The Condemned (42 page)

     
‘But you were smart.’ She nodded, waving the gun at him slightly.

     
‘You were smart. You saw me come back
,
and you gathered up your buddies here.’ She gestured
towards
other two, the one with the beard flinched as though she’d struck him, the one who was sat unmoving still didn’t respond, just watched her.

     
‘And then you waited for me. Outside. When I came out you jumped me... I don’t need to go into details here do I
,
guys? You all remember what happened?’ She didn’t wait for a response, it wasn’t like any of them could actually answer her.

     
‘Sure you do. Then you left me. Maybe you thought I was dead, maybe you just didn’t care if I was or not, but you left me, walked away. You were all laughing.’ She tilted her head slightly and frowned, looking at them, her free hand still twirling the scrap of fabric idly.

     
‘There was another one, there were four of you. Where’s your pal, huh?’ She pointed the gun at each of them in turn, reciting as she did; ‘Eenie, meenie, miny mo...’ The gun was pointing at Beardy. His eyes widened and as she moved closer to him, he began shaking his head desperately. She smiled at him and then pulled away his gag.

     
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so fuc-‘

    
She shoved it back in and removed the one from Quiet Guy instead.

     
‘Where’s the other guy?’ She asked him, the gun aimed towards his crotch.

    
Maybe Quiet Guy had sense. Maybe he figured if he played along there was a way out of this for him, but he didn’t fight or argue or call her anything or try plead with her, he
just
answered her question, nice and levelly, meeting her eyes as he spoke.

     
‘Dead.’

    
The revelation hit Leci hard. She had no doubt he was telling the truth, she could read it in his eyes. She was upset by the news. It didn’t seem fair to be robbed like that.

Still, she consoled herself, she had these three and that was better than nothing at all.

     
‘How’d he die? I hope it was nice and slow.’

     
‘It was, gut shot.’

     
‘Nice. Did he scream? Did he cry?’

    
That seemed to be a little too much for Quiet Guy and he clammed up.

    
Leci looked at the gun, held it up to her face as though studying it, made sure that all three of them were watching
, paying attention
.

     
‘You know, guys, I don’t think we need this thing. I’d feel a lot more comfortable keeping my hands free, and I reckon you’d feel a whole lot better if I wasn’t wavin’ it around in your faces, right?’

    
Beardy nodded and gibbered something unintelligible. The other two said nothing, didn’t move. The intensity of Chubby’s stare was slightly disconcerting
,
but she reminded herself that she was the one in charge here; she was the one with all the power.

    
She tossed the gun towards the bed, it landed lightly on the mattress beside Amato’s foot, he made no move to reach for it.

    
She saw Quiet Guy twitching, his fingers moving slightly, could see in his eyes that he was itching to take the chance now that there might be one.

     
‘I wouldn’t.’ She warned him, holding up the scrap of fabric.
‘Wanna see somethin’ really cool?’ She grinned and theatrically touched her fingers to the dangling end of the fabric, as she did it set alight with a whoosh and dropped it to the floor. The finger play was unnecessary, she didn’t need to touch something to send heat through it, she just figured it was a nice touch, they might appreciate the effect a bit more.

    
She let it burn for a few seconds before she stamped out the flames with her foot.

     
‘Holy Shit.’ Quiet Guy was still ungagged and the only one able to verbalise his surprise.

    
She quickly remedied that, didn’t want him suddenly deciding to shout out for help.

    
Beardy was blubbering now
,
and from the growing dark patch on the front of his pants it looked like he’d pissed himself too. Leci laughed, she was having way more fun than she had expected to have.

     
‘Do you remember what happened next?’ She asked, returning to the game.

    
Beardy was too far out of it to know what she was saying, but the other two were perfectly aware and now, perfectly terrified. Without waiting for her to have to repeat herself they both nodded.

     
‘Thought you might.’ She whispered, fighting back the
tears that suddenly and unexpectedly threatened to overflow.

‘And maybe you thought I’d forgotten, or maybe you just thought I wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it. You were right, I wasn’t. Not back then anyway. But I’ve learned some really amazing new tricks since you guys last saw me
,
and the only thing I ever promised myself after that day, was that I would make you all pay, if it was the last thing I ever did.’

    
Beardy would be no fun. He’d already pissed himself, she couldn’t really hope for more entertainment than that and so, in a sudden burst of rage, she ran a powerful charge of heat through him. It wasn’t as strong as what she had used to instantly evaporate the guards back at the prison, she allowed him instant death but let him burn for a few seconds, let them watch and then she sharpened the heat until it exhausted its supply of fuel and burned away to nothing.

    
Even with the gags in, she could see that they were staring in open-mouthed amazement at the chair where their friend had sat only moments before.
S
he was rewarded with the knowledge that Chubby hadn’t managed to hold his bladder through that one, which made it so much sweeter.

    
She stepped close to him, her lips almost touching his ear.
‘I’m gonna burn you nice and slow, Chubby, gonna let you feel it like you let Xavian feel everything. I owe you that much.’

    
She stood up and stepped back. He had his eyes clenched shut and his cheeks were wet with tears, his meaty frame heaved and jiggled as he sobbed uncontrollably. Admirably, Quiet Guy still had a good amount of control over himself.

    
That annoyed her.

    
So she set his hair on fire.

    
She was surprised to find just how loud a man could scream through a gag.

    
The muffled cries of agony probably weren’t enough to reach downstairs and penetrate the noisy bar but she wasn’t willing to take the risk.

    
She let him suffer as long as she dared, no more than a few seconds
,
and then she set him alight entirely, f
ocusing initially on his throat
, burning through his vocal chords and cutting off his anguished yells. Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep him alive for very long that way. Still, she’d take what she could get. She didn’t know if he was dead or just unconscious
,
but she left him to cook slowly regardless. She hoped he was alive, hoped that on some level he could feel as his flesh seared, blistered and cracked. She watched as the flames licked at his face, his eyeballs began to bubble as they boiled in their sockets and then ran down his cheeks like thick, milky tears.

    
Seeing this, Chubby broke down entirely. He started struggling against his bonds, easily pulled away at the cloth
securing his wrists and ankles to the chair and then tore at the gag, pulling it loose. He open
ed
his mouth to scream and Leci vaporised him. She looked down at the pile
of dust at her feet and felt a sudden
emptiness inside
,
where before she had felt hurt and anger, now there was nothing at all.

    
She hadn’t heard Amato move from the bed
,
but all of a sudden he was there, beside her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly against him.
She was surprised to find that her cheeks were wet and when she lifted a hand to her face she realised she was sobbing. He pressed her face tenderly against his chest and stroked her hair. She was weary from the effort, the energy expended in wreaking vengeance
,
and she leaned into him gratefully.

     
‘It wasn’t supposed to be that way.’ She murmured
, sleepily
.
‘He was meant to
feel
it. He was meant to hurt.’

    
Amato pulled her away slightly, held her at
arm’s
length, crouching slightly so that they were at eye level, he lifted her chin until she met his gaze.

     
‘He felt it, Leci, I swear to you
,
that bastard felt it. He pissed himself and he cried like a baby. He knew what was gonna happen to him and he knew why. He’d never been so scared in all his life and that was because of you. You made him feel that way.’

    
And all of a sudden she knew what it was, what the only thing was, that could fill the hole.

     
‘I love you, Amato.’

    
The instant she uttered the words she knew they were true, it felt more right than anything else in her life ever had done
,
and they gave her a sense of wholeness. The bitterness and the rage had
vanished
to make room for something so much more pure. She had just needed to cleanse herself of the badness before she could make room for the good.

    
His arms encircled her tightly and he held her against him as they sealed her declaration with a passionate kiss.

When she pulled away from his lips and looked up into his face she was amazed to see that he was crying. She smiled and wiped at his cheeks with her fingers.

     
‘Let’s go home?’ She asked tentatively.

    
He smiled warmly and nodded.
‘Let’s go home, baby.’