It was almost 6:00 pm before Mark was able to close up the shop for good and get back to the basement and Sophie.


    "Ugh, I''m so sorry that took so long. I really hate selling to other artists. I know we need to support each other, and a sell is a sell... but still. They always want to talk about art, and not just talk. They go on and on and on about this piece and that piece. They want to know what my inspiration was, what extra media did I use to get certain affects, and then they want to talk about their stuff."


    Mark looked at Sophie for the first time since reentering. She was looking rather ragged and tired.


    "Oh, you don''t look so good, and I''m tired too. It''s been a long day for both of us. I guess I''ll try and quicken these last four girls up for you. I''m sure by now you''re wanting to be finished."


    "Ok," Mark picked up his folder with the girls in it and took his seat on the stool. "We already discussed Marie and Candice. I mentioned, but didn''t finish, Olivia. Of all the girls he really fucked up Olivia the worst. By this time Devon was really getting full of himself, confident in his ability to control these girls. It was disgusting how much control he had on them. Olivia already had some issues before this began. She was mentally and emotionally very fragile. She wore nothing but black with thick dark make up, and her taste in music was horrid. I think she referred to herself as a goth. It''s not something I know much about. I think for most it''s probably just an expression a piece of who they are. Like my art, it''s not the only thing I am but a piece. However, for her it was everything she felt about herself. Don''t quote me on any of this. It''s just what I think."


    Mark dug though his folder and pulled out three different pictures.


    "This is her yearbook picture," Mark presented a simple head shot of a typical goth girl. "You really can''t ascertain much about a person by these pics. She didn''t smile which tells me that on this day she wasn''t happy, that''s about it." Mark took out another picture, then let out a heavy sigh. "This is a picture of her obituary, only three months later. How did we get from point A to point B. I''ll tell you, Devon. You see Devon had done some reading about the BDSM community, which I did too. He took this whole world and twisted it up and turned this young lady into a whore. At first it was all just fun and games with the two of them but then he started taking her to the bar, getting her high and drunk. She did not handle the cross fade very well. He even made this girl wear a vibrator in her pussy at school. All day long. She would go into his room each morning and then he would lock it into her with some belt contraption. Some days he even made spend her lunches locked in his classroom closet while he taught his class. To make a long story short he eventually got her into going to a BDSM club with him. After a few intro trips, Devon called them that, where they did some tame public play and then he dropped a big ball on her. He set her up for a train and told her if she dared to use her safe word or struggle against anything it would be the end of it all. Yes, they had a safe word, but she wasn''t allowed to use it, ever. Devon counted and that night thirty-nine men raped her, sixteen men came in her mouth, and fifteen men raped her in the ass. Afterwards he hosed her down in the courtyard like an animal and made her crawl out of there on a leash."


    Mark paused his stomach in knots just having to recall the look on Devon''s face when he retold the story to him. Mark had puked into the trash can that night. His best friend was a monster. From everything he had read this wasn''t what the BDSM community was about. There was no consent in this, and she was only seventeen years old.


    "I know this is difficult to hear but Olivia''s story is the most important of all of them. This was Devon at his most vile self, and I think it would have gotten worse if she hadn''t missed her period. Devon kept very close track of these girls'' periods; pregnancy scared him."


    Sophie kept shaking her head and pulling at the tape. Mark knew she was trying to deny what he was saying. He had hoped he wouldn''t have to show her the pictures, but it looked like he would have to.


    "I have a couple of pictures taken from a video he took that night. Which, by the way, is also against the dungeon rules. This one," Mark held up the first one for her to see. "This one is from the beginning of the night. It''s just Olivia secured with leather straps and chains to a spanking bench. As you can see all three areas were presented for access..." Mark paused, evaluating whether or not he had to continue. "This pic was taken about midway through the experience. Yes, she''s got some strangers cock in her mouth while being fucked from behind. But what I want you to focus on is her face. Her eyes red and swollen from crying. Her make up smeared down her face. This is not the face of someone enjoying themselves. This is the face of a rape victim. This is the face of a child who is experiencing betrayal of the highest form. This is the face of a completely broken young lady turned into a whore."


    Mark stopped to allow that to sink in and to get himself some water. He hadn''t planned for this part to be so difficult on him. He had sat with this information for several years now. His punishment for holding this in was soon coming, and he knew it.


    "A week later the girl got her period ending that scare for Devon. And the next week he got a vasectomy. Then three weeks later Olivia told her mother she was going to take a bath, an hour later her mother went to check on her and found her laying in a tub filled with red bloody water. She had slipped down into the water and completely emerged. Nothing they could do to revive her at that point. Dead at her own hands, suicide. Devon did that but no one knew."


    Anger boiled up from his soul and it took every ounce of his strength not to plunge that death shard directly into her soft abdomen and ending Sophies torture. With a deep controlled breath Mark picked up the death shard and slashed another line into Sophie. This one a little deeper than the rest producing so much more blood. Marks hands where shaking as he lifted the shard and looked at Alexander, he was reveling in the agonizing screams and sobs coming from Sophie. The sheer joy he took in the pain was obvious and comforting.


    "I''d really like to give you a rest after that one but there are two more girls to get through, and Carly but you already know about her." Mark stopped and thought for a minute. "Ok, I should eat something so I''m gonna give you a small break."


    Mark grabbed a frozen burrito and a soda and exited the basement.


    Thirty minutes later Mark bounced back down the stairs into the basement. A smile on his face and feeling much more relaxed.


    "I have decided that this is taking way to long and I''m pretty sure you''ve gotten the idea what your husband was like. It only took a blunt and a burrito to clarify it all."This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Mark smiled at Sophie, but she did not turn to look at him. Confusion set in; she couldn''t be dead because he hadn''t cut her that deep. or did he? He looked closer her breath was slow and shallow, but her heart was still beating.


    "Wake up!" Mark slightly slapped Sophie on the cheeks. "You''re not ready to die yet."


    Sophie''s eyes fluttered open but her vacant far away gaze told Mark she was mentally checked out. He had pushed her hard with the Olivia information. The rest of his girls were treated much more gently, but never with love or dignity.


    "Okay, I know you can hear me, and I know you''re trying to block it all out but I''ll try and make the last two girls short and sweet so we can put you out of this misery. After Olivia I really thought, Dan had decided to give up this crap with the girls, he even said so. That didn''t last long. By November the next school year along came Julia Myers. Julia was a very sweet smart girl, and Devon kept their relationship very vanilla. He didn''t even get her a fake ID. All of their little sex antics were kept at school after school hours. They did it in his classroom, in the teachers'' lounge, in the basement where they kept all the janitorial supplies, and they even snuck into the kitchen and fucked on the counters where they made all the lunches for the students. Comparing Julia and Oliva is... well he treated them in completely opposite manners. But remember she was still his student. She was still only seventeen years old. In the end she turned out ok. Currently she''s dating an assistant district attorney and is studying business at the university. She''s still a straight A student and appears to be mentally and emotionally stable. She is one of the lucky ones"


    Mark smiled, he done a check up on her and went to the university to see for himself. She was sitting under one of the big oak trees with a couple of other students quizzing each other. He didn''t get close enough to follow their conversation, he never did. But he saw enough to know she was happy, and he knew she was keeping her grades up. Her relationships with her mother and family were strong. She still went to Sunday night dinner most weeks.


    Another girl''s story told and another lash to Sophie''s belly, that was the plan. The symmetry of mental pain and physical pain was emotionally relieving for Mark. And Alexander rejoiced in the terror and fear released by Sophie. Mark picked up the death shard again, ripped the tape off Sophies mouth and without warning tore another bloody slash in the already bloody flesh crossing the other four bloody lines. Sophie let out a soft cry as the blood dripped steadily onto the table. She was still mentally blocking everything out. Mark wonder if telling the other girls'' stories was even necessary. He could just plunge the death shard deep into the belly and allow her to bleed out then be done.


    "Ok Sophie, I promised short and... well as easy as I can. The next year it was Jessica Myers. Yes, you guessed it. Jessica was Julia''s little sister. She too was highly intelligent, straight A''s, fast learner, and very active in the school politics. She was so smart that she skipped the seventh grade making her only sixteen when Deven started up with her. It only took about three weeks before he had her pursuing him. He did all of his girls like that. He made them want him, made them chase him, until they were swearing to keep them a secret if he would just let himself go."


    The picture of Jessica wasn''t so pinned up, but you could see the family resemblance. The girls had the same light brown hair and the same hazel green cat shaped eyes. The biggest difference between the two was the mischievous twinkle in Jessica''s eyes.


    "Devon really got off on them being sisters and neither of them ever told the other. I think it pushed him to push Jessica a little further than he pushed Julia. Devons favorite place to fuck this sixteen-year-old was right behind the shop. The dirty alley with the security camera recording it all." Mark tossed an even dozen SD cards on her bloody belly. "He didn''t even bother getting her an ID, she had too much of a baby face to be a believable twenty-one-year-old. Instead, they would just smoke pot and he introduced her to molly. She really loved trippin on molly. By the time she graduated high school, with a C average, she was an addict. Crystal meth, coke, molly, pot, she would do what was handed to her to chase that high. Her parent had to put her in a rehab hospital for almost six months. Currently she is struggling at the community college and has no clue what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She is clean but hanging on by a thread."


    Mark smiled; this was a different kind of death than he had experience. He was watching this womans will to live slowly drain from her. Sophie had given up the fight to live. Mark didn''t know if it was the physical pain of the slashes, the loss of blood affecting her mental status, or if it the realization of what her husband was.


    "This one is for Jessica, for the pain your ignorance of who your husband was caused her. The way I see it by year five you should have realized something was wrong. Hell, you should have known by year three. If you had been paying attention to your husband, you could have stopped him. Yes, I know I had the knowledge I could have stopped him too. My punishment is coming. It''s coming soon."


    Mark couldn''t contain the anger he was feeling, both towards her and towards himself. This slash, crossing the five others was too deep to contain the blood overflowing from her abdomen.


    "I must stop here and now. Jacob will be here to pick up his order. It must get packed up and to him before I can finish it."


    Mark retaped Sophies mouth, grabbed the mirror and ran up the stairs. He didn''t eve stop to clean the blood from his clothes. Upstairs he glanced at the clock. He had no more than twenty minutes before Jacob would be there. Carefully he methodically cleaned all five pieces, one large mirror, two smaller mirrors, and three large decorative broaches. He wrapped them up and placed each in their own box and brought them out to the shop.


    As he entered the shop, he saw Jacob step up to the locked door.


    "Hi," Mark plastered a smile on his face and waved his hand as he made his way to the door. "Come in, I just finished packing up your stuff. I really hope your happy with them."


    "Hi, I''m in a really big hurry. I''m sure they are beautiful, and I''ll give you a more detailed response later. But right now, I just want to get them and go." Jacob was tired and he really hadn''t wanted to come down here today, but Mark had insisted.


    "No problem. I''ve was able to create seven unique pieces. They are already boxed," Mark layered them into two large bags and placed them on the counter. "I hope they''re want you wanted."


    "I''m positive they are exquisite." Mark handed him a check and picked up the bags to leave.


    "Oh no this is twice what we agreed on. I can''t take this much."


    "I don''t have time to haggle," Jacob smiled. He knew that Mark was having money issues and decided just to give him a tip. The amount they had agreed on was barely enough to make his monthly rent on this prime retail space. "Have a good night."


    Mark placed the check on the counter, it wouldn''t matter anyways, locked the door behind Jacob, then went back to the counter. Next to Jacobs check Mark placed the SD cards from the raven-haired woman, Devon Hanson, and Sophie Hanson entering the shop. He also included all the printed pics of Devon and his girls as well as Devons phone. Afterwards he went back down into the basement to finish up his work.


    "Are you ready?" Mark asked. Of course he didn''t care for, nor want an answer, he pulled the tape off her mouth one last time. "You may want to wake up and make some noise. I''m getting ready to call 911 on your phone. Of course, by the time they ping the phone and get her you''ll be dead. But you can try, I suppose there is always that slight possibility. "


    Mark dialed 911 on Sophies phone then placed it next to her head. As Sophie started to scream for help Mark plunged the death shard deep into her belly and blood started to gush from the open wound.


    "So, you were listening to me!" Mark twisted the shard shearing the edges and macerating her inner organs. "This is your punishment for not stopping your husband!"


    Three more times he raised that death shard and stabbed her soft flesh before he heard the sirens outside his building.


    "Now comes my punishment." Mark removed the shard from the flesh and sliced open his carotid artery. Within seconds he lay lifeless in a pool of mixed blood.