* * *
Vad lay alone upon his bed. He had been restrained, with his arms and feet tied to the bedposts, such that he was sprawled spread-eagle across his bed. His shirt had been stripped, exposing his strong chest and white, sweat-soaked skin.
For a long time he waited in that position, in agonizing anticipation of what he knew was undoubtedly coming. Asha herself stepped in through the door, which was guarded by two vampires who stood in the hall.
“This is disappointing,” Asha told Vad as she entered, “You were my right hand man. You know what is about to happen. Since Lina is still new to this coven and is thereby your responsibility, you’ll have to take her punishment in her absence. I won’t quite give you the full sentence because I’m optimistic that she’ll be returned to us and that she can thereby be punished. Thus, so long as there is a possibility she might eventually return, your life will be spared.”
A vampire trailed after Asha carrying a tray on which were placed the remains of the arrows that had, only a few days ago, been removed from Vad’s body after their last excursion. The curved metal heads of the arrows and crossbow bolts that he had been shot with had been cleaned and polished, such that they glinted under the candlelight.
Asha picked up the remains of one of the arrows. Not much of its shaft remained, since it had been broken close to the head. It was thus more like a short stick with an arrowhead attached. Asha took the arrow point and set it on Vad’s skin, so that he could feel the coolness of the metal.
“I believe it’s traditional for the first stage of torture to be the display of the torture devices. For those who take this seriously there’s supposed to be a gradual crescendo, with the display being the first, relatively mild, agony of the process. I don’t have time for this. So, I’ll skip directly to the torture proper.”
Asha pushed the arrowhead into the flesh of Vad’s arm, and he was immediately wracked by a jolt of pain. Asha pushed the arrow in, and when she began to turn it inside him, the pain was amplified. Vad cried out, but at the same time tried to grit his teeth to control himself.
“Because we vampires heal so much more quickly, there’s much less art to torturing us,” Asha calmly explained, “There’s less risk of killing you prematurely. Our bodies can endure so much before they gives in, especially a strong vampire like you.”
Asha picked up another arrow and with a hard thrust, drove it into his leg. Then she pushed it in further, twisting it as it dug deeper inside of him. Vad’s body convulsed as he tried to escape, to no avail, and he continued his screams of agony.
Asha pulled out the first arrow from his arm with a swift gesture that brought to Vad a single, profound rush of pain.
“I think it’s better if I do it more slowly,” Asha said, reconsidering, “I’m not experienced with this. I shouldn’t be hasty. You and I will have quite of bit of time together to learn.”
Elixir of Flesh Page 48