Chapter 174: The Torture Continues

Mara, Jarek, and Rob now looked as if they were hanging between life and death.

Hours after the attack, the cold place stank of rust and blood.

The three of them were hanging from heavy iron chains fixed to the ceiling. The metal cut straight into the skin of their wrists and ankles, holding up every ounce of their battered weight.

Every time someone twitched, the chains gave a low, dull rattle that echoed off the damp stone walls. Plus, they didn’t look like wolves anymore.... Hell, they didn’t even look like people.

Having shifted back during the fight, they hung there completely naked, covered in dried mud, purple bruises, and dark, crusty blood.

Rob was hung by the left, and he was as crooked because his right arm was gone from the shoulder down, leaving a jagged mess of torn muscle where the rogues had pulled it off.

Mara was next to him. Her left leg was missing all the way to her hip, and the skin around the ruin was ugly and black.

Jarek hung the lowest. Both of his legs were torn off below the knee, and they looked ragged and extremely swollen.

On the stone floor beneath them, thick red pools had spread out and now looked like black mirrors. Blood was still dripping from their stumps, hitting the floor in slow, steady splashes.

Their chests barely moved as they breathed, shallow and ragged. Swollen bodies, split lips, and caked in blood, they just hung there like broken dolls.

Della watched them all with dark satisfaction. She’d just returned after leaving them here for about a day or so. They would be dead if not for their wolves, and she had to thank those wolves because they were giving her more chances to torture them even further.

Her feet made no noise as she approached the three of them. The colour of her eyes now fit the aesthetic of the room, and something large and heavy dragged on the floor behind her.

She stopped in front of them and gave each of them an empty once-over. They definitely looked worse than her. They were barely breathing. Their heartbeats were slow and weak. The torture must be severe for them.

"Wake up," She uttered.

None of them moved.

They weren’t pretending to be asleep. They just didn’t have an ounce of strength left.

And then, something that felt like red-hot iron rods slammed into their spines, and before they could even process the heat, Della yanked back.

Their flesh was torn by the spikes that had raked deep, pulling out raw meat.

All of them groaned, their eyes popping open in horror and pain. What the hell was that?!

Mara slowly glanced at Della and saw why she was going pale. Her already white face turned even worse, and she began to beg again, "Della... please... just... just kill me... don’t do this,"

The other two also saw the whip, and their eyes went wide. It was a heavy whip braided from dark, oily leather, studded every few inches with tiny, hook steel barbs. The hooks glistened with a greenish liquid that smelled faintly of copper.

It was poisonous.

SHIT!

"I do hope you all survive," Della said, and began walking around them with the whip still dragging heavily on the floor behind her, "Because I’ve got more in store for each of you,"

"Let go!" Jarek yelped, his eyes still spitting violence through the pain, "Once I get out of here, I’ll make sure you don’t survive a second time!! I’ll fucking tear you into pieces myself! My gang already knows I’m here, and they are on their way! They can easily track me down!"

Della smiled again, "Ahhh..." She feigned ignorance, and then raised what she was holding in her other hand in their faces, "You mean...them?"

What she was holding was the head of a member of their gang. And this one was in charge whenever Rob and Varek weren’t present.

Their faces changed again.

"What the fuck are you??!"

"She smiled again, then tossed the head aside, "I’m the one you all tried to kill. And now, I’m here to pay the favour...with a little dash of interest,"

And then, she wiped them again.

Their backs were torn open, and the greenish liquid slipped into their bodies and suddenly amplified the pain they were already battling through. It was as if someone had poured a bucket of acid into their bleeding bodies.

The venom grabbed every shredded nerve ending and set it on fire, sending a blinding bolt of agony straight to the back of their brain. Their skin felt like it was actively melting off their bones, bubbling and searing from the inside out.

Della listened to them scream, and the satisfaction was something. It wasn’t enough, but it was definitely something.

She wished it were Beatrice, Evangeline, Jaime, Selene and Augustus that were hanging here... but unfortunately, she was going to have to break their minds first before their bodies.

Della hit them again.

And again.

Soon, the crack of the lash became a rhythmic and sickening beat against the quiet of the night.

Every strike landed wickedly, and it was always followed by the wet tear of metal barbs ripping through already shredded flesh. Then came the poison, searing into fresh trenches and dragging fresh, breathless shrieks from their throats.

"Please—"

The word barely made it past Rob’s split lips before the next blow caught him across the ribs. He choked on his own blood, his remaining arm twitching uselessly against the chains.

Next to him, Mara tried to lift her head, her swollen eyes desperate as she looked for any drop of mercy, "Stop... please, just stop..." Her voice was a broken and shredded whisper, begging for an end to the burning.

They didn’t even have the breath left to scream properly anymore. Every time the whip snapped back, bringing away blood and tiny bits of skin, their bodies jerked in unison.

The begging quickly dissolved into pathetic, breathless whimpers, their chests heaving as they tried not to inhale — because even air on their open backs felt like boiling oil.

And still, Della said stop.

It kept going on.

She made sure she had pulled them all to the very edge of death — vomiting blood, eyes completely bloodshot and unrecognisable, sweating profusely, before she finally... lowered the whip.

She couldn’t let them die.

Not yet.

Not when she still has one more thing in store for them.

And this part...she was going to try and enjoy it to the fullest.