The Twilight Hunt Chapter 4 - Unworthy

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The large SUV slowly drifted to a stop in front of Max’s home, gravel crunching under its spinning tires as he pulled around to the unpaved back. The muffled cries of the succubus in the back trunk area could be heard even through the soundproofing and padding. Max smirked to himself as he climbed out of the front seat, stretching after the private flight and the long drive out into the countryside. Most people as rich as he was didn’t drive themselves or take care of their own house… most of them living in mansions, veritable fortresses manned by an army of guards and staff. He didn’t trust people enough for that and he didn’t care enough for material possessions… instead, while his house technically would qualify as a mansion, and had to be large enough to be equipped with everything he needed to keep and train his merchandise, it certainly wasn’t that large by the standards of the amount of money that ran through his accounts. It was the grounds, really… out here in the countryside and away from urban centers was the only way to get his own personal forest to hide his house from the road and any nosey passersby.

It was the privacy he needed for his work.

Max went around to the rear hatch door and pushed it open. The door swung up, revealing the large suitcase inside. He was actually proud of himself that he had managed to fit the woman into the case this time… Selkolla had been significantly taller than most of his prey, and that wasn’t even including the trouble with tucking away her wings. It would have been a lot easier if he could have broken the shapeshifter first and gotten her to take on a more manageable form. That would have required taking off the collar, though… Almost certainly unwise. It didn’t ultimately matter though - while it had taken him some effort, he had managed, with no one important made uncomfortable or inconvenienced. She was locked away inside, ready for transport wherever he needed to take her.

His.

He reached for the luggage bag and dragged it out of the rear of the vehicle… it was considerably heavy of course, but that merely made it awkward… not impossible. With a bit of effort, and banging the case against the ground and staircase a few times just to get some new squeals from the woman inside, he successfully hauled it down the steps to his rear entrance and pulled the case inside. Max hefted the monster’s mobile prison downstairs to his cellar, pausing to appreciate the surroundings. His dungeon really was world-class… there were entire BDSM clubs that would have blushed in envy looking at it. Everything from stockades to wooden horses to St Andrew’s crosses, and walls and walls of whips, vibrators, brands, canes, cuffs, and every other conceivable tool. Context was the only thing that separated his basement from the ideal playpen for dozens of bored fetlifers… context and the amount of steel chains and attachment points all over the basement.

Max lifted the suitcase onto one of the tables before opening it, revealing the beautiful succubus where she was restrained inside… Her knees bent up to her chest and flattened her breasts, her head folded down toward her knees, wings belted tightly to her back. His latest catch was cramped in the small space, but it made for an easy transport of the beautiful victim. Her eyes, however, glittered as she looked up at him; With anger… and with fear.

Max dragged her out of the case, grabbed one of her bound wrists, and secured it with chains that he had bolted to the table. It was lucky that he liked over-engineering his restraints… chains strong enough to hold an elephant. It was very overboard for the average woman. Still, he liked being able to leave them restrained for as long as necessary without supervision and be completely sure they would still be there when he got back. He knew they would need to stand up to the enthusiastic testing from dozens of women over the years. Now that he had a woman with at least theoretical access to supernatural strength, he was glad he had them… they seemed perfectly suited to restraining the gorgeous mass murderer in place and holding her there while she waited for her new life to begin.

Before he could introduce her to that reality, however, Max first needed to teach the woman her place… and that was going to be a fun process. He had been looking forward to it the whole way home.

Selkolla’s eyes were wide and she stared at him as Max secured her body to the table, one chain at a time. The woman looked feral to him… like a cornered animal still straddling between fight and flight. At least it meant that she still had some spirit left in her after what they had already done together - and even though that was the opposite of what he needed for his obligations it was what he wanted. Besides, Max was very familiar with how to take care of this particular problem. “You think you want to kill me right now,” he said to the gagged woman, meeting her eyes. “But you don’t. I’m actually the closest thing you have to a friend in your new life.” One of his hands came down to cup one of her pillowy breasts and squeezed, casually molesting her for the sake of demonstrating ownership. “For years, you thought you were in control… you thought you had all the power. Now you see how sorely mistaken you were.”

“Your power was a fragile thing, just waiting to be taken away. The tables have turned for you… quite literally as you are strapped to one right now.” Max chuckled as he took her nipple in his hand and pinched and twisted it. “Last time I counted, it's been a little over 200 women I have turned from strong, capable, defiant human beings into obedient, trained fucktoys in this basement… and you’re going to be the next one. I promise,” he said, noting the fear in her eyes. “I’m going to have fun breaking you.”

And, for once, that was more or less entirely true, with no regrets. Max wasn’t much of a sadist… he vastly preferred to take his pleasure from the contest of wills instead of in the torment. His pleasure was taking who someone was and transforming them into someone else. To achieve that, being able to present as a cruel sadist was useful… but it wasn’t quite accurate. He just wanted to win, and it wasn’t satisfying to win unless someone else lost. Right now though… Selkolla had almost killed him. She had fully intended to and almost managed to get it done, with only his last resort of a plan saving him. It wasn’t really rational to hold that against her any more than it was rational to be angry at a lion that hunted your village… but on the other hand, humanity had little issue with the contradiction of killing those predators. In the same vein, Max would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t desire more thorough revenge on the dangerous demon for almost managing to end him.

Moving as if he didn’t have a care in the world, Max turned away from Selkolla and approached one of the cabinets where he kept various torture devices for use on his prey. “Astrid tells me you’re going to be a real challenge… that it will take quite a while to break you in. That I’ll have to pull out all the stops… and I think she’s right. Thankfully, no one in particular cares if you get delivered intact… I can do whatever I want to you, whatever I need to do to you, and you’ll take it.” He started taking out implements from the cabinet, lining them up on the table where she could see them. Laying out, one by one, what her future was going to be.

“I think we’ll start with a whip…” Max said with a thoughtful smile and a small exhale. “It’s very traditional. Such a pleasant sound, snap-crack! Something fun for me to crack across your back.” He rolled his shoulders theatrically. “It’s going to be divine for me. Not so much for you, of course, but what you want stopped mattering the moment I got you in chains. I look forward to hearing your screams.”

Next, Max took out a wooden paddle with what looked like thumbtacks on one side, laying that where she could see it. “I got this almost ten years ago, and I’ve hardly ever used it. It’s not really a practical tool to use on many of the girls I bring down here… causes too much damage. You, though… you don’t need to keep up a high sale price. No one is appraising you on a standard. I can use it on you… and I’m eager to see what it can do.” Max put one finger against one of the tacks, and dramatically held up his finger, showing the drop of blood even the brief brush caused. “I’m looking forward to laying into you with it. Smash you with it until you’re begging me to stop. But first…”

Max pulled out a crimson beeswax candle next. “Speaking of things I’ve never been able to use… did you know not all candles are created equal? I didn’t,” he lied. “I just wanted to put some pretty wax on one of my girls, and I left them with scars badly enough that the buyer didn’t even want her anymore. Beeswax, apparently, stays at about 65 C while dripping down… I had to just throw her in a dumpster after I made that big of a mess. But you… no one will care. I’ll light this up and pour hot wax over your body until it covers your breasts and your pussy and you feel like I’ve set you on fire, and then I’ll use one of those things to lash it off of you, one strike at a time. I suspect you’ll be half mad with the misery by the end of that.”

He continued to look in his cabinet for the various items that he would use on her. “And by the way, just to put your mind at ease, I wouldn’t bother even thinking about trying to escape. No one ever has, and I’ve not been nearly as careful with any of the others as I have with you, little toy. There are a dozen locked doors between you and freedom, and the chains here anchor down into the foundation of the house. No one is going to hear you, either… even if this place wasn’t soundproofed for my own ability to sleep while you scream, there’s no one around to hear you. I could let you stand in the front door shouting your pretty little head off for hours and all you would do is scare a few birds.”

Max went to the next cabinet. “You know, I have to tell you I’m looking forward to this, Selkolla. I do this professionally, so it’s never personal for me… just strictly business. While I derive plenty of pleasure from the process, it’s primarily a job… usually. You’ve made it personal. I get to enjoy that for a change. You see…” he paused as he opened the cabinet, examining the tools therein. “I know you’re a sadist and a monster. I know you’ve been torturing and killing for longer than my bloodline has been on this continent. What I don’t know - what I look forward to finding out - is what you actually know about torture. Is it just about pain for you? Or have you been paying attention to just how creative humanity has gotten about it over the centuries?”

Max shook his head. “There were some fucked up minds throughout the ages… but they came up with plenty of useful ways to cause pain. I’ve had excuses to use most of them once or twice in my time working in this business… and let me tell you, some of them work better than others. For example…” Max reached into the drawer and pulled out a small, oblong metal bulb with a corkscrew device on the end of it. “This lovely thing is the pear of anguish. Ever seen one of these? Simple in name but quite effective.” He turned the knob and let her eyes follow the motion as the pear split open, spreading, spreading, wider and wider. “It was designed to go into a victim’s mouth before you started cranking,” Max explained. “Twisting it wider with each rotation. If one were to continue with the cranking and force it further open, it would eventually break the poor victim's jaw. However, I have to admit I’d prefer you to be able to speak. Thankfully, it does its magic just as well in your other holes.”

Her alien, cat-slitted eyes still looked too defiant to him, so he continued on with his diatribe of what he was going to do to the succubus. “I’m not against hitting you, either… Some women need to be hit. Good way to put you in your place… putting a fist in your gut or your face. I haven’t decided if I’m selling you or keeping you yet, but one way or the other it’s just a perk of having you, so it doesn’t really matter to me or any client what state you are in… as long as you are alive, it’s just as good to me.” Max drew a knife from the many items in the cabinet, turning it over in his hand. The blade glistened in the light. “Perhaps a few cuts or a bit of bloodletting should also be on the agenda.” He flicked a glance back at Selkolla, letting her see his teeth in the smile. “I hope you are not afraid of blades, killer. Can you imagine what this will feel like as it slowly cuts into your flesh? Superficial wounds, sure, but enough to make you bleed… and enough to make you hurt. I know how to get you to the point that you will be willing to do anything that I desire.”

He could detect the tension in his prey… Hearing about torment after torment obviously had Selkolla on edge. She still had a wild look of defiance, but her body was starting to tremble on the table. Max knew that he was getting to her… the centuries-old predator was not used to being vulnerable, was not used to being the one that was weak and being preyed upon. Smirking, he pointed around the room, drawing her attention to one thing after another. Previously, the bound shapeshifter had not paid attention to the various instruments of torture… he made sure that she saw them all now. Max pointed to the rack. “This one is a favorite of mine. It will get the kinks out of your back, but it can go an awful lot further than that… and most humans can’t tolerate a quarter of what it is capable of. Your muscles will burn as they get stretched and racked tighter by the bindings, pulling until your arms and legs feel like they are about to be yanked off as I put you through traction.”

He walked over to it, spinning the wheel and noticing, with delight, the way she flinched at every click. “Every turn of this wheel will have you begging for release, you little slut. All of your experience in dishing out pain will not help you here. I need you to break… and in the end, you are going to give me what I want.”

Selkolla gasped, the ballgag jerking in her mouth and her eyes flicking around in something near panic as she looked around and saw pain after pain after pain in her future… heard Max speak about the various tortures that she would be subjected to. It had to seem to her like Max was willing to continue on with his explanation of further tortures… like he could go on forever. Max figured she would be getting numb to further threats by now, though, so instead he walked back up to her and put his fingers on the buckle holding her ballbag in place, pulling the red ball from between her pale lips. “So, whore… you’re a torturer. Where would you like to get started? I suppose the least I can do is let you pick…”

Selkolla shook her head a few times, working her jaw as she forced feeling back into it. Then, quickly, she breathed in and said, as quickly as she could force the words out through her trembling voice, “I forsake my binding and free you from your prison.”

Max froze.

He had been ready for her to pick the least extreme pain or something not on the list. He had been ready for her to pick the more extreme and demonstrate her invincibility. He had been ready for her to curse him, or spit at him, or to try to seduce him again. He had even been prepared for her to beg. Of everything he had been prepared for however, her simply… giving up… wasn’t one of them.

That fucking coward.

You’ll be dead of old age before a single one of the tarts will do more than spit on you, Astrid had said.

Yeah, right.

He sighed, shaking his head as he walked over to close the cabinets, letting them bang shut with more than a little frustration before heading back to where Selkolla was tied down. “That’s what you want from me, right?” she said, eyes wide. “If Astrid was helping you it has to be… that’s why you were hired to find me, isn’t it? That was what they wanted? It’s yours… so you don’t have to hurt me.”

Max shook his head a few times. These women were supposed to be the challenge of his life… a masterpiece, the ultimate test of what he was capable of. Instead, it seemed that Selkolla was going to be a bitter disappointment. He had been looking forward to breaking her, and she really had quite thoroughly ruined his plans without even trying. In a twisted way, it was almost a masterstroke… it was the thing he had least been prepared for and what caused the most frustration.

The look of contemplation… and anger… on his face must have been obvious as Selkolla gazed up at him because she opened her mouth to speak again. “I… please. I can be helpful. I can serve you. I… I’ve served before.” She looked up at him. “You can… you can have me, any way you please. I pledge that I will serve you in any capacity for as long as you shall live if you promise not to cripple me and pledge to release me upon your death. Anything that you desire, I will do it.” She wriggled on top of the table, looking up at him. “Please master… please… I can be very, very helpful to you…”

Max had heard such promises before from women… including from Selkolla herself. He was unsure if this was a trick or not in order for him to set her free, but it didn’t really matter… he had no intention of trusting her, and no reason to. Drumming his fingers on the table, Max looked down at her and considered his plan. Then he began to pace around the woman, examining her, his eyes fixed on her naked body. He inhaled sharply, considering as he neared the head of the table, watching as her beautiful face tilted back as far as she could to look at him, letting him gaze into her gorgeous, hypnotic eyes.

“I think I genuinely hate you,” Max said softly. Then, before he did something he regretted, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving the bound succubus to squirm on the table.

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