Page 56 of Villains Never Die

He opened the door, but it was so dark inside I couldn’t see what lay within. We stepped inside and he waved his hand.

“What did you just cast?” I asked, noting the thickening of the air in the room.

“Silencing spell. There might be screaming.” He flipped the light switch to reveal a man tied to a chair in the middle of a concrete room. There was a drain in the floor like the one in my basement, which meant people who came into this room didn’t always leave.

There was no screaming now because the man had a gag in his mouth, but his eyes bulged when they saw me. It took me a moment to place his face, round with a large nose, and currently an unpleasant shade of white.

Teddy Abner.

I turned to Rook with a closed-lipped smile. My stomach fluttered in an unusual way.

“Happy birthday,” he said, a grin breaking through. Teddy murmured something behind the gag at the sight of our shared glee.

“It’s not my birthday.”

“Eh, it will be eventually. Consider this an early present. You look fantastic, by the way.”

I glanced down at my casual clothes and frowned. “I look like a slob.”

“You look like you need fucked. Tease.” He laughed, and I realized that this conversation, one that bared our secret, meant Teddy would absolutely not leave this room.

Rook pulled me flush against his body and kissed me, his tongue conquering my mouth for ten seconds until he pulled away and left me gasping.

“Do you want to question him?” he asked.

I walked slowly to the chair and untied the gag that kept Teddy silent.

“Austin—”

“Shut up.”

Two words made Teddy’s mouth clamp shut. I registered Rook against the closed door, watching me with barred arms and a curious expression.

“Where have you been, Teddy?” I asked, circling the chair.

“Out—out of town,” he said hoarsely. “Just for a little bit. I wasn’t running, I swear!”

“But we had a deadline. You were to retrieve my money, deliver it, and go back to your miserable life without owing me anything further. Do you know how much interest I charge people who take what’s mine?”

He gulped and made a series of stuttering sounds.

“I don’t actually care where you were.” I rested a hand on his shoulder. “I only care about where the money is.”

Flames licked down his arm from where I touched his shoulder, skin blistering and blackening. His screams echoed off the walls.

“Listen—”

“I’m listening.”

His chest heaved, tears rolled down his face, and his words came out in gasps. “It’s gone! Fuck Austin…I—I’m sorry! I can get it back. I promise I can get it back.”

“Interesting.” I laid my hand over his and all his fingers broke at once. He shrieked until my ears stung. I didn’t look back at Rook, but I sensed him in the same place as before. “What was so important that you needed the money?”

“My wife…”

“You don’t have a wife.”

“My—my—”