Before Flayer could even dignify Blaire with a response to her willful declarations, Jemma had begun ranting.  Ranting as only one recalling some traumatic memory could.  Visions of some old wound that clawed at her mind and warped reality into something altogether more hideous than it already was, confusing the present with the past.  For the first time the Beast seemed genuinely confused, a confusion that was matched only by his steadily growing fascination.<br/><br/>He said nothing.  Only stared with those placid, unyielding lenses.  After a moment of watching the broken young woman as she quaked beneath some remembered tragedy, the Beast bent over to pick up the stun rod and attach it to his belt.  Then, alarmingly, he slid his arm between the bars, gripped the heavy padlock between his fingers, and applied pressure.  The very thing that Blaire had scavenged to ensure her privacy was never invaded yielded beneath his strength as though it were made of clay, the metal exterior collapsing in upon itself as its spring-loaded guts poured out through the warping keyhole.  The creature wrenched it away easily, then slid the door aside with a resounding clang.<br/><br/>The candles in the cell went out at his approach so that the only light streamed in from his back, shrouding his form in blackness and turning it into something altogether primal; a living shadow, a demon made real.  His red eyes steadily brightened in the dark, enhancing the hideous guise.  Truly this was no human that stood before them.  Not anymore.<br/><br/><em>"Give her to me,"</em>he ordered, extending his hand with an upraised palm.<em>"I wish to speak with her.  Privately."</em><br/><br/>His other hand reached into a compartment at his waist, and from it he held something out to Blaire.  A new lock; a heavy electronic one made of some strange black metal.  A keycard was already slotted into it.  Payment for the girl.  She could of course refuse it and keep the girl.  But this was another of the Beast's cruel little games.  Refusal meant that the cell would no longer have a lock, and the moment he left the prisoners would be swarming at the chance to get at three beautiful young women.  A sadistic ultimatum: would she be willing to trade the girl, knowing that she may die horribly, to ensure her own survival, after declaring so forcefully that she would protect her?<br/><br/><em>"Make your choice."</em><br/>