Blood and Vengeance

The first blood Tribute

AVERR'S POV

The room was colder than she expected.

Not dramatic. Not theatrical. No flickering torches, no dripping blood-stained walls romanticized in fiction. Just concrete. Steel hooks bolted into cement. A single metal chair in the center, shackled to the ground beneath a harsh fluorescent light.

Cold. Unfeeling. Practical.

It made what was about to happen unavoidable. There was no illusion here to soften reality.

Scarlet was already bound to the chair when Averr entered — wrists locked to the armrests, ankles trapped in steel cuffs. Her hair was disheveled, her lipstick smeared, her dress wrinkled from being dragged. Still, she tried to lift her chin with that familiar arrogance.

Then she saw Averr.

Her eyes widened.

“...You?” Scarlet’s voice cracked between disbelief and outrage. “What ... what are you doing here? Is this some sick joke? Did Charlotte send you?”

Averr said nothing.

Scarlet’s voice pitched higher. “Untie me. Now. I’m not the enemy here! I wasn’t even at the wedding!”

“Convenient,” Averr replied, her voice flat. “You missed the spectacle, but not the aftermath.”

Scarlet’s eyes darted between fear and fury. “This is ridiculous. I was always nice to you. Kinder than Charlotte ever was.”

Averr stepped closer, expression unreadable.

Scarlet smiled weakly. “Right? We teased you, sure but that’s what girls do all the time. You know how Charlotte is. She made me...”

“Enough.”

The voice came from behind.

Eduardo entered like a shadow made of purpose, sleeves rolled, gloves on. He moved without sound, without hesitation. His presence swallowed the room whole.

Scarlet flinched. “Who ...who the hell are you?”

Eduardo didn’t answer.

He only looked at Averr.

“My Queen.”

Two words. A vow.

Scarlet’s confusion turned to panic. “Queen? What ... Mallory, what is this? Did you ... hire him?”

Averr tilted her head. “Scarlet.”

Scarlet stilled.

Averr leaned forward slowly, her gaze like a blade. “Tell me. When you and Charlotte laughed about me behind closed doors… did you ever think I’d hear it?”

Scarlet froze. Her mouth opened. Closed.

Averr’s voice lowered.

“Do you remember when you told her, ‘She’s too soft. She’ll never fight back.’”

Scarlet swallowed hard. “I was .... kidding .... it was just...”

“Do you remember when you said, ‘If she died, no one would notice.’”

Silence.

Scarlet trembled. “Mallory… please…”

Eduardo spoke, voice calm. “Confession is a mercy. Do not waste it.”

Scarlet’s breath hitched. “I ..I’m sorry...”

“Too late,” Averr said.

The permission hung in the air.

Eduardo moved.

No theatrics. No screaming metal. No roaring fury.

Just methodical cruelty.

Scarlet jolted as he reached for a small blade laid neatly on a tray. She thrashed. “NO .. wait...i can help you ... i can...”

Her words broke into a shriek as the first cut sang through silence.

Averr didn’t flinch.

He wasn’t sloppy. He wasn’t rushed. He let the pause between each action stretch into eternity — slow, deliberate, almost reverent. Every sound the scrape of metal, Scarlet’s ragged breath, the drip of fear filled the void.

Scarlet switched tones like a broken puppet.

One second begging “Please Mallory! Please I didn’t mean it, Charlotte forced me and you know I was young , if you let me go I'll be kind and be your friend!”

The next spitting rage “You stupid weak little b***h you think he actually cares about you?”

Then manipulation "He’s using you! You’ll be next ,you're just a pawn "

Then sobbing, “I don’t want to die...”

Averr stepped closer until she stood beside Eduardo.

Scarlet’s eyes widened. “Mallory… tell him to stop… please…”

Averr stared at her — this creature who had joined her sister in bulling and emotionally torturing her for years and unexpectedly she felt nothing , no anger , pain just nothing .

“Louder,” she said softly.

Scarlet whimpered. “What...?”

Averr looked at Eduardo. “Make her scream.”

Eduardo’s lips curved slightly.

“As you command,” he said.

Not my queen.

Not are you sure?

Just obedience.

Scarlet’s voice tore into the room but Averr didn’t hear weakness in it. She heard justice.

Minutes or hours passed. Time lost meaning.

Finally, Eduardo turned to her. His gloves were stained. His breathing steady.

“It is done,” he said quietly. “Shall I send her… gift-wrapped?”

Averr nodded.

Eduardo leaned in slightly, his voice low, reverent.

“You will never be soft again.”