~YULIA
I was afraid.
The violence was becoming easier. It was almost like second nature to me now. I was scared that I was going to lose myself to it if care was not taken. I was afraid that I was just going to be as ruthless as Issa.
This night alone, I had injured three humans and werewolf and the truth was that they had all deserved it. Iris was in the hospital fighting for her life due to a third degree burn all over her body because she attacked my human best friend, Lana.
The other three were men I had met in a place, a bar called Death Valley. They were sexist pigs who preyed on defenceless women and I felt no remorse knocking their ass out cold.
“Have you always had those ropes?” I asked curiously as Miles bound a semi-conscious Stones.
“I never leave home without it,” Miles said as he fully secured the ex-soldier.
I felt no pity looking at Verne who had three knives in him, with one pinning his hand painfully to the ground. He was losing a lot of blood.
Gaines was still unconscious from the vicious chokeslam Issa gave him. Jordan was the only one conscious and he had a little difficulty talking. I had viciously elbowed him in his throat.
I saw Issa pocket the phone he picked up from the floor. It belonged to Verne, the heavily bleeding ex-cop.
“You did great,” Issa said to me with a proud smile.
“I had my doubts too, but great undercover work,” Jamal said with a nod of approval.
Issa scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, great job, Yulia,” Miles added.
“We make a pretty good team,” I said with a smile.
“Just don’t enjoy this too much,” Miles replied with a bit of worry. “You still have school and stuff.”
“Now for the ugly part,” Jamal said as he looked at the defeated men.
“I need them awake,” Issa said.
“Boss, easy on the chokeslam next time, I think you broke this one,” Miles said, slapping Gaines in the face to make him wake up.
Issa was intently looking at Jordan who was having a difficult time making eye contact due to fear. He walked closer to the rapist and squatted down.
“Jordan,” he said in a low voice that worried even me. “You said some unsavoury things to my lady, you uttered some bold words that I can not forgive. Before I send you to the depths of hell, you need to tell me who your clients are.”
“Eat shit,” Jordan said.
Issa sighed and shook his head. I could tell that Issa was going to hurt Jordan the most. Iran most especially was not going to let him down so easily. The night was about to get uglier than anticipated.
“Tie them all together,” He ordered.
Jamal, Issa and I stepped back and watched in silence as Miles bound the men to each other. Verne’s face was turning white from the loss of blood and yet, I was not bothered by it.
“Are you not worried someone might see us?” Jamal said as we all watched.
“I have cast my shadows, if they come here, all they will see will be total darkness,” Issa responded.
“You control the dark,” Jamal said.
“Among other things,” Issa replied with pride. “Your knives, where did you learn how to wield them?” He asked Jamal.
“Why do you ask?” Jamal inquired as he peered closely at Issa.
“Your strikes were precise, they hit their marks perfectly…in fact too perfectly,” Issa said.
“Who is struggling with low self-esteem now?” Jamal asked with a smirk.
“All done,” Miles walked up to us, dusting his hands dramatically, while also looking back to admire his work.
The men were all secured together with their wrist bound behind their backs.
“So, is this the part where the torture begins?” I asked as my stomach churned.
“There is no point,” Jamal said. “They will not talk.”
“But they can give us a hint,” Issa said and walked towards the bound men.
I followed him.
He produced the phone he took from Verne and dialled the last number that he called. He put it on a loudspeaker and we all waited.
I imagined the person on the line ruminating deeply on whether to pick up the call or not. After three rings, the line came active. Whoever picked up the call did not speak.
“Whoever you are on the other end of the line,” Issa began. “We have your men and I have to say that I am really disappointed you hired these bunch of clowns to do your dirty work, they failed. Why don’t we meet and we can talk like adults on what you want with the girl, I am tired of chasing my tail.”
There was no reply.
“I am saying this because they already told me quite a lot about themselves, one is a rapist, the other is a murderer, one is an incompetent police man while the last one was in the army,” Issa rambled on. “It is only a matter of time before they give up your name.”
“Don’t listen to him, we did not tell him anything,” Gaines yelled.
“He is lying!” Stones followed.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jordan muttered in despair as tears fell down his eyes.
Only Verne kept quiet because he was too weak to protest.
“They are afraid,” Jamal said as he watched the bound men intently.
I saw it too.
“They seem to be afraid of you,” Issa said into the phone to the unknown person at the other end of the line.
“Please,” Verne said in a weak tone.
The men suddenly erupted in flames where they sat. I moved back instinctively.
“Shit!” Miles exclaimed in surprise. Only Issa and Jamal remained unaffected by what was happening.
Wails and screams of agony filled the air as the men struggled against their bonds with fire eating at them.
This had been what they had been terrified of. Magic Fire.
I watched in horror as the men burned and struggled and screamed.
I watched their death.