Page 43 of Monsters Like Us
Vale pulls a metal folding chair close, his voice smooth as glass, playing a dangerous game with a monster. “Let’s make this easy.” He claps his hands together. “Answer my questions, and she doesn’t suffer.”
I don’t say a word, keeping my face impassive. But my thoughts are spinning violently. If I could get a hand free of these chains, I’d wrap it aroundhis throat.
Corinne straps Katana down with the calmness of a nurse prepping for a procedure. Buckles click, leather groans. Katana thrashes, spitting curses, but can’t break free.
Her breath hitches on a whisper. “She’s going to kill me this time.” It’s so faint I almost think I imagined it, but the terror in her eyes makes my chest cave in.
My muscles tense, knowing what’s in store for her.
“Let’s try this again. How long have you been talking to Katana?”
I remain stubbornly silent, grinding my jaw as the first shock tears through her body. She jerks, her cry splitting the air.
My chest caves. I snarl and strain against the pipe until it feels like my wrists will snap.“Stop!”I hiss.
Vale crouches near me, his eyes glittering. “Then answer me. How long have you been talking to her? It’s a simple question.”
I grit my teeth. I won’t give him anything.
Corinne dials the machine again. The scent of charred leather and a click before Katana screams, her back arching against the straps. Her eyes are wild, searching for me, begging even as she spits at Vale through her tears.
Something breaks in me. “Enough!” The word rips from my throat raw and desperate. “Punish me, not her.”
Corinne ignores me, checking Katana’s pulse.
Vale smiles like I’ve given him exactly what he wanted. “Oh, Iampunishing you. She’s just… encouragement.”
Another shock. Another cry that claws straight through my ribs.
My wrists are raw and swollen from my struggles. I can’t take them shocking her anymore.
“Stop!”I choke. “I’ll answer.”
The current fades, leaving Katana trembling, gasping for air. Corinne smooths the hair from her damp face,murmuring something clinical, almost gentle. I want to rip her hands off.
“Good,” Vale says softly. “Then tell me.”
I grind out a reply, empty words I know he’ll twist however he wants. “A couple of weeks. I... I approached her.” I give him pieces, scraps, anything to slow the machine, anything to give Katana a moment to breathe.
But even as I speak, Vale nods to Corinne, and she flicks the dial again.
Katana jerks, a strangled sound ripping from her throat. My heart feels like it’s tearing out of my chest.
“I’m talking!” I roar, yanking my chains so hard the skin splits across my wrists. Blood slicks the iron. “I’m giving you answers!”
Vale leans close, savoring every fracture in my voice. “And still she screams. Because no matter how much you give me, Micah, it will never be enough. She’s yours. Which means she’ll always be mine to break.”
Her cries echo in the concrete room long after the machine falls silent. I memorize every dial Corinne touches, every key on her belt, every second between each surge. I map their cruelty, building the plan in my head even as I feel myself breaking apart.
They think they’re winning. They think this is power.
But all they’ve done is carve their deaths deeper into my memory.
CHAPTER 38
Katana
They unbuckleme like I’m nothing more than equipment being put back in storage. My wrists are raw, my throat wrecked from screaming, but the worst pain isn’t in my body. It’s in my chest, hollow and burning all at once.
