You know,I never thought I'd be able to kill someone.
The first time, it felt wrong. Which is good, right?
But now...it feels like winning.
Chapter 13: It Doesn't Matter Anymore
To shut Myra up the next day, Vaas sent her off to the pond to bathe. He sent two of his most trusted men to go with her, telling them he'd skin them alive if they just as much as touched her hair. He knew with the threat that they wouldn't dare to touch her. With Myra out of the picture for awhile, he could get back to torturing. He itched so bad. Itched to take something away from someone. The itch was like a fire raging inside him, killing the only sanity he had left.
He marched into another one of the dozen camps on his island. He picked out a man who looked in his thirties and brought him in a hut. There, he skinned the mans arms, nailed his hands to a chair, sewed his nostrils together, and scalped him. After Vaas was finished, the man was just a messy structure of blood, broken bones, and abused muscles. Vaas didn't want to end this, but the man had fallen unconscious. Vaas hated when that happened, because he couldn't make them scream and then tell them to shut the fuck up. He hated when he had to wake them up with electricity, but it was funny. He found it particularly hilarious to watch their bodies spasm and their heads shake. He also liked to hear the sounds they made. After he'd finish with his victims, the air always smelled of blood and was heavy with lingering death. He liked the feeling. The feeling of power that he had created all this. He enjoyed sitting in the room after, just absorbing the smell and feeling.
Myra had shown quite the skills back at training. She had shown determination and will. She was willing to learn and become stronger. Vaas' idea was to toughen her out, physically and mentally. She had to see his work, to see the tortures he inflicted to people. Vaas wanted Myra to be here the next time he tortured, he wanted to see her reaction, see from what he had to work with. Would she stay frozen, like the temperature of her flesh? Or would she boil to rip the victim in half with her teeth? He knew Myra wasn't weak, and it just made it more tempting to try to break her.
****
Myra flopped down on her crate, exhausted and sweaty. Timo had her working at the kitchen all day since Vaas was gone. It had been two days since Citra's appearance and Vaas hadn't been very present. Myra wasn't scared to be left alone, she just didn't want to get attacked. "Did I say you could sit, Brave?" Timo asked, coming around to tap her shoulder. He winced at the phenomenally cold temperature of her skin. They had been cooking stew and all sorts of things and the air was heavy with smoke. It was hot in the kitchen and Myra felt like she was suffocating.
"But, Timo, it's so hot in here!" she whined. He chuckled and went back to cutting the meat with his kitchen knife.
"Get to the cutting, pequeño," he joked. "You feel like a walking corpse." Myra rolled her eyes, but obeyed. She went back to where she was cutting vegetables.
"Well, pequeño is getting tired!" she whined again.
"Quite your whining, Brave, and start cutting!" he ordered. She sighed, slicing up the veggies under her knife. Her hands were red and she cut her fingers so many times that she lost count. Tiny burns peppered her wrists and hands due to when she went to close to the fire. She even burned the tips of her hair. Thinking of it, she needed a hair cut. Her hair was getting really long, starting to touch her waist. Maybe she could cut it up to her middle back again.
"Oh, I almost forgot, shit!" Timo cursed. Myra looked up. He held a tray filled with wooden bowls of rice. Food for the captives.
"I'll go," she said. Timo shook his head.
"No, it's my job," he retorted. Myra rolled her eyes and stepped in front of him, holding her hands out expectantly.
"C'mon, jefe de cocina," she said, saying the Spanish words Timo had taught her. He smiled.
"Fine, just because you said that right." And he handed it to her.
Myra stepped outside, knife under her belt and tray in hand. She walked down the small path until she heard her name. "Myra!" She turned her head, not wanting to spill over the contents of the tray. It was Vaas. To her surprise, her slips stretched out in a smile and she felt her heart leap. Stop that, she told herself. "Where are you going with that tray, bella?" he asked.
"I was going to give it to the, uh, captives," she stuttered. She hadn't realized she was going face to face with people she had been in the same position barely two weeks ago. Vaas chuckled, matching his step with hers as they made their way to the cages. She gulped down a lump in her throat when she saw all the captives sitting in their cages. Upon her arrival, she stared at the empty cage where she used to be in. It was still empty. Her skin crawled with goosebumps. She walked to a cage and slipped three bowls of rice through the caging, trying her best to ignore the stares. These people were surprised a woman was with the pirates. Only Myra knew she was still a captive. Vaas watched her closely as she continued to give out the bowls of rice. She knew the other camps out there would need some too, but she didn't want to risk falling upon Ella.
"Jake is dead, no?" she asked, making her way back to Vaas with the empty tray. She kept her eyes on him, scrutinizing his expression. He nodded.
"Yeah, he died couple of days ago," he replied. Myra's heart sunk, but not completely. She had expected that to happen. At least Jake was in a good place now.
"And Ella?" she asked hopefully.
"She's still alive," he answered. It brought it little bit of hope back to her heart.
They made their way back to Timo's, dropping down the empty tray. "Training again," Vaas stated. Myra knew it wouldn't be long until he wanted her to train again. She was starting to understand his plan a little. He wanted to toughen her up, make her stronger as much mentally as physically. As they made their way down a trail to the jungle, Myra asked a question.
"What's trainer in Spanish?" she asked. Vaas snorted.
"Entrenador," he answered. She nodded. "Why don't you say something in Spanish to me?" he questioned. Rolling her eyes, she did.
"La jungla es hermoso," Myra tried, squinting when it came out wrong out her mouth.
"The jungle is beautiful, yes!" Vaas chuckled. "Another thing, please," he begged. Myra rolled her eyes again but obeyed.
"Usted es jodidamente molesto," she said again. Vaas groaned and grabbed her arm.
"I am not fucking annoying, pera," he spat in her face. She chuckled, rolling her eyes once again. "Haga rodar los ojos en mí," he grunted. "Do not roll your eyes at me," he repeated, much more calm. His eyes were so beautiful today. A green mixing with hazel and light blue. How rare were his eyes, like gems. She looked in them again, noticing the spirals of light green in the hazel. Fire was raging behind his irises, a strong flame of power and control.
"Tienes bonitos ojos," she said, one of the first things she'd asked Timo to translate for her. It meant you have beautiful eyes. He smiled, loosening his grip on her arm.
"It's so sexy when you speak Spanish," he replied. Myra smiled.
"Myra?"
That voice. It made the blood in her veins run cold. She wasn't expecting it at all. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets, her tongue ran dry, and her whole structure froze. She felt numb, her ears starting to buzz. The world seemed to dip in and out, the colors mixing with each other. Speaking of the devil. She forced herself to turn around, shaking and cold to the bone. Her lips quivered, teeth chattered, skin ice cold. Vaas lay the tips of his fingers on her flesh, and it felt as if they were on fire.
Standing in front of her was the person she didn't want to see now. Ella.
Her hair was caked in dirt, knotted, and brought behind her back. The dirt continued to mark down her bare arms, her ripped shirt, and exposed stomach. Nail marks littered her arms, stomach, and chest. She had bruises everywhere! Her face was marked by so many bruises she was almost unrecognizable. She looked... dead. Her eyes were too dark, hanging at the sides. Her face was just plain dead. "You... you traitor!" she yelled. She had apparently been witness of the exchange between Myra and Vaas. Ella was flanked by a pirate and her wrists were bond behind her back. "What did he do to you?" she whispered, looking up at Vaas, all signs of the innocent Ella gone. Myra gulped.
"Ella," she started, taking a tiny step forward.
"Don't Ella me!" she shouted, tears sputtering out of her eyes. Myra felt her own tears pricking at the back of her orbs. "What are you?" she asked.
"Ella don't," Myra started.
"You're with him now?" she snapped, jutting her chin to Vaas. This one had crossed his arms over his chest, watching the interesting scene before his eyes. "WHAT THE FUCK MYRA!" she started to shout and never stopped. She continued to call Myra all possible names in the dictionary, her voice cracking and then regaining force. Myra listened, accepting it like a child being punished. Ella was just putting herself in deeper shit, bringing her soul deeper in hell. Myra needed to end this, for Ella's sake. She looked back at Vaas and at his waist where he kept his gun. She rose a brow at him, asking for permission to use it. With a shaking hand, she reached out and took the gun out.
Almost immediately, her skin was hard with a layer of frozen ice. Her heart felt like it weighed more than an elephant. Cold seeped into her head, crystallizing into fragmented thoughts. When she turned back to Ella, she was staring with an expressionless face. "Do it," she dared. "There's no point anymore, they killed Jake and turned you into one of them."
"Ella, I'm sorry," Myra said, voice cracking.
"Go on shoot me, end it, Myra!" she yelled. "Do it you worthless piece of scum, c'mon do it-" Myra pulled the trigger and listened to the echo in her ears. Ella's dead body limped to the ground, the blood falling with her as well. Myra watched Ella's body, eyes wide and mouth agape. The tears spilled in silence. She cried silently, watching her friend's once full of life body lay dead in the dirt.
Slowly, the extreme cold receded. She could now feel her fingers, move her body. She suddenly felt soft, drowsy with madness.
"C'mon, mi corazon," Vaas whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist. She felt his warmth like a comforting cover. Heat seeped below her flesh, terminating the eternal frost. She followed him, ignoring the body on the floor. She was alone now, no point in trying to escape since both her reasons were dead. She could give in to the darkness now.