Sin of Fury

Sin of Fury - By Avery Duncan

Chapter 1

Silence had become his lullaby. It was the soft call that brought him from the dead, that called to him and soothed him. With silence there was no pain. No past. No dreams. No cries of anguish or growls of rage. It was the one thing he accepted, and the one thing that accepted him. It was as precious as the sound of a feather falling through the wintry sky. So quiet and serene, it was the only thing he could take for himself.

It was what Talon understood most — the only thing he understood. Besides the darkness, silence had become his friend and it seemed as if nothing else would take its place.

The flutter of bats in the night, the rustle of leaves from dying trees, the frigid howl of the wind... It was all soothing, curing, but not as much as the silence. The comfort stayed with him through the darkest parts of the night, when not even a rat would dare scatter across the floor.

Darkness wrapped around him, shrouded him in a cool blanket. He was trapped, taken, and tortured. To them, he was a monster. He deserved what he was dealt. Pleased smiles and bloodied hands were the only things he was given. No solitude, no mercy.

The innocent light of the shimmering moon was the only thing allowing him to see his surroundings. The walls that caged him left him shivering. There was no reason for warmth — warmth meant sympathy, sympathy meant mercy, and mercy was something he wouldn’t be granted. It was a known fact by the two men who took their pleasures in torturing him.

His arm stung, badly enough that he barely noticed his other wounds. Eyes, the color of melted silver took in his appearance. It was painful to see the shame that covered almost every inch of his body. The marks and abrasions on his skin felt more like brands than claw marks. With swift flicks of a wrist, the brand had been made and he had been claimed. His lip curled.

Checking himself for worse injuries was useless, There was no way to speed up the healing process, and there was no tending to be done. It had been beaten into him that if he wanted to feel better, he might as well be similar to a dog and lick his wounds. He breathed in, ignoring the metallic smell of blood that sang through the air.

The blood that splattered the wall was not just his own, but the remains of those who had been there before him. Talon couldn’t force himself to feel pity for them. He knew exactly what they had been through, but they had found a way out — either through death or escaping, it made no difference. He wished that he could have the same option.

His head hung on his shoulders. The weakness within him was only worsening. The food they let him have was rarely edible, and the amount they gave him was just enough to keep him alive. He gained no strength, and if he did it was rapidly burned off.

Once, he had stopped eating completely. Belief that starvation was his only way out, it had been shattering to realize that the lack of food wouldn’t kill him. He was still stuck in this hell house, still dealing with the bastard called Master, and still not finding a way to escape. How had the others done it? he asked himself, absently observing a spot of blood. It was small, had dropped from his arm, and now joined the millions of other droplets that formed a pool of pain.

He saw his captors’ faces in the pool of blood, imagined his claws raking through their skin and torturing them. He wanted to give them exactly what they had given him, only tenfold. Talon’s eyes closed. His time there was wearing on him. His hand weakly moved, so much weaker than it had been before. He trembled with the effort.

It caused something to awaken inside of him.

A surge of power rushed through his body and he latched onto his arm with clawed nails. The pain radiating from it unleashed something dangerous. Recalling the conversations that they held over him, he knew that on some level it was the thing inside him that drew them to him.

A snarl of disgust burst from his chest and he was ashamed of himself. Hate roiled through his chest. Lashing out, he hit the wall beside him. His roar echoed through his prison.

He glanced at the wall across from him, the wall that held the window. The stone was cracked, indented. It was a blatant reminder that he had failed to escape. His roar turned into a cry of anguish. What they said was true.

He was an animal, a beast. He was only here because they took pleasure in his cries.

He clawed at his chest desperately. His bare hands latched onto the collar around his neck. By now, he was accustomed to the heavy weight of the metal ring and the pain it brought when Auro initiated it. He drew in a ragged breath, knowing that if he attempted to take the collar off it would only hurt him.

Spasms would rack his body. Muscles so tense and stiff, he would crumple to the ground. It was excruciating, almost worse than what his torturers did to him. Almost.

His hand dropped.

From what he had heard, the only way the collar could be taken off was if someone other than himself unlatched it. His eyes closed, head falling back, his rage fading away. In the aftermath, he was broken. The possibility of anyone taking the collar off of him was slim. In the past months, Talon had only seen Auro and Lyne, and what he saw of them…

He shuddered, wrapping his thin arms around himself.

The door opened, a shaft of light entering the room, and his heart stopped. Talon raised his head high and stared defiantly at the shadowed man. The light from behind shrouded him in darkness, making him appear like the menacing son of a bitch he really was.

Auro stood at the top of the steps, staring down at the beast. His dark form was hidden in the shadows, but he could clearly make out the rebellion that glowed in the monster’s silver eyes. Auro leered tauntingly at Talon, closed the door behind him, and sauntered forward.

More like a dungeon, closer to a stone cage, the only source of light came from the window. The glow from outside had been snuffed out the second Auro locked them in the prison. The rusted bars left a pattern embossed on the dirty ground, the smell of the room was rank, almost acidic with the amount of blood that had been shed. Auro smiled wider, the stretch of his pale cracked lips more like a sneer than anything.

Talon looked up, drawing farther into the shadows. The soft growl that rang through the room reminded Auro of a lion. He noticed that the beast was cradling his left arm. The blood flow from earlier had ceased its flow, leaving his arm dry and messy with thick strings of pus oozing from the long wound. Auro leaned closer, proud of his work.

Talon moved back, eyes flashing. It was almost impossible to hide the tensing of his muscles. The action would tell Auro more than he needed to know, and Talon didn’t need any more wounds than he already had. He sneered against his arm, the cold stone chilling him to the bone as his back hit the wall. He looked at Auro from under his hair, taking in his expression in silence.

“How are you faring today, my pet?” Auro asked, a bony hand reaching out to caress Talon’s damp head. The room was cold, almost as frosty as an ice box, but his arm was sending hot flashes throughout his body. Auro leered, his pale hand dropped to Talon’s arm. He dug his hand into the open flesh of the limb, earning a pained groan.

Blood seeped down his arm with a renewed flow. Shots of ice and fire slid into him, dragged forth from the bastard that practically lived to torture him. He was so used to the pain now that it almost shocked him that he felt what Auro was doing to him. Of course, when a man with nails like needles shoved his hand inside of your arm and tore out anything it came in contact with, it was going to hurt like hell.

Talon tried to hold back the groan, to hide how much it hurt him. But with Auro’s hand embedding itself into his skin, pushing muscle and flesh aside with sharp nails, it was a feat that he was not at all proud of. Rage boiled in his gut, the sound of pain turning into one of absolute anger.

Auro drew his hand back, face twisted with disdain as Talon turned mute. No one would know, but Auro felt a fear deep within him when Talon was angry. He knew that Talon was more than close to killing him, the hate between them strong. Not for the first time, Auro was grateful for the collar that wound around the abomination's neck. It took everything Auro had not to beat him.

“No answer?” he asked pleasantly. Talon’s teeth flashed in the dim light, the only answer that Auro got.

Talon’s chest was tight. What would it be like, he thought, to attack Auro, to hear his cries of pain? He had been trapped in this dark room with nothing but a water bowl in the corner; action, or at least a chance to give into his fantasies, would be a godsend.

If he had to shit or piss, he had to do it right there. If he was hungry, Auro only forced him to starve. If he was sick, Auro made the torture worse. The power the old bastard had over him was something that Talon was most ashamed of. From the first time several months before, when he had awoken to find Auro standing over him with his brother Lyne beside him, it had only registered a short time later that he was, in all honesty, f*cked.

Auro placed a long hand on the wall, the scrape of his nails grating on Talon’s nerves like they did on the stained stone. The chill shot through his teeth, painful.

Talon held in the snarl that threatened to burst from him. Was it too much to ask for a moment of silent peace? Talon knew that it was a hope that was a dying hope, and wondered why it hadn’t yet perished. Lyne and Auro would not give him mercy, just as he would not when he finally gave them his revenge.

“I would like to inform you of something,” Auro said casually, moving back from Talon. He stared at the ground as Auro’s frail voice carried over his skin like ice. “In several days’ time, a woman will be joining you.”

The words left Talon feeling hollow. He stared at his arm, fighting the building fire in his chest. “When she arrives, I wish you to treat her as I have done you.” The implication wasn’t lost on Talon. Feeling his gut turn, he thought of the woman and what would become of her when she entered this torture place. His lip curled.

“You might know her,” Auro said, eyebrows rising with his jaunty voice. “Might even have feelings for her, you will come to find.”

His smile had Talon gagging. His chest did funny things as Auro continued. “I will require you to copulate, but take your time.” Talon knew he was sneering again, and refused to look up. “Once this is done, I will take the burden off of your shoulders.”

Talon tried to understand what Auro meant, but couldn’t bring himself to care and stayed silent, still. While he waited for Auro to continue, he forced his breath to even. Bold, silvery eyes collided with crimson ones.

He waited for the parting burst of pain — Auro was accustomed to listening to ragged groans when he left.

There weren’t shards of pain, no needle-like nails digging into his skin — he swallowed down his mute shock and tensed.

Soft scrapes of the door closing signaled Auro’s departure.

Talon dropped his hand from his bleeding arm, staring. It hurt, he realized. His shoulders curled into their normal position as metallic eyes stared at the door.

Turning his head toward the barred window, he tried to remember what he had done to be there. Talon had known the moment his eyes opened that Auro and Lyne would make his life hell—but he didn’t know what they were after.

Why did they want him to take a woman? He didn’t know anything about her—couldn’t remember ever meeting a woman before in his life — wasn’t like he even remembered his life, though. What was so important about her? Talon held the sound that came from his chest back, already hating the fact that, yet again, his life was decided for him. Auro had a plan, and in all of the months that Talon had been there he had not found a way to rid himself of the bigots that liked watching him struggle.

Auro knows about my past. The soft, rough curse came from lips unused to talking or responding to anyone. Talon had already known that much, but the extent to which the bastards had known was…angering. He felt his head turn away from the light, the freedom that was so close to him a cruel taunt.

Talon was in the dark. Both literally and figuratively. He didn’t know what was going to happen with him, didn’t know why he needed to f*ck some woman who was probably already puking at the prospect of taking in an animal like him.

He didn’t care. It wasn’t like he would be able to stomach touching another being. Auro could take a spear and shove it for all Talon could care. He had no plans on doing anything to anyone besides giving Auro and Lyne a good one as soon as he got the chance.

Talon thought about the day that Auro would die, when he would feel their blood and flesh sliding between his hands. He smiled, a bloodthirsty action that had once scared thousands into impaling themselves on his sword. He barely registered his own shocking recollection.

Thoughts and memories slowly came back to him, and the frustration was only amplified when he couldn’t remember anything else. Was his loss of memory because of Auro? He felt that it was.

Sick, Talon turned onto his side, away from the soft moonlight that served as the only source of illumination in the dank hole. His stomach turned, but not with fear or the need to vomit, as it normally did.

No, it was the need to kill.

Talon’s eyes closed, and for the first time in months he recalled what had happened months ago...

The soft feel of hands trailed over his skin. He shivered, eyes opening slowly. His movements were weary, heavy because of his long sleep. The blaring light above his eyes made him wince and life came to him slowly.

Voices spoke above him, yet he was too tired to register what they were saying. He could hear their voices, knew that something was wrong, but it was too hard to comprehend anything except that he was waking up and he wasn’t where he had been before.

Where were the pale creamy hues, the leather couches? As his eyes adjusted, aimed away from the light, he saw stone walls and cobwebs. Rodents skittered in the background. Talon froze, realization slowly dawning on him.

“You knew that this would happen,” a nasal voice accused. A pointed finger came into his vision. He played dead, forcing his heart to stop thundering in his chest. His blood rushed to his ears as he listened, helpless to move and confused.

He could feel eyes on his chest, knew he was being studied. Talon had to force himself to relax. “I didn’t!” another voice defended.

“You did— I know it to be true,” the voice from before snarled.

There was a hesitation, then a weary sigh and the sound of feet shuffling. If their eyes had not been on him, he would have seen what they were doing. It was hard, but he listened despite the drowsiness and confusion, absorbing their conversation, eyes closed.

“Auro, please take a moment to understand what I’m trying to tell you!” The pleading voice was starting to sound familiar. Talon struggled to place it, but forgot about it when the second person spoke.

“You have betrayed me, Lyne! You knew that the moment you took your hand to him, he would lose his memories, and his abilities would be locked. You’ve taken his power from me!” his hoarse shout rang throughout the room.

He didn’t understand. Powers? The f*ck… They need to get themselves on some meds, he thought distractedly, turning his wrist against the shackles. They lay cold against his skin, and he flicked his eyes, barely open, to look at them.

His arm was covered in bruises and bite marks. Like something out of a horror movie, he immediately thought. For a moment, he actually thought that some creature of the night had bitten him. He almost snorted at the thought, but realized they were once again talking.

“I do not care if he was the one to ruin your brainless romance. You were a fool to believe that he would give you the woman, and at the time I believed that you were over it. After Amentha died, I thought this would be over. But you had to go too far,” he accused. Talon felt a desperate urge to place the voice with the face, confused at what they were talking about.

A woman? He almost rolled his eyes. A female wouldn’t make him give his life or even make him consider it. He tried to remember what he had done to be there, and the brief question of who Amentha was came to him. Talon grimaced; she sounded familiar.

It was hard to understand what was happening. Talon knew that he had no clue what was going on, could remember nothing, and didn’t even know where he was.

“He’s awake,” came a soft whisper. Those two words made his stomach churn.

“Ah, he is, isn’t he, dear brother?” The pleasant voice was veiled with malice. Turning his head away from them, Talon opened his eyes and took in his surroundings, knowing that playing dead was useless. The walls were damp and the air was filled with a metallic taste that made his mouth dry.

So much blood, he thought, the glaring light calming enough in his vision that he could see around him. The walls were thick stone, grime, dirt and blood covering everywhere but the two frail creatures that stood over him.

Red eyes gleamed in the dimness. Talon felt his body stiffen, unbelieving. Their white hair was slicked back, thin enough that he could see the gleaming baldness of their scalps. The two men looked exactly the same.

The only thing that Talon knew about them was their names.

Auro and Lyne. Twins of darkness, bearers of pain, and the only—and last—people that would ever make him feel pain.

“I cannot wait to begin,” said Auro, his voice sleek yet scratchy.

“I was supposed to go first!” Lyne exclaimed from beside him, eyes flashing. “It was I that found him, so I should have the right to go first.”

Lyne’s hand dropped to his leg, the nails digging into his flesh. As if to prove his claim of Talon, his nails scored him, leaving a deep gash that broke through his dark jeans. Talon gasped, struggling against the shackles at the pain.

In the back of his mind, a feeling of deja vu warned him that this had all happened before, that he knew more than he thought he did about the men who loomed over him. His eyes strained to understand while his mind followed suit.

What did they want with him? He fought against the shackles, fear sliding down his spine. This wasn’t right, wasn’t sane…the thoughts in his head weren’t his own. He could feel what they wanted to do to him, could hear every nasty thought the bastards were thinking.

The fear he felt when Auro brought his hand down to his arm, nails tearing up his skin, blood trickling down his arm and leg, was overwhelming. The brothers—there was no doubt in his mind that they were otherwise—smiled likely, wrenching their hands.

Shocked, pained, Talon cried out, back bowing as he tried to pull away from them. It was foolish to do so; the movement only proved to make the pain worse. They laughed, snickered, and brought up their second hand in unison. The brother’s red eyes connected, and they leered at each other.

“Together, brother,” Auro said, his hand seeming to be the handle to the puppet as Lyne brought his hand down at the same time.

“Together,” Lyne murmured, a soft smile of adoration coming over his face as his gaze connected with Auro’s, a second before the twin set of nails scored his skin. He jerked, hands flexing, imagining the flow of their blood between his hands as his body arched from the pain.

A soundless gasp left his lips—he was ashamed. To show these monsters what he felt, that he was scared…It would be a shame to any man. The cool liquid of his blood caused shivers to run along his arms and legs, the sadistic pleasure the men were taking only causing to make the pain that much more unbearable.

His body drew taut as they sighed with pleasure. Auro took his hand away and brought it to his lips, his eyes gleaming. Talon tried to look away, but the sight was too gruesome for him not to.

He shuddered with agony, the pain in his leg and arm growing so numb that he gagged. Fighting harder against the restraints, he kicked out and shouted. Talon stared Auro right in the eye, and Lyne reached over and yanked his head to the side by his hair.

“You will respect him,” Lyne snarled, his other hand still embedded in Talon’s flesh. The howl of the wind and his ragged breathing clouded his ears. Flakes of snow drifted into the room. His skin prickled.

“I respect no man, especially you,” he said hoarsely, breath coming out in a rush as pain rushed into his arms and legs with renewed force.

In retaliation, Lyne dragged his hand up Talon’s leg, pulling the tanned flesh apart. Talon shouted, head slamming back as the pain drove him senseless. “After this, you won’t have a choice,” Auro whispered, his bloodied hand meeting Lyne’s pale lips. The twin licked Talon’s blood from Auro’s decrepit hand.

Bile rose in Talon’s throat.

“My brother and I believe that we will have quite fun with our new pet. You please us well,” Auro murmured, taking the hand that Lyne had licked and putting it on Talon’s chest. His black T-shirt disappeared.

Fear held him immobile.

No… God, no…

His mind shouted at him to escape as Auro forced his thumb into Talon’s mouth. He turned his head, and when Auro still would not let him go, Talon bit down. When there should have been blood, there…wasn’t any.

Talon’s eyes opened wide. Auro cursed, and Lyne fisted Talon’s muscle, the action bringing a tortured scream from Talon’s mouth. With his mouth gaping, Auro took the chance to wrench his jaw forward. Pain exploded in not only his head this time, but behind his eyes.

White light surrounded him as Auro poured something into his mouth. With the inside of his leg held in a vise grip, his jaw yanked forward, thick liquid filled his mouth. Talon struggled to spit it out. Lyne’s hand latched onto his face, forcing his mouth open wider.

The light around him become glaring, his head throbbing as badly as his leg and arm. Fighting, struggling, Talon gave a gurgled shout before the liquid finally flowed down his throat.

“Forever ours…” Lyne whispered, and through the pain-filled haze, Talon could feel a moist hand stroking his cheek.

Auro’s and Lyne’s eyes met, twisted smiles on both of their faces. “Forever ours,” Auro repeated in a murmur.





He gasped, eyes opening wide. His heart was racing, his arm and leg numb with the remembrance of pain and a deep, long-ingrained hatred. Talon held his head tightly in his hands, forcing himself to breathe through the tightness of his chest.

He hadn’t spoken since then.

Hated words fell on indifferent ears. Talon could never bring himself to speak to them. If he did, he would only attack. The urge to kill them almost overcame him. Revulsion clouded his mind, the rough sound of his growl echoing through the room.

His hand tightened around his neck, the tense muscles so taut that they felt as if they were going to snap, he forced himself to calm, and to also forget the past. It was nothing, he told himself. It was just a memory, and it was over.

Talon’s head dropped low, knowing that that was a lie. The memory had become his life.

His head turned to the door, then to the center of the room. The table that they manifested was gone now. Auro only bothered to make one when Lyne was present. The cold slab of stone had become Talon’s bane of existence.

The only nice thing he could say was that it was the only clean place in the hell hole he knew as prison. When Auro visited him for sessions, the table would be cleaned and, if Auro was in a good mood, the toys that he liked to use on Talon would be absent.

Shaking his head, growling in discomfort, he shifted his position to look out the window. Soft sunlight was streaming in, the whiteness only brighter as it reflected off of the snowy hills. Bare trees were scattered around, the fresh greenness of the leaves absent. The chirp of birds, the skitter of squirrels and other creatures were long gone, the cold of the winter driving them away.

He felt an ache in his chest as pink hues strewed across his dark cave. While the animals were free to leave, the trees free to rest in their dead sleep, Talon was forced to stay.

Turning his head from the sight, he moved lower against the wall, not allowing himself to feel the warmth of the sun. He didn’t deserve to feel warmth, it made him remember what he no longer had. Tucked in the back corner of the room, it was only mid afternoon by the time the rays hit his feet. Jerking back, he hissed as if they burned him.

In truth, it had felt wonderful, yet it had still seared him—with pain and longing. Ashamed, Talon turned his head into his arms and waited for Auro.

Talon knew that he would barely get a helping today, not even enough food to drag himself across the room. Stomach clenching, he felt as if his stomach was eating itself. His mouth was parched from his shouting, and his arm was numbed with an ache.

It was a routine. He would stay awake till food was brought to him. If he could force himself enough, he would eat it. If not, he would throw it out of the window. Starvation was the one thing he hadn’t given up on, and it hurt to eat. The loss of food was not that great—but the gift he wished it would bring was a painful reach.

Auro knew that he meant to kill himself, had explained numerous times that it was useless, that he was going to live whether he liked it or not. The more energy he lost, the closer he came to death, and the more he remembered. It was a great treat for such a small loss.

Soon enough, the food appeared. The dirty plate was an obvious diss to Talon. The dried steak was barely an ounce, the blood that seeped from the sides long crested, and the water that was on the plate looked…brown. The rim of the cup had been used; grime and dried saliva was visible. He grunted, taking the plate and considering. Dropping his eyes, he threw the plate and cup out of the window.

They wouldn’t miss it, and he didn’t mind feeding birds that weren’t there. Returning to his corner, he bowed his head and waited.

Just like he had done for the last six months.