Suzi fought to keep her mind from drifting under the drug’s pull, but every drop felt like a weighted chain tugging her into a dim haze. She battled on anyway, yanking at the restraints, though she was blindfolded and had no idea if she was making progress. Her heart thudded against her ribs, and sweat trickled down her temples. She could feel her own adrenaline tangling with the remnants of the tranquilizer, locked in a tug-of-war inside her veins.

Time blurred. The masked man had been gone a while—minutes, an hour, or more? She couldn’t tell. Waves of sedation came and went, each wave sapping her to nothing. Between those waves, she gathered what little strength she could to thrash against the Velcro straps, only to collapse in exhaustion when the next trickle of drugs seeped through her IV.

Then, an unexpected beep broke the monotony, a low, persistent alarm that cut through her groggy focus. Startled, she momentarily forgot to seize her brief moment of strength. Fury churned in her gut. She screamed, her voice raw, and threw her weight against the straps in a final burst of energy. The cuffs dug into her wrists, biting her skin, but she kept yanking and cursing until her muscles burned.

This time felt different—longer, fiercer. No fresh flood of sedation followed. Instead, only that irritating beep and the rush of adrenaline that came from realizing the IV must’ve stopped pumping the tranquilizer. Each passing second sharpened her thoughts. She could feel her personas in Guillermo starting to stir, waking from a forced hibernation.

“Ugh, my head,” James groaned.

“Our head,” Judith snapped. “What the hell happened?”

Suzi cut them off. “Judas—can you get us free?” She spoke silently in her mind, each word brimming with desperation.

“I shall attempt it,” Judas answered, a fierce undertone in her voice. She took control of their shared body.

Suzi felt the familiar surge of resolve: the warrior persona’s relentless strength, the same that once let her fight a cop in handcuffs. If anyone could rip them loose, it was Judas.

They all went quiet, letting Judas concentrate. They sensed the coiled tension in her biceps, the ligaments in their forearms straining to the brink. Darkness cloaked Suzi’s eyes from the blindfold, but she could practically see the veins standing out along her arms as Judas pulled.

Snap.

Relief washed through them—until the pain hit. A searing bolt shot from the left wrist to the elbow. Judas kept yanking, even as her bones and tendons screamed. The others in Guillermo panicked.

“What was that?” Suzanne asked. “Are you ripping our damn arm off?”

Between ragged breaths, Judas hissed, “Elbow. Dislocated. Wrist. Lacerated.” But she didn’t stop.

Suzi’s mind spun as the knowledge slammed home: Like a trapped animal would rather chew off its own leg, Judas knew whatever sacrifice they needed to make, they would heal, but other problems would not be cured so easily.

As the others accessed Suzi’s memories of the recent events, a somber uneasiness took over. Annie and Jo cradled each other. Both left feeling violated and vulnerable.

For Annie, Sex on her conditions is acceptable—forced is not.

For Jo, the shock was more profound. “Suzi? Why do you have…so many of you? You’re all in one body? I don’t—what’s—oh, God!” Horror shadowed her face as she absorbed the memories of Suzi’s recent assault.

Suzi joined Annie and Jo on Annie’s bed. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said gently. “But right now, we have to focus on escaping so we can get you back in your own body.”

“I’m in yours?” Jo asked in a small voice, trembling. “That’s why everything feels…weird? I remember that thing fighting you, and I was here, but I was still me—”

Suzi just nodded. “It’s complicated.”

A scalding jolt of agony ripped their collective attention back to the physical world as Judas’s attempt to pull free hit another wall of pain. She gasped, “Snapped tendon.”

“Judas, if you tear off our arm,” Judith demanded, “how do we free our legs?”

Judas halted. The Dagger of Roanove flickered into their right hand—only to prove basically worthless. Its edges weren’t sharp enough to cut more than soft skin, let alone the straps. With a silent grimace, Judas handed control back to Suzi.

The pain Suzi felt was immediate and crushing. Tears welled as she held her left arm as still as possible. “Fuck!” she screamed aloud. There was nothing to do but sob through the agony.

Meanwhile, inside Guillermo, each persona tried to explain the situation to Jo. The girl, naive and bewildered, pieced together that a demon had taken her body and that time was running out for them both. Her eyes flicked toward Judas. “If my body dies while a piece of Suzi is in there, what happens to…that piece?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Judas looked away, shoulders stiff. “I don’t know. She could be lost.”

A metallic squeak ripped through the stale air—someone was opening the gate again. The hour must’ve passed. Heavy footsteps clomped closer, followed by the distorted voice. “This is fucking creepy as—what happened?”

Suzi felt something land near her leg, the pungent odor of thick leather filling her nostrils. The demon-bound bondage hood, she realized, reeking with uncomfortable tension as it lay on holy ground.

She tensed at a brush against her IV. He was checking the line. “You dislocated your arm?” he asked, sounding appalled.

She swallowed, biting down a curse. “I…I think so. And…my wrist is bleeding.” Her voice shuddered.

He fiddled with the drip, suspicious now. “The IV line is kinked. You tried to escape.”

She blurted out the first lie she could manage. “No! Some rodent or…something was crawling on me. I freaked out. Scared the shit out of me.” Her mind reeled. She had to get him to believe it.

He prowled around, presumably scanning the floor for evidence. “No sign of any critter,” he said, biting off each word in mistrust.

She tried to steady her voice. “Why would I risk it when I knew you’d be back soon? I was practically out cold until…that thing spooked me. Turn off that fucking alarm, get this blindfold off, and let’s get to business.”

He didn’t answer. She felt the stab of a needle, more sedation surging into her bloodstream. That heavy wave of numbness dragged at her, pulling her quickly into darkness.

“That’s a half dose,” he muttered. “No wonder you woke up—the IV drip stopped. I’ve got to keep you under.”

A thick groan rippled from Suzi’s throat, words slurring. “Why?” she managed to ask, the single syllable stretching out uselessly.

She felt him remove the line, then unstrap her arm and legs. Knives of pain tore through her dislocated elbow, but the drug muffled it somewhat.

The final strap on her right arm came off, leaving her naked and completely unrestrained on the mattress, but so high on sedatives she could hardly hold her eyelids open. Her entire world blurred as she slid toward unconsciousness, unsure whether this new freedom was a chance…or just another cruel twist.

He soon removed the blindfold. She could not move and could barely adjust her eyes to the light, but what she saw horrified her—the man, naked from the neck down, lashing a strap-on around his waist. His nudity was not revolting, but knowing the man in the mask was.

“What are you doing?” Suzi asked drunkenly.

“I know I have a problem, but I figured this way, you would still get some pleasure.”

She tried to throw her right arm in protest, but her muscles were drained of coordination. He tossed the leather mask into the floor and used her arm to turn her over and position her ass up and slightly spread her legs.

She sobbed into the mattress, unable to protest as she felt a cold, gel-like substance applied to her labia, perineum, and anus.

She screamed as she was penetrated.

Powerless.

Violated.

This is what Hell must be, she thought.

The minute that it lasted felt like an eternity—an eternity Suzi knew she would endure since she was cursed with quasi-immortality.

The man collapsed on the bed, and she continued to sob.

He rolled her to her side, now facing each other.

“Was it good for you?” the man asked like a teenager who just lost his virginity.

Suzi tried to stab him with daggers from her eyes. She wanted to stab him for real but knew while sedated, she could not summon anything. The only thing she managed to summon from her body was the word, “Mask.”

“You still want me to put that creepy mask on?”

Suzi blinked drunkenly and nodded her head the best she could.

“I’m tired. Can we take a nap first?” he caressed her arm with his hand and rubbed her nipple.

Suzi bit down on her anger so hard it felt like she might shatter her own teeth. When his hand skimmed over her leg, she mustered a brittle smile, nodding drowsily, then shut her eyes as if drifting off. Fury and terror knotted in her gut. She could feel the drugs warping her mind, fogging the edges of her vision, but she refused to let them drag her under. Not yet.

Any hope that he’d pass out first vanished when she felt him stand. She forced herself to stay limp, keep up the illusion of sleep, until she felt the dreaded tug on her ankle.

“No no no…” she groaned in soft protest as he wrapped the Velcro around her leg.

He pulled it tight. “I’m sorry, love. Can’t take the chance.”

“Love?” That single word wound her fury tighter. Now or never. Time to burn the last card in her hand.

She raised her head, snapping her eyes open. With everything she had left, she rasped, “Doyle Collins. We are not now, and never will be, in a relationship.”

He froze, mid-movement, circling the foot of the bed. Slowly, he straightened and peeled the mask off. His expression darkened as he realized there was no more pretending.

“How the fuck did you know it was me?”

Suzi clung to consciousness by sheer rage. “Jo told me about your night at the hotel. After earlier, I knew.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek, hurt swimming in his gaze. “Why the hell would she tell you that? She loves me—she wants to be with me.”

Suzi almost pitied how clueless he was. Almost. But the sedative still tugged at her, and time was running out. “Trade masks,” she spat, feeling her strength fade. “You’re a month late, and we’re in the wrong country for that one anyway.”

He blinked, confusion flickering in his face—then a hint of eagerness. “Wait, so you still want to…? Even though you know who I am?”

She rolled her eyes. “I knew before I told you to fetch that stupid mask, dipshit.”

A salesman’s grin spread across his lips. He picked up the black hood from the floor, the same one that reeked with demonic energy. “This thing does it for you, huh?” he teased, running his hand over the leather.

“Untie me first,” she said, lips curling in a mocking little smile.

But he ignored her, slipping the hood over his head, adjusting it for the eyeholes. A zipper along the back, a buckle at the collar, and he stood like a cheesy pinup for ‘Bondage Weekly.’

“How do I look?” he asked, mouthpiece half unzipped so he could speak.

“Untie me,” she repeated, sharper this time.

Before he could respond, his head whipped to the left. “What was that? Did you hear something?”

He spun to the right, then froze. A second passed, and he tore at the collar, screaming bloody murder, twisting in a panicked dance around the room. “Get it off me! Get it off me!” he howled, crashing to the ground and rolling, desperate to remove the hood.

Suzi watched, braced by equal measures of revulsion and relief. He was shrieking with terrified abandon, the demon inside that hood forcing nightmares into his mind. Scrabbling upright, he tripped on the chair’s leg—Suzi heard bones crack in his foot—then lurched forward, face colliding with a corner of marble.

The impact was brutal. His body jerked in a few final spasms, then went still, a hollow gasp from the hood echoing off the walls.

Suzi’s mouth went dry. “God damn it!” she hissed, not sure if she was cursing him or cursing her own situation—or both.