Darker Shores (closed: Allonsy, StarWhisperer)

A young woman, alone on a deserted street, is captured by a looming, inhuman figure ...

... and taken to a world beyond imagination. There is no escape.

Malaphor
My character is Malaphor, Demon of the Wailing Shores. He has a kingdom, power, slaves, armies and all that any demon wishes but the capture and breaking of a human slave to his will will give him political bennies. Plus, it's fun.

Malaphor cannot achieve a true human form, though he can be humanoid, or something else entirely. In his usual form, he's a huge man-monster hybrid. He's over six feet tall, walks upright on broad cloven hooves, has a muscular human chest, a savage, disturbingly handsome face -- elongated canines, hot gold eyes, horns springing from his temples and a heavy, dense mane of golden hair/fur that spills down between his shoulders, along his spine and ends where his long tail begins. He's kind of a classic demon in looks.

Arella
Arella (goes by Ella) is… a human! No surprises, there. She’s in her early 20’s, probably 21 or 22. Lives alone in an apartment, is a waitress. Barely makes rent, etc. Currently has no significant other or anything. Just a cat. And the rest, you’ll find out as we go! Oh, also, just in case I don’t get the chance to describe it early on enough, she’s diminutive, like five foot two or so, 36C chest, with slightly wavy reddish brown hair halfway down her back and large green eyes. She has a few freckles, but mostly smooth clear skin.


And we begin ...

IC____________________________

Occasional traffic echoed among darkened buildings and stoplights flashed over deserted streets. The moon was blood red in the sky, but hidden by clouds, managing only a dull ruddy glow. There was nothing in the city that night to hint of what was to come. Until, even the air seemed to writhe, tearing aside in a rush, tossing rubbish along the concrete sidewalk -- Malaphor's first step into the mortal world cracked the stone beneath his hoof.

It had not been an easy journey, tearing his way through the barriers that protected the world of reality from the realms where his kind ruled. Yet, he was here, and he would bring proof of his power back. Live flesh, sweet flesh, to make his own.

The strange smell of the air; steel and pollutants and humanity, drew a low laugh of triumph from him. The moral world! He had torn his way to the mortal world! Pigeons roosting in the buildings above fled in a wild whirr of wings at the sound and Malaphor watched them, baring his sharp teeth, tempted to chase them down and leave nothing blood and feathers behind. But he had other prey tonight and she would be nearby.

The shadow Malphor cast was monstrous, but no less than the demon himself. He loomed over six feet, the sweep of his horns -- curling from his temples -- higher still. The broad sweep of his shoulders bore scars from ancient battles, a mane of dense hair swept back from a face inhuman and handsome and terrible and ended at the base of his long, serpentine tail.

Malaphor was an impossible thing. He did not belong in the human world but he was here, with a purpose, and he loped down a mundane street searching for the prey he'd chosen months ago.

He knew her habits now, and she would be nearby. Malaphor huffed out a deep rumbling cry, the pleasure of the hunt was as sweet as the anticipation of victory. The sound carried in the night air, it was the only warning Malaphor would give his prey.

Arella (goes by Ella) is… a human! No surprises, there. She’s in her early 20’s, probably 21 or 22. Lives alone in an apartment, is a waitress. Barely makes rent, etc. Currently has no significant other or anything. Just a cat. And the rest, you’ll find out as we go! Oh, also, just in case I don’t get the chance to describe it early on enough, she’s diminutive, like five foot two or so, 36C chest, with slightly wavy reddish brown hair halfway down her back and large green eyes. She has a few freckles, but mostly smooth clear skin.

~~

Ella walked down the street with her head down, avoiding looking at anyone who glanced towards her as she walked. She pulled her coat closer to her body. For a while now, she had been feeling like someone was watching her… but that was impossible.

Despite herself, she glanced over her shoulder. No one was there. Shaking her head, she continued to hurry down the street towards home. She’d just finished the closing shift at work and it was dark; half of the street lights on her block didn’t work. She jumped, hearing a strange, unearthly noise. It sent a thrill down her spine; gooseflesh spread across her skin, and the fine hair on the back of her neck stood up. She didn’t know what that sound was, but every fiber of her being told her that she didn’t want to.

Though she tried to tell herself that she was fine and she would be okay, she felt like something was watching her, still. Whatever had made that sound sounded… monstrous. It terrified her, chilled her to the core, and before she had realized it, she broke into a half-run/speed walk, trying to get to her building, and safety, that much faster. Not that mere brick and mortar could protect her from Malaphor, but Ella had no way of knowing that.

She had just one more block to go before she could run inside. Ella took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. Everything was okay, she told herself. Everything was fine, it was a normal night. That noise had to have been her imagination. She hoped so, anyway.

Malaphor crouched, half-hidden by the bulk of a car as the serpentine end of his tail twitched like a curious cat's. His luminous golden gaze followed the solitary figure on the street ahead. She hunched her shoulders and hurried her steps. She had good instincts, his prey ... but that would not save her.

He moved then, breaking into a swift lope across the street, leaping onto the roof of a car to loom over her. The metal groaned and glass shattered across the pavement like diamonds, scattering at Ella's feet. Steam curled around Malaphor's shoulders as the water in the air -- symbol of purity -- simmered away from the demon's presence.

"Run, pretty thing," he warned, staring down at her pale face, voice dark and rumbling. His teeth gleamed in the night, and his eyes were full of hunger and amusement and terrible intelligence. "Run fast, run swift because when I catch you I will never let you go. Run."

Because law demanded he give her one chance, paltry though it was. And, Malaphor threw back his head with a roaring laugh, because it was fun.

There was a loud crunching, crashing sound when Malaphor jumped to the roof of the car and dented it in, destroying it. Ella jumped, her whole body quaking. A scream escape her before she realized it at the startling, unexpected noise. She turned, feeling like the world was in slow motion as she froze, paralyzed by what was before her. As the broken glass scattered across the ground, Ella’s eyes widened.

She stared up at Malaphor, losing all sense of self for a moment. What was that? She blinked a couple of times, swallowing hard. She felt like a scared rabbit with how hard her heart was pattering in her chest. If she’d had the presence of mind to think, she would have feared that her heart would give out all together. And, then, it was talking to her. The large, hulking mass that had demolished that car with a single leap, with curling horns and harsh features, something from her childhood nightmares, was speaking to her. It was telling her to run. To run because it wanted her.

Well, it didn’t have to tell her twice. Ella turned and bolted, scrambling a bit when, at first, her feet found only broken glass, then gaining purchase when she hit the cement. Fortunately for her, she wore a pair of black sneakers to work in, as part of her uniform. Ella had never run this fast in her life. She could see her apartment building. It was right there. So close. But, somehow, she knew she wasn’t going to make it there.

Ella still wasn’t thinking. Her mind was racing, but nothing productive was going on there. She was working completely on instinct as she propelled herself forward, one solid thought coming forward: I am going to die, tonight.

She ran like a gazelle and Malaphor chased her like a tiger, powerful muscles bunching in his back and legs, tail sweeping in a flash of amber and crimson scales. The clatter of his hooves and the sound of his breathing raced with them, echoing along the street. He liked the swift patter of her feet, the grace in her stride, the panic in her breathing. They'd play this game again.

He saw the moment when she turned to climb shallow stairs, her body language screaming safety as she fumbled for the door. Malaphor put on a last burst of speed, catching up to Ella in the last moments, and swept a powerful arm around her waist. Catching her up off her feet, the demon swung her away from the apartment building and tumbled them both onto the sidewalk, his large hand was spread across her back to keep Ella from hitting the ground too hard.

Crouching over her, Malaphor laughed, long and rumbling, very pleased with himself and his new toy. "Pretty creature," he leaned in. This close, his amber eyes were round pupiled like a lion's or a tiger's and glossy red lacquer had been applied with care to the tips of his horns. Malaphor was not without his vanities. "Catch and release, is that not the game some people play now?" he tilted his head, "Alas, I do not. I keep what I catch. Why should I let you go, after all?"

Ella made it to the door, and she felt a small wave of relief wash over her. She pulled her keys out of her pocket in a hurry, but fumbled them, trying to fit the right one into the lock, feeling panic rising in her guts. She could hear his hooves beating the ground. And then, the door was gone as she was swept away, screeching, torn away from the building and forced to the ground.

She looked up at Malaphor with abject terror, her heart hammering. She could barely hear him over the rushing of her blood in her ears. She stared at him, taking in his face. His eyes held her; they were the eyes of a predator, and Ella knew that it was all over for her. Belatedly, she realized he had asked her a question, though whether or not it was rhetorical remained to be seen. She decided to press her luck and respond, anyway, if she could force herself to speak.

“I, don’t… Why would you want to keep me?” Ella asked in a small voice. It shook, quaked with the rest of her body beneath Malaphor. “I’m no… g-good to you,” she stammered. “I’m not w-worth anything.” Her voice was pleading and desperate. She hoped to escape this with her life and forget that she had ever seen this creature holding her captive below him.

Malaphor chuckled, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes, and nuzzled closer. "Worth nothing?" He breathed in the smell of her skin; mortal, frightened, sweet. "Oh, my lovely pet, you are a pearl without price."

He was pressed close enough that Ella's frantic breathing lifted her breasts against his chest and her small movements stirred against his thighs were he straddled her. Her hair was spilled across his arms, her green eyes were brilliant in the dimness, and Malaphor hummed in pleasure. He wished she were naked now.

The demon turned his head, the tip of one horn tapping lightly against the mundane tarmac as he did so, and his lips brushed her skin when he spoke. They were unexpectedly soft. "I have come all this way for you, Ella," he crooned. He wanted her to know he knew her name, he knew her -- he'd chosen her. He wanted her to wonder why. "Like a fairy prince on a quest, to find the innocent beast and make her mine."

He pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth in the gentlest of kisses, then lifted his head to gaze down at her again. This close to Ella, his skin was warm, almost hot and the horns that spiraled from his temples were the texture and color of old ivory. Malaphor's features were striking, perhaps handsome if undeniably inhuman; high, broad cheekbones, a proud nose, deepset, golden eyes ... his teeth were white and predatory and well cared for. "I do not waste my time on nothing."

"Perhaps there is something hidden within you," Malaphor said, voice so low it could be felt as much as heard. He drew a broad fingertip down the racing pulse in Ella's throat and over the curve of her breast at the edge of her top. "Something that needs to be uncovered. Something in you that has brought me here."

Malaphor whispered in her ear, a low purring rumble. "Something wicked."

Ella recoiled from the touch of his lips against her soft skin. Her breath caught her her throat. “You’re no fairy prince,” she mumbled, without thinking. Her heart nearly stopped, when she realized what she had just said. This thing… this demon… could kill her so easily, she was sure, and here she was insulting him when he had her pinned to the ground. How stupid could she get? She tried to gather her wits, holding perfectly still. “I’m sorry,” she said hurriedly. “I didn’t mean… I…”

She stared into the inhuman face, eyes naturally drawn to certain details. The sharp, white teeth of a predator, the beastly horns, the eyes that captured her more than she was comfortable with every time she looked at them. Ella closed her eyes in order to stop herself from looking. She felt panic overtaking her, realizing he had used her name. Not even her full name, the nickname that anyone who REALLY knew her called her. She swallowed hard. She was like a fragile butterfly in the grasp of a hawk.

“There’s nothing wicked in me,” Ella whispered, fighting the entirely unwanted thrill that went through her as his fingertip skirted across and down her skin. She shrank away from him, as if she could somehow sink into the cool pavement beneath her. “There’s nothing. Please, just let me go.” She could feel tears pricking in her eyes. She was entirely certain that this…thing… it wasn’t a man… was going to end her life, no matter what sweet words he said about fairy princes and how much she was worth. His whisper in her ear had send thrills through her whole body, and she didn’t know why, but whatever it was, she didn’t want it.

Malaphor grinned at Ella, amusement untainted by cruelty and untroubled by her spark of defiance. It pleased him, honestly. If he wanted a witless doll, he could make one. "I am a prince," he said, and his eyes glittered with humor, "but alas, I ate my white charger on the journey."

"Nothing," he said pensively, shifting back to slip a coil of dark rope from the belt around his waist, one hand spread across Ella's chest to remind her to be still. Her fear pale cheeks pinked as she looked away from him and that was satisfying too. He slipped a loop of the silky rope around her wrists, drawing it snug as, in the distance, sirens wailed, growing closer. "I doubt that, lovely beast. We shall have to search, you and I, for something in all that nothing you claim."

"Your knights in blue are coming to your rescue," Malaphor said as he worked to bind her, glancing up to scan the so far empty streets. "I wonder what they would do, once they faced me. Do you think, if I told them this was a ... show, a game and you were only playing your terror in my arms, that they would let me go? Would they believe their own senses, in this senseless, sad world? Or will everyone deny my existence, explain away the mystery, and sleep quietly at night believing you safe and all your tears an act."

The rope Malaphor wound about Ella was black silk, threaded with silver and more than a physical binding. The journey back was harsh and deadly and he had no wish to lose Ella's mortal soul or life on the Shadow Road -- so he bound it within her body, even as he bound her body.
____________________

OOC: I'm leaving the rope stuff a little vague, to leave room for Ella to struggle if you wish. I'll fold that into my next post, if that's what you want her to do.

Ella’s eyes widened, as she tried to decide if he was just saying that he’d eaten a horse recently to scare her, or if it was actually true. Somehow, she didn’t doubt it possible. This demon thing was more than any of Ella’s worst nightmares could have devised. If he told her he could destroy the world with a snap of his fingers, she probably would have believed him. He was so big, compared to her, she was sure he could break her into pieces with his bare hands.

Ella subtly moved her wrists, trying to see how much give there was in the silky rope tied about her wrists The answer was, much to her terror, not much. She was beginning to realize that he really was going to take her away, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Silent tears began rolling down her ivory cheeks, and she squeezed her eyes shut, in an attempt to quell them. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of more of her fear. He already had enough of it in his possession.

She felt her heart leap with hope at the sound of sirens, then sink with dread at his words. Ella knew in her heart that the police would not be able to rescue from this thing. He wasn’t normal, was certainly not human, and she thought, somehow, that he was probably not bound by all the rules of her world. He did, after all, have horns, if that was any indication. There would be no rescue. “They would only believe if I didn’t scream that it wasn’t true. You wouldn’t be able to keep my mouth shut unless you broke my neck,” Ella said. Her voice was quiet, but steady. Her resolve was set, that she would stay strong through this, regardless. At least there was no one to miss her. Her parents lived on the other side of the country, and she only spoke to them once or twice a year. She had no siblings, no husband or boyfriend, no children. At least no one else would get hurt trying to save her. She almost hoped that they were gone by the time the police arrived.

Ella wanted to beg, but at this point, she felt it useless. Instead, she silently continued to tug at her wrists, trying in vain to loosen the bindings there, even as he was tying her up all of the way. She watched him, her eyes again finding new details. If she ever did manage to get away, the demon’s visage would be permanently etched into her mind, whenever she closed her eyes, waking or asleep, he would be burned into the insides of her eyelids. Ella closed them now, and she could still see him perfectly.

~~~

((OOC: wasn't completely sure what you wanted me to do with that. I figure he probably wouldn't make them loose enough that she could get out, anyway, and any attempt would just amuse him, at this rate. Also, taking the time to compliment your writing here. Every time I see you've posted I can't wait to read it.))

"Your neck is too valuable to me with life pulsing through it for so final a solution." Malaphor said. He had bound Ella's wrists and put a loop around her waist to secure them, then he crossed two strands between her breasts, the knot over her heart one of protection, though she could not know it. The way the rope spread between her breasts also emphasized them, and the pace of her breathing. She was twisting her hands, searching for escape, though her eyes were closed. "Scream, for all the good it will do."

Malaphor gathered her up and stood, head held high. "Look around you, Ella," he said, and there was a note of unexpected contempt in his voice. "All your neighbors looking out at you and none stirring to your aid." He was right, faces peered out of several windows, frightened, fascinated, disbelieving or all three.

"They watch with their little devices," the gleam of camera phones being held up could be seen in several windows. "Spineless and afraid. They'll put flowers in the street once you're gone but none will lift a hand to help you now."

Malaphor looked down at Ella, held close to his chest. "I will tell you a thing to remember," his gaze met hers, intense. "If another should hunt you down and steal you away, I will not simply watch and cower in fear."

"I would say I am not the only monster here." Glass crunched under the demon's hooves as he retraced his steps. He had to reach the Gate and preferred to do so before the defenders arrived in their numbers.

It was easy to follow the traces of his own passage, he was not meant for this world and his presence in it left scars. Malaphor picked up his pace as the streets stirred, the wail of a firetruck joining the police sirens. With Ella in his arms, he had no interest in mayhem.

They came soon enough to the alley where Malaphor's first step into the world was scorched into the sidewalk. A patch of empty air shimmered, rippling like a too thin curtain and, only sometimes, a glimpse of an impossible world could be seen through it. Malaphor sighed in relief, the Gate was still there. There had been a chance it would collapse and he'd be trapped in the mortal world and even he, eventually, would be brought down. Though he'd never admit that.

They came soon enough to the alley where Malaphor's first step into the world was scorched into the sidewalk. A patch of empty air shimmered, rippling like a too thin curtain and, only sometimes, a glimpse of an impossible world could be seen through it. Malaphor sighed in relief, the Gate was still there. There had been a chance it would collapse and he'd be trapped in the mortal world and even he, eventually, would be brought down. Though he'd never admit that.

At least that meant he wasn’t going to kill her, she thought. Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, she wasn’t quite sure. He picked her up, and she knew there was no longer any small speck of a chance to escape. He told her to look around, and Ella opened her eyes unthinkingly.

She looked around, into the windows, at the faces, mostly just vaguely familiar, no one she really knew, watched in horror and fascination. She would have waved sardonically, had her hands not been tied. Instead, she just watched them stonily. She tried to let each of them know, with her eyes, that she knew they had seen and done nothing. She hoped that they rotted in their guilt.

Ella turned her eyes up to Malaphor. “They’re afraid of you. Their own lives, and their families, are more precious to them than a stranger is. I don’t blame you.” She closed her eyes. “Human life is precious, but you love your own more than you value someone you don’t know. It’s the way things are. I would probably be watching terrified from my own window, if I weren’t the one about to be kidnapped by… you.” She wasn’t sure what to call him. She looked up to her own window, one of the only that was still dark.

She almost agreed, that he wasn’t the only monster there, but she said nothing about it, deciding that now was a good time to keep her mouth shut. Though, he had told her to scream, for all the good it would do her. And she felt like, if she didn’t, it would mean she had given up. So Ella opened her mouth and shrieked bloody murder, thrashing her legs even a little bit, though Malaphor’s grip on her didn’t budge. Her cries and wails echoed in the night air. The sirens got closer, but then further away, because they were going to where they had been, not where they were going now.

Where they were going, she hadn’t a clue. The idea of another world didn’t even occur to Ella. After a few minutes of no effect, Ella’s screams died. Her throat raw, she began to sob pitifully instead, pressing her face to the monster’s chest and not bothering to even attempt to stop. She was helpless, nothing to be done, and this thing was taking her away. All there was was panic, no rationality left to be had.

Malaphor held Ella as she thrashed, her shrieks a pleasant backdrop. When she relaxed again, pressing her fact to his chest, he rumbled softly -- a noise somewhere between soothing and satisfied. Sobs shook her body and tears teased warm on his skin. The demon held her closer still, cupping a hand against her head. He stepped to the Gate, fluttering in the air and rumbled again, a low growl, unconscious challenge for the journey ahead.

He stepped forward.

The Gate swallowed them up; it seemed like falling, endlessly, as if Hell really were beneath the earth. There was no true light, no solid ground -- but the air was full of screaming. Lost souls, rent from their worlds, drifted helplessly in the fractures of existence. Malaphor and Ella in his arms were a priceless gift of heat and life and freedom and the spirits clustered around them, tearing with their wills in an attempt to drive Malaphor off the path and into their power.

Malaphor fought, or he ran, turning his will against the streaks of light, roaring in defiance. He clutched Ella fiercely as the rope around her glinted blue, holding her sprits safe as Malaphor held her body. His heart thudded heavily in his chest, drumming hard, as they spun faster and faster, drawn by Malaphor's own nature back to his realm.

The world shook again and Malaphor staggered onto solid ground, dropping to one knee with a grunt. He held Elle protectively, throwing back his head with a snarl as he sensed movement around them. The stone under him was familiar though, black basalt, and the figures around them were his own people.

The Gate had been opened upon the highest spire of Malaphor's kingdom and all around them the red sky shimmered, a strange sun like a drop of molten gold in the sky and the breeze that blew carried the faint scent of burning. Beyond the brass circle inlaid on the rock, strange figures clustered. A handful of gray, spindly creatures bobbed and weaved, heads ducked submissively, eyes dark slits in winziened little faces. Dark feline figures, broad wings rustling, circled the area restlessly and other creatures as well, horned and hooved, or furred or scaled. A rustle went through them as Malaphor appeared and they whispered his name; their lord, returned.

"Home," Malaphor said, kneeling back and easing Elle to the ground. "Look at your new world, little pet."

Ella wanted to scream as they fell, but it caught in her throat. Instead, she stayed bound. She couldn’t even hang on to him, because her wrists and body were tied. She kept her face hidden, eyes shut tightly. There was a strange tugging sensation; unbeknownst to her, the ropes that bound her were also keeping her together, otherwise it would have been more of a ripping than a tugging.

She yelped when Malaphor landed and everything shook and he snarled, wishing she wasn’t so damn vulnerable. It was a strange thing, but when she was set down, all Ella wanted was for Malaphor to pick her up again. All of the creatures around her were unfamiliar and frightening to her. She took a step towards Malaphor. “Please untie me,” she requested, voice shaking. She wanted the use of her wrists and hands back. She also wished he would stop calling her little pet, though technically the little part was fitting, considering he was so much larger than she.

Ella looked around, taking in the spire on which they stood, the bloody sky, the molten topaz sun, the acrid scent in the air. She shivered, more afraid than before. She was tempted to try jumping off of the spire, just to end things, but she had the feeling that she wouldn’t get very far. “Where did you take me?” she whispered, horrified as she took in her surroundings with wide eyes.

Malaphor rolled his wide shoulders and there was exhaustion etched in his face, for those who could read it. For him, the trip had been long and difficult, moresoe as he sheltered Ella in his power. "I am a prince, my prize," he said, spreading his hands. "And this is my kingdom."

The tremulous note in Ella's voice was pleasing, as she asked -- so very politely -- for her freedom. Malaphor smoothed his hands down her arms, then untied her. The rope was brittle and tarnished now, cracking even as Malaphor unbound his new mortal slave.

The lands of Malaphor's kingdom were spread far below them; a great wine dark ocean to the west, waves falling and rising hypnotically, and rolling hills in most other directions. The spire itself was perched on a cliff-face that fell like a knife to the sea and a great fortress was carved of the dark rock.

He set his hands on Ella's slim shoulders, fingers slipping through her hair. "This is the sky you will live your days under," he bent to rumble intimately in her ear. "This is the air you will breathe." His own breath was hot on her skin. "The life you will live is mine to shape."

"This is Purgatory. My world."

"Come," Malaphor urged Ella along, sparks flickering his his mane of bronze-gold hair and in hers as well. The last of the Gate collapsed as they stepped over the bronze summoning circle. The creatures in Malaphor's service surged closer. None of them were human, most less so than even Malaphor; yellow and blood red eyes gleamed in the light, furs and scales mixed with heavy hide. Malaphor snarled at those who reached to touch Ella, drawn and fascinated by the scent of mortality that clung to her.

A spiral staircase wound down from the spire and the lot of them scrabbled down it. Periodically, the outside wall was pierced by tall narrow windows, giving brief glimpses of the world beyond; patches of black wood forests, what seemed ridiculously mundane settlements, the sea and the black fortress.

"You are the first mortal in many generations to look up on this world," Malaphor told Ella. Her presence here gave him advantage in the constant game of conquest, defeat and victory his kind played with each other. "You're separated from your world by more than distance," he said, "I split the walls between us to find you, to capture you, and to bring you back."

"You'll make a life here, at my feet, tending to my pleasures," he glanced to her, the yellow heat of his eyes so much more natural seeming in this place. "You may have been nothing once, Ella, but you are something special here. And mine."

Malaphor ignored the whispers of the creatures trailing the two of them as beneath him. They whispered in the shadows; can we touch her? Taste? Pull her hair? Pet her? is she real? Can we steal her? Are there more where she came from?

As the passed from the spire to the fortress itself, a creature, braver or stupider than its fellows, darted forward grab at Ella. It had a lolling tongue and three wide eyes and hunched barely waist high on her, its legs twisted strangely bent. It stared at Ella with grinning hunger. "Give us a kiss," it hissed up at her.

“I’m no one’s prize,” Ella murmured out of habit, still looking around. She didn’t watch as he untied her bonds, taking in, still, the far-reaching new world. Everything seemed to be read or black or gray here. Where was the blue? The only green in this world was her eyes, she was almost certain.

She shrank back from him, though his hands stayed firmly on her shoulders, holding her in place. She looked away, which caused his hot breath to fan across her neck. She shivered, with revulsion and fear and something else, something she couldn’t name. “I don’t want to live my days here,” she said weakly. What had she done to deserve to go to Purgatory? Maybe she shouldn’t have stopped going to church, so many years ago.

Ella followed Malaphor, shrinking closer to his side as the creatures moved closer. She didn’t want any of them touching her. They seemed such a strange mix of human and inhuman, and even looking at them was making Ella’s skin crawl.

She listened obediently as she followed Malaphor down the stairs, though part of her attention was trained on the windows they passed, looking at the world outside. Would she get to know that world, or stay locked in this castle? She wasn’t sure which one was a more horrifying prospect. One phrase caught her attention, and her eyes snapped back to the demon she was trailing beside like an obedient puppy.

Part of it, she liked. Being something special. Ella had never been anything special. Sure, she was sort of pretty, she guessed, but she hadn’t had a boyfriend in years. She’d never done anything remarkable with her life. Everything about her, she thought, had been incredibly ordinary. Until she had gotten kidnapped by a demon and taken to Purgatory, of course.

The other part of the sentence, though, was what caught Arella’s attention. Tending to his pleasures. What was THAT supposed to mean? The fact that she was now supposedly his helped her come to a conclusion, and she found herself incredibly unhappy with the answer that she came to.
She shivered, trying very hard to ignore the whispers of the creatures following and surrounding them, as Malaphor was, but it was very difficult, as they were talking about her. She really rathered they didn’t touch, taste, pet or do anything else to or with her. She kept her eyes straight forward at eye level to avoid looking at any of them.

Ella was fairly successful at ignoring the creatures until one of them approached her. She jumped and screamed, bumping into Malaphor. “Don’t touch me!” she shrieked, sounding a bit hysterical. It was already a lot to take for her poor, stressed out psyche to have been taken by a monster she had thought was mythical to another dimension, or something. Now some strange, three-eyed alien looking thing was trying to get her to kiss it. Ella had the strange urge to kick it in the head, instead.

~~
(OOC: I wasn't sure if Ella would be able to understand the creatures, so I just went with yes, since it would freak her out more and I'm mean that way.)

Serpent quick despite his bulk, Malaphor lunged forward with an outraged roar at Ella's terrified cry. The lesser creatures fled, shrieking and even the eerie Guardians drew back, wings rustling.

"Arrogant worm!" Malaphor shouted and lashed out to grab the fleeing beast that'd trespassed. He snagged a spindly ankle and flung the creature, bashing it savagely against a black marble pillar. It's terrified squeals ended in a bone snapping crunch then it tumbled to the ground, white with terror and shock, dark blood puddling around it. Malaphor was still unsatisfied and eyes blazing, and he trampled it, sharp hooves crushing flesh and bone before stepping back and drawing himself up. Blood glistened wetly on his hooves.

"Next time I will not be so merciful," he warned, surveying the glinting eyes in the shadows. His tail lashed angrily, the smooth scaled length of it brushing Ella's shins. His gaze flicked to her and the demon reached to pull her possessively to his side, curling an arm around her shoulders. Malaphor bent to breathe in the smell of her. Aside from the trembling fear, she was unharmed. The demon turned her away from the creature still gasping and whimpering on the floor.

"Clean that up," Malaphor ordered gruffly. It would not die, that gift was denied demons, but weakened and wounded, it would be reshaped into a creature even more pitiable than it had been before.

He looked down at Ella then. "You have many things to fear, little pet, but none shall play with you without my bidding."

Malaphor's fortress was extensive, much of it, in fact, unused but as they travelled further in, signs of habitation grew; wear on stairs, the sound of voices down dim hallways, even furniture. Symbols etched in the walls fluoresced a dim orange, casting uncertain light and deep shadows as they passed deeper into the fortress and away from the windows.

At an awkward intersection of five hallways, Malaphor set a large hand between Ella's shoulder blades and pressed her inevitably towards a cluster of wiry, grayish creatures. They bobbed and weaved, claws clicking on the stones, jet eyes glittering as they stared up at her. "Go with them," he said. She would be prepared for him; washed and stripped of the mundane clothes that did nothing to please him, and returned to his presence. Then, they would get to know each other.
__________________
ooc: yes, just assume she can understand them all, more fun that way! Also, naked bathtime with demonic imps coming up!

Ella watched, eyes widened with horror, while Malaphor grabbed the creature and, in a chorus of crunches and screeches, broke, smashed, and trampled the creature. She didn’t particularly feel sorry for it, but she did feel a bit nauseous, and sorry for herself, more-so, even, than before, that she was to spend her life with this demon, though she did protect her a bit. She jumped a little bit when his tail brushed her legs. Her whole body trembled beneath his arm as he pulled her to him.

She nodded, numbly, staring at the grotesque mass on the floor and trying to decide if it looked better or worse than it had looked before. She wasn’t sure, but she definitely couldn’t look at it anymore, or she would be sick. Covering her mouth, Ella turned and followed Malaphor deeper into the fortress.

She took in with cautiously eager eyes the surroundings, thinking that this was going to be where she would spend her life. She wanted to leave this place as soon as she could, but somehow Ella knew that that was not an option. She tried to dig her heels in when Malaphor pushed her towards the group of creatures, not wanting them near her. She glanced at him helplessly, then nodded. What could she do, after all?

Ella walked with the creatures, a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. The thought that there would never be another human in her life again was distressing. Who would comfort her? There was nothing familiar about this place. There would never be anything about it that would be home. And she was a possession now, not a person. She was his. She was a demon’s pet. Sure, she was something, but that wasn’t really the something she wanted to be.

~~
((hahaha yay naked demonic bath time xD))

Malaphor had left Ella in the spindly hands of a half-dozen small scrawny creatures. Their gray limbs were long and bony, their bellies hollow and ashy skin was pulled taunt over sharp angles. They were naked and truly sexless but there was still hunger in their gleaming dark eyes. Perhaps they were hungry, perhaps they still lusted and were more frustrated now, without the means to sate their passions.

"Be good," they piped in whistling voices. "Be good, be obedient, and follow, follow, follow …"

Some of them gripped Ella's hands, or tugged on the edges of her jacket. Others pushed on her thighs, her ass (one of them gave her a secretive, sharp pinch, once Malaphor was safely around a corner), some even scampered on all fours and nipped at her heels like dogs herding a reluctant sheep. They took her away from the terrifying – but familiar – presence of Malaphor and down a dimly lit hallway.

This part of the sprawling fortress was clearly inhabited, the even passed a few other creatures -- some following Ella's progress with steady, wolf-like stares, others drawing away, hiding in shadows, a few clattering along the ceiling like disturbing, oversize insects. The hallways were less impressive, more lived in, and two of Ella's escorting creatures pushed open a creaking wooden door, releasing the smell of damp and steam.

It was a bath room ... large and steamy warm, the floors were dark slate, the oddly angled walls interspersed with smoky mirrors and a multi-level pool shimmered with water. Along the far wall, slanted red glass looked out on the brassy sun and sky of Purgatory and a cluster of bottles and boxes, towels and glinting jewels were piled along the floor beneath them.

"Yes, yes, yes ..." two of the creatures bounded forward, splashing their hands in the bath before coming back to pat her hands. "It's safe! Safe for you!"

They tugged at Ella's jacket, one yanked the laces of her sneakers loose, another reached for the snap on her trousers as the shrunken little imps turned their quick fingers and sharp little teeth to stripping her bare.

"Don't wiggle!" One squealed, biting off buttons.

"Be good!" Another scolded.
_________
ooc: feel free to add to the enviroment. it's pretty much dark and gothic, a little worn around the edges, full of marble and gold and peering faces.

Ella looked over her shoulder, watching until Malaphor was out of sight. Reluctantly, she followed the little imps, jumping when one of them pinched her ass and looking back, though she was unable to tell which one it had been. She tried to remember which hallways they had turned down, and tried much harder to ignore all of the creatures they passed along the way, but both were nearly impossible feats.

She looked around the large bath room, partially in awe and partially made nervous. The architecture of the room added with the décor reminded her of a haunted house. She suddenly was jerked away from her examination of the room by the little creatures that were beginning to strip her down.

“Hey!” Ella yelped, trying to jump back. She was met by more of the things behind her. “Stop that! What are you doing?!” She stumbled as one yanked off one shoe, then the other, followed in quick succession with her socks. She tried to clutch her clothes to her body, writhing around, but she just couldn’t get away from the little creatures. Despite the size difference, six against one just wasn’t fair.

"Hey!" They singsonged back. "Hey, hey, hey!"

"You can't wash in your ugly clothes!" One of them halted in front of her. "We'll make you pretty," it said. The imp had a long crooked nose and slightly off-kilter eyes, and seemed strangely wiser than most of its companions. A little taller too, it had no trouble shoving the others around.

"Pretty is as pretty does and the Prince likes pretty things, oh, he does like them very much." It reached forward, fingering the lace edge to her panties, blinking curiously. "Little morsels, all for him, and none for us!"

The imps darted around Ella, one yanking a sleeve then darting back as she turned on it as another grabbed for a bra strap. The mirrors in the room reflected her strange battle, as more fair skin was revealed; the curve of Ella's waist, the pale swell of a breast as one of the imps bit through the straps of her bra, her underwear nipped and torn until she was naked in the warmth and steam.

The imps scattered and converged again, hands full of soft bristled brushes and nubbly cloth. As they had in the hallway, they tried to coax and goad Ella to the bathing pool.

“My clothes are not ugly,” Ella protested, even as they were ripped to shreds. “And I am already pretty. Stop that!” She smacked at the imps, to no avail. She looked down at the crooked-nosed creature, pushing it’s hand away from her panties. “Little morsels for no one!”

Soon enough, however, they managed to rid her of every garment, leaving her bare and shivering, despite the warmth of the room. She tried as best as she could to keep herself modest, covering her breasts with one arm, her pubic hair with her other free hand. Her teeth chattered.

Ella watched as the little creatures scattered and came back with brushes and clothes and started herding her towards the pool. Before she knew it, she was stepping into the steaming water. It actually felt pretty good on her skin and soaking into her muscles, but Ella tried to get out anyway, though the little imps kept her in the water. She tried to stay away from them, to keep them from touching her body by pushing them away with her hands.

They chased Ella from one side of the pool to the other, trying to dodge her hands long enough to get the job done. Finally, the crook nosed imp sat on the edge of the pool opposite her, crossed its arms and glared. With its jaw set and dark eyes glittering with irritation, it looked like a particularly exasperated old man. "Stop wiggling so!"

"We will wash you," it waved the brush in its hand. "And scrub you pink and make you clean and brush your hair --" it gestured as if it imagined Ella unable to understand the words. "And then the prince, yes, the prince will make you dirty again -- dirty inside and out."

The imp leaned forward, eyes gleaming slyly. "That will be fun, yes it will!"

It leaned back again with a scowl. "So hold still and let us do our job!"
___________
ooc: demons in Purgatory ... terrifying or really, really annoying!

Ella glared back. “You’re not in charge of me,” she countered, arms crossed over her breasts. She shoved another imp away irritably. “Fine! I’ll let you wash me. Only because I’m really sick of running around and swatting you like flies.” She leaned against the side of the pool and waited, feeling a little sick.

The prince will make you dirty again, dirty inside and out. That will be fun, yes it will.

The little creature’s words echoed in her mind, along with the look it had on it’s face. That didn’t bode well. It probably should have occurred to her earlier what was going to be happening, but it hadn’t, not in such a concrete sense, anyway. She tried to hold still, though they kept hitting sensitive, ticklish spots on her body.

The thought of sleeping with Malaphor was terrifying. The demon was massive. She could only imagine what the parts of him she hadn’t seen were like. He would split her in two. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t actually WANT to have sex with him. Ever. But now, she was starting to realize that, maybe, that was the only thing he had brought her here for. The idea was paralyzing.

She stood stock still, letting the creatures scrub her almost raw. She flinched as they yanked through her long, tangled hair, but otherwise was perfectly obedient, just sort of standing there, numb.

With Ella passive, the imps made quick work of the bath. They scrubbed everything from toes to behind her ears, with no concern for her modesty -- fidgeting excitedly as they touched between her legs or her breasts or her ass. The crook nosed imp was quick to swat any who lingered, though, and for the most part they were industrious about their job.

Soon enough, they'd washed Ella and patted her dry with thick towels. The crook nosed imp smacked one of its kin and grabbed the wide-toothed comb itself. Standing tiptoe on a box, it smoothed out the tangles with unexpected care, petting Ella's hair and leaning close. "Be clever, little morsel," it whispered. "Be smart and brave. The prince is a creature of the senses, what you give and what you tempt by holding back are the weapons in your hand."

It gave a last stroke to her hair and hopped down. "Dress her, dress her and hurry up! I'll blame you all if the prince is angry!"

The imps approached with scant handfuls of deep violet silk. There was hardly anything to it, a short shift that barely reached below the curve of her ass, with a deep dip both front and back to bare skin. A wrap around her waist was a slightly different shade of plum, woven with gold and the thin silk fluttered delicately at Ella's thighs and clung to the swell of her breasts. That was all.

The trip beyond was much shorter and it wasn't long before the imps where pushing open another door, heads ducked nervously. Malaphor was beyond. Waiting.