Page 1 of Plaything of the Dark Elf

Dalia

Ibreathe in slowly, the tangy and bitter stench of death surrounds me.

The cell isn’t big, only around five feet in length and width with a ceiling that reaches high above me. I crane my neck back to look up through the gap in the cement wall, barred off with metal rods that are inches thick.

The moon hangs low in the sky and bright enough that the light from it illuminates the cell just enough for me to make out the impressions of the cot bolted to the wall and the bed pan in the far off corner.

It’s been months since I’ve been held captive here, a prisoner left to rot in my own filth and treated no better than a dog. I’m merely a plaything for the dark elves—my masters who merely treat me as nothing more than a cocksleeve most days.

I’m as filthy as the slug left in my bed pan. At least, that’s what they tell me.

But by now I’ve become numb to it.

Around here, insults are hurled as often as the hard slaps to my body, bruising me inside and out. I don’t show it though—that their words affect me. It’s the only kind of autonomy I have left. It’s a part of me that I refuse to let the dark elves see and exploit as they see fit.

Once a dark elf knows your weakness, you might as well roll over and let them bury the knife directly into your throat, because there is no coming back from that. There is no hope for a future once they are able to sink their teeth into you and rip you to shreds with their unforgiving nature.

I jump slightly when the body in my arms stirs.

Looking down, I thread my fingers through the sweat soaked hair on Caitlin’s face. Her skin glistens in the faint moonlight, giving her a dewy appearance that makes my stomach twist. It’s been almost a full day since she’s come down with a fever and it’s refused to break.

I gently pat her face with a piece of torn fabric I’d ripped from my tunic.

Caitlin is my cell mate and much younger than me. She’d been brought here a few weeks ago, with eyes wide and haunted from horrors that she, so far, has only lightly mentioned to me. Night terrors wracked her body daily, robbing her of the sleep that she’s in desperate need of.

Sympathy pangs me as I stare down at her sleeping in my arms. I can’t imagine what has happened in her life that’s winded her up here, in a life of sex servitude for the dark elves like me.

Ever since the guards had unceremoniously thrown her back into my cell last night with the fever already wracking her body, I feared that they would come back to collect her very soon.

Seeing as we have no medicine down here in the cells, Caitlin is at the mercy of however well her body can fight off this infection.

If it does at all.

The thought makes me frown. I’ve been protecting and watching over her ever since she’d been dumped with me. My eyes stay vigilant as I watch through the bars of our cell door for the shadowed figures that I have come to know so well.

A teenage girl has no business being held captive like this… like I am. She has so much left of her life to live that doesn’t deserve to be ripped away from her because of the dark elves’ selfish desires.

I tighten my hold around her fragile body, hearing her whimper softly when a shiver races up her spine.

I wish I had a way to cover her with something other than my own body. A way for me to treat her body heat to help stave off the fever and possibly break it.

My head snaps up when I hear footsteps descend down the stone steps leading into our cell block. The torches on the wall lining the entire walkway flick one by one as a dark figure approaches.

There are only a few dozen of us kept down in this part of the cellblock. My heart thuds loudly in my chest. Hopefully another slave will be taken and we’ll be left alone. It’s hard for me to want to wish that upon someone else, but I can’t have them taking Caitlin. Not like this.

The dark figure splits when the end of the walkway approaches, two dark elves emerging from it. Overheard the torches bow, casting wild shadows around the cellblock outside of the barred door.

I suck in a quick breath when they both stop in front of my cell.

One of them lets out a deep throated laugh.

“Look at this… isn’t that sweet? The two humans are cuddling.”

The other dark elf laughs. “How touching.”

I scowl at them, silently willing them to go away.

My arms tighten around Caitlin when they unlock the cell door and swing it open. The one closest to the door, the taller one, steps inside.

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