“Please!” he said, “I’m telling the truth.”
Marshall went to burn him again, but Titus lifted a hand. “You ever heard of anything that could stop him from talking?”
Marshall shrugged, crossing his thick arms across an even thicker torso. “I deal with fuckers who hurt kids, not this. But I guess the idea’s not impossible.”
Titus thought on it. “Hold his head.”
Marshall followed the instruction, Gerald’s eyes widening as Titus crouched down in front of him, just out of reach of the puke.
“We’re going to play a game,” he said calmly, knowing his face revealed nothing of the rage he felt. A break in his armour, but one he wasn’t interested in repairing. “I’m going to ask a question, and then a series of answers. You will say yes when I get to the correct one, understood?”
Gerald blinked, letting out a hiss of pain when Marshal pressed his fingers into his skin. “Yes!”
“Good. Now are you magically restricted from speaking?”
Tension bled from his shoulders. “Yes!”
Titus made sure each word was clear and precise. “Was it by a witch?”
“Yes.”
“Did this witch hire you?”
A gargled sound, panic widening his eyes. “Can’t.”
“Do you know how many assassins were hired to kill Rae?”
A hesitant nod. “Yes.”
“How many? One?” He waited, Gerald remaining silent. “Two? Three?”
“Yes!”
“Three assassins?” Titus confirmed. The vampire, Nathan and him. And all were indisposed.
“Yes.”
“Progress,” Marshall snorted. “You think he’s telling the truth?”
Titus kept eye contact with Gerald, knowing how uneasy it made people when he showed no emotion. “If he wasn’t, I’d let you cut off his cock and feed it to him.” Sometimes showing nothing was scarier than showing rage. Rage could be predictable, but a complete void of emotion was the unknown. And the unknown, was fucking terrifying.
Gerald visibly paled. “I’m not lying, please, you have to believe me. The bitch isn’t worth it, she’s not worth –”
His voice shut off when Titus stabbed down into Gerald’s thigh, twisting the blade. Physically having to tell his fingers to release, he stepped back into his original crouch, leaving the knife where it was.
“Now,” he began, trying to calm himself. “Were you hired privately?”
A whimper. “Yes.”
“To kill her?”
Gerald hesitated, face turning red when Titus stood. “Wait!” He licked at his broken lips. “Not just kill. I had to –” He let out a strangled sound.
“It wasn’t just to kill her?”
“No.”
“To rape her?” Black rage hazed his vision, Gerald flinching at the change. Arcane burned from his fingertips, the power unrepentant and out of control. He immediately wanted to recall it, struggling to pull the flames as they licked against Gerald’s skin. The once white magic had darkened, the black heart spreading.
