What does it mean to be a free person? During her career as a professional psychiatrist, she’d counseled many patients, each one mentally bound in one way or another, chained by limitations. Take away their matter, and they exist only in thought.

She knew how to use them. She knew which buttons to press, and this time she had one goal in mind. 

To uncover the past. 

Once and for all. 

 

*****

​

 

Confusion flared the moment consciousness snatched him back to the world. He turned his head away, groggy. 

Static erupted, crackling against the dark. “Wake up, G. If you don’t wake up, I’ll have to go in and wake you. You don’t want me to do that.” Opening his eyes, Fernando looked around panting, as he stared around the room. He could hear the buzz of electricity humming the sound system. 

He looked around,“there’s only one way out,” John’s disembodied voice said. “And that’s in.” 

 

“What’s going on?” His voice was hoarse, his throat raw and tender. A wave of nausea rolled through his stomach. He couldn’t move his head without pain shooting across his shoulder. He realized where he was, and his mouth opened with a chuckle, “You drugged me. You and your fucking whore” he heard a static sound, then as he turned his head, he took in the room. It was the same one he held her in. As his vision cleared, so did the rest of his senses. 

 

“Restrained by my own devices,” he started. “What did you use?” his head was fuzzy. He needed to know if he’ll suffer the same side effects. 

He needed to think. 

To prepare. 

“A taste of your own medicine, plus something else I found here and there,” John stated it so casually, nonchalant. 

 

“What the fuck have you done, Black?” he gritted, looking around.

“Why the hell am I tied up?!” He shouted. “Untie me!” 

The chirring quiet is his only answer. 

“Figlio di puttana!” Fernando bowed his head into his chest, taking searing breaths. The temperature raised as the night grew darker. 

“Marlena...I know you’re scared.” he knew she was out there, looking at him.

“You are frightened, Marlena...you know I’ll get you...eventually, and make you pay, I'll make you pay soooo bad,” his eyes scanned the walls looking for signs, then he snapped, “Dammit, where the fuck is she? Huh? Where’s your whore?” He cursed as he hit a dead-end. Understanding he was stuck in a room with no light, with no way of getting out. Fernando spun his head around, hands fisting the tangled rope around his wrists. 

“Smart move, Black. I must say I’m surprised. Who knew you had that in you...putting me down with that syringe, while your Doc pretends not to remember what she saw in her mind's eye last night...clever ” The distorted hiss of the speaker system erupted, and he spun toward the sound.

 

“You’ll never get your hands on her..not ever again.”

“You fucking-” He breathed, his breath fogging. 

What has he been giving him? Shock seized his chest with a sharp spike. 

“Yeah pal, got a little taste of your own medicine. Awful, right? Not too long now and you’ll be singing like a bird.”

 

“No fucking way.”

“Yeah..and you know what the best part is? The syringe I found was filled with a nasty kind of drug, the one that would do everything your drug did, only this one...this baby will keep you awake and talking.”

 

Merda.

 

At first, he refused to believe it-so; he stared at his lap. His thoughts lost in a void as he was sucked down by the undertow. Then he looked up at the glass window. It was dark, but his eyes had gotten used to the darkness, and he was able to see her now.

 

Yes, there she was.

 

Fernando’s voice cracked on a laugh. He glanced at the mirror in front of him; the mirror behind him reflected the Phoenix tattoo on his flesh until his eyes blur. Sweat leaked into their corners, a biting sting like a needle piercing his vision clear. 

 

He screamed as he fought his restraint.

 

​
 

                 “Papa! Mamma” he tried to turn around, to look back, but the voice cut through the night to stop him. “Mio figlio,(My son) you must stay here” the woman’s voice soothed his nerves, 

“Don’t leave me here; I don’t want to be alone.”

“Go back inside; you’ll catch a cold. Don’t worry mio principe; we’ll be back in a few days, Sorella Corvo will take care of you, now go on, go inside the convent, Fernando.”

 

​

“Fuck you, Black!” his head spun, searching.

He clawed at the rope around his wrists, tugging at them until the string tore, foggy he collapsed to the ground. 

“What have you done to me? Who is she?” 

“There’s a path you must follow, G. We need answers.” John paused a beat. “What is Black Bird? Why are you looking for it? ” 

 

​

How did he know about that?

 

Breath seared his chest; he looked at the stained glass — a labyrinth of memories and faces. 

 

​

                 “Where have you been hiding, Doctor Evans?” he tore a hand through his hair. 

“If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do,” she shrugged. 

“Well, it’s boring to be down here, all alone...” 

“Couldn't agree more, but I have more patients to see” she took her patients folders from the stainless steel table but was stopped by his hand.

“Don’t ignore me” he locked eyes with her. “Tell me, Fernando, do you really want to mess with Stefano?” She waited; the cold air prickling her skin before his voice returned. 

“Don’t forget what I’m capable of, princess.” She nodded to herself.

 

​

The memories, they hunted his mind, his stomach pitched. “You made us suffer, G, for days,” John said. “You made her suffer. Why did you take pictures of her body?” Legs weak and trembling, he stepped the glass. 

“Why?”

“Stefano has a sick way of playing with people’s minds..and bodies...and what a body she has...the way she moved when I touched her...mmm fuck...” 

 

Dammit. 

You are trying to reason with a psychopath. 

 

“John, let’s just forget about it—” she urged him.

“One more thing,” John interrupted. “You should know that Marlena has the codes.”

“John!”

“She is Black Bird, and you will never get your hands on her, not ever again.” He looked up at the man dangling over the white chair, laughing. The speaker system clicked off with a screech as he balanced on the armrest, trying to gain balance, he fell to the floor.

 

******

 

A different kind of energy filled the night air, a charged current caressing, embracing. John felt the electric pulse of it vibrating along Marlena’s skin. 

They got him. 

They were finally in control.

He was drawn to her heat like a moth to the flame, like her body could ward off the demons of their past. She was his temple, and he wanted to kneel at her feet and worship.

 

“Oh God, what now, what do we do now?” she said, her eyes fixated on the man in the glass cage. He was quiet now, as though he had another memory. Adrenaline still coursed her bloodstream, her flesh simmering beneath his arms. The muscles of her forearms tensed as she ached to crush her body to his. 

She didn't need to explain. 

He understood what she was feeling.

“Now we wait, he will remember something soon, something that would help us understand what’s inside you and how to get it out.”

“And then?”

 

He couldn't stop touching her — every texture between them a tantalizing, erotic pleasure. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered in her ear, ignoring her question. “So strong.” He found the small buttons of the gown and undid them one by one. His fingers trailed her skin, his whole being ablaze, desperate to touch her. 

 

“We may have fooled him this time, but I still need answers. What are the codes? Who...hurt me.” Her body went rigid. 

The past. 

“Would knowing who hurt you would change the outcome for you? Wouldn't you be more satisfied with knowing how to get rid of that thing inside your body?” She turned in his arms, her eyes seeking the truth. 

“How?” he pushed a loose wisp of hair behind her ear. 

“Trust, Marlena. It’s what comes next. You have to trust me. Do you think I’d want you to suffer?” She blinked up at him. 

“I’ll let him boil in there some more before I get in, ask him direct questions, get some answers.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, unable to deny himself the taste of her. 

 

“We’re not monsters, Doc, we’re not him,” he said when he felt her body tense, his hands mapping a path across her back and waist, gripping the satin gown. “But we aren’t mundane, either. We’re ravenous, and we have to feed.” 

 

She touched him, too—her hands tracing the blood and scars on his forearms, palms seeking friction along his chest, fingers entwining his hair and stroking the back of his neck. Every intimate quest to get closer sent an arousing shock to his flesh. 

 

They were uninhibited. 

Unleashed. 

“I don't know,” she admitted. “And now, I’ll never be sated. How will I ever stop? Filling the void is an endless cycle. We’ll always need more and more information, memories until it consumes us.” he palmed her face and stared into those hazel eyes — the gold flecks sheen with a reflective sparkle. 

 

​

Never Tear Us Apart

 

“It’s gonna stop here. Here. We will learn the truth of your past, and you no longer have to live a lie…” He dragged the gown down her body, letting it fall to the ground. “We’ll find a way to satisfy ourselves.” 

 

Bathed in the dim light, her body was achingly beautiful. A tantalizing tease finally within reach. He was drunk on the sight of her. He lowered his mouth to her shoulder, tasting the hint of orchid on her skin—his aphrodisiac, his drug. 

 

She was his addiction. 

 

Her breath hitched as he grasped her tiny waist in his hands. Then as she tilted her head back, surrendering to the spell, he dropped kisses to her flesh. Greedily taking every bare inch of her for himself. Her gaze slipped to the man at the other room, where their kidnapper stared into nothing. 

 

“It’s too much—keep touching me, John. I’m burning up. I need you.” 

“God, I love it when you talk dirty.” His knees hit the ground. He sucked a trail over the soft skin of her inner thigh, loving the way she gripped his shoulders, her legs trembling from need. 

“We’ll be free soon,” she said, the throaty rasp of her voice tearing at his control. He grazed his fingers down her thighs, then brought one of her legs over his shoulder and buried his mouth against the tender flesh of her inner thigh, the placed she showed him not long ago, where the microchip was inserted.

 

She jolted at the feel of his teeth, and he groaned when her heat touched his face. Her hands sunk into his hair as he kissed and bit his way up her thigh, her breathy, broken cries making his cock so hard it ached against his jeans. 

He tasted her then. 

He grasped her ass and forced her sweet center to his mouth, his tongue slipping between her silky lips. She was wet and hot, and he could feel every constriction of her muscles as she grinded against his face. 

 

“John…” His name was a prayer on her lips. It made him crazy — the need for her unbearable. His desire roamed wild, tasting her until she throbbed against his tongue. He pulled away and pushed off the ground. He lifted her into his arms, seating her right up against the achingly hard member of his body that yearned only for her. 

“Take me,” she breathed over his mouth before she nipped his bottom lip. He groaned, thrusting a hand into her hair and pulling her down against him. 

 

“Fuck me until I’m begging you to stop….” 

“Fuck.” he trembled as he pushed her to the glass wall, every muscle and sinew strung tight in anticipation. “Fuck, Doc, you’re so fucking perfect. I won’t ever hold back with you. That would be a sin.” Her hands fought to remove the remainings of his shirt, her nails digging into his skin. It was agonizing and pleasurable and unadulterated. He hissed out a tense breath as her fingers hit the fresh wound on his stomach. 

 

“God,” he said. 

She stroked the injury with a sure hand, owning him. “I almost forgot how love feels like” he craved her like his lungs crave oxygen. 

“This is what our love feels like.”

“Then make love to me, John. I don’t want redemption. I want us.” he kissed the cuts on her wrists. The marks Fernando put there. He raked his teeth over her shoulder, then sunk into her neck, eliciting a soft, breathless cry. They worked his clothes off in a frenzy of stolen touches and heated moans, impatient. Ravenous. 

 

To be closer. 

To be skin to skin. 

Gazing up at her naked body, breasts bared to him with no trace of shame in her deep eyes. He flattened his hand along her stomach as she arched her back, working a string of curses from him as she grinded her slick lips against the shaft of his cock.

“Fuck. You’re killing me.” he lifted up to meet each of the sexy rolls of her hips. He fell over her, her hair cascading down her shoulder and creating a curtain to shield them from the world.

 

“What if our past would?” she whispered into the shell of his ear. Her teeth nicked his flesh as she found purchase on the glass to push back hard. A growl worked free, and he captured her wrist. He brought her hand above her head, “I’d suffer any torture willingly.” He moved her fingers to his mouth and sucked the pads, tasting her fevered arousal. 

“Touch yourself, baby,” He commanded. 

She glanced to the back.

“He’s still out.”

 

And she did. Arcing back, she pushed those delicate fingers to her clit, rubbing her desire higher. He groaned at the feel of her heated flesh sliding over him. Torture didn’t begin to describe how punishing the feel of her was.

“Oh...Yes...” Her mounting orgasm grabbed hold, and her thighs gripped him, her muscles clenching for release. Wild and unfettered, with zero control tying him down, he raised up and hooked an arm around her lower back. He anchored her to him, swallowing her gasp, as he sunk into her. 

 

Their gazes connected. Every torturous second he held still inside of her was an eternity. Her nails sliced into his back, and that simple action triggered her body to flex around him.

He slammed into her. 

Hard.

Gripping at the ledge behind her, he thrust into the perfect center of her, unrestrained. Her breathy cries fell close to his mouth. He tasted her pleas, answering each one with another unguarded thrust. The feel of being inside her demolished every single belief he had before her. 

This was heaven. 

The only heaven he cared to witness. 

She was his truth now. 

 

“Fuck me,” she pleaded, “Hurt me.” A violent shiver ruffled through him. It let him know he was alive. His hands touched, roving over every delicate region of her flesh. Every place Fernando captured with his camera. He scraped his fingers down her skin, marking her body with dirt from his hands. It rubbed between them as they fucked. There was nothing tender in that moment as every ravenous desire demanded to be sated. 

 

Fucking like two insatiable, wild animals that were starving for each other. He bit down on the firm peak of her nipple, and she threw her head back, welcoming the sharp pain. Too many ways in which he could hurt her assaulted his thoughts, tearing at his weakening control. He cupped her shoulders from behind, forcing her to arch and bare her tits to him. As he drove into her, the need to be deeper seized his sanity. 

“It’s not enough.” she breathed, feeling the need for some form of salvation.

“Fucking make it enough, John. Hurt me,” he growled and forced her onto the glass, dragging her leg over his shoulder and slamming their hips together. Her fingers splayed over the hard slab of muscles along his stomach as he pushed into her. 

 

The need still demanded more. Her petite body fitted seamlessly against his, begging him to manhandle her into any position he wanted. With a low growl, he lowered her feet to the floor and flipped her over and slipped a hand beneath her pelvis, angling her beautiful ass up. Then he grabbed her wrists and anchored them to her back. 

 

The position made her vulnerable and bared, his cock throbbing as he eased up behind her, his heart thundering. He pushed inside her to the hilt. Her body bucked against the see-through glass, her eyes closed, moving those sexy hips, begging for more. 

 

“Oh Fuck,” he breathed as he thrust deeper, forcing her wrists toward the middle of her slim back. She released a throaty curse, her core pulsing and tightening around him. He was a starved animal with no remorse, his desire to fill her and take her all at once unfurling in the sweetest agony. 

He fucked her violently. 

He fucked her brutally. 

 

Against the cold, unforgiving window glass, he made love the only way he knew how to the woman who was dominated his being since he first saw her. As the most shattering pleasure claimed him, he was lost. 

 

"Oh fuck...Oh John.."She came shamelessly. She came so hard she nearly pushed him out, but he crashed back into her, breaking against her wave. 

For a few tender seconds, as Marlena came down, ethereal bliss suspended the pain, and she fell against the glass, heaving strenuous breaths.

“Marrrleeennaaaa,” the sound crept her ears, and she opened her eyes. There he was, right in her face, behind the other side of the glass wall, a familiar notebook in his hand. The cardboard was wrinkly, but she recognized her name on the binding.

A hysterical laugh sprung from his mouth when he saw her reaction. “Looking for thissss?” his voice was gruff but full of amusement. 

 

Her chest was still pressed to the cold surface, quickly, she bucked backward. His eyes were wild, his face too close to hers.

He stared at John, smiling, “I remember. I remember I found you...yes...naked...so naked...just as you are right now.” 

Taking a quick step in front of her, John covered her nakedness with his body. Not speaking, his eyes aflame.

He continued, “You were on the floor, crying, you know I’m not lying, Principessa, you wrote it all in here...”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” John finally screamed

She placed her hand on his rigid shoulder. “It’s mine,” she accused, “Give me back my journal.”

“Oh but, Doc, it is so very amusing, do you want me to read it to you? Yes! I’ll read you some!”

“Don’t you dare open that notebook, G!”

Fernando moved along the glass wall, locking his eyes with hers, he grinned, “Let’s see, shall we? Oh! From fifteen years ago! Here’s something interesting you don’t know!” he sounded crazy, this was crazy.

​

“He promised me I would pay.” he started reading her words, making sure his voice was clear: “I never thought he was capable of doing something so awful, to a colleague, to a woman. He came at night when I was getting ready for bed. He said I was asking for it, that he was promised a reward for his help. A reward...what a twisted way of thinking...after he was done abusing my body and soul, he left me broken and bleeding on the floor...there’s no wonder John is Stefano’s best hunter, for tonight I was his prey.”

 

He smirked as he lifted his eyes to look at both of their faces. 

 

Bingo.