Chapter 26: Blood in an alley

He looked down at me, eyes heavy with evil and condescension. I hated him, but I could not do anything about it. He owned me, I could not refuse him.

"So what did you get for me today? Hopefully you didn’t come empty-handed like the last few days," he spoke, looking right at me in a way that penetrated right through me. My fear did everything it could to show, but I suppressed it.

I was about to stretch out my hand when suddenly one of his men walked out of the dark. I knew him, Julius, his slim frame and dried skin. He always had a cigar in his hand, and it made his breath terrible, yet he loved speaking to people up close. He helped my master in finding information, and so seeing him immediately let me know that there was about to be an issue here.

He took a long drag on his cigar and let the smoke form a cloud in the air right there. "There isn’t a way she gon’ say she got nothing today, I saw her," he said before taking another drag.

"She walked with some dude and a beast woman. She seemed to be some sort of dragon kin from her horns."

My master’s eyes lit up when he heard that. I knew that look, the look of pure greed. "Haha, so it seems you met someone that might have some good stuff, so how much did he pay you?" He asked while stretching his hand to me.

I stared at his hand, knowing that he was demanding what I earned. I dropped both coins on his hand. He stared at them, I could almost see the disgust form on his face. He looked at me with a gaze that could burn skin and an anger that was way too much for one situation that we were in.

"Is this all you got? Are you joking with me?" He asked in anger, then proceeded to lunge for me. I tried to step back and evade, but his hand wrapped around my neck faster than I could react. He lifted me off the ground. I found my lungs barely able to collect air.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I started to lose consciousness very quickly.

"Do you think this is some joke?" He asked, tightening his grip around my neck. I struggled, but my little hands could not do anything about it.

"You found someone that had money and you refused to make good of it? You did not get his home location, you did not steal some of his properties.

You brought back nothing but two measly coins?" His rage continued to grow as he tossed me to the ground hard. I hit the floor hard, and the coin that I had hidden rolled out of me and stopped right at the feet of my master.

I could barely see well, but I saw enough to know that I was in trouble. He stared at the coin at his feet, his gaze locked at it for far too long. He bent down and picked the coin.

"Haha, seems the beast kept some away from you," Julius said while dragging on his cigar.

My master walked toward me. He grabbed me by my hair. I struggled and tried to break free, he refused to let me go even as tears poured down my face.

"You stupid bitch," he roared and slapped me across the face. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

SMACK!

The sound echoed as I hit the floor again, blood leaking from my nose and mouth. I sobbed in silence as the pain grew, but he was in no way done with me. He came over again and proceeded to kick me right in the stomach. The force was so much that I coughed up blood, so much blood it painted the floor.

He proceeded to stomp on me harder and harder.

"How dare you. How dare you try to play me, you stupid thing. I own you, I own everything that is you. How dare you?" He barked louder and louder, his voice echoing in the alley, louder than his foot slamming into me constantly until I could not even move anymore.

I was bleeding and on the ground. Finally, he stopped, and for that moment I believed that he had ended this and I could rest a bit. I thought that he would leave now that he had gotten his anger out, but he snatched the cigar out of Julius’s hand. He walked over to me and bent down, bringing the cigar close to my neck.

"The next time that you try to play with me, I’ll make sure you die on the floor like the rat that you are," he scowled and brought the cigar close to my neck. I cried and shook my head.

"I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again, I’ll never play you ever," I begged, but his ears were shut to me.

"I’ll make sure you don’t," he said and pressed it into my neck. The pain from it was immense. I screamed louder than I have ever screamed before. I tossed and turned, but he grabbed me and refused to let me go until it had burned so deep that the mark was now permanent.

He finally pulled it back and stood up. He looked at me on the ground there and spat.

"Next time, make sure that you get as much as possible and hand all of it to me," he said and walked off. Julius laughed and followed behind him while I lay there bleeding.

Tears streamed down my face as I stared into the sky above. I wish life could be better, even a little bit, that I could find something to live for, even for a bit.

Finally, I struggled to my feet, determined to make the best of Tez. When I get to meet him again, I’ll get as much as possible because I am sure he would save me from pain.