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.

[Lye]

"Grudge?" Lye retorted, too low to be heard over the rise of Amari's screams. He raised his tone over hers. "Call it 'fond memories' if that suits you better."

Patch upon patch of the girl's once fair skin layered atop one another on the neck of Lye's chair. Even removed from the body, they maintained their soft, peachy tone and slight warmth. Comparatively, the demon's uncouth ability seemed befitting of a tailor. Each section of flesh cut and removed from the fold like a design taken from a bolt of silk. The way he removed the veins without so much as a tear or rupture matched the delicacy needed to neatly hem the edges from fraying. While significantly more brutal and viscous, there still existed an expert degree of finesse and dexterity in his craft.

"Don't let her die," Lye warned with a growl as Amari's eyes began to fade. Her screams had faded into whimpers and the violent struggle for freedom died down to shallow breaths.

His words fell on deaf ears. The demon and tortured soul existed in a plane of their own. The intimacy of the relationship between the two spared no time for outsiders or distraction. Aure's needled teeth spread into a grin, his body close to the exposed muscle and nerves thick with Amari's blood. Then, Lye raised his brow as their lips met, his own forming a disapproved scowl. Pleasure was reaped from the moment, her thighs tense with intimate urges. Until, that is, his fangs bore down and sundered her lips from her horrified face, spitting them at his feet. Lye's emerald eyes fell on the mangled flesh with anger.

"More like it," Lye growled in response to Aurelianus' taunting. "At least with her, you didn't let the cretin rip them off."

He spoke with ill memories of one of Junior's unsupervised visits - a night the little fiend stripped his skull to the bone to gorge on hair and flesh. In the undertone of that harrowing memory, Lye held back a simmering anger. He looked to Amari as she gasped for breath, her own blood spraying up in labored coughed through exposed teeth and jaw. Her eyes frantically jittered about and Lye recognized the sign of shattering minds.

"That's enough," he commented, but the demon wasn't done.

Aurelianus beckoned for his servant which bared a syringe. A far less graceful jab slammed the needle into her chest and filled it with whatever brewed within its glass vial. Like waking from the healing arts of the Ai'Brone, Amari shot back to life. Her chest heaved rapidly, eyes erratic, and blood spurted fervently from her wrists. While a mote of concern for her mortality lingered at the back of his mind, the sight brought a chill down his spine. So much so, the assassin crooned his neck with a shiver until it crackled and popped. His exhale seethed through clenched teeth.

Oh how he enjoyed the art of suffering. Partially in part to the pale sadist himself.

"Well done," the assassin cooed with a slow clap. "I'll need to borrow that one next time. Adrenaline?"

Whatever the mix, it walked the girl from the brink of death only so the tiefling could continue. The hiss and simmer of meat against red iron melted with agonizing, yet pleasurable moans. His jade eyes narrowed on the girl with suspicion. So soon had she acknowledge pain as pleasure? Lye looked to the vial in his hands. Originally called a death serum, its blue liquid contained a strong concentration of pheromones and euphoric toxins to illicit pleasure. Lye obtained the recipe from a mad Alchemist in Scara Brae that far too frequently visited the world's brothels.

Lye adverted his eyes back to the two and met with Amari's. They flickered, faded, and watered with sorrow. It looked to him as a face of peace, acceptance.

"Stop," Lye commanded over the hiss and crackle of cauterized flesh.

The girl looked toward the vial in his hand and the faint accent of gold in her verdant eyes shimmered away like a spent wick.

"That's enough, Aurelianus!" Lye rose from his seat and reached a hand out toward the devil.

His gloved hand halted short of his barbed attire. It was too late.

Lye looked down at the dull, dilated eyes of a dead woman. Her chest fell one last time as the final breath sputtered through mangled maw. Her exposed veins stilled, and blood seeped loosely from her wounds and pooled quickly about her.

"Damn..." He sighed with his hand over his face and rubbed at his temples. He shook his head. Then, in a childish fit of anger, he lobbed the vial of pheromones at all his might. The little glass tube exploded against the cavern wall with a faint and timid pop.

"SOMEONE GET ME THE MONK!" roared the assassin at the peak of his anger.

"You went to far," he growled, fist clenched in attempt to stave his blade. The two of Aure's followers became rigid, visibly ready to put themselves between their master and whatever onslaught.

"The old monk will die before she's conscious again." The assassin ground his teeth together, walking over to Amari's limp body. He placed his hand through matted red locks.

"A fucking waste..."

Lye looked up to Aurelianus, completely unflinching in the brunt of his outburst.

"She was not as resilient as I was. You were to break her, not kill her."

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Enough?

Enough!?

The tiefling went dangerously still. His serpent eyes never left Amari, gliding over her abused form and basking in the knowledge of what was to come. He hadn't driven the girl over the brink of death accidentally. Everything that was happening now was exactly what he had wanted to happen and the more Lichensith spoke to his so-called subordinate, the more Aurelianus became sure the man had forgotten who he was speaking to.

A lesson, then.

"You don't get to tell me when it's enough," he hissed over his shoulder. His bladed fingers swayed languidly, filling the suddenly quiet room with the soft scrape of metal on metal.

"That's not the way this works, cutter. Never 'as been and it never pikin' will be."

None of the others in the chamber moved, sensing the mounting tension and praying they would not draw the attention of either of the murderers in the centre. Gimmel and Natalia were tense and ready, the latter's gaze burning holes in the silver-haired threat. Gimmel's bone blades slid into place with the flex of wire-taut tendons; Natalia flexed her fingers, reinforced talons easily sharp enough to open a man's throat.

Lichensith turned his anger on the rest of the assembly under Aurelius' leadership, roaring commands at them to bring his pet Ai'Brone. Some made to move, Baru being the first to head towards the door to the cavern. The tiefling marked him out of his peripheral and felt the coiled serpent of anger stirring in his brain-box. Normally he wouldn't have begrudged Baru the choice of where he put his loyalty, but Lichensith needed to be reminded of just what he was dealing with in Aurelianus Drak'shal.

Baru never saw the shape forming in the air behind him; but he felt the heat a heartbeat before the writhing whip of Hellfire snapped across his shoulders. His clothing ignited instantly, along with the flesh of his back. The reformed man fell to his knees with a scream as the black fire clung to his flesh. Finally, with a mere thought, Aurelius extinguished the flames and turned his attention back to Lichensith.

"No-one get the bloody monk," he said calmly, tongue running across his teeth.

"You went too far."

The words left Lye's mouth and instantly the atmosphere in the pain chamber soured. A liquid growl emerged from Aurelius' throat, pupils narrowed to the slightest hairlines in his golden eyes.

"All of you. Out." he spoke, his voice becoming a chthonic, guttural snarl as the fiend-blood in his veins flared in retaliation to Ulroké's presumption.

Fuelled as it was by his full willpower, none in the room argued with the demand. They filed out quietly and quickly, feeling the full-force of his iron will like a physical entity. Even the eyeless sadist and scarlet-haired vixen turned and walked directly to the door. Gimmel wanted to stay but his body was obeying of its own accord. He didn't voice the thought but it made him uncomfortable, without him fully understanding why.

Aurelius glanced at his coterie as they all backed out. Gimmel seemed angry at the idea, but even without eyes he could feel Aurelius' stare and knew what it was telling him. The warlock turned his attention back to Lye as the doors closed.

Lye moved past the tiefling and ran his hand gingerly through the deader's matted locks. What was that Aurelius saw in the movements? Tenderness? Genuine care? It was obviously more than idle curiosity - something about Amari had clearly hooked the Assassin Lord. The tiefling's scarred lip curled back in a sneer, his eyes hooded by his brow. For all the talk of cold strength, of a return to the callous reaping of human lives Ulroké's resurgence promised, the half-demon found himself witnessing a vulnerability already.

His expression softened back to one of dark amusement as the Master of the Hand shattered the easy-out alchemical concoction against the rough stone wall.

Ah chief, just when I think you're gettin' a bit cannier you go an' 'and me more leverage, he mused, wheels turning behind his eyes. His smirk widened.

"You still don't get it, do you cutter?" he sneered, closing off the still bleeding gashes on Amari's face without really noticing.

"There is no too far. Not 'ere. Not when I'm involved. I thought you'd learned that already."

He let the assassin's mind have a few seconds to recall his year under Aurelius' tutelage.

"I shape this," he snarled, gesturing to the cavern with outstretched arms. "Nothin' 'ere 'appens without my choosin'. No-one gets to duck out early. No-one gives me the laugh, dead-book or not."

Locking eyes with Lichensith, letting the man see the true depth of the half-devil's zealousness, Aurelius reached down to Amari's body. His hands sunk through her meat and bone, reshaping it to his desire. His will made this a reality. Eventually, with a savage twist of his arm, the horned monster parted one of the dead girl's arms from her corpse. The wounds were sealed, leaving just a nub of bone at the joint.

Lye's jaw tensed, his fists moving fractionally closer to the blades at his waist.

Aurelius saw it. But his smile only gained a vicious edge. He honestly didn't know who was the faster of the two; but he ultimately didn't care. He didn't need to be fast when he was dealing with the veteran slayer. He just had to be the more cunning. He unstrapped his razor gauntlet and dropped it on the table next to the girl's un-moving corpse.

The fleshcrafter continued removing the rest of Amari's limbs, before finally his hands descended into her torso. It passed through her womb; it rearranged her intestines as it travelled deeper; finally it split her spine, bowing out vertebrae and emerging through her lower back.

Aurelius made sure Lye would not see what he was doing; that knowledge was currency and the ashen-skinned half-breed knew just what he wanted to buy with it.

"You wanted me to show 'er the true depths of pain. You watch and learn too, cutter. Seems you need a reminder."

Unseen by Lye, Aurelianus' slender fingers slid free from Amari's skin, smearing her own spilled blood across the glyph seared into the small of her back. He removed his hand and stepped back from the table.

For a few moments nothing happened.

Then, slowly, a warm amber glow spread from the mark on her back. It grew in brightness rapidly, forcing both men to shield their eyes from the harsh glare.

Before the strobing white patches had cleared both of the killers heard a familiar sound breaking the stillness of the cavern.

Sobbing.

Blinking his eyes clear, Aurelius chuckled. It was a black sound, with very little relation to joy or happiness. Not as an average man would understand the concepts. His gambit had paid off, and Amari breathed again. After his previous encounter with her, he was glad to see his thoughts on the sigil magicks bound into her being had been correct.

The tiefling knew how to control them. And that meant he had Lichensith exactly where he wanted him.

"Wrapped your brain-box round it now, chief? You give 'em death as that little ray of hope. And then the poor bastards wake up again with me grinnin' mug 'overin' over 'em. There ain't a quick way out with me - but we're gettin' off topic."

Amari's sobs grew into louder wails as consciousness fully returned to her and she flailed on the pain-frame, the stumps of her amputated limbs waving piteously.

"Turns out she's just as resilient as you," he grinned. "And I can show you 'ow to work this."

He casually nodded at the living doll before them. Her unusual soul bound back within its flesh-casing, Amari had been returned to life. Her body had recovered, reverting and in some places regenerating. But only to the edges of what could be considered living. Most of the hideous things Aurelianus had done to her remained the same.

Even death offered no respite from his unique brand of enlightenment.

Lye's expression became carefully neutral. He was on guard, and rightly so.

"And of course, cutter, it doesn't come free."

His smile dripped with mockery.

"What do you want?" Ulroké asked, his hands still close to his blades. He kept his thoughts from showing on his face or in his body language - a smart choice given his company.

"This bollocks between you and the faun; it ends now. You two want to see who's got the biggest wrinklies, do it on your own time. She's got use to me, and I 'ave use to you. Call it off, let 'er serve my purposes and the Order will benefit. Better yet, you benefit."

He held out his right hand, the black-veined skin like marble.

"Do we 'ave a deal?"

[Lye]

Aurelianus' raised tones caused the assassin's blood to heat. The words that left his lips spoke to coax Lye's swift descent, but he stayed himself. A year of torture rose to the forefront of his mind. The first few months brewed nothing but rage, but after the rage left, cold reality seeped in. Just as then, his heated temper quenched under his resolve and as the demon continued, Lye's expressionless gaze never left his colleague.

The character name Gimmel exhibited a trait Lye thought only unique to himself. The ivory that became visible in his peripherals urged the assassin to reply in kind, but again the heat of anger quelled in the steel of his will. Aurelianus demanded solitude and as the tenants of the chamber left in ire, Lye's skin prickled. Since that year, he never tried to carve revenge from his captor. In the exchange, he felt a mutual respect had been learned. On one side, Lye learned the full extent of the demon's madness and on the other, Aurelianus learned the endurance of his captor.

There is no too far...

Lye's jade watch became slivers as Aurelianus set the scene as if their existence were his domain. The chill of Lye's hallowed flames threatened to summon forth from the snap of his fingers. The urge grew like a man's lust for a woman's flesh as the tiefling desecrated the girl's dead corpse. Now just a warm bag of meat and bone, the demon's actions only served to further his insubordination. He fixed to prove a point, and Lye shook his head.

"A reminder..." muttered the assassin as the stern line of his lips cracked into a smile. "Me..?"

His voice rolled into a deep but soft chuckle.

"A reminder..." His hand gripped his face, isolating his view as the tiefling's hand skulked through Amari's corpse with the symphony of moist plops and slurps.

The assassin opened his mouth to speak, but the blinding flare of light ruptured from the girl's body. Lye shielded his eyes with one arm and manifested his cursed blades with the other. The steel sang from the sheath, his stance dropped, and with the intent to strike, he halted to the sound of sobbing.

The tiefling didn't attack.

"When did you learn...?" Lye began. His coiled body relaxed, arms lowered, and eyes adjusted to the light. Amari's chest, all that was left attached to her, raised and fell with life. She was dead, Lye was sure of it.

Aurelianus spoke in the silence with more ire toward Lye. His tone implied a superiority over his own which tightened Lye's grip on his weapon.

"Death wasn't the point," growled the assassin to the devil.

Aurelianus then spoke as if to teach Lye the secret to reviving the dead. His glare transitioned back and forth between the victim, and now the temptation of an offer. Gears settled against one another as Lye realized the reason Aurelianus was far more than willing to offer his services. A deal with the devil never came at a bargain.

"What do you want?" he asked, muscles tense. A fight would sour the delicate relationship and business between the two. Aurelianus provided far more use than the average peon. In addition, the moment sounds of conflict bled through the large doors of the long house, Aure's modified thralls would certainly join the fight. Given the limited loyalty of Lye's current forces after his recent return, this moment was prime for picking. The demon won this shadow fight the second Lye sent his ravens for is aide.

"The faun?" Lye repeated, his blade sheathing itself in the light of his defeat. The assassin lingered on Aurelianus' threats with narrowed eyes and apprehension. He grit his teeth.

"Her sect of whores running rampant on that rotting boat. I know you're not so naive as to have missed her bout with Max Dirks..." The thorns of Madison's leash pressed against Lye's heart as it beat with adrenaline. The audacity of the request and his blatant disregard of the assassin's ability to end lives festered in Lye's mind.

"You're going to suggest I ignore all of those transgressions, your mockery of my authority, and for what? This?"

Lye gestured to the weeping torso upon the table. Skinless, mangled, and disfigured beyond recognition, Amari still breathed. The tiefling's request went beyond Lye's interest in reforming the fallen noble. It reflected coldly in his words.

"The girl and her tricks aren't worth it," Lye spoke with lips flared in disgust of the suggestion.

"But..." he continued. "This isn't about her anymore. This is about you. Weighing your leverage for some half goat concubine and those feeble minded enough to look up to her... If you're interested in calling off my hand, there's something more to it than a favor..."

Lye looked to the demon in inquiry. As always, Aurelianus remained difficult to read. It went without saying that if any soul on the planet could carry a secret to the grave, not only could the Tiefling pry it from that person, but he too would successfully bury it in silence from the world should he see fit. And no force short of a god could steal such secrets from Aurelianus.

"Fine." Lye's hand clapped against the demon's cold grasp.

"Keep the faun." Lye tightened his grip. "She's outlived her usefulness to me, and now you've given me something to do in my free time."

Lye broke free from Aurelianus, the agreement made. His lips turned into a scowl.

"I've grown bored with this exchange. Finish with the girl. Do what you like. I have some messages to send to honor our "deal" before its too late."

His steeled gaze moved from the quilled bastard to the meat bag on the table.

"Just..." The assassin's lips flared with disgust. "Put it back together. I've no interest in a living doorstop."

He shook his head, repulsed by the entirety of today's events. The little toy that barely breathed cost the assassin his humility. If she survived today's ordeal without becoming a blithering mess, he'd make her pay for it dearly. As the demon said, death wasn't a little ray of hope, and after he learned the demon's secret, she'd never be free from him.

Lye diverted his gaze back to the tiefling, ire burning fiercely behind a slate expression. The respect between the two of them bled like a split artery and the cold emptiness of distrust seeped in.

Lye broke away and made for the exit. He parted the oaken doors with a shove, Aurelianus' lackeys exposed on the other side with hatred in their eyes. Any one of them wanted to pry the assassin limb from limb with a snap of the tiefling's fingers. A younger Lye may have encouraged them to try. Instead, he walked past them as if made of stone and ventured to the old drunken dwarf who oversaw Lye's ravens.

Behind him, he left the demon to his devices. Amari now just a object in his mind.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Watching Lye tumble to where he stood was a wonderful thing - Aurelius savoured it, his forked black tongue running wetly along his serrated teeth. It was a beautiful sight, the little flash of comprehension dawning in the master assassin's jade eyes was something the tiefling would recall fondly for a long time.

It wasn't that there was any animosity between the two (though after this little tête-Ã*-tête, that was maybe no longer the case. Aurelius had no ill-will against Lichensith. But nothing and no-one would ever come between the Anarchist and his goals. Philomel had her use and as his employer had correctly surmised, he was never going to let slip the scope of his vision to anyone. She was just one small part, and if the Lord of the Hand had to lose a few marks on his pride to ensure that part joined the rest, it was a price the warlock was willing to pay. He'd learned young the necessity of ruthlessness in life, and over his many misdeeds and undertakings he had taken to it as second nature.

He bore Lichensith's ire with his dark grin, pausing only to utter a soft whistle to Junior. The albino horror looked up from his perch on the bloody iron of the pain-frame before instantly taking to the air and alighting on its creator's discarded coat. It knew his thoughts almost as well as he did, and dragged the silver cigarette case from the inner pocket.

The foetus' size made carrying the object difficult, its scalpel-talons scraping awkwardly on the case, but he managed to hand it to Aurelius. With a pause for its master's nod of thanks, Junior returned to scampering over Amari's newly awakened body, sniffing with slitted nostrils and occasionally lapping at her wounds with a minute pink tongue.

The half-demon slid one of the roll-ups from the case and lit it with a flicker of Hellfire, serpentine eyes dancing back to the quietly enraged assassin through puffs of cyanotic smoke.

Finally, bitterly swallowing the draught Aurelius had offered him, Ulroké agreed to the offer.

He gripped Lichensith's hand, and with a resigned shake, the deal was made. Admittedly, the thought did occur to him to soul-bind the arrangement but with an internal chuckle Aurelius discarded the idea. He released Ulrok'e tense grip and stepped back.

Sucking a lungful of smoke, the tiefling smiled and nodded, the movement making the myriad charms, piercings and talismans on his frame chime like tiny bells.

"Glad to 'ear it, chief. Off you pop and I'll patch up your little darlin' 'ere," he smirked. "I'll jot down the 'how-to' for your chit, and send Gimmel up with it about anti-peak."

He could smell the tension in the room and allowed himself a moment to roam Lichensith with his witch-sight. Aurelianus, scratching idly at his horns and exhaling streams of smoke, read his ally's mood like a book. The loss of trust and camaraderie paled in comparison to the sheer satisfaction of being true to one's nature; Aurelius had only ever bowed to one creature (and even then not by choice), and none would force him to obey against his will. His authority over himself was absolute, his Anarchist-bent would have it no other way.

The silver-haired murderer stormed from the pain chamber, leaving the quilled artist and the broken doll alone.

Gimmel stuck his head around the door, but sensing nothing amiss, pushed the wooden portal shut again. He would no doubt stand vigil there until he was given another task to focus his attention on. The rest of the Faithful emulated his actions, stepping aside and letting Lichensith pass unmolested - no small few openly displayed their loathing of the Master of the Hand; many had once been Crimson Hand, like Baru, and the events in Eiskalt were still a raw nerve.

Back in the chamber, Aurelianus clamped the cigarette between his lips and turned his attention back to Amari. His vicious smile split his features wider.

"Welcome back, luv," he said pleasantly.

The girl was still obviously shaken, her eyes flicking across the ruination of her form. Her mind was vulnerable - ripe for the picking.

"Y'know," he grinned, "'e's goin' to be in a whore of a mood when you get out of 'ere."

That was a given. Lichensith's knowledge of the unwitting part Amari had played in his humbling was going to be a splinter lodged in the back of his mind. He knew, even if he'd only admit it to himself, that he could not retaliate against the half-devil. Not yet at any rate. So he would vent his rage against the girl instead. Aurelius knew it and Amari would too when her mind had regained some semblance of balance.

"We'll get you patched back up so he can get the most out of it, eh? Worst comes to worst, I'll just stick you back together again after it."

He chatted amicably while he worked, arranging the girl's severed limbs on the wrought-iron construction. They were still bound in the cilices, dangling limply. His roll-up burned away with every inhale, clouding the air alongside the smoke coiling from the braziers. With a final appraisal of his work, Aurelius lifted Amari's left arm, the limb twitching spasmodically in his grip. He aligned it with her right shoulder until he marked the panic on Amari's face.

A harsh bark of laughter broke the muted atmosphere of the room.

"I'm takin' the piss, luv, calm yourself."

He ran his hand over the sealed ends of her limbs one by one, letting the sluggish flow of blood seep from them and spatter on the floor. It was never a canny idea to let all that bad blood flow back into a body. He watched the drops spread and pool, tutting to himself.

"You'll be a little low on blood for a bit. Nothin' to be done about it," he remarked casually.

There was a brief pause, the tiefling's features taking on an almost thoughtful expression. His smile took on a sly edge.

"This situation doesn't 'ave to be detrimental to you, jig?"

He leaned in closer, setting the limb down again and cranking a lever on the side of the frame she was bound to. It angled itself upwards, bringing Amari to a more upright position. Without her limbs shackling her in place, her torso slid a little down the table-top before the minuscule barbs arrested her movement. They bit just deep enough to hold her in place, almost eye-level with the blade-clad sadist.

"'ear me out 'ere. I 'ave a deal to offer you."

[Mari]

"'ear me out 'ere. I 'ave a deal to offer you."

As he spoke, his fingers deftly glided over her lips. With a painful stinging sensation he melded them back together - skin suturing against skin, and the soft peaks of her pink lips returned. Amari gasped, her exposed chest rising as she gulped back air.

She wasn’t as fiery as she once was, not by any means - but she refused to shift her eyes away from his black and yellow demonic slits. He seemed amused by her reaction.

Aurelianus turned from her, and casually grabbed the folds of her skin. He tossed them over her, one by one as though he were tossing a blanket. Some of them suck to her form with a ‘schlick’ others slowly slid down, drawing against her exposed veins. Sending painful cascades of burning sensations through her core before landing on the ground with a soft ‘plop’

Aurelianus worked, slowly and agonizingly piecing her back together. Amari for the most part, stayed silent. Aside from a few inward gasps, hisses and unadulterated moans from either pleasure or pain, Aurelianus would understand it was a symphony of both. Entwined in a macabre minuet.

Amari was back together. Her body still twitched from the pain - a dull ache that promised to throb and ebb at her body in the days to come. Then, there was the metal hooks lodged into the meaty flesh of her shoulderblades. Holding her firmly in place.

Aurelianus stood straight, grinning as a forked tongue liked over razor sharp teeth. He stepped in closer, his tongue licking at her ear as he breathed the terms of their deal to her. His talons gently scraped against the two sigils that her brother placed on her, as he explained them, and what they did to her.

Without pause he sunk his hand deep into her body, this time, Amari did scream. Bloodied claws grazed against her birthmark. He explained her ability, how to activate it, before drawing his hands out of her. Her flesh shifting back into place. Bloodied hands danced along her cheeks, creating new thin slivers of blood.

“‘Ow about it luv? Deal?”

“You’re a demon…” Her voice was weary and broken - but she still showed signs of fight. Signs that Amari, whilst pertinent had not entirely fallen into a depth she could not climb out of. And now, she had a rope. Sure the rope was made of bundled barbed wire, dripping with noxious danger, but it was still there. Her brows furrowed and she offered him her own terms. Aurelianus didn’t show a reaction toward it, his eyes simply gazed on her with a sort of amusement.

Amari held out her hand, and Aurelianus grabbed it. They shook on their hushed terms- Amari jolted as metal pierced her skin.

“Aye, smart move chit.”

Their deal, was soul bound.

The dark sound of Aurelianus laughing signalled the end of Day 2 for Amari

[Rayleigh]

Thread: The Second Day
Participants: Aurelianus Drak'shal, Mari, Lye
Judgment Type: No Judgment

Congratulations!

Aure receives 825 EXP and 80 GP
Mari receives 490 EXP and 70 GP
Lye receives 980 EXP and 80 GP

Congratulations on reaching level two, Mari!

[Rayleigh]

All rewards have been added!