Ravageuse

“I've been waiting a very long time for the chance to speak with you,” Sallow said. He was middle-aged. Skinny. Too skinny. His skin was so tight against his bones, he almost looked like a skeleton. Creepy.

“Great. Let's get this show on the road then, I’ve got a gyro with my name on it waiting to be eaten,” Jade said, trying to hide the nervous tremor in her voice. Her hands were tied behind her back and the chair she was sitting in was extremely uncomfortable.

“Ah, I see you’ve adopted your mother’s sense of humor.”

Jade’s heart pounded hard in her chest at the mention of her mother. She had no memory of her but the mention of her felt like a punch in the gut. “What the hell do you know about my mother?”

“And her sharp tongue as well,” he said with the corners of his lips turned up.

“Answer me,” Jade demanded. She could feel the heat rising in her body. She felt dizzy and things started to slowly move around the room.

Sallow’s grin only grew wider. He was entertained by this. He looked joyful.

“Before you turn this place into dust, let me answer you.”

Jade took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself down. Everything in the room settled back into place.

“Your parents and I were once great friends. Your father and I worked together. He was a brilliant man. The most brilliant man I knew, besides me of course. But he and I saw things differently. You see, I’m a man without boundaries. No limitations. I don’t let anything stop me from what I want. He, on the other hand, let his morals get in the way of his power. That was his first mistake,” Sallow paced around the room. Jade hung on to every word he said, desperate to know about her parents.

“His second and most fatal mistake… Was trying to limit me. And while I respected him and cared for him and your mother deeply, I just couldn’t let that happen. So I gave him an option. His life or yours.”

Jade felt her heart being twisted and squeezed. How could a man kill his own friend? How could he threaten the life of his friend’s family?

“You fucker,” she spat.

Sallow let out a deep chuckle. “He wasn’t about to go down without a fight though. They put up a good one, he and your mother. Although not good enough. In the end they were forced to witness your transformation before they were killed. They had to watch you become what you are. It was painful for them and for you. I created what you are. I made you into what you are. You were angry though. Angry that I killed your parents. You were my new weapon but you turned against me. You nearly killed me and yourself as well. Wiped your own memory during the whole process. You made me very weak and it took years to build up my powers again. Now I’m more powerful than ever before. And I’ve finally found you. My weapon. My Destroyer.”

Jade let the overload of information sink in. She felt like she was underwater and couldn’t reach the surface.

“I will never work for you,” her voice was thick with emotion and promise.

A frown took over his features. “I didn’t want to have to do this… But perhaps this will convince you.”

Suddenly Jade was no longer in the white room. She was in her apartment. Her hands were untied and she was free. But something was off. A strong scent hit her nose. One that she was very familiar with. Blood.

She looked down to see blood on the floor. On the walls. On the furniture. Then she saw something that made her feel as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath her feet.

“Tony,” she gasped, running over to his body. She fell to her knees, not caring about being covered in blood. She needed to find the wounds but there were too many. Her fingers ghosted over the torn flesh.

“No. No no no,” she whispered as she pressed her hand to the undamaged skin on his face. She cringed at the feeling of his cold skin.

“You son of a bitch,” she cried out, hoping that Sallow would somehow hear. “What did you do?!”

She was feeling unstable. Everything was crumbling around her as she pulled Tony’s lifeless body across her lap. Literally crumbling. The walls were shaking, the floor was vibrating. She didn’t care though. She couldn’t care. All she could care about was the fact that the only man she ever gave a damn about was dead in her arms and how it took her too long to realize that.

And then in an instant, he wasn’t. She was back in the white room with Sallow standing in front of her, a wicked grin on his face. “Now wasn’t that fun?”

She let out loud, shaky breaths as she searched the room for Tony. The rope that tied her hands together dissolved. She leapt for Sallow but he wasn’t in that spot anymore.

“Over here,” he chimed from the other side of the room. This was all a game to him.

“I just delved into the deepest, darkest part of your mind. I found fears you didn’t even know you had. And I brought one of them to life. Of course… It wasn’t real though. But it easily could be if you don’t cooperate.”

“What do you want,” Jade asked in a low voice. She refused to look at Sallow anymore. She couldn’t bring herself to do it. She felt helpless and pathetic, something she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Only a few favors. I know what you’re capable of. And I plan on using that to my advantage.”