I couldn't hide it this time. Andrei saw my doubts from a mile away. He let go of the guy and came to face me – in his own way. He circled around and rested his hand on my shoulder from behind. "I thought you said you'd do anything? Huh?"
"I... I will. It's just... sometimes it's still hard, okay? I mean, having seen it without the serum, and add three CCs, and... it's not easy, okay?"
I could clearly feel his grin as his hand crept ever so closer to my throat. "You ever tried that one?"
I shook my head.
"Would you want to?"
It took me a second to make the decision. "Do it."
"Sasha, that's not what I asked."
I sighed. Words. Every single time.
Thank the devil he seemed to read my frustration and stopped his word games. "Okay, okay. No need for more. Lie on the bed, and get ready. This is some intense shit."
I took a deep breath. Either he was being completely honest, or this would be hell. Either way, I didn't care. I was painfully sure I'd been through much worse. You see, I was sure if there was no serum involved, it couldn't be that bad. I walked slowly to the bed and laid there, waiting. He took the toothy pliers and softly, almost with a gesture, told me to open my mouth. So I did.
Then he latched the thing on a wisdom tooth. Good, because that meant I wouldn't need to get surgery to repair it, but the flip side was it would hurt a hell of a lot more. Oh, well.
The slight twist almost had me in tears already. Then I felt his hand holding my forehead firmly in place. I barely registered his soft voice. "Here we go."
OUCH. No. That's an understatement. A big one, at that. He started pulling, and I thought he was gonna rip my whole head off. I managed to open my eyes and find his, and realized I was drowning in the sea, painted red by my own blood. The metallic taste became nauseatingly obvious. I tried hard not to scream, but I don't think I succeeded. Andrei was too damn good at his job, after all.
And then it was over. Except it still hurt like hell and then some. I looked at him yet again.
"Well, I must say, not everybody can do that, boy. You barely made any noise, compared to our whiny baby here." He pointed at the waiter, who was sitting against the headboard of the bed, eyes tightly closed, hands trying too hard to cover his ears, leaving blood everywhere in the process. The sight calmed me somewhat. He had it oh-so-much-worse. I was on the right side of the fight – even if that didn't mean the good guy's side. Oh, well.
"It still hurts," I managed to babble, my own blood dripping everywhere. So much for wearing a nice suit. Whatever.
Andrei reached for the drawer full of syringes and handed me something. The antidote to the serum. Actually, a quite strong opioid painkiller. It was about the only thing that could counter the serum, but that didn't mean it wouldn't work for a simple toothache. I took it and fidgeted with it a bit, trying to decide if I could do without it. Andrei interrupted my train of thoughts. "Hey, you already got through the worst part. No need to be in pain for the rest of the night, Sasha. Take it."
I shook my head. "For now I'm good, but thanks. I'll take it if it gets worse." Or so I tried to say. It came out as a bloody babble – literally.
"Sasha, I didn't get a word of what you just said. I know you have a thing for pain, but for hell's sake, take it. Don't try to be such a bullhead." Yet he knew better than to rely on words alone. He took the syringe from my hand and stabbed the needle into my neck.
I soon felt the soothing chemical running through my veins – and in a few minutes, the worst of the pain was gone, leaving only a soft ache behind. "Okay, you were right, this is better."
"Definitely. I can even understand you now." He laughed.
