Demilan looked straight into Odis’s eyes. The redness surrounding the apple of the drug dealer’s eye suggested that he had taken some kind of drug shortly before their arrival. His teeth presented shades of green and grey, and his breath reeked. His friend’s body was lying beside the couch, creating a blood pool all over the floor around him.
“Where is my wife, Odis?” asked Demilan.
“Fuck you, McCloud!” Odis gave him a snarling smile in return. Demilan gave him a frightening stare before turning to Maileena. “Get me something to cover his mouth with,” he told her. “I don’t want him screaming. There are other people in this building, and we can’t have them calling the police before we’re done here.”
Although looking a bit reluctant at first, Maileena did as commanded and brought a dirty white rag from the kitchen.
Demilan could spot the fear in Odis’s eyes as Demilan drove the rag into his mouth. He knows that I'm an ex-soldier. He knows that I used to work for Blackburn. He SHOULD be afraid.
“Maileena,” he turned to her once more. “Go to my duffel bag. Find me the syringe with the green liquid. It should be there.” Odis’s eyes opened wide as he figured what Demilan was planning for him. He started screaming and wiggling in his chair as panic overtook him, but all Demilan could hear was the muffled cry of a person who had long deserved it in his mind.
A few minutes later, Maileena presented him with the syringe. A green liquid was swimming inside the cylinder, and a plastic cover was guarding the needle. As Odis stared at the green substance, his pupils widened and his muffled screams increased in volume.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Maileena.
“Sorelium,” Demilan answered her question. "A very dangerous drug that makes the nervous system go into overdrive, intensifying every feeling and sensation, primarily used as a sex enhancer." A leftover from my days of addiction. One that I would gladly put to use on this occasion.
Before thinking too much, he removed the plastic cover from the needle, and stuck it in Odis’s arm. He made another muffled cry as the green Sorelium was driven into his veins.
Demilan pulled the syringe and returned it to Maileena, who placed the plastic cover back on and put it back in his duffel bag. “Maileena, I'm going to have to ask you one last thing,” she looked at him. “Leave us.” Suddenly, she looked enraged.
“Fuck, no.”
“This is not something you're going to—”
“I've told you once before, I am NOT a little girl. I'm staying right here. I can handle it.” At this point, Demilan was unsure whether it was true courage or plain stubbornness.
“Fine,” he surrendered. He turned to Odis. “Now, you and I are going to play a little game,” he said to his gagged prisoner.
“The army taught me many things; many techniques and methods to make enemies talk, but only people like Blackburn taught me what I'm about to show you.” Odis stared at Demilan in horror, his pupils dilated with fear. “He liked to call this 'Looking Back'. You see, in life, every person makes mistakes, and until he does the right thing to correct those mistakes, his past will keep haunting him. Now, mistakes tend to pile up, so the longer it takes for him to do the right thing, the more mistakes he has to atone for. This is going to work just like that. The longer you keep refusing to answer my questions, the more your pain is going to pile up. Here, let me show you.” He sent a fierce punch to Odis’s stomach.
Considering the nerve-intensifying Sorelium in effect, Demilan could only imagine the agonizing pain which Odis must have been feeling at that moment. His muffled screams made quite a noise even despite the rag in his mouth.
“Where is my wife?” asked Demilan, only to be greeted back with a muffled, “Fuck you.”
Good. I was hoping he wouldn’t make it too easy. More fun for me.
Demilan sent another punch to his stomach, this time followed by a swift, frightening punch to his face. “See what I did there?
Every time you avoid giving me an answer you can expect every hit you’ve received before, and every time we’re going to add a new one. And every new hit is going to get worse and worse.” Demilan almost sounded like a frantic sadist.
“Where is my wife?” he asked once more, and again was greeted with muffled curse words. He straightened his back and took a good look at the beaten man. He drew his knife from its chest holster. Its dark blade shone brightly as the sun beams coming through the window shutters hit it. Demilan’s grip on the handle tightened and he threw a look over to Maileena, checking her reaction to the situation. Although she stood firm and wasn't looking away, her eyes slightly trembled, as she was unfamiliar to this type of scenario. She may have some balls, but she's still a long way from where she’d like to think she’s at.
Without giving too much further thought about it, Demilan focused back on Odis, who had tears streaming down his face at this point. You won’t get any mercy from me, Odis. I sure as hell didn't get any from you when you decided to take away the love of my life and put me in a fucking coma for 6 months. Feel my pain, Odis. Feel my pain. He punched his stomach once more, followed by another punch to his face, and then slashed his right upper arm with his knife, just below the shoulder. Odis shrieked in pain behind the rag. His nose was running and the tears kept flooding his face. “Where is my wife?” Demilan asked the burning question that had haunted him ever since he woke up in that hospital.
This time, there was no cursing. Odis simply bowed his head down, refusing to let any words out.
Once more Demilan delivered a series of excruciating blows to the man. A punch to the stomach, a punch to the face, another cut, this time below the previous one, followed by another slashing of the knife on his left thigh. Odis once again writhed in agony, but this time Demilan noticed that he was trying to say something other his usual cursing.
“Are you going to talk?” he asked. Odis nodded. “If you scream, I'm going to have to make this twice as bad, do you hear me?” Odis nodded again. Demilan pulled the rag from his mouth and heard the man’s irritating voice. “I gave her away to someone.”
"Who?!"
"Oh, fuck, what was his name? Fuck. Fuck," he struggled to remember. "K… Kl— Kleon! Kleon Hanford! That’s your guy!"
"Kleon Hanford?" Maileena asked, looking horrified.
"You know him?" Demilan turned to her.
“He's the guy that runs the Godly Succubi,” Maileena replied. "He's always there. That’s where you'll surely find him." Demilan noticed Maileena suddenly looked very upset.
Her eyes refused to meet his, and she was giving a distant feeling for some reason. Demilan took her aside to the kitchen, leaving the bruised and bleeding drug dealer in the living room.
“Look, I get it, you ran away from that place, so I'm not going to make you go there with me."
“I have to go. My sister could be there as well.”
"Then I'll search for her as well and bring her back with me."
"Demilan, please—"
“Look, I want you to picture something. Remember what happened in that warehouse where I found you with those guys? There's a good chance the same thing might happen in that club. Those people will never let her go.” He grasped her revolver-wielding hand. “Do you even know how to shoot with this thing? Like, actual shooting. I'm talking about more than pulling the trigger. Aiming. Hitting people. You have to understand that—” He was interrupted by Maileena’s sudden shriek and the feeling of someone plunging at him from behind. Demilan lost his feet and fell to all fours. Before he had a chance to react he felt the needle driven into his arm.
Suddenly he felt a strange, yet familiar feeling. One that filled him with rapture and dread at the same time. I know this feeling.
I've been addicted to it for so long, I get tremors just from feeling it again.
The syringe that was on the table… the purple liquid… Vex. The drug that was his undoing 6 months ago was back in his veins, thanks to Odis. As much as Demilan tried to ignore the feeling of ecstasy, it left him too unfocused and powerless to throw Odis off of him.
"I'm going to kill you, McCloud!" Odis roared like a beast.
Dammit, I can't do much… that motherfucker… the Vex… suddenly a loud noise deafened his ears. It was a gun shot. He looked up and saw the smoke trail emitting from Maileena’s revolver barrel. "Fuck!" he heard Odis scream as he felt his weight lifted from him. Demilan turned and saw Odis holding his left ear with his hand, with blood oozing through his fingers. She missed him. She only hit his ear. "You fucking bitch!" Odis yelled.
With his hand still grabbing his bleeding ear, Odis moved towards Maileena. Demilan was still on all fours. I have to do something. I have to find my strength. With great effort, Demilan grabbed Odis's leg and pulled it towards him before the wounded drug dealer could be in arm's reach of Maileena.
Demilan did his best to keep himself focused, as the Vex's effect weighed on his mind. He drew his knife from its chest holster, just as he had before, and plunged the dark blade into Odis's neck. As he pulled it out, a spray of blood gushed out with it. With his eyes fixed on Demilan, Odis choked on his own blood. Maileena stood by in horror. Even though her face didn’t show any sign of fear, her hands were trembling.
Demilan, on the other hand, was cold as ice. He remained composed and silent as the man slowly died before him. Odis's death wasn’t quick. It took him several seconds of choking before he finally became still.