Runaway Devil

They kept the room cold. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as the goosebumps washed over my skin. I was tied to a chair and I sneered as my brow furrowed. I had never liked cliches.

There were people in the building, there were echos. It was the warehouse. The upper deck allowed observation of the lower level. I cracked my eye open, a headache making my eyeballs feel too big for their sockets. My head felt heavy and everything was loud. My heartbeat, their heartbeats, breathing, all around me. Hushed talking, grunts. I could practically smell their agitation. A musk hung in the air, the scent of mildew and sweat.

I slowly looked up at the poor soul who stood in front of me. My neck lifted creakily and my eyes burned through him. He had been standing with confidence the previous second, but he wilted under my gaze. He cleared his throat and stiffly walked over to a man along the perimeter. There were not many in the room, but enough for it to be considered an audience.

"She's come back to us." Behind me, Dante sounded pleased, his voice like old velvet against my ear. His lips touched the shell of my ear, they were dry but disturbingly soft. "We've been waiting a while, babycakes. It's rude to have kept us waiting."

I kept my face forward, numbing my expression. I knew what would come next. He slowly walked around so he was standing in front of me. Before proceeding, he lashed out and punched me across the face. I felt his ring imprint onto my molars through my cheek. It almost left me breathless. I paused, feeling the blood gather in my mouth, before righting myself. My face was growing hot with the swelling that was already taking place. He leaned forward, his nose briefly touching mine, and stared at me hard.

I stared back, spitting a glob of blood and saliva onto his face. He flinched as it struck just beneath his eye. The look behind his gaze turned murderous. He quickly backed up, and for the first time, I notice the sling cradling his arm. He looked to one of the men standing around, waiting for the show to begin, and ordered him to retrieve something. He nodded once and scurried off.

Not long after Dante's dog received his orders, he returned with a duffel bag. Its contents clanged together, they were metal and big. I squared my shoulders and sucked the blood in my mouth down my throat. This was going to be a hot minute before I could put them all in their place.

Dante hefted a long wrench in his good hand. Everyone else took a step back, preparing for the spray of blood. There were about twenty men in the room, but I could feel others in the building. There were five possible exits on the first floor. Two in front of me, two behind, and a busted window to my right. And that's not accounting for all the possible exits on the second floor. Dante's voice droned on as I took stock of the full situation.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." His voice had lost any semblance of patience. "First you don't serve my little sister at your shop. Now, that I can forgive." He paced back and forth like a caged beast. "What you did to my arm, that warrants a stronger response." He shrugged and looked down at the wrench he loosely held. His voice dropped several octaves and adopted gravel, not unlike an animal's growl. "But what you did to my boy..." He looked back to me, his face murderous. "The carnage. The blood. You stood in a pile of him and... bowed." He was shaking by the end of his sentence. His grip had tightened, his knuckles white.

He met his breaking point and lunged, a guttural scream filling the previously empty space. The blow landed on my cheekbone, crushing it past the point of repair. I felt my face crumble, heard the squelch of it. I grabbed the chair arms so hard I thought I would break them. I let the blood pour from my mouth in a steady stream. It pooled in my lap and soaked through my pants. My entire head was on fire. My eyes rolled like marbles in a bag. I let my head loll before righting it with a wet gasp. The sudden movement made me feel like I had a hole burning through my stomach, so I let my head fall forward again. I swallowed any and all sound apart from my ragged breathing.

I entertained the idea of saying something but the thought of opening my mouth made me want to heave. My teeth were loose in my mouth, some still connected to chunks of pulpy gums, some knocked loose completely. I let big globs of my mouth tissue fall from my swollen lips, dripping down my shins. With a single swing, this man obliterated what was once my face. White-hot anger gripped my stomach. I shouldn't have let this mother fucker get a hit in.

I took a breath, composed myself, and looked at him. He was breathing heavy, he suddenly looked so much more sunken than before. His eyes were sharply trailing my every movement, his face looking sharp and angular in his rage. My gaze shifted to a small movement in the corner. I zeroed in on it. It was a woman, she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were fixed on her phone, she opened her mouth to say something. Her mouth remained open as she stared at me. She then looked at Dante. "You didn't tell me we had a guest."

"Didn't think I had to," He said.

She raised her brow and walked to his side. She kissed his cheek and sized me up. "What'd she do?"

"Enough. Jason, get her out of here." His eyes never left mine as he spoke. A man stepped forward and grasped her elbow. She walked out with Jason without arguing. "I'm going to have to tell her later that her child was gutted in a field earlier today. Left to die, like an animal." He shook his head, tears welling in his hard eyes. "He was alone. He died alone, with his insides running down his legs." His voice caught and the wrench dropped to the ground with an echoing clang. The space that was full of crackling energy was suddenly a vacuum. Nobody spoke, nobody breathed, nobody even blinked.

Dante shook his head and turned before the tears fell. He walked out the same door that Jason and the woman had. His head was held high and he paused in the doorway. "Tear her apart, leave nothing behind." And he was gone.