Page 10 of The Curse of Blood and Silenc

I need you, Angelo. Find me. Please.

Chapter

Five

Angelo

I kickedopen the door to my secret room, the heavy wood splintering under my boot. With a snarl, I hurled Dimitri inside. He careened across the room, crashing into an array of gleaming instruments of torture hanging on the far wall. Metal clattered to the floor around him as he slumped, gasping.

Dimitri raised his head, blood streaming from his nose and a fresh gash on his forehead. Newly formed bruises on his neck had already darkened to an ugly purple. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then looked around the room with exaggerated interest. “Private party, eh?” he wheezed, attempting a smirk that came out more as a grimace. “Your events are getting rather exclusive, Angelo.”

His flippant tone made my blood boil. I flew across the room, pinning him to the wall, my hands at his throat. “Joke while you can, Dimitri. This might be the last time you use that smart mouth of yours.”

Dimitri’s eyes glinted with amusement and dangerous defiance. “Promises, promises. You know, your hospitalityleaves something to be desired. No wine? Not even an imported cheese platter? Tsk tsk.”

“I’m a centuries-old made vampire with Dracula’s blood coursing through my veins, you insignificant ingrate,” I growled, my face inches from his. “You’re nothing but a born vampire playing little power games.” I tightened my grip, feeling his pulse flutter weakly under my palm. “Your pathetic quips won’t save you here. Keep them up, and the only thing you’ll be tasting is your own blood.”

“Hmm, well, they do say a liquid diet is good for the figure,” Dimitri smirked, though I did notice a flicker of genuine fear pass through his eyes as they darted over the bloodstained implements around us.

I grabbed a wicked-looking blade from the wall, pressing it against his cheek. “Last chance, Dimitri. Tell me everything about Serenity’s disappearance, that dagger, and my ring. Or I’ll show you just how creative I can get with my toys.”

Dimitri’s smirk faltered for a moment before he regained his composure. “Well, since you put it that way... How about we start with truth or dare? Though I have a feeling you’re not much for dare right now.”

I leaned closer, my voice a deadly whisper. “I have countless ways to make you talk, Dimitri. Your screams won’t leave this room, and neither will you if I don’t get what I want.”

Dimitri’s breath turned ragged and gasping, each inhalation painful against his bruised throat. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he spoke, and his words were slurred and broken.

“L-look,” he wheezed, wincing, “I... I’ll admit I took the ring.” He paused, coughing violently, specks of blood spraying from his lips. “N-needed it to melt the Malefic Puppets—a curse the high priestess put on...my brother and Gianna.” His eyes, glassywith pain, sought mine. “Only…only thing...that would negate her power.”

My jaw clenched, fury and skepticism warring within me. Part of me wanted to believe him—to think that this betrayal had a purpose beyond greed. But a larger part, the part consumed by fear for Serenity’s safety and rage at her disappearance, wouldn’t let me accept his words so easily.

“A likely story,” I snarled, my voice trembling with barely contained anger. I leaned in closer, my face inches from his. “If that was true, why not just ask me for it?” The question came out as a roar, bouncing off the walls of the torture chamber.

Dimitri flinched, fear flashing across his battered face. His eyes darted away for a moment, a flicker of shame or possibly regret in them. It was gone before I could be sure.

“It’s…complicated.”

His hesitation ignited something savage within me. With a roar that tore from the depths of my soul, I unleashed a barrage of punches. Each impact sent a sickening crunch through the room, blood and spittle flying with every blow. My knuckles split, but I barely felt it. Betrayal, fear for Serenity, helpless rage—it all poured out in a tsunami of violence.

“What else?” I snarled between strikes. “What. Aren’t. You. Telling. Me?” Each word was punctuated by another devastating blow.

Dimitri’s head snapped back and forth like a broken doll’s. Blood streamed from his nose, his lips split and swollen. He gurgled, choking on his own blood, struggling to form words. His face was so beaten as to be unrecognizable.

I paused to let him speak, my chest heaving. My hands trembled, knuckles coated in his blood and mine.

“P-Petar,” Dimitri rasped, the name barely understandable on his ruined lips. “He…made...me...”

I froze, my fist raised for another blow, the name hitting me like a physical blow. “What did you say?” I hissed, grabbing his hair and yanking his head back.

His eyes, almost swollen shut, held pain and desperation. “Petar...” he choked out, each word a struggle. “Would have killed Valentin if I didn’t...get the mirror.”

The mention of a mirror sent a fresh wave of rage through me. My grip on his hair tightened, a growl building in my chest. “The mirror? You took the Moirai Mirror as well? Why, you bastard, why?”

“He... He wouldn’t tell me,” Dimitri gasped, his words slurred. “Just said he had to give the mirror to someone. I don’t...don’t know who.”

“Wrong answer.” The words left my mouth in a feral growl as I plunged a blade deep into his shoulder—not just any blade, but one imbued with the essence of sunlight, a weapon that inflicted unimaginable pain on our kind.

His anguished scream echoed off the walls of the chamber. Blood, darker than human blood, poured from the wound, and the scent of burning flesh filled the air. The blade worked its cruel magic, simulating the agony of sunlight coursing through his veins.

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