A strangely satisfying feeling pervaded Serena's body as she gazed into Wyrodd's eyes, which were wide with terror. The feeling of nervousness withdrew to the furthest corner of her feelings and cleared the stage for her thirst for revenge. Probably he must have felt the same way when he ripped her out of her usual life and locked her up.
"That ... That can't be.", he now stammered and angrily Serena twisted her mouth into a callous smile.
"And why not?", she asked with a growl and stared hard at him. She would have loved to just pounce on him. Fantasies of what she could do to him with an ordinary knife filled her mind.
"My pursuer ... I ... I thought that would be ...", he tried to manage an answer, "And you are ... you are back then ... That just can't be.". For a brief moment the cold businessman resurfaced inside him. He just seemed unable to understand that something he had sold to someone was now standing before him without its owner. But then his gaze slid back briefly to the tall man behind Serena and his already corpse-pale face lost all color.
"The goods you sold didn't want to be property for the rest of her live.", Serena hissed at him and took a step towards him. She shivered with satisfaction as he winced slightly at her movement. He's actually scared of me, Serena thought maliciously and came a few steps closer to him.
"That ... well ... I ...", Wyrodd tried somehow to talk his way out of the matter, but they both knew that this was not possible. Now, so close to him, his smell rose even more to her nose. The mixture of sweat, hanging clothes and old cigars enveloped him and Serena had to shake her head briefly to recover. His smell reminded her so much of her time when she was locked up. He was to blame for everything that had happened to her. That her mother was no longer with her, that her father had committed suicide in front of his family and that her little, innocent brother was now living a life of solitude and cruelty somewhere.
Before she could actually think about it, Serena jumped impulsively forward and reached out with her arm. Her right fist hit Wyrodd in the face and an ugly cracking sound was heard, followed closely by Wyrodd's painful howl. The feeling of triumph and superiority did not last long for Serena when the pain hit her too.
"Holy shit ...", she cursed and shook her right hand, which also looked a bit battered. But while Serena was only struggling with swelling and bruised ankles, Wyrodd's nose was now running a considerable flow of blood. His face contorted with pain, he now held his nose and tears came out of the corner of his eye.
"I didn't know it hurt that much.", Serena said more to herself than to someone in particular. Sebastian cleared his throat noisily behind her.
"You could have asked me beforehand.", he whispered from behind her, but Serena resisted the urge to give him a venomous look over her shoulder. Serena rubbed her aching hand one more time before taking a step back from Wyrodd and looking at him with a disgusted look on her face.
"Let's take him with us, Sebastian.", she now said, without taking her eyes off the man in front of her.
"As you command, my lady.", her butler accepted the instruction behind her and pushed past her briefly to approach Wyrodd. He began to tremble all over and slid in his chair as far away from Sebastian as he could. But the room was small and gave him limited space to retreat. As if Serena was watching him remove a spider from her room, she followed Sebastian's movements with her eyes. She stood with her arms crossed and didn't move a bit.
With a targeted movement, Sebastian knocked the man out in front of him so that his already sweaty head slumped lifelessly forward. It was almost a strange sight when Sebastian threw the stocky man over his shoulder and looked briefly at Serena.
"I'll be right back to get you, Lady Serena.", he said to her and then disappeared with her victim on his shoulder. Serena's gaze was still on the chair Wyrodd had just been sitting on. Her fingers clawed tightly into the flesh of her arms and without really noticing it, she tore small, narrow wounds in her upper arms with them. Not much separated her now from the information that would finally reveal Hyder's whereabouts and Serena's body tightened more and more with every passing minute.
But as expected, she didn't have to wait long for her butler. Only shortly after he left, Sebastian was standing in the door frame again and held out his hand to her. Only now did Serena notice how hard she had dug her fingernails into her flesh, but she barely noticed the small, stabbing pain. Without a word, she took his hand and then let him take her back to her current shelter.
When they stood next to each other in front of the door of the abandoned homestead, Sebastian put his hand on his lady's shoulder again. He looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes, as if to gauge what was going on in her head.
"Are you all right, Lady Serena?", he asked in a hushed voice and Serena immediately nodded.
"It's okay, Sebastian.", she answered honestly and took a deep breath before she turned her head to him, "Let's start.". Slowly he took his hand from her shoulder again and nodded curtly. Then he opened the door and let her go ahead.
Sebastian had set up a couple of oil lamps inside and lit them so that the room was shrouded in a subdued light. In the middle of the room, Wyrodd sat, well tied, on a chair. His head was still hanging limply, but Serena knew that Sebastian certainly knew one way or another to wake him up. Briefly she glanced at her butler again and then nodded weakly to him.
As she had assumed, Sebastian could actually get her hostage to regain consciousness in no time. As in his own house, he looked around the room with wide open eyes before his gaze wandered fearfully to Serena and her butler.
"Do you remember the day when you had the Sinister family mugged and kidnapped?", she asked him directly and stood in front of him. With her arms crossed, Serena built herself up in front of him as much as she could and looked down at him from narrowed eyes.
"The ... Sinister family?", he asked stuttering, his voice not quite as thin as it was before he passed out, "I ... I don't know anyone with that name.". Again Serena's fingernails dug into the flesh of her arms and her teeth gritted audibly against each other.
"Is that so?", she asked him and took a step towards the man who was tied up. He winced briefly at her movement, but held her gaze astonishingly long before he lowered his head, trembling.
"I ... well ... maybe there was someone with that name.", he now mumbled without looking at her and Serena sucked in a sharp breath. She practically clamped her arms to her so as not to scratch the face of the man in front of her. Full of hatred and disgust, she looked down at the person in front of her and had difficulty in being able to breathe evenly at all. For years she had lived through hell, had seen her family die in front of her eyes and now the person responsible was sitting in front of her and thought he could remotely remember her name.
"Lady Serena.", she heard Sebastian's voice suddenly in her ear. She felt how he gently put a hand on her shoulder and bent his head down to her so that their faces were level.
"If you allow?", he whispered to her and for a moment they stood completely rigid, before Serena nodded very weakly and took a small step back. Even if it pained her that she had been able to achieve so little with Wyrodd, she still watched with great satisfaction as he got smaller and smaller in his chair as soon as Sebastian took even a tiny step towards him.
"So, Sir.", Sebastian growled in a velvety voice and ominously cracked the knuckles of his hands. His voice sounded completely different now. When he had spoken to Serena, it had been gentle and calm, now his tone alone made all living beings in her vicinity run away.
The sweat was already running down Wyrodd's temples when Sebastian came to a stop right in front of him and leaned down to him. Slowly he reached out his hand to the person in front of him and cupped his chin so that the man had to look him straight in the face.
"Would you be so kind and share some information with us?", he whispered to Wyrodd and although Sebastian just stood in front of him and looked at him, Serena could see the pure horror in Wyrodd's eyes. That's what someone looked like who just realized that he was truly looking a devil in the face, Serena thought, and watched the grotesque spectacle in silence.
"I ... If I ...", Wyrodd stammered, completely frightened by the appearance in front of him, "If I can ...". A malicious smile formed on Sebastian's lips.
"Too kind of you.", he said softly and straightened up a little. Much to Wyrodd's relief, he let go of his face and pulled the glove off the hand with which he had just touched the person in front of him. His demonic black fingernails appeared, but they were probably the least evil Wyrodd had just seen. The dark purple mark of the pact between a human and a demon came out and caught Wyrodd's attention. He stared at the symbol and Serena could literally see the blood run cold in his veins.
"Well ...", Sebastian began in a menacing conversational tone and fixed the man in front of him with his gaze, "What can you tell me about the incident from four years ago?". Slowly Wyrodd's eyes wandered back to Sebastian's face and he blinked at him unnaturally often.
"F-Four years?", he began, "I ... I don't remember what back then ...". Without Serena being able to follow him with her eyes, Sebastian suddenly stood behind Wyrodd and leaned down to him, his fingers already on his throat.
"Oh, I'm sure you remember.", he whispered to him like a growling predator playing with its prey, "Look at the young woman in front of you. Does that help your memory?". Frozen with fear, Wyrodd did not dare to direct his gaze to Serena at first. As if hoping that the demon next to him would just disappear, if he just held still long enough, he just sat there and didn't move. Only after a few seconds did his eyes wander briefly to Serena, only to scurry back to Sebastian.
"I ... I was not the only one involved in this incident. I ... "he began.
"We know that.", Sebastian interrupted him harshly, "But unfortunately you are the last survivor we can ask about it.". At his last words a smile formed on Sebastian's lips and the combination of his words with that cruel-smug tone and his friendly smile made Serena's hair stand on end. When Wyrodd understood what he was saying, Wyrodd's eyes widened so wide that they looked unnaturally puffy. His chest rose and fell quickly, and it took him several attempts to swallow once.
"I ... It was ...", he stammered, "I'm sorry about what happened back then ... I wanted ...".
"No excuses.", Sebastian interrupted the trembling man again, "You'd better give us information.". A small glimmer of hope flared in Wyrodd's eyes and now he dared to turn his head a little so that he could see Sebastian better in the face.
"What ... what do you want to know?", he asked in a cracked voice and Serena held her breath in excitement. Finally they had got him to tell them something and shakily she now clutched her own hands so that her fingernails dug into her flesh again.
"What happened to the boy?", Sebastian now asked. Serena wanted to run to Wyrodd, knock him over and shake him over and over. She would like to yell at him and order him to tell her where Hyder was right away, but she stayed where she was. Sebastian would get this information for her and he would take her revenge, she knew that.
"He was ... sold back then.", Wyrodd snorted, "Like the two women.".
"To whom?", Sebastian asked now hard and cold and his voice almost cut the tense atmosphere.
"It was a ... a wealthy woman. From Cornwall.", he replied. The ground seemed to be shaking beneath Serena when she heard him speak. At last she knew something, at last she had found a lead to her little brother that didn't fizzle out right away. Joy and disgust permeated her at the same time, and before Serena even realized what she was doing, she took a quick step forward and reached out with one hand. With a clap, the palm of her hand hit the side of Wyrodd's face, leaving a distinct red mark. He stared at her, completely taken aback, while Serena's hand, still slightly in the air, began to shake.
"He was just a little boy.", she hissed at him with hatred and tears formed in the corner of her eye, "A little, helpless boy and you just sold him as if he was a sack of flour.". The tremor now spread to her arms and upper body. Serena had never felt so divided before. Part of her wanted to storm off immediately and free her little brother. The other part wanted to pounce on Wyrodd, kick him, hit him and scratch his eyes out.
"Who is this woman?", Sebastian intervened again and suddenly stood next to Serena. Very carefully he pushed her a step back with one of his arms, as if he had suspected that she might be about to pounce on the man in the chair. Perplexed, Wyrodd looked back and forth between Sebastian and the rather heavily breathing Serena, but he was silent.
"Answer him, damn it!", Serena yelled at him, ramming one foot on the ground. It was just Sebastian's arm in front of her body that kept her from simply knocking the man in the chair over and hitting Wyrodd with something.
"Answer.", Sebastian demanded emphatically and bored his gaze into Wyrodd's. He then nodded quickly and swallowed hard a few times before slowly opening his mouth again.
"She ... she lived in Newquay at the time.", Wyrodd began cautiously, "A French woman ... but I don't remember her name ... Madame ...". Then he shrugged his shoulders quickly and several times and looked fearfully at Sebastian.
"That ... I don't know any more. I swear it.", he continued and his voice rocked higher and higher out of fear. Sebastian just nodded ominously and turned his head around to his lady. Serena was standing next to him, her eyes fixed, her hands clenched into fists.
A French woman from Newquay, she thought over and over again. The next monster had appeared on the stage, the last monster to be smashed. If she had found this woman, then she had found her brother too.
Without saying another word, or even responding once to Wyrodd, Serena turned on the spot and stormed outside. There she was greeted by the cool night air and a peculiar peacefulness as she walked a few more steps and then stopped breathing for a moment and stared at the night sky.
As soon as her fast heartbeat had calmed down a little, she already felt a hand gently resting on her shoulder from behind. When she turned her head, she looked into the worried face of her butler.
"Lady Serena?", he asked softly and she took a few deep breaths. Then she turned her head away from him again and looked into the dark forest.
"I just couldn't stand it with ... him in there anymore.", she explained and sighed softly, "I just want to finally be able to hold my little brother in my arms again.". Meanwhile her voice sounded a little tired and exhausted and only now did she feel how true these words were for her.
"I know, my lady.", Sebastian whispered from behind her, gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and then carefully took his hand from her body. Then he just stood behind her and looked at her thoughtfully.
"I ... I want to get away from here, Sebastian.", she said after a short pause, "I want to go to Cornwall as soon as possible.". Behind her, Sebastian nodded resignedly and continued to look at his lady's back.
"What should happen to Wyrodd?", he asked in a matter-of-fact tone, but Serena just shrugged indifferently.
"Do with him what you think is right.", she replied as if he had asked about her choice of wine for dinner. The life of this monster could not have been more indifferent to her and now that they had finally received this important information from him, he was just a pebble at the roadside for Serena.
"With pleasure.", Sebastian growled behind her and just his voice made Serena's hair stand on end. She heard him turn and slowly walk back to the building. Serena knew that it would be better for her soul if she no longer turned around. She knew this tone of voice of her butler and she wanted to hear as little as possible of his subsequent actions.
It wasn't long before Serena heard his screams. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and put her arms around her body as if to give herself a comforting hug. She just stood in the cool night air and listened as the life of a human, no, a monster came to an end.
Published on 10-17-2021
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