The Second Day (Rated Aure)

[Lye]

Between the darkness of the Forgotten Forest, and the mountain ridges of the Dagger Peaks, the Seventh Sanctum nested quietly. The faint light of dawn stretched over the canopies of pine and laid across the several huts and single longhouse within the camp. For the first time in weeks, the ever-chilling winds of the Great White Expanse did not stir. Instead, a rolling fog permeated the air, lit ablaze by the morning sun. Small streams of smoke billowed up from the homes, huts, and moutainside from warming fires within. Only one home lacked the sign of a heated hearth.

Lye, clothed in his arctic furs, pressed through the snow toward this one building. In it, his project waited - Amari. The day prior put the girl under unbelievable stress. Contrary to her strong beliefs, the girl successfully took her first life. While it was rationalized and quickly regretted, she performed beyond his expectations. Unfortunately, her hesitation and kindness toward her victim afforded her punishment. Two dozen men had their way with her.

On the day of their meeting, she warned of a curse which would rot a man's manhood should they defile her. Two dozen woman-starved soldiers had their fill and despite the one killed by the assassin's hands, none suffered boils or blisters despite her warning. The experience nearly broke Amari on the first day, but something unusual happened. As Lye gave her the one reward she picked, his hand graced a mark on her lower back which consumed any blood it touched. Doing so, she bounced back with the same fiery zeal and tried to retaliate. In the end, she was left battered and bruised.

"Wake up," Lye warned as his body loomed above her. Nude, covered only with a damp towel from the night before, she lay balled up. Her fair skin took on a hint of blue from the lack of heat throughout the night. Red lips became purple and similar hues spotted her body from the trauma of the day prior.

The assassin cocked his head as his eyes fell upon her neck. He looked to the far wall where he had last left her with a firm blow to the head. They traced a path from there to here, where he removed and threw her collar. With every intent to put it back on her this morning, it already laid tightly around her neck. His brow raised and lips slightly broke their firm scowl into a proud grin.

"Wake up, we have a visitor," he repeated, giving her one last chance to heed him.

[Mari]

The night was unforgiving, Amari awoke from her unconscious state just long enough to drag her battered body across the floor. She wasn't entirely sure why pain wasn't coursing through her veins, since she did not wear the collar but she was not going to put things to chance. Shaking hands picked up the thin, intricate lace and clasped it around her neck. There, Amari pulled the damp towel over her shivering body and curled up into a ball. The pain kept her awake. Her arms and hips throbbed, her throat ached like fire. Her head swam. Soon, the thralls of the arctic air tugged at her consciousness. Slowing her heart, and pulling her into a listless, dreamless sleep.

Wake up

A voice stirred her slumber, Amari's eyes fluttered but did not open. Her head felt heavy, pained, as though she had run head first into a rock. Her thoughts were clouded, and her body didn't respond to her initial attempts to shift it. She parted blue lips and gave a shivered gasp of air, lungs relishing in the sensation of breath anew.

"Wake up, we have a visitor."

The words took on a sense of stern warning. Amari grumbled as her eyes slowly opened,she blinked.Green hues shifting around the dim room before her. They landed on the figure that shadowed her tiny form. Lye stood dressed thick in comfortable furs, arms crossed and the slightest of smirks upon his features. Her brows shifted into the smallest of scowls and her lips turned down into a soured pout. She tried to say something but lost the skill to do so, instead muttering inauduble sounds.

The woman tried to push herself up with shaky arms, but they fell out from beneath her. Her limbs felt heavy, unmovable as though they were made with sheets of thick metal. "P-Please help..." She muttered through shivered lips. She found it difficult to move, the onset of mild hypothermia setting into her tiny frame.

The assassin scoffed and shook his head. With a deep inhale of disappointment, he paced over to her and scooped Amari up into his arms. She shivered, cold hands sneaking under his coats, attempting to find some semblance of warmth. Her entire form twisted toward his and for once, Amari was grateful for his presence. Before they left Lye unbuttoned his coat and burried her into it, his body twitched at the abrupt frozen touch of her skin against his. He grunted. "This is the only kindness you'll see today."

Amari, still in a state of slight delusion muttered her thanks, brain foggy, calling him the only name she knew him by. "Thank you, Master Starlight." Her voice held no malice, only relief. If Lye reacted, she didn't see it. Amari already began to loose consciousness - head against his chest, feeling the low, slow beat of his heart.

Lye shifted and phased through the log cabin walls. Heading toward the same chamber he head lead her the day before. Across the foggy path and into the large hall. He passed the long table and human bone throne and past the double doors. The small path opened up to the cavern, its interior completely changed. As his green eyes landed on it, his thin lips twisted up into a grin.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Aurelius sat back against one of the rough stone walls of the cavern, a roll-up clamped between his pale lips, eyes half-closed. The tiefling warlock wore his usual apparel - interlocking plates of leather covered the majority of his wolf-lean frame, each adorned with dozens of barbs, blades and hooks. They tore through his battered duster coat with every movement but as soon as the leather parted, it re-knit itself back around the razor-edges. Even here, in the frozen North of Salvar, he didn't deign to wear anything other than his trademark ensemble. Hate the cold though he might, his fiend-blooded heritage meant he could ignore it with a little effort.

His men laboured around him, unpacking heavy containers and chain-bound chests, dragging more from the foggy courtyard outside. The caravan that had left from the House of Sin four days before had been laden with all manner of exotic implements as per the request that had been sent to him through messenger raven.

Junior had been delighted to find dinner coming to it for a change.

The little abomination was perched as usual on its master's shoulder, sable wings stretched wide as it sniffed the air. Sutured eye-sockets regarded the room with senses far beyond the scope of humans. It could feel the tension in the air and kept chattering its tiny needle-teeth together in a staccato rhythm that was already grinding on Aurelius' last nerve.

It had been a while since the tiefling had wandered the halls of the Seventh Sanctum, and he could not in all honesty say he was glad to be back. The summons, such as it was, had come from Ulroké himself; a man Aurelianus and Madison Freebird had spent a year torturing in the most profoundly brutal and imaginative ways. They had broken him in every conceivable manner and then some. That meant he couldn't very well ignore it off-hand, but nor could he wander in to the assassin's stronghold undefended. After the thorough desecration of his flesh, Aurelianus wouldn't blame the silver-haired killer for holding a few grudges.

The half-demon licked his serrated teeth and let the memories come for a few moments. He inhaled a lungful of smoke and got back to the matter at hand. Namely, trying to figure out if this was a trap of some form.

He had arrived less than half an hour before, he and his coterie of fleshcrafted murderers stalking through the front gate to hostile glares and apprehensive mutterings - more than a few had come under Aurelius' knives when the Crimson Hand was at its strongest, and there were none who bore any fondness for their torturer after that. The ones who had not suffered themselves had heard the stories. That in itself would have been bad enough, but word had reached Aurelius (as it always did) of Lye's actions since he had decided to reclaim his throne as head of the Order. It seemed the Master of the Order had found focus at last; and that, in the half-demon's experience, was when a man was most dangerous.

The room was shaping up into a slightly less impressive scion of the pain chambers Aurelius kept back in the depths of his House of Sin. Racks of bladed implements were arrayed within easy reach of the black-iron frame taking centre stage. Made of slender, barbed armatures, it was hung with all manner of restraints for varying degrees of pain for the subject bound upon it. Around this spread a veritable armoury of other equipment of baroque surgical menace. This collection had taken the tiefling sadist only years to accumulate but a life-time's worth of dark hungers had gone into mastering it.

Someone slipped up beside Aurelianus and whispered in his ring-laden ears.

"Ulroké has arrived, Master," Gimmel hissed quietly.

Aurelius sighed internally at Gimmel's continued habit of using the honorific. The tiefling loathed it, but his fleshcrafted coterie, those most devoted to learning a mastery of experience and pain, had even dubbed themselves The Faithful. Born blind, Gimmel had allowed himself to be reshaped by Aurelius' protean Art - his skull was now devoid of eyes, or even eye sockets, simply flowing down smoothly from his brow to his slender-lipped mouth. His form was wrapped in leather bindings and armour that bore resemblance to an abattoir worker's. He was considered the First among the Faithful; the most fervently devoted servant of Aurelianus. They had come to an Anarchist to find themselves a master.

The irony was almost painful.

Nodding to Gimmel, Aurelianus pushed himself to his feet and turned his attention to the entrance of the cavern. His right hand was encased in a gauntlet of leather straps, each leading to a wickedly curved blade of dark titanium at his fingertips. At the sight of Lichensith Ulroké, these blades started slowly swishing back and forth as Aurelius curled and uncurled his fingers. He could hear the blades cutting the air as they moved.

A dark grin spread across his alabaster features.

"'ello chief," he smirked, smoke streaming from the corners of his mouth. "'ow's tricks?"

[Lye]

With Amari in arms, Lye's boot planted against the double doors and swung them open. More men and creatures than the assassin expected busied about to set up a near replica of Aurelianus' pain chambers. The sight alone triggered uncomfortable memories, forcing a slow wince from the previous tenant. He steeled himself with a breath and returned to his calm, stoic expression.

"Morning, demon," Lye greeted.

The freezing and shivering girl that wrapped herself against Lye took a brief moment to survey the ruckus. Immediately she began to squirm only forcing Lye's grip to tighten.

"Please no," she whimpered. "Please go back."

"I've brought you an offer of good will and a project," the assassin continued, walking toward the tiefling.

"I don't know what I did! I'm sorry!" Amari cried out, her body still weak from the cold and day prior.

"This girl needs to understand the true meaning of pain," Lye began as he approached, now in front of the demon's threatening visage.

His arms opened and her nude form collapsed to the ground at Aurelianus' feet.

"She's unique. I want to know if you can find out why," spoke the assassin as he stared upon Amari as she crawled toward him and tugged at his legs.

"Please, Master Starlight," she begged, shivering and eyes turned up to him.

"And see if you can do something about this 'Starlight' nonsense she loves to call me." Lye's lips turned into a scowl before turning a foul gaze to the pale demon.

"I want to watch you do to her what you did to me. Don't leave scars. I believe my corpse gave you more than enough practice..." The final sentence bled from his lips with a thick distaste and loathing. While the demon caused one of his worst years alive, his newfound purpose was partially due to the sadist. Lye respected Aurelianus in a strange, unspoken way. Not like a servant would a master, but as a student would a teacher.

"And this." Lye produced a vial from the leather pouch at his hip. "Keep it within reach of her. If she begs for death, let her take it."

[Mari]

"Don't ignore me!" Amari shouted, her eyes wide and wild. If Hypothermia had set into her bones - fear had been the cure to it. Amari had a run in with Aurelianus once before, it was unpleasant, but the horrors she saw - the twisted flesh beasts. They were sights that mortified her. Is this what he meant by taking away her humanity? By twisting her body? Crafting it into an entirely new, inconceivable creature?

"Please...anything but him" Amari gripped at his legs in futility. "Don't let him turn me into some twisted flesh behemoth..." Amari muttered, her face pressed into his leg. She didn't want to turn and look at the other man, the glint in his eyes, the hungry sheen of his teeth. The dangerous curve of his clawed armour. The day before, was a trial in and of itself, but she hadn't known fear that day. She hadn't felt the quivering dread that Aurelianus managed to set in her, with nought but his presence.

She heard Lye say she was unique - she pulled her head away to give him a questioning look. "What do you mean by that?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her. She jumped, hearing a step from behind her. Amari tried to hide behind Lye's leg.

"Stop that." He muttered with a brutish kick to her side, shifting her free from his leg. Lye picked up Amari, who tried to squirm and kick out of his grip, and tossed her toward the skilled flesh crafter. Amari landed with a thud at Aurelianus' feet. Her bare, pert ass lifted high in the air, the sigil clear as the day she was born with it - resting at the base of her spine, her body slightly bruised from the night before. She groaned and tried to lift herself up, pausing as she realized just how close to the tiefling she was.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Aurelius watched the little display of affection and rejection with his usual smirk.

He sucked another lungful of smoke while Lye outlined what he wanted from the tiefling. Same as always, someone was bowing to the half-demon's mastery of pain. Something he accepted with relish.

Out of his periphery, Aurelius marked Gimmel and Natalia falling to his side; the eyeless murderer and the scale-skinned vixen eyed the naked chit with undisguised hunger. Neither made a move to touch her though - they had both heard Ulroké give her to the tiefling and neither was addled enough to try and play with his toys before he gave them the nod. Natalia, naked but for the scales covering her lithe form, purred under her breath. The scales flushed a dusky red as she let her imagination run riot - her adoration of watching him inflict the darkest of tactile experience on his canvases was almost unmatched among the Faithful.

Aurelianus' serpentine eyes never left Lye's while the girl begged for salvation that was never going to come.

Shrugging his coat off and tossing it in the corner, he stalked closer and took the proffered vial with a raised eyebrow.

"Givin' 'em an easy out's no fun, cutter," he said, running a forked black tongue over his teeth, "but if you insist."

It was clear he disliked the idea, but at the same time he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to enlighten someone to his methods. Especially with someone who had already had a taster of them before. He tucked the vial into his belt and turned his back on the Master of the Crimson Hand - it was a brazen display of Aurelius' lack of concern at any possible threat Lye posed. They both knew the master assassin would be justified in trying to reap some form of revenge on the man who had literally torn him apart over and over again.. but the half-demon warlock also knew Lye was smarter than to try. Win or lose, the fight would cost him too much and he knew it.

Kneeling down, exhaling streams of bluish smoke from his nostrils, the tattooed deviant let his predatory gaze wander the girl. She was shivering, though from cold or horror it was hard to tell. She could feel Aurelianus' presence behind her and made to crawl back towards Lye, pleading with every gesture for him to.. what? Protect her? Deliver her from the devil?

A bitter laugh bubbled up from the back of his throat.

Some people would never open their eyes to the truth of the world they lived in; there was no hope, there was no reprieve from the pain and the misery save what they could claw out for themselves. He would teach her, of course. Given the chance, the sadist would teach everyone. Every single person that came into his grasp would learn to embrace the suffering, break or to reject the loss of choice and fight back. It didn't matter a rat's arse to him which they chose. The important thing was that they had the choice.

"Shhhh now luv," he hissed quietly, "no need to fret. I mind you and course you pikin' remember me."

His dark grin widened and he flicked the roll-up away after a final draw.

"So we both know there's no point beggin'. We'll get started, shall we?"

With a grim chuckle as the only warning, his right hand lashed out and buried the length of his titanium talons through the meat of her calf.

Normally the brutal attack would have elicited screams of simple, unadulterated agony. But the blasphemous magicks wrought in the razor-gauntlet took those sensations and turned them into pleasure. Every nick, every wound caused by the callous relic took the recipient to newer heights of delight. The worse the injury, the better it would feel for the victim. Forced masochism; the first little tool in his arsenal to help him unbalance a person's mind while he worked on their flesh.

Aurelianus cocked his horned head at Lichensith, the closest to a thanks the assassin would get from his once-torturer.

Pushing himself back to his feet, bladed leather creaking with his every movement, the half-breed closed his grip tighter and started dragging Amari towards the wrought-iron table. He shivered involuntarily as he felt the keen blades scrape against bone inside the girl's leg. She weighed little enough but she writhed and flailed as she was pulled across the rough stone floor, opening the gashes wider and letting more of her blood flow across ivory skin. Her skin was abraded, a bloody strip appearing across her hip and breasts as they were scoured by the ground.

At their leader's gesture, Gimmel and Natalia moved to aid him. The blind pain-artist took Amari's ankles, tongue tasting the copper tang of blood in the air as Aurelius dragged his blades free with a vicious twist. She tried to kick out but Gimmel simply slid his blades of bone from the meat of his forearm and jabbed her shallowly in the ribs. Natalia grabbed her wrists and between the pair, they roughly threw her on the barbed table. Flicking her curtain of shimmering red hair out of her eyes, Natalia licked her lips and let her fingers wander over the myriad restraints at her disposal.

With a final caress of the brutal implements, she settled on a set of cilices; the steel wire mesh was wrapped tightly around the abused woman's wrists and ankles, tiny spikes on the inner face biting into her the more she tried to free herself. Natalia leaned close and ran her tongue up one of the wet red runnels, her scales tinged with more crimson at the heady flavour.

"That'll do Nat," Aurelius grinned, easing her back with his hands on her shoulder. One of his talons parted her flesh, making her shiver with lust but she obeyed, falling back and waiting for her teacher to begin his lesson.

From the corner of Amari's eye she saw a pallid shape emerge from the edge of the room. It flapped its way over to her and landed with a soft thump on her chest. She had seen Junior the last time she had set foot under the House of Sin's eaves, but not so close as this. The foetus regarded her with undeveloped features, the sutured eye sockets following her movements without impediment. Ruffling the sable pinions on its back the little abomination chittered harshly before sinking needle-like teeth into her unprotected stomach.

Despite the din of the other fleshcrafted workers still bringing in equipment and setting up racks of tools, the sound of Junior's suckling was still audible.

Moving with a calm, measured stride, Aurelianus stopped at Amari's side. His pupils narrowed as he marked the collar around her neck but there would be time to deal with that later. For the moment he opened his senses to the witch-sight. A faint shimmer of silver passed across his inhuman eyes and the tiefling feasted his gaze upon Amari's soul with relish. No-one could hide their sins and preferred indulgences from the warlock. He could read it as easily as he would a book, and what he saw on Amari right now brought a wicked gleam into his eyes.

"You've been busy, chief," he laughed over his bladed shoulder.

"But let me tell you, luv," he hissed, his voice taking on a liquid growl, "what you did last night was just the warm-up."

Still shaking, pale from blood-loss and blue-tinged from cold, Amari continued to struggle against her bindings. She's still got a spark in 'er, he thought. Let's see if we can't kindle it a bit, eh?

Without further preamble, Aurelianus raised his bare hand over her, scarred palm hovering. Junior knew what was coming and unlatched itself from gorging on the girl's blood. It glided across to Natalia, who took the familiar in loving arms, cooing softly to it.

With a whisper-soft touch, Aurelius' ghostly white hand ran across Amari's torso. He tutted to himself as he saw the amount of bruises and lacerations already decorating her. His bladed hand twitched at his side. Cutting her would be an easy start, but the fleshcrafter was in no mood for easy work. He was going to jump straight in and have some fun.

"Well for starters, lets get a fresh canvas to work on," he said mostly to himself.

His hand pressed firmly against her skin. The pressure got worse until finally, empowered by his inhuman will, the tiefling's hands slid through Amari. He reached inside her, her body parting like heated wax under his malicious gift. The sensation was indescribable, but then she had felt it before. He only hoped the trepidation added an edge to what she was currently suffering.

With child-like glee, Aurelianus brought his arm back up. Grasped in his claw-like hand was a long, wide strip of soft, wet flesh. The skin was undamaged by its removal, not even bleeding. The blood vessels were cleanly removed from the tissue, still dangling limply against the flensed muscle of her abdomen. Holding the alabaster skin by the corners, Aurelius tossed it to Lye with a smile.

"'old that for us will you?" he said, already moving his hand back down to remove more.

"I reckon by the time I've cleared some of this away I could make you a nice cloak, cutter."

No-one present was naive enough to think Aurelianus was joking.

[Mari]

Amari heard a bitter laugh, guttural and amused. The same laugh she heard once before. The woman forced her eyes shut, curling herself into a ball. She didn't want to anything to do with the demon. His sick fantasies, his lewd words. His allies, twisted and warped. Heaving with bodily fluids and lust.

She finally lifted her head as he offered her false words of comfort. Her half lidded eyes stared up at him. The golden hues around her iris blazing with ferocity. "How could I forget?" She muttered, clenching her fists. Her tenacity seemed to amuse Aurelianus, he chuckled - then it started.

His dark talons tore through her flesh, the heated sensation of his blades scraping through her ligaments and against her bone. Mari's eyes rolled back - staring at Lye- the man who so willingly gave her away to be brutally tortured. Her body shivered and she moaned loudly, body writhing with fits of pleasure. Parts of her hated this, they hated how easily the two men were able to pick at her physical form. To send rolling waves of ecstasy through her body, only to replace it with constricting, unfathomable pain. Other parts, loved it, and yearned to feel his talons creep up into her flesh and scrape against her bone.

And those parts, scared her.

Her lips parted with a gasp, drool pooling and falling out down the corner of her mouth. Amari emitted another moan as Aurelianus tugged hard on her flesh, dragging her across the floor. The woman wanted a release. The heated sensations of pleasure wracked her body. The woman twisted, writhed, attempting to escape from his grasp, but at the same time attempting to elicit further sexual gratification. Her own hands danced over erect nipples, even going as far as to tease her dripping entrance. She wanted a release that would never come. The sigils imprinted onto her by a fiendish brother would not allow her, not till she had lost the virginity she had kept for many a year. Aurelianus knew this, he no doubt relished in her sexual frustration.

"S-stop..." She managed to whisper between ragged breaths and soft moans. She barely registered how quickly she was bleeding out, nor the abrasions on her skin. She was too wrapped up in the forced pleasure, her mind clouded. Body responding ever so willingly at his invasive touches. Another sigil from her brother, and another fact - that Aurelianus no doubt, would play to.


As the smooth faced right hand man, Gimmel took her ankles - his sharp tongue glided across her open wound Amari shivered, another roll of pleasure running through her body as his tongue wetly slicked against the insides of her flesh. The blissful sensations were short lived, as with a harsh yank, Aurelianus tore his talons away from Amari. The cloud of depraved gratification faded and was quickly replaced with a burning sensation. The red headed woman’s eyes grew wide, flashing a bright amber. She took a few quickened shallow breaths before she let out a blood curling scream. She tried to twist herself away from Natalia and Gimmel, swinging her body to and fro. She was almost successful, but she felt another sharp jab into her ribs. Blood pooled from where Gimmel had shoved his sharp bones into her chest. Amari choked back on a mouthful of bile. Grunting as she was thrown against the table.

The scaled girl grabbed Amari’s wrists in her tight hands. Despite her skin, her grip was somehow softer. At least softer than what Amari had been used to as of late. Amari’s eyes rolled over to look at the woman. Natalia, she was the only one of the lot Amari had remotely liked, even with her unabashed wanton actions. "N-Nata-A...ahhhh..." The scaled woman gripped onto Mari's wrists, holding them in place as her tongue lapped at her wounds, the sounds of her swallowing reverberated in Amari’s ears. Her hands ached with a dull, throbbing pain, tears had stung her eyes, trickling down her cheeks. The sensation of Natalia’s wet tongue pressing against Amari’s skin sent new sensations jostling through her core. Amari groaned, it wasn’t unpleasant. “F-feels….g-g-”

Amari never finished her sentence, Natalia pulled away- guided by Aurelianus. Amari’s eyes focused back, looking past the two. The flutter of wings echoed in the chamber, her eye wideend. “N-no, no, no….” She shook her head. She knew what it was, it was that disgusting baby-looking thing. It’s eyes sewn shut. It landed with a gentle ‘plop’ on her bare chest. Amari wriggled, trying to get the creature to move. “Get Offa me!” She cried, “shoo!” If it understood, it didn’t listen. The fetus chittered, leaning in closer. Amari shied away. It was grotesque, horrifying.

And the damn thing bit her.

Amari screamed as she arched her back, shaking her torso to and fro to try and dislodge it from her stomach. It wasn’t so much the pain of the bite, but the sensation of her blood leaving her, being sucked up in abundance. She grit her teeth. Tears now streaming down her face. She wouldn’t give either of them the satisfaction of her continued agonising cries. Even if she had to bite her tongue clean off and drown herself in her own blood. Amari lifted her head, just enough to glare at Lye. Her eyes furious. Her lips turned down into a thin grimace. Every so often her body twitched with pain, but she held fast to her tongue. I’m not screaming for your satisfaction anymore

Her eyes shifted to Aurelianus, challenging him with the same muted ferocity. Watching as his slitted eyes flashed silver, and the corners of his twisted lips turned up. He threw a comment toward Lye before leaning down to whisper words of warning to her. “Bite me.” She hissed through clenched teeth, “Oh wait, your pets done that already.” She added with a sneer. Despite her sharp tongue, she was in bad shape. Her voice wavered, her cheeks no longer flush. Blood oozes from lacerations along her wrists, ankles, shin and stomach, dripping from the table onto the floor below. Beads of sweat lined her forehead and her breathing harrowed.

Aurelianus raised his hand over her, the sneer quickly disappeared from her face. Replaced with a look of sheer horror. “Fuck me...no…” Her voice lost the venom it held moments before. He gently caressed her torso and Amari cursed her body for reacting positively to his touch.

The pressure of his hand increased and Amari inwardly hissed, trying her hardest not to yelp in pain. She could feel his hand slowly glide through her. Her head grew dizzy and she felt like she was going to throw up. She gasped, throwing her head back, whimpering. Her entire body shook and her arms feebly yanked at the thorned binding around her wrists. Causing more lacerations. The feeling was indescribable, her body heaved with pain, she sobbed and whimpered as she felt his hand twist itself inside of her. The sigils on her body reacted brilliantly, causing a myriad of both pain and pleasure. Amari whispered in broken breaths. Her loins twitched, and her body ached. “Please..stop…”

And he did, but not in the way she expected. With a quick motion Aurelius had peeled a section of her skin, clean off. Amari’s eyes widened - and the gold that surrounded her iris’ leaked into the black and whites of her eye - creating a single golden shining hue. She let out series of screams. Her body burned, her mind cried out, she wanted it all to stop but she couldn’t even voice as such - all she could do was howl.

Her hands pulled harder against her bindings, the thorns digging deeper into her wrists. Covering her hands and arms with trickles of her blood. Still, she screamed

[Lye]

Lye gave a raised brow to the two odd creatures that accompanied the half demon on this bout. Some time passed since the assassin last saw his captor and torturer, but during those months, Aurelianus commanded more authority about him. Originally just a devil given the Crimson Hand's assets to establish a front and base of operations, the tiefling now walked on equal footing. Narrowing his eyes on the two, Lye kept Aurelianus in his peripheral. A specialist in the manipulation of soul and flesh, Lye knew to keep his feet light and mind keen. Amari on the other hand, clung to her master's leg until she was wrenched free by the ankle. Screams mixed with writhing pleasure as bladed talons bit into pale meat. Crimson rushed forward like fine wine from a casket.

"Know her, this one?" Lye asked in retaliation to her response to the needle toothed sadist. "Come across her in the house?"

His words drowned out in her cries, the shrill tone echoing off stone walls and washing the calming crackle of the hearth in its volume. The one named Nat lapped up some of Amari's draining vitae with long, serpentine tongue. The ecstasy grew apparent by the rapid shift of the creatures hue. Curiousity of what and how Aurelianus instilled such traits into a person piqued the assassin's interest but only so long until the familiar flutter of Junior's wings. Lye's face quickly wrenched into a scowl.

"Junior," Lye called out as if greeting a mortal enemy. "I'd have figured you'd leave that abomination to gorge on the messenger raven. No doubt I'm already missing more than the one."

His tone bled with disgust that matched the expression on his face. During those twelve months of rehabilitation, the little cretin often made unsupervised visits. In those hours of the night, the nude abortion enjoyed filleting and digging through Lye's specially hardened body - as if a toy that posed a challenge. With a flared lip, Lye turned himself on the sight as Junior laid perch on Amari's stomach and began to gorge itself with a happy chitter.

The assassin paced over to one of the many chairs laid perimeter around the room from the day prior. With a hand upon the rest, he dragged it through the packed soil floor and placed it a few paces in front of Amari. Straddled with his arms folded upon the backrest, Lye watched on. His gaze stared unflinchingly at her eyes as screams of pain twisted into shouts of pleasure and vice versa.

"I'm interested in her eyes," Lye stated as the young woman managed a fierce stare and witty quips through the barbed harnesses and parted flesh. "There's something about the girl that sets her apart. I want to know what and how it works..."

He spoke as if Amari's words reached no man's ear. As Junior worked her abdomen with wet suckles, she bit her tongue to stifle the screams, burning hate in her eyes. Lye returned her loathing with a grin and lowered brow. He motioned to his hip and flipped the latch to a leather pouch. From it, he produced a vial - the one he spoke of meant to end her suffering once her will faltered to the pain. He held it up in just beyond arm's reach.

"Say 'please kill me, master' and it's yours," Lye taunted with a wiggle despite Aurelianus' dissatisfaction. Contrary to their conversation, an easy out would not be on tonight's menu. Suffering needed to teach a lesson, and death was a relief she would not be afforded. On purpose anyway...

Her silence failed when Aure held his hand over here with a glint of ill intention. Her writhing and pleas forced Lye's concern once more. It became apparent Amari had met the tiefling before and in some manner of a similar setting.

"What do you know of this girl, Aurelianus?" Lye asked. His reply came in the form of flying skin. Deft hands snatched the untanned human leather from the air, veins dangling from beneath the dermis in a freakish similarity to read strands of hair. Lye held it in his grasp, examining the precision and detail but also turning his face sour with dark memories.

"You were not this gentle with me, fleshcrafter." The words left his lips with ire and a pang of envy. A phantom ache manifested in his back between the shoulders where Aurelianus practiced this exact same craft. With flesh and bone as robust as the common metal of war, it came at no surprise a harsher touch was needed. With a heavy exhale weighted with nostalgia, Lye draped Amari's maiden skin over the wood of his chair and paid it no further attention.

"I've no need for a skin suit. I believe the patchwork one you gave back to me after twelve moons is more than enough for one man. Just be sure to stitch her back together with less... creativity than you did me." The assassin wished to hide the disgust in his tones, but Aurelianus would simply pry it from the unseen words in his ethereal form. The demon relished this type of activity and moreso in replicating the events Lye knew firsthand. This became more than breaking some naive noble girl. It was about both the assassin and his captive.

"There," Lye stated, his eyes flaring with excitement. "That." He pointed a blood damp finger toward Amari's glowing eyes. Gold shone brilliantly and brighter than before. "I want to know what causes that. Those brilliant eyes. Something about them..."

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

He could not have contained his laughter if he'd tried.

"If I didn't know any better, old son, I'd say you 'eld a grudge with me over that," he smirked, running his teeth across his predatory grin.

It was true, Aurelius had explored much of the depth and breadth of human suffering when he had Lye as a plaything. Gentle was perhaps the only thing the tiefling had not been with his supposed Master at the time. He had been rough, brutal, callous, creative, barbaric, subtle... but never gentle.

He continued his grisly work as he reminisced, removing more patches of Amari's flesh with nothing but his bare hand. Her writhing only made the bloodless flaying more painful, every contortion of her body only serving to tear free more of her skin in the half-devil's grip.

The girl was letting loose a symphony of delightful torment, each shriek perfectly illustrating her mind's lack of ability to process so much tactile sensation at once. The true art behind Aurelianus' tortures was the blend of contrasts. The sharp sting of the cilices biting in to her bony wrists and ankles; the deep throbbing burn of the lacerations in her leg; the nettling fire of being peeled one bit at a time. Even the cool air still managing to slither into the room despite the doors being closed added another note to her song.

The tiefling felt a shiver go up his spine and allowed himself a low growl of hunger.

Of course he knew the answers to Lye's questions. He knew what the glow of her eyes signalled. Knew what the markings on her skin were and what they were there for. He had met her before and then as now, the poor sod had spent her time suffering under his not-so-tender ministrations. The only difference was that this time he had as long as he desired to toy with the chit. And break her. Gimmel and Natalia, quick to catch on to the deception, gave no indication they had ever laid eyes on the pitiful creature either.

He marked the glowing amber hue of her eyes as Lye did, but he refrained from reacting like the assassin. Instead he settled for a raised eyebrow at the development and continued stripping her of flesh. Her torso was already bare with more clean patches and strips joining the first across the back of Lichensith's chair.

"Haven't the foggiest what that is, chief," he lied effortlessly, leaning in closer to his living canvas and perfectly feigning curiosity. He studied her face, noting she was definitely getting paler. Not surprising given the myriad wounds now decorating her but Aurelius wasn't one to allow the luxury of unconsciousness when he was displaying his art. He barked over his shoulder at one of the other Sinners nearby.

"Baru, bring me the wake-up juice when you get a second, jig?"

Aurelius' voice acted like a whip-crack, and the swarthy man hurried to obey. As he saluted his leader, he displayed the barbed protrusions of bone emerging from each palm. Other more subtle mutations met the eye the longer one stared, but not many actively sought to study the fleshcrafter's perverse and unnatural creations.

The underling returned a moment later and handed a slender steel syringe to the fleshcrafter before returning to his duties. Unlike most of the other members of the Faithful, Baru had been Crimson Hand before he had been remade and he spared a respectful half-bow to the Master of the Order as he took his leave.

Aurelius could have simply told Ulroké what he wanted to hear. Of course he could have. But with an internal chuckle, the half-devil decided it would be more fun to show him. Absent-mindedly, the half-breed ran a hand coated in the slick membrane from inside the red-head's body through his quills to clear away the prickling sweat gathering on his brow. Even as he smeared the fluid across his head, he felt a small bead roll around the base of one of his horns before dripping on to her cracked, raw lips.

Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for 'im now, would we? he thought.

Finally, with her screaming and pleading still unabated, Amari's torso and most of the upper portions of her limbs were cleared: her striated musculature and softer tissues were exposed to the chill air, almost steaming with every beat of blood pumping around her form. Her face remained untouched however and given her continued attempts to show defiance, Aurelianus decided that was simply unacceptable.

"Whatever it is, cutter," he said, still a hair's breadth away from the weeping woman's face, "must mean I'm doin' somethin' right."

His attention slid back to Amari. His slit pupils narrowed in their beds of flecked gold, lips peeling open like a knife wound to expose his curved fangs. His left hand grabbed her by the cheeks, pale fingertips digging in to her face as he forced her lips to pucker.

"Now remind me, luv. What was it you asked me to do?," he hissed. Flickers of torchlight caught the obsidian rings in his brow. "Aaaaaah, that was it. Bite you."

With a feral snarl the sadist leaned in, closing his mouth over Amari's. For half a heartbeat she froze, either from shock or because of the unmistakable reaction she had to the male contact. There was no way she could hide that she'd enjoyed what was happening to her, on some level. Maybe some of the rubes and addle-coves watching didn't see it but there were no secret shames that could be kept dark from the warlock's witch-sight.

But then she felt the keen fangs shear through her lips as Aurelius closed his mouth.

Powers help her, she fought back. Amari struggled against the restraints until finally Natalia pinned her arms flat to prevent her from tearing her veins open on the cilice-barbs. Screams tried to gurgle up a throat that was filling with her own blood, but all she could do was splutter and gasp in agony as he chewed. Her eyes started to roll back in her head as Aurelius finally tore the last vestiges free from her mouth with a savage twist of his neck.

Blood flowed freely down her neck and chest as Aurelius spat the torn and mangled flesh at Lye's booted feet. His glare was a mix of black hunger and sheer amusement as he locked eyes with Ulroké. Golden-amber met cold emerald fiercely.

"Still too gentle, cutter?" he asked, the lower half of his alien features coated in vitae.

There was a soft thump as Amari finally fell limp. Her breathing was laboured through the thick coating of blood inside her airways; without any form of compassion, Gimmel turned her head to allow her to breathe easier. It wasn't done out of concern, but so that she didn't accidentally expire too early and spoil the master's enjoyment.

Aurelianus licked his lips, head tilted back as he reeled in the overpowering sweetness of Amari's blood. More than that, of her suffering. He could practically taste it pouring off of her in waves. And he had only just begun to work.

Finally tearing his eyes away from Lye, the half-breed took the syringe from his belt and hammered it into the girl's chest. The second the plunger was depressed, Amari bolted upright. Or tried to. She was still bound beyond her ability to escape.

"Wake-up juice," he said conversationally to the girl as she looked around in a panic, pupils like pinholes. "Little somethin' a mate of mine knocked up for troublesome little sods who try to pass out on me. Good, eh?"

He could see the effect it was having on her; chest hiking with rapid, shallow breaths; eyes darting around without hesitating for even a second; her pulse was visible in the arteries and veins at her neck, heart hammering a rapid beat.

He held out his hand and spoke to his helpers without looking up.

"Gimmel, the brazier."

Nodding solemnly, the former-man moved over to the iron brazier burning near the pain-frame and drew forth a poker. The tip glowed a crisp, clean white, spreading down to a deep cherry red. The leather bindings around his hands smoked slightly at the touch, but he handed it to Aurelius without hesitation. The tiefling closed his hand around the metal near the base but even so his palm sizzled softly.

If anything, the pain only heightened his delectation.

"Now let's see if we can't 'elp stop you bleedin' all over me lovely new table."

He rammed the glowing metal tip into the first of her leg incisions, forcibly cauterising the wound. The charnel stink of burned meat steamed into the air, with the sharp copper tang of boiling blood.

With the wake-up juice coursing through her system, Amari's body was incapable of shutting down. No lapse into unconsciousness. No reprieve from the agonising minutes.

There was only the present. Inescapable.

The tiefling took his time burning the rest of her wounds closed.

[Mari]

Amari’s screams continued as he ripped piece after piece of flesh clear from her writhing form. Her cries grew hoarse, and tears streamed down her wild eyes. Still conscious, stil alive purely from the burning strength and obstinate nature of her soul. As Aurelianus paused to speak to Ulroke, her screams died down into pained whimpers, begging for him to stop.

She froze when she felt his thin lips pressed against hers, Her eyes widened in shock. Her body relaxed, the burning pain still festered throughout her entire form. The woman exhaled a long, low breath through her nose. Reciprocating his kiss. The pleasurable sensations of his wet tongue, sliding against hers, rolling up against the roof of her mouth. There was no doubt that Amari was enjoying the sensation. The parts of her that hated what he was doing began to blur, overrun with the yearning for this to continue. Her mind beginning to accept that pain and pleasure seemed to be synonymous with each other. Her body twitched, jerking to and fro - be it from pain, pleasure - or both.

The room had fallen silent, bar the wet sound of the two as their wet tongues fought against each other. Amari’s loins visibly twitched, and to the keen eye, they’d see the glistening of her mound amongst the glistening blood. Until Aurelianus bit down. Amari’s eyes shot open, brilliant shining hues glowing brighter still. She tried to scream but it came out as a gurgled choke. She fought hard against her restraints, if it weren’t for Natalia - Amari would have torn through her wrists. Ending her life right there.
As Aurelianus tore free, Amari’s movements weakened - her golden eyes flickered. Her breathing slowed, and her body began to grow numb and heavy. please let me just die here her head rolled back as she tilted it to glance at Lye. She wisehd for death. She wanted to beg him for it, but no words came out. Only choked gurgles. Even as Gimmel shifted her head, so the blood could flow out the side, she choked -coughing up vitae as it spread across Gimmels face. Gimmel simply licked it, showing a visible shiver. Not that that registered with the crimson haired woman.

She was dying. That was ok. To die in the thralls of uncontrollable ecstasy? Marred by a ferocious searing pain? It wasn’t an entirely bad way to go.

Her glowing amber hues flickered away til her normal eyes were visible. The golden ring around her irises had faded considerably. Her heart slowed and she could feel it pump whatever blood she had remaining echo in her ears. Amari closed her eyes, feeling herself slip away.

THen.

THere was a rush.

Her eyes shot open, darkened by the embraces of death that she almost so readily fell into. Amari tired to bolt upright, her chest heavy with ragged breathing. Her heart pounded and ached with the rush of adreneline. Aurelianus sneered at her, her own blood and fragments of her skin littered his lips. She didn’t register his words.

What was left of her lips parted, almost grinning back at him, she couldn’t help but agree. “G-uhd.” he was right, her whole body ached and buckled, and she was so sure she was still going to die theree - yet she never felt more alive

Her glassy eyes followed his reach, as an iron hot brazier was handed to him. A low choked laugh rumbled through her pounding, shivering form. She fell back to the table with a wet ‘slap’ she attempted to breath in deep the scent of his burning flesh. Her form shivered. She didn’t have the cognitive thought to rationalise her actions, nor to realize how far gone, and how depraved she was being.

The following minutes were agonising. There was nothing but her. The shivers of pleasure, and the scent of her burning Skin, her pained cries gurgled, twisting into sick unabated moans. The now. The inescapable. Who in their right mind, would want to escape such a thing? It was qutie possibly the last thought the woman ever had.

Sometime before he pressed the white hot poker to her skin to sizzle shut the last wound she had stopped moving. Her heart had stopped thumping against her exposed chest. Her eyes had flickered, dullled and eventually, the entirety of the golden hue disapeared from her eyes. Leaving nothing more than a dirtied, dull green.

Amari L’Olfsden had died.