I struggled but the snare had soundly captured my foot. I dangled not three feet from the forest floor, upside down and suspended by a long, knotty vine to the sturdy boughs of a tree. Twisting, turning but unable to jack knife upwards and get a hand to the vine noosing my ankle, after several minutes I understood it was fruitless to try. My body weight had surely cinched the vine far too tight for me to slip free. Like a hunter's trophy, I hung on display, batting my hair from before my eyes so I might see.

He was on me before I could blink. A snarling blur with hooks for hands who shook me so hard my jaw rattled in its socket. Words flew from his mouth along with his spittle into my face.

"YOU PIECE OF UNGRATEFUL GARBAGE!! YOU SLUT!! WHO IS IT THIS TIME?? WHAT IS HIS NAME? SOME SNOT NOSED LITTLE LIMP-DICKED NOBODY?!! DID YOU THINK I WOULD WAIT ON THE SIDELINES WHILE YOU SMILED AND BENT OVER FOR ANOTHER MAN?"

"No.. No.. A-A-Asmodeus..."

"DON"T YOU FUCKING LIE TO ME, ROSE ELLE! I SAW YOU WITH HIM. DID YOU SPREAD FOR HIM? IS HIS SEED UP IN YOU, GIRL? I SHOULD RIP THAT STINKING LITTLE WOMB RIGHT OUT OF YOU! YOU ARE MINE! YOU BELONG TO ME! SAY IT. SAY IT ROSE ELLE.. ROSE ELLE BELONGS TO ASMODEUS.

"But .. b-but I'm.. "

"Say it Rose Elle. Why do you make me treat you like this? You really have no cause to cry, you know. If you did not lie to me, did not try to fool me I wouldn't have to correct you. Now here.. I'll cut you down and you can curl in my lap and tell me how sorry you are.. and then we will both be all better, no? Now be good and tell me who you belong to and we will forget this ever happened."

"I belong to you, Asmodeus.."

[0 petals fell]