Pulling her through to an obnoxiously large foyer, she looked around and tried to growl when he pulled her towards the hallway, but her voice still refused to work. When she dug in her heels, he only hoisted her up and threw her squirming onto his shoulder with a huff, his massive shoulder digging into her stomach.
"Hungry?" he asked cheerfully and in response, she aimed a kick for his groin.
Throwing her off him, he snarled and clutched himself, face red and eyes glowing an ominous white.
Pushing herself back from him, she glared up at him and tried to figure out what to do, but with her magic bound and being physically bound, she couldn't even figure out which part of Faerie she was in, let alone figure out how to escape it.
He grabbed her ankle, and she kicked his face, blood splattering the chequered tiles.
"Little bitch!" he snarled, his grip hard enough to bruise, and he crawled his way up her body, even as she tried to shove herself backwards, her foot slipping in his blood.
Her vision went black for an instant as he hit her, an enormous fist knocking her back so hard her head hit the tiles.
Fingers closed around her throat and she drove her knee up into his side.
He rolled off her, and she rolled the other way, her hands hitting the ground and helping push her to her feet. Turning on him, she kicked the side of his head with all her strength, and she heard the crunch of bones breaking.
Grinning savagely, she backed away from the limp body, but quickly found the door unable to be opened. The windows refused to move either, though when she looked out, there was only whiteness.
Heading down the hallway quickly. She tested each of the five doors but none of them opened to her until she got the last and she blinked at a large kitchen.
Her eyes instantly went to the bench, and she ran for a large knife, wedging the handle in between her bound hands and pulling it out of the block.
Unable to get it out from between her hands, she used her knees instead and was relieved when it pulled free.
Manoeuvring it around with her fingers until it was in the right position, she slid the ropes that bound her fingers together along the blade, cursing the man for failing to keep his damned knives sharp.
What kind of person didn't keep their knives sharp? Unless the kitchen was decorative? She glanced around as she worked, the rope breaking, and she scored on her finger.
Shrugging at it, she smeared the blood on the underside of the counter, just in case, and grabbed the knife just as the door slammed open and she looked at the very, very angry God.
"Put it down," he snarled, his fury turning into a wariness in light of her being armed, yet it boiled up again when she shook her head.
"Put it down and I won't retaliate. I'll even promise to be gentle with you," he said.
Oh yeah, like she was going to believe that after she had broken his neck.
Shaking her head again, she took a step back and tightened her grip on the knife, ready to defend herself.
"Now!" he bellowed, and she jumped, his voice was enormous in the small kitchen and she hadn't expected it at all.
Shifting her feet, she gripped the knife with both hands and stared him down, ready for his attack. She had to get a fatal strike and leave the knife in him, and that would give her several hours to figure out how to escape.
All that was required was she get the knife into that massive chest or into his eye. Neither were a very likely scenario, and she wasn't keen to get into range of those massive fists.
He glared at her and then he was moving, lunging forward and she dove to the side, slashing at his hand with the knife and making him snarl as his blood spilled. It wasn't a deep cut, but it made him very aware of her knife knowledge.
"I'm going to enjoy the sound of your screams..." he growled, and she was very glad her voice wasn't working at all.
He came for her again and she dodged him again, this time she scored across his fingers and she was pleased to see one of his fingers hit the floor, another two no longer functioning.
He screamed at her and she danced back a few steps, the knife slick with his blood. She could try and simply hack away at him bit by bit, but that would be risky, and she could see that his finger was already beginning to regrow. Her best option was to go on the offensive and she breathed out a soft exhale of dread.
Lunging forward, she spun, and her foot slammed into his side, the knife spinning in her fingers as she rebounded from him, pushing forward again and slamming the knife into his chest.
He grunted with pain and she smiled as the knife thrummed with his heartbeat, lifting her eyes to his, but he was smiling too.
"Quick little bitch, aren't you…" he said.
Blinding white lit up the room and her back hit the wall, lightning jumping from him, through the knife, and into her to leave her fingers tingling, blackened from the shock.
Completely dazed, she looked at her twitching muscles in fascination, never having been struck by lightning before. He stomped forward, and she lifted her eyes to see his were glowing white and the knife appeared to have melted in his chest.
Reaching up, he pulled the hardened, melted mass from his chest and she watched it fall in a lump on the floor, useless to her.
Fingers curled in her hair and she knew she should be worried about that, but her brain felt fried.
Lifted off the floor, she looked up at the man and he frowned, his glee fading at something he saw in her face and he said something, but she couldn't process it.
He looked angry at her confusion, the gag pulled from her face and he spoke again but again she couldn't process it.
His hand came out of nowhere and the slap brought a sharp, brutal clarity to her surroundings.
"Better?" he asked, and she licked a trace of blood from her lower lip.
"Not really…" she whispered, her voice working again, and she had to wonder if it had been the gag silencing her.
"Good," he said, smiling nastily.
Turning, he threw her bodily across the room and she landed hard against the edge of the table, gasping in pain as she pushed herself back, but he was on her an instant after she hit it.
Reaching around her, he dug his fingers into the ropes that bound her wrists and jerked her arms back over her head, holding them there while he pushed her down onto the table.
"Get off me!" she snarled, the tingling in her fingers turning to pain as her burnt nerves repaired and made her very aware of her burnt skin.
"You and I have business to attend to," he growled, his grip shifting so that he was pushing down on her upper back with his fingers in the ropes, holding her face down on the table.
"Fuck you!" she snarled, jerking against him but he was so much stronger than her.
"No Etani, that's what I'm going to do to you," he murmured, and she squirmed, stamping down on his foot but his boots were thick leather and he laughed as he bent forward over her.
"Scream for me," he whispered in her ear and when she shook her head, he growled happily and straightened up. "You will."
"Why are you doing this?" she whimpered, trying to wriggle herself free of him but there was no escaping his grip.
"You know why. Those idiots took to my idea like a drowning man," he said, and she turned her head slightly, trying to see him.
"Your idea?" she asked, desperately trying to get him talking.
"Who do you think came up with the idea to bind you like that?"
He sounded proud of himself and he reached around under her, his fingers digging into her breast as he growled.
"How did you know it would work?" she gasped, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain.
"The first and only female creator? It wasn't hard to figure out what part of you it was that made you unique. The part of you that would mean you could make worlds when a man could not. It made sense that when bound, that magic would retreat into a little ball in that spot. If it didn't work, then it didn't matter, you were still bound. Then it was what? A few days ago? Whispers started about Hecate capturing you, forcing you and Eros together and then… well let's just say I was pleased to learn I was right, and they are scared little creatures. They fear your power and so it was easy to convince them to agree." He was pawing at her chest, roughly squeezing her flesh until it hurt, but she refused to give any hint of it.
"What if it's only Eros who can do it?" she asked, her mind racing on what would get him to stop.
"Then I still get to fuck you for a few days before your boys come find you," he said. "Regardless, I win."
He was done talking and his hand left her chest, gripping the fabric at her lower back and pulling her dress up over her backside and pooling it at the small of her back.
She was trembling slightly, begging someone, anyone to save her, but she couldn't reach them, they wouldn't find her in time, and all she could do was hope that he would be done with her quickly.
"If you promise not to do what you did to Hecate, I will go easier on you," he growled. "Promise to give me the perfect world, with humans and magic. If you promise, I will even fry your brain."
"I promise," she whimpered.
"Good girl…" he growled happily.
His hand lifted, and he rested it almost tenderly against the side of her head, his fingers splayed out.
The room began to grow brighter, and she jumped as thunder crashed outside.
Her eyes found his and his were glowing a vivid white, and in the next instant the world flashed white and then everything went black.