FicWad

-Jeffery's mind swelled with images of the past. He saw himself, weak and pathetic, being tormented by all those around him. All of his classmates from the high school that he had turned into his castle. All of the teachers that had looked the other way as he suffered. He saw all of their faces: Mrs. France, and Brent, and...

-Jeffery's eyes shot open and he sat up. To his left, Raven lay sound asleep, curling her blanket around her nude body. She sighed with a contented smile on her face, no doubt her dreams her were proving less troublesome than Jeffery's had been. A strained moan diverted his attention to the young girl that he and Raven had enjoyed. She hung by her right wrist from a chain attached to the ceiling. Her left arm hung limply to her side, the chain that had supported it had broken during the nights rigorous activity. Her naked body was scratched and bruised, but she would live.

-Jeffery got out of bed and walked past the worn out woman, not paying any attention to her. He quietly left the room and walked across his quiet throne room where only Chaos was present. The manic beast watched its master with its round red eyes, its tongue hanging out as the animal panted like an excited dog. Jeffery patted demon's head and left it as he stepped out onto the terrace to looked at the gathering demons down below.

-From his vantage point, it looked as if the surface of the Dark Territory was alive. Every square inch of the land bustled with activity as his generals organized his minions to meet Jason's puny humans in battle and crush them. Jeffery smiled to himself, his girls would prepare a grand welcome for the humans, once they arrived.

-Jeffery walked away from the view, confident that his generals would take care of things for him, and opened the side door at the other end of his throne room. He calmly walked down the spiraling steps, his footsteps echoing off the walls. He past by his dungeon where the prisoners moaned in agony. Upon hearing Jeffery's footsteps, they became deathly quiet. But Jeffery hadn't come for them.

-He slowly walked past the cell doors, letting his prisoners take a good look at their captor. Jeffery saw them out of the corners of his eyes. Most of them were young women that he and Raven enjoyed at their leisure. The girl who was uncomfortably resting in his bed chamber had come from one of the cells, and would be returning as soon as Raven no longer had use for her.

-There were also several men who were in considerably worse shape than the women. Jeffery's generals were far less gentle than he was when it came to their playmates. Most of them had deep scratches and large bruises; one even had all of his limbs broken. Jeffery guessed that he had enjoyed Hellen's company.

-One, healthier looking man who still had his clothes rushed at the bars and tried to grab at Jeffery. The human was muscular and had a hateful look on his face. Jeffery turned his head to look at the man and smirked. The human was one of the prisoners that had been taken during the battle at the ravine. Five prisoners had been taken, but the man was the only one in the cell. Scylla had taken his companions to experiment on. It was only a matter of time before she came for him as well.

-Jeffery waved at the condemned man before he opened another door and left. He went down another set of stairs that took him even deeper into the bowels of his dark castle, and he arrived at what he called his trophy hall. It was the place where Jeffery kept his special guests; the ones that he had a personal grudge against, or took particular pride in defeating.

-No sounds emanated from the trophy hall, no moans, no cries for help, nothing but Jeffery's footsteps. He stopped before a large wooden door at the very end of the corridor. Jeffery waited a moment before opening the door, wondering what he would find on the other side. He knew what was supposed to be there; he knew what he had put there, but would it be there?

-Jeffery pushed on the rotting door, and it opened with a groan. He stepped into the dimly lit room, aware of the vermin that scurried away from their master's feet. Jeffery walked up to the silhouetted figure which hung from the ceiling, and Jeffery looked it over. With a subtle hand gesture, he brightened the room, revealing the hideous form of what had once been a human.

-The tormented soul was a man, but, despite being naked, that determination would have been difficult to make given the state of his body. All of his skin had been torn off and the exposed musculature burned. His lidless, dried out eyes stared at his visitor with a permanent smile, thanks to the hooks pulling back the corners of his lips. Larger hooks attached to chains pierced his palms, feet, and the muscles in his back, holding the man suspended off the ground.

-Jeffery seemed relieved for a brief moment, but that relief quickly changed to puzzlement. As he stepped closer, the figure was lowered to Jeffery's eye level. The man tried to mumble something, but that was difficult since his tongue had been removed. Jeffery came to within an inch of his victim's face to look him right in the eyes. Still unsatisfied, Jeffery pressed two of his fingers against the man's forehead. The man made an inhuman gurgling groan as his flesh regenerated to its original form. Even his hair returned to the way it had been before Jeffery had gone to work on him so many years ago.

-Jeffery sighed and shook his head as he looked at the familiar face. The face that should be there; the face that couldn't be there.

-Jeffery waved his hand and turned to walk away. The man screamed and pleaded as the chains pulled him up to the ceiling. The area above him opened and swallowed him up, silencing his cries. The door slammed shut behind Jeffery, and he left the dank prison to see Scylla.

-Jeffery could hear the screams long before he got to the door. He smiled to himself as he approached, wondering what kind of unspeakable horrors Scylla was performing on her helpless victims. As he entered her laboratory, he was greeted by another agonized howl of pain. He saw Scylla standing in front of one of the P.O.W.s that had been captured as the man's flesh was dissolved by an unseen force until nothing but bones remained.

-"Let me guess," Jeffery said as he stepped forward. "Ultra slim fast?"

-"Master," Scylla exclaimed with surprise as she turned to face him. It was common for her to be too absorbed in her work to notice when he approached. She bowed her head and indicated her test subject. "You're just in time. I believe I have devised a method of counteracting Jason's power. It was quite simple really. All I had to do was modify the cleaners."

-"The small creatures that rapidly devour their victims," Jeffery said, recalling the creatures in question. Scylla had made them years ago to help keep the castle clean, though they could also be used as a weapon.

-"Precisely," Scylla said, pleased that he remembered one of her previous creations. "I know that you wouldn't want to just shower the humans in cleaners since it would make for a very boring battle. But I altered their behavior so that they will lay dormant on the field until someone is killed. Basically I turned them into carrion eaters. If there are no dead bodies around, Jason can't resurrect them."

-Jeffery gently cupped Scylla's cheek and kissed her on the forehead. "My dear, you are as brilliant as you are lovely."