He couldn’t stay asleep for long.

The pain dragged Joules from his slumber and tossed him to the land of the living. He felt cold metal slide inside his shoulder, slicing through skin and muscle. He screamed in horror as if the knife was digging straight into his brain.

Davis was there, holding the knife, and he laughed at Joules’ pain.

“Perhaps you are wishing you hadn’t begged to take the woman’s place now, eh?” he said. “Unfortunately for you, I think we will be here for a very long time. Honestly, I’m glad you begged me to take you; you’re far more interesting than I expected. This will do wonders for my research.”

He jabbed the knife again into Joules. What could Davis possibly learn from simply inflicting pain? Joules didn’t want to find out; he just wanted it to end.

“For your contribution to our cause, you have my thanks, Jojo,” Davis said. “Would you like to know why you are so fascinating to me?”

I wonder if you’ll find me fascinating when I’m smashing your head on the goddamn tile like a melon you sick fuck.

Davis didn’t wait for an answer. He began to draw thin lines from Joules’ shoulder to his hip, slowly, relishing the horror. Joules could only reply with primal fear. He felt his hot blood pool on his torso then splatter and bubble with each new cry and panicked twist.

“I’ll tell you why,” Davis said. “I saw you use your stand on that poor man. I know you have one. It’s ability seems potent; it could be a great asset to our cause.”

The knife jabbed again into Joules’ shoulder.

“The only problem is that you lack a ‘stone’,” Davis said. “And I cannot explain this. Those with the power of a Stand are cursed with a mark that identifies them. It draws us together. Even now, I can feel my ‘stone’ in your presence. I am wondering where yours is.”

“What the fuck are you talking about,” Joules managed inbetweens shrieks and trying to catch his breath. “You’re insane.”

Davis stepped away, giving Joules a brief moment of respite. He could still feel the lingering effects of [Yellowcard]’s toxins weighing him down. Davis began to disrobe. He carefully unbuttoned his blue shirt. He turned his back towards Joules, though the younger man still had to strain his neck to see from his position on the table.

“This is the ‘stone’ that binds us,” Davis explained. “This ‘jewel’ is our curse.”

A bright red star, glowing with some inner light protruded from Davis’ left shoulder like a glittering tumor. The trapped light pulsed like a beacon with heartbeat regularity.

“Those who wield the power of a Stand all have this mark. There are no exceptions,” Davis said, turning back to face Joules. “Except for you, and I wonder why that is. Curiosity is the cornerstone of progress, and I find you very curious indeed, Jojo.”

Davis threw his shirt back on, leaving his chest exposed. “Had I not seen your Stand for myself, I would have written you off. The ‘stone’ emerges in those with potential under extreme duress. My ‘stone’ came to me nearly a year ago, in this very room. Would you like to hear the story?”

All Joules felt in his shoulder was blinding pain and the flow of blood. How long could he survive like this. Davis seemed intent on bleeding him dry, searching for something that wasn’t there. Jules spit at his captor. It came short, landing on his own pants, but the message had been received.

“You talk too much,” Jules said.

“I had a young man much like yourself right here,” Davis said, choosing to ignore Joules. “He was so scared, yet so beautiful, so I just had to see what was inside. How could we be the same species? There must be something different. Before, I did not have [Yellowcard] so I had to resort to cruder methods. I followed him home from a night of drinking and smashed his head with a stone I found on the road.”

“So you were always crazy,” Joules said.

He had the knife back in his hand. He pressed it to Joules’ nipple with a smile on his face. “I brought the young man back here to study him. Unfortunately, he woke from his stupor. I was careless back then, inexperienced. I had wrongly assumed he would stay down, and I had underestimated the man’s desire to live. He ambushed me as I had my back turned. Plunging my knife deep into my rib cage. The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced, but just as I thought the pain would consume me, I was reborn. The ‘stone’ emerged, and [Yellowcard] had come to save me. The young man had no such ally, nor the hidden potential. He stood no chance against me and my new power. I put him in ‘time out’ and continued my work. That was my first real subject.”

Davis put the knife down. He rummaged for something Joules couldn’t see, but dreaded finding out. Instead of some other instrument of torture, he produced a small rag and soaked it in a nearby faucet. He began to wide the blood from Joules’ face and body, almost reverently. With each loving stroke, Joules grew more and more uneasy. Had his time finally ended? Was this the endgame of Davis’ sick ritual.

“You are beautiful to me, Jojo,” he said. “Not just for your looks, but for your potential. It is a great crime to destroy something so precious as another Stand user, but it must be done. If pain will not draw forth your inner potential, then perhaps humiliation might summon your soul.”

He pressed the damp cloth to Joules’ lips, cold and coarse.

No, no, no, fuck you, no, what are you doing?

“This will all be over soon, Jojo,” Davis said, his voice barely over a whisper. “One way or another.”

Davis' shadow loomed over Joules as his head eclipsed the light hanging overhead. Davis leaned in, puckering his lips. Joules could only watch in horror as the scruffy face, stained with blood descended on him, like some debaucherous asteroid. Their lips touched, and Joules screamed.

Lorelei came to, with all the grace of a bloodied woman stumbling away from a car crash. She massaged her throbbing head, feeling a tender lump where she’d hit the cold ground. As the pain faded, she froze.

I’m free.

She scrambled off the ground, quickly scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary. By some miracle, her chains had been undone. She rubbed her aching wrists and rolled her shoulders, re adjusting to her new mobility. The room was as quiet as it had been when she’d arrived. She was alone.

But she hadn’t been alone.

The chains beside her that had held the guy, Joules, were also open. There was not sign of him. IT came back to her in waves. She’d been talking to him, getting him acclimated. He hadn’t been able to summon his Stand. The man he’d called Davis had entered. She’d tried using [Gold Digger] but had been stopped by some force. Was that [Yellowcard]’s ability?

She tried calling out for her Stand. She felt it, yet it was not there. Somewhere else. [Gold Digger] wasn’t the strongest Stand in a test of might, but it was a very useful hand in scouting and information gathering. [Gold Digger] had a theoretically infinite range, only limited by the method of transference, where she could place her Stand on someone who was already under [Gold Digger]’s influence. Davis hadn’t found her attractive, so her Stand had been useless against him. Had that changed since she’d collapsed?

No, nobody can resist [Gold Digger] just once. It either worked immediately or not at all.

She could see bits and pieces through her stand. [Gold Digger] delivered feelings, emotions, brief glimpses of sight, snippets of conversations of those under its spell. Lorelei focused, massaging her connection with her stand as he strength returned to her. It was close, just in the next room. She felt flashes of pain that made her wince. She heard voices. Joules was still alive, but in agony. She heard Davis monologuing. Something about ‘stones’ and curses. Torture. A story about a handsome boy. But he was hale and hearty. It was Joules who squirmed under Davis’ touch.

[Gold Digger] had attached to Joules!

She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but Joules had definitely been susceptible to [Gold Digger] when he’d woken up. Somehow, she must have placed her Stand onto the man before passing out.

If Joules didn’t or couldn’t summon his own Stand, at least he wasn’t alone. If Lorelei could escape this room, join Joules against Davis, they might have a chance. Why she’d been freed concerned her. She remembered Davis coming for her. Something or someone had gotten his attention. Had Joules managed to use his Stand?

She dismissed the possibility. By the way Joules had described it, his Stand would have been able to go toe to toe with [Yellowcard]. By the feelings she felt through her own Stand, Joules was still at the mercy of their captor.

Lorelei leapt to her feet, but had to stabilize herself as she found her movements heavy and awkward. The effects of [Yellowcard]’s gas still lingered in the air and in her body. Taking a moment to center herself, she moved to the door, only to find it locked. She pounded on the thick metal with balled fists, but of course it did not budge. She tried to think of anything [Gold Digger] could do to get her out of this now that she was free of her binds, but nothing came. In truth, she thought, [Gold Digger] could do much more in the room with Joules and Davis than it could trapped in this box.

She slumped down on the door, cradling her knees to her head. Powerless was not a word Lorelei described herself with, and the mounting hopelessness weighed her down. To be so close to the action, but so far paralyzed her. All she could do was watch and listen from the next room, though it might as well have been half a continent away.

She felt something cool on her face, like a washcloth or a towel. The pain had dissipated, only to be replaced by a growing fear. She could smell their captor, close to Joules. Their lips touched.

Gotcha.