Nostrum Fortis Leo

Chapter 15


Edward made the journey back to the cabin in a daze. As he had run away with his brother and Jasper, the thought of his home, his family felt like was getting closer and closer. It had given him hope; it had given him strength to push forward. And now it had been all snatched away.

He knew that is wasn’t much longer until his Dad would have to pay the money, but for some unexplainable reason, he felt like that wouldn’t be the end of it. It felt like his torment would be drawn out much longer than the foreseeable future.

Shuddering, Edward pushed away the thought. He knew he was being silly, hurting himself even more. It was merely the hopelessness of the situation they were in that made him feel like there would never be an end. If all went well, his Dad would organise the money for the next day and it would finally be over.

All too soon, the group broke through the trees and were confronted with the wooden cabin. The kidnappers hurried their captives inside.

“Make them kneel and cuff ‘em,” James snapped as he entered the door last and slammed the door behind himself. Felix and Laurent did as asked.

“What are you going to do?” Emmett demanded then moaned as his broken right arm was yanked behind his back and chained. The gunshot wound to his upper left arm smarted as well.

James literally threw Edward to the hard floor and angrily stomped over to Emmett. “You shut the fuck up or you will make this SO much worse than it can be.”

Emmett remained firm. “Yeah? Like how you make my baby bro suck me off then rape him anyway?”

No one saw Edward flinch at the dissonant words.

James didn’t say anything as thoughts flitted through his head. “Don't anyone go anywhere.” He stalked upstairs and returned with something silver and familiar. His knife.

Glaring at Emmett, James honed in on Edward’s prone form on the floor. He used his booted foot to flip Edward onto his stomach, pinning his locked hands beneath him. James kneeled down over the youngest Cullen.

“This,” James began softly, looking down and speaking to Edward, “is what I am going to use to punish you for causing all this trouble. And if your brother pisses me off again, I might just slip and cut too deep.”

Edward couldn’t hold back the tears. “No, no, no, no, no,” he mumbled in distress.

James laid the flat of the blade against the pale plane of Edward’s back. He looked back up at Emmett to see if the older boy would snap.

The knife was sluggishly turned onto its sharp edge and pushed down on the bare flesh. I river of crimson blood spilt down the slight curvature of his waist, onto the floor. Edward hissed and cried out in pain.

“Ngh-” Emmett made a strangled sound of protest.

James drew the knife diagonally up Edward’s back, slicing deeply through tissue and muscle.

“Shall I cut him again?” James asked Emmett. “We can gamble on the amount of cuts and time it would take for our little Cullen to bleed out!”

“No! No! I’m sorry, okay?” Emmett backpedalled. It was not in his nature to give in, but he’d never had the life of his brother threatened against him.

For a time, Emmett wanted to shout about the kidnappers not daring to kill one of their hostages, lest they miss out of their money. But Emmett had enough instinct to realise if he got into another argument, the death of his brother may just become a reality.

“Get them back onto their chairs,” Demetri told Felix and Laurent. The fourth man had been watching as the scene unfolded from the kitchen door. “James, wrap him up before he does bleed out. We know you wouldn’t want that to happen.”

James nodded as if coming out of a trance. He focused on the blood welling out of the incision then stood, pulling Edward up with him. He dragged the teen to the bathroom.

“Pant’s off. In the shower,” James muttered and turned on the spray of water.

Edward was feeling rather woozy, whether from blood-loss, shock or a combination of both he didn’t know. He struggled against the dizziness to do as he was told. Edward forced himself to remain ignorant as he exposed his genitals to his rapist.

For the second time in his captivity the water in the shower stall ran red; this time thicker than before. The beating force of the water droplets stung horrendously.

“Out!” James demanded. It had barely been a minute that Edward had stood under the spray.

Edward followed the instructions again, turning his back to James. He swayed on the spot.

“Ahhh!” Edward cried out suddenly as a dry towel scraped cross his wound.

“Keep still, little Cullen,” James murmured.

Effectively dry, James picked up the first bandage and set about his task. Almost all of Edward’s torso had to be covered.

“What if I need stitches?” Edward asked softly.

“Don't worry about it,” James replied. “It is a superficial wound and it should scab over in a day or two.”

Edward nodded in acceptance.

“Go get back on the bed with you. Just because I hurt you does not get you out of me fucking you.”

With impatient force, Edward was pulled back into the bedroom. It seemed his hellish torture was not yet finished for the night.

***