Page 34

As if he read my mind, Niko added. “I’m just watching to see how you train her.”

I nodded. A test. Celestine better behave .

Celestine looked at the tools on the table, before carelessly shoving some of it to the side, a couple tools falling off the edge and clattering to the floor, making space for her to sit on it. She crossed her legs in front of her, amusement in her eyes.

Bloody hell.

“You’ve done this before?” I asked her.

“Maybe.” She smiled. “But I do find it quite hard to keep them alive.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you do.” You lack patience. I walked in front of the table, trying to decide which tool to use. “Which one?” I asked her.

She leaned over the tools, biting her lip, then pointed at a pen. As if she thought I couldn’t turn anything into a weapon. Cute.

I picked it up and stalked towards my victim. He had a cloth in his mouth, glaring up at me. I love undercover cops because they're trained for situations like this. I’m going to have fun with this one.

I pulled out the cloth from his mouth. “Well, go on then.”

“I’m not telling you–”

I stabbed the pen into his hand, and he let out a groan, stifling a scream. I smirked. “What was that?” I pushed it in more when he didn’t reply, as he clenched his teeth together. “I don’t think I heard that right.”

“You can hurt me all you want, Vulture,” he growled. “But I’m not telling you a thing.”

I smirked, not intimidated that he knew who I was, which was probably what he expected. “Your pain tolerance seems to be quite low.” I yanked out the pen, and he winced. “And this is just a pen.”

I looked to Celestine, for her to pick out her own tool and come to me. She understood without any words, hopping off the table and picking up a giant hammer.

“You are not using that. ”

She let out a small breath but put it down, before pulling out a knife from her thigh strap, and whined. “You never let me explore my creativity.”

“That hammer is too big, we’re not trying to kill him.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then why is it there?”

Good question.

The man’s eyes softened at the sight of her, as if she were an Angel sent to save him. “You’re a child.” He breathed.

“Yeah?” Her eyes sparkled with delight.

“Shouldn’t you be playing with dolls or something?”

Celestine laughed so innocently it caused my heart to stop for a single moment. I grabbed hold of the wall nearby and gripped onto my chest, preparing for this attack to be the one that would take me to the Netherworld.

She cupped his cheeks with her hands. “You’re my doll,” she whispered. “And guess what?”

He was so taken by her, forgetting about the pain in his hand. “What?” He leaned forward, closer to her, eager to hear her next words.

I didn’t have time to stop her as I was preoccupied with my frail heart and ailing health.

She slashed her knife across his face, his nose falling into his lap. “I got your nose.”

The man shrieked, mortified.

Niko cursed, impressed with her brutality.

I stepped back to Celestine and groaned, but I couldn’t help laughing at the joke she made.

“Oh.” She picked up the nose and pushed it back into his face, the squelching noise causing one of the men at the side to cringe. It stayed for a moment before dropping back down onto his lap. “I didn’t do that.”

“I’m going to put you in this chair after this.” I smirked .

She smiled, a bit too excitedly. “Really?”

I pushed her away. “Go sit back on the table, you’re in a timeout.”

Niko coughed to cover his laughter and the other two men next to him were biting their lips to hide their amusement.

She pouted. “I want to play too.”

I gave her a hard look. “Then, wait for me to tell you what to do.”

Celestine stepped closer to me and waited.

“If you cut here.” I pointed with the pen. “It causes barely any damage, but it’ll be painful.” I met her eyes. “Do it.”

She rested her knife on the spot. “Here?”

I nodded. “Half a centimetre deep.”

She did as I said and the man’s screams were halted by Celestine shoving the cloth into his mouth. “Does it actually hurt that much?” she asked him.

The man nodded, whimpering and trembling.

Her eyes moved to me, a certain fascination evident on her face. “Can I feel it?”

“No,” I snapped.

“Cinth,” Niko piped in. “She should know what her victims feel.”

Celestine’s smile widened.

I contemplated for a moment, then nodded for another chair for her to sit on.

One of the men pulled it over. I pushed Celestine down onto it and crouched to her level.

She lifted her top up a bit while I pulled out my butterfly knife and my lighter, running the flame over the blade to kill any bacteria before it touched her skin.

I couldn't hesitate. Not in front of Niko or those other two men. So, I did it quickly, watching her reaction. She winced at the slice, and I grabbed her wrists before she could touch the wound. “Don’t touch it.”

“Please.” She let out a shaky breath. “Do it again. ”

Bloody hell.

I almost did, before I remembered the others in the room. I let go of her wrists and turned to Niko whose brows were raised. “Do you see what I have to deal with?”

He didn’t have a response to what he was witnessing.

I locked eyes with Celestine. I almost lost control, and she knew it. Then she turned to the man on the chair next to her with a mocking smile. “You must be so embarrassed that you screamed so loud.”

“Pathetic.” I laughed with her. My smile dropped when one of the men came over, about to clean her wound, and I roughly pushed him away.

“Don’t touch her,” I hissed, snatching the disinfectant out of his hands and he quickly went back to his post. I gently cleaned and covered the cut.

“I hope you don’t ask everyone to do this to you,” I said in a low voice, pulling her top back down.

She stood up with me and grabbed my collar to pull me down and whisper in my ear. “I only like it when you do it.”

I cursed with a smirk, pulling away and kicking the chair she was just sitting on to slide to the other end of the wall. “Now, shut up and listen.”

She nodded.

We continued our mutilation. I taught her how to make it as agonising as possible without killing and showed her a few more spots that usually had them singing.

“I thought you didn’t know the human body,” she commented.

“I only know pain.” It came out sounding darker than intended but whatever. This was surprisingly a hard one to crack, and I was getting bored.

“I’m not…” The man could barely breathe, sweat pouring down his face. “Telling you…” His body twitched and trembled. “Anything. ”

Very stupidly and pointlessly noble of him. Doesn’t he know they must have posted a job opening for his position by now and would have it filled soon enough? He’s dispensable, everyone is.

I looked at Niko and when he nodded his approval, I pushed Celestine towards the table and lifted her to sit on it. Then, I tugged on her bandana she kept wrapped around her wrist.

“What are you doing?” she asked me.

She let me cover her eyes with her bandana, tying it behind her head. “Don’t look,” I said in a soft voice.

“Why?”

“Because I’m pissed off,” I muttered, taking out my phone and earphones.

“At me?”

I gently rested my hand on her head. “No.” I placed the earphones into her ears and put on a song for her to listen to. Then I turned to the man with eyes so dark even Niko shifted, uncomfortably. I tossed the bloodied pen back onto the table and took out my butterfly knife from my pocket.

Picking up the cloth from the floor, I stuffed it back into his mouth to drown out his screams. She didn’t need to hear them. One of the men who stood next to Niko threw up into a bucket and rushed out of the room, but I ignored them. When I felt he was ready to talk, I took out the muffler.

I swear if he says–

“I’m not–”

I shoved the cloth back in his mouth, breaking his front teeth as I did and continued. The other man standing next to Niko swayed, on the verge of passing out .

The man finally spilled all the names and more, things we didn’t even ask for nor wanted to know. His disclosure quickly turned to pleading for his death, as they always do.

Pathetic.

“Good.” Niko put a hand on my shoulder. “Finish him.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

The man standing at the side offered me a towel to clean myself, his hands shaking, not meeting my eyes.

I took it and handed it back before making my way over to Celestine.

I took my phone and earphones back, placing them in my pocket.

Not wanting her to see the aftermath of the man or what was left of him, I led her out of the room before taking off the bandana.

“Why didn’t you want me to watch you?” she whispered.

“Trust me.” Niko laughed. “You wouldn’t have wanted to see what he did.”

She looked a bit annoyed and offended.

Celestine and I split off into the bathroom to clean up. Niko stood next to me washing his hands in the sink, giving me this sly look through the mirror.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t want her to be afraid of you.”

I shrugged, cleaning my knife of blood. “She’s young, Niko, she doesn’t need to see that.”

He raised a brow with a teasing smile. “You're the same age.”

“She's my responsibility, not my concern,” I snapped.

He patted my back. “Sure, Cinth. ”

I needed a smoke, but I didn't smoke in front of Niko.

He squinted his eyes at something on the back of my neck. “What is this blue stuff in your hair?”

“You can ask Reaper about that,” I muttered.

He chuckled, using a paper towel to wipe it off for me. “I see why you’ve been coming home frustrated now.”

“Yeah, she’s stubborn and annoying, isn’t she?” I sighed, glad he finally understood, as I added more soap to my hands.

“A different type of frustrated, Cinth,” he teased.

Bloody hell. I snapped my head to face him, abruptly turning off the faucet. “You're reading into it.”

We headed out, and he stopped me. “Then, you don’t mind someone else chatting her up?”

I furrowed my brows. “What?”