It took twenty minutes to get to the damn warehouses due to a wreck on the boulevard, but it just gave me time to think about how I wanted to do this.
Slowly. I want to do this methodically, draw it out.
When we walked in, Marchlon was in the open expanse of where there should be crates of synthetic cannabinoids and shrooms. He froze at the sight of me, and Rojas, who was standing next to him, took a step back and tried to excuse himself.
“I will leave you to your discussions.”
When I lifted a finger, he halted. “Actually, I’m glad you are here, Rojas. Why don’t you have a seat on that crate?”
His throat bobbed as he took a few steps and sat there with his clipboard in his hand. Turning my focus back to Marchlon, I sighed. “I see my inventory still hasn’t arrived.”
His eyes bounced between the three of us, and I jerked my chin toward him. Harley strode over, grabbed him by the arms, and forced him to sit. In no time, his arms and feet were bound to one of the metal chairs that littered the room.
“Again, where are my crates?”
His eyes were large as I slipped a knife out from my belt. As I twirled it around in my hand, he muttered, “My men are still working on it. Rojas was just giving me an update.”
Without removing my gaze from Marchlon, I tilted my head to the side. “Is that so, Rojas?”
“Yes, sir.” I waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, I turned my head to look at him, meeting his gaze, lifting my eyebrows. “Sorry. We had a lead, but when my men got there, the place was swarming with feds taking inventory of our stock. I’ve reached out to one of my contacts at the DEA, but I haven’t heard back from him yet.”
I let out a large sigh. “I really hoped that you could save the shipment, Marchlon. Now the fucking feds have our supply?” Crouching down, I grabbed the bottom of his pants, slipped the knife between the fabric and skin, and proceeded to cut his jeans, then his shirt from his body. Standing back a moment, I inhaled deeply, taking in his fear that saturated the air. It fed the viciousness in my blood. Kept it pumping, adrenaline surging throughout my body, causing me to smile. This was what I was good at. This gave me pride and purpose.
Harley chuckled. “I never thought you’d be scared of the end, Marchlon. Though, I don’t think you expected the Owl’s Talon to come for you.”
Nodding, I examined my canvas, debating where to start as I stepped up to him and pulled his hair back. Inspecting his face, I took my hook and pressed it against the outer corner of his eyeball. Slowly, my talon raked around it, slicing through the vessels and skin. It resisted at first, then gave way with a wet, sucking sound as it tore free from its socket, spilling an oil-like substance down his face and into his open maw. The eyeball dangled against his cheek, suspended by a glistening rope of nerve, a scream emanating at the top of his lungs. I cherished the screech and pushed down the bubble of laughter in my chest.
“See, here is the thing. If you know I’m coming, you can brace for it. Prepare for the pain. But you don’t get to know what is coming your way tonight. You’ve lost that privilege. So, I’mtaking your sight.” Smirking, I let the last thing he saw be my fiery gaze as I reached in and repeated the process with his other eye.
His breaths came in quick, short bursts, and I savored the rush that flowed through my veins, breathing in deeply. Shaking some of the oily substance off my fingers and claw, I had to admit I was impressed he hadn’t passed out. Slowly, I unsheathed a knife as he panted and ran it down the center of his chest—not deep, just enough to wound. With blood welling, I lifted the blade and Harley handed me a new one. With my left hand, I ran the tip of the knife along his shoulder, while with the right, I thrust the blade of my used knife into his groin, puncturing his dick.
The ear-piercing scream that filled the air had me chuckling before the sound was cut off by his passing out. Electing to leave the knife in place, so that he wouldn’t bleed out too quickly, I allowed myself to look over at Rojas, who was ghost white. “Congrats, you’ve been promoted. Now get my shipment back.”
“Yes, sir. May I be excused to proceed with the hunt?”
I nodded and watched as he ran to the office and immediately vomited into his trash basket. I was actually impressed by the fact he had made it that long.
Marchlon had a beautiful tattoo on his chest that I knew to be dedicated to his mother, and I really hated to ruin an artist's good work. I carved around the ink, careful to leave some extra room around it, before slowly peeling it back, cutting it away from fat and muscle. When I was done, I handed it to Harley. “Can you make sure this is preserved and given to his mother?”
“Of course, sir.” He took it and went to take care of it.
I played with the knife, enjoying the warmth of blood on my hands. As I lifted the blade, watching the thick red fluid slide down to the hilt, I smiled. There was something soothing andsatisfying about the way blood moved. So fluid, yet with more purpose than water.
Marchlon groaned as his eyes flickered open, but they were unfocused, looking far beyond anything within this room.
“Oh good, you’re not dead. Thought playtime was over already.” Turning to Harley, I jerked my head in Marchlon’s direction. “Let’s make some steaks.”
Over the next hour, I skinned him alive, blood flowing and skin slapping onto the floor as I sheared piece after piece off. He lasted longer than expected. Finally stopped breathing a few minutes into it. I stood to stretch my back and instructed Harley to untie Marchlon and lay him flat on the concrete. When he was done, I went to work cutting the muscle away from the bone, and after a while, there was nothing recognizable left.
Chapter 5
“Elin,it’snicetosee you again,” Andrea Greene said as she walked into the lobby. Her attention was caught by something behind me, and when I looked over my shoulder, I groaned.
“Ahhh, good timing, Gavriel. We’re just heading back.”
He nodded. “I apologize for my tardiness. I had some business to attend to this morning.”
While my father’s ownership interest in most things had already been signed over, Pleasure Paradise, LLC, which included the club and a few smaller businesses, hadn’t been completed. All of the documents hadn’t been ready for the reading, and since we’d had some time, I’d asked Andrea to set up an LLC for myself and to have my interest placed in that new shell.
