Page 91 of He is Poison
“Yeah?” Domenico workedthe rope like it was making scrambled eggs. Easy-peasy despite the blooddripping from his fingers. He wasn’t shaking. He wasn’t frightened ordisgusted. More pissed off than anything else.
Seth’s heart on theother hand was on a marathon to nowhere. Running too quick to be able to makeit to the finish line. “Are you all right?” Seth approached him slowly, nowthat adrenaline oozed out of his body, his legs became wobbly. Dom’s facelooked like it needed medical attention, but there was too much blood for Sethto tell. Not that he knew anything about dealing with wounds.
Dom actually turned hishead to look at him with a slight frown. There was blood already coagulatingaround his nostrils and traces of it running all the way to his chin. He lookedlike he had just finished feasting on a raw, fresh kill. “Why?”
Seth swallowed. Was it astupid question? He reached out to Dom’s face, but pulled his hand back when henoticed it was covered in blood. “I— Never mind, you seem fine,” he uttered,completely out of his depth. Pain in his arm now kicked in with full force,throbbing with a stinging heat.
“And you? That waspretty good,” said Dom, looking at the unconscious man at his feet. “I shouldmake the fucker clean this all up first thing when he wakes up.”
“I did?” Seth lookeddown at the bloodied stump and bruised face of the young Asian man. “It’s him,isn’t it? He lost his hand for my finger.” It wasn’t a question at this point,and Seth spat at the enemy.
“Doesn’t matter. Hedeserved whatever he got.” Domenico started searching the man’s pockets.
Seth went over to thedead man and had a better look at his face. Bile rose in his throat when he sawa face he’d recognize anywhere. “It’s him. The guy who ordered to cut my fingeroff. How the fuck did they get here?” He tapped his foot on the floor, annoyedat the blood that wouldn’t stop dripping from his arm.
“Clean your wound first,and I’ll sew it up,” muttered Domenico, fishing out a folded piece of paper,which, miraculously, wasn’t soiled.
Seth turned his head toDom in panic and looked at the long slash on his arm. “No, no, no, it’s fine!It just needs a bandage.” Oh God, he didn’t want home-grown surgery. Stumpslike the guy on the floor had came from that.
“I’m not discussingthis.” Domenico opened his mouth to say something more when the fallen guystirred with a grunt of pain. “For fuck’s sake...”
The man’s eyes slowlyopened, and when Dom silently gestured for the knife, Seth passed it to himwithout a word. For a moment, he considered going to the bathroom under thepretense of cleaning his wound, but he had to stop chickening out.
The guy let out a shakybreath. “My father...?”
“Dead,” said Domenico ina voice devoid of emotion.
The man pursed his lipsand took a deep breath through his nose. When he tried to spit, Dom effortlesslystopped him by hitting his chin.
“Who’s Mr. Tropico?”asked Domenico, showing him the unfolded piece of paper. It was a printed oute-mail.
“Fuck you,” was all thereply he got, and Seth wasn’t even all that surprised.
Domenico sighed. “Look,how much flesh do you still have on your body? We can either carve thatinformation out of you or you’ll just tell us.”
A shiver ran down Seth’sspine, and going to the bathroom didn’t seem like such a cowardly prospectanymore. He had to clean his wound at some point…
“I don’t know who heis,” the man spoke, wheezing slightly. “It was anonymous. Someone in yourfamily must hate you.” He bared his bloodied teeth with satisfaction.
Domenico crooked hishead. “What aboutyourFamily?”
The man squinted at him.“It will thrive even with us dead, it was a personal vendetta.YourFamily is rotting from the inside,” he rasped and, to Seth’s horror, grinned,showing off a set of bloodied teeth.
“And you pissed yourselflike a little girl.”
The smile was instantlygone, and the man snapped, “And you fuck your brother, fag.”
Seth took a step back inhorror. They must have spied on them before this attack. He would pay to turnback time and un-hear it. As long as no one said it, it wouldn’t exist.
Domenico shot to hisfeet and slammed his boot into the man’s face with a bone chilling crack. Hisbody jerked upward, convulsing, but Dom didn’t step back after the hit. Heturned his heel, digging the thick sole deeper into the crushed skull. The bodystilled.
Seth took another stepback and clenched his fists in silence. His body was a mixture of shivers andsweat, but he couldn’t help feeling like justice had been done. No one would becutting off his fingers and getting away with it.
Domenico rolled his headwith a slight crack, his shoulders tensing. “There are disinfectants, rags, andrubber gloves under the sink. You could prepare everything while I deal withthe bodies.”
Seth swallowed, watchingthe perfect predator in action. Cool as the breeze still coming in through thewindow. “What will you do with them?”
Domenico snorted. “Ithink our girl needs some company for the night. Maybe that will unwind hertongue.”