The Dark Star - Hillcliffe Pt. 01

He chuckled as he turned back to her and responded, "Nah... Andy the guy I work with ain't half as good at giving head as you are."

Millie shook her head incredulously; she had left herself open to that one. Outside the window through the condensation, she saw a flicker of movement in the darkness.

"Here we go," Jake proclaimed opening his door and slipping out into the night with a wave to whoever else was out there in the shadows. "We won't be long...you might as well come on in."

Millie did not question his invitation as she slipped from the passenger seat into the dark alley. Pulling the skirt of her dress down the tops of her thighs as she followed him, her heels echoing through the alley on the cobbled stones beneath her feet. She followed Jake as he walked at pace through a gate that hung off its hinges, following the silhouetted figure through a doorway into the back of a property.

A low base like rumble from music playing somewhere in the property spilled out into the darkness.

Her eyes adjusting to the relative brightness Millie entered what she soon recognised was a kitchen. Several males stood around the narrow room drinking beers, and the unmistakable smell and haze of marijuana hung in the air. Jake was warmly greeted by all.

"Everyone this is Millie," Jake stated. "Millie this is everyone."

His overly formal introduction was responded to with nods, hellos, and occasional waves which Millie returned. Despite their warm greetings there was an uncomfortable atmosphere inside of the property, not helped by the steady low base of the oppressive music. Millie instinctively drew her jacket around her as she followed Jake, feeling like a stranger with all eyes on her. She followed Jake through the kitchen and down a hallway, he seemed to know where he was going.

Pressing his hand to a door she followed him into a living room where two black males, one of huge muscular proportions sat playing a football-based computer game on a huge widescreen TV. The smell of weed even stronger in the dim room. As they entered a caramel skinned girl with braided long hair rose from a sofa and passed them without a word.

"How goes it Marlon," Jake enquired to the muscular male.

"All good...all good," was the nonchalant reply, his concentration firmly fixed on the computer game it appeared.

"Yeah, so this... this is Millie," Jake offered, and Millie immediately sensed his confidence wain a little. The black male, dressed in baggy black jeans, a white vest and a black baseball cap rose from his seat and pressed pause on the video game. He threw Millie little more than a cursory glance.

"So...You wanna talk business" he offered to Jake standing at least six inches taller than him.

"Is it convenient?"

The male threw another glance at Millie "Take a seat girl...you wanna drink or summat?"

"Please" Millie nervously offered, feeling increasingly intimidated by the alien surroundings. Taking a seat on the black leather sofa weakly smiling at the other male who set down a games controller and pulled a pre rolled joint from behind his ear. She looked away hearing him spark up.

The big guy pushed past Jake into the hall, "Yo Izzy fetch dis girl a drink yeah... Come then"

He walked away indicating Jake follow him. Sat almost obediently waiting on the sofa Millie watched Jake head from the room without a word and tried to relax as best she could.

Fidgeting she pulled her short dress as close to her knee as possible before she reached into her pocket and took her phone. Distracting herself by scrolling down through a list of Facebook updates she had missed over the last few hours.

"Here you go." Millie heard the slight curt voice of the female with braided hair offer just before she thrust the brown bottle of lager towards her.

"Oh...uh thanks"

"No problem," the girl stated "I'm Izzy"

"Millie"

"Yeah, so I heard"

The sour faced girls' expression was doing little to alter the mood in the property as she sat herself down opposite of Millie and pulled her denim clad legs up under her body, before reaching out for the spliff that was handed to her without question. Millie took a long swig from the ice-cold beer bottle, the crisp cool lager spilled down her throat washing away the faint after taste of Jake's ejaculate. There was though a distinct slightly sour after taste to the lager, this was why she stuck to drinking Wine.

As she lowered the bottle to Izzy's right Millie spotted movement, shocked to only just realise in the light cast from the hall through the open door that someone else sat on the sofa. It was as all she could do not to gasp. The drawn skinny looking girl sat curled up against the arm of the chair dressed in only a long grey t-shirt, with her arms around her bare legs. Lank blonde hair dip dyed pillar box red framed a haunted yet pretty face, despite her sunken eyes. A thick silver chain sat tightly around her neck.

"Shit," Millie exclaimed. "I didn't see her there"

Izzy chuckled "Who... Our little white pet?"

"Pet?" Millie stated hardly able to glance away from the pale, emaciated, looking girl.

"You'll not understand" Izzy stated coldly leaning forward. "And pray you don't ever"

**********

Marlon Pickford intimidated Jake, not just given his physical presence and stature but his constant brooding unreadable persona. A persona that carried the weight of thousands of horror stories.

The two of them stood in the hideously overgrown back garden of the property that Jake knew to be at least one of three that he would use as a casual residence, he was sure there had to be more given the reach and the control his well-organised gang, 'The Threes,' held over the entire Hillcliffe Estate. His reputation as fierce as it was legendary. Jake had never seen anything to confirm such a reputation, he did not need to. He had no intention of seeing Marlon's ferocity first-hand.

"So, are we... are we good?" Jake uttered looking up into his dark features as he took a drag from a cigarette. The glow of the cigarette adding menacing reflections of orange across his dark skin before he sucked smoke deep into his lungs.

"Where's da Bitch from?" Marlon growled on his deep accent that hinted towards his Caribbean background.

"Uni... University Student," Jake struggled for composure "Met her in that club DB7 at the weekend."

"Poor girl..." Marlon chuckled, "...Unfortunate for her."

In his mind Jake thought to suggest about their full sordid encounter but he thought better of portraying all the details, and the ease with which he had secured her, Marlon may not appreciate such promiscuity.

"Who den knows about you and her?" Marlon stated fixing Jake with a stare

"I can't be sure...house mates...colleagues... maybe" Jake stumbled over his words.

"Shoulda brought her straight here dat night."

"I know." Jake offered remorsefully.

"Bitch looks good though... Man needs a new Pet an all..." Marlon chuckled, "The others a bit fucked up in da head... like some fuckin zombie bitch now."

Jake nodded but did not truly understand what Marlon referred to.

"Ya did good," Marlon stated "So you's in da clear.... Debt written off."

His words registered clearly enough but Jake struggled to comprehend what would happen next, Millie was delivered to him, essentially handed over. The fear and menace of the situation for his own plight subsiding now, but a hint of remorse crept in for the bleak future that the pretty blonde no doubt faced in exchange for the two thousand pounds he had owed the ominous gangster for three weeks.

As Marlon turned and stepped away heading back into the property, he glanced back at him briefly

"Stick around Jakey..." Marlon stated, "Have some fun... I'm going to."

**********

An hour later considerably more bodies squeezed into the small space of the end of terrace house.

The music had risen in volume, a thick cloud of tobacco smoke hung in the stale air as Jake pressed past two baseball cap clad males and dropped onto the sofa with a fresh bottle of lager in his hand.

Glancing over to her, the drawn little blonde with steel blue eyes offered him a weak smile. She was pretty but her gaunt face and poorly applied makeup did not help her haggard appearance.

Looking up he spots Millie chatting away in the corner of the room, her back to him.

"Have you got any gear?" the gaunt looking blonde croakily enquired.

Jake cast his eyes back over her as she sat on the edge of the sofa, his line of sight distracted from Millie as she stood in the corner of the room. Watching now as the three black males encircled her. They trapped their prey he realised, and she seemed blissfully unaware.

One of the males placing the plastic bottle containing a murky looking liquid to her lips, lips that had wrapped around his dick earlier in the evening.

Millie turned to face him as she drank heavily from the bottle, even at this distance her eyes were blood shot and bleary, a drowsy looking smile on her face, but she did not recognise or react to Jakes presence.

The males seemed to step closer, the taller of the three stepping in behind her slipping his hands over her waist. Her only reaction being to press her body back against his embrace as his arm wrapped around her slender waist.

In the doorway billowing a cloud of smoke from his mouth Marlon appeared, he passed the large spliff he carried to the ever-present Izzy as she stepped into the room from behind him. Izzy accepted the gift, the smell of which now lay heavy in the air, as she carried on through the room before taking a seat on the long sofa at the opposite end from the blonde with dipped dye hair who attempted to engage with him.

Jake took a swig from the bottle of lager he had clutched for too long, his mind still in turmoil at his betrayal. He did not want to be here anymore.

As if to punctuate his thought process he watched as Marlon extended a shovel like hand to Millie. She did not pause; her eyes met his briefly as though she was under some kind of hypnotic trance.

She stumbled a little as Jake watched Marlon take her slender hand in his grip and lead her from the room. The three black males following like sheep as the five of them disappeared through the doorway.

"I said ...have you got any gear?" the gaunt little blonde interrupted once more "I'll ...I'll fuck ...I'll fuck you for... for Heroine."

"Just tell her you have..." Izzy interrupted offering Jake the spliff as she leant forward throwing a dismissive look at the skinny girl clad only in a grey t-shirt and a black pair of briefs "...she'll have forgotten you offered by time you've bust your nuts in her."

Jake accepted the spliff taking a deep inhale and appreciating immediately the strength of the potent hand rolled smoke.

Exhaling the thick plume of smoke in the direction of the blonde Jake let a grin pass his lips. Perhaps it was worth hanging around.

"Fuck first... skag later" he offered watching her dull sunken pale blue eyes sparkle just a little.

"Slap a condom on.... that Bitch is riddled," Izzy chuckled moments later as Jake handed her back the spliff as he led the little blonde from the room in search of some privacy amongst the increasingly bustling party.

**********

Her trembling breath fell upon him, sated as he breathlessly felt the last of his cum escape him.

Looking down into her eyes as they slipped open wearily as she gasped for breath, her pale wrists locked in the vice like grip of his hands, her slender arms stretched out above her head. Her body rose and fell, her body impaled by his at the waist.

She had performed well, complicity accepting, letting him use her.

Her body looked good; he had a preference for blondes. Jake had either been well informed or he had landed lucky.

Either way Marlon was appreciative of the goodwill gesture, she had potential as a replacement.

"Good Bitch... you fuck well."

She did not respond. Releasing her wrists, she barely moved, lay all but naked beneath him as he slowly withdrew from her tight little hole. Discomfort crept across her face as he did so, she had needed breaking in.

She still needed breaking in.

"All yours," Marlon offered as bear chested he rose from the bed, pulling baggy black jeans from the backs of his legs back up on to his waist as he fastened his belt,

Stepping away from the bed a broad grin crept across his face.

He does not look back. Knowing the three of them jostle now for position, for supremacy, like the big ugly birds he had seen on a television documentary, feasting on a dead animal.

He trusted none of them but kept them close.

Rewards for his lieutenants was necessary occasionally.

"Collar my new Pet when you's done."

Her pained gasps portrait their rush, their rabid desire.

"Vultures..." the names of the birds come to him as he chuckles ".... fucking vultures' man."

**********

Her eyes blinked painfully open.

Nearly every bone and muscle in her body ached.

Millie raised her head from the pale blue sheet of the mattress and looked around seeing the shirtless black male leave the room.

Her mind a haze of confused blurred memories. She looked around the room and down her naked body. Badly torn fishnet tights and her ankle boots still adorned her aching raw body. She swallowed hard, her throat raw and dry, as she sat up the pain in her left temple was near unbearable. The dull ache and cold wet sensation between her thighs was as unignorable as it was unthinkable, tears welled immediately in her eyes.

She reached her right arm to an alien sensation held tight around her neck.

A cold rigid ring of metal sat tightly around her neck. Feeling around the cold metal object, discovering what felt like a padlock to the side of her neck.

Not thinking she panicked pulling hard at the object, a futile use of her fragile energy.

Her mind bouncing questions around her head. Where was she? What had happened to her?

Suddenly conscious of the constant rumble of music in the background, music and distant voices, deep booming voices, and dark sinister laughs. She instantly knew that wherever she was that she should not be here. Mustering her strength, she whimpered as she pressed her body up off the bed swinging her boot clad feet over the edge of the bed. Recognising a dark red dishevelled garment lay across the floor as her dress, she reached for it and the room seemed to spin. Grabbing the dress, barely noticing the front was all but torn open she pulled the creased garment over her aching body and rose slowly unsteadily to her feet.

Hobbling forward on the spike stiletto heel of her boots.

Reaching the open door was effort enough. She found herself in a short empty corridor lined with two doors and at the far end a stairway. Clinging to the walls she barely dragged herself along the hallway towards the stairs. At the last doorway she peered through the open doorway.

His eyes met hers. She recognised him instantly.

He was naked from the waist up; he pinned a painfully thin blonde with red tipped hair face first to the single bed beneath him.

His hips not breaking stride as he fucked her. She was silent. She was motionless, held down naked while he fucked her.

Jake.

The name hit her like a brick to the temple.

Jake had brought her here.

Wherever she was. Whatever she was doing here.

Millie moved forward lurching across the landing grabbing a handrail but slipping down the first four steps heavily as her heels shot out from under her unstable body.

Dragging herself up she knew that she had no time to waste, she needed to escape, ascending each step, feeling the jolt of pain rack through her seemingly broken body.

Her resolve grew as the noise of the music grew around her. Reaching the ground floor she paused and took in her surroundings, surrounds that now becoming a little familiar.

To her left she knew there would be a kitchen, a kitchen in which lots of people had congregated. There were more people here now. To her right a corridor as short as the landing she had traversed, a corridor that led to a white door.

Millie made for the door, stopping dead immediately not remembering the open door to her right. She heard voices as she drew level, she dares not look right she dare not pause. Cursing the sound of her heeled boots on threadbare carpet she near enough lunged her body the final paces towards what she silently prayed would be the door to exit the property.

Her hand grabbing and lowering the handle, panic gripping her instantly when the door handle dropped but would not open. She stifled a howl of frustration as a fresh panic gripped her body.

She tried the handle again with only the same outcome.

Tears welling in her eyes her face distorting as she near emotionally broke.

A slender arm reached past her; she froze. The manicured fingers turned a deadbolt lock at the top of the door anti-clockwise and the door swung open in her hand as she depressed the handle a third time.

"Run," she heard the girl's voice. "Run and you don't stop fucking running you understand me?"

Millie nodded as she stood there before the open door, turning briefly to see the face of the caramel skinned girl with braided hair that she vaguely recognised.

"Go!!" She implored Millie.

Stumbling forward from the house into a street she did not recognise it was as if the cool night air invigorated her.

Forgetting her pain, her discomfort and the terror of the unknown fate that had befallen her Millie ran as fast as she could.

Running on into the night looking for salvation looking for assistance.

Passing a street sign that offered no bearing or confirmation of where she found herself.

Tears in her eyes she ran practically blind. Not daring to look back, her breath frantic laboured in no time, somewhere. In the distance sirens sounded. Occasional passing cars failed to recognise her plight, despite her frantically waving her arms as she approached them. Her lungs burnt as she carried on approaching two dreary looking tower blocks as she crossed open barren grassland.

She paused to draw breath in a short, covered walkway between the two tall buildings, dogs barked, a cacophony of music played, she heard voices and saw shadows cast from a concrete stairwell.

Moving towards the sound of footsteps she looked up the stairwell at the dark shadowy figure that approached her.

Her hand to her mouth she ran once more, her heels heavy on tarmac floor as she emerged into several parallel rows of parked cars.

Panicked Millie's eyes scanned left and right for an exit across the expanse before her.

An explosion echoed all around her.

The sound initially a dull and wet sounding thud onto metal that echoes all around her, the smash of glass immediately following as the silver car that stood before her seemed to crush in on itself, showering her in tiny square splinters of broken glass.

Millie stood paralysed with fear.

As she focussed the sickening sight before her etched itself forever into her conscience.

Millie ran once more.

From above her she heard a scream.

Fresh tears filled her eyes.

Chapter Two; Lisa

Lisa Walters pulled the collar of her black three-quarter length jacket up around the back of her neck, suppressing a shiver in the cool evening air.

Sirens blared, the almost ubiquitous sound of the Hillcliffe Estate, somewhere another victim another senseless crime committed. A burglary, a rape, a stabbing, a fight, another case of domestic abuse, the list of possibilities was as endless as the constant crimes committed.

The sirens would be in vain, they generally always were. The police had all but given up on response times to the post codes encompassed by the beleaguered terraced houses, condominiums and high-rise blocks of flats surrounded by wasteland and punctuated by miserable looking rows of shops and run-down looking take aways. Three public houses served the area all of which held fierce reputation, none of which offered any kind of social relief to the residents who frequented them.