Page 91 of Tear Me Down (Descent to Darkness Trilogy #2)

“Carter told me to wait while he put me in the system, so I figured I’d wait with you.” He turns his attention to Zeke, stands, and walks over. Zeke raises an eyebrow and stiffens as he steps closer, clearly not pleased with his excited energy. “Hi, I'm Adrien.”

“And I'm your worst nightmare, kid,” he says to him, and his girlfriend smacks his chest.

“Be nice to this sweet boy. Hey, I'm Tay.” She sticks her hand out and shakes his hand. I feel Ashia lean into me more as she whispers.

“Please don’t tell me we nonchalantly adopted a teenager?” She giggles softly, and while that sound makes my heart skip a beat, I huff in feigned annoyance, knowing we have to keep him around for a while.

“Definitely wasn’t the intention.”

“Well, you know what they say, give kids an inch?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say as I turn my head, tilting it down just where I need it to kiss her. Those soft lips brush against mine in a gentle swipe before she pulls back. Serena drops the pills in her hand, leaving no room for argument on whether or not she needs to take them now.

“Damien?” Serena says to me as she holds out two pills.

“Serena. I should only have the antibiotic. What’s the second one?”

“You, sir, need so many antibiotics that you have to take two at a time. If you would have stayed at the hospital, like they told you to, they could have given you the bag, but nooo, you wanted to leave. So take it.” She shoves them in my direction again, clearly pleased with the fact that she’s getting away with bossing me around.

Ashia looks at me and laughs, coercing me to obey her stubborn and demanding friend.

The door to the rec room pushes open again, and I look back to see Alex poke his head in .

“We have the black room ready for you, D.” I look down to see her smile fade as she looks down and begins to tremble slightly under my hold. She’s known this entire time that he was here, but I suppose with all of the distractions, it was pushed to the back of her mind.

“I'll be right there.” I tell him just before he shuts the door back.

Hooking my finger under her chin, I lift her gaze to mine and look her in the eyes, hoping to share the conviction in my voice.

“I can make it as quick as you want me to, baby.” She shakes her head, even though the light in her eyes that was just there is dimming subtly.

“No. You do what you need to, so you feel better. No matter how long it takes, I'm fine here.” I hear the uncertainty in her voice. The way it shakes lightly and how her voice wasn’t as confident as it was just a moment ago.

“Ashia…”

“I'm serious, Damien. All I need is for him to be dead, but you need more than that, so I'm fine here. I'm resting, I've got company, and Serena is about to shove this banana and water down my throat, so I'm okay.” She chuckles again, but I can see through the facade. The heat and weight in my chest turns into a cold stone, and my inner demon is starting to claw its way out. He hurt her, turned her bright eyes into something dim, and left marks on her body that she’ll have to look at for the rest of her life. The man downstairs, chained and hung as a gift, is the reason for her fears—the cause for her aching heart, and while I’m not sure there’s enough time left in the world to make him suffer appropriately, I have to keep her needs above my own.

“If I'm not done and you want to leave, you make them come and get me, okay? I’ll end it the moment you need me to.”

“Okay, baby.” She nods and grins, melting my heart. I kiss her forehead and stand, looking to Zeke with a harsh glare.

“If she gets sick or she needs anything…”

“I know, D. I got her.” He reassures me, and after the few moments it takes for me to actually believe him, I turn and walk out of the door. Alex steps in beside me, knowing I’m not going to wait any longer.

“Update me,” I demand.

“He thinks you’re dead, just like we wanted.

A few fake, ‘overheard’ conversations and he thought he could escape.

We even let him try once, let him get to the end of the hall before we ‘caught him’.

So, I’d say he's feeling pretty fucking confident right now.” Alex relays, his tone just as dark and detestable as mine.

Thankfully, they’ve mostly left all of the torturing to me, and the mind games that we played on Hugo should make this more enjoyable.

Perhaps he’ll think he’s gone crazy if he really thinks I’m dead.

The moment he eyes me, he’ll think he’s in his own purgatory.

Which, he is.

“Perfect. Is he awake? ”

“Not yet. Should be any minute. We lowered the temperature in the room just like you wanted, so that’ll wake him.” We walk into the elevator and wait for it to descend. “How’s Ash?” His tone relaxes, and while I appreciate his concerns of her, I can’t let his compassion interfere with my anger.

“Hanging in there. She’s in a lot of pain.”

“The baby?” he asks a little softer, and fuck, that gets me, knowing of his and Trina’s fertility struggles and how long they’ve tried for a family. I spare him of any intense glares and look him in the eyes with a genuine stare.

“Good. Doc said everything looked really good before she discharged her.”

“What about you, D? How do you feel?”

“I'm fine as long as they're okay,” I snap back, avoiding the subject.

“You're in pain too, man. Do you want something for it? All I’ve got is Advil and over-the-counter stuff, but I can get it for you.”

I shake my head vehemently, trying not to lose my shit on him.

“Nah, I'm good. I need to feel every bit of this. She does. I need to be able to work through it.”

“You’re not invincible, man. No one expects you to be.”

“I do,” I answer sharply, and as soon as the doors open, I storm out, borderline desperate to get this started “Darnell?” I ask, needing to know when he and Daisy are inbound.

“Just picked him up, about thirty minutes out.”

“Great. Knock when he gets here.” We approach the door and I’m immediately hit with the evil permeating through the entrance. I soak it in, letting his demons battle with my own before the show begins.

“Will do,” he confirms and steps aside. I unlock the door and walk in to see that despicable, callous, nihilistic piece of shit, strung up like he had my little wolf…

All three knots lifting him up. I feel the wave of rage wash over me again with nothing in its path this time.

There is no stopping me from doing what I'm about to do.

Besides Darnell, all of my favorite devices are laid out on the table and ready to use—along with endless water, electricity, and ways to create a fire.

Anticipation floods my lungs, and now that the moment is finally here, I can unleash the nightmare that hides within my physical form.

There’s no fear of what Ashia will think of me, there’s no environment in which I could be caught.

This is nothing but pure sadism, and I’ll revel in it every moment that I’m allotted.

I pull up the chair Alex left for me and sit it about five feet away from him, so that in moments where I just need to admire the carnage being inflicted, I’ll have the perfect view already set up.

It’s only a few moments before he starts to stir, and the anticipation only grows more, settling in like a dense fog .

The moments that I didn’t get to see of her captivity start to slither their way into my mind.

When she woke up, did she know what had happened?

Did she first wake up in that van, or was it not until later?

Was there anything around her that could’ve possibly given her answers or hope?

With how angry the wound on her forehead looks, I imagine she woke up with a throbbing head.

Perhaps I should bash his head in and wait for him to wake up, just so he can feel the exact pain she did.

Though I know I don’t have enough time for that, it’s tempting.

After his eyes finally open, it takes him a moment to focus, but as he spots me looming over him, they widen into bulging globes.

The ropes above him give away his trembling as I stalk closer and closer to him with every breath he takes, each thud sounding like another nail on his coffin.

His pupils dilate as I creep in close, only about three inches from his fucked-up face, and I can smell the fear on him—the moment he realizes that he’s really not getting out of this alive, and questions if he can even escape me in death.

“What’s the matter, Hugo? You look like you've seen a ghost.” His breathing turns shaky, and any ounce of confidence he had is vanishing at the blink of an eye.

It’s as if he’s staring at the devil and coming to terms with his fate, imaging what Hell has in store for him. Little does he know, I'm worse.

So… Much…Worse…

I grab onto the back of his head, tangling the disgusting, greasy strands in my fingers as I pull—forcefully restraining him so his vision is stagnant—an unwavering gaze pointed directly at the demon he’s unleashed.

“You touched my wife…” Using my free hand, I take my knife, press it to his temple, and slowly start dragging it down his face—watching as the blood begins to bead and trickle down his skin.

“There is not enough hope, compassion, or divinity that could save you now. Every mark…” I move my knife to the other side of his face and restart the process, from temple to jaw.

“That you left on her body will be rectified…” As I move my knife to his chest and trace it down slowly, mimicking the same mark carved on her skin, the bitter, metallic scent of his blood mists the air, acting as bait to lead me further into the darkness.

“Every scream that escaped her mouth, you will hear tenfold from your own throat…” I move my knife into his nostril and bury it in deep before I flick out, cutting the cartilage down the middle.

His grunts ring out, and I immediately begin to feel the ache in my heart, fueling me to continue.

“Every drop of blood you spilled…” I repeat the process to the other nostril.

“Will be avenged…” In a swift movement, I bury my blade into his stomach, and my grip tightens on the handle just as I feel the serrated edge tear through his gut.

I place my forehead against his, allowing my own barely restrained breaths to brush against his face.

His trembling only intensifies, causing my vision to jitter with his erratic movements, and I tighten the grip on his scalp—proving who is in control here.

The feeling of the small pops from his hair ripping out of his head sends chills through my body, causing me to inhale a shaky gasp and melt into his turmoil.

“When I'm through with you, even heaven’s waters will not be able to cleanse me…”