Page 4 of Savage
“Who do you work for?”
“Man, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
I didn’t hesitate as I kicked him in the face. My foot connected. The resounding crunch of his nose breaking made me feel better. It only took a few seconds before the pain registered, and the follow-up shout was music to my ears. My shoulders instantly relaxed. It was as if I was at peace once again. I was nearly inclined to thank him for bettering my night.
“You shouldn’t lie to me. It will only ruin your night further.”
Benjamin groaned and spat blood as he breathed through his mouth. Silence greeted me, and I almost laughed. I weighed my options. I could make him scream.
“If only we had the time,” I said.
“What?” Benjamin moved around, looking for me as I moved behind him.
I didn’t bother repeating myself. Slipping on gloves, I squatted down and took hold of his finger.
“Hey!” Benjamin started fighting harder, but that only made me smile.
He had nowhere to go, and me telling him that wouldn’t make him stop squirming. He attempted to ball his hands up, but I wasn’t having any of that. I held his middle finger firmly with one hand and grabbed my switch blade from my suit pocket.
“What are you doing?” Benjamin shouted. The music in the club was loud, and I shook my head. They would miss out on some good screams.Their loss.
“Stay still. I hate uneven cuts.”
“What are you cutting?” He turned his head, blood trickling out of his nose. “Wait, wait!”
I pressed the blade against his flesh and applied the barest of pressure. His shouts were the perfect background noise. It was like those who needed white noise to relax. I just needed screams.
A bead of blood swelled up from the small cut the blade made. My entire focus went to that single drop. It wasn’t nearly enough to quench my thirst for shedding blood. I let out a slow controlled breath and jerked the knife away from me. It caught on the bone, and the resulting scream out of Benjamin reminded me why I normally used a heavier weapon for taking fingers off.
“Sorry, this is unprofessional of me. But you know how these things sometimes require you to work with what you have.” I smiled at Benjamin, although he wasn’t paying me any attention. He was trying his best to get away from me.
I dragged the knife back and forth, sawing through the bone. It took a lot more effort, but I wasn’t one of those quit halfway kind of guys. The blood helped lube up the way. The sound of cutting through dry bone could sometimes squeak, and no one, not even me, enjoyed that sound.
Benjamin jerked away from me. The blade slipped, and the last little bit of bone was severed. I tsked at the sight. It was no longer a straight line. Blood leaked out like a faucet, and I watched it for a second, pissed that he’d messed me up at the very last second.
“Ready to tell me who you work for?”
“Wa-wait,” Benjamin stuttered. His breathing was labored as he shook on the floor.
Knife in hand, I grabbed his pants and sliced through the cheap fabric.The poor blade was meant for better things.
“Can’t have you bleeding out just yet.” I wrapped his bleeding hands in the torn fabric, ensuring it was tight.
“Fuck,” Benjamin cried out. He pressed his head against the floor.
“It was only fingers,” I said as I stood back up. Stepping back, I was proud of myself. I’d kept most of the blood off me.
“Let’s try a different question,” I said as I collected his fingers and made my way back in front of him. “Why are you in Laureati territory?”
Benjamin shook his head.
“Are you as attached to your ears as you are your fingers?”
“Wa-wait,” Benjamin cried out. His bloodshot eyes widened as they stared up at me. “I...I mean, I wasn’t telling you what to do.”
I glared down at him. He was back to boring me. His blood spilling no longer excited me, not when I knew he needed to survive the night.
He cleared his throat. “I was told to be there.”
