Good Samaritans heard her screams and attempted to help her, but the car was encased in flames and no one could reach her.
She suffered a terrible, agonizing death.
And Alexei deserves no less.
My need for justice will accept no less.
I can’t walk away from this, I can’t go on, until I know he’s paid a portion of the penance for all the shit he’s done.
“Ten minutes,” Lucifer says. “And if we’re going to be burning him alive, Simon wants us to remove his thumbs first.”
“Fuck… what’s up with the thumbs, man?” James asks as he strolls into the room with a rifle slung over his shoulder.
“Someone hand me a knife,” Gabriel demands.
Lucifer chuckles. “Simon has his reasons.”
“Probably wants to stick them up his ass,” Gabriel smirks as Andrew walks over with a knife and a big bottle of liquid.
Andrew snaps open the black tactical knife he’s holding and hands it over to Gabriel.
Wasting no time, Gabriel drops down and grabs Alexei’s hand.
Alexei releases a weak, gurgling groan, but otherwise doesn’t put up a fight as Gabriel works at sawing off his thumb.
I scowl down at him, not liking his lack of reaction. I want him to feel what’s happening to him, and I want it to fucking hurt.
I want him to experience a moment of my agony.
“Here’s one, thumb boy,” Gabriel says and tosses the thumb he just sawed off to James.
“Fuck!” James shouts, fumbling to grab the slippery thumb as it hits him square in the chest.
Dropping Alexei’s right arm, Gabriel grabs up the left one and gets to work.
Alexei doesn’t even release a groan this time, he remains perfectly still.
“Is he dead?” I ask, wondering if I’ve missed my opportunity to make him pay.
Gabriel pauses halfway through the thumb he’s working on to give Alexei a hard slap on the cheek.
When Alexei’s eyelids flutter and he moans, Gabriel says, “Nah, but he’s fucking close.”
Shit.
I’m probably grasping for straws, but I ask regardless. “Is there any way to wake him up? Make him more aware?”
If there’s not, we’re probably just wasting our time.
Gabriel snaps off Alexei’s left thumb and tosses it to James before he looks to Andrew. “You got any of that cocktail stuff Simon mixed up in your bag?”
Andrew tosses the bottle he’s holding to Gabriel and grins. “Yeah. I got the recipe off him after seeing what you did with it back at the warehouse.”
“Why do I always get stuck with the fucking thumbs?” James grumbles as Andrew walks back over to his bag.
Straightening from his crouch, Gabriel shakes his head at James and then gives the bottle he’s holding a squeeze, squirting liquid all over Alexei’s body.
I take a few steps back, giving Gabriel room to work.
Once he’s completely doused Alexei’s body, he makes a trail of liquid leading to the doorway.
Tossing the empty bottle away, Gabriel looks at James. “Why don’t you be useful, thumb boy, and find me a light.”
James opens his mouth, but Lucifer cuts him off.
Looking to me, his eyes piercing right through me, he says, “There’s a zippo in the right pocket.
It takes me a second to figure out why he’s telling me that, then I realize it’s his suit jacket I’m wearing.
Reaching my hand down into the right pocket, I find the zippo and pull it out.
“Tell me when,” Andrew says, walking back over with a syringe.
Gabriel nods to me. “On Meghan’s go.”
All the guys look to me, and I have no clue what the fuck is about to happen, but I can’t put this off any longer.
Lifting my chin and stiffening my spine in preparation, I tell Andrew to, “Do it.”
Andrew gives me a quick, sharp nod, then he crouches down and sticks the syringe in the side of Alexei’s neck. Pushing in the stopper, he yanks the needle out and stands back up.
As if the drug is a breath of life, Alexei sucks in air and his eyes snap open.
Andrew takes a step back, but I find myself taking a step forward.
And another.
And another.
I walk up to Alexei until I can look him in the eyes.
At first, he doesn’t look at me, and isn’t aware of me staring at him.
His eyes stare up at the ceiling.
Groaning, he struggles to get up from lying prone, his arms and legs giving out on him until he finally manages to get his body into a kneeling position.
“If he goes after her, put a fucking bullet through his head,” Gabriel says.
Hearing Gabriel’s voice, Alexei’s head lifts. He looks to him, then his gaze finds me.
I stare into the black abyss of his swollen eyes. Stare into the darkness that stole so much from me.
My mother…
My father.
Not only did he steal all the years I would have had with them, he created a rift between my father and I that will never be mended now. There’s no hope of reconciliation.