Chapter 97

Wizard had been right. They were keeping this guy far too comfortable. He was sitting in a wooden chair, tied to it with ropes, but he was being fed and watered. The room itself was empty, probably from one of the guys who left a few months back. Boris was sitting at the table in the corner with Lec and Zann when Keenan and I walked in.

All of their eyes widened and Zann stood up.

“Keenan! What the hell? She is supposed to be in the hospital!”

I snorted. “Yeah, while you guys sit here twiddling your thumbs?”

“He hasn’t cracked, Ria. We’ve tried.”

Glancing at the guy, it looked like they’d punched him a few times. He had a black eye and his face was swollen. There were a few cuts on him but it was barely anything. It actually made me angry. This was Marek’s life and I felt like they didn’t care. I knew they did but it was hard to see when I’d literally gone through so much worse not even a week ago.

“Any of you been in Marek’s torture sessions?”

Keenan and Zann shook their heads but Lec and Boris frowned.

“Look, Ria, I don’t mean to insult you, but Marek is a pro. He can…”

I cut Boris off with a growl. “Shut the fuck up.”

He flinched, surprised. “Ria…”

“No. You’ve pissed me off. You are his second. You are supposed to want to save him.”

“Of course we do!” Boris slammed his hand down on the table, making a drink fall over with a few other items scattering. “You dare…!”

I leaned in, my face inches from him. “Then sell your fucking soul.”

Grabbing a drink off the table, I stormed over to the asshole in the chair and threw it at him. He sputtered and woke up. I grabbed the front of his shirt and glared at him.

“How easy are you going to make this on me?”

“Una piccola stronzetta come te non mi spaventerà. Non otterrai un cazzo da me.” [A little bitch like you won't scare me. You won't get shit from me.] He sneered at me.

Sighing, I shook my head. “As you wish.”

Walking over to Keenan, I took the middle box from him. Opening up on the table, I grabbed the hammer and two thick rings with a six inch nail attached to it. Going to the wall behind where the wall where the guy was sitting, I started tapping in the first nail. It took me three holes before I found a stud. Hammering the first ring up to the highest point I could reach, I walked about full arm span and started to check for studs. This time it only took me twice.

“Keenan, the bottom box please.”

“Y-yes, Atamansha.”

He brought over the heaviest box. I opened it and procured two chains with wrist restraints. I attached them at the rings. They were a little short for this assholes height but it was fine. A little more discomfort than usual wasn’t something I felt bad about right now.

“Zann, put him in the cuffs.”

I walked back over to the table and took the hair tie that was around my wrist, pulling my hair up in a high pony tail. Zann, Lec, Boris, and Keenan all looked at me completely confused.

“Now, Zann.”

“I…okay…” He got up and grabbed the guy.

The guy tried to struggle and get free but Keenan jumped in to help. The fact that he could still struggle and put up a fight further pissed me off. They might has well not even tried.

“Ria, what are you doing?” Lec looked worried from the guy to me.

“Finding my fucking husband. Do you need to go into the other room to put a few fingers in your own ass? At least you can do that, right? Or are you completely incompetent?”

Boris cut in. “Rosaria, that’s enough. We are doing our best…”

“Your best to what? You want to stick a thumb in Lec’s ass for him?” I glared at Boris. “You shouldn’t even be here. Both of you are injured. You have the audacity to think you can do a good job?”

“You’re injured too!” Lec gestured to me.

I nodded and opened up the last box. There were all my tools of the trade. Multiple needles, different sizes, knives, tweezers and miscellaneous metal objects. This was my emergency kit if I didn’t have my tools with me. Zann and Keenan stepped back after they finally got the guy strung up. He was trying to pull against the chains despite seeing how deep the nail would have had to go.

Sighing, I grabbed a few knives and a couple needles. Turning, I walked over to the guy. He started to kick at me but one of them I grabbed his foot. Getting a good grip on his leg and putting pressure with my own leg, I yanked on it. It took me twice, getting kicked in the shoulder once from his other leg but the satisfying pop resounded.

Dropping his leg, he screamed as I moved over to his other leg. Now, he was too worried about the pain to fight me on the second one. This one took four times but the pop sounded and I stepped back, nodding. Hip dislocations were painful and not easy to pull off but they were effective.

“See, now you can’t kick me.” I smiled and grabbed the chair, spinning it around to sit in it with my chin on the back of it. “This is nice. Normally when I steal a chair from prey it’s covered in blood and piss.”

The guy spit at me but there was no way it would reach me. “Prova tutto quello che vuoi, stronza.” [Try anything you want, bitch.]

My eyes lit up. “Anything? Really?” I licked my lips. “Did you know you can skin a human just like you can an animal? There is actually far less blood than people think. Most of your blood vessels aren’t in the skin and therefore there really isn’t too much. That I would mind. But I’ve done it a few times now. It’s always far more fun in a different position. I’ve never done it when the person was standing.”

“Rosaria!” Boris yelled from the table.

Leaning my head back so I could see him, his eyes widened. “I suggest you shut the fuck in the corner there or I’ll string you up next.”

Looking back at the guy, I cocked my head to the side. “It’s a little incision down the center with a very sharp knife and you just make your way across the chest. Of course, the nipples are something else as you peel it away.” I leaned forward in the chair. “Does that count as anything?”

"Donna pazza.” [Crazy woman.] Oh the sweet fear that tinged his words.

I smiled brightly. “What gave you the impression I was anything but? You’re wrong though. Wrong in the worst way.”

Holding up my hand, I let the coin flip through my fingers like a magician would. His eyes widened as he watched my little trick. Flipping it in the air, I caught it and slapped it down on the back of my hand. Lifting it up, I clicked my tongue.

“What a shame.” I held up the coin for him on the back on my hand. “You got the grim reaper.”

“B-b-but…that’s…t-t-that c-coin…” He started to stutter as he looked frantically at the table in the corner.

I hummed and shook my head, pointing to the group behind me with my knife. “They aren’t going to save you. Hell, I don’t know if they can even save themselves at this point. Really, it depends on how good of a screamer you are.”

Kicking the chair out from under me, I stormed up to him and grabbed his jaw. “Quanto sei bravo come urlatore, segugio?” [How good of a screamer are you, hound?]

Spinning my knife in my hand, I pushed my hand against his chest and made a precise cut from his collar bone down to his belly button. There was little blood and I frowned.

“Don’t move, segugio. Otherwise I might knick something you don’t want me to.”

Sticking my tongue out, I started to cut from the first line inside his skin. He started to scream and flail more. I applied more pressure to hold him down but he continued to move making me do a sloppy job.

"Cosa vuoi? Cosa vuoi sapere? Per favore! Io... te lo dirò. Per favore!” [What do you want? What do you want to know? Please! I...I'll tell you. Please!] He started to sob and cry.

“Stop…moving. People will think I got fucking sloppy.”

I continued as he screamed, pulling back his skin bit by bit. Not going as far as I normally would, I matched the other side, allowing it to hang off and revealing what was just under the skin. Someone behind me threw up and I turned, my brow furrowing.

Turns out, Lec could not hang. He was leaning over the back of the table, holding a bag now filled with whatever lunch they had.

“R-Rosaria…” Boris looked at me with utter disgust.

It was Keenan who reached over and dumped the contents of the black pouch onto the table. All of them stepped back as though the coins themselves held death. Smirking, I rolled my eyes.

“You are all so over dramatic.”

Keenan looked up at me after slowly reaching out to take a coin in his hand. “Isn’t this…this is the coin of Kharon?”

“It is.” I looked back at the guy who was breathing like he’d just sprinted ten miles, uphill, in the middle of summer.

“Why do you have it?”

I snorted. “Because I made them. What a stupid question. Ask the real question you want to ask. Go ahead, Keenan. Ask it.” Staring at him, he couldn’t look away.

He swallowed hard and his hand started to shake. “I…I don’t...”

“You don’t want the answer? That I am Kharon?”

Keenan took a step back, dropping the coin on the floor like it burned him. My smile turned to a frown instantly and shook my head.

“If you’re going to distract me, get out. I don’t need you here.” I turned back to my victim who flinched just at my gaze.

“Rosaria…”

I threw a knife and it stuck in the wall less than a couple inches from Boris’ ear. His eyes widened as he now stood like a statue.

“You couldn’t get the job done. You couldn’t find my love. So it’s my fucking turn. Get the fuck out.”