A MAZE OF GREED

WARNING: This chapter contains some violent stuff, including torture and pain. Reader's discretion recommended. If you are not a fan of violence, then kindly skip this part.

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"Question number 1. Who are you?" Edwin stood with his chest puffed up a little and his chin high.

"I told you my name. What else do you want- Aaaaaaarrrrrghhhh!"

The man who was tied to the wall and was a source of the predatory animal's entertainment for the night burst into screams. The two guards that stood at both sides turned the metallic handles.

With each turn of these handles, the man's limbs, which were tied in four directions in the shape of 'X', stretched by some distance. The white pain shot through his limbs, and he felt as if someone was pulling his limbs to tear them apart from his body.

"Why?" The man quivered, still adjusting to the pain in his limbs.

"I told you. One mistake earns you one punishment. I didn't ask your name. I asked, WHO are you?" Edwin's voice was demanding.

"I-I am just a normal resident of Vincardine. Please, let me go! Aaaagghhh.... my hands!" He screamed in agony when the guards turned the handle once again, stretching the man's hands to the maximum extent.

Edwin was not satisfied with the answer, and a rational part of him told him to get done with this piece of shit. But his beast was enjoying. He was enjoying that every scream that left the man's mouth. He was enjoying the smell of his fear and the way his heart constricted in terror.

The werewolves were known for their hunger for power and greed for dominance. They were natural predators created by the Moon Goddess to hunt. They were brutal to the extent that no other supernatural creature wanted to get on their bad side. And no human wanted them to came alive from the folklores and the world of myths.

But not everything that seems to the eyes is true. There are things beyond the understanding of the human race. And in this game of survival of the fittest, these ruthless creatures had successfully managed to win the race.

"Fine! Question number 2. What were you doing in the far land of Kinsville?" Edwin asked the next question.

The man took a moment before answering. "I-I was there to... erm... visit my relatives. Yes."

For a flit second, the man thought that Edwin believed his lie, but he soon realised that he was sadly mistaken.

With a sinister smile on his face, Edwin stretched his right hand to his side, palm facing upwards. The third guard brought something covered under a cloth.

The man's heart leapt up in his mouth at the sight of a shining knife that appeared from under the cloth. It was not a long knife but was a size of a throwing knife. Its metal blade glinted under the yellowish-orange flames of the torches.

The guard put the knife on Edwin's stretched palm. Encircling his long fingers around the wooden handle of the knife, Edwin took threatening steps towards the man.

The scared man started flailing his body, but every move he made caused him so much pain that he felt like his limbs would soon be separated from his body.

The five men in front of him looked like the messengers of the death, but the one amongst them was no less than the death himself.

"Tskk... tsskk... tsskk.... new mistake, new punishment." Edwin looked like he was possessed by a demon.

Looking straight into the moistened eyes of the man and coming to nose to nose with him, Edwin lifted the knife and placed the tip of it on the man's face.

Applying some pressure he slowly slid the knife downwards from the length of the man's face, drawing a trail of blood that oozed from his torn skin.

"Though I enjoy this game, you must know that I am a very impatient man, you bastard! I am asking you again, what were you doing in Kinsville?"

With every word, Edwin kept increasing the pressure on the man's skin with the knife. He kept dragging the knife from the side of his face down to his neck then on his chest and finally resting the tip at the place below his navel.

The front of his body got covered in his blood and sobs escaped his chapped lips. His body shook like a paper in the winds at the sensation of the knife resting just above his family jewel.

"No...no! Please! I- I will tell you. Please, stop!" The man pleads stopped Edwin's hand but he didn't remove it. He kept the knife at the same place as a threat.

Taking deep breaths, the man answered, "S-someone called me to meet there."

Piercing the tip of the knife inside the man's body an inch above his family jewel, Edwin watched him thrashing in acute pain.

"I don't like incomplete answers." Edwin hissed and pulled out the knife that was rooted by an inch inside the man's body in one swift motion.

Not giving him time to breathe again, Edwin thurst the knife again but with more force making the man scream loudly.

"I don't know. I - I swear. Believe me!" He just wanted Edwin to stop with this torture.

His shoulders were in great strain and he feared that they would dislocate in no time unable to cope with the pull. His legs ached and his ankles were hurt because of the tightly tied ropes around them.

Leaving the knife inside his body, Edwin took a couple of steps back from the man. His cerulean blue eyes watched his state from top to bottom with aglint of excitement playing behind his beautiful orbs.

Every drop of blood that seeped out of the man's open wounds stirred his beast making him purr in delight. He wanted to get on the surface and take control. He wanted to play with his toy, lick his blood and run his rough tongue on his open wounds.

But not only his beast but his human form was also cruel and wanted to enjoy this game a little more.

"Question number 3. Why did they want to meet you? I am sure whoever the people are, they obviously didn't want to have a dinner with you in a far away land, now did they?"

The man's breaths turned shallow, his eyes were foggy with the tears. His whole body was covered in blood, tears and sweat. He didn't know how far this game was going to be and how far his body was able to take.

Exhaling a shaky breath through his mouth, the man croaked out the words. "Th-they didn't m-mention it. they... they only t-told me to m-meet them i-in K-Kinsville."

Some of his words came out in bare whisper but with the ability to hear the sound of low frequencies with their sharp ears, the men in the room had no problem hearing them clearly.

"Hmm" Edwin kept tapping his foot on the cold and dirty ground. That tapping sound mixed with the drops of blood that dripped from the man's body turned out to be a different melody to Edwin's ears.

"Next question-"

"Stop with your foolish game already. If you want then kill me at once. Stop this tortu-" Before he could complete his sentence, a cracking noise fell on the ears of the onlookers and the man's head flew to his left.

Edwin's punch had broken the man's nose with a cracking sound and his blood was smeared on Edwin's fist.

"Don't"

Punch!

"fucking"

Punch!

"interrupt"

Punch!

"me!"

With the last blow, the man's face was smothered with blood and nasty bruises. Edwin's every punch landed on various parts of his face. His left eye, nose and lips were damaged badly.

After the first three punches, his throat went dry to the point that he couldn't even whimper audibly. His body was under a tremendous amount of stress and with every muscle fibre in his limbs breaking, his will to fight back also broke.

Through his right eye that had a blurry vision, he saw the most terrifying sight that he had ever seen in his life.

The incarnation of Satan in front of him, who just beat the daylights out of him for interrupting him, had turned to his real self.

All the resolve melted down into the fluid of terror when he saw the dark blue eyes burning in a white rage. Edwin's eyes had turned a shade darker. The dark blue lens of his eyes had a black rim around them.

They held an unspoken promise of destruction and the numerous tales of killings. For a fantasy lover, they were the most alluring thing that they could imagine with the capability to freeze the person in their spot, captivating them the way they want.

The man shuddered, every cell of his body shrank in alarm. He cursed himself for saying those words a few moments before and interrupting the tormentor that awoke the beast in him.

His skin crawled in horror and after gathering every ounce of his will to scream at the top of his lungs, no sound escaped his parched throat. Soon the already unbearable smell in the room intensified when the yellow liquid dripped down from in between the legs of the man, drenching the inner side of his thighs.

The pungent odored acidic liquid fell on the ground to form a puddle mixed with the man's blood. And the sight of his fear-stricken state made the beast in front of him growl in satisfaction.