“—- or what?” a simple two worded question as his arms slid calmly behind his back. “as far as i know… you’re out of your element here and trust me… i’ll do whatever is needed for as long as i need it. your complaints will only lengthen your time here.”
he shouldn’t have let her see that; shouldn’t have let his human guise fade away like that. oh, how ky was lucky she didn’t just run away right then, but he needed to let everything slip away for a while. he needed to relax – that was only a short while ago, but he still knew explanations were in order. he had to say something – anything, but he couldn’t even get out proper words. not right now at least as a hand ran over his face. “— don’t ask,” he said through a few coughs. “just don’t ask.”
Of course she would ask on this specific night. So many people dressing up in costumes – maybe he should learn a spell to turn the people INTO the creatures they were dressing as. Or maybe that was in some movie he’d watched when he was younger.
A deep sigh escaped his lips as soon after he rubbed at his temples. “As long as I get to make a few ghosts… sure.”
he wasn’t even doing anything drastic; just following her. no violence, no anger, and no need to reveal his true form – not yet. ky was going to ask a question, but her outburst made him re-think his actions. at least for the moment. “— look. i just.” there was a shake of his head. “i just want to talk.”
His hand skimmed along bruised and broken skin, a blinding light glowing from his fingertips and winding down into the wounds, stitching them closed. “ Do you know how much pain a body can withstand before it breaks? “
His tone was light, almost conversational… even as the light faded. And his hands closed around the hilt of a crimson stained knife, once more. “ I do. It’s an impressive amount. And with healing inbetween sessions like this, we can stretch that even further… perhaps even indefinitely. —– But, what about the mind? “ The tip of blade was traced up his captive’s arm, up over the binds restraining them, resting just below their chin, pressing just hard enough to prick skin… to draw the tiniest bead of blood welling up against it. “ That’s where the true question lies. Some have cracked in minutes. Others, hours. Days. There have been a few who’ve lasted weeks. ——- All you have to do is tell me what I want to know, and I’ll stop. You’ll be free to go. But, until then… well, I have eternity, but how long can you stand this?“
This wasn’t the first time he found himself in a situation like this, but it was the only one in memory where he felt this powerless. Torture was what happened; even more so when someone (meaning Ky’lar) didn’t keep up to ‘family’ standards. Even so… it didn’t hurt as much as this. Not by a long shot.
So, the half-demon was just a little bit more agitated than usual. He could deal with pain -he had quite a tolerance for it- and blood, but this was something else. His healing wasn’t even working as it should be – so, that spelled bad news. Especially for him.
A hiss escaped his lips as the questions were asked; he could stand this. No, he had to stand this – he was better than this- and now he just had to show it. Somehow and someway… he wouldn’t break. If he did? He’d endure worse than this in Hell and he wasn’t ready to deal with his family yet. Not today.
“As long as it takes.” The answer was firm as his eyes closed tightly. “Hours, days, and even months. As long as it takes.” He was about say ‘do your worst’, but even Ky knew taunting wasn’t going to work in his favor this time around.
“And I find myself at a lack of caring,” he said bluntly. “Their lives are meaningless.”
A quiet laugh at that first statement. But, then, the young hunter’s smile faded. She slumped back in her chair, letting the old book fall closed on the table. “ Yeah, believe me, I know s-something’s coming, too. My folks have been freaking out f-for a while. “ A moment of silence as Vivian tried to work up the nerve for her next words. “ I’m scared, Ky. Really a-actually scared… I don’t know how the h-hell I’m supposed to help. Or even if I c-can. I don’t actually know if it’s better for m-me to stick around or… if I should just get out o-of everyone’s way?“
“i think you shouldn’t get involved.” more importantly, the moment she was involved, was the moment that she became a danger. not just to him, but to everything – a reason to why her remaining out of everything was important. however, if she did get involved… he wouldn’t be able to stop her. no, he would have to eliminate her one way… or another. not due to the fact he wanted to, but due to the fact it was more so expected of him. “it will be safer that way… for everyone.”
“And I still don’t see why I should care.” More importantly, the thought of why Ky needed to care was on his mind, but he didn’t ask that. No, he wasn’t going to waste his breath on something like that.
“ Ah, so the good, old-fashioned trickery… classic. “ But, the creature inside fell silent for a moment after that, contemplating whether or not she should speak the words on her mind, now. The last thing she wanted was to piss him off, again. “ You do know…?“ A pause, then. “ Listen, it’s not hard to see you have an attachment to this kid. So, I think its fair to warn you, she’s going to have a HELL of a time forgiving you after something like that. ‘Cause, yeah, pretty sure she’s gonna be pissed. “
“I believe that whatever comes of this isn’t your problem or have you forgotten who you’re speaking with?” Even if she didn’t, Ky was not above pushing is status into the equation. As much as he openly sated his status in hell was just for show…. he’d use it whenever it was needed to keep the ‘lessers’ in line. “Do your job an’ i’ll do mine, got it?”
Hellfirebound 