Bloodletting is Coming Back

[Lira Dajenn]

“There there, All better now little mouse.” Her voice was icy pleasure, like cold water dripping on an overheated body.

Nemene seemed amused above all else, her voice was filled with dashes of pleasure and smugness, her eyes seemed to shine with glee, and goosebumps made their way down her entire body as Steph began to plead for her life...or rather the end of it. She chuckled mirthfully at that thought, knowing what pain she had brought to this woman.

She allowed Steph to vomit for a time, she allowed the girl to empty her stomach and her lungs into the drain.

Then she finally let go of the girls hair. She remained in the same position of course, unable to raise herself, her spine still exposed to the sterile air of the white room. Slowly Nemene wandered over to the girls back once again, disappearing behind her. There was almost a spring to her step as she moved back around, her eyes flickering to the exposed white bone.

From the table to her left Nemene picked something up, a small vial filled with dozens of tiny moving worms. She brought it up to her eye for a moment. They were Verneilan parasites, tiny worms that burrowed into flesh and released painful toxins. Evelynn had procured them for use on Jedi, but Nemen had taken them here for this little treat.

She smiled and uncapped the vial, taking a pair of tweezers and picking up one of the tiny worms. She placed it ever so gently on the girls spine, letting it nestle into place before she placed another, and then another. The worms dug into Steph's vertebrae, biting and chewing through muscle. There they would grow and expand in a matter of minutes, pushing apart Steph's spine and malforming nerve clusters and muscle mass alike.

As soon as she had placed all the worms Nemene grabbed the edges of folded skin, pulling it back together and running her finger over the two closed edges. This time she did not destroy, but instead healed, burning the folds of skin back into one piece over the white bone.

She smirked again as she saw the worms wiggle beneath the newly healed skin, already growing and expanding.

With another chuckle of mirth Nemene walked back to the front of Steph, squatting down beside her ear and whispering.

“Poor little creature. Can not think. Can not learn. Can hardly feel.” She ran a cold set of nails over Steph's cheek “Do you know why i'm doing this to you?”

 

[Steph Zenima]

At this point, managing to keep a degree of lucidity was becoming increasingly difficult.

Between blood that she had lost so far and the absolutely agony that was occupying her brain her grasp upon the situation was slippy at best. However that was not to say that pain being inflicted was dulled, far from it, it seemed to be the only note of her existence now. Steph had become torment.

The addict tried to remain as still as possible, the very act of movement causing the nerves in her back to object with great enthusiasm.

This respite was brief, and well, not at all a respite. The worms began to go to work and a new style of pain reigned supreme. This was a much less vague sensation. She could feel them. Her screams were becoming hoarse and grated now. Weak in nature but still speaking volumes of the monstrous treatment she was receiving.

They were sealed in.

She twitched and trembled as the disgusting creatures squirmed and expanded within her. Blood still dripped from her mouth as she hung there, mostly limp asides from the odd involuntary spasm of agony. The woman spoke, her words cruel, mocking and surprisingly truthful. In response to the question Zenima tried to shake her head, but to no avail, it was too heavy to make such coherent movements.

“...o...o...”

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene did not continue her torture, instead she allowed the parasites to do their work. She had no need to do anything else. Instead she gently stroked Steph's cheek with the back of her nails, running them against the side of her face and down her neck in an oddly comforting motion that a lover might have taken with their significant other. It was a chilling taunt to how Nemene took this situation.

Every time the other woman let out a scream she shook slightly, mirth filling her.

“I'm doing this to teach you. To show you that you are nothing. That you can be nothing. That you are less than dirt and it is a fact that will never change.” Her words were not spoken with hatred, but with simple truth instead. “There are two types of people in this galaxy. The strong...”

She trailed off for a second as Steph spasmed beneath her nails, a slight tremble of a different sort shaking her as she realized what was going on.

“...and the weak.” She continued. “You my little mouse, I'm afraid are weak. You're a pest, a plague...a parasite.”

The Last word seemed to cause Nemene a great amount of amusement and she purred slightly. “Your kind needs to be taught their place, you need to learn that you are less, that you are nothing.”

She ran her nails over Steph's face one more time and then raised herself up above the woman again, she stared down with disapproving eyes, a smile on her face.

 

[Steph Zenima]

It was funny.

Usually in these scenes there included a breaking point, the point of no return where a psyche is shattered beyond repair. The subject was well and truly broken and that often meant that death was looming in the distance. However one Stephanie Zenima was born broken, this box already came rattling. There was nothing left to break, it was all just a matter of making her realise this fact.

The woman twisted in her bonds as the parasites grew at an alarming rate becoming very easily visible through her sickly flesh like living tumours. They were not only causing immense pain, but pressure as her anatomy became twisted and displaced. Causing the occasional howl and spasm.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Her breathing was ragged now, as the woman's words had a degree of impact. Under normal circumstances it would have flown miles above her head, but the drug-induced lucidity brought a terrible awareness and an understanding.

She was nothing.

Her head shuddered, tears flowing down the woman's scab-encrusted features. It wasn't often that one got to witness the snivelling of Zenima, this day is truly a Kodak moment to be treasured forever.

“...iii....a....”

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene's lips curled into a smile as she felt the woman accept her fate, she felt Steph realize what she was, she felt the woman absolutely break. Oh she had been broken before, but she had held together until now. Whether it had been why willpower, drugs, or sheer stupidity until a moment ago Steph Zenima had continued to hold on. Now it was gone, that feeling of life, that feeling of being something had been eradicated by Nemene's hands.

Pure unbridled joy ran through the Queen of Rattatak, twinges of divine ecstasy rolling through her.

“You understand now don't you? You've accepted what you are, where you belong in this galaxy.” She ran soft fingers through Steph's hair, twirling sickened black locks between her fingers and slightly petting the woman as though she were a dog. Steph Zenima had finally found her place in the galaxy, and it was beneath Nemene's heel.

The Queen let out a mirthful chuckle at the thought, her laugh would have been fitting for a grand joke told at a cocktail party, it was filled with such joy.

Slowly she lifted up Steph's head again, pulling her up by the hair and looking the creature in the eye. “If only you could beg, then perhaps I would show you an end.”

Mischief flowed across her eyes, and the smile on her face broadened as Steph released another sob.

 

[Steph Zenima]

What else could she do?

She had been helpless from the beginning, but at least she had some of her strength. She could struggle, fight against her bonds as if there was a chance to escape but now, now there was nothing. No strength. No fight, and what was Steph Zenima without fight?

Well, it's been said before, but in case you missed it the answer you're looking for is nothing.

A slow wail was drawn from Zenima's lips as the swollen parasites in her body threatened to burst. If her hands were free Steph would have been likely to tear her flesh open to remove the creatures and relieve the torment. My, wouldn't that have been a sight. Probably a sight for an extremely graphic B-movie. Definitely enough to churn a stomach or two.

An end.

Her eyes, filled to the brim with both desperation and despair tried to plead as much as eyes could. She opened her mouth, more bloody and saliva dribbling out. “...eeaa....ii....ee...” Unfortunately without a tongue she could no longer graduate past basic vowel sounds. No. Please. She wanted to beg, craved it more than any drug, more than any violent release. Her face twisted.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene's entire body shook as Steph cried out in pain. She smiled at purred and seemed to radiate with pure joy as the girl completely and utterly gave up. She relished in her sadism, loving every moment of it until Steph returned to quiet whimpering sobs for a moment. She smiled, petting the girls cheek for a moment, her eyes alight with cruelty. She had succeeded here, she had taught this woman a lesson, though it wasn't over yet.

“No...No I don't think you will be allowed to die just yet.” Her voice was placid and smooth, like a mother dangling candy in front of her child, she whispered into Steph's ears. “Look into the face of the abyss, let it torment you, ravage you, take you completely. Then and only then will you die.”

Briefly the Sith Queen glanced at the camera in the corner of the room, she gave it only the briefest smile and then began to turn around, simply walking away from Steph. The parasites in her back would eventually grow to such size that they would spread through her entire body. They would stretch and consume, eventually reaching the brain and ending Steph's life in the most horrid of ways.

Nemene shuddered at the thought of that, a shudder of pleasure, not pain. The last waking moments Steph would have would be filled with screams of torment.

Slowly before leaving the room Nemene turned to regard the woman, a Cheshire grin spreading across her face. “You do not touch a Queen.”

Then with another step she left the room, leaving Steph to die in agony.

 

[Steph Zenima]

After that last gasp animalistic scream Zenima's form as a whole drooped. No, no, she hadn't died prematurely, the game was merely over. She was done, as I often so eloquently put it, Steph Zenima is tatties, she is as good as brown bread and she knew that. Through the thick of it all, through the haze of torment the incredibly stupid woman knew that the game was over. Well, almost.

Now, now. Don't feel sad.

If anything dearest Stephanie deserved this. I know, I know, it's conflicting when bad guys hurt bad guys but at the end of the day, that little spice addicted terror was a mass murderer. Worse still, she was a murderer by hand and by hammer, looking each and every individual in the eyes before the kill and feeling absolutely nothing. Not an afterthought for a single kill. She was a psychopath at the very core and while she was too stupid to define the word it didn't change a thing.

This was justice. However one can take solace in that any pity felt towards the wretched creature spoke for human compassion.

She could no longer attempt to utter words, merely hanging there limply as Nemene's parting statement rang through her pain-addled mind. They didn't even know each other's names, how strange, how impersonal. Not that a name would have helped matters any, or held any relevance, they swam in circles so different that they may as well have been born in different galaxies.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Time became a complex construct as she hung there alone. Every so often the woman drew a wet gasping breath, convulsing before falling flaccid again as the parasites sent wave after wave of rolling pain throughout her body. As they travelled throughout her body expanding all the while the surges of agony became more frequent and almost impossibly, more painful.

She vomited again, but with no more stomach contents to reject all she released was blood and bile.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

She could feel one of the parasites behind her cheek as it writhed its way, feasting throughout her body. If one were to examine her face they would be able to quite visibly see the worm under her skin. Goodness knows how long it had been. Time was long lost by this stage, but she knew the end was drawing near. Tears fell alongside the blood from her mouth.

She was supposed to die in a fight, doing something stupid, pissing off somebody powerful. She was supposed to die a warrior's death. Too late to do something about it now.

Drip drip. Drip drip. Drip drip.

The moment her nose started to bleed was a sign that the end was near. They were close. Temperatures began to shift. Ranging between uncomfortable heats and biting colds, Steph's body was caught between shivers as her eyelids began to droop somewhat. Soon.

Somehow. Some way. The woman managed to find all of this funny. No, try hilarious. Her chest stirred as almost silent laughter erupted from the woman. The agony was unbearable, and what entertainment that brought forth. It might have been the most humorous joke on the planet...

...but it wasn't, this was a result of the parasites eating through her brain.

The emotions cycled through in a matter of minutes. Optimism. Arousal. Depression. Rage. Excitement. As Terror peaked, the pain began to ebb away, eyelids closing as Stephanie Zenima slipped into the briefest of comas before death finally came to take her.

An undignified end to an undignified woman. There was no great explosion to be had, no last hurrah. Just a little woman, on her own, worth nothing and already forgotten.