Love in Chains - 15. Chapter 15

For a long time Nye was not aware of anything much at all. There were very brief moments of lucidity in which he became aware that he was... in a car, in a bed, in a... different room. However although there was awareness there was no understanding, no connection between the moments, no stream of consciousness that would allow him to make sense of what was happening.

Sometimes he heard voices around him, the words, heard but not processed, were meaningless and did not touch him. Not so the pain. It came at regular intervals and was sudden, unexpected and intense. Too drugged to process the mechanics he was unable to comprehend where it came from, what caused it or which part of his body was affected by it, he simply lived for the moment it stopped and he could sink again into the blissful darkness.

Having long ago ceased to wonder, to process, to resist, during those rare moments of semi consciousness he followed orders unquestioningly. Until now they had been simple, consisting of brief instructions... to drink, to swallow, to walk... although he was no longer capable of that.

Occasionally he had been aware of being moved, his body lifted and carried, positioned, invaded but none of it mattered, nothing mattered, nothing made sense, nothing existed beside the darkness and the pain.

Sometimes when he was deep in the darkness he dreamed. The dreams were never of Adam, always of Kane. They were the only times when he felt anything at all and the pervading feeling was sadness. Right now he was rising from one of those dreams and was reluctant to let it go. At least there was no pain... yet.

Nye was numb. As he swam upwards through the layers of consciousness he first became aware of it and then he dismissed it. It simply wasn’t important and neither were the voices. The truth was he didn’t want to regain consciousness; he wanted to sink again, back into oblivion, back into safety, back into the dreams... but this time there was nothing he could do... he was rising and he couldn’t hold on to any of it.

“For God’s sake Lian, can’t you see the boy’s not up to it, he can’t take any more. If you insist on carrying on with this madness you are going to kill him.”

“You had better think long and hard Adam, before you seek to offer advice to me about training and what boys can or can’t take. For some reason I have lost my faith in your judgement.”

“Lian...”

“Enough Adam! If you persist I will have no problem having you gagged.”

“But this is barbaric! It’s pain for the sake of it. What purpose will it achieve?”

“Adam, dear Adam... you have known me for long enough to know that I have never needed a purpose in inflicting pain, over and above the pleasure it gives me to do so. I am a connoisseur so to speak. People come from a long way away to sample my exquisite tortures. I haven’t lost anyone yet... not unless I have wanted to.”

The coldness in Lian’s voice caused Nye’s stomach to flip. Who were they talking about? Was it him? What were they going to do to him?

“And as for purpose... you may be surprised my dear. Electric shock therapy has been recognised for many years to have profound effect on mental function. After only a relatively short time of having strategic electrical currents passed through his body and brain you’ll find your boy a LOT more co operative.”

“He is not un co operative now Lian.”

“You can say that after the trouble he has caused you, has caused both of us? Have your forgotten what happened at The Club yesterday?”

“As if.”

“I have been very patient with you Adam. You have caused me a lot of trouble with your pathetic attempts to train that boy with kindness. You know the score. You do not show weakness in training. You hit them hard and break them... THEN you build them back, instilling useful skills BUT keeping the checks reinforced until they are part of their nature. You cannot train a slave with kindness.”

“I didn’t, not with this one.”

“You were too soft. If you hadn’t been he would not have been so prepared to disobey you and to keep defying you even now.”

“He’s not defying anyone now. Lian...”

“He will, Adam. If we let up now he will. He’s almost completely broken and the next phase will achieve that end and begin to rebuild the discipline and conditioned obedience in his brain as well as stimulating the pleasure/pain centres in his body. I am not going to be swayed on this... you co operate and assist... or you leave.”

“You’re going to hurt him... damage him, maybe even kill him... he doesn’t deserve that.”

“Deserve? What has ‘deserve’ got to do with it? This is not a punishment... not entirely a punishment... this is a lesson, and one he is never going to forget.”

Nye shuddered. His barely conscious brain struggled to make sense of what was being said and he became more and more convinced that he was about to be tortured in the most extreme way. Adam’s voice had sounded concerned, and for Adam to be concerned about something like this then it must be bad, really bad.

“He’s lost a lot of blood Lian. He’s not in any physical condition to take this.”

“One more word Adam... just one more word and I’ll gag you. You came to me for help and I am giving it to you... but you should have known it would come at a price.”

There was no response and Nye trembled in anticipation of what he was sure was about to happen to him.

“Your boyfriend should be coming up by now Adam. I want him to watch this.”

“Nye? But why?”

“Because I said so.”

“But...”

“If you have to speak, Adam, the words I am looking for are ‘Yes Lian’.”

“Yes Lian.”

Nye was deeply confused, his mind simply unable to process what he was hearing, what it meant. Had they not been talking about him then? But if not, then who...?

“Luke.” He hadn’t been aware of saying it out loud until he heard Adam laugh close to his face.

“I’m surprised you even remember who Luke is, my darling. Never mind, you’re about to be reminded. I hope you enjoy the show. Just remember that what is about to happen to Luke is all your fault. You are the one who caused this, who made him turn away from his position, his conditioning. He did what he did for you and now he’s paying and it’s all your fault.”

Lian laughed. “Well done Adam. You’re learning at last.”

“Luke.” Nye could not process what Adam had said but he could understand that Luke was here, that he was not dead. Nye had been so certain that he was dead. It made him feel somehow good to know that he was still alive. The knowledge that he was about to be made to watch Luke being tortured didn’t make its way past that thought.

“Open your eyes Nye.”

Nye didn’t want to open his eyes, in fact he wanted nothing more than to sink back into the darkness but there was a sense of compulsion in the voice that he could not ignore. Blinking against the pain that sliced through his head as the brightness hit his eyes he struggled to focus.

The room was large, very large and very brightly lit. It could have been the dungeon, except that it wasn’t, it was bigger, much bigger. Nye groaned and tried to turn his head away from the light, from the sight of Adam’s face, hovering inches above his own, but he couldn’t. In fact, he couldn’t move at all. He was numb, completely numb, so numb that he didn’t even feel the hands on him and it was a completely disorienting experience to find himself being lifted without any sensation of conscious movement or awareness of his body which might as well have been made of putty.

Adam stood to one side smirking as the attendants raised Nye from the couch and sat him in a chair, holding him upright until they were able to secure him with the built in restraints. It was another disorienting experience when the chair was moved, carrying him across the room. Nye had no way of knowing it but the chair was very special, custom made and as unlike a conventional wheelchair as it was possible to be. It more resembled a ‘treatment couch’ twisted into a strange, vaguely ‘S’ shape and fitted with restraints and devices. He had no interest in it and wouldn’t have cared if he had been told that it had cost more than Adam’s car.

The chair had padded arms to which his own were secured with straps at wrists and elbows, other straps held him securely at his waist, across his chest under his arms, across his shoulders, thighs, calves and ankles. Nye, his head hanging forwards was more interested in the rusty brown stains that streaked his chest and stomach and he was fascinated by the fact that his cock and balls seemed to be encased in an intricate harness of leather straps sprinkled with silver studs. A short tube protruded from the end of the contraption which looked as though it was intended to connect to something else. It was all the more interesting for the fact that he could not feel it at all.

“Lift your head up Nye. I’m sure that you find your own cock fascinating but that is not what I want you to focus on right now.”

The strange compulsion was still there but this time Nye did not comply. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to, it was because he was entirely unable to. Making an irritated sound Adam lifted his head and pressed it back against the chair pulling a strap tight across his forehead so that he could not move it once it was in place.

Brushing his hair out of his face Adam brought the scene before him into sharp focus.

Luke was lying on a table, strapped down. His body was encased in a harness of leather straps something like the one Nye had already seen on part of his own body. Wires ran from various points on the harness to a control panel behind the table where Lian was standing, grinning widely at Nye. Apart from the harness Luke was naked and his body was bruised and bleeding almost everywhere except his face which was turned towards Nye, the beautiful chestnut hair plastered to his head and his eyes wide, although Nye knew, even in his drugged state, that he wasn’t seeing anything. There were, what looked like circular suction cups attached to wires at his temples and his mouth was blocked with a large ball gag from which protruded an ordinary, striped plastic straw which looked incongruous in the circumstances.

Nye’s view of the table was blocked as Adam crouched in front of him and caressed his face. If he could have he would have pulled away. Adam must have seen something because he frowned.

“Do you understand what’s happening Nye? Do you see what’s happening to your friend? Do you understand that Lian intends to do this to you too? Whatever happens to Luke is not only your fault but it is what is shortly going to be happening to you. Do you understand that?”

Nye understood nothing, except that he was filled with a burning hatred for Adam and he wanted nothing more than to spit in his eyes. His lips twitched but he had forgotten how to speak and, after a moment it stopped being important and let his eyes slide past Adam to fix on something that was shining on the wall near the high ceiling.

The slap caught him completely unaware but it was far less shocking than it could have been because he was numb and felt nothing.

“Look at me Nye.” Nye complied, again affected by that strange compulsion and even though he really didn’t want to. “Look into my eyes Nye, don’t look away. Good. Good boy.” He was rewarded by a gentle caress which, like the slap would have been a lot more effective if he could have felt it.

“Do you understand Nye? Do you understand what I am saying to you?”

How could he answer? He couldn’t move his head, he couldn’t move anything and he had forgotten how to speak.

“Speak to me Nye. Tell me, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Strange how, as soon as Adam spoke the command his body obeyed when it had not been so prepared to obey him.

“Tell me Nye... tell me why Luke is here. Why is he hurt?”

“My fault.” The words were flat, as was the mind behind it. Nye was speaking because he had been commanded to, speaking the words he had been told to say but he had no real understanding.

“That’s right. It’s your fault. Whatever happens to Luke now, it’s all because of you. You may as well be doing it yourself. He is going to hurt, Nye. He is going to hurt a lot. Luke is going to be hurt and maybe he will die... and it’s all because of you, because of what you did. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt you to know that your friend is suffering because of you?”

“Yes.” Nye said it because he knew that was what Adam expected him to say; his emotions were as dead as his body. He had no way of connecting what was being said to what was happening.

“Watch carefully Nye. Watch what happens to Luke because when it is over it will be your turn. This is going to happen to you. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me what is going to happen Nye.”

“Luke will be... hurt... and then... me.”

“That’s right. Good boy Nye. Watch carefully now. Keep your eyes open and watch carefully no matter what and always remember that it’s you who are doing this to Luke. It’s your fault.”

“Yes. My fault.”

Lian laughed. “Very nice Adam, but a complete waste of time. The boy has no idea what you are saying or what his responses mean. He’s practically brain dead. Well, never mind, that won’t last for long. He’ll be feeling very much alive soon enough.”

Adam put his hands on either side of Nye’s face and looked deeply into his eyes. He saw... nothing looking back. Inwardly he groaned and felt a pang of... something. Nye was so beautiful, so seemingly delicate and he had already gone through so much in the two days he had been here. To be honest Adam was surprised that he was able to achieve any kind of consciousness at all. He hoped fervently that he did not remember what had happened to him and he wished that he, Adam could forget.

It had been a mistake to come to Lian for help but he had been severely out of choices, especially when The Club had been raided by police and a number of illicit activities uncovered. Adam was effectively on the run and he simply had nowhere else to go. Much as he hated being reliant on Lian he was stuck now... and that meant allowing Lian a free hand to ‘train’ Luke and Nye to his own standards and specifications.

Adam had long suspected that Lian’s methods of training had less to do with producing skilled and obedient slaves than in catering as much as possible to his own twisted, sadistic appetites. Lian had a reputation and he had not been lying when he said that people travelled from all over the world to be subjected to intense and creative pain at his hands and he had honed his skills to the extent that he would have been in much demand in Spain during the inquisition.

Lian could have a man at the point of passing out with pain, whilst simultaneously experiencing the most intense pleasure he had ever known... and keep him there for as long as he wanted, hours sometimes, before he allowed them to release with explosive orgasms that often ended in unconsciousness.

Although Lian was a master at what he did Adam could not bring himself to be impressed. Of course he could be cruel when he needed to and pain got him excited in a way that nothing else could but he did not glory in it like Lian did, he did not inflict it for its own sake and he would never have dreamed of subjecting anyone to the kinds of torture Luke and Nye had endured at his hands.

Perhaps that made him the lesser man. In this world it certainly made him the less powerful one. But he shuddered inside when he looked into those cold dead eyes and remembered the sweetness that usually lived there, when he had hauled the limp, lifeless body from place to place at Lian’s instruction. He had died a little every time Nye screamed and when he injected Lian’s poisons into his veins over and over he had found himself wishing he was doing it to Lian, to himself, to anyone but Nye.

“Watch Nye. Watch carefully. Do not close your eyes and do not look away.” Although Adam knew that Nye was numb and deadened to feeling he also knew that he was highly susceptible to any instructions and that he would blindly obey them no matter what. He could have ordered Nye to thrust a knife through his own heart now and he would have done it... if he had been capable of holding the knife.

Adam stood up and moved away, giving Nye a clear view of the table. His eyes were drawn to Luke’s and he thought he saw something flicker there, but it was fleeting. Keeping his eyes on the glittering amber orbs he flinched when they suddenly widened and the head in which they were homed, jerked.

At first the trembling in Luke’s body was slight, barely noticeable, but Lian kept fiddling with the knobs and it grew more pronounced until his body was arched against the restraints, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

After half an hour Luke was exhausted, his body shaking as much from fatigue as from the shocks. The shaking was getting more and more pronounced and he was making strange little grunting noises, breathing harshly through clenched teeth so that spittle foamed at the corners of his mouth and ran down to further soak his hair.

For some reason Nye was fascinated with that and watched every twitch and tremor of his lips with a growing fascination that excluded all thought of anything that was going on over and around that. If he had been paying more attention to himself he would have noticed that his body was slowly coming back to life and was beset by a hundred small aches and pains. However, he had no awareness of his body at all. He had been told to watch Luke, to focus on him and that was exactly what he was doing with every fibre of his being.

“Lian... enough is enough. The boy is on the edge. If you don’t stop soon you are going to push him into a seizure and I don’t think he will survive it. I told you he is weak from the blood he lost from the gunshot wound in his shoulder. His body has been on the verge of going into shock from one thing or another for all of the time he’s been here. Look at his fingers, his lips... his heart is failing.”

“He’s strong enough for another fifteen minutes. I am going to crank it up another notch in the genital area, give the boy a real taste of how pleasurable pain can be. When he’s ready to cum we’ll release him in every way. Then you can have the pleasure of fucking his twitching body and whispering sweet somethings in his ears.”

“Lian... I’m telling you... you’re used to having your ‘victims’ start off relatively fit. Luke’s...”

“Not ‘Luke’ Adam. The boy forfeited his right to a name when he defied you. When he learns the proper respect again you can give him another one. And as for your pitiful concern for his health... and his life... do you really think I care? This one has been nothing but trouble from the start. Do you remember when he first came to you? You almost had to kill him then, and he was only fourteen.”

Lian’s voice and eyes took on an almost tender cast as he looked down at Luke. “Ah he was such a brat... a spoiled little rich kid. I took such great pleasure in ‘liberating’ him from that stuffy boarding school.”

“You kidnapped him?”

“Don’t sound so shocked Adam. I have ‘liberated’ a number of poor young things from the bondage of parental disapproval, abandonment and abuse.”

“Lian...”

“Adam, you are in no position to criticise me. If I were you I would concentrate on convincing me that it shouldn’t be you on the table.”

“Yes Lian.”

“Good answer. Now, let’s bring this baby home.”

Nye, watching impassively saw Luke’s hand spasm convulsively two or three times and then his whole body jerked, forcing a strange cry, part scream, part roar, part grunt, from his throat before his whole body went into vicious, violent convulsions.

“Lian. Stop!”

“Don’t freak out. It’s done.”

Adam’s voice had been frantic, panicked... Lian’s cold as ice. Although the current was no longer coursing through his body Luke continued to convulse in the throes of a massive seizure. Adam rushed to his side and stroked his hair, crooning to him, trying to calm him to comfort him, but it was too late. With one last convulsive jerk Luke let out a long, hissing, wheezing sigh and seemed to collapse in on himself, shuddering into stillness. Nye watched with fixed interest as a trickle of blood escaped from where it had been trapped beneath his body and started to run down the side of the table before it dripped, drop by sparkling ruby drop, onto the floor.

“Fuck Lian! Fuck! What have you done?”

Lian caressed Luke’s abdomen. “Beautiful, just beautiful. His muscles are still spasming... will be for a while. Do you want to fuck him Adam? Can you imagine the feeling of those contractions from inside his body?”

“Fuck you Lian. He’s dead. You killed him.” Adam went suddenly still. “You always meant to, didn’t you? You MEANT to kill him.”

Lian lifted his eyes and smiled, a slow, cold, leer that never went anywhere near his eyes which fixed on Adam.

“Luke was a liability, Adam. He’s proved that these last two days. He has been resistant to everything I have tried with him and he was still defiant... to the point that I would not have trusted any conditioning to have fixed with him. It would seem that his affection for your pretty little play thing went far deeper than his loyalty to you or even his fear of me. Let’s just say that he was fatally flawed and I don’t like flawed things. Now he’s just fatal.” Lian grinned and Adam felt sick to his stomach. There was a strange expression on his face as he gently brushed the hair away from Luke’s face and closed the wide, staring eyes for the last time.

Both Adam and Nye watched, the one with horror and the other without any interest at all, while Lian unzipped his trousers and leisurely fucked Luke’s still twitching body, making noises of obvious enjoyment, commenting dispassionately on the sensations of contracting muscles and cooling flesh. When he was done he fastened his trousers and leered at Adam.

“Now it’s your turn Adam.”

Adam’s head jerked up.

“My turn?”

“Indeed.” He laughed again. “Oh don’t look so worried. I meant on the controls, not on the table.”

At a nod from Lian, two of the attendants stepped forwards without a twitch or a sound, unstrapped Luke and carried him away. The table was red where blood had pooled under his body, presumably from the wound in his shoulder which must have been opened again by his thrashings. Adam looked sick at the sight of it but Lian leaned forwards and scooped some up on his finger, smearing it on his lips with obvious enjoyment.

Flicking his eyes away from Adam’s just long enough to signal to his other attendants Lian fixed them back again and watched as the muscles in his neck and jaw tensed and twitched when the attendants, unstrapped Nye and lifted him unresisting onto the table.

Although filled with a maelstrom of conflicting emotion Adam said and did nothing. Lian smiled again, a cruel, feral smile, before commanding Adam to assist in preparing Nye for his ordeal.

Adam knew better than to beg... Lian liked it too much. However, with what had happened to Luke very fresh in his mind, his fingers were trembling and his mind racing while he tightened the straps, untangled wires and secured connections. There must be a way... surely there must. Surely Lian wasn’t planning on killing Nye too... surely... surely there was something he could do to save him... surely...

Glancing into Nye’s face Adam caught a flash of something in his eyes. Was it fear? Was it anger? Was it hatred? Or was it just a message... a message that somewhere in that alabaster pale shell Nye was still alive, still aware, still fighting him. At the same time he hoped so with all his heart, and prayed that it was not so.

Nye was largely unaware of the attention being given to his body. Although he was no longer entirely numb he just wasn’t interested. His entire body was tingling and, when he was first lifted onto the table he struggled, an almost automatic, instinctual reaction to the pins and needles that fired his muscles. All it took was a command from Adam to still him utterly and he gritted his teeth and focussed his mind away from his body until they faded and he was left in a state of almost hyper awareness, sensitive to every touch.

Adam’s ministrations were gentle, firm and swift and it was easy to let his mind drift. Trying to sink back into sleep, to recapture his dreams, the sense of Kane being close by, Nye let his eyes slip out of focus and his body relax. He heard Lian laugh.

“Your boy’s trying to escape you Adam. Seems like your touch is too gentle... it’s sending him off to sleep.”

This time the slap to the face registered, sharp and shocking, making him gasp, tasting blood.

“Stay with us Nye. You’re not going anywhere, body or mind.”

Nye blinked and stared at him, his eyes hardening as his mind cleared.

“Fuck you.”

Lian laughed again. “See how obedient he is Adam? Your methods are so impressive.”

“I wouldn’t crow too much Lian... he’s been under yours for the past two days.”

“Patience my dear boy, patience. I have been too occupied with that other recalcitrant. Luke was an old friend after all and I was busy reacquainting myself with him. I have been saving this one.” He stroked Nye’s belly noting with pleasure the tremors beneath his hands. “Patience was never one of your strong points, but sometimes waiting, lingering, anticipating... is the greatest part of the pleasure.” Nye became aware of him moving, standing near his head. “Look at me boy.”

As much as he didn’t want to Nye had no choice but to turn his head to look at Lian who was staring at him with cold disinterest. As he watched Lian reached out his hand and cupped his face, stroking the cheek bones with his thumb. Nye compressed his lips and glared with the last ounce of defiance he possessed.

“Oh you are a strong one aren’t you? It is going to be such a pleasure to break you, it already has been, and if you think what has happened to you so far had been bad, think again. It is going to get a lot worse for you very quickly. This is different to anything you have ever experienced before. If you survive it then you will be mine... if you survive.

“Do you remember what happened to Luke? Were you paying attention?”

Incredibly Nye had not remembered. When he was watching Luke he had not been more than superficially aware and he had not been at all interested. However, now that he was being directly challenged on it, now that his mind was aware again, he began to remember, and with memory came anger.

Lian had killed Luke. Coldly and deliberately he had tortured him and then he had killed him. “Bastard.”

“Oh dear. I see that you do remember and you were paying attention. Is that anger I see in your eyes, Nye? Or is it fear? It really should be fear you know. I am going to hurt you like you have never been hurt before and I am going to enjoy every minute of it. Be sure to scream nice and loud, it’s music to my ears.”

“Fuck you.”

“Do not speak again.”

The strange compulsion was like a blanket to his senses, cutting out his natural reactions and forcing him down different paths. What had they done to him to make him behave like this? Being a stubborn individual Nye hated the fact that he was being forced to do something he didn’t want to do and prevented from doing something he did want to do. Struggling with the blanket he forced words out through a throat and lips that were fighting against him.

“Fuck you.” The words were choked and very soft but clear enough and shocking to Adam, although Lian laughed delightedly, and raked his hands through Nye’s hair.

“Delightful. So much beauty; so much spirit. It is almost a shame to destroy either... if you’re lucky I won’t destroy both. Think of this as the first lesson. Everything that has gone before has just been a preparation for this. Kindergarten, if you wish. You’re playing with the big boys now and the big boys are loving every minute. This is a very special lesson, a lesson in pain. If you learn it well then we can move on. If not we will come back... again and again and again until you do. When you look at me with eyes of fire and beg for more... then I will stop it... only then.”

Lian’s caresses continued while his eyes remained locked with Nye’s. His hands moved down over his throat, shoulders and chest, lingering to tease and twist his nipples making his wince. “Lie still.” Lian’s voice was like the crack of a whip and Nye’s body reacted automatically.

“Close your eyes and focus on your body, the sensations you feel, the pleasure, the pain.”

Although he struggled to force his eyes to remain open he simply could not resist and his eyelids fell. He was aware of someone stroking his hair, the sensation soothing and pleasant. He sighed.

“Good boy Nye. That’s the way, now relax and focus. Relax and focus. Do not tense your body. Do not struggle. Do not fight. Relax and focus on the sensations in your body.”

Floating on a sea of sensation evoked only by the words Nye felt almost as though he was rising off the table. The restraints and straps of the harnesses were not unpleasant and for a moment his mind almost slipped towards sleep again. Then a very strange sensation almost made him open his eyes in surprise.

“Keep your eyes closed Nye. Keep relaxed.”