~YULIA
Blood and violence.
These were the things I had witnessed ever since I met Issa. I wondered if it was ever going to stop.
“Are those really necessary?” I asked in the stuffy storage room as I watched the three unconscious tied men with knives sticking out of different parts of their joints.
“That is why I told you to stay in the car,” Issa curtly replied.
“Hey, I told him that it was overkill,” Miles said with his hands raised in mock surrender.
“Pain keeps them awake and aware,” Jamal shrugged.
“Let’s get this over with,” Issa said and I couldn’t agree more. I did not want to be here any longer but I needed to know something… anything.
Jamal moved to the middle man and twisted the knife embedded in his thigh. He screamed awake. He looked around in fear until his swollen eyes settled on me.
I winced in pain as I watched breathlessly.
“Let us continue from where we stopped,” Jamal said coldly.
“Child of light,” The man whispered weakly as he watched me.
I corked my brows at his strange words.
Jamal turned to Issa and I. “What do you want to know?”
“Where are the rest of your coven?” Issa asked.
The man smiled despite the pain he was in but he never took his eyes off me.
“We will spill your blood, child of the light,” The man said.
I gasped. Was I the only one in the room listening to him call me that? Or were the others just ignoring him?
Jamal pulled out the knife from the man’s shoulder joint and stabbed him in the same place as before. The man emitted a pain-filled cry and struggled against his bond as he shook with pain.
“Wrong answer,” Jamal said.
I looked away and almost covered my ears as the sickening sound of flesh gave way to the sharp edges of the knife. He let out an excruciating scream and I felt my blood go cold.
“I would answer that again if I were you,” Issa replied.
“We have no permanent place, we are nomads!” The man roared in a voice wracked with agony.
Issa nodded to Jamal. Jamal leaned closer to the man. “You are not giving satisfactory answers, and we have a long night ahead of us.”
Jamal reached for the knife stuck in the man’s thigh. “See, this knife is stuck in the largest vein in your leg. It’s called the sciatic nerve and it’s very sensitive.”
Jamal locked his gaze with the man.
“I am going to twist this knife and you will pass out from pain.”
I swallowed as I nervously looked on. My whole body was shaking and I gaped at how easy it was for Jamal to speak of torture.
“But you will not die, and when you wake up, I will twist it again until all you know is pain.”
Suddenly, the man began to go through a violent seizure and his mouth began to emit white foam. His tremors intensified until his body suddenly went limp.
He was dead.
“Did you kill him?” I asked in a breaking voice as I stared with wide eyes.
“No,” Jamal said. “My method is meant to keep them awake and alive. Cyanide.”
“He killed himself?” I asked in disbelief.
“There was a poisonous pill in his teeth and he bit it down,” Issa said as he watched. He turned to Miles. “Check the others for the same thing.”
Miles looked at me with concern. “This is going to be ugly, Lady Yulia, nobody here will blame you if you leave now.”
I did not reply and only raised my head in defiance.
“Suit yourself,” He shrugged and produced a small set of pliers.
Miles walked to the first unconscious man and pried open his mouth before putting the pliers in. I heard a crunch and winced as he pulled out what looked like a fake tooth but it wasn’t.
I gagged as he did the same to the second man. Maybe I should have stayed in the car.
“Wake them up,” Issa said. “I am doing this my way.”
Jamal took a step back as Issa punched one of them awake. The man grunted to consciousness. Issa did the same thing to other witch.
“Listen closely,” He said as he looked at the men. “I will only ask once. Who is your leader?”
The man grinded his teeth like the first man had done.
“Sorry, mate,” Miles said as he threw the fake tooth on the floor. “No easy way out from this one.”
“Speak,” Issa said coldly.
“I would rather die,” The man stated defiantly.
“Alright,” Issa replied. He moved so fast that I did not see it when it happened. The man’s head fell from his neck in a clean cut and bounced on the floor.
I went still with shock. The swift brutality of it rattled me. I started trembling instantly and I was sure that my skin had gone pale. Issa turned to the next man whose eyes were wide with terror.
“Would you rather die too?” He asked coldly and as I stared at Issa’s face, he was no longer the man I had come to know. He had become a monster.
“I will tell you everything!” The man yelled desperately.
“Then tell me who you work for,” Issa replied.
“De” The bound man suddenly erupted into flames and we all fell backwards in shock. The guttural scream of pain filled the whole storage as they licked at his skin and melted them away into black coal.
the sickening stench went up my nose and my eyes teared up in an attempt to stay calm. i really wanted to throw up at this point.
“He was about to mention a name,” Jamal said.
“Magical failsafe,” Issa muttered as he watched the body burn. “Whoever did this was nearby.”
“This is fucked up,” Miles said with a shake of his head.
“What a waste of time,” Jamal said.
Issa turned to me. “It’s a deep and unknown rabbit hole, Yulia,” He muttered. “A dangerous rabbit hole.”
“We should leave,” Jamal said. “There is nothing left for us here.”
I could tell how pissed off he was from the way that he sounded.
“Burn everything to the ground, make it look like an accident,” Issa ordered Miles.
“Yes, boss,” Miles said.
Issa grabbed my hand and pulled me gently until we left the coffee shop. I had no idea what to do or where to go from here.
Just this night alone, Over five people had died and I had witnessed most of it.
Issa led the way and we quietly walked out of the now gloomy shop. When we got to his car, he looked at me with an intensity that I did not recognize.
“They are coming for you, Yulia. I can feel it.”