52 A Murder in the Dark

In the dark basement, Daan Holsten, with his eyes that glowed red, walked slowly and calmly to the source of the muffled crying, with each step creating an audible thump. The crying started the moment the trapdoor was opened, and had gradually become quieter as if the person crying was trying hard to hold it back, especially since the sound of Daan's footsteps little by little got closer. It was now only a faint sound of intermittent sobbing.

There was a door at the end of the narrow basement corridor where he was walking. He used yet another key from his collection of keys and pushed the wooden door open. The door made a creaking sound, which announced his arrival at the room-- if the sound of the door being unlocked hadn't done so. He closed the door behind him very slowly, enjoying every moment of taking away the hope of exiting the room with each time the gap got closer.

Thud...

The door was completely closed. He then inserted the same key and locked it from the inside. With that, now whatever or whoever was inside that room would have no chance of escaping unless they got the key from Daan, who stuffed it away under his shirt. The expression on his face showed wickedness.

Although it was pitch black, he could clearly see what was there because of his night vision. His red glowing eyes were scanning the room, making sure everything was still the same as when he had left it. It was a big room, almost five meters in length and four meters in width. The spacious room had no furniture at all, and there was only one air vent for fresh air to flow in. In the corner of the room, there was something that looked like a small toilet cubicle without a door. Although it was in the basement, the room was relatively clean.

There were two poles in the center of the room, and to each pole, a naked woman was handcuffed. The two women looked weak and beaten. Their mouths were muffled with black tapes, preventing them from speaking or screaming for help, although there would be no one to hear them in the first place. and their legs were tied with ropes. One of the women had dry tear mark across her cheek and was now sitting hopelessly on the ground with both hands behind her back, while the other hadn't moved an inch ever since Daan entered the room.

Daan observed his two captives with eyes full of malice. The women's bodies were slender, and although their mouths were covered, they still looked beautiful despite their weak and unkempt state. One had long, brown hair while the other's was long and black, and both had straight hair. There were injury marks all over their bodies from mistreatment, with the highest concentration being on their necks, which looked like hand marks.

Daan Holster approached the woman with dry tear marks on her cheeks and looked at her face closely. She looked pale and her lips were dry and chapped. Her expression was that of someone really terrified of what was before her, although she couldn't see his face because of the darkness; she could only see two red glows floating in the air. He touched her angular chin with his gloved hand and raised her head, so she would look at him in the eyes. The woman wanted to close her eyes to avoid staring at the cold red eyes that were staring at her with a knife-like sharpness, but she couldn't do so for some reason.

Daan licked her chin and then spoke to the woman.

"Now tell me how much you cannot live without me," his voice was cold and full of mockery and then opened the tape covering her mouth gently.

She opened her mouth, which was now free, right away, abiding by his request. "I-I cannot live without you! I... want to be with you f-forever," said the woman weakly, but she forced the words out of her mouth while trembling in fear.

Daan Holsten's expression turned twisted in anger. He grabbed the woman by the neck and strangled her hard.

"That was a lie! You lying bitch!" he said in rage. His grip got tighter and tighter; his nails sunk into the woman's skin, making it bleed.

"I'ukhg skghk...!" the woman tried to speak but the air flowing from her throat was obstructed by Daan's strong grip, creating a pitiful gibberish.

She kicked about, trying to hit Daan but her tied legs failed to do so. She was gasping for air, and tears started running down her face that slowly turned purple.

"Don't you worry. I won't kill you that easily," he said cold-heartedly and then loosened his grip on her neck.

She fell back to the floor and was panting heavily, but she knew she wasn't off the hook yet, so she started begging for mercy.

"Please, I'm sorry... please don't do this... please... I beg you..." she said with much difficulty; her voice was wavering and her body shaking.

"Please... no! No...! Mphmmm... mphmmm...!"

Daan put the tape back on her mouth, preventing her from speaking any further. He then took out a knife that he was hiding under his sock and crouched down. He touched the skin on her feet lightly with his fingers and felt the softness of the touch. His fingers ran across her feet and then stopped on her left toe. The woman seemed to be too scared to make a move; she was just frozen there.

"You won't be needing this anymore," he said heartlessly; his voice was devoid of any empathy.

Stab!

His knife sunk deep into her feet on the section where his toe started and made an incision there. He cut open her flesh little by little, revealing her muscles and white bone. Red blood flowed from the wound, along with her muffled scream of pain. He kept cutting until her left toe was completely separated from her foot. The woman's cheeks were full of her tears; her eyes expressed the pain she felt.

Daan Holsten was admiring his handiwork; he held the mutilated toe with his bloody hand close to his eyes and smiled triumphantly. He kissed the toe and licked the blood clean off it.

He then turned to look at the woman's expression. She hadn't stopped crying, and her face had turned deathly pale. It seemed the pain had been unbearable to her. He enjoyed every second of that moment. Her terrified and pained face, and her slender weak body that was defenseless, satisfied the devilish urge inside him.

He suddenly heard a faint voice from behind the locked door. He put the woman's toe inside his pocket and stood up with his knife ready to attack.

Click!

The sound of the door being unlocked could be heard. Daan Holsten waited for the creaking sound of the door and the moment he heard it, he would launch a surprise attack on the intruder. He didn't care who it was, because they had found out about this place where he kept his darkest secret.

His danger sense was warning him. He hadn't felt the other party's presence at all until he heard the faint chanting, so they must be someone capable of hiding it. However, in front of a Denuder, as long as they were within his immediate surroundings, any kind of concealment wouldn't work.

Creak...

He heard another faint chanting before the sound of the wooden door was pushed open slowly came. He waited very patiently to see the person behind the door because the moment he saw the person, he could strip them bare of their weapons. The gap slowly got bigger, and Daan was waiting in anticipation.

...

There was no one behind the door!

And then, came a voice of chanting that was no longer muffled by the closed door from deep inside the dark corridor.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you shoot straight into Daan Holsten's head!"

Bang!

There was a loud sound of a gun being fired and a bullet came very quickly from the corridor and buried itself inside Daan Holsten's head, sending him flying backward and creating a round hole from which fresh blood spurted. His expression was of disbelief and confusion. In the last moment of his life, he still didn't understand how the other person could have killed him so easily like that, especially shooting him in a dark corridor from that distance.

A short moment later, the life in his eyes was snuffed out. His whole body burst into flames, burning his entire being, including everything currently on his person. His body turned into ashes with his death. There was a brown ancient-looking scroll that lied on top of his ashes and a strange round object that resembled an all-red eyeball slowly formed there.

The woman who had lost her toe couldn't see in the dark, but she could hear the sound of the bang and the moment his captor's body was enveloped in bright red flames. She didn't understand anything that was happening, but a slight hint of hope rose from her heart. She waited in anticipation for what was going to happen next, but there was still fear in her heart. The other woman, on the other hand, still sat motionless on the ground. Nothing seemed to bother her anymore, her eyes looked lifeless, although she was clearly still breathing.

From the dark corridor, suddenly there was a small blaze chasing away the surrounding darkness. However, she couldn't see anyone creating the small flame. It seemed to be floating around, getting closer to her, which caused her to be struck with fear. She observed carefully the flame, which now she could see came from a lighter, and if she focused hard, she could see a man wearing a dark brown trench coat holding the lighter. He was wearing a facemask and a hat, so she couldn't see his face clearly.

Something felt strange to her. She couldn't hear the sound of the man's footsteps at all, and if she wasn't concentrating on him, she couldn't feel his presence, as if the man was not there at all. The only thing proving his existence was the lighter flame that he was carrying.

She was too weak and tired to keep concentrating to see the other person in that room, so she gave up; she was losing blood from the wound in her foot. The woman could only see the flame floating and moving closer to where her captor's body had burst into flames. The flame then moved near the floor. The holder seemed to be squatting in that spot. She could see something like a scroll and something round being taken by the holder of the lighter.

The flame then got back up higher and came approaching her location. She then heard the sound of a man saying something that sounded like a chant.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to stop bleeding!"

She felt a sharp pain in her left foot, which was comparable to when her toe was being cut off. She let out a cry of pain, but it was muffled by the tape covering her mouth. The pain lasted several seconds, and when it finally stopped, she could feel that her foot was no longer bleeding.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to unlock yourself!"

She heard the sound of the man chanting again. His voice was deep and gentle, but full of assertiveness.

Click!

The handcuffs binding her hands to the pole behind her back had been unlocked just like that. She didn't understand how it happened, but she felt very relieved and deep gratitude toward her savior. She took off the handcuffs and the tape covering her mouth very slowly. It was very painful, and she was already weak, so she didn't want to bear the pain anymore.

The lighter flame then approached the other woman who had been sitting without moving on the floor. The sound of chanting came from the man's mouth again.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to unlock yourself!"

Click!

The handcuffs binding her had been unlocked, so now it was up to her to free herself; however, she still stayed there without moving. The lighter flame came closer to her as if the man was observing her closely. Then, a faint sound of muttering could be heard.

"This one has been broken."

His voice was full of pity. The woman losing her toe was now completely free of her bindings, including the rope tied around her legs. She stood up carefully while holding on to the pole. She looked straight at what she thought was the position of the man's head and spoke.

"T-thank you very much for saving us..."

The man didn't reply. After unlocking the handcuffs of both women, the lighter flame moved away from them and exited the room until it could no longer be seen. The woman watched as her savior disappeared from sight. She was grateful and glad that she finally got back her freedom.