Page 239 of The Monster and the Masochist

Buttons rained to the ground with the violence of the motion, and Cal stepped to the side as he pointed to the man’s sternum.

“Surface-level cuts on the chest aren’t lethal, and honestly, if you want to get a few good stabs in, aim for the gut…” He slapped the reverend’s lower belly loudly for emphasis, ignoring the man’s weak, muffled shriek of protest.

“Make sure you get him here, in the bowels. Less likely he’ll bleed out quickly. It’ll be a long, slow, painful death.”

I nodded, stepping closer so I could get started.

The line of pale flesh was framed by the man’s arms, which were taped between his bound wrists.

“Let’s start here…” I hummed, slipping out my knife and flicking it open. Without any more warning, I sank the tip into the flesh over his left pec. A rush of dopamine flooded through me as I carved a deep line down, making sure to pass directly over his nipple as I did. My pupils blew and my breath caught as his flesh split for me like the goddamn red sea, and I had to bite down on my lower lip to keep myself from audibly groaning.

He screamed, and his legs finally gave in, but Cal rushed to grab him by the shoulders from behind.

“Stand up, or I’ll teach her how to remove one of your fucking balls,” Cal growled into the man’s ear.

Like magic, Sterling suddenly had the strength to stand. I smiled sweetly at him as I brought my knife back up to the top of the deep, bloody line I’d just cut so I could begin the arc I would need to carve to complete the ‘P’ I was working on tracing into his chest.

“Bite down on the sock, Reverend.” I smirked, “I’m sure you’ve realized by now that you’re not going to make it out of here alive.”

Even with the gag, his screams were getting more and more incessant with each stroke of my blade, and it made my literal toes curl with glee to know how much I was making him suffer. Wanting him to suffer more, I continued to tell him all the fucked up things I wanted to do to him as I leisurely continued to torture the man who had taken Theo’s childhood from her.

“You see, after this, I’m going to go and get my wife, and give her the opportunity to kill you if she feels up to it.”

He was shaking his head, no, no, no, but I nodded yes, yes, yes.

“If she’s not, I’ll do it for her, and then into the cremator you’ll go. Poof. Just like that. It’ll be like you never existed,” I crooned as I measured out where I wanted to begin my work on the next letter I planned on carving into his chest.

He squealed like a dying pig as I once again pierced his flesh. I tutted my tongue, shushing him until he quieted down enough that I knew he could hear me.

“Come now, Sterling. It could be worse… Would you like to know what I planned on doing with your body in the first draft of my plan? It was shot down by my silent partner, but… trust me, it was good.”

I smiled up at the sobbing, bleeding man before me, knowing he didn’t want to hear what I’d had planned for him at all… which was too bad, because I was going to fucking tell him anyway.

“Well, it would have been pretty cinematic, if I do say so myself,” I hummed, sinking my now blood-slick knife back into his chest so I could get started on the ‘E’. “You see, I would have stripped you naked, cut off your cock, and used it to replace that sock in your mouth… then I would have strung you up downtown Silent Hollow. It would have been a work of art really… An attraction that would have drawn the fucking masses.”

My words rolled through the room, and my lip curled up in disgust as heat radiated off my victim from the waist down. It took me a second to realize he was literally pissing himself in terror, and it took conscious effort for me not to step back.

“Ew… how fucking pathetic,” I snarled, and as if trying to prove me right, he sobbed so violently into his gag that I was convinced he was going to puke.

He wasn’t even begging anymore, and Callum had to catch him several more times to keep him from hanging himself as I forced myself to step into the growing puddle of piss at his feet so I could continue to work.

“You didn’t like that, I see…” I sighed. “Well, luckily for you, I can’t risk something so public… Why, you ask?”

The reverend definitely hadn’t asked, but I continued as if he had.

“Because, Reverend, apparently the entire world is run by pieces of shit like you, and I can’t have the people who make the laws coming after my wife, no matter how satisfying it would be to drag your defiled corpse through the street by your disgusting shriveled ballsack…”

The man whimpered and moaned more muffled pleas, but I wasn’t done.

Not even close.

Leaning in, I whispered the rest of my fucked up diatribe directly into his ear as I continued to slowly slice him to bloody shreds.

“I may not be able to humiliate you the way I want, Reverend…But… Just know… after my wife’s done with you… there will be pictures. And when I’m ready, I will release them, and the whole world is going to see you naked, cockless, and dead.”

I smirked as I finished up the ‘E’ and started on the ‘D.’ Callum stood dutifully behind him, ready to catch the man if he tried to end his pathetic life before I could give him to Theo.

His knees knocked together with how hard they were shaking, and I raised a condescending eyebrow, giving him my most unimpressed look.