TEN

"No, please," she whimpered. She hated the sound of her voice as she pleaded. She couldn't understand why she was there and why she was being looked at by the men in the room. She couldn't understand why she was there at all.

All the things that had happened since she came back from ... where Hades had kept her, all happened too fast she couldn't keep up. All she knows is that this shouldn't be happening. What had she done to make her life so miserable?

She took a step backward until the cold door pressed against her back. Save for the door behind her, there was no other entry. The men in front of her watched her every move, as though watching her helpless and weak was enough entertainment. She wanted to throw something but she had none. Her hand pounded on the metal door as soon as she turned her back.

"Let me out, please! I didn't do anything. I killed no one—ugh!"

She tasted blood in her mouth and she felt the coldness of the floor. It all happened too suddenly when the man in front of her earlier whirled her around and slapped her across the face.

Her eyes were hot with tears but she refused to cry. She knows it will only satisfy the monsters surrounding her. But everything that had happened the past few days and all the things she had been through was just too much. How could her life take a perfectly wrong turn?

Tears streamed down her cheeks and the men around her laughed in satisfaction. Before she could even take another sob, someone grabbed a handful of her hair from behind and dragged her across the floor. She thrashed and clawed at the strong hands but it was futile. She grunted in pain when someone practically tossed her to the vacant side of the table.

Her clothes barely covered her body. And she knows these monsters were just as delighted to see her in those rags.

She heard laughing and glass clinking. Her eyes were blurred with tears and it was pathetic that crying was all she could do.

Hades had let her go from hell only to get trapped in a different kind of hell. She doesn't know which one is worse. She was just a girl who wanted to live her life. Why cant she have it? Why can't the universe give it? Are the gods against her? Or has Hades been interfering with her life all this time?

Thinking about those things made her angry. Hot tears still burned her eyes but her hand grabbed a hold of one of the glasses. She could feel some hands touching her bare legs and arms. She did not hesitate to swing the glass she had been holding and it hit somebody's head.

The next thing she heard was the scream of a man and a collective gasp from the rest of them. Immediately, she gathered her strength and scuttled off the table. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she stepped back, holding the broken glass in her hands.

The men were surprised as they looked at her. Her back was once again pressed in the metal door.

Her eyes found the man she hit earlier. The side of his head was bleeding and no matter how hard he covers it with his hand, he still couldn't hide the damage she had done.

"Come at me and you will have the same fate," she said with a shaky voice. The man in the middle of the circle smiled at her. Amusement filled his eyes as he looked at her from head to toe.

"Enough games. We'll proceed to the main event." The man then removed his coat and loosened his tie. She wasn't born yesterday not to know what they wanted to do to her. The man's maniacal grin was enough indication of it too. She pressed herself closer to the metal door as though doing so would help her get out.

But no one else was there. No one was there to help her. These monsters will do what they want with her and she'll be powerless to fight back.

The man in front of her came closer and before she could even move, he braced both his hands on the sides of his head, cornering her. Like an animal that's about to be butchered.

Hot tears still brimmed her eyes. She knows even if she screamed at the top of her lungs, nobody would hear her. How will she get out? She can't get out on her own. She needs someone -- anyone. She will be anywhere other than this place.

Please. Please if anyone's listening, help me get out of her. Please. Please.

She doesn't know how many times she muttered the word please and she doesn't know what she was doing either. Was she praying? Who was she praying to? One face of a man popped into her head and she couldn't believe she was wishing for him even after what he did. He was no different than these monsters.

But why did she call him?

Was being there better than being in this closed room, surrounded by a lot of men? It was no different. But Hades was the one who placed her in this situation in the first place.

I know you can hear me. Get me out of here.

The man in front of her leaned closer. She looked to the other side to avoid his mouth and he ended up sniffing her exposed neck. She closed her eyes and clamped her lips to stop herself from sobbing.

Please. Please get me out.

The man grabbed her chin and forced her to face him. He grinned as he leaned down, getting closer to her lips. She thrashed but the man now somehow was holding both her wrists. Tears were now streaming down her cheeks once again.

Just when the man's lips were a breath away from hers, the door opened behind her. As she was leaning too close to it, she lost her balance. She was falling and it was going to hurt. But the fall did not come. Instead, she felt something sturdy behind her.

In an instant, the man in front of her was gone. She realized he had flown across the room and hit the table a meter away from the door.

She felt a strong arm snaking around her waist and she shivered as she felt the person's breath on her neck and then on her ear as he whispered, "There are those missing manners."

"Hades," she said, breathless.

"Yes, my sweet. You called and now I am here."

Her eyes scanned the room and she could see the men scuttling towards the corner as far as possible from the door.

"Who are you? Where are the guards?" said the man who dragged her by the hair earlier.

She heard the low chuckle from Hades and felt his arm getting tighter around her waist.

"Dead," he said in his most dismissive tone. A wave of gasps filled the room. And as she looked at the men, they were huddled in the corner like scared dogs--helpless, weak, and practically dead.

"What have you done?" asked another.

"Killed them."

She could have sworn she saw raw fear in their faces as Hades said it. She believed it. Given all the things she knows about this man's identity, she believes he did kill those guards.

"And I can do that to you as well. But that would depend on my lovely girl here." His thumb caressed her stomach and for some reason it made her stomach flutter.

"Do you want me to kill them for what they have done to you, my love?"

His voice was like the whisper of the night. Beautiful and yet utterly dangerous. The other in the room knows it too. And they were looking at her as though pleading for their life. She did that earlier. They just laughed. And now it's her turn.

"Make them suffer enough. Give them nightmares for the rest of their lives. Make their lives a living hell that they would wish to die instead. But death won't come no matter what they do. Death won't come unless I say so," she found herself saying. She was surprised those cruel words came out of her mouth. And yet, strangely enough, she doesn't find herself feeling bad about it. These men deserved it. Their lives will be a living hell.

Silence filled the room and then she heard Hades' low chuckle behind her that seemed to skitter along her bones.

"Such cruel, wicked words from you," he said and then he raised his hand and went on, "But your wish shall be my command."

He snapped his fingers and the last thing she heard was the screams of those men before a blinding light filled her whole vision.