Brutality 16

At breakfast, Lavinia looked at Black Sally and said, “I need to see Clarence and Brianna in my office after breakfast.”

Black Sally’s face turned red, “Brianna stays with me.”

“I can request the use of your possession whenever I want.”

“You have to have a reason.”

“I have to have a reason approved by the table, not by you. But you know that it never comes to that. Why do you want to bicker over trivial things?”

“You will destroy her Lavinia. That’s why. Why do you need her?”

“She is a Dominatrix, I need her services.”

When Antonija’s soft, sweet, angelic voice was heard, everyone else went silent. She said, “Sally, you know the importance of sharing freely with other members of the family. If Lavinia wishes to use something that is yours, you should let her use it. This petty squabbling over possessions and formalities will bring conflict and dissension to this table.”

Lavinia smiled and said, “I want her dressed and in my office in 15 minutes.”

After breakfast, I met Black Sally and Brianna outside Lavinia’s office. Sally gave me a serious look, “Think about what happened to you yesterday.” She walked away, I knocked on Lavinia’s door. It opened and Brianna followed me across the threshold. I saw a face that I recognized. It was the man with the facial tick. He was naked and bound to a chair, duct tape covered his mouth.

Lavinia told us to sit down. She asked, “Clarence, do you recognize this man?”

“Yes.”

“He was present that night when things went bad, correct?”

“Yes.”

She looked at Brianna. “I want this man to tell me where his friends are hiding. So far, I’ve asked him nicely. But he doesn’t want to talk to me. Then I remembered that we have professional in the house. I know that you were making very good money. Should I take that as a testament to your skill.”

Brianna shook her head and said, “No.”

“Didn’t people pay you to hurt them?”

“Some did, yes.”

“If that’s the case, you may be of some use to me. However, if it’s all just a big fucking façade, then I would not only label you useless; I would also find you offensive.” Lavinia opened one of her desk-drawers and pulled out a stop-watch. “I’ll give you one chance to prove that you can be useful to me. If so, you could have a life again someday soon; if not, you will be held in bondage, tortured and killed. You will suffer from now until the day you die. And that day may not come for a very long time. You have 6o seconds to make that man talk.”

Lavinia pressed the button on the stopwatch. Brianna rose from her chair and grabbed the penknife from Lavinia’s desk. She pushed the man backward in his chair. He landed on his back, his ankles were tied to the chair legs. Brianna grabbed his foot and pushed the penknife into the sole of his foot at the heel. She began slicing off the sole of his foot. Veins bulged out of the man’s neck and face, his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. Brianna pulled tape from the man’s mouth. He screamed, “2113 Rudolph Street. Please, please stop. It’s 2113 Rudolph.”

Brianna slammed the penknife on Lavinia’s desk and sat back down. Her one eye stared straight ahead. Lavinia said, “38 seconds.” She looked at the man, “2113 Rudolph, are you sure? If we go to that address and they’re not there, we’re going to 425 Hemlock. I know who’s at that address, and so do you, right?”

The man was sobbing, his facial tick grew worse. “Please don’t hurt my Momma.”

“Doesn’t your girlfriend live there too? If you‘re lying to me I‘m going to have them brought down here, gang-raped, tortured and torn apart right in front of you. You‘ll tell me the truth eventually anyway. So all their suffering will be for nothing. What will you say to your mother when she‘s being disemboweled right in front of you?”

Tears flowed from the man’s eyes, “Please, please…I lied. They’re at 1522 Francis Ave. Apt. B3. Please, I‘m sorry, I‘m sorry.”

Lavinia sat back in her chair and looked at Brianna, “Now wouldn’t that be fucked up if we went to the wrong address and killed a bunch of innocent people? You need to be able to extract and verify the information right then and there. You may not always have hours or days to torture someone. Clarence will take you back to Sally’s quarters.”

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I was stopped in my tracks. Robert stood in the foyer. I went up to him asked, “Where is she? Is she here?”

Robert said, “Calm down Clarence. She’s talking to Antonija right now. You will see her later today.”

“How long she will be here?”

“You’ll have to ask her. Don’t worry Clarence, you’ll talk to her. Don’t get yourself in trouble man. You better finish whatever it is they got you doing.”

I brought Brianna back to Sally’s quarters. When we walked in the door, Sally went straight to Brianna and checked her for injuries. She said, “So, what happened in Lavinia’s office?”

I said, “Brianna impressed Lavinia, now she wants to make use of her.” Sally flipped over her table and ordered Brianna to get on the bed. I began pacing the room, my mind on the Gothic Girl.

Black Sally said, “Your girlfriend is here Clarence. Get the fuck out of here and go wait for her in your room.”

Instead of returning to my room, I went to the living room and sat down. Several minutes later, Lenore entered the room and took a seat across from me. She said, “You know she’s here right?”

“Yes. I know.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yes.”

“You should be. She won’t be happy about some of things that have happened.”

“What’s her relationship like with Lavinia.”

“It can be tense. They have sibling rivalry thing going on.”

“Sibling rivalry?”

“They’re sisters.”

“Where does the Gothic Girl sit at the table.”

“She sits at the right hand of her older sister.”

“Sally said that the Gothic Girl sits to Antonija‘s right when she‘s here.”

“Sally lied to you. That‘s what she does. You know that her main function is to lure men here to die, right?”

“Is something big about to happen?”

“You can expect to see some changes.”