Chill 23

^^Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of violence, mutilation, and torture! Not lots of detail, but enough that it could be rough for sensitive viewers. Please be advised.^^

<Jack>

Screams of pain cut through the abandoned diner as I stabbed Calvin in the genitals with a long spear made of ice.

I hummed lightly, laughing every now and then when Calvin's stuttered, broken noises made enough sense to be called words. "Pheas! I'unm sou sowrie!

"I widunt cnoh! I widunt cnoh!!

"Noo! Nou moure! Pheas!"

No matter how much Calvin screamed and begged, no one from outside came to save him. While I….

Well, I simply preferred him like this.

"You touched what didn't belong to you. You thought of what didn't belong to you. You saw what wasn't yours to see, heard words that weren't yours to hear. Do you understand, Calvin? [You took what was MINE!!]" I snarled, barely suppressing my true self from slipping through.

I twisted the spear in deeper, acting like it was a screwdriver, which made him scream so badly, my ears rang in a dizzying manner.

Giggling aloud, I leaned in close, cupping Calvin's face gently. "I really, really, *so very much* wish I could spend the rest of this night torturing you for your sins. Oh, Calvin, a small part of me would love to keep this up for the rest of my life. But," I grinned, seeing some flicker of comprehension cut through the haze of pain in Calvin's eyes.

"You see, I have a life to live. A beautiful wife to love, two sons to raise and cherish. I swear, I'm going to spoil the both of them, but it'll be my grandchildren that I turn into rotten brats." I snickered in joy at the thought. "Revenge on my boys, once they grow up and become parents themselves."

Faint blubbering slipped through Calvin's lips, but it wasn't anything distinguishable.

"Don't tell me you're jealous! If you wanted to be a father, you were already given *thirty-five* chances. You turned them all down, Calvin. Rejected every one of them," I murmured in a subdued tone.

Sniffling, pathetic as it was, was the only response.

"...You broke Nisha's heart, Calvin. You *shredded* my heart, my love, the only thing good and true in this world. I hope, in your next life, that you learn not to be such a horrible piece of shit."

Whimpering, which made my teeth grind in irritation.

"Come now, Calvin. You have only yourself to blame. When you play the game of love, eventually you'll get burned. Well, in your case it's more like frozen. I suppose it's karma for your ice-cold heart, hmm?" I patted his cheek, smiling.

Tears rushed down his face, but nothing he did or said would change my mind.

Reaching down, I transformed my right hand into my clawed state. Then, with very little ceremony or time for Calvin to realize his end, I pierced his chest with my fingers, shoving my sharp nails into his heart.

My strength crushed straight through Calvin's ribcage and diaphragm. I pierced right into his heart, along with some of the pieces of bone from his ribcage.

Once I felt the fleshy, meaty organ with my fingers, I began to wiggle them. While a little awkward, my nails did their job. Calvin was already dead at that point, but I made sure his heart was ripped and sliced into a shredded mess.

Revenge.

Pulling my hand out of the hole in Calvin's chest cavity, I let out a long breath.

'It's over….'

"David," I called out quietly, staring down at the corpse slumped in the chair.

There were no marks on his face, only his horrible expression twisted in pain, along with the tears, snot, and blood that he coughed up throughout the past six hours.

But, everything from the neck down was trashed. Twisted, cut, bruised, broken, bludgeoned.

Other than burning, I'd done just about everything else to the newly-turned corpse.

He was even missing his left leg, sliced off from the knee down, the cut having been frozen over to stop all bleeding.

Sighing heavily, I turned my head toward the door at the soft sound of footsteps. "Your Grace?"

I reached out and pointed to the *jorogumo* thread. "Burn that and get him out of it. I promised him I'd release him from the bindings."

Without even blinking, considering there was normally no point keeping promises to a dead man, David stepped forward. He placed a hand gently against the spider silk around Calvin's torso.

A small flame was all that was required to burn away the bindings. I would have done it myself, but I didn't have a lighter or matches on me.

Once the body was free of the thing holding it upright to the chair, it began to slump to the side and fall down. David reached out and grabbed it, calling for two more of his regiment to come into the room.

I glanced down at the absolute mess I'd made of my clothing, sighing.

I'd worn no shoes and I'd even made sure to change into the cheapest clothes I owned that I didn't care about. Still, it bothered me that they were no longer salvageable. My best bet would be to burn them to ash.

Blowing some hair out of my face, I pointed to the corpse. "Do any of you have the ability to chop off his head?"

The three glanced at each other in silence, communicating without words through sheer familiarity, it appeared. While I waited, I crossed my arms over my chest.

Eventually, twenty seconds passed and David cleared his throat, expression apologetic. "I'm sorry, Your Grace. Most in my division are hellhounds. I only have a single griffin and two lamias as outliers to my group."

I pursed my lips in a slightly annoyed expression. "...Alright. I suppose I'll have to do the entirety of the messy jobs today, hmm?"

David and the two officers bowed their heads in apology. "My sincerest apologies, Your Grace."

I waved my hand in dismissal. "Whatever. You three hold his body down on the ground. Make sure it remains still and stay clear of his shoulders and up."

The three instantly got to it, kicking the chair out of the way and splaying Calvin's dead body out. Walking to his head, I let out a long sigh. "Might be best for you all if you cover yourself in a thin aura of fire. Don't wanna accidentally harm you or anything. Also, I don't care if you burn up the rest of the body while protecting yourself."

Once I made sure all three men looked me in the eye and nodded, I got to work. Summoning my powers, the entire floor of the lobby of the diner was covered in thick ice. A quiet groan came from one of the men, but he quickly fell silent and I could feel the energy of *heat* close by, making me frown.

Holding my right hand down, palm facing the ground, I focused on forming a large lump of ice directly beneath my palm. It grew until reaching just past my waist, three inches in diameter and quite thick. Touching my palm to the top of the icicle, I wrapped my fingers around it like I was gripping a handle.

Then, with a soft grunt, I jerked my hand up and back. The ice cracked, splintering down the middle as a thick, sharp cleaver broke free.

I heard a low, echoed gasp of amazement from David and the others, but I ignored them.

I stepped away, carefully giving the large hunk of ice a few practice swings. While humming under my breath I got myself used to the weight and shape of the blade, moving my arm and wrist in lazy motions.

Satisfied, I returned to my spot. Brandishing the cleaver above my head, I braced my feet apart for support and angled the blade to come down on Calvin's neck.

After making sure my aim was true (it had been quite a while since I'd done this, after all), I brought the blade down with about forty percent of my strength in my half-transformed state.

The others let out startled cries as the ground shook and the cement floor cracked, caving in and splitting apart where I cut.

I let go of the ice blade, which disappeared into a cold mist instantly.

With swift movements, I reached out and snatched the dismembered head by its black hair, worried it would be crushed with the force of my blow.

I chuckled in embarrassment, seeing the damage I had caused and the rattled expressions of Regiment #7. "Uh, sorry about that. It's been about seven hundred years since the last time I've had to do this. I guess I used way too much force. You guys okay?"