Becoming The Badass

Turns out that woman bought me. And the best part was the fact that she wasn't even my new master. A man named Zayn Malik was.

After the auction she had literally gripped me all the way to a company car as if afraid that I would run away. I scoff at the thought. Where would I even go? Everywhere was Hell by my count.

Right now I was getting my evaluation. A procedure required by law. Slaves simply got some blood work and a physical examination done by a certified doctor after transfers to make sure death rates stay down. I'd love to say it was because, in some inadvertent and twisted way, our government did care about us but it was only to keep the slave money spent from going down the toilet.

"Name?" The doctor asked, clicking his ballpoint pen.

"Lenore." I said simply, looking around the room absentmindedly while swinging my still-bare legs. I was still pretty out of it. Upon my arrival quickly few hours ago I had yet to be given a room or a chance or clothes. I did get a cold shower, though. Let me tell you, sitting on a cold table in nothing but lingerie for three hours was not fun.

"Full name, I mean." The doctor clarified. I shrugged looking over to him.

"I said Lenore because that's the only thing I remember about my name. Car crash in 2431." I replied, lifting my hair on one side to show the jagged scar that ran from the top of the back of my neck to the top of my ear and then curved downward for another centimeter or so.
The doctor "aha'd" and wrote this down quickly.

"So that rules out birth date, too then." He said to himself and penned something else in.

"I'm about twenty, give or take." I answered.

"Good, good." He mumbled although I hardly believe he was listening. "What else can you tell me about this car crash?"

I hissed out my breath and pressed my head against the cold wall and thought about his question.

"MariAnne told me that it was a head on collision with another car."

"MariAnne?"

"First master. She didn't like formalities." I replied hastily. "The first thing I remember is crawling out of my broken window and laying in the snow. It felt so cold that I knew I was still alive. I didn't even realize I was bleeding out until I turned my head and saw my blood mixing in with the snow. I couldn't even cry I was so tired. I closed my eyes for what felt like forever until I heard shouting in the distance. I thought it was the distance, anyway. All of a sudden these huge guys in like black body suits and vests grabbed me and lifted me up so that I was over one of their shoulders. My blood was dripping all the way down, like, my ching and on the dudes clothes and the snow. It was so weird. My ears were fuzzy but I heard someone calling my name. I knew it. In my heart, maybe.

The person sounded like a boy, maybe, fourteen. I looked up from the big guy's back and I saw this scrawny kid, fighting two of the big guys with some kind of metal pipe. He kept calling 'Lenore! Lenore! Fight back! You can't let them win, Lenore!' And he 'm knocked one of the guys out and started shouting at me and crying. I don't know why but I started crying and screaming and all this energy came into my body and I like bit the big guy that was holding me until I felt his skin through the body suit and then he dropped me. I didn't want to leave that boy so much that even though I had broken my leg on the way down I started crawling toward him. And he was running toward me, so fast I could almost swear he was flying." I said getting lost in the memories I hadn't forgotten.

"And then they shot him. Twice in the back. He fell like he was dead. He probably is. They caught me and grabbed him and took us to separate cars. That guy might've been my brother or something because looking at him get shot down like he was nothing made me so angry and sad it felt like I was getting my heart punched out from the inside." I gritted my teeth to keep calm and then lifted my legs onto the table, putting my head on my knees.
My eyes felt heavy with unshed tears and I did my best to blink them away as the door opened. My sight fell on a devilishly handsome man with hazel eyes and caramel skin. He looked self-confident and powerful. Someone who demanded respected. I tilted my head in confusion. Usually, I didn't see my master for the first time until he came to...well "visit me" for the night. I guess Master Zayn didn't like to waste time.

"Is she done here?" He asked the doctor impatiently, looking back and forth in between the two of us. I kept my head down as I peeked at him through my bangs, my heart pumping wildly.

"She just needs to get her branding." The doctor replied, his lip twitching in something I assumed was slight fear or amusement.

"Well, hurry up." Master Zayn demanded. The doctor nodded his head and put his wrist to his lips, ordering the hot iron insignia. Stat.

We sat in tense silence as I mentally prepared myself for the searing pain that would last for a couple days at least. Especially for a place like this. Master Zayn had paid a pretty penny for me and I could tell just by looking at him that the money spent was nothing to him. I was about to get a brand that was both beautiful and dangerous. Like the master standing in front of me.

The branding iron came up too shortly for my taste and I gulped at the design that blazed hot. It was a sketch of a young girl in the mouth of a dragon head. Her midsection was in between the beast's two large fangs and her head was down causing her hair to cover her face. Her limp arm held a small teddy bear with one eye missing and a pink bow around its neck.
Yeah. This was gonna be hell.

"Hip please." I asked politely, standing to give more access. This was my only freedom of the whole process. I got to choose where I would be marked for eternity.

"Are you sure?" Master Zayn asked, grabbing the branding iron and twirling it slowly to keep it hot.

"Yeah, completely." I licked my lips and grabbed the edge of the examination table to steel myself for the pain. He nodded once and, without any trace of hesitation, placed the hot iron on my skin. I yelped as the iron literally melted my skin, trying to transfer myself into a place where I didn't have to think about the pain. But it just wasn't working out now. I shut my eyes and silently cried, my tears screwing with my mascara even more than the drugs did.

I felt the pressure leave my hip but the pain didn't leave with it. I kept my eyes screwed shut as I felt my grip loosen.

"Done?" I asked quietly.

"All done." The doctor said.

"Oh good." I sighed and my knees buckled. I passed out before I even knew if I had hit the floor.

Notes