My Mafia Madness

Chapter 18 - Tainted with Venom

Dante took a moment to compose himself, taking yet another drag of his cigarette before standing and making his way over to kneel down in front of the restrained captive he held down in the basement of one of his many warehouses.

Raymond continued to look the Reaper dead in the eye, which might have been a mistake.

Dante’s expression was cold as he blew the smoke out of his lungs, aiming it directly into Raymond’s battered face as he did.

“And just who’s gonna take this city from someone like me?” Dante challenged confidently.

Suddenly Raymond became surprisingly shy and turned his head away, breaking their eye contact.

It appeared he wouldn’t give up his current employee so easily.

Dante grinned at his minimal level of triumph.

This meant that now he got to play with his victim before he eventually killed him.

Standing up once more, the Mafia Boss made his way across the room to where the tables sat waiting for him.

He made an obvious attempt to strike fear into the mind of his victim as he held his hand up and slowly ran it across each one of the tools laid out before him.

He took slow steps as his fingers brushed along each instrument, one at a time.

“Did you know that it’s the brain that controls just how much pain a person can tolerate?” Dante questioned from his position over the table.

His hand reached down and grasped at a black and silver curved karambit knife before lifting it up and carefully examining it.

“Without the brain, you wouldn’t be able to feel pain at all…”

He continued on thoughtfully before adding, “It’s actually quite funny if you think about it. We live in order to feel pain.”

Raymond’s eyes darted toward Dante as he closed the gap between them with confident strides.

Even restrained, Raymond still flinched as Dante crouched back down in front of him once again.

He had a murderous glint in his eye as he firmly gripped at the curved knife in his right hand.

“Tell you what… I’m a reasonable man. How about I make you a deal, hmm?” he urged.

“If you can take what I’m about to do to you without screaming, without making a single sound, I’ll let you go free.”

Raymond swallowed nervously; his eyes caught within Dante’s predatory gaze.

“Deal.”

Dante grinned with delight as he lifted the curved karambit blade up and twirled it between his fingers for Raymond to see.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked.

“It’s a knife.”

Raymond replied dryly, spitting some of the blood he had just coughed up onto the floor.

“Actually, it’s called a Karambit. Originally it came from the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra in Indonesia…”

Dante held it up for Raymond to see a little closer now as his captor continued his apparent history lesson.

“You see, the claw like curve to the blade is what makes it so dangerous. It’s not primarily used to simply stab someone like countless other knives, but rather to s***h or hook at someone’s flesh, much like an animal’s claw would... if it were eating you alive.”

Dante grinned at the last part. He liked the idea of a predator tearing into its prey’s flesh; much like he planned to here and now, in this very moment.

By now Raymond’s heart rate had rapidly increased as he sat thinking of what this maniac planned to do with such a horrible tool.

Dante further added to his fears as he went on.

“I mean, this tiny thing could open up a man’s jugular with one… quick… movement…”

Raymond had grown tired of being taunted and he decided to snap back at his captor.

“So go on then, do it! Slice my jugular wide open, you son-of-a-b***h!” he challenged.

“I dare you!”

Dante shook his head slowly from side to side.

“Now, now. How would I be able to hear your screams if I severed your jugular, Raymond?” he taunted.

“Don’t forget we still have our little game to play.”

“You’re so full of sh-”

Raymond didn’t get the chance to finish his snide comment.

As his captive spoke, Dante gripped the handle firmly and swiftly slashed the blade of the karambit across one of Raymond’s bent knees, slicing open his pants, flesh and muscle in one swift motion.

“AARGHH!”

Raymond’s voice echoed throughout the darkened room, bouncing off the walls and causing Dante to grin with apparent pleasure.

“Oh s**t, I’m pretty sure he just made a sound… boys?”

Dante turned to where both Luca and Stefano stood by watching as he playfully asked for their valuable opinions on the matter at hand.

This was all part of the sadistic game the Reaper was playing with his victim.

“What do you guys think? Did he make a sound or was I just imagining it? Sometimes I just get overexcited.”

His sarcasm obvious, it was clear that Dante was enjoying his game a little too much.

Raymond on the other hand…

Breathing heavily and in an unbelievable amount of pain, Raymond glanced down at his exposed knee as the blood began to gush out all over his pants.

His eyes widened at the surging waves of pain as they suddenly began to wash over him, each one more powerful than the last.

“What the… f**k… did you do?” he cried out between panting breaths.

“It hurts… so f*****g bad…”

“Does it?” Dante asked with a chuckle.

Changing hands, Dante quickly did the exact same thing to Raymond’s opposite knee, slicing it wide open as well.

This time the wound went all the way down to the bone!

“FUUUUUCCKKK!”

By now Raymond had drool pouring out from the corner of his mouth as he began sobbing softly to himself. His words were coming out as slobbered murmurs now.

Dante faced Raymond again with a smile as he lifted the blade up into view, still covered and dripping with his victim’s fresh blood.

“Oh, I probably should have warned you about that huh?” he teased.

“Just a little extra kick I like to add to the implements I torture people with. You see, the blades have all been laced with something called bullet ant venom.”

Raymond was panting loudly now; his eyes were beginning to haze over as he felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness from the incredible pain.

“Don’t worry, the pain from the ant’s venom only lasts up to twenty-four hours or so…”

Now entirely consumed by his Reaper persona, Dante paused and held his face mere inches in front of Raymond’s face.

He looked his victim dead in the eye as he spoke the next part with vindictive malice.

“You should count yourself lucky, Raymond. You won’t be alive for that long.”

Twirling the blade between his fingers, he stared at the blade again as he asked his next question.

“Now, tell me, who do you work for?”

Raymond sobbed a little harder now, torn in so many ways as the pain began to take him over entirely.

“I am not a patient man, Raymond.” Dante warned, still staring at the blood soaked blade he held in his hand.

“One last chance…”

He slashed at both Raymond’s restrained arms now, one s***h with each of his words.

“Who…”, ‘s***h’

“…do…”, ‘s***h’

“…you…”, ‘s***h’

“ALONZO!”

Raymond suddenly cried out at the top of his lungs.

Tears stained both his cheeks as his eyes were held tightly together as his body began to tremble.

Pausing his assault, Dante’s playful expression suddenly fell from his face at the mention of that name.

One he utterly hated hearing.

His top lip lifted into a snarl as he contemplated what this would eventually mean.

Things were about to get a whole lot dirtier from here on in. Now that his rivals the Greco Family Mafia were making their move in on his territory!

Without another thought for his actions, Dante stood up and proceeded to casually straighten his tie, even with the karambit still covered in blood in his hand.

He glanced down at the now hunched over and unconscious man before him. Clearly the pain had become too much for him to bear and he’d passed out.

Dante made his way over towards one of the blood-soaked tables, already covered with tools that had been used on poor Raymond earlier on in the evening.

Apparently they had been torturing him for hours prior.

Carelessly throwing the karambit knife down to ‘clang’ against the metal surface of the table, Dante looked to his loyal henchmen with a serious expression.

“Alonzo, where do I know that name?” Stefano asked cluelessly.

Luca on the other hand, already knew who it was. You could see it in his eyes as he looked to his boss for a reaction.

“The name’s familiar because Alonzo is Don Rafael Greco’s only son.” Dante announced snidely.

Stefano closed his eyes and lowered his head at such news.

“Fanculo.” (f**k) Stefano cursed in Italian.

The s**t had really hit the fan now!

And Dante was clearly beyond pissed at this sudden and unforeseen power play that his rival’s eldest son was attempting to make.

The sheer nerve of that little prick! The arrogance!

His next words were laced with a venom of his own as he spoke them to the others.

“Looks like we're going to war with the Greco Family.”