Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Intoxication ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Intoxication

Chapter 5

I can't believe what a great response I'm getting for this fic. I don't think I've ever gotten a review that was longer than thirty words before, even after more than twenty three fics. I'd especially like to thank Lady of Paranoia for her very welcome, incredibly ego-boosting reviews. If you're not careful, I won't be able to get my big head out the door.

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The atmosphere in the Ballroom had been tense to start with, but it was both amazing and horrifying how quickly it changed when C made his entrance. All of a sudden the very air in the room became thick, as if a canister of tear gas had been thrown into the room. C polluted the very oxygen they were breathing with his mere presence. Rei's hand fluttered to his throat, for reasons unknown even to himself. He stole a glance at his warden, who was dressed in much the same fashion as he had been on the first day they met. The only difference was that his coat was a different cut and a pale canary yellow. And then C spoke, loudly enough for his voice to echo in the cavernous hall.

" Who was talking?"

It was as if a pin had been pulled out of a grenade. The tension showed in the eyes of the other prisoners, but nobody spoke. They all continued to focus their eyes far into the distance, despite the obvious terror that clouded those same eyes. C circled them like a wolf, waiting to pounce on the first one to show weakness. Rei actually found it perversely fascinating, waiting for the blonde-haired offender to crack. The man did nothing, but the little vein in his forehead was becoming more prominent as the minutes ticked by.

" Now, you all know my rules. And someone has broken one of those rules, which means someone must accept consequences. And if no-one accepts the consequences alone, it means you must all accept the consequences together."

Still the blonde man's eyes were glazed, and the little vein continued throbbing. But Rei noticed the black-haired man was looking increasingly distressed. Was he about to rat the other guy out? C shook his head in a mockery of sadness.

" Well, I'll just have to…"

" It was me."

Every eye in the room turned to Rei, including C's. C himself cleared his throat.

" Rei, explain yourself."

Rei's voice was the same volume as C's, but it didn't carry an echo with it. He made his tone soft and imploring.

" I wanted to ask them a question. I didn't know I wasn't allowed."

C's footsteps clacked unbearably loudly as he made his way to where Rei was seated. He took Rei's chin in his hands and stroked his cheek reverently, before landing a slap on that cheek with all the practiced forcefulness of a professional tennis player. The sound of the blow cracked and echoed through the hall. All the seated men winced, but they didn't change stances.

Rei was shocked that he had been struck, and then he was shocked that he was shocked in the first place. What was he expecting, kudos on being honest? All the same, the ease with which C landed the blow spoke volumes about him. The pain didn't come until five seconds after the palm of his hand had made contact with Rei's face. And when it did, it felt as though the side of his head had been split open. C had obviously had plenty of practice. C's voice lowered to a hiss that was only audible to Rei.

" Don't ever interrupt me again, Rei. It's most irritating."

Then he raised his voice so that the others could hear.

" Now I'll go easy on you, Rei, because you're new here and not completely au fait with our rules. I know that you think lying for someone is noble, but believe me it's not. The creature that refuses to come forward is not worthy of your commiseration, and if there's one thing I despise, it's a liar."

Rei cradled his stinging cheek, cursing himself for being so stupid. C was obviously looking for someone to punish, and taking the blame for that someone was robbing C of the satisfaction of the chastisement. All he'd done was make C angry with him.

Guess you'll have to learn to keep your big mouth shut, Rei. And when you think about it, that blonde guy deserves it. After all, he's been here longer than you. He knows the rules, if he breaks one of them it's none of your damn business.

Rei's internal voice had a point, but did she have to be so bloody opinionated? And when had that voice achieved a gender? C circled the table, speaking in a manner that would have been soothing if it had been anyone else.

" So, does anyone want to come forward? It's looking more likely that I'll have to punish you all."

Everyone in the room looked on the verge of tears, but still the blonde man made no sound. Then, just as

C reached his seat at the table, the young man with the short black hair started to cry. It was a harsh, choking sound that bounced off the walls and was painful to listen to. Rei imagined he could almost see his captor's smile beneath the mask. C laid his hand on the man's shoulder, and spoke in a mockingly gentle fashion to him.

" James, do you have something to tell me?"

James nodded. The blonde man closed his eyes, so he couldn't see James pointing a violently shaking finger at him. C took his hand of the man's shoulder, and stood beside the blonde.

" Henry, I should have known. How many warnings have you had? I've lost count. Well, I'll have no more of this."

What really amazed Rei about what happened next was that at no point did Henry move from his seat, or attempt to touch C. He burst into a full-on fit of hysterics, sobbing and shrieking interspersed with babbling words of apology and contrition. But he stayed where he was through the frenzy. He didn't even move his hands. C grabbed him by the shoulders, wrenched him from his chair and marched him out of the room, and Henry didn't struggle. When they disappeared into the inky-black hallway, Rei looked at the other men for an indication of what was going to happen. They all refused to meet his gaze. Rei desperately wished he were back in his cell. At least there he was relatively safe.

Moments later, C strode back into the room. Instead of the missing man's shoulders, his hands grasped a leather bound switch. Without missing a beat, he advanced on the still sobbing James and brought the switch down hard on his shoulders. James didn't shout or scream, but he continued crying. Five times the switch came down, then C grasped his chin and tilted James' face towards his own. James stopped crying immediately.

" Don't be a grass, James. You are dismissed to your room. Wash your face before I come to you tonight. It's terribly blotchy."

James got up quickly and walked out without looking back. For the first time, Rei noticed that he was wearing a black tuxedo. In fact, all the men in the room were dressed up to a certain extent. Some wore tuxedos, other wore suits. One or two were clad in formal Indian outfits. None were dressed up to the extent that C was. C himself had gone into the kitchen at this point, and returned with a large soup tureen and a stack of ornate bowls on a wheeled cart. He handed the stack to the man at the end of the table, who took one and passed the stack to the next man. Each man took a bowl, passing by the empty spots where James and Henry had been. Then the soup tureen was passed along, with each man ladling the hot liquid into their bowls without enthusiasm.

When the tureen came down to Rei, he took a generous portion. He was hungrier than he'd thought, and the tomato-based soup smelled delicious. Everyone ate in silence, while C smoked a cigar through the mouthpiece in his mask and watched them eat. When the last man finished, C gestured to him, and right away he gathered up the bowls and the tureen and wheeled them into the kitchen. C stubbed out his cigar and spoke more loudly than usual.

" You're all dismissed. Except for you, Rei."

Rei felt panic loom inside of him, and a few of the men shot him a pitying glance. C had a remote control in his hand, and every few minutes he pressed a button and called out a name. Then the bearer of that name rose and left, until the only people left in the room were Rei and the man holding him prisoner. C rose and beckoned to Rei to follow him, and they exited the ballroom one in front of the other.

The hall they travelled through kept up with the trend of being full of paintings. The next room was just in front of them so the hallway was a relatively small one, but somehow C had managed to turn it into a miniature gallery for as many Bosch paintings as he could fit in the small area. Rei only had time to look at them out of the corner of his eye as he hurried after C. He prayed to every deity he knew of that C wasn't leading him to his bedroom. His prayers were answered.

The room they ended up in was a lounge of sorts, with a large stone fireplace and two old fashioned armchairs beside it. All the thick drapes were closed tight, and the glow from the fire provided the only light. A small end table sat beside the larger of the two chairs, and on the table sat a crystal decanter full of scotch and two glasses. C sat in the larger chair, and made a gesture that indicated to Rei to take the other seat. All Rei wanted to do was turn around and run somewhere, anywhere, just away from the madman in front of him. But something put steel in his spine and he took the offered seat. While C poured scotch into the glasses, Rei noticed that this room, like the others, was full of paintings. However, the room was so dark that he couldn't make them out.

" Aside from that unpleasantness with Henry, I'd say your debut went very well. But I was very disappointed that you attempted to lie to me. I thought you were more intelligent than that."

C offered a glass of scotch to Rei, who was just about to politely refuse when his internal voice spoke up.

Drink it, or he'll be insulted and then who knows what he'll do to you. Just drink it slowly, so it doesn't cloud your brain. Everything's gonna be okay, so stop your damn panicking! You're in his sitting room, now if it was his bedroom or boudoir or dungeon then you could worry. But, hell, you could strip and get down on your hands and knees right now and he probably wouldn't do a thing. Take the damn drink, Rei, he's staring!

C chuckled, a surprisingly warm sound. His voice when he spoke again actually sounded benevolent.

" Don't worry that you're underage. That's the rule they make out there. In here, only my rules matter."

Rei accepted the drink with a gracious smile. He took a small sip, which burned his mouth distastefully. C sipped his drink through a straw. Rei felt brave enough to speak.

" Could I ask a question?"

" Yes. Go ahead."

" Who are they?"

C stroked the chin of his mask, and laughed again.

" Are you jealous, my dear?"

" No," Rei answered honestly.

" I am a man who believes in beauty," C began, " and I believe that although it can exist on its own, for anything to become truly perfect, it must be cultivated. All of those men you could describe as beautiful, am I right?"

" Yes." From what Rei had seen, he could agree that looks wise, those men had been above average.

" I tried to cultivate them all, and I failed, so I moved on to the next. Still, I can't bring myself to just turn them out into the wilderness again, and they have their uses. So I keep them here, and provide for them. But they mean little to me now. Now, I will focus all my attention on my new project; you."

The panic that had briefly been quelled inside of Rei rose again with twice the intensity. The small amount of scotch he'd consumed lay like a hot rock at the base of his stomach.

" May I ask another question?"

" Of course."

" Why me?"

C spoke as though he were narrating a wildlife documentary, every word certain and spoken as fact rather than opinion.

" You are exceptionally beautiful, more than any of your predecessors. I detect a spark of intelligence that belies your primitive upbringing, and I believe we have much in common."

Rei felt insulted by the 'primitive upbringing' remark, but it was the thought that he'd have anything in common with a man so obviously crazy really took the biscuit.

" What do you think we have in common?"

C's voice lowered to a almost a whisper.

" I had someone look into your background before I brought you here. I heard about that business with your parents, terrible affair I'm sure. I can certainly sympathise."

Rei closed his eyes tight against the fresh wave of pain that assaulted him. He had worked so hard to put the past behind him, and now he was stuck in a bad situation made worse by fact that the crazy man holding him captive knew all about the trouble his family had. C began to narrate a story in a way that suggested he didn't care if Rei was listening or not.

" Let me tell you about my mother. She was sixteen when she had me, just like your mother. My father met her at a dinner party he threw one night. Now my father had just finished with his fourth wife, the ink on the divorce wasn't even dry, when he saw her. She had just turned fifteen, and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Wide green eyes, long blonde curls, like an angel who fell to earth. And my father fell in love with her right away. He spent a full year sending her clothes, jewels, all manner of expensive gifts until finally she agreed to marry him.

Now, the first problem that they had was that, as beautiful as she was, my mother was unbelievably stupid. She'd never read a book in her life, and never looked at a painting with any more than a passing fancy. The only beauty she could understand was in her precious gems and designer outfits. And more importantly, she had no idea how to please a man. My father got bored with her quickly, but she looked so good on his arm that he wouldn't divorce her. He went away and had countless affairs, and left Mother to her own devices.

At this stage, Mother had me. She wasn't the kind of woman who could live without being admired for her physical attributes, and my father had long stopped paying attention to her. So all she had was me."

Rei felt sick. He wondered if he could break the glass and use it to slit his own throat, just to stop C from talking.

" I admired Mother for many years, but soon I tired of her the same way my father had. But it was his fault, you see. If he had spent more time with her, he could have helped her. She could have become more cultured, more refined, but he abandoned her. In a way, it was a blessing when she died."

C drew a shuddering breath when he said those words. Rei tried not to look at him.

" There was potential there, and Father ignored it. Just as there is potential in you, and I will nurture it. And when I am finished, you will be utterly perfect."

C placed his hand on Rei's thigh and stroked the skin through the sheer cloth reverently. Then he took out his remote control, pressed a button, and dismissed Rei.

Rei half-walked, half-ran back through the ballroom, through the hall, to the relative safety of his cell. Once inside, the door slammed shut. He sank down on his bed and tried hard to block out all thoughts of C, his confinement, C's family and his own troubled past.

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Kai lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep was impossible without the comforting sound of Rei's soft breathing in the next bed, and every time he closed his eyes the images on the computer screen flashed before his eyes.

Rei was the latest in a line of twenty-three men who had gone missing over a period of four years. The men varied in age and background, but they were all above average in the looks department and had special talents. There was a twenty-five year old pianist, a thirty year old college professor and the list went on. None of the families of the victims knew the cases were connected, the notes said that the investigation had to be kept very confidential. So for four years the police had been lying to the relatives of the missing men. After a month, the case would be shut and then re-opened after another man went missing.

At the very bottom of the folder was a separate file that held information about the fatalities that the case had produced. Three of the men had turned up dead, naked and with evidence of sexual assault on their corpses. Even worse, they were missing limbs. One of the dead men had been a painter. He was found with his arms bound and his hands hacked off at the wrist. One of the others had been conspicuously well-endowed in life, and in death he had been castrated. Kai was trying not to think about the last man, a former karate expert.

Knowing he would never get to sleep, Kai rose and rooted through his possessions for his phone book. He was going to leave the call until the morning, but why wait? He found the number and dialled quickly, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible. The phone rang, once, twice, three times, then someone answered. Kai took a deep breath.

" It's me. I need your help."