Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) by Natalie Kristen Read Free Book Online Page B

for a while longer, but loses the fight in the end.
    Against my will, I open my mouth
and start to swallow greedily. The water that surges into my nose
and mouth feels like fire, torturing and scorching, burning me alive
from the inside. I choke and splutter, struggling wildly, but still
I keep swallowing and gasping, filling myself with more of that
deadly water.
    I can feel my body spasm
painfully, as I keep gasping and gulping more and more water. Nobody
is forcing me to take in the water. My body is doing it all on its
own. The urge and need to breathe, the desperate hunger and instinct
to survive—this very instinct is ironically, the very thing
hastening my death.
    I am sinking lower and lower,
helpless to save myself. I am only vaguely aware that something hard
and cold is gripping my body. Blindly, I try to twist free. I
scream, and this time the searing pain and darkness envelops me
completely. I can't stop screaming soundlessly, knowing that I am
drowning myself with my screams.
    The crushing, agonizing darkness
is shattered by a sudden light. Icy chill invades my body, and the
silence is replaced by muted rasping and splashing.
    I can feel my body shaking and
convulsing violently. Through a crack in my eyelid, I see metal
clamps gripping my body, as I am fished out of the column. The wire
reels furiously and I can feel myself being lowered onto the stage.
Hands start rolling me onto my side, and water spurts from every
orifice in my body as I heave violently. Someone is hammering me on
the back, while yelling, “Breathe, Ana, breathe!”
    Spluttering and coughing, I gulp
in greedy lungfuls of air. My head starts to clear and my senses
return in a rush. I push myself up, choking and breathing hard. The
sounds of my own thundering heartbeat and frantic breathing are like
music to my ears. I am alive. I am bloody alive!
    I raise my head and glimpse the
metal claw swaying slightly from the ceiling. That glinting metal
claw had dipped down and retrieved me from that cold, watery hell.
    When I am finally able to catch
my breath and focus, I turn to see the Warden ordering a handful of
girls off the stage. The front of their tank tops are wet. So are
their arms and hands. These are the girls who have helped turn me on
my side and thumped me vigorously on my back to get me to cough out
the water.
    Pam's wet hands are covering her
mouth. She lowers her hands to flash me a quivering smile.
    “ Not bad.” The
Warden's voice floats down to me. I force myself to stand up so I
can look her in the eye. I expect to see some sadistic pleasure or
cruel derision in her eyes. But she simply regards me
dispassionately. She claps a hand on my shoulder and nods. “You'll
have to do a little better tonight. Your costume will take a minute
longer than this to dissolve completely. Only then will you be
fished out. Got it?”
    “ Y-yes.”
    She hands me my clothes and
dismisses me. My head spinning and my body still shivering, I
somehow manage to stab my shaking limbs into my clothes and fumble
off the stage.
    “ Next.” The Warden
looks around and picks a girl at random. “You. Up here.”
    I hug myself tightly to try to
stop my shivering. There are some whispered words of encouragement
from the girls around me, but my teeth are chattering too much for me
to answer. I just nod and try to smile but I think it comes out as a
grimace.
    As I watch the Warden fasten the
harness around the girl on stage, I see her checking the wire to make
sure it is secure. Once the girl is completely submerged in the
water, the Warden holds up her watch and starts timing her. The
Warden's eyes dart between the girl and her watch, her brows furrowed
in concentration. I suddenly realize that the Warden is simply doing
her job. It is not her aim to torture or kill us. She is just here
to oversee us and train us for our routine. She is just a soldier on
rotation to the Red Lantern, doing her duty, carrying out her orders.
    The Lantern chain of