In the eerie quiet and darkroom, a deep agonizing sound filled the air.

"Aaaahhh!"

The eardrum bursting sounds could only tell of the intensifying pain the person was feeling.

"Aaahh!"

The man's scream filled the still air as his middle finger was forcibly cut off with a plier

"Stop! Please I'm begging you! I don't even know you... what do you want with me?!"

He begged despite having an unsteady voice due to his trauma, sweating profusely as the scent of his own blood filled his nostril but the man holding a plier didn't respond.

His assaulter's face was barely visible in the poorly lit room, leaving him with an uncertainty on who the man was

So many questions plagued his mind at that moment. He wished to know who the man was, how he got there in the first place.

He barely recalled anything but that wasn't what mattered most at this point.

Right now he was on the verge of losing his life to this stranger and could only plead for mercy.

A tall figure suddenly emerged from the shadows with blazing fiery red eyes, the very same shadows which dreadfully haunted his soul and has forcefully become a part of him but he wanted it to haunt him so he could enjoy his revenge more better.

What he had to go through sixteen years ago made him the heartless being he was today.

"Does it hurt?" Xander's placid voice resonated in the dark room as screams, torture and anguish filled his ear except those terrifying screams where the dark haunting him, only he had to bear this kind of torture because of those miscreants who killed his parents and tortured him mercilessly without a sense of pity.

"Sir." The victim kneeled in complete surrender, trembling at the murderous aura emitting from the stranger before him.

"Please let me go, I didn't do anything, I...I don't even know why I'm here sir, I'll do anything you ask of me but grant me my freedom."

"I haven't even started yet and you're pleading for mercy?" He chuckled in a low pitched tone but it only turned dark and dangerous by the minute causing his victim to shudder helplessly.

Although he could barely see his face, he could not fail to catch the ice dead coldness in the bloody eyes of his assaulter, sending chills running down his spine

"I'll spare you on one condition." He uttered dryly after thinking a little deep about it.

"Yes, any. Just name it," the injured man said frantically.

Right now he was willing to do anything possible, so long as it could guarantee that he would have his life at the end of the day.

"Where are the rest of your gangs?"

The victims eyes widened a fraction. He did not expect for it to be that. Noticing his sudden silence, his assaulter went further to add;

"You foolishly thought I wouldn't find you, it's been so long since the tragic event took place, am I right?"

The victim still didn't understand his point but continued to beg for his life. He had committed a lot of sins so begging was his only option at the moment.

"Please let me go, forgive me if I've done anything wrong to offend you."

That word 'forgive' only added to the anger he had been trying to suppress ever since he got hold of this man, he didn't want to look at him yet alone touch him!!

It was like a flash of the memory that had plagued his mind came rolling back in full force. He never wanted any of that. All he wanted was a normal life but no, this idiots took it away from him!!

Up till that moment, everything was still vivid. The horror, the screams, the pain.

"Those years ago." He started off slowly while keeping his anger in check. "I equally begged for mercy but what did I get in return, you destroyed me, I'm not so heartless to hurt your family but you…!"

Xander snapped his fingers which was enough sign the victim needed to know he was in for a lot more treatment.

The stranger in the dark wasted no time cornering the victim, forcefully removing his index finger and another scream of agony enveloped the dark room, the cracking sound of his bone being separated from its flesh was already horrifying enough.

"Stop."

The stranger halted at Xander's command, pulling back while the victim cried in pain and affliction.

"I'm willing to spare you." Xander finally spoke up with his hands resting habitually in his pocket. "But on one condition."

He glanced at the helpless victim lying on the floor with not even a tiny trace of pity in his glaring red eyes.

"Tell me, who sent you that day!"

*Sniff*

"What day sir?" The victim managed to find his voice, unwilling to test the wrath of the man before him.

"Sixteen years ago, who sent you to harm and kill my family!!"

The victim immediately pondered on his words while gazing up at the darkness before him.

Sixteen years ago?

Sixteen years ago he had just one mission to accomplish along with the rest of his gang, he was sent to the…!!….!!

His eyes widened in complete horror as the memories of what happened sixteen years ago flashed momentarily in his head and he stared at Xander, shaking his head in disbelief like someone who had lost it and fell into a plague.

"Xan….Xander?!!"

Xander took off the black mask he had been wearing and revealed his face to the victim who instantly went as pale as a ghost, staring at the face of the man he was supposed to end his life those years ago, he's alive?!!

"Who sent you? Don't make me repeat myself else…" he intentionally didn't finish his statement while the victim froze immediately.

Sixteen years ago, he and a group of men were sent to destroy the Zephyr family on a certain night and he was 100% sure they accomplished their mission because after killing everyone, they immediately burnt down the house along with the dead bodies.

But how did he survive????

The person who sent him, he doesn't know that person physically, they just talked briefly on the phone but they never crossed paths.

"I...I don't know sir, I swear I don't."

Xander tsked in disappointment and was about to snap his fingers before the victim finally uttered hastily.

"We only talked once or twice on the phone, he gave me all the information I needed to know about your family but we never saw, I promise in my life we never did."

Xander got a hint from there, arching his left brow in contemplation. "So it's a he?"

The victim nodded immediately.

"What does he sound like?"

"I...I can't remember clearly sir, it's been sixteen years and we never came in contact again, that's the truth!" He hastily replied while Xander remained silent, obviously trying to put the little information he just got together.

The person behind his family's death is actually a he.

"What about the rest of your gang?"

"They all fled from the city and I never saw them either, I'm so sorry sir I only did it cause I was in dire need of money, I'm sorry."

He pleaded while Xander was in a battle to hide his pain and keep his gaze on literal blaze, the darkness was haunting his soul it was too much for him to bear.

He turned to leave, wearing his mask back as he uttered coldly.

"May the heavens accept your soul."

0_0

"What? I told you what I knew. No, please do not do this. I beg you. Xander!"

He stepped out of the dark room putting his mask back on and the loud sound of a gunshot followed next.

Xander really couldn't care much about the man, in this street it's either you hunt or get hunted but in his case, he was hunting and equally being hunted.

His phone suddenly beeped in his pocket catching his attention and he unhurriedly answered it, his expression remained stoic.

"How did it go?" The agile voice of his best friend Damian was what he heard from the other end of the line, the bloody red eyes of his had dissipated, turning back to the crystal black eyes that made him look normal.

"Not much information was gained, he seemed clueless about who the culprit was." Xander wouldn't lie, it was actually disappointing and Damian was equally disappointed at the news.

"So what is your next move? Did you kill him?"

"He saw my face, I had to."

"You revealed yourself to him?"

"Yes, unfortunately for him."

"How do you plan on finding the main culprit then?"

Xander's lips curled upward into a sly smile as all wicked ideas on how to torture the culprit sang in his head.

"He should really pray I don't, in the meantime, I'm sending my men for another manhunt, I'll find each and everyone of those scumbags till I get the truth."

"Xander, it seems your bloodlust is making you forget something."

Xander's brows creased into confusion and Damian sensed it.

"You're supposed to be at the hotel you bloody demon! How could you forget??"

Xander understood what his pessimistic friend meant at the moment and rolled his eyes indifferently. To be honest he actually forgot about it.

"I'm heading there now, I feel hot so it's practically a good time, is she already there?"

"Yeah, your driver called me and told me she's been waiting for two damn hours since you refused to pick your fucking calls."

"Your constant nagging won't change the fact that I'm late, so you better shut up and let me focus so I can drive my way there."

"Just get there."

Xander disconnected the call and was already standing in front of his dark Porsche outside the lonely and quiet street, he opened the car door and got in, the expression on his face was one who had many burdens and could only think of freeing himself for the night.

"Really hope she is worth my time." He started the car's engine and drove off.

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