Page 107 of Crimson Tears

“Forgive him,” Evie says. “He picks random names for his victims.”

My brows pinch. “But why?”

Damien looks at me as if I should already know why. Apparently, I’m the only one who doesn’t understand this man’s level of insanity though, so maybe I am the odd one out.

And everyone says I’m the crazy one.

“I have too much information in here,” he taps his head, “to worry about the names of the men I get information out of.”

Evie laughs as she says something to Nessa before she and Alexi head upstairs.

I turn my attention back to the certifiable man child. “What kind of information?”

“Now you’ve done it,” Boris murmurs, pressing close to Nessa who just giggles.

“I need to know, what information could possibly be more important than knowing who you’re torturing?” I am genuinely curious.

Damien rubs his hands together. “Did you know that you can’t hum if you hold your nose?”

That can’t be true. Without hesitation, I hold my nose and attempt to hum.Well holy feckin’ balls. I can’t.

“Or that pigs can’t look up to the sky?”

My mouth almost drops open. I never thought about that. “Poor piggies,” I whisper. Damien looks just as concerned about this information as I do.

“I know, right? If I ever visit a farm, I’m going to pick up each piggy and make sure he gets the chance to see a blue sky.”

“He doesn’t have to look up to see the sky, Damien.” A new man greets us from the stairs. He is a little bit older than us but not by much. Evie is standing next to him, so he must have been invited.

“Havoc,” he says as he reaches out a hand. I take it instantly, knowing who this man is. He used to be the second in command of the Shades assassins until he switched sides.

“Cil,” I say and he nods in return.

“I am well aware.”

The way he glances back at Evie makes me suspicious, but she wears a giant smile, so I decide to let her have her little secrets.

“Rude interruption, bro.” Damien says. “Maybe the little pig wants to be able to see what’s above him!”

Damien turns to me, putting his hands on his hips. This dude is built. His shoulders could crush my head without even trying.

“Oh, also, everyone’s tongue print is different, so if you ever kill someone make sure to cut out their tongue so they can’t be identified by it.”

I can honestly say I didn’t know any of that. Maybe there is some method to his madness. “Damn, you like, know everything.”

“Exactly,” he exclaims, throwing his hands in the air as the rest of the room groans. “So, anyway, I need to keep the names to a minimum. What if I decided to keep all their names straight, and I forgot one of these amazing facts because of some soon to be dead guy. It would be awful.”

“A true tragedy.” I nod in agreement.

Havoc looks wildly annoyed with this conversation. “Why don’t you go tell the kid about your little knife collection while the grown ups work over here.”

Damien glares at him, but I want to see the knife collection. “You have knives too?” I ask.

“He is talking about the mini-swords,” Damien says through gritted teeth. Clearly this is a sensitive topic, but I’m kinda pissed for the guy.

“You did not call a miniature replica of theepic Taiheiki, the sword that moved by itself and killed an oni demon that was cursing Hojo Tokimasa, aknife,” I scold.

“Here we go,” Nessa says, shaking her head. Havoc looks at me in shock. For a man I once thought to be one of the greats, with his rumored ‘best kills’ in the assassins league, I have to say I’m not appreciating his form of a joke.

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