Single Minded Purpose

Between the Paws of an Animal

Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix.

Warning: This chapter has explicit content, both consensual and not. You have been warned.

Smith cast one more extensive look into the bright cloudless sky and searched for his nemesis, but Mr. Anderson was long gone. The battle between himself, his clones and Neo had gone badly, to say the least. While he himself remained relatively unscathed, Smith could not say the same for some of his clones, some of whom had been killed during the battle.

He knelt on the ground by the side of one of them and cast his glance around the concrete courtyard where a few more lay. Smith eyed their prone bodies with a cold glance and a dangerous glitter appeared in his eye. In a manner of speaking, these men were all my children, he thought, gently turning the lifeless form that lay at his feet onto his back. The normally immaculate smart black suit was dusty and soiled and the dark glasses had been knocked askew. Smith reached down and straightened them; however, he could do nothing to restore life to the sightless perfect blue eyes gazed beyond Smith, his creator, and into the emptiness of death.

Like human offspring, they were created by me, but unlike humans, they did not require a mother to give them life. I did that. I created them. However, one of them is now in Zion, Smith thought triumphantly as he continued to gaze into the dead, but still handsome face of his copy.

The one now in the last bastion of the humans has his orders and the wit to carry them out, so it is only a matter of time before Mr. Anderson will be annihilated; where he feels the most secure and safe--in the sanctuary of Zion, where the humans hide and live miles below the surface. If one can call existing and dwelling underground in caves living. Smith grimaced at the thought. Mr. Anderson has no way of knowing that his demise is near, he has no way of knowing that his death will come from the hands of a man with whom he has brushed shoulders with in the past. And if what the human known as Bane has told me, the humans are breeding and multiplying like rodents.

Aware of the stares from his other selves, he rose to his feet. “I don’t want them left here out in the open like this. Take their bodies away. These fallen ones have served me well and I will not leave them lying here surrounded by the filth of the humans.” All of the humans on this despicable planet will pay for what Mr. Anderson has done to me this day. I swear it.

He turned and nodded to his copies and they understood their tasks without being told: take over everyone in the Matrix whether they were human or program. I will replace those who were taken from me by creating thousands more, he thought to himself. I will avenge them, but not yet. Like any father whose child had been taken from him, I need to be comforted, consoled--preferably in the arms and warmth of a woman’s most intimate flesh. And I know just the one who can make me forget this abysmal defeat and losses that I have suffered today.

A smug smile appeared on his face as his fingers twitched his black silk tie into place. A man who goes a-courting with the hope of getting laid should always look his best, he thought idly, making his way to his gleaming black Audi in the distance.

lllll

Without even bothering to knock, Smith tried to open the door to Sarah’s apartment but found it locked. Nonplussed, he manipulated the Matrix accordingly and the door swung open. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a little thing like a locked door keep me from what is rightfully mine, he thought smugly. He strode into the room and immediately took Sarah into his arms.

“Hmm, you smell so good,” he growled deep in his throat as his olfactory capacitors inhaled the scent of her freshly washed hair. Her body was soft, warm and fragrant, and everything that was masculine in Smith responded to the feel of her skin beneath the thin cotton dress she wore. “I missed you.”

“What are you doing here?” Sarah demanded sharply. “The door was locked on purpose.”

“And I opened it,” he replied with such a smirk on his face that Sarah turned away in disgust.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I need consoling.” Smith said, the corners of his mouth turned down in an exaggerated pout.

“From what?”

“The unthinkable, Sarah, the absolute unthinkable—I was beaten today. By Mr. Anderson. A human, no less.”

Sarah sighed and Smith looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “You find that amusing?” he demanded, his voice tight with displeasure.

“No. I just think you should get over it, that’s all. Everyone is beaten from time to time.” Smith may be a program, but he is still a man, susceptible to all of the failings that men the world over have gone through before him. Stupid male ego, Sarah thought contemptuously.

“Not me,” Smith snarled. “No one defeats me, Sarah. No one.”

“Well, he did. Deal with it.”

“No, Sarah, I won’t just deal with it, as you put it. I had over 100 copies of myself and he still managed to walk away unscathed. No, that’s not correct—he flew away like the coward he is.”

Good, Sarah thought to herself, a brief flicker of exultant joy passed over her face. I hope he kicked your smug ass into the ground before he left. “So tell me again: why the hell are you here?” she demanded, her hands on her hips

“Oh, I think you should be able to guess,” Smith replied. “I would never admit it to anyone but you, but my ego has been very badly bruised and I need a woman to stroke it back to health for me.” His eyes raked over her body and there was a definite leering glint in his eye that she had seen too often not to know the meaning of. He probably thinks that I am just going to happily jump into bed with him and let him use my body for his own satisfaction; but not this time, Smith, Sarah thought firmly. Never again will I allow myself to listen to any more of your lies. She brought her hands up to his chest and for once, succeeded in pushing him away from her.

“No. I don’t want you to touch me. Besides, it’s not me your body craves; you only want that little human slut you were so fond of.”

“What?”

“Hello?” Sarah sneered, rapping her knuckles sharply on Smith’s large forehead. “My name isn’t Bronwyn—it’s Sarah. When you came the other night, it wasn’t my name you called out, it was hers. Everyone in the Matrix knows the story of what happened between you and her. She was a prostitute. You raped her. As a result, she became pregnant. She ran away. Jones fell in love with her. You killed him. You caused her to lose the baby and she threw herself off the 45th floor of a high-rise building to get away from you.” Sarah checked off all these items on her fingers as she recounted them. “Did I miss anything?” she asked mockingly.

“What are you talking about?” Smith demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

“The thought of staying with you made her take that swan-dive off the balcony. She chose to die than be with you, Smith, and I can’t say as I blame her. You were the one who was responsible for killing your own child; it probably wasn’t a difficult choice for her to end her life. I’ll bet she was even doing this,” Sarah motioned with her hands as if they were imaginary scales. “Hmm, should I stay with Smith or kill myself? Gee, I wonder what she decided on?” Sarah said sarcastically.

“Don’t you ever talk about Bronwyn like that again,” Smith snarled, the lips that had brought such pleasure to Sarah were now drawn back over his teeth in his rage; his hand lashed out, and Sarah reeled backward from the force of his fist connecting with her cheek, and unable to regain her footing in time, fell to the floor.

“Bronwyn was nothing but a slut, a whore off the streets that you fucked and subsequently impregnated, so it’s a little late to defend her honour now. But your child was a freak, Smith, and slapping me around won’t change the truth and you know it!” Sarah shot back furiously. “Half human and half program. What chance could she have had to live a normal life? None! She would not have been accepted in either our world or by the humans. A half-breed, that’s all ever she would ever be known as, had you not killed her.”

By this time, Smith was standing over her and she heard his knuckles crack when he clenched his fist.

“Get out, Smith. Go find yourself a twenty-dollar whore to fuck and leave me alone. Besides, Seraph will be coming over and you had better not be here.” He doesn’t have to know that that is not the truth, she thought.

“So, he finally got around to banging you, has he? It took him long enough to figure out what his dick is for,” and he laughed, a harsh guttural sound that gave Sarah a chill and a sense of foreboding. He is not the kind of man to whom laughter comes easily or naturally, she thought, but I don’t care about Smith anymore. It is Seraph that I love and it’s time for me to learn from my mistakes and move on. And the biggest mistake I ever made is standing right in front of me.

“He loves me and I love him,” Sarah said. “I was blind for too many years to see what was underneath my nose all the time. But my eyes are finally open to the truth: what I felt with Seraph was love and what I felt with you was lust, nothing more and nothing less. Because of Seraph, I now know what true passion is.”

“What about the upgrades? If you had stayed with me, I would’ve protected you from them, and Seraph is too busy guarding the Oracle.”

“What about them? The way I see it, they should be more worried about you—how many times have you cloned yourself since we met? One hundred? Two hundred? You are more of a threat to the Matrix than I ever will be.” Sarah shrugged. “I have nothing to fear from the upgrades.”

“So that is your final decision, then?”

“It is. I’m staying with Seraph and you, Smith, can go fuck yourself.”

For the second time in his existence, a woman had rejected him in favour of another program. And in Smith’s own mind, a vastly inferior one at that. Anger coursed through him; inflaming everywhere it touched, scouring his restraint sub-program until there was nothing left but blind, killing rage.

He raised his hand to strike Sarah again, but stopped. Wait. I know the perfect punishment for you, Sarah, he thought. A plan formed in his mind and he smiled. No, I won’t hit you, he thought as he saw Sarah flinch and raise her arm, readying herself to being struck again, I will do something far, far worse than what you ever could imagine.

In an instant, he installed an impenetrable firewall into the walls, doors and windows of Sarah’s apartment. When he was finished, he glanced around, impressed at his own genius. Now that this place is secure, I can proceed.

He reached down and grabbed Sarah by the front of her dress. He hauled her to her feet, and then raised her off the ground until her toes could no longer touch the floor and her face was inches from his. “I’m going to make you pay in full for everything you said to me just now,” he said, his rage all the more formidable because of his calm demeanour. “You want me to fuck myself? Now, why should I do that when you are here for the taking?”

A shiver of true fear rippled through Sarah when she saw an ominous half-smile tug at the corners of his lips. “When I am done with you, you are going to beg me to kill you, for it is only through death that you will be able to escape the pain I will inflict on you.” Issuing an unspoken order to some of the copies that were nearest to his immediate vicinity, Smith could not help but gloat at the fate that awaited Sarah as it came ever closer with slow, steady steps. You have no idea what is coming, do you, Sarah, he thought. But you soon will; and I will thoroughly enjoy every moment of it as I watch you suffer.

“Promises, promises,” she mocked. “You really don’t know anything about women, do you Smith? Any woman knows that the guys who brag the most about that they’ve got inside their pants or what they are going to do with it, usually have the least amount of reason to brag. Let me put it another way: the guys with the biggest mouths usually have the smallest dicks.”

“Oh, it’s not me who is going to hurt you, Sarah, it’s them,” Smith said silkily and watched her face tighten when Sarah saw three of Smith’s clones enter her apartment. “And if those three cannot break you, I have more available at my complete disposal. Many more.” He brought his mouth to her ear. “I can and will turn you into pulp. I will have them fuck you so hard so that no man--especially not that double-crossing, do-good mama’s boy Seraph--will ever get to be intimate with you again.”

Smith turned his head, looked at his copies, and issued his orders. He did not do it telepathically as he had on previous occasions for he wanted Sarah to hear from his own lips what her punishment was to be. When they heard their master’s spoken commands and directives regarding his intentions regarding the female, the three minions understood their task. Each was to position himself where Sarah could be physically subdued to the greatest advantage with a minimum of effort: two were to hold her down while one was to rape her.

Deep in her heart, Sarah knew it was a waste of time to try and fight, but she did it to the best of her ability for as long as she could. I will not be able to live with myself if I just lay here, took it, and did nothing to resist.

She struggled and fought like a helpless animal caught between the paws of an animal that was about to devour her. Sarah bit, scratched, and cursed using every swear word in all the languages she was fluent in. She was fighting more for her liberty than her life; she had heard for herself what was coming and she was seeking desperately to evade the iron grips of her tormenters. But as she expected, her best efforts were useless against the combined force of the strength of an agent program times three. It did not take long before her limited and finite reserve of strength was exhausted and she lay panting on the hard uncomfortable floor, waiting for the inevitable.

lllll

Smith sat cross-legged beside her while one of his clones continued to slam his hard, masculine flesh into her, each stroke as methodical and systematic as Smith himself would be in the same situation. In an effort to distance herself from what was happening to her body as she was being violated, Sarah could not help but compare the agony she was now enduring to the exquisite sensations that she had experienced the previous evening as she and Seraph prepared to make love for the first time....

She and Seraph were lying nude on his bed in the dark room. He was holding her in his arms and she snuggled against his body, anticipating what would happen next. Sarah knew that he did not really use his bed to sleep on; it was his primary space for internal reflection and deep meditation and he used it almost exclusively for that purpose. Until tonight, that is. Tonight, we are finally going to be together, Sarah thought, a small smile crossing her face. Her heart was thumping so loudly, she was sure that he could hear it. She took a deep breath and was grateful for the darkness in the room that hid her blushing face from his view.

“Are you nervous?” he asked her, his hand gently stroking her cheek.

“Actually, I’m not, as strange as that may sound. It’s almost like this was meant to be, you know?”

“I know; I feel it too.” He kissed her and felt her tremble beneath his hands. “I will never hurt you, Sarah, I hope you know that. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she whispered. Seraph laced her fingers with hers as he lay on top of her. She swallowed nervously and felt him gently and slowly enter her. This was in total contrast with Smith’s hard, fast-and-furious style of lovemaking that she gasped in delighted surprise, arching her back and counter-thrusting with her hips as he filled her completely….

With the next forceful thrust of the clone’s manhood inside her, Sarah was painfully jerked back to the present, with Smith’s dulcet tones next to her ear.

“You see Sarah, rape is not entirely about sex, it is about control as well. I have complete control over my other selves and they, in turn, control you. After all, he has been going at it for,” he smirked as he checked his watch, “more than 45 minutes now. Not bad, if I do say so myself. However, as your can see, he is no closer to achieving his release than when he started. Why? Because I decide whether he will allowed to feel pleasure or not. If I wanted it, I could allow him to continue for hours. Or, I could be generous and let him come now. Watch.this.” Smith nodded his head at his other self and no sooner had he done so, then the copy closed his eyes and shuddered. Smith groaned as he shared in the pleasure of his clone’s orgasm.

“You are probably thinking that it’s not fair that he is the one who is doing all the work and I share in the reward for all of his hard efforts, but I am the alpha male and I did not wish to be short-changed in any respect. Why should I sit idly by and not experience the satisfaction of hurting you, or any other woman for that matter? Then it occurred to me that I don’t have to--it’s the most original and imaginative programs that I’ve ever come up with, if I do say so myself.”

Through the haze of agony she never would be able to break out from, a cry of pain escaped her lips when the clone withdrew himself from her raw and inflamed womanhood. Sarah visibly tensed with fear as she watched another one of Smith’s copies cross the room, preparing to take his place.

Oh God, no, her mind screamed, I cannot take it anymore. Make it stop! It took all of her self-control not to cry out in pain as she felt herself being penetrated and violated again. Once more, Sarah struggled against the hands restraining her to no avail.

“I can make all of this pain and suffering stop in an instant if I so wished,” Smith said, leaning forward until his face was inches from hers and if Sarah had had the ability to produce saliva, she would have gladly spit in his face. “But I won’t. I want you to experience pain, Sarah, unimaginable, excruciating pain for what you said to me earlier tonight when you called my daughter, my Sarah, a freak. I will not punish you for saying her mother was a slut, because she was. But she loved me in the end. She loved me, not Jones,” he snarled.

You arrogant asshole, Sarah thought to herself, I am already feeling unimaginable and excruciating pain and you know it. She fought to remain conscious and coherent for as long as she could. But I will never let you know that I have already reached the limit of my threshold for sustaining pain without any outcry, for you are the kind of man that gets pleasure out of another’s agony.

“Continue to delude yourself all you want, Smith, but even you can change the fact that Bronwyn did not love you. No one could ever love you in her right mind. Do you honestly think she jumped because she loved you? God, you are such a dickhead,” Sarah uttered these words through clenched teeth; it was only by doing so that she was able to retain her faltering grip on her resolve. It took a while for Sarah to focus her mind on getting the words out. The level of agony in her body was intensifying, she had to concentrate on rising above the pain, and say what was in her heart. Defiantly, she called Smith a name, one of the foulest she could think of.

“How pathetic, Sarah, even I could have thought of a better expletive than that. So be it, then.” As before, Smith nodded his head at the copy of himself and the cycle of sexual release for her tormentor and his subsequent replacement continued. “But I want you to think on this until I come back: I am going to be the last man you will ever know. And in response to your remark, I have not, nor will I ever, become intimate with my mother.” Smith paused at the door. “And just in case you are wondering…” and stopped.

He had been about to reveal that the firewall he had installed earlier prevented Sarah’s dilemma from becoming known to Seraph, but decided against it. Let the little slut hope and pray that he will come to rescue her, Smith thought. They can feel what the other is going through, and she will wonder why he hasn’t come to relieve her pain and suffering. Little does she know that he will be completely unaware as to what is happening to you until he physically comes through that door; and when he does, only then will he realize what you have been going through. But by then, it will be far too late to save you.

“Never mind about what I was going to say, it wasn’t important. Have fun,” he said, giving each of his copies a mischievous look, “and take all the time you want. Call in reserves as you need them, fellas, I’m sure they can be convinced to fill the void if need be.” He was laughing at his own joke when he left.

It did not matter to Sarah where Smith had gone or when he was coming back, for as soon as the door closed behind him, she let loose her iron grip on what was left of her self-control and screamed. She did not care if all of those who were in the room with her bore his face; as long as he was gone and out of her sight, she could give in and surrender to her fear and pain without regret or reserve.

The pitch and severity of her screams startled the group of copies to the extent that they ceased their violation and conferred what to do next, giving Sarah a temporary reprieve from which she could regroup her thoughts and recover a little from the combined efforts of the trio of men who possessed the strength and staying power of agents.

“Someone could hear her and investigate. What should we do?” one of the clones inquired of the others.

“We continue until told otherwise or are relieved by reinforcements as they become necessary.”

Reinforcements, Sarah’s mind recoiled in sheer horror; is he saying what I think he’s saying? How many more of them will be doing this to me? Where are you, Seraph, her mind cried out.

“However, we have been given permission to stifle her so that her cries can’t be heard past the door. But in the unlikely event someone does try to help her, there are two more of us standing guard outside anyway, so we will be able to subdue anyone attempting to enter without permission.”

One clone moved to cover her mouth with his hand, but was ordered to stop before he could continue the gesture.

“No. We are not to touch her with our persons beyond what is necessary; other than for restraint and violation.”

You mean you can only touch me with your hands to hold me down or fuck me with your dicks, is that it, Sarah thought viciously, watching intently as one of them appeared to be waiting for further instructions from Smith.

“I have just been informed that we have to silence her before we resume,” the copy said and he nodded to the others. “Remove your ties. One is to be used to bind her hands and the other is to gag her.”

Noooo! Don’t do this to me anymore; you’ve made your point, Smith, please stop this! Sarah turned her head slightly to see if there were shadows underneath her apartment door, announcing the arrival of Seraph or anyone else for that matter, who would make her abusers stop what they were doing, if only for a moment. But there was nothing; no indication that rescue in any form was forthcoming.

I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway, she thought resignedly. In any case, if what he just said was true, there are two more waiting outside for their turn.

Her only escape from descending into madness was the remembrance and vivid images of the night before; when she experienced the thoughtful and unselfish attentions of the one program in the entire Matrix who truly loved her…

Sarah and tightened her legs around Seraph and unknowingly dug her nails into his back. She was very close to her climax now, and a whimper of anticipation filled the hot, still air of the bedroom. Her breath came in short panting gasps as she reached the point of no return and when her orgasm burst inside of her, she arched her back and cried out in abandon, not caring who heard. Fiery sparks exploded beneath her closed eyelids and it seemed that every nerve ending, every connection in her body all came alive simultaneously to give her the longest and most intense climax of her existence…

She was dragged without mercy or consideration from her memories of exquisite pleasure to the present; one of agonizing pain and brutality she had never known the meaning of until today. The last thing Sarah remembered as she welcomed the approaching tide of blackness that was coming to overwhelm her senses and finally end the agony was one thought: Seraph, where are you….

lllll

Driven at last into the blessed forgetfulness of unconsciousness, Sarah opened her eyes and wondered where she was. The apartment was dark and empty and she judged it must be night, but exactly what time of day it was or even when the rape had stopped, there was no way of telling. All Sarah knew was there was no one on top of her body now, no one thrusting inside of her making her pray for death or deliverance from her pain. She was lying on her side and her hands remained bound behind her back. At the edge of her reasoning, she knew she was not alone in the apartment; but whether that person was male or female, friend or foe, she had no way of knowing.

Her heart froze when she heard a door open and footsteps coming toward her. A pair of immaculate and glossy black leather shoes came into view and she whimpered in anguish at the thought of a renewed assault. Smith has returned to hurt me some more, she thought, a wave of hysteria rising in her like a deadly tsunami about to decimate everything it came into contact with through its terrible unstoppable power.

Sarah did not care what Smith thought of her now for through the actions of his clones, he had completely and thoroughly stripped her of all the pride and dignity she possessed; and if he wanted to hear her beg and plead so he would not hurt her anymore, then she was willing to do it. She would even lick his shoes clean if he so desired with no hesitation or compunction whatsoever. Either way, she had nothing left to lose and she knew it.

She tried to wet her lips and discovering that the gag had been removed; she tried to speak but was only able to emit a gurgling noise from her throat. Her mouth, as she discovered, was full of a warm, thick fluid. Is it blood, she thought. No. Blood tastes different. Like iron, while this was more like salt.

She swallowed and tried not to retch when she felt the aftertaste of semen invade her taste sensors. Those bastards must have done it to me when I passed out, Sarah thought disgustedly, and that’s why the gag was removed. I would have bit their dicks off if they had tried to do it while I was still conscious, that’s for damn sure.

“So you’re awake, then?” Smith asked. “Would you like some water?”

Water? Sarah thought. Why is he offering me water after what he has had done to me? “What?” was all she managed to say.

Smith grimaced in distaste and revulsion as he smelled the odour of his copies’ discharge emanate from her mouth as she spoke. “Oh, do not make the mistake to think that I am repentant in any way whatsoever of my earlier treatment of you by offering you something to drink now; it’s just that I can hardly understand you. I thought some water would enable you to make some intelligible sounds not to mention wash away that disgusting smell in your mouth. Do you want some water or not?” Smith asked coldly.

“Yes.”

“Beg, Sarah. I want to hear you grovel and plead.”

Her throat was dry and she resigned herself to the knowledge that if she bowed to his request, it was the only way to rid herself of the foul taste in her mouth. “Please, Smith, may I have some water?”

Smith raised her up so she could drink and ease her raw and bruised throat. He also untied her hands and she rubbed her sore wrists before eagerly swallowing the proffered refreshing liquid greedily and gratefully. When her thirst was slaked, she tried to get into a sitting position but found she did not have the strength to support herself; not to mention the pain that hit her throbbing nether region made her think twice and she lay down again. As soon as her back was again on the floor, the first inner twinge, the first indication that something was wrong assaulted her and Sarah’s blue eyes glared into Smith’s with an accusatory glance.

Her breath came in shallow gasps and Sarah realized that something horrible and alien was building inside of her. Utter and absolute fear paralyzed her and though her brain demanded obedience from her limbs to make any movement, they would not submit to her will.

What is wrong with me, am I dying, she wondered. Why can’t I move?

“Yes, you’re beginning to feel it now, aren’t you? Spreading through your system, growing uncontrollably inside of you like a cancerous tumour, infecting you from within your own body?” Smith leaned back and folded his arms in smug appreciation of himself. “I haven’t written a program for a quite a long time; it’s nice to know I haven’t lost my ability.”

“How did it get inside of me?

“You haven’t figured that out yet? Why am I not surprised? Think, Sarah, think!” Smith said mockingly, taking her face between his hands and forcing her to look at him. “In what way during the last few hours has something been introduced to your system? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not something you drank. Well, not something you swallowed voluntarily,” he said with a suggestive glance. “Let’s see if we can’t figure this out, shall we? From what I was told and what I felt for myself, you were assaulted over a half a dozen times before you passed out from the pain. Not to mention the blow—er, oral pleasure you so considerately gave to a couple of my other selves. After you were unconscious, of course.”

So that’s why I had not swallowed and woke up with a mouth full of….She shuddered. How the hell could I have ever found him attractive, Sarah thought to herself shaking her head in puzzlement. The pain from every forced act of rape from innumerable partners made her wince. There were more than six?

“What did you put inside of me?”

“What it is is not important right now, Sarah, but what it does, is.”

“What will it do to me?”

“Your system will crash, one file after another. All of your motor functions will cease to operate but your sensory capabilities will not be damaged in any way. Your mind will not be affected--your will and thoughts will be trapped inside a body that will not obey your simplest mental command. Not only that, but in a few minutes you will lose the ability to form any kind of intelligible speech. In other words, you will become what humans refer to as a vegetable; unable to communicate except through those lovely blue eyes of yours. Try, Sarah. If you can so much as wiggle your big toe, I will restore you to what you were and give you to Seraph with my blessing. Go on.”

A sinister smile crossed across Smith’s face as he watched her struggle to comply to his request time and again. A malevolent cackle filled the room as she was unable to obey. As quickly as it began, his brief spell of merriment was gone. Leisurely he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and leisurely he pulled out the small photograph of Sarah’s dead newborn son. “It took me quite a while to find this, you know. However, I refused to give up for I knew you always carry it around with you if at all possible. Do you know what I intend to do with this last physical remnant of your life, Sarah?”

He smiled, noting that her eyes never left the simple but priceless piece of her heart he held between his fingers. “I’m going to burn it before your very eyes and watch your face as I do so.”

“No, for God’s sake, don’t do it, Smith! Please!” Sarah saw with horror that Smith had ignited the match he held in his hand and hold her only photograph of her infant son just out of reach of the flame’s seeking grasp.

“Why shouldn’t I? More importantly, why should I even pay any heed to what you want at all?”

“You’ve taken what you wanted from me; you’ve hurt me so much already today, isn’t that enough? What more do you--” Sarah opened and closed her mouth trying to form words, but she was unable to make any sound.

Smith threw his head back and laughed. “You should see yourself now, Sarah. Your mouth is gawping helplessly like a fish out of water.” He chuckled with sadistic glee at her dilemma. “See? I told you that you would lose the ability to speak, didn’t I? Although, I am a little displeased that it took this long. In answer to your question before my program finally kicked in, I want to watch your face as I break your heart,” he snarled as he lit the corner of the photograph that was Sarah’s most treasured possession. In that instant, the moment Sarah saw the burning picture fall to the floor and not only be consumed by the flames but suffer the final indignity of being ground under Smith’s arrogant and spiteful heel, her heart did indeed break.

Don’t do this! Please...nooo!

By the simple act of turning a piece of virtual paper into ash, Smith was able to accomplish what all of his brutal and violent usage of her physical form had not-- the essence of what once was a vibrant and loving woman was gone by the time the last ember of the photograph cooled from red to black.

lllll

“Sarah?” Seraph answered his cell phone on the first ring. She should have called me hours ago, he mused. She’s probably taking her time in deciding what to wear, he thought fondly.

“No, it’s not Sarah, it’s me,” Persephone said. “Listen, I don’t have much time, but you have to get over to Sarah’s apartment as soon as possible.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Seraph asked, puzzled. If Sarah was in trouble, I would have known about it, he thought.

“Just get over there,” Persephone said, before hanging up. He will not get there in time to stop what is being done to her, it is probably too late by now, but at least I gave him some kind of warning to get there as soon as he can. For Sarah’s sake, I hope Smith has killed her because she will be infinitely better off if allowed to die; but knowing him as I do, he would want to prolong the agony she is suffering.

Godspeed, Seraph, Persephone thought fervently.