# Chapter 27 - Katie’s Memory

“Wake up!” I felt myself being shaken. The floor was so cold and I longed to remain in this blissful sleep. In sleep…in my dreams…I could forget the hell I was in. The Indian moon stared down at me and the other sleeping concubines. I had been born into this life. From hatching to now, I had been raised to be a slave in the service of a rich governor. Once I reached the age of 13, I was mature enough physically to be one of the governors concubines. A sex slave. It was the fate of my mother before she’d died…and it was to be my fate for the rest of my life.
In that time I’d grown to hate the man I called master. Every piece of piece of my being loathed the men of the estate, as every one of them had touched me and done things to me that I would never be able to forget. Would I ever be able to love myself, knowing what had been done to my body by these monsters?! All of them were despicable, loathsome creatures. All except one…there was one young man who I’d grown fond of. He was different from the rest of them. His name was Daman. He too was a servant in the service of the governor. We could relate to each other…and never had he ever mistreated me or hurt me. He’d always been kind to me. And now, as I was shaken awake, I thought I felt his warm hand on my cold bare shoulder.

“Katie, you must wake up!” I finally looked up to see who was speaking, and sure enough, it was Daman, looking down at me with an anxious expression on his face. He was shirtless, and over his back was thrown a large bag.
“Daman? What is it? The sun is not up.”
“Yes, and when it does come up, we will be far away from here!” Daman cried. “We are running away!” I bolted upwards in shock.
“We’re escaping!? But the governor will hunt us down and-”
“I don’t care about that! I’m running, and I’m taking you with me, Katie. Let’s flee together!” A piece of me was afraid to flee with him. A small piece of me felt tied to this estate and to the governor…but then I looked into his eyes. This was the only man I trusted…the only man I could depend on. If he said we would escape and be happy together, then I believed him. I took his hand and he helped me onto my coils.
“Come, we must get to the gardens and out of this place!”
“I’ll follow you!” I laughed. I felt myself become uplifted with happiness as we both slithered away from the room and down the hallways. There were few guards wandering around at the time and we could easily get out of the building. The trick was now getting to the forest! We had to pass through the gardens and into the forest beyond where we’d be safe. The jungle would be our safe haven…we could live there for the rest of our days…or maybe go somewhere else! Daman had spoken of flying to America some day! Could we do that? How would we do it? It didn’t really matter…we were free! We would escape!
“It’s not much further.” Daman ran through the gardens and I slithered after him, being careful to stay off the wet ground where my body would leave marks for the guards to follow. I didn’t have any possessions to carry with me…I had nothing in this life worth holding onto! Soon we’d broken through the hedges and were near the fence. It was too tall for us to jump, but Daman didn’t let that stop us.
“I need you to give me a boost, then I’ll pull you over!” Daman cried. I nodded and I placed my hands under his foot and gave him a lift up to the top of the fence. He climbed to the top and turned to me. He held out his arms and I took them. With a mighty effort, he pulled me up over the edge and I could slither the rest of the way down! We were there! The jungle was only a few meters away from us! As we escaped into the forest, I let out a great laugh of joy and rolled down the great hill that led to the depths of the jungle. Daman was already down there, breathing heavily.
“Daman…Daman, we made it! We’re free!” I exclaimed! “Thank you, Daman! Thank…Daman, what’s wrong?” Daman was just staring at me. His eyes were a mixture of anger and…a very familiar glare that I knew all to well. It was the same look that the governor would give me when he brought me to his bed chambers.
“Yes…we made it. So now I can do what I never could when I was the servant of that bastard governor.” As he spoke, he began to remove his pants.
“D-Daman what’re you…”
“Just shut up.” He snapped. “I’ve waited long enough for this. Now be quiet and give me the same pleasure you give that fat governor.”

I felt hot tears build up in my eyes as I finally understood. As Daman exposed himself to me I cried bitterly at the sight of him. This was not the same Daman I’d known. This was a beast. He was a monster. This couldn’t be the man I trusted…the man I put all my faith in. He’d been so kind to me. However, the truth sank in slowly and with great agony. In the end…he’d used me. He was no different than the others. It was forbidden for servants to use the concubines, or else they would be killed…but now that we were free, he’d finally get what he really wanted from me. He didn’t care about me…he didn’t love me.
“Now hold still you beautiful freak!” He hissed, leaping on me like a wild animal. He ripped away the decorative bra I was forced to wear exposing my naked body to him. I screamed and struggled to break free from his grip.
“YOU LIED TO ME! YOU USED ME!” I screamed.
“Don’t take it too personally.” He sneered as he began kissing my neck. I screamed louder, wanting him off of me. I thrashed and finally I struck him hard across the face. He fell back and rubbed the spot I’d hit him.
“OW! Why you no good little-GET BACK HERE!” I had turned and was slithering as fast as I could into the jungle. I had to get away from him. I wouldn’t let him use me. I couldn’t…I couldn’t! Suddenly I felt his weight on me and he knocked me to the ground. I spat up dirt and muck from my mouth and he turned me over. He grabbed my breasts and began licking my neck like the perverted animal he was. Like all men were. How could I have not seen this? How? He was no different than the governor…than the officials…than the estate attendants.
“I HATE YOU!” I shrieked.
“I’ll live with that.” He laughed as he was about to violate me. “At last I’ll get to appreciate this bizarre and rare body of yours.”

No. Not this time!

“GYAAAAAH!” With a furious hiss, I launched my body forward and bit his neck, sinking my fangs deep into his neck. My tears rolling down my face mixed with the venom I was pumping into his veins. I pulled back and watched him clutch his neck in agony as his face went white.
“K-k-katie?” He whimpered, his body quivering weakly as the venom took affect.
“You used me…you never cared about me. All of you men…all of you men are the same! I TRUSTED YOU, DAMAN! I LOVED YOU!” Daman didn’t respond but just fell forward, the life leaving his eyes. As he lay there passing away, I screamed at the stars and cried in pain and in loss. I’d escaped captivity…but had I really escaped the pain? Was this my fate? To be used and mislead by men? How could I ever trust another man again after this? I didn’t know…perhaps I never could. All I knew was that I had to get far away from here. I was on my own again…maybe I always was. But my greatest fear was that I always would be.