Page 79 of Sapphire's Gem
I headed out towards the waiting room. As expected, most of the club was waiting for news.
“She’s fine. We’re heading back to the clubhouse in about ten minutes. If some of you want to head back now?” I said to them.
“How badly is she cut?” Heart asked, looking pale. With her empathic abilities, being here had to be cutting deep.
“She’ll heal, and any scars Stitch can remove. Get your barriers up, Heart, and get out of here,” I ordered.
Heart didn’t argue but got up with Maid, and they left. “She needs to stop coming here,” I muttered to no one in particular.
Someone wailed, and I turned around and saw a middle-aged woman collapsing into a chair. A man sank beside her as they both sobbed. Two doctors stood with them, a look of sympathy on their faces.
“Lantern’s doctor mentioned they lost someone,” I whispered.
“I recognise them. Their daughter is a schoolteacher. They’ve only got the one child,” Twilight murmured.
“Do you think…?” Sailor began to ask and broke off.
“She’s my baby,” the mother cried as her husband wrapped her up.
“Shit. We need to stop this crap from happening,” I said, choked. Grief was an emotion I didn’t know how to handle, and this was raw.
“I ain’t disagreeing,” Cyber replied.
I straightened my shoulders and added, “We need to double down on our efforts. Beat the information out of people if we have to. I don’t want another parent losing a child.” Lantern appeared, and I nodded at her. “Everyone, return to the clubhouse. I’ll sign Lantern’s insurance papers.”
As they nodded in return, I headed for the reception desk. The doctors had managed to move the parents into a private room, but I could still hear the mother’s cries. How bloody tragic and unnecessary. No doubt their daughter had been shopping and minding her own business. I strengthened my resolve. The Royal Harlots would end this shit. If Feral Rhynn or Foxy was behind these attacks, they were about to learn nobody fucked with us. I’d burn their world down around their ears.
???
We had five prisoners, and they all recognised each other. The youngest was eighteen, Jon-B, a vile piece of work who’d raped three girls at his school and robbed the elderly. The oldest was twenty-two. I snapped on some gloves. I hated touching a prisoner’s skin. My sisters watched as I readied my table.
“I want answers. Now, I know you’re all going to be so-called hard men. That’s fine. But I will get what I want.” I picked up ahammer and swung it at Jon-B’s knees. There was a loud crack, and Jon-B howled.
“You didn’t ask him a single thing!” a guy called Colourful Clive yelled.
“Was I meant to?” I asked and swung once more.
Jon-B shrieked loudly again, and tears spilt from his eyes. “I ain’t talking, bitch.”
“You mistake my purpose. I’m not asking you anything. Instead, I’m going to cause you so much pain you’ll beg me for death. That’s for the innocent woman who died today. While I’m working my emotions out on you, your friends will watch and wonder what I’ll do to them. They’re the ones I’ll ask questions of.”
Jon-B spat at me, and I smiled. “Let’s get to work.”
???
Two hours passed before I stepped back, a sweating, tired mess. Dagger, Blade, and I had taken turns, and Jon-B, a stain on society, was no longer talking.
His friends had urged him to be brave at first, then threatened to keep his mouth shut, and finally fell silent. Nun was stalking around them, an altered cat-o’-nine’ nine tails in hand. Sharp metal pieces had been embedded in it to tear skin as it made contact. As I washed my hands, I sensed the tension rising from the remaining four gang members. Dagger whipped out a gun and shot one straight in the head. His friends gasped in horror.
“He wasn’t needed. Now perhaps you’ll understand something,” I said, my back still facing them.
“What?” one asked in a shaky voice.
“None of you will leave here alive. Today, you overstepped the mark and killed a schoolteacher. Like, what the fuck? She was a schoolteacher minding her own business, and you assholes killed her. Now you can die easy with a bullet to the brain or hard like Job-B. I don’t give a fuck, but you shall tell me what I want to know.”
Nun lashed out three times, and all three of them screamed as the cat-o'-nine-tails met their bared skin.
“Who is in charge of your gang?” I asked.
