As soon as Danica saw Rex, awkwardly controlling the carriage as it stopped in the middle of the warehouse, two others behind him, not much better with the skill of their own coachmen, little to none, if any marks at all on either himself or his clothing, telling of an incredible or hard fought battle, she rushed over, hopeful smile on her face.
"Danica!" exclaimed one of the coachmen, who turned out to be Swei and just moments later from the carriage she was controlling, almost flying, came another body, crying and screaming her name. The slightly darker, bundle of blonde sniveling and crying, her tail swishing happily collided with the older woman, her smaller arms locking around Danica's neck, afraid to left go.
"Its all right sweetie. Aunty has you. You are safe now." Danica replied, her voice sweet and quiet, slight tears of relief in her eyes as well as she too hugged the young girl. Igdan walked over, checking on the other girls exiting the first carriage, after whom the boys jumped out too. There were some unfamiliar faces too, human ones, though all seemed young, fourteen or so, until Swei rushed over and climbed back inside, calling Danica to help, apologising to Igdan, saying that the rest should not be in the presence of grown men for the time being. And with a single glance, seeing the blank faces and the bruises, Igdan instantly understood, moving away right after calling for Danica, replacing her in calming their niece. moving himself, with the girl in his arms, closer to Rex, who had moved over to the last carriage, clearly waiting for the captives to be moved away from the front.
"Got enough space for them?" Rex asked, glancing towards Igdan, the other man a few steps away.
"Mhm. We got that covered. Thank you, once again. We could not even guarantee the safety of Reika alone, and yet, here you are, having rescued not only her but everyone else too." As he thanked Rex. he bowed, Reika following his example.
"A job is a job. Besides, I was promised quite the reward, so don't sweat it."
"We heard no commotion, how did you do it?" Igdan asked, quite curious.
"Ask her what she saw. Or listen to the rumors that will undoubtedly spread within the city soon." Rex just shrugged, dodging the question entirely. "Right, find Swei and have her bring the most stable of the women. Need her to do some screening."
"What for?" Igdan asked.
"Should any of their torturers be among the people in here, they can watch them suffer a retribution, and if they so choose, inflict some suffering later as well. Should help their minds heal, if only a little." As Rex spoke, Igdan's eyes grew larger. He knew Rex was a badass, but this, this was on a whole different level. "I need a place to set up and dirty. Don't worry about unnecessary noise, I will have that covered." he then added, his intentions clear. Igdan nodded and guided Rex towards one of the side exits, leading him into some sort of a room.
"Used to skin cattle here, or so we were told. Should suffice for your needs, yes?"
"Yes. This will do." Rex replied, his expression dark and damning. The next dozen or so minutes, he moved unconscious bodies from the third carriage to the small skinning booth and once that was done, he engraved some odd looking symbols on the walls that soon began to glow with a dim light. Runes, Igdan realized, once again elevating Rex's danger level by yet another tier in his mind. They were truly lucky Rex was on their side here, that was for sure.
Another hour later, Swei walked over with one of the human girls, calming her as they stopped ner Rex.
"Do you want revenge? See those that raped and abused to suffer?"
"Y-yes." the human replied, her voice shaky, yet determined, filled with both fear, rage and pain.
"Good. Know that they cannot hurt you, nor touch you. They will not even get to speak. Just point at those that were there, acting." Rex spoke, his voice monotone, almost like he was not even there. It seemed that his non human way of talking calmed the traumatised woman, even if only a little.
"They will not get to die, not so soon anyways. They deserve a far worse after all." he added, earning obedient nod from the woman.
"I want to see it too." spoke Swei "Wirsha is family, and while she is in no state to be in the presence of any of them, she would no doubt be happy to hear what happened at a later time."
"Suit yourself, though once again, its not going to be pretty. These beasts deserve nothing less than what coming though." Rex replied, shrugging his shoulders opening the doors and walking in.
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(Gory stuff ahead)
The relatively smaller room was lit well enough, several lamps placed in each of the corners, as well as one on the ceiling in the middle. Due to the previous purpose, skinning animals, the room had been used for, there were plenty of tables, and some stands that the animals could be hanged from, still remaining and in decent condition as well. Rex had used each and every contraption present to full effect. Men were either laid out on the tables or hanged by their arms from the stands, each and every one tightly bound by a rough, dark red chain. It was clearly biting into their flesh, bruises already forming on the places the men were bound. Each and every one was alog gagged, denying them the ability to talk. And while most were still unconscious, as evident by their limp bodies, some were glaring in Rex, and subsequently the human woman's and Swei's direction.
"Point them out and don't be scared. All they can do, those that are awake anyways, is glare at you and struggle, and soon enough, they won't be in the right mind to even glare." Rex spoke, once again in a calm, almost monotone voice, though now there was the barest hint of kindness in there, or so Swei thought. Holding the human woman in her embrace, whispering encouraging words to her, Swei slowly guided her over to the bound, now prisoners. And slowly, but surely, the woman's hand rose, pointing at one of the men, a hiss leaving her mouth.
The chain, bounding him suddenly bloomed, creating a rather peculiar crystal above the man's head. "Go ahead, observe them all. Once you are done, then we will start." And so, with the support from Swei, the woman was guided passed all of the prisoners of Rex, her hand rising a few more times, marking a few more of the beasts that had acted either against her, or any other of the women in the same room. As a result, by the time the two women were done, seven bloody crystals had bloomed above the prisoners.
It was at the very end, when the human woman was in front of Derek, that she audibly hissed, squeezing Swei's hand with one of her own, while the other covered her own mouth, damn near retching. She was also trembling like a leaf in the wind, barely holding on the tree. Swei was quick to act, pulling the woman into a warm and caring hug, whispering calming and reassuring words. Whatever the scum did, it was obviously much more damning than the rest, or so it seemed.
A few minutes later, the woman whispered. "Its him. The one who hurt your friend the most."
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Her words were clearly meant for Swei, and she understood it too, intense and hatred filled two eyes tried their best to tear new holes in the culprits flesh, hoping to inflict untold agony upon this bastard.
"Right. An extra special care for this cunt then." Rex spoke, a surprising chill coming from his voice. Swei would have sworn the room temperature dropped at that moment. "Hear that sunshine. We are going to become extremely close soon enough." Rex added, having walked over to Derek, the bastard being one of the men hanging from the stands. "Why don't you have a small taste of what's to come, eh?" His voice was still chilling as he spoke, and with a single motion, he tore off the shirt Derek was wearing, leaving him bare chested. Then, a blood red nail elongated, as if growing in moments from Rex's right hand index finger. Using said elongated nail, Rex lightly stabbed the mans chest. creating a shallow, maybee a centimeter deep at best, wound that he continued from, creating a small, yet relatively complex rune. The moment Rex was done said rune lit up.
Derek spasmed as a shocking pain coursed through his body, his teeth clanking together around the chain that prevented him from speaking. The taste of blood invaded his senses, clearly having created a fresh, miniature wound in his mouth just moments ago due to the extreme biting pressure he had put on the gag. Then, a snap of fingers, and he felt as a searing pain assaulted his leg, his teeth once again grinding against the chain, the intense pain coursing through his body. Only when it stopped, his head hanging low, him being aware ever since the trio walked in, having woken up just a bit before that, he noticed the blood crystal on his leg, falling of just moments later, revealing a fresh, but already cauterized wound.
"Don't worry, there is plenty more where that came from. Plenty more." Spoke the only man, his body towering over both him and the two women. Damn, one of them was among the toys they had back in the base. Now he regretted just a tiny bit he had spent most of his time on that mutt. Should have shown some good time to this slut too. He glared at them out of the corner of his eye, quite confident they assumed he was already close to breaking. Nope, they were nowhere near. He will hold on, and when the artillery comes, he will have the last laugh.
"My my. Someone seems to be enjoying themselves. why don't I oblige a bit more." the man in front of him spoke once again, the blood crystal at his legs suddenly morphing into something else. Now that, that actually terrified Derek. 'WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!' his mind screamed, seeing the small, oddly shaped jaws with incredibly sharp looking teeth. With his mouth gagged, not like he could actually speak. 'HOW THE FUCK IS THERE A VAMPIRE IN RAVENHOLD?' his thoughts raced, scrambled even, as he was starting to understand the actual danger he was in.
"A tad too large." Rex spoke, the jaws morphing once more, shrinking in size, until it seemed like a small snake, the length of approximately five centimeters. Then, like an actual snake, it slithered up Derek's leg, soon enough reaching his abdomen. Then, along his naked flesh, Derek felt the micro hooks puncturing his flesh, as minnicsule as they were, as the small construct kept climbing on him. Soon enough, the construct was on his shoulder blade. And then it happened, a piercing pain where the construct had just been, going a bit deeper, just above the skin surface. It still hurt like an absolute bitch. That little shit was having its fun, taking bites out of Derek's flesh. Each one was a sharp, stinging pain. What's worse, that thing was doing so in irregular intervals, making it impossible to preppeare for them. And if that was not bad enough, when it grazed a bone, Derek could do nothing else but jerk in shock, the pain multiple times worse.
"I will leave you with this for the time being. I need to have some heart to heart talk with our friends over there, so do relax in the meantime." Rex added, leaving Derek to his own devices, moving over to another of the poor bastards. Nothing good was in store for either of them, Derek was aware of that. Still, if he could just grit his teeth, the ones up top would come for their merchandise. With clerics and law enforcement, it was only a matter of time. 'ENDURE! ENDURE!' he creamed in his mind, the pain jolting through his body every now and then, making it hard to focus.
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It had been about an hour or so, Swei supposed, since the woman had pointed out the ones who had taken part in the defilement of hers and other in that awful room. And Swei had to admit, Rex knew what he was doing, as all along, he had been inflicing bone chilling pain upon the perpetrators, and, unlike the bastard that thad brutalized Wirsha, he was using more 'natural?' mean of torture? There was no flesh chomping construct of sorts, made from ones own blood for sure. Not that it was much of a relief for the ones experiencing his full focus. From precise and aimed strikes, to peeling off ones nails and tearing out teeth, there was a plethora of methods used, causing the bastards to whimper, cry and wail, their mouths gagged to lower the noise they make. And while she was not entirely sure if Rex had access to any sort of healing magic, none of his torture subjects seemed anywhere close to their deaths, something that, to those who realised the fact, caused even more terror. And yet, Swei noticed something else that was incredibly important. Rex, for all hi proficiency and skill in the art of torture, was neither gleeful, nor smiling, enjoying the process like a hobby of sorts. He was the monster he believed he had to be when dealing with other such creatures, or so Swei thought. And she could appreciate that, a lot. A man who hides just how much of a monster he is might just be a tickling time bomb, ready to explode any moment, taking with him those who believe him family. But those like Rex, who can turn into a monster if necessary to protect something, well, they were precious. That was what her mother taught her, and her mother her before, and so on and so forth, for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
"Well." Rex suddenly spoke up, the rest the rapists getting a moment of respite from the pain. Not only they, bute everyone else was awake by now, fear, terror and despair in their eyes. "I think you are ready for the big leagues, joining your friend over there." he pointed his had towards Derek, who had slumped once again, his legs weak and a puddle of piss forming beneath him. Panicked trashing began, as the ones having experienced Rex's torture techniques saw small blood snakes slithering up their bodies, stopping in a simmilar locations as they did with Derek. And while most of had no idea what was about to happen, seeing Derek, they were not at all inclined to find out. Swei was sure. She would not want it too. And the mere thought of how mangled the bastard's, slumping above the puddle of his own piss, shoulder was a slight shiver went down her own spine. The woman in her arms though, she seemed much better now.
Before Rex could say anything else, there wa a knock on the door, moments later in came Danica, her nose furrowing, no doubt the smell of blood and piss that was slowly permeating the room, assaulting her senses.
"We have a situation. Might need your help." Danica spoke, a slight apprehension on her face.
"The authorities at your doorstep?" Rex asked in a calm manner.
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Well, someone high up is clearly funding this whole operation, or paying for the merchandise. I doubt any one faction, unless its adventurers guild or the royals, could hire four A rankers to to it. And as such, they surely have ways to track either the merchandise, or the cunts working for them. Time to figure out which one it is." he looked back towards his prisoners. "We will continue this later. hang in tight there." Then he turned and walked towards the door, ushering both Swei and the woman outside of the room. "Right. Dig in boys." he added as he had reached the door, muffled wails and cries of pain accompanying him out. Once everyone was out, Rex closed the door and not a single sound could be heard, the glowing runes no doubt muffling all of the sounds.
"Swei. Take your new friend to the back where other girls are. This here is adult business." Rex said, turning towards the entrance, where he could already hear quite the commotion. "Shall we dear?" he spoke, looking to Danica, who nodded with a serious expression on her face, but before they could walk off, a shaky, timid hand just barely grabbed Rex's sleeve.
"T-thank you." a weak whisper followed, coming form the human woman.
"Don't sweat it. That is no way a lady should be treated, and those who do, well, they all deserve some retribution." Rex was incredibly fast, escaping every ones notice, as his hand was atop the woman head, extremely gently caressing hear hair. "Go rest now." And just as quickly his hand had moved to caress the woman's hair, it was back in its previous position, with both Rex and Danica heading towards the entrance gate.
"Wirsha, was it? Your kin that was raped and savaged?" Rex asked as they walked towards the gate. "It seems I have caught the one who did the most damage to her. The dude almost falling over in his own piss back in the room." His words made Danica tense up, her teeth grinding in anger. "Trust me, by this time tomorow, he will be begging for death, and he will be denied such mercy. If you want to ecxract a pound of flesh to placate your own anger, under my supervision that can be done. No easy death for him though. But lets leave that for later yea."
"Mhm. Lets." was all Danica answered, though there was the tiniest of smiles on her face. Rex was a good man.