Page 109 of Taste of Blood

I offer him my most deranged grin.

“Now, nod if you understand.”

Cosgrove looks around him warily and nods.

“Great,” Dante replies. “Now, one more time. Why did you betray me?”

Cosgrove opens his mouth to answer then eyes Roland’s clenching fists and thinks better of whatever he was going to say. “I needed the money.”

At Dante’s nod, Roland punches Cosgrove in the nose again. “What?” he cries. “I was telling the truth.”

“I know,” Dante consoles him. “I just figured you needed a little punishment for BEING SO STUPID.”

He starts to pace again. “I’d ask you why, but we all know the answer to that. Gambling is a weakness, and you’re a weak little man.”

Cosgrove starts to sob. “I know. I can’t help myself.”

Dante leans over him and grabs his jaw, shaking his head. “Shut the fuck up, you spineless worm. How the fuck did you even get on my crew?”

“I can do better, I promise. Just give me another chance.”

I roll my eyes; we’re at the bargaining phase now.

“Here’s what you’re going to do,” Dante says. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about the Python’s operation. How many men, where they meet, what they’re into. All of it.”

Cosgrove stops crying and stares at Dante wide-eyed. “I-I can’t.”

“Why not?”

His voice is barely audible when he answers. “They don’t trust me.”

Dante smiles at him. “And you think I do?”

He nods at me and I pull out my switchblade and step closer, clicking to open it right next to Cosgrove’s ear. He jumps at the sound, then cowers away from me when I lean over, my voice a sibilant whisper. “I like cutting things.”

To prove my point, I press the knife under his chin and slowly drag it down his neck, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I walk around to face him and make a show of bringing the blade to my lips and lapping the blood off it. I love letting my monster come out to play.

“Care to see how much blood you can lose before descending into madness?”

Cosgrove swallows and shakes his head.

“Here’s what I don’t understand, Alvin,” I tell him. “You betrayed your Guild for more money, so why were you holed up in a seedy motel like a little bitch?”

“I told you, they don’t trust me. They said they’d k-kill me.”

Dante laughs. “So you managed to piss off me, a bookie, and the Python? I’m surprised you’re still alive, though for how much longer remains to be seen.”

“W-what do you want to know?” Cosgrove asks him.

“Let’s start small. How did you meet them?”

Over the next hour, Cosgrove tells Dante everything he knows about the Python’s operation. Granted, like the others I tortured, he’s never seen the leader himself, nor the one they call R7. The guy who recruited him was called B64. There were nine of them in his group, all Clan. All Crimson Guild. He was the only one who worked directly for Dante. He told them everything he knew about our operation. For that fact alone I know he’s earned his death when this is over.

I only had to coax him once, jamming my blade into his thigh when he refused to tell Dante where they met.

When we’ve gotten everything out of him he can give, Dante nods to me and leads the others out of the room.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, lover,” I coo.