Chapter 177: You beg for mercy, I give none

The Captives still hung where she had left them, and their wounds were now festering.

They didn’t even look conscious anymore. Their heads hung limp, and they remained suspended like before.

The whip cuts across their backs had swollen into thick, dark purple ridges, and pus leaked where the poison had settled deep into the meat.

The air in the cellar was thick with the foul stench of infection and dried blood, and every few minutes someone would shudder from the pain of their ruined nerves.

If they had known this would be their fate, they would never have messed with a rotblood. They never would have accepted a huge amount of gold coins from Selene. Because now, they weren’t entirely sure if they were still alive.

It felt like hell. Worse than hell.

They were waiting for her to return and finally end it all. But at the same time, they didn’t want her to return because only God knows what next she had in store for them.

They couldn’t even stare into those black, endless eyes of hers. Her presence was terrifying.

Mara hung with swollen, dry eyes. She’d cried out every drop of tear her body had to offer. Her wolf was dying and whimpering inside of her.

And she regretted it.

She regretted it all.

She regretted ever being an assassin.

She regretted killing Cordelia.

And she regretted the moment she had killed Annelise. If she could go back to that moment, she would turn around and run off instead.

She would settle and live with the money she’d made working at Eclipse Crown for years. It was more than enough. But her greed to gain more had gotten the best of her.

"You three fucking stink!"

Oh dear Moon Goddess.

Della was standing in front of them. She’d appeared out of nowhere again, but she wasn’t wearing her cloak tonight.

Her clothes were drenched with blood, and her hair was dripping with it. She looked like she was the one who had actually crawled out from the depths of hell, but the blood didn’t belong to her.

It belonged to the rogues she’d killed after stopping at Eclipse Crown before coming here.

"How are we feeling today?" She asked, cocking her head a bit. She turned to Varek, "Angry?" Then Rob, "Confused?" And then, her favourite person in the room, "Sorry and stupid?"

Mara couldn’t even look up. But her eyes were open a little bit.

Della stared at her for a few seconds, and then she reached into her clothes. The small dagger came out slowly, and when Mara saw it her tiny breathing stopped.

Rob lifted his head.

Jarek did the same.

They both knew what that dagger meant.

Mara started shaking again, "Della..."

Della walked closer, and she stopped right in front of her, "You remember Annelise?"

Mara’s eyes filled with fresh tears. They’d borrowed their way through her body somehow and were now flooding her eyes.

"I remember..."

"Good."

Della lifted the dagger, and Mara tried to move back - squirming - but the chains held her exactly where she was, "No, please..."

The blade touched the side of her neck, and her squirming got even louder. "Please... please don’t."

Della didn’t answer. She pressed the blade a little harder, and a thin line of blood appeared, "As an assassin, why are you afraid of a dagger?" Della asked as she pressed it again.

Mara sucked in a sharp breath, and closed her eyes. If she was going to die, then she would die without having anyone see the pain in her eyes.

"Look at me." Della’s voice was compelling. A command her wolf couldn’t seem to power through, and Mara slowly opened her eyes.

Their eyes met.

Those black eyes.

Those horrible, endless eyes.

"I didn’t want to kill her," she whispered, her body trembling.

Della’s expression didn’t change. "But you did."

"I was ordered to. You know I was!"

"And?"

Mara swallowed, "I..."

The dagger moved slowly again. So slowly that Mara felt every little movement of it. Her body jerked, and a broken scream escaped her. "AHHH!"

Rob flinched, and Jarek stared in horror.

The blade hadn’t gone deep, because Della wasn’t trying to finish her just yet. She was making sure Mara knew exactly what was happening, and felt every atom of the pain.

The knife moved another little distance, and Mara’s hands pulled desperately against the chains.

"Please!" She cracked brokenly again, black blood running down her mouth.

Della continued.

"Please, Della!"

"You should have thought about this before you took Selene’s gold."

"I was greedy..." Mara sobbed and gasped.

"Yes."

"I was stupid!"

"Yes."

"I’ll never do it again!"

"Oh, you do not have to tell me that."

The dagger moved again, and Mara screamed. Her wolf whimpered inside her again, and her eyes were beginning to turn white. Parts of her body were twitching involuntarily.

Varek tried to look away, but Della’s voice stopped him, "I wouldn’t look away if I were you,"

He slowly turned back.

Della was still holding the dagger against Mara’s throat, "Watch."

His face went pale.

"Comprehend the full force of what happens when you come after a rotblood. If you ever get reincarnated, and you come across one...you fucking run."

Rob had no choice.

Neither did Jarek.

Mara was crying now.

Not screaming.

Just crying.

Her body had become too exhausted for anything else.

"Della..." Her voice was almost gone."I’m sorry."

Della stared at her.

"For Annelise." Mara nodded weakly, still gasping between her words, "For Cordelia." Another nod. "For everything."

Della’s grip tightened around the dagger, and then she said, "Then die knowing I heard you."

The blade moved again, and Mara’s eyes widened. Her body stiffened against the chains, and then Della stopped again.

This torture was a little more satisfying than the last.

For a moment, Mara was still breathing.

Still alive. Still looking at her with those pleading, glassy eyes that looked so innocent.

Della watched her struggle for those final breaths, and she kept on pushing the dagger across her neck till the woman couldn’t even gasp another. Till blood had soaked her from the neck down. Till there was nothing left for her to give.

Mara’s eyes slowly lost their focus, and her body became heavier against the chains.

Finally, she stopped moving.

The place became completely silent.

Della slowly pulled the dagger out of her neck, and blood dripped from its edge. She looked at Mara one last time, and then she turned toward the other two.

Neither of them spoke.

They didn’t need to.

The fear on their faces said enough.

"This place really stinks," Della repeated almost casually, wiping the blood on the dagger on Mara’s exposed skin, "It needs to be decontaminated, and you know the best way to do that?" Her eyes flashed for a moment.

They still looked horrified.

Della reached for the cold floor, and then she picked up two solid rocks. Then, she started to strike them together.

Fire sparkled between them.

"I had earlier smeared this whole place with a little oil a few days ago," She continued casually, almost as if she was speaking to herself this time.

She struck the stones again.

Rob began struggling against his chains, "Don’t do this!"

Again, she struck it. Fire sparked once again. Brighter this time

"Mercy!" Jarek cried, but his voice didn’t make it past a whisper. There was no strength to scream.

"Alright," She nodded and paused for a moment. Then, she quickly struck them again, and this time, she let the stones slip out of her grip, "Oops! My bad!"

The flames spread immediately, and fire crawled across the blood-soaked floor. It reached the wooden supports.

Then the walls.

Then the chains.

The smoke filled the place.

Jarek screamed.

Rob begged.

They both begged.

They begged for mercy.

They begged for help.

They begged for death.

But she could barely hear them. Their voices were low and broken and muddled against the raging fire.

The flames grew higher, and she simply stood there watching them. Their screams became louder, and Della didn’t move.

Not even once.

She had spent years begging for someone to save her. No one came. So why should she save them? Moreover, they deserved this so badly.

She watched until the fire swallowed everything, including them. Till their voices went silent and till their bodies looked crisp.

Only then did she turn around and walk away.