Andrei leaned back and reached for the bedside table's drawer. That's when I realized this wasn't a random room. He had this planned all along, one way or another. He handed me a small syringe, full of a white liquid. Serum. "Okay, then, let's do this. Show our friend, will you?"
I nodded as I reached for it. Yeah, the night had just begun for our poor guy. Oh, well. I held the needle right in front of his eyes. "Hey. Do you know what's this?"
He shook his head as best as he could.
"Long story short, it's pain in a bottle. More specifically, it makes your nerves far more sensitive. So, anything else will hurt like hell." I stabbed the needle in his neck and proceeded to push on the plunger.
He winced hard at the prick, but then relaxed, seeing that the pain didn't come. That is, until Andrei hit him with the belt – fully extended, the buckle acting as an extra weight for added impact. The guy's scream, even under the gag, threatened to blow my eardrums.
I looked at Andrei, wordlessly asking for instructions. He pointed at the guy with his head, and I understood perfectly. Keep playing with his mind. So I turned his head again to meet his eyes. They had turned into puddles. I got even closer, my own eyes inches apart from his, while I softly caressed his hair. "Do you think that hurt?"
I glanced at Andrei for a split second, and the second hit came. The same scream. But seeing it up close was different. His eyes closed for a full second, and when they opened, they were full of fear – not anymore for his life, but for what was left of it, for what we could do. I couldn't help smiling. "Let me ask again. Do you really think that's the worst we can do? Hm?"
I got up and went to get more serum. That had been one CC, but we could go oh-so-much-further. Five, ten CC weren't unheard of. Though most people without... proper training were barely able to stand just one. That was the point of it. Get past all their physical limits, so their mind would follow – into madness. Into hell.
I almost cursed out loud when I opened the drawer. It was full – not only of serum, but I also saw crystal. The fancy new drug, engineered to cause physical pleasure – thing also acted on the nerves. Together with the serum, the pain was... something else. ... And we had a drawer full of both. In a hotel. ... Yes, Andrei could have definitely been the devil himself.
I took a silent deep breath before grabbing a couple more serum syringes and going back to our guy, again my eyes mere inches apart from his, my mask back on – was it still a mask? "You've had one CC. Now, what happens if I give you another one, huh?" Again I gave him a shot.
Andrei waited a few seconds for it to act, then hit him again with the belt. This time our waiter didn't manage to scream, but his agony was painfully obvious in his face. Good.
"Fancy a third one? Hm?"
He shook his head like his life depended on it.
Andrei ignored him. "Do it, Sasha."
So I gave our guy a third shot. But the whipping didn't come. I looked at Andrei and understood. It was my turn. So I took the belt and hit him – hard. Again and again, without even stopping for him to take a breath. I lost count of the times I hit him. It didn't matter. It didn't matter at all.
