Seizing Darkness (Fur, Fangs, and Fairies)

by Mariana Thorn

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” his voice was soft, almost a purr.

  “Yes, I think it’s for the best. It’s the most efficient way to get what we need,” I replied, not opening my eyes.

  “Are you ready then?” He came toward me without a sound, kneeling before me.

  I looked into his beautiful eyes that were so much like Radek’s. “I can handle this. I’m ready.” I got up slowly and stretched. My muscles were a bit stiff from sitting there for so long. But I felt refreshed.

  He stood as well, studying me. I must have passed his approval because he nodded at me and said, “Be careful and take care.”

  I followed him out to where the others had gathered. Dante took his leave as dawn was approaching.

  “Jenna, I need to talk to you for a moment.” I didn’t look at the others as I caught her attention.

  Jenna looked up from the television. “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Come outside with me. I have some things to discuss with you.” I walked to the door without looking back. Her footsteps were right behind me. She didn’t say a word as she followed me out. We both sat on the steps. I tried to ignore the bite of the cold air.

  “Here’s the deal. I want to do this as quickly as possible and with as little damage as possible, and I’ll need your help to do it.” I looked at her, searching her face. I wanted to know what she was feeling, thinking.

  She nodded, so I continued. “Basically, the way this technique works is that it causes extreme pain for a short period of time. He doesn’t fear what we are going to do to him. He may fear what we will do to you though. So we’re going to let on that whatever I do to him we are willing to do to you. What I need from you is the illusion that bad things will happen or are happening to you. Only if it’s necessary will you even be in the same area as him. I want you as far away from this as possible.”

  “I get it. That sounds a lot better than what I assume that Radek would have done to him.” Jenna sounded almost grateful.

  “Well it is and it’s not. What I do will cause unbearable amounts of pain. I will be able to take it away almost instantly. You already know that he has a death sentence. That can’t be changed, but I can make it virtually painless for him when the time comes,” I told her, wishing I could change it for her or somehow make it easier.

  “You can do that?” There was a spark of hope in her eyes.

  “Yes, as long as Madon agrees. I think he will. I won’t go into specifics, but I can make it so he won’t feel anything while it happens and no one but you, me and Madon would have to know.” If this was all I could do to ease her pain, then I would make sure Madon agreed.

  “If you can do that then I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” Jenna’s eyes brimmed with tears.

  I knew what this was costing her and I hated that I couldn’t do anything about it. Her father had made his choices and knew the consequences of his actions.

  “Thank you. I believe this will keep his suffering to a minimum.” I didn’t really care about his suffering, but I cared about hers.

  “Thanks for doing this, Natalya. Please know that I won’t hold anything that you have to do against you. I wouldn’t even hold it against Radek if we had to do this the other way.” Jenna’s voice cracked with emotion.

  “You’re strong, Jenna. You will get through this. I’m glad and honored to call you my friend.” I meant it too. I guess I’d just answered my own question. It is worth caring about people. Even though there might be pain involved.

  “Thanks. So what would I need to do?” She pulled herself together, sitting up straighter.

  “If we have to go as far as bringing you in, I’ll need you to play along. I won’t actually be doing anything to you. You’ll have to be convincing though if we have to take it that far. Do you think that you can do that?” I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to go that far.

  “Yes. I can do that,” Jenna looked me in the eyes with fierce determination.

  “I think he’ll talk as soon as he believes that we are willing to harm you.”

  “All right.” Jenna took a deep breath and stood. I followed suit. “I can do this.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than me.

  I smelled a familiar scent. “Jenna, I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” I said with a smile.

  Jenna gave me a confused look, but headed in. As soon as the door closed, I turned to the tree that I was standing near and looked up.

  “Azumi. It has been a while, old friend,” I said to the Asian woman sitting in the tree.

  Her voice had always been soft, much like the sound of the snake that she was. “You shouldn’t stay out of contact that long, Natalya. We were worried,” she said, hopping down. She handed me a vial marked with a V and one marked with an A.

  “I didn’t intend to. When I have a moment, I will explain everything. Thank you for bringing me this so quickly.”

  “You are most welcome. I need to leave now, but stay safe.” She disappeared back into the trees that surrounded this house. She’d always been good at that. After I was sure that Azumi was gone, I went back into the house. The others were there waiting for me.

  “So here’s the plan. Dek, you and I’ll head over and set everything up. The rest of you can come over when Dante wakes. It shouldn’t take long to get what we want out of them.” I sounded more sure than I was, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “So this will work on the vampires as well?” Val was curious.

  “I’ve had success with it in the past.” I really didn’t want to have to rehash the times I’d done this before. It was never pleasant and I was already calm and relaxed.

  “So what’s all this stuff for?” Radek pointed to the pile on the table.

  “You’ll see.” I grabbed some gloves and the tub of DMSO. Then I pulled the vial marked with a V from the pocket I had placed it in. This got a few raised eyebrows, but no one said anything. We all liked our little secrets and I didn’t want to tell them where I had gotten it.

  Radek gave me a wary look. “What exactly do you plan on doing with that?”

  “You’ll see. Come here, Jenna.”

  Jenna came over cautiously. I put on the gloves and opened the DMSO.

  “This will hurt, a lot, but it won’t harm you,” I promised. “Give me your arm.”

  Jenna complied. I rubbed a small amount of the DMSO on her forearm. Then before I could really think about what I was doing, I added a drop of the venom that Azumi had given me. The reaction was instantaneous.

  “Holy shit that burns! It hurts to breathe,” Jenna wheezed as she pulled away.

  “It will fade in a minute. I gave you a very small dose. You won’t even need the anti-venom. This way you know what you are supposed to be feeling if I need you to play along,” I said. I grabbed her arm again and cleaned it with a cloth. Then I took off the gloves carefully so I wouldn’t get anything on myself.

  “Damn, Nat. If that’s what you do to your friends, I would hate to be your enemy. Why would we need anti-venom anyway?” Radek sounded a little awed.

  “This is venom from a wereviper,” I mumbled, hoping no one would question it. “Come on Dek; it’s time to go.” I grabbed the rest of the items, threw them in a bag, and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

  “Let’s get this over with then,” he said, giving me a look that made me sure that I would be questioned at some point.

  We were out the door and on our way with no more conversation. I could feel the tension coming off him. I stayed as calm as possible. The meditating helped calm me and it also made me more aware of those around me. I could feel and almost taste his emotions.

  “How can you be so calm?” he asked through his clenched jaw.

  “It’s easy when you practice. That’s what I was doing when I was meditating. I’ll teach you when we have time.”

  “You’ll teach me?” he was breathing a little deeper and the tension was gradually leaving him.

  “Sure. It�
�s almost as good as sleeping when you have to go long periods without.”

  “So how many times have you done something like this?”

  “Too many to count,” I replied with a sigh. “I did a lot of it during the end of the vampire-shifter wars. That’s how I know it works well on vampires.”

  “That was one of the wars that’ll be hard to forget. The human wars over the years weren’t very pleasant either. I was at the battle of Gettysburg. But even the death camps of World War Two were nothing compared to some of the things I saw during the Fae Wars.” His face grim. A shudder ran through his body. I knew what he was thinking about. I had seen enough shifter, fae and vampire battles to last a life span – or five.

  “We’ve both seen too much, done too much,” I whispered. My shoulders felt heavy from the weight of it all. “Will it ever end? Humans fighting, supernatural creatures fighting. When will it end?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

  “I don’t know, Nat,” Radek said quietly. After a pause he asked what I knew he had been wanting to. “How did you obtain the wereviper venom?”

  “I contacted a friend and she delivered it,” I said simply. “Some secrets I need to keep, Dek. You will just have to live without knowing.”

  “Fair enough. Keep your secrets.”

  We rode in silence for a while and soon arrived back at Madon’s. All was quiet this time.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with. I really hate this part of my responsibility,” Radek said. “It never gets easier.”

  “I know.” Once we left the car, there was no room for emotion. That was considered a weakness in this crowd. We couldn’t appear weak. We walked up to the door – for once there was no bantering going on between us. I could feel him pull his emotions inward, putting up the emotional wall. I did the same.

  Madon answered the door. “You two came back alone?”

  “We need to set some things up first. Do you have an outbuilding of some sort?” I asked.

  Madon’s deep green eyes studied me before he answered. “Yes, there’s a barn out back. We use it for our gatherings and challenges.”

  “Good, that’ll work.” I glanced at Radek. “Will you get my bag from the car?” Then I turned my attention to Madon. “Show me the barn.”

  Neither man questioned me. They just did as I asked for once. I followed Madon around the house and into the large old barn. There were tiered benches for seating and a large arena. At one end there were two areas blocked off from view. This would work well. I just needed something to tie the prisoners to.

  Madon gave me the answer to my dilemma. “Gregory will be bringing two vamps. There are chains that come down from the roof so we can secure the prisoners. Do you need anything else?” His voice was emotionless. He wasn’t looking forward to this either. I was glad I wasn’t in his position right now.

  “That should be it for now. Jenna will be in the house with Dante unless we need her. I’m hoping that it doesn’t go that far.” I saw relief in his eyes.

  Radek joined us and set down the bag. Madon looked at the bag like it was poison. It was, but he didn’t know that. He really didn’t need to be here for this part. I took pity on my friend. “If you want to help you can, but it might be best if you leave this to us.”

  “Although I’m curious, I’ll wait for later. You’re right; it will be best if I stay as far from this part as possible.” Madon looked at me with a pained expression. I wished there was something I could do to help him.

  “Thanks. I will need whoever is present to wear gloves. I don’t want this stuff to get on anyone that it isn’t meant for.”

  His dark eyebrows raised. “All right. It will only be the two guards and myself.” Madon left on that note.

  Radek looked to me for direction. “First I need you to cut cloth into long lengths, about three inches wide and two feet long. We need to get the chains secured. Then put some gloves on. You’ll not want to get this on your hands. Especially the DMSO; it is a carrier agent. That’s why it’s so important to the mix. It will allow the venom into the bloodstream. Like you witnessed when I put some on Jenna, it will not be pleasant. That was only a drop. If you have a cut, do not get any of this in it. While it probably won’t kill you, it will hurt a whole lot.” I emphasized the last part. I started putting out the supplies on the tray.

  “What exactly are we doing with this stuff?” Radek asked as he started in on the cloth.

  “They will be restrained with those,” I said, nodding to the strips he was making. “I will apply diluted venom to their major arteries and wrap them. It will bring their mental defenses down a bit. The undiluted venom is for if they don’t talk the first time. This particular type of venom will cause all the muscles to contract in the body. It could kill them, but I will keep the doses to those that are survivable. If they talk, we give them the anti-venom. It will stop soon after that.”

  I thought of Azumi, who was the one that had come up with this particular torture technique. I wondered what she was doing in the area. I also wondered where the others were. It looked like most everyone was still alive and kicking.

  “You are scary sometimes, you know that?” Radek said, looking at me with a mixture of awe and fear.

  “I scare myself,” I murmured. I knew he was trying to joke about it. But the truth was that I could be scary. Not that many people, human or otherwise, knew how to cause as much pain as I was capable of.

  “I didn’t mean anything by that, you know. It’s a good thing you know how to do things like this. This is better than what I would have to do. You’re trying to do a good thing here. Don’t forget that.” His voice got deeper with his emotion.

  “It’s a good thing even though I’m hurting someone? You have a real twisted sense of logic, Dek,” I told him as I worked at measuring the right amounts venom, water and DMSO. The concentration had to be exact. If there was too much venom, it could kill the wolf.

  “You said it yourself. We have seen so much and done so much. What you’re doing is helping a friend. The fact that it bothers you at all is a good thing. You still have a conscience. That’s saying a lot. Remember, they put themselves in this situation in the first place. What choice do we have? By doing this you may be saving more lives.”

  We pulled down the chains hanging from the roof. Madon came in just as we were setting up the tray of supplies where it couldn’t be knocked over.

  “Everyone just arrived,” he said grimly.

  “Go ahead and bring them in. Make sure everyone that enters here is wearing these gloves,” I said, tossing him the box after pulling out another set for myself and one for Radek.

  Madon left with the gloves. I took out five syringes and began filling them with the anti-venom so they would be available when needed.

  I handed a pair of gloves to Radek and said, “Put these on. Try not to get any of the stuff on you. Remember, it will hurt like hell if it gets into your blood stream. Wash it off immediately. If you get it in your eyes or anything like that, tell me immediately. I’ll give you anti-venom. I have enough that it shouldn’t be a problem. If you hold them, I can secure the restraints.” I rolled my shoulders to get the tension out of them.

  “That works for me. What else do you want me to do?” Radek asked. We could hear people approaching.

  “You ask the questions. I’ll take care of the pain,” I said, looking into his golden brown eyes.

  For a second he let the mask fall and gave me that sexy smile of his.

  “Works for me. Here they come.” His stone cold mask was back in place.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Madon walked in with Tain in front of him, escorted by Trent and Jake. They handed him over to Radek, who held him while I tied his wrists and ankles using the venom-soaked strips of cloth. Tain instantly started to stiffen as the venom hit his bloodstream. The chains were attached to the cloth that secured his wrists, then pulled tight so he was hanging by his hands. Next, we repeated the process with the vampires that
Gregory and his people brought in.

  No one dared say a word as we proceeded. The only sounds were the hard breathing of the prisoners. The pain was starting to affect them. I noticed Val wasn’t there. He must have been in the house. Dante was near; I could almost hear his thoughts, but was learning to block them out.

  With a deep breath, I let my other half take over. My inner predator was able to handle this kind of thing far more effectively than my human part. It was a little scary how easy it was to slip into my assassin persona. It was a place where no emotions existed, just death.

  Radek started on Tain first. “So wolf, do you want to talk yet?” he asked. “We can stop this now or we can continue. Your choice.”

  “This is nothing,” Tain said, and he spat at Radek.

  Radek nodded at me. Without thinking, I stepped forward and ran a gloved hand along Tain’s throat. “So you want to go this route? I guarantee that this will not kill you, but you will wish for death before I am done with you,” I whispered sadistically. I laughed as his eyes got big and his features turned pasty white. Then I took pleasure in delivering an undiluted dose of the mixture to his neck along the jugular vein on the left side. His body went into spasms.

  “Are you going to talk?” Radek’s bored voice joined my delivering of pain. “We could always start in on your daughter and see how long she lasts.”

  “Never,” Tain said through his clenched jaw.

  “You must not know who you’re dealing with. Let me introduce myself, little wolf pup.” I leaned in and whispered in his ear like a lover, “Some would call me Skugga.”

  I felt him stiffen as he recognized the name I went by in the assassin world. I gave him a larger dose. He cried out again as the venom took control of his body. I heard some of the smaller bones starting to break under the intense pressure. “That’s the sound of your bones beginning to break under the strain of the muscles. It will continue to get worse.”