Fifteen
1001 Words
“The fun part?” I asked.
“You didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun, did you?”
We arrived on the prison floor just in time to see the guards carry Mack, who kicked and snarled at the guards, into the interrogation room.
I approached the door and found Mack restrained to the chair. He spat when he saw me.
“b***h. Get me out of here.”
Gemba stepped between us.
“Hello, Mack,” he said.
“You — but why?” Mack struggled against the straps holding him in the chair. Did I see recognition on Mack’s face? He somehow knew Gemba?
“You’ve been selling to humans. You know you can’t do that.” Gemba’s approach was as soft as his voice. The angel looked ready to strike.
“And why not? So you can keep it all to—”
Gemba backhanded him across the face.
“Now, Mack, let’s not go about slinging accusations. We need info and you need a time out. When you tell us what we need to know, you’ll stay here until you’ve learned your lesson.”
I couldn’t see Gemba’s face, but his voice dripped with venom. A threat hung unspoken in the air between them.
“I’m not telling you s**t, traitor,” the wolf growled. His eyes narrowed and became more wolf-like. More animalistic.
“You’re right. You’ll be talking to my associate. Alice. I believe you two have already met.”
He turned to me and motioned for me to get closer.
“Alice, you know the drill by now. I need to know who his supplier is and where I can find them.”
I wasted no time in turning on my charm. It wasn’t hard to keep his attention. He fell under my influence with little effort on my part.
“Hello, Mack,” I whispered in his ear.
“H - hello,” he breathed.
“I need some information and you want to help me get it, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Tell me the name of the person you buy the Void from.”
“I only know his fake name.”
“He has a fake name?”
“Eric.”
I looked back at Gemba, who leaned on the door frame behind me. He motioned for me to continue.
“Where can I find this Eric?’
“A warehouse.”
I stroked the side of his face and ran my hands over his chest.
“You’ve got to be more specific than that, pup.”
“East side of town. It’s behind that Italian restaurant.”
“Good boy. Keep going,” I pulled myself up so that I was straddling him. He bucked his hips under me.
His energy, his desire was so invigorating. I licked my lips. I could go for another nip when we’re done. I wondered if he sold the drug to my captors. I could make him suffer a little more. Just in case.
He gave me directions and an address to the warehouse. Considering that he might have had any part in my suffering, I wanted to return the favor. I made him desire more but stopped my contact with him. I backed away and moved to the back of the chair.
He looked around, like a drunken frat boy, determined to get what he wanted.
I pulled my energy back and attached my lips to his neck. He strained to get free. I bit. Hard. He screamed and I smiled as I drank from him again.
Fear had a bitter taste, not nearly as sweet as lust. Inflicting pain on someone who’d hurt so many? That was sweet.
I released my bite when he went limp.
Gemba smiled. “Very, very good. With a just a little practice, you’ve improved so much. I think you’ll prove quite valuable to me and our little operation here.”
I licked the last drops of blood from my lips and straightened myself out.
“He’ll prove useful in the future, too. We will eventually need to know who he has been selling to. For tonight, his source is plenty.”
“How long until we let him go back?” I asked. This supernatural brand of judgment and punishment was foreign to me. No trial, no sentencing, only the commands of this mysterious angel kept the prisoners here.
Gemba shrugged. “Not until I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.”
He called for the guards who came and carried him off to a cell.
“What now,” I asked. “Do we follow up on his information? Find this Eric at the warehouse?”
“Now,” Gemba said, “you rest. Tomorrow is your turn to get something out of this.”
I’d been so consumed with the hunt and improving my skills that I’d nearly forgotten about my end of this deal.
“What’s the plan?”
“Some of these losers have information that can help you in your search for justice. They can lead you to their customers and, more importantly, the people giving the orders.”
The wicked grin he wore looked out of place on his angelic face. Dispensing justice must have been a source of joy for him.
Gemba lead me to the elevator and up to the main floor. As I entered my office - turned - bedroom, I realized just how dog tired I was. I locked the door and changed into pajamas.
I settled in the bed and pulled the plush white blankets up to my chin. My messenger bag laid near the pillows beside my head, my babies ever in my reach. I closed my eyes and hoped to dream of vengeance instead of repeating my past torments. I wasn’t granted such a reprieve.
***
Cruel faceless men surrounded me. Wherever I turned, there they were, an endless line of malice. No matter how I squinted and struggled, their faces remained obscured behind shadow. Their wicked laughter filled me with dread.
Their hot breath felt sticky on my body and their touch brought me pain. The world spun, the floor shifted and wobbled. Escape was impossible.
Some gross impulse inside me felt pleasure? No. Not pleasure. Hunger. I felt hunger at their desires. In the cloying darkness, I reached out to the nearest flesh and indulged my hunger. As I drank, their enjoyment increased and fed my hunger.
There was no time in the darkness. There was no self. Only the humiliation, the laughter, limbs tangled in humid sheets. And hunger.
I held onto the hunger because it meant that I existed.
***
- Writer
