Chapter 19: Butcher

A Prince of the Nobillo

Content Warning: Torture (Non-sexual)

Chapter 19: Butcher

Lindsay was led to the room. The large white room with the pale greenish lights down the long prison hallway. She made the walk every morning, cuffed to two guards, followed by another. She was still sore from the night before, Rivuk still might not be talking to her, but he left no doubt of the intensity of his feelings for her.

He put every ounce of his passion and pain into her until she ached in both body and heart as the silence spoke the betrayal his lips did not. It was still pain, not love, she felt every time he went into her. But it was something, it was still a connection to him. It was better than nothing.

In some ways.

It killed her when he left without a single word. She'd rather he yell at her than this endless silence that felt like a knife in her heart every time. She'd focus on that pain to get her through whatever torture they had in store today.

Mornings were always hell.

They'd whip her, beat her, cut her, all the while demanding answers. Half the time she passed out from the pain. The other half, she just pretended to. Either way, it didn't stop until they thought she was unconscious. Then they'd drag her back to her cell and Carak would come and treat her wounds.

It almost seemed worth it for those hours with him; it wasn't, but knowing he would be there at the end gave her strength. She could endure it. Then Rivuk would come and screw her brains out and she could forget, for a few hours, the pain the silent goodbye and the morning would bring.

But the silent goodbye always came.

And morning soon followed.

Morning and an empty bed in a cell they never cleaned which had grown progressively redder from her own blood. Sometimes she'd come to and see the imprint of her body high on the wall from where they'd thrown her against it. They'd done it while she was faking unconsciousness, too. She'd listened to them laugh at how her body looked when it hit the wall, how it looked crumpled on the floor.

She woke up in the middle of the night sometimes, her heart racing, thinking she heard their footsteps at the door.

She clenched her jaw as they came to the door. Just endure it. Just a few hours and it'll be over and Carak will be there. He'll make it all go away. And he always did.

The door to the interrogation room opened.

"Good morning, Princess Lindsay," Elihim said with an oily smile.

Panic raced through Lindsay's veins. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Our interrogator was not getting the results we required, so we agreed to step in to assist," Elihim answered as the guards hooked Lindsay to wrist shackles which hung above her head, then they did similarly with her ankles to the floor so she was stretched out like an "x".

"We?"

Boz stepped out from behind her, holding a syringe. "Yes, we."

Lindsay instinctively jerked away in terror, but there was nowhere she could go.

Boz took Lindsay's chin in his hand. "I've been waiting a long time for us to have a little privacy." He smiled that sadistic grin she'd seen so many times across the supper table. He held up the syringe between her eyes and pressed the plunger so a little of the transparent liquid squirted out. "I don't know what this is," he said. He jabbed it into Lindsay's arm. "But I know it will hurt." He pushed down on the plunger.

Instantly, pain coursed through Lindsay's veins. She could feel it traveling but was powerless to stop it as it struck her heart. Her body arched up and she screamed. Her arms jerked to grab her chest but the restraints only cut into her wrists. She vomited. The pain!

"And this," Boz said, jamming a large needle into her thigh. "Will keep you from dying."

Everything was racing now. Her heart, her breath, her mind. She couldn't think straight! The pain was everywhere!

"I can make it stop." Boz picked up one needle from a little silver table. "Or I can make it worse." He picked up another. "It's your choice." He turned to Elihim. "Amazing the things Lucian can create, isn't it?"

Elihim nodded. "Truly remarkable."

Lindsay glared at Boz. "Make it worse," she said through gritted teeth.

Boz chuckled. "It's so nice to finally meet a woman who understands me." He jammed the needle into Lindsay's stomach.

It was like a bullet. Her mouth gaped as she gasped for air.

Boz cracked his knuckles. "Now, the particularly fun part about this serum is that it causes your pain receptors to become oh so sensitive." He struck her across the face.

"AH!" she cried. It felt like she'd been hit with a red-hot frying pan.

"Now then, do you understand? Nod for yes."

Lindsay nodded.

"Good. Would you like the pain to end?" He held up the enticing little needle.

More than anything! She shook her head.

A grin spread across Boz's face. "Good." He took her fingers in his hand.

"Remember, Boz, she must be kept intact," Elihim said.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of breaking any of her dear little bones." He yanked hard on her finger, twisting it.

She screamed as she felt it resting just beside where it normally sat.

"I'm just going to leave her a little out of joint, is all."

For an hour this went on. All of her fingers and both shoulders soon followed.

"It's not working! I still can't break through!" Elihim cried in frustration. "How is she blocking me?"

"Maybe you've lost your touch," Boz suggested, ignoring Lindsay for a moment.

"I got her to the door easily enough!"

"I can knock her out for you if you think that would help."

"No, I've tried that already," Elihim said.

Lindsay's thoughts were a blur. The door? What door? The door! Elihim thought he'd gotten her to go to the door that night! He'd been using his powers! He didn't know it was Carak who'd inspired her. That she'd passed the door at all was just coincidence.

A short breath escaped her lips, then another as her shoulders began shaking. It hurt like hell. Good. Let it hurt. They'd showed their hand. They'd lost.

"Is she laughing?" Elihim asked.

Boz looked at her in wonder. "I think she is. Do you think I cracked her?"

"You idiots," Lindsay laughed. "You'll never get me to talk. You can torture me all day. Do your worst! It wasn't you who got me out of my tower, you moron. And you'll never know what did. Don't you get it? You've lost!"

"I've had enough of this!" Elihim strode up as if he was about to hit her, but Boz put an arm out to hold him back.

"No, don't sully your hands in eroki. Let me handle this." He pulled a thick needle and heavy string from his pocket. "You'll shut your mouth or I'll do it for you."

"I thought you wanted me to talk," she mocked him.

He grabbed her face, smooshing her lips together. "I always wanted to do this to those pretty lips of yours."

"Boz." She could tell from the paleness of Elihim's face, the quiver in his voice, this was a step too far, even for him. "The laws."

"Come on, Boz," she said through his grasp. "Do it. Then I won't have to worry I might accidentally say something just to stop the torture of listening to your voice."

Boz's face darkened, she could see the needle in his hand shaking with rage. She steeled herself and pursed her lips with a defiant glare.

* * *

"I'll make you talk, one way or another," Boz shouted as they pitched her into the cell.

She glared at him from the floor, her chest heaving with rage. She hadn't been willing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her pass out. He slammed the door. She listened for his footsteps as he stalked away.

She'd won. Everything hurt from whatever poison Boz had injected her with, her heart felt like it had been in a vice, she could barely even move her arms, but she'd won. The second time she'd gone toe to toe with Boz and she'd clipped his wings again. She lay back on the floor and settled down to wait for Carak, feeling quite pleased with herself.

It wouldn't be long till he came and took away her pain. And she could bear any pain knowing he would come to fix it.