Gregor sat next to him, his fiery red hair a stark contrast against the black wall. They both stared at me with psychotic hatred, and I was sure my expression matched.
Iliya was chained beside them, still stained with blood from Estrella’s blade, which I had removed and returned to my love. She looked half-dead, her hair matted and dark circles under her eyes.
“Hello, Codran, Gregor, Iliya. How do you like your new accommodations?” I tucked my hands behind my back, barely containing my rage at the sight of them.
“Fuck you,” Gregor snarled, his thick accent spitting the words.
“Is that any way to speak to your tsar? Besides, these quarters are far better than what you afforded my Estrella.”
“My only regret is that I didn’t get another round with the bitch before you got her back,” Codran shot back.
Rage blurred my mind until all I knew was the burning need to tear him limb from limb and bathe in his blood. My snarl cut through the basement, reverberating like an earthquake. Not that Codran heard or felt it; I had his mind clutched in my talons. I couldn’t kill him, but I could make him suffer. His scream followed as my darkness seeped through the room like a thick fog. I exhaled and released him. He wouldn’t be of any use if I turned his mind to mush. I couldn’t lose myself.
“With that out of the way, you’re going to tell me what I need to know.”
Codran shuddered, his chest heaving from the pain. “We aren’t telling you anything.”
Gregor leaned forward and spat at me. The phlegm hit one of the bars as I sidestepped his weak attack, then lashed out at Gregor’s mind. I twisted my claws in just enough for him to groan, to show his comrades what was happening. The perk of knowing they would be dead soon—I didn’t have to hide my powers.
I riffled through his mind like a dirty file cabinet, searching for useful information, but enduring the evil within was difficult. There was nothing of value in his disgusting brain. I ripped myself out, feeling a layer of grime coating me from the contact.
Gregor returned to the driver’s seat of his mind with a ragged gasp. He yelled at me, but the words were incoherent. Confusion blossomed across his hateful face.
I threw him a predatory smile. “My mistake. Sometimes that happens. I shuffle around, and things don’t end up the same.”
Iliya gave a horrified squeak. Both stared at their comrade that I left in shambles. Codran quickly masked his expression though—clearly, he had been trained well by his father.
“Now, either you answer my questions, or I rummage through your fucked up little mind and see what’s left when I’m done. What do you say, Codran?” I purred.
“I say the second sounds far more fun,” Catina said. She had settled, her blade returning to the bandolier across her chest. We exchanged a brief look, both understanding the weight of what we were about to do. It wasn’t right. Not even okay. But it was what needed to be done, and we were the sorry monsters to carry it out.
It helped that I would enjoy this particular session.
“I’m not going to tell you shit. Go to hell,” Codran barked, drawing both Catina’s and my attention.
“I’m so glad you said that. Otherwise, I would’ve brought all these toys down here for nothing.” Catina’s smile spread across her face, a perfect mask hiding her disgust for our actions. I hated dragging her back into this after all she had endured, but she would rather do it than one of the others, and her results were undeniable.
Entering the cell, I tightened my grip on Iliya’s and Gregor’s minds, pinning them in place. They could still see and feel, but they were frozen—cursed to watch helplessly. The worst fate, in my opinion.
Catina knelt in front of Codran, riffling through her bandolier. “Where should we start, Codran? We have all day; might as well make it last. Let’s begin light, shall we?”
Before he could react, she slashed a short blade across his cheek, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. To his credit, he didn’t flinch, but that wasn’t the point. She was bloodletting to drain his ability to heal, making the later interrogation far more effective.
In seconds, he was covered in tiny cuts, heaving from the blood loss. They stared each other down, right before she drove the blade into his kneecap. He clenched his teeth, but his scream echoed through the cell.
“Three questions, Codran. The quicker you answer, the quicker Catina leaves. First, where is Mihal? Second, who has joined him? Third, what is their next move?”
“Does it bother you, being with her knowing she’s ruined?” he hissed.
The room shuddered under my rage, but I choked it back. He would suffer soon enough. “Let’s try again—where is Mihal?”
At the name, Catina whipped out another knife and plunged it into his other kneecap. His screams clawed at my soul, ripping awayany remnants of humanity and leaving only sick satisfaction in their wake.
“Who has joined him?” Catina yanked the first knife out and stabbed it into his sternum, her face a cold mask.
“And what are their plans?” She dragged the knife down, gutting him. Blood sprayed across both of us.
Codran’s screams echoed off the stone walls. All I could think about was Estrella’s screams as he tortured her. Her bruised face was plastered to my thoughts and made this hard to endure. It was like punishment for both of our sins. His evil and my failures. We both deserved this.
