Page 71 of Locked Souls

The first slice of my blade through his flesh is the best. The feeling of watching his blood drip onto the floor as he screams and thrashes is indescribable.

I lose count of how many times I cut into his flesh, telling him how each wound is a reminder of all the pain and suffering he’s caused me, my family, and so many innocents.

His screams echo around the room as the blood pool at my feet grows, and his face is almost unrecognizable. He’ll never be able to sneer or look down his nose at someone again.

Slicing up Nixen until he looks like Swiss cheese was fun, until he screamed so much his voice was almost gone, and he can barely keep his head up. Rooke has to hold him up, and I realize it’s boring when he’s not putting up at least a little bit of fight.

Then I remember I’m not the only one looking for revenge.

“Isabella isn’t going anywhere, Kian. Will you hold Nixen up for Rooke? I think he wants to have some fun as well, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do,” Rooke growls, emotion and anger dripping from each word. He lived through so much horror before I joined him.

Rearranging ourselves, we attach the belt loop to the hook hanging from the ceiling. This way, Nixen’s shiny shoes are barely touching the ground and Kian is able to tie his arms behind his back.

“Have fun,” Kian grunts, stepping away with a smirk.

Rooke beats the shit out of Nixen, making his body sway, only for him to come back to meet his fists. Nixen’s body is a mass of bruises and cuts, with so much blood running down into a puddle beneath him, as Rooke stands before him, breathing hard.

“You tried to ruin my life!” Rooke screams. “For what? Because your son loves me? You’re a fucking bigot!”

Punch, punch, punch.

We all watch in silence, letting Rooke have this moment. The sounds of fists connecting to skin, muscles, and tissue are the only noises in the room as Rooke breaks. He’s been trying so hard to keep it together, but it was only a matter of time before this happened.

“It’s not enough,” Rooke snarls. “Why isn’t it enough?!”

“What do you need?” I rasp, swallowing hard as I watch him.

“I need to make him hurt more,” he says. Kian loosens Nixen's binds for a moment, causing him to collapse onto the ground, so he won’t completely strangle to death. That’s too easy a death for him.

“There’s pliers, a blowtorch, brands, what do you want?” I ask, turning toward the table full of torture instruments.

“I’ll give you anything you want if you stop!” Nixen screams, coughing as he struggles to breathe.

Now the belt is loose, we can see there’s a red ring around his neck, and Kian looks disgusted at his words, so he hits the button to snap the belt tighter around Nixen’s neck.

Kian slowly raises him so he doesn’t snap the man’s neck too soon, his feet struggling for purchase, as if it’ll help. It won’t, but the mind convinces us of crazy things.

“I think fire will help. I want him to burn,” Rooke says, his eyes wild.

We’ll need to change rooms to torture Isabella, and my gaze meets Kian as he worriedly nods. I don’t know if this will help, but we deserve to make Nixen pay for his sins. As the blowtorch turns on, Rooke squats low to the ground, grabbing one of Nixen’s feet before stripping it of his shoe and sock.

Nixen makes strangled cries as he attempts to kick him away, but Rooke is a lot stronger than him, now that he’s no longer drugged. One of his hands dwarfs Nixen’s ankles, holding him still as the other reaches out for the blowtorch.

My hand is completely steady as I give it to him, making me wonder what that says about me.

There’s no noises other than Nixen’s as Rooke applies the flame to his foot.

Levi, Chastity, and Tempest watch on, but there is no judgment on their faces. I appreciate that.

The skin quickly blackens, the heat destroying his foot.

Isabella must have passed out from the gunshot wound, because she begins to scream as she opens her eyes. The stench of burning flesh must have woken her. Tempest and Chas continue to just stand by watching, silent witnesses to an evil man’s punishment.

“You’re monsters!” Isabella screams. “Stop! Please. You can’t do this to me.”

She tries to crawl to the door, but Levi blocks the exit, rolling his eyes.