Chapter 18

"Rather pathetic, isn't she?" Andras asked as we stood over the mutilated, but still living, body of Anasia lying in the snow.

When she had awakened from the drugs, she'd found herself bound and gagged, surrounded by Werewolves, a Vampire and me. "We're going to play a little game," I'd told her, "one that I've been told you yourself enjoy. In a moment, your restraints will be removed. Then, you will run and my family will hunt you." My arms swept wide to encompass the wolves. "Don't bother trying any Demon tricks - a friend already took care of that." Her eyes had widened and she'd begun to tremble with fear, which only excited everyone else present.

Once the sunlight faded to almost nothing, Andras and I escorted her deep into the forest. I could feel the trees pulsing with the spell the ancient pack Witch held, a spell that would knit the branches of the trees together so thickly she wouldn't be able to fly through them and into the open sky.

"You can't do this," she informed us when we removed her gag. "I am a Matriarch and am entitled to a trial."

I smiled, showing my sharper feline teeth. "Not here. It's time you paid for your actions." Howls echoed as the wolves announced that time was up. "You better run."

Andras stayed behind with me while they chased her down and ripped her apart, saying that they might not remember not to eat him in their frenzy. He was just lucky that I hadn't told them about our past.

It was dawn before they grew weary of the game, their prey having not been as great of a challenge as they'd hoped, but better than they'd feared. Seth, one of the few submissive wolves and a childhood friend, escorted us in his furry form to where they'd left her before heading off for much-needed baths.

All that remained attached to her torso was her head. Her arms and legs were in several pieces scattered around the small open space between trees, evidence that they'd taken her a piece at a time. Her back looked like ground hamburger, her wings no more than stumps on either side of her spine.

The Vampire kicked her over so that she was laying face up, jarring her from her pain-filled daze. She made an awful keening wheeze that was most likely all her ruined vocal cords could produce. She'd screamed for a long time. Although, the fact that her abdomen no longer held most of her internal organs might have been the cause as well. There wasn't much time left in her, but it didn't matter.

Kneeling down beside her, I ignored the reek of ruptured entrails and spoke to her softly. "I wish I had the power to heal your body so that you might endure this every night for every soul you've ever hurt. But I can't and I don't think your mind would stay whole through it all. Everything has a price. My family has extracted theirs, Andras will take his now. You will last long enough to feel mine last."

I stood and stepped aside as Andras plucked out her eyes and put them in a jar before cracking open her rib cage with his bare hands. He didn't touch anything, just watched the slow and weary beat of her heart. After a moment, he nodded, indicating he was through.

"I know you can still hear me," I whispered in her ear. "This is for Talon." I shoved my blade, the one that was bane to Weres, undead and Demons alike, right into the center of her forehead.

She found the ability to arch up and screech as whatever my blade was ate into her brain, turning it to ash. The effect continued throughout what remained of her corpse until only ash and bone remained, the snow quickly melting into a steaming puddle around it.

Pulling my cell phone from my pocket, I punched in Nathania's number. "It's done," I said briefly and ended the call.

"It is, isn't it?" Andras commented, though the statement hadn't been made at him.

"All except for the cleanup," I agreed.