Chapter Thirty
I sigh as my phone vibrates in my pocket. I gently lift my body and slide my hand in my back pocket, pulling it out. I freeze as Nova stirs in my arms. Holding my breath, I wait until she settles back down before unlocking my phone and checking my message.
Wrath - Brother, I'm in the mood to end this fucker tonight. Come have some fun.
Wrath - Unless of course you’re having fun with your girl ;)
Me - Fuck you. Give me fifteen minutes. She's sleeping I don't want to disturb her.
Wrath - No worries. I'll be in the bar.
I lock my phone and tuck it back in my pocket.
Placing a kiss on the top of her head, I slide my arm out from under her, making sure not to move her about too much.
As I sit up, she stirs, and I place my large hand on her cheek and lean in, my mouth millimetres from her ear as I whisper, "Shhh, it's okay, Dragonfly.
I'll be back soon, I promise." She seems to settle back down, and I kiss her cheek before leaving her there to sleep alone.
"Brother," Wrath calls as I walk into the room. "You tire your girl out?" He laughs.
"Fuck off, you prick. Nothing happened," I tell him.
He raises his eyebrow. "Really? Can't seal the deal?"
I let out a sigh. "As my VP, I respect you. As my friend, I will knock you the fuck out if you don't stop talking about her like that."
He smirks at me as he holds out a finger to the Prospect, indicating for him to bring us a beer. "You've got it bad for her. I didn't realise that you liked her so much."
I take the bottle Prospect just placed on the bar in front of me and down half of it before turning to Wrath. "Fuck, brother." I blow out a breath. "I think she's beautiful, and I can't explain it, but I just want to be with her, I want to save her." I down the other half of my bottle.
"I get it, brother. Believe me, I get it.
" He smiles at me. "Don't let her go. I almost lost my girl ‘cos I was a fucking idiot.
If you feel for her even half of what I feel for Firecracker, then hold on tight.
Because she's fucking worth it." He swallows down the rest of his drink then places the empty bottle back on the bar before heading out.
I give the Prospect a chin lift and the follow Wrath outside and down the side of the building to the entrance to the basement.
As we stand outside the room we have Snake tied up in, I turn to my VP. "So, what is the plan here? A little more hurt or..." I leave the sentence unfinished, waiting for him to finish it for me.
"I'm done playing, brother. Marissa had another nightmare tonight," he tells me, his tone mixed with sadness and anger.
"Is she okay?" I ask.
He blows out a heavy sigh. "Nine months and she still has nightmares.
I think she's starting to get better, maybe like she's learning to live with it and accept it.
But then she has nightmares like tonight.
Where they are so bad, she wakes screaming, she can't breathe and then she vomits.
" He places his hand on the doorknob. "I want to give her some peace, I want to be able to tell her that she no longer has to worry, that she can finally breathe.
That I've taken care of every single one of the fuckers that plague her nightmares.
" He looks over his shoulder at me. "Snake is the last one, brother.
Help me end her fucking nightmares, and I promise you that I'll help you end Nova's. "
I shake my head at him. "You don't have to promise to help me for me to help you. That’s not how this brotherhood works.
We're family. You need help, I got your back, anytime.
Let's go give your girl some peace." I slap him on the back, and he gives me a nod before opening the door to our holding room.
The fucker hangs there. I'm not sure if he's asleep or unconscious.
His shoulders are both dislocated from the force of his bodyweight and the swinging his body did earlier from our punches.
I slam the door behind me, making sure it's loud enough to wake him. He jumps with fright, and he tries to lift his head, but it’s just too heavy.
It drops back down as he raises his eyes to look over at me, and I smirk.
"Rise and shine, motherfucker," I state cheerily.
He coughs and blood spits from his mouth. "You think you're fucking tough?" he bites out at me, and I smile, just as Wrath hits him over the back of his thighs with a metal pole. Snake cries out in pain with the force of the hit. I'm fairly certain that I heard a bone crack.
Wrath leans into him. "How about we test just how tough you are?
" he says to Snake, giving him a swift right hook to his kidneys.
I lean my back against the wall, folding my arms over my chest as I watch Wrath ponder over the weapons on the table.
He's made it clear that we won't be leaving this room until Snake has taken his last breath.
Wrath grabs a hammer from the back of the table and flips it around his hands.
I see the smile on the side of his face, and he turns and swings the hammer, bringing it crashing onto Snake’s kneecap.
He screams as it shatters, but he barely has time to catch his breath as Wrath shatters his other one.
My VP takes a step back and scans over Snake, I'm guessing he's calculating how much he wants to torture him versus how much he just wants to kill him.
He holds out his arm behind him, offering me the hammer.
I step forward, taking it from him. "Thanks," I state as I walk to the side of Snake.
Pulling my arm back, I swing it forward, bringing the hammer down against his elbow.
He begins to sob, screaming in pain, and I move to his other side and shatter his other elbow.
I step in front of him and smirk as tears run down his face, mixing with snot and spit.
I pull back the hammer and swing, bringing it down on his foot.
I pass the hammer to Wrath who swings and smashes the bones in his other foot, just as Snakes pisses himself and then heaves seconds before he vomits all over the floor.
I take the hammer from Wrath and then walk over to the table and place it back in the spot it came from, just as Wrath picks up the bottle of cheap vodka. He removes the lid and pours it over Snake's bare, broken feet.
I grab the small fire extinguisher, knowing what he has planned. I step around him, waiting to the side of Snake, just as Wrath grabs the blowtorch, and I see the fear in Snake’s eyes as Wrath steps up to him, a smirk across his face.
"Please don't, just kill me." Snake begins to beg, but all it does is fuel our disgust. VP doesn't hesitate, lighting the blowtorch and aiming it at Snake’s feet.
I cringe as he screams in agony and the smell of burning flesh permeates my senses.
I only let him burn for a few more seconds before using the extinguisher to put out the flames.
Wrath doesn’t wait for long before pouring more vodka on his left leg then setting that alight too. Snake screams, tears running down his face, then he passes out from the pain.
I put out the flames then grab the bucket of ice-cold water and throw it over him. We don't want him to have any time to rest. This fucker will suffer before he dies.
He coughs and tries to catch a few breaths, the cold water shocking him.
He watches Wrath place the blowtorch back on the table and pick up a scalpel. I takes a seat on the chair in the corner of the room, I won’t be needed for this bit.
"Brother," Wrath calls from behind Snake. I give him a chin lift in question.
"You have finer accuracy than I do, and I know how much you enjoy doing this. Your turn," he tells me, holding out the scalpel.
"Are you sure?" I ask, a little excited.
He just nods, handing me the scalpel and taking the seat I've just vacated.
Snake looks afraid, and so he should. He knows what I'm about to do, and he knows how much I'll enjoy it. I circle him, giving myself a minute to decide where to start. We’ve burnt part of his skin, so those areas are not an option. I mean they are, but I won't get what I want from it.
I stop on his right side and smile up at him. "This is one you've had since you were sixteen, right?" I ask him, and his eyes widen, but he doesn't say anything. It won't make a difference anyway.
"Brother, him hanging here makes it harder. Let’s get this fucker down," I tell Wrath.
He laughs as he helps me drop Snake to the floor. We're not worried about him trying to escape or fight us. He's too weak for that, and even if he wasn't there wouldn't be anywhere for him to go. It only takes us a couple of minutes to get him on the table and strap him down.
Snake doesn't speak, he’s too afraid, and he knows that begging won't get him anywhere, it won't change the outcome or what we are about to do it him.
"Need me for anything else?” Wrath asks.
I shake my head. “Nah, not unless you wanna grab a scalpel and start on another?" I ask.
He smiles and nods, quickly moving over to the table and grabbing another scalpel. I’ve already chosen which tattoo I'm going to start with, but I wait until Wrath has made his decision. This will be a lot more fun if we're doing it together.
Once Wrath has picked the tattoo he’s starting with, we both place our blades on the skin, adding just enough pressure to break it. I angle my blade and begin the process of removing the tattoo.
"You want to angle the blade slightly, enough pressure to break the skin, then you need to slide the scalpel underneath and slice off the top layers where the ink sits," I tell Wrath.
"Okay," he responds, concentrating fully on what he's doing. I get back to my tattoo, I don't want to distract him too much.
***
Three hours, that’s how long we've been down here. Snake has no more tattoos left on his body, we've removed each one and then poured vodka on each of the wounds. When he thought we were about to give up, we ripped every nail from each of his fingers and then we broke each one of his fingers.
That wasn't enough though, the more we hurt Snake the more he cried, and the more he cried, the angrier Wrath got. He cut off several fingers, once again set fire to Snake’s legs and then each arm.
There wasn't much left of Snake, and he didn't have long left, but Wrath still wasn't done.
I took a step back to let him work out his shit.
His rage took over, he pushed large needles through each of Snake’s balls, then pushed one through the tip of his dick.
Even I shuddered at that point, but Wrath just kept going.
He cut off both of Snake’s ears, cut out one of his eyes, stabbed him more than forty times, before cutting out his tongue and then piercing his heart with his knife.
As the life finally drained from Snake, I watched my brother and friend drop to his knees and let the tears fall, tears of relief for the woman he loves.
Knowing that she's now free from the physical fears that have haunted her since she was taken.