“And while a smart man would fear a female more, the fucker in there doesn’t strike me as very bright. He’d probably have been too busy staring at your tits than understanding how lethal you were.” Bowing slightly and gesturing his own massive arm towards the opening, Bran said, “After you.”
Upon entering the cavernous room, the two quickly realized their new playmate was already wide awake. Taking one look at the foreboding pair, the techno mage went wide-eyed and literally pissed his pants. Strung as he was, both wrists bound in rubber handcuffs from the ceiling with his bare toes barely touching the ground, all he could do was squirm as he did his best to get farther away from them. Which proved to be a pointless endeavor.
“Awe, isn’t that cute? He’s doing a little jig for us.” Bran snickered, which was a frightening sound coming from his demonic vocal cords. He whipped his tail from behind his body, then began wrapping it around the mage’s neck. Laughing outright when more than a few shocks went flowing into his tail, he said, “Really, you fucking twat?” Squeezing harder, he continued, “Your little parlor tricks have no effect on me, so save it. The only thing that might save your worthless hide is information. See, you fucking electro rods picked the wrong family to fuck with. But I know the techs aren’t the mastermind behind this elaborate fuck-up. Who’s pulling your strings, puppet?”
Clearing his throat as the mage turned more than a tad bit blue, Kierra spoke up. “I don’t think he can talk if he’s dead.”
Bran grunted before letting up and releasing his tail. “Speak. Who has my daughter?” At the mage’s befuddled look, Bran explained, “The princess, you fucking idiot. The girl you played a part in helping to kidnap from the orphanage.”
“Didn’t know,” was the barely audible response he received.
“Wrong answer.” Bran said in reply as he drew back his arm, then punched the mage dead center in the face with a fist that encompassed its entire circumference.
Kierra muttered, “Fuck,” as the poor sap’s nose crunched on impact. “Right answer, wrong question.”
“What?” Bran snapped.
“Wrong questions, Mr. Emotional. Now step back for a second. If you kill him before we learn anything, the backlash from our wives won’t even be worth it.”
Frustration truly wearing him thin, Bran snarled, “What the fuck do you mean, wrong questions?”
“I mean the dumb fuck didn’t even know until now who it was they were snatching,” Kierra snapped back.
“No one is stupid enough to go in blind for that type of a job.”
With blood spilling from his split lip, barely able to hold his head up, the mage managed to say, “Did it for the challenge. Never knew…who she was.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You set up some kind of devices around not only the castle, but a hidden and supposedly well-guarded orphanage amongst other places, and you had no clue who was being taken?” Bran’s eyes bled red, then immediately went black as pitch.
Just as he was getting ready to snap his tail out and squeeze the life out of the turd, causing said turd to squeal like a little bitch, Kierra grabbed it out of the air before it could make purchase, pulling him back. When Bran looked as though he were going to strangle him instead, Kierra shoved him into the wall, snarling in his face. “That’s the thing about techno mages. They’re the daredevils of technology. A good enough challenge is like crack to them. We’ve only seen the start of whatever it is they cooked up, so whatever it is has to be beyond complex. So like a human out for a score, where it comes from doesn’t fucking matter to them, and be damned the consequences. Let me throw your own words back in your face. I was born here in Underlayes, so I know all about his kind. You weren’t, so you don’t.”
Receiving nothing more than a grunt in acquiesce, Kierra turned to stand before the mage. “Isn’t that right? What the fuck is your name?”
“Law.”
“Well, Law, that really does sound like a little boy’s name. Before you think we’re playing good demon, bad demon, think again. I want answers before you’re dead. So you’d better start handing out some answers. Who approached the techs with this challenge, and how many of you are involved?”
Looking at Kierra with fear radiating off him in waves, the tech spoke up, “You’re going to kill me anyway. Why should I talk?”
Seeming to think about that for a moment, Kierra barely stopped from laughing outright, settling for a twisted grin instead. “Let me put this in your terms since your kind likes challenges oh so much. Your odds of being torn limb from limb while still alive to feel every moment of exquisite pain, these walls ensuring every horrid shriek of yours remains trapped in your throat, are much greater if you tell us nothing. However, there is a molecule of a chance you could crawl out of here if you answer our questions. So, what will it be? ’Cause right now, you’re wasting our fucking time.”
Stepping away from the wall ready to sink his claws into the idiot’s throat, Bran was brought up short by one of Kierra’s
