Page 100 of Rose and Shadows
“I’m sorry. Please! Once more… forgive me once more. That’s all…”
“Sylas,” Remnant spoke, gesturing for me. “Please proceed.”
“Proceed with what?” Victor asked, struggling uselessly in Remnant’s indomitable hold, his steel band of a hand wrapped around the fool’s throat as he held him against the wall.
I swept forward, flipping my palms down and calling my crimson power.
My voice rumbled through the cell, drawing Victor’s attention to me now. Something he absolutely did not like judging by the narrowing of his eyes. “It takes a fuck of a lot to desiccate an Ancient. That’s why even though you feel the spelled weakness of having not fed for decades, you’re still standing there—correction: hanging there—without the slightestgray tinge plaguing your body.” I cocked my head to the side. “Not for long.”
My power sparked on my right palm. “Remnant tells me that in your entire wretched existence you’ve never actually experienced desiccation. How fortunate.Iwasn’t as lucky. Thanks to your allies in Corvin and my father. For three years I suffered from that shit. Every day. Several times a day eventually. I endured the kind of brutal, relentless pain that would break most beings.” My eyes flashed. “But you didn’t need an assist there, did you? Megalomania is what drove your madness, broke your fucking mind.”
“Necromancer,” he hissed, dropping his fangs, features twisting as he vamped out. “I warned you. I’ll break every bone in your body, grind them down to dust.”
“And I’ll tear your fangs from your venomous mouth.” I grinned. “Or, let’s go this route.”
In the next second, I stripped him down to his boxers with a flick of my fingers, then I streamed my necromantic energy forth.
My crimson magic fused with a shadowy darkness spread over his chest and upper arms and the expected growls were forthcoming as he began to desiccate, that telltale grayish tint spreading.
Lazriel had told me that Victor had a staggering pain tolerance. But this was beyond any of that.
That was proven in the next few moments as I thrust my palms forward, driving a whole lot more necromantic energy into him, essentially breaking him down from the outside in.
Those growls graduated to screams of utter agony.
Through it, Remnant’s determined expression didn’t change as he held Victor there in an unbreakable grip, despite his flailing and failed attempts to bite and scratch at him.
“The location of your army,” Remnant ordered, his booming voice carrying over the shrieks.
“That’s what… this is… about? Not just… punishment?” Victor eked out. “Fine! I’ll… tell you.”
I continued streaming, the desiccation spreading down both his arms.
“I swear it! And I’ll tell… where…Genexisis.”
Remnant swung his head toward me.
I ceased my steaming, but kept my hands at the ready.
Victor choked, grimacing and groaning. I hadn’t healed the desiccation, I’d just ceased making it spread further. “You were… desiccating me to… reach inside my mind to… find out?” he asked Remnant.
It was common knowledge at this point thatPuritasmembers couldn’t be broken through interrogation techniques, especially not physical torture.
However, Victor was a special case—his sire link to Remnant provided an in, a point of vulnerability that wouldn’t normally be possible. If he was weak enough, Remnant, as his sire, could reach into his mind through that link to forcibly extract memories and intel.
It was clear that Remnant’s earlier conversation with him had been highly strategic and honestly tactically brilliant, because he’d used it to effectively break Victor emotionally.
The desiccation was no longer tactically necessary—although, it was immensely satisfying and due justice for the crimes the heathen had committed against Lazriel.
“Speak,” Remnant rumbled, releasing him, wherein Victor dropped heavily into a slumped position against the wall, shuddering and grimacing against the pain still ravaging his body.
“My… army… useless to me now. Without you… without my pretty thing… there’s nothing,” he murmured and struggled through the anguish. Anguish he’d brought upon himself.
Remnant wasn’t having it. He saw through Victor’s attempt at pity and shut it down with a hard, “Where, Victor?”
“Krestaz.”
I frowned. “The volcano? You have an entire army sequestered inside there?”
