Page 17 of Blood Bonds
He snaps his fingers and the guards all finally clear out, leaving Kieran chained to the restraint point at the other end of the tent where he can see everything that Davies is about to do to me.
Fuck, I hope he has a strong stomach, because shit is about to get rough.
Chapter Six
Oli
The obsessionthat Davies has with his set of knives is disturbing. I have to remind myself that he’s absolutely getting off on prolonging his fondling of them in the tool desk. The sounds they make as he runs his fingers along the handles are like the world's most twisted and macabre bells, warning me of all of the pain he’s about to put me through.
“There’s something I need to discuss with you before we start, something that you gave to one of the women in the shower block yesterday. The cameras can see you both interact but not what you handed her. Tell me what it is, and I’ll refrain from killing the girl.”
I think of nothing.
Blackness.
Inky nothingness in a desolate and barren wasteland of oblivion.
Nothing makes Davies angrier than my faultless ability to empty my brain out. He had no idea that one of my fathers, Vincenzo, had been a Neuro. He was the stay-at-home father with whom I’d spent the most time with, and even as a small child, he’d played this simple game with me—how many different ways can we empty our minds to utter blankness? Even as a very little girl, I’d be quizzed and tested until I could become a calm, blank canvas.
I wonder often if he’d known that someday I’d be facing this man, if my mother’s dreams of oleander flower-filled cribs also showed a madman obsessed with breaking inside my mind to destroy my life, and that’s why Vincenzo had been the one chosen to primarily raise me.
It makes more sense than I want to admit.
Davies picks a knife, the long carving knife that’s sharper than a surgeon's blade, and steps towards me. “These games grow so tiresome, little Render. Must we always play them? The woman is strong enough that we were planning on keeping her, but that’s not all. Her brother is a leading Tac operative, a pain in my ass.”
Her brother is nothing.
Her brother is absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
I am a blank slate of zero thoughts about him.
“Did you meet him in your time away? Is he the reason you gave her something? She’s not going to escape, you know. If you’re hoping Shore will come after you, I can assure you that he might be strong and have tricks up his sleeve, but he’s no match for me.”
I need a subject change, and fast. “I didn’t give her anything. She gave me a job, and I went to check she was okay. I came here in an apron and work sneakers, it’s pretty obvious I’m not lying.”
He grins at me and waves the knife. “Then why is it that a simple, Neuro-gifted woman could make three fully grown men disappear into thin air? Two of them were Shifters and at least twice her size, and when they approached her in the shower block for a little fun… gone.”
It’s easier to be blank about this. I’d already guessed what had happened in the shower stalls, and I’m incredibly glad that I’d been able to get to Kyrie before it happened.
I shrug and roll my head on my shoulders to look back up at the fabric panels of the ceiling. “I’m a little confused about why you’re bringing this up with me. All of that chaos is outside of my skill set, and you know it.”
He grins at me, his eyes wandering around the room before he snaps, leaning over me on the table and snarling in my face, “And we both know a little Neuro sheep couldn’tdevourgrown men alive and leave nothing but a little DNA matter behind! So whatdidyou do, Render? You know better than to make me angry.”
I know better than to end up here again, and yet I walked right in here after that woman, so I’ll be damned if I’m going to sell her out to save myself a little pain. “I know nothing. I’m still the same little stupid girl you had here last time, so you really shouldn’t bother with all of this. It’s a waste of time.”
The first press of the knife to my skin doesn’t actually break it, it’s more of a warning that he doesn’t appreciate my tone, and he snaps, “I saw you hand her something in the showers. The camera didn’t pick up on what it was that you gave her, but youwilltell me. Whatever you’ve done while you’ve been gone, whatever you’ve become, you’ll never be stronger than I am. If you don’t tell me what it was that you gave her, I will bring her here, and I will do everything to her that I’ve done to you, little Render. You’ll repay that woman’s kindness with pain and a slow death.”
Nothingness.
Hold on to the nothingness because it’s much harder to stay blank when there are other people in this stupid fucking hellhole who I want to protect, but if he brings Kyrie here, then I’ll find a new plan.
There’s always a way through this.
He clicks his tongue at me like he’s disappointed and pulls the knife away from my skin. His favorite form of torture is edging, and I loathe him for it. I’d rather he just freaking stabbed me already.
He steps back over to his tools and puts the carving knife down, fussing with the handles again as he says, “Cold little Render, I should’ve known you wouldn’t care that much about some useless woman. But what about your Bond, hm? I can heal him. Let your bond out to play with me now, answer the questions I have, and I’ll heal your Bond. He’s starting to look a little green over there. Linda and Zarah said the wound over the break is looking infected too. Blood infections can move quickly, you know.”