"Hello Jonathan, how have you been. You seem to be doing well."
I looked at the first slave I had tortured. It had been three days of continuous torture, and to my surprise, the man was strong enough to endure it.
"P..pl...please...kill me.."
He begged in a barely audible voice. He had not slept for three days, I made sure of that, during the continuous torture.
I had pulled off all of his nails, and with the help of the anesthesia, he could only groan.
"You’ve stopped bleeding again, but don’t worry i won’t do anything to you today. "
I said as I picked a small Scapel. I cut into the already healing wounds, slowly passing through the scab and veins until I reached the artery, where I cut through.
Blood flowed slowly from his wound down his arm and dripped onto the floor. If I were a second-generation vampire, I would have already bitten him.
"Can you call Jeneviv. "
I asked luna who nodded and left the room. I continued opening the healing wounds and cutting into the arteries. A slow death, I wanted him to feel the life draining out of him.
I wanted him to have the fear of death. Knowing you are going to die but being unable to escape it.
"You’re already crying, I thought you said men shouldn’t cry. I heard from the count that was what you were teaching their children. "
I felt like a vigilante. Killing the criminal secretly and getting revenge for the victims.
"Ptts..hahaha "
I fell into laughter at the thought of that, how amusing that would be. Jonathan twitched as his eyes rolled back.
"Don’t die too fast."
I said and walked to the door and peeked outside to see if Luna and Jeneviv had arrived. They hadn’t.
"K...ki....kill...m...me."
I turned to see that Jonathan’s eyes had gone back to normal but were barely open.
His black eyes followed my every movement. The smell of urine filled the room, making me scrunch my nose but that was all.
I was used to worse.
"You drank too much water, didn’t you? At least you can say in the underworld that you had a good last release before dying. It’s like your body is orgasming for the last time."
I chuckled at my own humor. The door was pushed open, and Luna walked in with Jeneviv followed.
"Good morning young master."
Jeneviv greeted with a cute smile on her face and walked towards the slave. She stood beside Jonathan and the familiar spell appeared before Jonathan lost consciousness.
"It’s cracked, no, there are a lot more cracks than yesterday ."
I said while looking at the black soul Jeneviv had pulled out the man. It had numerous cracks and it seemed to be barely holding on.
Unlike the first time Jeneviv had pulled out his soul, it was fully round without any cracks, but the moment it was almost crumbling.
Pain and torture really affect the soul.
I signaled the Jeneviv to put it back inside which she did.
"See, I told you, the more you practice taking out souls, the better."
Jeneviv smiled and nodded her eyes, looking at me, filled with trust and dependency.
"I’ve been doing as instructed, it was hard at first, but I can feel my magic pool increasing. "
"That’s good, don’t ever neglect both physical and magic. If you need more portions or injections come to me."
She smiled. I had instructed her to remove souls from the slaves every single day until she couldn’t anymore over and over again.
Despite being a talented necromancer, Jeneviv had been terribly isolated and only had a dead mother as a teacher this meant she really couldn’t reach far.
But here, I will make her shine among necromancers. She might even help Donovan locate his parents’ killer, a win-win for all of us.
"Master, he’s dead."
"Alright, you can summon his ghost, right?"
I turned to Jeneviv. I wasn’t sure it was going to work but it was better to try. Ghosts always came out after the body is burnt, destroyed, or has beendead for one sand glass.
"Luna, have the holy water ready I’m not in the mood to fight with this pervert. "
Luna raised a small glass cup containing the transparent holy water. There was only a bit of gold floating around , this was the only thing that was differentiating it from water.
Pretty uninventive.
"You don’t have to worry that much about the ghost, it cannot leave the spell circle."
Jeneviv said her face calm in concentration. Two intertwined spell circles floated before the dead body and separated. One up and the other down.
The dead slave appeared in the middle.
His eyes had turned red and blood was everywhere. The wounds I had left on him were still there and bleeding black now.
The moment our eyes met, he charged towards me but hit a barrier. I walked and stood in front of him, he struggled furiously to get out of the barrier, but nothing.
"He seems to have turned into a vengeful ghost."
Jeneviv said, sweat had started to gather on her forehead with each hit.
"Hello Jonathan, how are you feeling today?"
I asked him while recording his reactions. The moment I called his name, he paused before he started to scream again.
"You monster, you tortured me how can you torture someone for no reason. You lunatic i knew nobles were not to be trusted."
I smiled and recorded all his erratic mumbles. He had stopped hitting the barrier and was now just blaming me for his death.
"So you can remember everything?"
He didn’t answer but continued to curse me.
"What family did you teach last?"
That made him pause, he looked around in confusion before he started to pull his non-existent hair.
"What are you talking about, you torture me you murdered, sinner."
He continued his rambles.
"He doesn’t remember anything except the torture."
I said loudly not expecting any answer. I had thought that since he remembered his cause of death, he would remember his life, but it was useless.
Right now, the situation was almost like the one I was in, but not really the same. I just couldn’t put a finger on it.
"You can purge him."
Jeneviv nodded and turned to glance at luna who poured holy water from above the spell.
The moment it touched the oblivious ghost, an earth-shattering scream resounded throughout the laboratory as the ghost burned and disappeared.
"Ooh dear, that’s going to wake Cora up."
As if on cue, a child’s crying filled the air louder than the previous. I could feel the ground shaking.
I had decided to postpone her immersion in the growth tank so that I could confirm whether she was blind or not.
"Master should..."
I shook my head cutting her off.
"Luna, help with this. I’ll go see her and place her in the tank."
I pulled off bloodied gloves and coat before walking out. Her cries had started to reduce slowly.
The baby cot, which Seraph had enthusiastically bought, was situated near the fish tank since Nixie’s voice always seemed to calm her.
It was probably because she heard her voice more than anyone when they were both left in the laboratory. At least she looked after her during the two nights the baby was out of the tank.
"Sleep baby sleep baby sleep the waves will pass go to sleep.."
Before I could reach them, the baby went quiet, and Nixie’s melodic voice came covering the whole laboratory. Her voice was hypnotic, and most of the slaves, even those injured, turned to look at her in a daze.
I rounded one of the static tanks, and the sight that greeted me was one of Nixie leaning over the tank, her green wet hair dripping water on the ground near the baby cot.
She had a kind smile on her face, something I had not seen. That made me a little jealous, but well, everyone loves children.
I hurriedly washed my hands and pocked her up. Despite her being bigger than a normal child, she was still terrifyingly small in my arms.
She looked up at me snuggling deeper into my embrace.
"She likes you the most."
Nixie said softly. My finger rubbed her chubby cheeks softly, and she leaned into my touch as though seeking comfort.
"Well i did birth her."
I said with a small chuckle. I took a small light crystal and placed it before her eyes and started to move it from side to side.
Her eyes didn’t follow, something no normal child should do.
"Haa.. Guess your mother really left a side effect. "
I said softly as my hand ran through her soft pink hair.
"Is she really blind?"
Nixie asked her voice filled with disbelief. I nodded with a smile on my face.
"That really isn’t a big problem since she has the most sensitive earing a child should have, it’s a form of compensation. I’ll look for new eyes to give her when she’s old enough to undergo surgery. "
I said and walked towards the growth tank. I lifted her up to the top and placed her inside slowly so as not to startle her. She sank quietly and the tank welcomed her.
Her eyes were still open until she was suspended mid-tank before she closed them and fell asleep. The tank will help develop and harden her body physically.
"Grow strong Cora."