Tony sighed. “So much paperwork… What a headache.”
He spun around, about to bitch the asshole out, but Tony had already left the room. Turning back around, he caught sight of the dead man and let go of the rage that had been building since Foxx had been taken. Without holding back, he kicked the body over. The chair tipped, breaking apart as it hit the ground… And then he kept kicking. Harlow kept kicking until the priest’s blood coated his boot and the floor, his chest heaving from exertion.
“Well, fuck… Do you feel better now?” Tony drawled from behind him.
“You killed Father Matthew!” a deep voice gasped in horror.
Harlow rolled his eyes and turned around, glaring at the new priest they’d brought in. He was one of the older ones involved. The werewolf holding him just stood there, face grim and unmoving. “Technically, I tortured him to death. Which is something you would know all about, wouldn’t you, Father?”
The man glared.
“Get him set up in the chair,” Harlow drawled with a yawn, waving absently at the still intact chair by the desk.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he was tired. But fuck if he’d sleep while Foxx was still in their hands. Grabbing a water bottle from the pack they’d brought in for him earlier, he unscrewed the lid and chugged it down. He grabbed another and managed to finish it, just as they finished zip-tying the new priest.
The werewolf left, and Harlow had just tossed the bottles aside, when he noticed the priest oddly clench his jaw.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Surging forward he gripped onto the man’s lower jaw, forcing his mouth open, with a hard squeeze. He glared at the sight of the cracked incisor, just a bit of the capsule inside peeking out. “Pliers, Tony.”
“Another poison tooth?” Tony grumbled, before moving to his side, holding out the pliers. “It’s like they think they are fucking spys or something.”
Harlow snagged the pliers and clamped down on the tooth. With one hard yank, he ripped it out. The priest screamed.
Grinning evilly, he waved the pliers in front of the man’s face, his tooth still in their grasp. “Bet you thought this was your easy way out. Sorry, it's not your lucky day.” He chuckled. With his iron grip, he forced the man to look at the body of the other priest. “See him there. That’s going to be you soon.” He let go of the man’s face.
The priest's eyes narrowed, but he stared off at nothing, the guy refusing to directly meet Harlow’s gaze. As much as he could see anger in the man’s…Harlow also saw a hint of fear.
He threw his head back on a laugh when the priest began to pray, some nonsense about asking for protection from evil. “That shit doesn’t work on me. I'm not a vampire. And really, am I the true evil one here? I’m not good, mind you, but evil…that's debatable. You all, on the other hand, are kidnapping people who have harmed no one, and then you are slowly torturing them to death. Children. You’ve tortured children. Can’t say I like kids, or care about them too much, but I can at least say I’ve never harmed one.”
He glared when the priest continued to pray and ignored him. Harlow tossed the pliers aside, ignoring Tony’s grumbles at his action.
Grabbing the hammer off the desk, without thought, he brought it down on the man’s right kneecap. The priest howled.
Sweat forming on his brow as he trembled and gasped in pain, the priest finally met his gaze.
“Oh, good. I have your fucking attention now,” Harlow growled. “You know me, don’t you?”
“I don’t know anything!” he hissed.
Harlow smacked him hard, sending the chair tumbling over. It didn’t break, but the guy did land hard with a grunt. Moving closer, he rested his boot on top of the priest’s head—the bloody one.
He began to grind the man’s head into the floor with his boot as he spoke. “You do know me. You even know what you took from me. And if you don’t, then that was a serious mistake on your part.” The man started to scream when Harlow increased the pressure he was exerting. “You took Foxx from me. He’s mine. You know, he’d actually enjoy this, if he were here.” He pressed harder, almost laughing as the man began to cry. “Foxx would enjoy it so much, he’d probably be flushed and trying to help. Letting out little excited gasps with each painful cry you took.”
Tony let out a gagging sound behind him. “Yeah, I don’t fucking need to be here for this.”
Harlow chuckled when his boss stomped away, slamming the door on his way out.
Foot still in place, he leaned down to growl, “You took my ball of sadistic sunshine. Give. It. Back.”
Foxx stiffened at the sound of multiple footsteps coming closer to the room. “Quiet down, they’re coming,” he whispered to those praying aloud.
Best to not let the priests know what they’d been doing. Even if the only way to stop them from praying to the Goddess was to knock them out. He figured the priests probably wouldn’t object to doing just that.
A man whispered fervently, “We should activate emergency protocols. The risk of being exposed has reached its peak.”
“None will talk! And even if they come here, they won’t be able to find anything,” a new voice cried.
The first man spoke again. “We should kill them and get rid of any evidence, just in case.”
