The searing pain coursed through my body like a live wire. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to scream.
“Still holding out, huh?”
Gwen sneered, her fingers curling around a small, specially-made knife. “This blade is coated with holy water. The wounds will burn endlessly.”
She sliced into my arm with practiced precision; each cut forming an intricate, eerie pattern.
The wounds never hit anything vital but were designed to maximize agony.
The flesh beneath my skin sizzled, the faint smell of burning filling the air as the holy water worked its corrosive magic.
“You know…” Gwen murmured, her voice cold as she worked.
“Sebastian doesn’t care about you. He needs you only as an experiment. Once I’m human again, you’ll be nothing.”
I kept silent though every fiber of my being screamed in agony.
Seeing me unmoved only seemed to fuel Gwen’s fury.
She set down the knife and reached for a wooden box, its edges worn with age.
“This, I prepared just for you.”
She opened the box, revealing a dusting of silver powder inside.
“Pure silver dust. Melt it and inject it into the bloodstream; how do you think that’ll feel?”
She poured the powder into a small crucible, setting it alight over a flame. The silver melted, glowing like molten lava before she drew it into a syringe.
“Sebastian said you can’t die. But he never said I can’t make you wish for it.”
Gwen’s smile was cruel as she pressed the needle against my carotid artery.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. A scream, sharp and blood-curdling, tore from my throat.
Gwen’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she watched my torment. “This is just the beginning, Eulalie.”
“Tell me, why doesn’t Sebastian’s blood work on you?”
I gasped for air. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Liar.”
She refilled the syringe. “If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish.”
Just as the needle descended, the door slammed open.
Sebastian stood there, his expression dark, as though forged from iron.
“Enough,” he growled, his voice a low rumble of danger.
Gwen immediately set the syringe down, her face morphing into one of feigned innocence. “Sebastian, I only wanted to help you uncover the truth.”
Sebastian’s gaze lingered on me, his eyes darkening as he took in my broken state.
My condition was ten times worse than when he had left, my body nearly broken. The silver running through my veins made me convulse uncontrollably.
“You’ve crossed the line,” Sebastian’s voice was ice as he turned to Gwen.
Gwen pouted, aggrieved. “I just wanted to help…”
“Get out,” Sebastian’s voice sliced through the air, cold as steel.
Gwen froze, unable to comprehend the sharpness of his command.
She looked from Sebastian to me, her eyes darkening, then gritted her teeth before turning to leave the lab.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Sebastian stepped closer.
“Still won’t tell me the truth?”
I weakly closed my eyes, the weight of silence pressing on my chest.
“Very well.” With a sharp gesture toward the door, he commanded it open once again.
My parents were led in and as their figures entered, the blood in my veins turned to ice.
“Mom! Dad!”
I cried out hoarsely, struggling against the restraints that cut deep into my flesh.
“Eulalie, my child…”
My mother’s voice trembled as her eyes fell on me, her tears flowing freely. “What have they done to you?”
Sebastian chuckled, a sound like cold stones grinding together. “Reunion time’s over. Eulalie, tell me what you did, or…”
He suddenly drew a silver knife and pressed it to my father’s heart.
“I’ll let him die right here in front of you.”
“No!”
My scream echoed through the room. “Let them go! They don’t know anything!”
