Being pulled into consciousness was startling, because Inez had not realised she had been unconscious in the first place. She blinked, head lolling as she tried to focus. The toddler-sized magic thief was on some kind of spiel, and Inez did her best to look provocative, as if their intentions to torture and murder her were anything other than the Daughters' own meticulously crafted plan. She ought to have been an actress, truly; the way Inez pulled at the heavy, iron-laden chains that shackled her to a chair would have told anyone that she was trying to escape.
She shifted where she sat, pulling the chains until she sat in a position that was more comfortable- one leg folded over the other, both hands resting on the arms of her chair. It was as if she was perched on a Throne of the Spirit World, rather than an object of her death.
Her snake eyes racked over the form of the other magic thief, the one that Inez knew by name. She smiled. "We don't need intoductions, thankfully. I know you. Well- I knew your plaything. Yvonne? She spoke about you at great length."
The thief made an attempt to speak as she walked forward, but Inez cut her off- "Shame, what happened to her," She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "Though inevitable, with a constitution like hers-"
It was Rue's turn to cut Inez off then, with a sharp backhand that snapped Inez's face to the left. Already, Inez could taste blood on her lip where it had split. Inez laughed, a girlish giggle turned bloodthirsty.
"All of us have heard the stories about how pathetically she screamed and cried while getting what she deserved. Her Spirit proved useless, we sent it away, but her body continues to provide. In fact," She cocked her head, feigning a strain to remember, before her eyes settled on the smaller thief, who hovered on the edge of the barrier, "I think it was Yvonne's spleen, that made that bitch cop dissolve. So it's her you should be thanking, really."
...
Katie tilted her head to the side, peering over Inez, who still seemed cozy. The chains were overkill - dramatics. Katie had no belief that the voodoo girl could get out of her magical matrix. But it was best to keep her somewhat immobile. Inez giggled, laughed, and quipped at them, but Katie knew one thing that she didn't - Inez was well and thoroughly trapped. The Auror prowled around the edge of the Alchemist's Foundry, whistling softly, adjusting her pitch as she watched Rue take point.
Criminals were not all alike, as Katie learned over the years - some turn into slobbering cowards afraid of their own footfalls. Others cried for mercy or peace or forgiveness. The ones Katie respected held firm to their own beliefs. Others tried to run, chewing off limbs and cutting their own proverbial airways with lies and attempted entrapments of enchantments to attempt to escape justice. Katie had seen many of such villains in the walls of the Interrogation Rooms, of which she'd taken classes, though she did not enjoy nor excel in such circles. Others had dug their graves deeper, their pain sharper, their existence becoming less and less of an option.
"You don't really see people as much more than ingredients, do you? Parts of your grand plans. Mounds of flesh and magic and bone and soul to copy and paste where your cult needs."
Inez talked about souls and body parts like they were part of a special from the chip shop down the road - to be used, eaten, and discarded at a whim. It wasn't an unusual phenomenon among many serial killers, and even among potioneers and alchemists of Katie's caliber and above - at some point, the world around you is a pantry of options for magic. Human souls, human bodies, human magic - it was all quite delicious what you could do with all that power. Her Serial Killer certainly believed this about being folk. The Voodoo bitches did as well about certain bloodlines. If only Katie had more time, had the Department at her beck-and-call... the stories they could find in Inez's bones and blood would make them famous.
But Katie came here for vengeance, not another research paper. Priorities were set.
"I'll not sit here and waffle about, casting blame upon a victim of your schemes and chaos." Katie tottered forward, cracking her neck side to side. "Unluckily for you, I also see you as a mound of flesh and bone to play with at my disposal until I decide to send you away. Do you wanna see an interesting trick I learned from some Cajun wix who did a winter in England three years ago?"
Katie nudged Rue out of the way. The heat of her body made Katie sweat as she leaned over Inez's cheek, pursing her lips as if to kiss it.
Then whistled.
The squirt of blood in her eye made her curse, but Inez let out a short howl as the tender flesh of her face was skinned off, leaving a heaving exposed mass of bone and fat.
"Damn, Henri did it so much more neatly," Katie whined, wiping off the blood with a sigh. "You're so silly, Inez. All this chatter between us is just the appetizer. You're aching to soil our dinner! PopQuiz! Did you know that you're not the only one here who fiddled with souls and death?" Katie's free hand touched Inez's cheek where she'd flayed the skin, "I was once the budding necromancer when I was 16, then my Commander gave me purpose, made me better, made me someone worth knowing. You took her from me."
Katie entwined their hands and knelt down in front of Inez, smiling as her thumb soothed the back of the Voodoo cultist's hand. "You're going to be my masterpiece in alchemy, and it's such a shame I won't be able to show off my prize to the world. Just know that your existence has been meaningless until you choose to cross my path. But I will give you purpose -- I will fix you, make you better. I'm your divine retribution, and I hate you." Katie smiled and looked up at Rue.
"I want to see some firepower, my love."
The tingle that still coated Rueâs lips following Katieâs kiss coupled with the sting on the backs of her knuckles from backhanding the chained-up bitch across the face sent a pleasant pulse of adrenaline through Rueâs body; in all her years of running with street gangs in London, Rue had never been the most physically intimidating person to scrap with, but what she lacked in brute strength she made up for tenfold in sheer and vicious grit.
But Rue was not a trained interrogator like Katie, schooled in keeping a level head in the face of outright insult; Rueâs blood ran hot, her temper prone to boiling up fast and forceful. Her hands clenched into fists, her lip curling up into a snarl the more Inez taunted her about Yvonneâs grisly fate, until finally she snapped, âYouâre clapped if you think I wonât rip out your tongue anâ watch you choke on her name you EVIL FUCKING SLAGâ!â
She launched herself at Inez, the womanâs detestable laugh echoing against the stone walls and causing Rueâs vision to cloud over with murderous redâbut Katieâs arms around her middle, hauling her back and away prevented Rue from making good on her threat. Yet.
She shrugged the other woman off and then threw her coat into an angry heap at her feet, allowing the bitter ocean-chilled wind that whipped in from the gaping open-air wall to cool the adrenaline that pulsed hot and fiery through Rueâs body like magma. She shook out her shaking fists at her sides, brushing off the aurorâs hushed mutterings regarding whether she could go through with their plan; yes she was alright, yes she could handle this. A calloused hand squeezed over the ink that adorned Rueâs bicep, and then the other woman trailed back to have her own crack at their captive, while Rue took in deep lungfuls of briny air that burned her lungs, in and out.Â
Sheâd been thinking about this dayâdreaming about having one of the Daughters within throttling distance of Rueâs fists for too many gods-damn years just to cock it all up now. And it wasnât just about getting justice for Yvonneâthough every fiber of the pyromancerâs being ached to make someone suffer for what had been done to her lover. But the fact was the mutual massacre that the Daughters and the former glory of FTB had delivered upon each other had decimated the covenâthe only semblance of a real family that an orphan like Rue, unwanted by her inbred wix relations and their unimpeachable ancestral magical bloodlines and too volatile for the safe and flammable Muggle world in which her luckless mother had attempted to hide her, had ever known.
And Rue, like a comet blazing across the sky, had always been cursed and admonished and feared, for causing a catching fire of disaster and destruction, an inferno of misfortune and woe, wherever she went. A firestarter was anathema in almost every circle there was.
But now, that cursed fire that lived within her had purpose. And Rue resolved herself that she would not squander it today.
She rejoined Katie, meeting her eyes and nodding a silent Iâm all good to the other woman before crossing her arms across her chest and watching the auror at work. Under Rueâs smoldering gaze, Katie amped up the showâas if torturing a cunt that they both wanted dead was all a bit of foreplay, a burlesque performance for the unhinged and bloodthirsty beasts that embodied their darkest desires.Â
And Rue had to admitâwatching as that venomous smirk was literally peeled from said cuntâs once-beautiful face did help to get her into character.
âGladlyâŚâ she said, cracking her knuckles as she moved to stand in front of Inez, Katie moving aside to give her the floor. She had every intention of ignoring Inezâs incoherent gargling and the pinkish blood and saliva spilling over the ruins of her jaw, down her neck and chest before drip drip dripping on the stone floor. But then a few distinct sounds strung together gave Rue pause.
âHold upââ Rue stiffened, leaning closer to Inez as she hissed, ââthe fuck did you just say?â And she knew she was giving the snake exactly what she wanted, but stillâRue could never forgive herself if she let even the barest scrap of real, actual intel slip away.Â
She lifted up her hands and did a basic mending tutâironically, it was perhaps Yvonneâs most lasting contribution to FTB, a spell that every Free Trader knew. Rue didnât like to do it; it clawed at her heart to allow her fingers to shift into each position by muscle memory. The result was shoddy, sloppy, and surely still incredibly painful for Inezâwhich suited Rue just fine as she watched the woman twitch and squirm while threads of fine flesh on Inezâs gaping cheek tore apart and stretched to haphazardly cover the wound. It was a temporary fix, no replacement for real healing, and so thin and fragile that it would tear open and repeat every time Inez spoke.
But Rue didnât care about that. She loomed over Inez and demanded, âSay that again.â
âI saidâŚâ snarled Inez, her blood-soaked chest heaving, red coating the inside of her mouth and her teeth as her lips pulled back despite the gruesome sight of her face splitting open and patching itself over and over and over again. ââŚthat Iâm disappointed by you, Prudenceââ She spat out Rueâs full name with a French-Creole affectation that made the hedgeâs stomach twist in revulsion. ââafter all the talk of you and your vengeance, your endless burning, Ogoun given mortal form. That youâd allow this colonizer bitch to hold your leashâŚâ The vodouiste spat a glob of red on the ground in disgust, then leaned up toward Rue as much as her chains would allow, until their faces were inches apart and she could whisper, soft and vicious: ââŚI guess licking out that pale slutâs koko santi is more important than laying to rest your poor, sweet Yvonne.â
Embers flared in Rueâs green eyes as she studied Inez, not flinching, not taking the bait, this time. But the doubt burned her from the inside out; was it possible there was still something left of Yvonne to bury, or was the cunt just full of shit?
Rue straightened slowly, a draconian smile stretching across her face. If there was information Inez was holding on to, sheâd just have to smoke it out of her.
âYou wanna know the interestinâ thing about tryinâ to immolate yourself when fire wonât harm ya?â Rue drawled, loud enough for Katie to hear as she prowled around behind Inez and placed her hands over the woman's eyes, as if she were about to be handed a Christmas gift. âYou learn intimately, every worst fuckinâ way to burn.â Then she let flames lick along the creases of her palms, holding tight to Inezâs face as the woman jerked and thrashed until her lashes had burned clean off, until the blood vessels in her eyes had blistered and popped, turning her sclera an angry violet hue inside cracked, blackened lids.
She made tiny crackling fires under each and every nail bed, pain so acute and unreachable that it had Inez howling in minutes as she clawed at her own skin.
And finally, Rue crouched low to the ground until she could grip the heavy chains, allowing heat like the inside of a forge to seep slowly into the thick links of iron until they blazed a bright white-orange, one after the other, crawling closer and closer to Inez while she scrambled frantically in her seat like a caged animal. But it was in vain; there was nowhere to go, and when the chains that bound her seared her skin they burned deep, sunken welts into her flesh, melting and molding until woman and iron had merged into one.Â
Her wails of rage and agony rattled through Rueâs skull as she rose and turned to find Katie, grinning with vindication and approval. Rue didnât think; she reached out and grabbed Katie by the jaw, her hands feeling simply sun-warmed after pouring nearly all the fire within her into those scalding chains. Her fingers sizzled and smoked as they cooled, and Rue threaded them back into the hair at Katieâs nape as she pulled the auror in for a proper kiss, angling their bodies together.
She was breathless by the time she pulled back, just an inch, her dark skin glistening with sweat as she rested her forehead against Katieâs and said against the other womanâs mouth, âFinish it.â











