've been warned.

  ~Despair~

  Chapter One

  (Two Years Later)

  Anna felt herself rising to a stark and brutal level of consciousness, only dimly aware that she lay flat on her back in her own bed at the Manor.

  With lucidity came a dull, aching pain that grew with each breath she drew.

  Devin had taken Anna’s baby. A child conceived out of love with Alex. The last vestige of Alex she had clung to. And Devin took it. Again.

  Again?

  No. It couldn’t be Alex’s baby. Alex was dead. He’d been dead for so long...she didn’t know how long. He was dead. But then why did Devin say it was Alex’s baby and get her so upset?

  Anna felt the fog of confusion smothering her mind. She was always confused these days. Some days Devin said Alex was alive. Other days, Devin said Alex was dead. Why did he confuse her? It was hard enough keeping hold of reality as it was. But when Devin bothered to speak to her, it got even more confusing.

  Focus, Anna. Her inner voice sounded as weak as she felt, but she tried to comply, vaguely remembering back to a time when she could focus, when she was much stronger than she was now.

  They’d just returned home from another Spring Gathering—her third, she thought. She’d been pregnant before they left. She was not pregnant now. Devin had told her before they left that it was Alex’s baby, and she’d believed him. She’d fought tooth and nail to keep him from taking it, but now it just seemed foolish. Alex had been dead for a long, long time.

  Alex! The pain in her heart began again. She ran to the bathroom and tore open her relief cabinet of drugs.

  It was empty.

  “No!” she cried. “No!” She’d been a good girl. She’d done everything Devin had asked her to do. Why was he withholding her relief?

  She ran to her bedroom door and pounded on it, screaming Devin’s name. She didn’t care if he came to punish her. She just needed him to come. Screaming his name always made him come. And it made him mad.

  But no one came. She pounded on the door until her fists were bruised and bleeding, and still no one came.

  Devin always came when she screamed. Why not this time?

  She curled up in a ball on her bed and sobbed. Where was everybody? She’d been a good girl. She’d tried very hard to be obedient. Why was he punishing her? What had she done wrong?

  The only time Devin required her to be coherent was during the Spring Gatherings, and even then she wasn’t completely coherent. He didn’t take her to the Summer Gatherings anymore. He said she didn’t need to be there, so she stayed home and got high. He didn’t really need her at all, except for one thing: a baby in the spring. Anna didn’t understand why.

  She didn’t remember much of the last two years, except avoiding thoughts of Alex. She hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone since she’d come home from Germany. Except Wilhelm. He came out every few months and visited with her. She didn’t like it when he came. He reminded her too much of Alex.

  But when he left, she felt so lonely.

  The drugs were seeping out of her system now and she couldn’t avoid thinking about Alex. She missed him. So much it hurt to breathe.

  She looked at her right hand. Devin had made her take off her diamond rings, but made her wear her right hand wedding band. Every time she looked at it, pain stabbed her heart. She tried to take it off one time and Devin got so angry. It didn’t make any sense. Why would Devin want her to remember her dead husband?

  Her hand was swollen from pounding on the door and it made the ring tight. Normally it was too loose; she’d lost a lot of weight over the last two years. She didn’t even like to look in the mirror now.

  Tommy had been astonished when he saw her last week at the Gathering. She recalled the shock on his face and his concerned exclamation: “You’ve gotten so thin! I’m worried about you.”

  “I’m fine,” Anna had protested. She appreciated his concern, but she was fine.

  Anna had been astounded to see Aaron at the Gathering. She couldn’t make herself speak to him, but saw him and Tommy talking a lot. Travis was there as well and the three of them seemed inseparable.

  Life had changed a lot in the last two years. She rarely left her room, was rarely called upon to perform any sexual duties. Men just didn’t seem interested in her body without the curves; but Anna didn’t mind. Ian stayed with her several nights a week and that was all she needed. Devin only spent the night with her once in a while. If she’d been sober enough to care, she would have been hurt.

  The door opened and she flipped over to see Maggie enter carrying a tray.

  “Maggie!” she cried. “Where’s Devin?”

  Maggie gave her a sympathetic look. “Master said that he would come see you after you ate.”

  “Why is my cabinet empty?” Anna demanded.

  Maggie’s eyes widened and she flinched at Anna’s sudden, mercurial demeanor. “Mast
er said to take everything out while you were gone. I don’t know, Mistress.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Anna huffed. If she couldn’t have her drugs, then she wouldn’t eat.

  “Master said he wouldn’t come see you if you didn’t eat,” Maggie said quietly.

  Anna narrowed her eyes at the tray of food. “Fine.”

  She got up on shaky legs and walked to the table and began eating. Maggie left the room after watching her for a minute and Anna was left alone.

  It was too quiet. She looked around for the remote for the TV and saw it on the nightstand. Anna sighed. She couldn’t reach it and didn’t have the energy to get up and get it. Maybe after she ate.

  *****

  She was finishing up her meal when Devin came in. She was grumpy and angry by then.

  “Why did you take my drugs away?” she snapped.

  Devin calmly walked in and sat in the chair by the window. “I suggest you watch your tone, Anna,” he said in a low voice.

  Anna stood on her shaky legs and glared at him. “You promised that if I was a good girl you would let me have them when I got home. You lied.”

  Devin raised his brow. “Anna, you’ve been high for two years straight. It’s time to come down and get on with life.”

  She crossed her arms. “I don't want to. I have nothing to do. You want me to sit here all day and stare at the wall? That’s going on with life?”

  “No. I was going to suggest you start dancing again.”

  Anna’s jaw dropped. “Why?” she asked after a long pause.

  “Because it’s good for you. Aside from your yearly pregnancy, you’ve become useless to me. I don’t even enjoy fucking you anymore. You’re too skinny and incoherent. Things need to change. Now.”

  “You did this to me,” she growled.

  “I can take some of the responsibility, yes. But now it’s time to move on. Deal with your pain and start living again.”

  His matter of fact attitude infuriated her. “No.” She crossed her arms and glared at him again.

  Devin was on his feet and in front of her so fast she gasped. He pushed her against the wall. “I am your Master. You will do as I say.”

  “Or what?” she mocked. “You’ll punish me?”

  Devin’s eyes flashed. “Oh, Anna. You don't want to push me.”

  She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. Or tried to. She was too weak to actually move him.

  He grabbed her hair and yanked open the door. He dragged her, naked, out the door and through the hallways to the dungeon.

  She laughed. “Ooh, the dungeon?” she said with as much derision as she could muster. “You can’t hurt me, Devin. Been there, done that.”

  Devin cuffed her arms and legs to the wall and then left the room.

  Her laughter bordered on hysterical. This was supposed to make her behave? Ha!

  A TV flickered to life in front of her. A movie? This was different.

  What appeared on screen sobered her faster than anything ever had. It was video of Alex with three little girls. The volume was maxed out and even though she squeezed her eyes shut, their screams echoed through the room along with Alex’s laughter.

  Anna pulled against the chains. “No!” she screamed. “No! Alex wouldn’t do that!”

  But the evidence was right in front of her. Tears streamed down her face as the man she loved, the man she thought she knew, did unspeakable things to those little girls.

  When the picture faded, she slumped against the ropes and sobbed.

  “You mean he never told you about his affinity for little girls?” Devin asked from the shadows, a sarcastic note of feigned surprise in his voice.

  “Okay, Devin,” she said in surrender. “You win. You hurt me.”

  Devin laughed. “Oh, Baby. I’m not done yet. You mocked me. You defied me. And now you will pay.” He walked up in front of her and held up a syringe. “Do you remember that day when you were with Aaron and you were in incredible pain? The pain that came from nowhere?”

  Anna looked up at him with frightened eyes and nodded. Nothing had ever hurt as bad as that.

  Devin wiggled the syringe in front of her face. “This is what caused that.” He stepped forward and injected her in the neck with the clear fluid.

  She stared at him. “I don't feel anything.”

  “Of course not. It’s not the fluid that hurts.” He trailed his fingers down her chest and she cried out. His fingertips were made of razor blades. “That’s what hurts. It even made Alex scream. I can hardly imagine what it feels like to you.”

  He stepped closer and took her nipples between his knuckles. “I am going to make sure you never mock me again.”

  He twisted and she howled.

  *****

  Hours later, Ian dumped Anna onto her bed. The injection was still active in her body and her bed felt like glass and razor blades. Devin had tortured her like he always did, but each pain was new and heightened.

  She tried to sleep, but couldn’t, and tossed and turned until the artificial pain wore off many hours later, and she closed her eyes in exhaustion.

  Chapter Two

  It was the same room she’d seen before. Long and narrow with a chair, a bed, and a bookcase. But there was something different this time. A man stood at the window, looking out into the morning. The sunlight glinted off his tangled golden hair and scraggly beard. His shoulders were broad and he was very tall. He looked like....

  “Alex...?” she whispered.

  The man turned as if he heard her. His cobalt blue eyes widened in shock as he looked in her direction. Could he see her? Their eyes locked on one another and they gazed at each other for an eternity.

  The man said something in a harsh language that sounded like a question. Then he smiled hesitantly, but with tender eyes.

  “Is it really you?” he asked in English, his deep, baritone voice reverberating in her heart and memory.

  “You’re dead. This isn’t real. No!” she shouted.

  *****

  Anna sat up straight in bed. Her room was dark and her body ached.

  No! She didn’t want to dream about Alex. That was one of the things the drugs kept at bay. Her dreams of him. She had seen him before in her dreams. When Devin wouldn’t let her take her drugs at the Spring Gathering, she dreamed of him. He never saw her, but she stood and watched him look out the window.

  It was just a dream; Alex was dead. She shook her head to clear it and reached for the remote to turn the TV on. If she didn’t sleep too soundly she wouldn’t dream. She didn’t want to remember him. She wanted to forget. The video she had seen today must have put him back in the forefront of her memory.

  Besides, he wasn’t the man she thought he was. He was a monster that had tricked everyone into thinking he was a good man. But he was really just like Jack and Devin and the other men who liked to hurt girls.

  She turned onto her side and watched some lame sitcom until she fell asleep again.

  *****

  Devin came with Maggie when she brought breakfast the next morning.

  “Are you ready to cooperate, Anna?” he asked as she sat down to eat.

  “Yes, Master,” she answered contritely.

  “Good. Beginning today, Ian is going to take you for walks around the property. You need to get moving again. You will eat what is set before you. You will no longer be allowed any sort of mind-altering substance.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “When you are able to walk a sufficient distance, you will start dancing again. The adult classes like you used to take. I’ve spoken to Isaak and it is arranged.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “When you are ready, Isaak will bring you back up to the Company. Probably in the Corps until you prove yourself ready for more. You will take care of yourself and make yourself a presentable member of society again. I don’t care if you’re a bitch to your friends, but if you ever act disrespectful to me again....” He trailed off. “Yesterday will look like a
walk in the park. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “When you’re at the point you are taking the adult classes again, Ian will take you to find an apartment. Presumably you’ll be worth fucking again, and I don't want to drive all the way out here every time I want you.”

  Anna looked up at him. “You want me to have my own place?”

  “I know you’ll behave yourself,” he said in a warning tone.

  “Yes, Master.”

  *****

  Within a couple of weeks, Anna was strong enough to go for long walks with Ian. Aside from the occasional shakes, she suffered very little withdrawal symptoms; she supposed it had something to do with the Immortal part of her. She gained weight and looked much healthier by the end of the third week.

  When she was ready to begin dancing again, she and Ian went apartment hunting. They found a nice, one-bedroom apartment near her old one. It was nothing spectacular, but it was hers. Ian also told her that her car and other things were still at her house. Wilhelm had held on to it in case she wanted to go back to it.

  “I don’t want anything to do with them,” she told Ian. “Can I sell the car and get a different one?”

  “Sure. What do you want?”

  Anna shrugged. “I don’t know anything about cars. Something basic. Not fancy.”

  “I’ll take it a few places and see what I can get you. How does that sound?”

  *****

  Anna walked nervously into the ballet studio on Monday night. She hadn’t been here since before Alex died and the rush of memories was painful. She’d been sleeping with the TV on every night and had so far succeeded in avoiding any more dreams about Alex.

  It had been two years since she’d danced last. She didn’t know why Devin thought she’d be able to get back into the Company. She was almost twenty-three years old. A little old to start over as a dancer.