Celeste's life is far from the enchanting fairy tale one might expect from a princess. Her father, a ruthless and self-absorbed king, leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake. To seal alliances and maintain his power, he arranges for Cele...
To my luck, the third floor is empty as far as the eye can see. On the right side is a door. On the left, two. Slowly, my hand glides to the dagger in its sheath. I pull the piece of iron from its sheath and start walking in silent steps towards the door.
The time when my heart was as high as possible in my throat is over, yet the nerves have not completely disappeared. Novak and I are both trained killers, but the chance of things going wrong is always there. Most importantly, my dagger will end Liam's life. That is the only way to take over his magic.
There have been times when the person slipped out of my hand and Novak had to step in as a safety net. The trick for him is to stop, but not kill the person in question. So far it has always gone well, let's hope it does this time too.
With those thoughts, I take the final step towards the door. At first, there is no sound from behind the wood. I slowly place my hand on the door handle, holding my breath and clutching the dagger in my hand. I want to push the door handle down as quietly as possible and open the door without anyone noticing. That's the plan, that was the plan.
'I said stop,' a soft female voice sounds from behind the door. Those words, that tone and those memories make me throw off my plan without any effort.In one swift movement, I push down the door handle, throw the door against the right wall and look at the scene in front of me with all my aggression.
Before my eyes, a young lady with blonde hair with no clothes is lying on the bed. The man we have been looking for for months lies between her legs, naked. In a failed attempt, the lady tries to push Dumburt off, kicking and punching away. She clearly does not have the strength to push the 30-year-old man away from her. She is powerless. Dumburt pays no attention to the woman's protest, moves on without stopping.
This was me, a year ago, with Christiaan.
This image flips a button in my head that I didn't know existed. There has been some form of regret and sympathy with every murder. All those regrets and sympathies have left my body with a bang. A black haze takes over my eyes, my body working for itself.
In three steps, I stand beside the bed, grab the man by his grey hair and pull him off the lady. I throw Dumburt against the nearest wall with a bang, clasping the dagger in my hand with the point pointed at him. Dumburt's blue eyes look at me in utter amazement. The lady gasps startled as I wordlessly place the dagger against Dumburt's throat. Slowly, I bend closer to the man, my mouth at his ear.
'If I had the time I would have cut that thing off piece by piece. Starting at the foreskin, through to your balls and finally your glans. Inch by inch, very slowly, until there's nothing left of it. I would give you all the time you need to absorb the feeling, to remember it after you die. To let you feel what it's like, what that pain is like and always stays with you,' I whisper softly in his ear as my dagger moves agonisingly slowly back and forth across his throat, just too little to make a cut.
I feel Dumburt's heartbeat beating against my dress, his breath jerking. He is in such shock that he seems to make no attempt to push me off him. He stands perplexed, his back against the wall and helpless. Exactly as I wanted him to be.
Slowly, I lift my head from Dumburt's neck and look into the two blue eyes. They shine with fear, panic and disbelief. After a few seconds, he wants to open his mouth, say something and protest. However, I don't give him the privilege of last words.
I put the dagger against his windpipe and arteries, push the iron through his blank skin and cut through everything in one swift movement. The blood slides out like a stream through the house, across his bare chest and onto the floor. He gasps once more and groans before his lifeless body sinks to the floor.
Instantly, the dagger absorbs all the magic Domburt possessed and passes it to the Onyx. The unprecedented feeling slips into my veins. My eyes turn black, my lifelines turn black. The blast of magic hits my body like the strongest drug we possess. The feeling of unprecedented power, strength and invincibility. The feeling I am slowly becoming addicted to. It makes my eyes key, my body heat up.
'Cell.' Novak pulls me out of my haze. I look at the lifeless body without sympathy. A pool of blood has enveloped the naked body. The only pity I feel is pity for the person who has to clean the floor. Blood stains go hard from wood, maybe never.
My gaze continues across the floor to the bed and falls on Novak and the lady. The lady sits on the bed with the blankets wrapped around her naked body. Novak sits beside her with his arms protectively wrapped around her. Tears are rolling profusely down her cheeks. I imagine this situation is not easy to grasp. Rape and a murder in less than ten minutes.
As soon as I take a step closer to the bed, I see the lady diving backwards. That is the moment I realise I have the bloody knife in my hand. Without cleaning it, I drop it back into the sheath. With my hands I go to the fabric around my head and remove it.
'What's your name?' I ask despite knowing the answer. It's a simple trick to put someone at ease, a simple personal question.
'Elenor,' the lady replies hiccupingly. Something about her demeanour tells me she is lying. She would also be crazy if she used her real name in a brothel. However, this is not the time to confront her with her lies.
Slowly, I take a few steps closer to the bed. Novak removes his arms from Elenor and slides slightly away from her.
'My name is Celeste. I can understand that you are shocked by what you have just seen and you probably don't believe what I am about to say now: I won't hurt you.' The blue eyes look at me incredulously, exactly as I expected. However, I also see a certain relief and comfort emerging. I take a seat at the foot of the bed and look at her.
'Elenor do you work here voluntarily?' I ask slowly. She slowly shakes her half-long blonde hair. It was the answer I expected and yet it hits me like a slap in the face.My head is spinning. I'm not going to leave her here for anything, even if it becomes my undoing. No one deserves this, no one. Now that I am in the others shoes and can do something about it, no woman under my watch will suffer this fate.
Still, her involuntary work has an advantage we can use. If she joins us, we will be a source of knowledge richer. She has seen many men, voluntary or not. She has heard many stories, voluntary or not. It is information we can use.My instinct tells me that despite her lies, this woman is harmless. She is, most likely, human.
'I have an offer for you. We are making a trip and looking for some people. We could really use your knowledge. Would you like to come with us? You have the choice to leave any time.'
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