The chilly air intensified the goosebumps forming all over my arms as the man led me through a heavy-looking door that was guarded by two burly males wielding various guns. It felt like I was walking into a thug's den.
In a way, it was true. Only that, Ilay wasn't a thug but a to-be Mafia boss. With his ruthlessness, I was certain he'd hold up pretty well when the time came.
Hardly two steps in and my foot came in contact with fresh blood as its stench infiltrated my senses.
The walls around me were splashed with crimson splutters that told tales of horrors enough to haunt a soul for decades.
Two lifeless bodies lay on the floor, one male and one female, their eye sockets hollow and their mouths agape as if their souls had chosen to flee through the entrance.
The man was missing a few fingers and had various cut wounds on his naked body that was drenched in blood.
While the woman had her clothes on, she too was missing all fingers and toes, and her wrists were slashed. She had been tortured before being bled to death.
My heart began pounding. I had thought that such a scene would not terrify me again, but I was wrong. The sight before me still made me want to throw up, though not as much compared to the previous me.
I didn't even hear the door being shut behind me, all I could see and hear was the man I was married to who stood in front of a hanged man, made to stand on his toes on a little stool.
The rope around his neck was, barbed, and he seemed to be missing his...cock.
I looked away, my stomach turning and my head spinning. What the fuck was with Ilay? How could his torture methods be so ridiculously cruel?
"Come over here." His voice made me jump.
For a minute there, I had forgotten that I had walked in here looking for him yet I was now acting like he was nothing but air.
I shivered when my eyes met his. The murderous look on his face was horrifying, like the way his body was covered in blood from his hair to his toe as if red paint had been poured down on him.
I tried to smile but nothing superficial came out. But I prayed that my fear wasn't too evident.
When I was close enough, Ilay reached out, grabbed my arm, and yanked me to him, my back hitting his bloody front.
His other hand seized my other arm and he held me in place, making sure I was looking at the poor man on the verge of death.
His eyes were blinking, but they held no will to live. It felt as if he was wishing for death instead of enduring any more of the piece of hell Ilay was offering.
"Do you like my hard work?" Ilay asked in a whisper, placing his chin on my shoulder. "These bastards thought they could mess with me and have an easy death. Why do people love crossing me?" He spoke, his voice riddled with wickedness. As if he was glad they were doing what they were doing so he could have fun destroying their bodies before ending them.
"Want to try?" He asked lifting my hand.
I wanted to stop him, but my body wasn't listening to me. And under Ilay's guidance, my palm came in contact with the man's thigh which was all bloody. "Can you feel the warmth slowly slipping away? But he can't die yet. Not unless I allow him. You know why?"
I shook my head.
"Because they're foolish enough to come at me with their families still alive. You know me, the sins of one are passed on to their kin."
A large ball of tension and fear blocked my throat.
I knew that all too well. It was the reason I was now entangled with him. Was this what Aya went through?
But she didn't look damaged like the corpses a few inches from where we stood. Which raised the big question; why had Ilay gone soft on her?
I felt the tremor in his thighs as he fought to stand and not hang even though he desperately sought death as a relief.
Looking at him all bound and gagged was like staring at a prey that couldn't escape its predator and could only await its death.
I gulped, the realization of Ilay's madness setting in deeply.
No matter what I had to do in the future, I couldn't afford to betray or cross him, lest I end up hanging from the ceiling like meat in a butcher's store.
He released my hand and stepped from behind me.
"Should I kill him now? He's been fun to play with but now I'm bored."
Ilay looked at me, waiting for my answer as well as testing me.
I hardened my gaze, letting him see my fake courage. And just as I was about to kick the little stool, Ilay stopped me.
"Now, now. I can't let this be your first kill. It's way too simple and not enough emotions. First kills are just as important as first sex, or even more important. Let's save that for the person you really hate on this Earth."
"I...I have no such person."
He flicked my forehead. "You're still young. The future is limitless. Who knows, maybe I'll be your first kill."
I rolled my eyes in my conscious, wondering why he was mocking me. How could he fall by my hand? What would even make me want to kill him?
He had every right to torture the people he did. I'd have been worried if he was killing random innocent people.
Heck! He didn't raise a hand at me back then. Only locked me up, maybe to use me against Aya.
With a smile directed at me, Ilay kicked the stool away, and the man immediately hung to his death. The rope strangled him while the barbs pierced his skin, letting out small streams of blood that flowed down his body and dripped on the floor, quickly forming a crimson pool.
I was sure he had been in horrible pain even when hanging, but he was glad that he could no longer stay around and have his body mutilated while alive. Death was a relief to him.
Even though I didn't know what sin he committed against Ilay, I was happy for him to have found his way out and held on to the end just to save his family.
My chin was gripped and my face was turned to the side to look at Ilay. "If you empathize with everyone you meet, you'll have no soul left. Do you know his story? No! Then let me tell you... In one year, he kidnapped ten little girls, assaulted them, and then sold them off in the black market.
"I was tasked to take care of him by one of the girl's family and they paid me enough to have you live off the rest of your life without a worry. That, was how much the family wanted him miserable before dying."
My heart clenched hard. My eyes wished to look elsewhere, but they were caged by Ilay's.
For the very first time since I got to know his real self, I saw anger. Not rage made from silly things like insulting or punching him. This looked more like he was angry at the wickedness in the man he had just killed.
Ilay was righteous. He was just a necessary evil.
***