CHAPTER 30
Frankie
“W hen light fades and shadows play, the Realm Eater comes to take you away.” Nancy’s beady little eyes drill into mine as she sings the stupid fucking nursery rhyme she has sang every day since Robert and I were thrown into this cell.
My bruises are now yellow, so I figure at least a week has passed since we tried escaping.
I squat over the five-gallon bucket holding our feces, trying not to gag. Apparently, the makeshift toilet is new to this cell. Before we arrived, the cement floor was the only place to relieve yourself. I guess I should be thankful for the special treatment.
“Shut the fuck up, Nancy.” I pull up my ripped pants and step around Robert. He insists on blocking me from the others when I use the toilet. His kindness makes me feel weird. I don’t deserve it.
“One of these days Robert won’t be here to protect you, Realm Eater, and I will kill you for turning my daughter into one of those vile creatures,” threatens Nancy.
Her daughter was the first female I turned into a hellhound. She was different from the others. Most prisoners are unaware of what happens to them. If they are aware, they beg for death.
But Nancy’s daughter was young, spirited. She had the will to live and was not easily broken. She fought hard, though it did her no good.
“Take it easy on her, Nancy. She’s a prisoner like us. I would like to see you refuse orders when Dante is barking them at you,” says Jeff.
“Let’s see if you’re still defending her when she kills you. Or worse, turns you into a shifter,” she barks before repeating the eerie nursery rhyme, making my skin crawl.
I walk to my corner of the cell, sitting on the hard cement. My tailbone feels bruised from sitting for so long. The ‘toilet’ is the only thing in the cell. There are no mattresses or blankets, so Robert and I cuddle at night to keep warm.
Footsteps echo off the stone walls as a guard walking down the hall bangs on every door he passes. “Eeny meeny miny moe, catch a dead man by his toe.” He stops singing, and soon we hear keys jingle as he opens a door.
A panicked voice comes from the cell. “Not me! Please not me! I’ll do anything!”
This has been the routine every day since I tried escaping. I hear people begging for their lives before I’m brought to the torture chamber to make shifters. Only a third of them survive. What scares me more than anything though, is I’ve become numb to it.
When the door to our cell opens, my three cellmates cower in a corner.
The guard nods at me. “Come.”
I follow him down the hall. I don’t fight it anymore. It’s pointless.
Instead of the usual chamber, we enter a room divided by plexiglass. Demons fill the stadium seats in our half of the room. We walk down the stairs, and when we reach the front row, the guard shoves me to my knees.
A man is strapped to the opposite side of the plexiglass. There is a round hole cut in the glass, giving us access to the man’s mouth and throat. I make eye contact with him, and he grimaces. “Please don’t turn me. I’m begging you. Let me die.”
Two shifters are contained in separate plexiglass rooms connected to the main room. They snarl, jumping at the glass, trying to escape so they can rip the man to shreds. The only mercy I can show him is to kill him.
Dante appears in front of the audience. He’s making some sort of announcement, but I’m too busy focusing on my powers to hear what he’s saying.
Shutting my eyes, I focus on sending energy to my hands. My wrists begin to blister from the cuffs, but I endure it. I need to gather all my power so I can kill the man instead of turning him into a hellhound. He doesn’t deserve to be ripped apart in front of these disgusting demons. The death I offer will be much quicker.
Dante stops speaking and removes my cuffs. He administers the K4, and I wrap my hands around the man’s neck. I watch the life leave his eyes as I push my power into him.
His body twitches a few more times before it goes limp against the glass. The straps prevent him from falling to the ground.
I release my hands, taking a step back. I just killed someone’s father or husband. I rub my chest, reminding myself of the reason I need to keep going. The only reason I have left to live.
A mixture of cheers and boos erupt from the crowd as the demons who bet on the man living pay the ones who did not.
The shifters are released, and they fight over the dead body. The crowd continues to cheer as one shifter kills the other. When it dies, it turns back to its human form. I recognize the shifter as Nancy’s daughter.
I hold back tears, focusing on what Dante is saying. A party is happening tonight where the guests are not expected to leave alive. Shit! I should’ve paid more attention.
When I get back to my cell, I find Nancy sitting in a corner chewing on her nails. What am I going to tell her? I don’t want to hurt her any more than I have, but she deserves to know the truth. Maybe she’ll find comfort knowing her daughter is no longer suffering at the hands of demons.
“Where are Robert and Jeff?” I ask once the guard leaves.
“Why are you asking? Are you scared now that they’re not here to defend you?” Nancy snarls.
“I’m so sorry about your daughter, Nancy. I really am. I hate the things I’m forced to do.” My voice cracks with guilt.
Nancy stands and walks over to me. “You don’t hate yourself nearly as much as I hate you.”.
Her fingers are clenched in a fist with something sharp protruding between her knuckles.
Taking a couple steps back, I hold my hands up in surrender. I don’t want to fight Nancy, but she swings her fist, hitting me in the temple.
I grab the side of my head as sharp pain shoots through it. When I pull my hand away, blood covers my fingertips.
“Please, Nancy!” I beg. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“That’s fine. I’ll kill you either way.” She lunges at me again.
I grab her arms, trying to hold her back, but using my powers has made me weak.
She stabs me again in the neck, making me scream in pain.
Pulling her hair, I force her to the ground. We wrestle around until I knock the nail away from her.
I crawl to the five-gallon bucket holding our feces. Nancy grabs my ankle as she sinks her teeth into my calf. Fuck! I manage to kick her in the face with my other leg before standing up.
I grab the bucket, swinging it at Nancy’s head as she tries standing up. She falls back when it connects with the side of her temple, covering us both in shit and piss.
Breathing hard, I drop the bucket, and rest my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. “Please, Nancy. This doesn’t have to happen.” I have the upper hand now, but I don’t want to hurt her.
Footsteps stomp down the hall getting closer and closer.
“Kill me, please,” Nancy begs. “Before they get here.”
I hesitate. I don’t want to kill anymore. I’ve become a monster. “You owe me this much,” she pleads.
With that, I place my hands over Nancy’s nose and mouth. “You’ll be with your daughter soon,” I reassure her.
Nancy’s body begins to jerk. Her feet kick as she pulls at my hands. I want to let go, but I owe her this mercy.
Closing my eyes, I continue blocking her airway until she’s no longer moving. Bile rises in my stomach as I pull away, realizing what I’ve done.
I’m a fucking monster. I willingly killed two people today. I wait for the tears to come, but there are none. I feel nothing. I’m empty.
I rub my mating mark, praying for emotion to come. What if I don’t come back from this? What if I feel empty forever? What if killing no longer makes me sad?
“What the fuck! I’m not cleaning this shit up.” I didn’t hear the guard open the door and enter. I vaguely register that he’s talking to me.
I’m numb inside. Commotion is happening around me, but all I hear is buzzing in my head as I’m escorted back to my old room.
“Clean yourself up,” a guard barks. “You can’t be covered in shit at the party tonight.”