Beasthood (The Hidden Blood Series #1)

She didn't think so. There was natural light coming from a narrow slat on the wall to her right.

A strange concoction of solid carved wood and an unknown animal hide, made the head rest of her bed. She glowered at it, tracing the wall it rested flush against all the way up to the top, where the wall met with the ceiling. The slat, which could barely be called a window, was covered with frosted glass. It appeared to be layered; so thick it was almost opaque. It was too thick and too narrow. Escaping that way was out of the question. Maybe it’s a basement. Halfway underground? she wondered.
She stared ahead at the wall opposite the left side of the bed.
There was no furniture. Everything was minimalistic and cold and hard. Stone and wood.
The strange curve of the walls and ceiling disorientated her. She hated it.
There was a narrow archway at the end of the room; she spotted a small, stainless steel sink as she leaned back against the wall. The coolness of the stone against her back was actually pleasant and she rested there for a while, allowing her head to dip back. The cooling sensation washed over her and her fever seemed to ease.
It was then that the memories smacked into her like a continuous, never-ending motorway pileup. Her inner voice began to relate to her the event she'd rather forget.

I felt the cold, clinical metal beneath my body. It was what had made me lucid.
I heard voices. I kept my eyes closed.
Then came the absolute agony in my feet.
I couldn't scream. My lips were heavy, my jaw wouldn’t open.
My god, are they cutting my toes off?

She snapped out of the memory to look at her feet. They were covered in her socks that she’d packed in her suitcase. They looked abnormally swollen. She didn’t feel any pain. Was it real?
She pulled her black socks off slowly to find her feet wrapped in thick bandages. Her toes were hidden beneath the layers of white. She tried to wriggle them but they felt almost numb. She could feel them there without using her hands to touch, but they felt sort of fluffy; not solid. Anaesthetic, she thought with wonder and dread.
She tugged aside the strap of bandage that had been wound over her toes and up around her ankle, to try and peek inside the open hole of the corner. She looked in, saw the cotton bandages wrapped around her toes were soaked in blood and gagged.
She recoiled from her own feet and cried out in horror. The next memory stabbed at her brain.

Lying on the table, I heard the chinking sound of metal instruments by my throbbing feet. The pain numbed to a dull ache. The anaesthetic kicking in.

It was a bit late for that. Stupid pricks, she thought sourly, trying to brave the next images in her head.

More clinking of medical tools. It sent shivers down my whole body and before I could prepare myself for it, the stab of metal in between my legs attacked my nerves. I let out a muffled cry.
The clank as the invading object hit the table was deafening.
“She’s still awake!” bellowed a low bass voice I recognized instantly.
The fear at the sound of his voice caused a lump to lodge in my throat.
“Damn it,” cursed a woman’s voice. It was low and soft. The complete contrast of her current occupation. “Well I’m definitely sure of it,” the woman said. “Put it this way, that shouldn’t have hurt if she wasn’t.”
“Never mind that, put her under. She shouldn’t have to be awake through this,” he growled.
If my eyes hadn’t automatically opened from the stab of metal inside my vagina, I wouldn’t have dared open them now.
The light was blinding and I had to blink several times to adjust to it. My eyes were watery. All I could see from my lying down position was a bumpy stone ceiling. The low light- I suspected was from a strong hospital light used for examinations and operations- cast eerie shadows all over the ceiling.
I gazed down to my left until my eyes were met with the fierce, dark eyes of my kidnapper. My attempt at screaming came out in a whimper.
His eyes widened as if he was horrified.
He's horrified?! I thought incredulously. I wanted to gouge his eyes out.
“She should have been well under. Are you sure she was given enough?” whispered the unknown woman.
I tried to look down but couldn’t see past my tummy. My vision was blurry; the blinding hospital light wasn’t helping. Then the thought that there was a hospital light being used in this room; the metal bed, the metal objects, brought me back to my situation. I was naked from the waist down. My jeans had been removed. There was nothing but a thin sheet covering my dignity. It made no difference when the knowledge hit home that this woman had just shoved a rod up me.
What is she doing to me?
“Erica was sure of it. I trust her judgement.”
Hearing my aunt’s name turned my thoughts dark and sorrowful. How could she do this to me? Where is she? I'll wring her thick neck!
“Clearly a mistake,” the woman retorted.

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