I'm gonna raise the stakes

TRIGGERWARNING! This topic contains: TORTURE.
How fun.


The basement of the house she had found was clearly old. It was only one room, with nothing but a simple chair in the middle and a bookcase at the wall. The chair was wooden, but sturdy. Chains were found around the chair and it was clear that this place had been used for one purpose only: torture. And that was exactly what she was going to be doing today. The bookcase held certain herbs and objects that were harmful for a vampire, as this house had been used by a vampire hunter who had made the horrible mistake of trying to track her down. Now, this house was empty and she was going to make the most of it.

With a rough movement, she pushed Kaz down on the chair. He had been weakened by the silver dagger in his back, so he didn’t struggle too much. Good for him, as she wouldn’t mind stabbing him again if he tried anything. She closed the shackles around his wrists so he couldn’t move, after which she took the chains from the ground and attached the shackles attached to those to his ankles, making sure he couldn’t go anywhere, even if he was stupid enough to try.

“I hope you’re feeling at home here,” she eventually spoke, stepping back and looking at the vampire. “Because you’re going to be staying for a while.”

I'm gonna smoke you out

   I'm gonna raise the stakes

Isabella did not care for the boy sitting there. He was but a child, had his life in front of him. Yada, yada. It bored her how many people had told her so when she ended the life of someone in their twenties. They had fucked up, or were just plain unlucky and had encountered them in a time where they wish they hadn’t. Life sucked. Get over it. Kaz hadn’t done anything to end up here. He was merely collateral damage, used to scare his little brother into giving her what she wanted. Had she gone overboard? Definitely. But she had been annoyed after the man had spoken of Edmund as if he was a good man. And she was going to show him how real her anger was.

“Because your brother has some information that he’s not willing to give me,” she calmly answered. “And I considered chaining him up… but, where is the fun in that?” she went on, smiling again. “He would break in mere seconds.” She had higher hopes for Kaz, who had shown that he had some kind of spice in him. He was willing to put up a fight, even if he knew he couldn’t win.

I'm gonna smoke you out

I'm gonna raise the stakes

Boredom. Rage. Two feelings that should never go hand in hand. Not in the mind of someone who was taught to think the world was bad. Taught that it was okay to end lives, that she had to take what she could. Rosalie had, perhaps, been worse than she was. After all, the woman had taught her everything she knew. She had forged her into the woman she was today. The woman that Edmund had taken care of no longer existed. She had died when he had left her behind with Rosalie. And she would never forgive him for it.

She was going to pay for this. “Am I?” she asked, laughingly, as she made her way to the bookcase. There were some books in there, but they were mostly journals. Perhaps she could read them in the time they spent inside of this little dungeon. But for now, she had other plans. She took out a small dagger, cleaning it with a piece of cloth that was lying next to it. The dagger could almost be called a needle, so thin. Clearly made for stabbing rather than slicing. And, made out of silver. Obviously. She walked up to the vampire with a smile, before stabbing the thing straight into his upper leg. “Tell me how you’re going to make me pay for this.”

I'm gonna smoke you out

I'm gonna raise the stakes

It hurt. She could almost feel how the silver burned his skin as it tore through his flesh. She kept it in place, letting go as the dagger was in as deep as she could get it. He told her that he would find a way and immediately, the smile found its way back on her face. She placed her finger underneath his chin, smiling. “Oh, I look forward to breaking you,” she told him softly. She hadn’t had a clear goal before. Perhaps she’d only lock him up and scare Mort with the thought of losing his brother. But now? No, she was going to deliver a broken Duke to the castle. Broken in a thousand pieces that would never make whole again. She had a goal. And Izzy with a goal was a dangerous thing.

“So, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?” she asked, clearly amused, as she took a step back. “We’ll be stuck here for a good while after all.” And neither of them needed sleep. So these coming days were going to be rough.

I'm gonna smoke you out

I'm gonna raise the stakes

She knew what it felt like to be stabbed by silver and it was not a pretty feeling. There were things worse than silver. Absolutely. But those were things she’d save until later. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps even the day after that. They had all the time in the world and she was going to take this as easy as she could. Every step to the next level would be taken slowly, would be dragged out as long as she could. For she did not just want to hurt him. She wanted to break him. She wanted to make sure that he would never be the same again. Rosalie had taught her how and today, she was going to show just how much she had learned.

“You’re as stupid as your brother,” she told him softly, pulling the dagger from his leg. “But keep fighting. I have eternity,” she told him, before she put the blade straight back into his leg. “Fight,” she commanded him. Try to get out of this. Fight back. Because that was exactly the reason she had picked him instead of his brother.

I'm gonna smoke you out

I'm gonna raise the stakes

Kaz was exactly the kind of man she needed in this chair. The kind that was stupid enough to fight. The kind that felt anger in ways that she once had too, before it turned into rage. He was angry, he was ready to rip her throat at the first chance he would get. Even when he knew that he didn’t stand a chance. If the possibility came up and he would be able to get rid of the chair, she would still be stronger. Especially now that he was going to need blood more and more, as his body used up the energy he had to heal the wounds the silver dagger left. It was a simple way of draining a vampire: making sure their body needed to work hard, so their energy dropped almost instantly. She wondered how long it was before his thirst would overtake completely. Because that would be the moment where she could bring in something more interesting.

For now, they were here. And he was trying to put up a fight. She pulled out the dagger again and walked up to the bookcase, to clean the dagger with the cloth and calmly put it down again. “You’re weak,” she calmly stated, looking through the things that were found on the shelves.

I'm gonna smoke you out

   I'm gonna raise the stakes

He was weak. He tried to be strong, but he was failing. For he was trying endlessly to escape from a shackle that had forced him down. It was useless and his energy was better spent in a different way. But, she didn’t mind. Quite the opposite, actually. This way it would take less long until the hunger would take over. Until his thirst for blood would become unbearable. Something that would normally take a few days, but… with the right effort you could drain a vampire of blood in a single day. You just needed to make sure their body worked as hard as it possibly could. And she had ways to make sure that would not take long. Part one was anger. His anger would drain him of energy in no-time.

She knew nothing about him. “I know that you’re a thief who became the Grand Duke of Rhoynar,” she told him, though her voice sounded like she was making fun of him more than anything. “Stabbed Trystane in the back, huh? How honorable.” A different kind of dagger was taken from the shelf and she calmly walked up to him again.

I'm gonna smoke you out

   I'm gonna raise the stakes

“Honor?” she laughed. “Honor is what gets men killed,” she told him, before driving the dagger into his side, showing him a faint smile as she pushed it deeper into his flesh, giving it a soft turn to make it hurt even more. She didn’t believe in honor. Honor was a thing only man said to have and even they didn’t. In the end, everything they did was selfish. Was done for themselves and no one else. Honorable men were just stupid. Nothing brave about it.

“So what about your wife?” she asked, pulling back the dagger again and standing straight, looking at the silver that was now covered in blood. She smiled softly, before looking down on him again. She wasn’t actually planning on pulling anyone else into this, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t throw threats. After all, he didn’t know what she was capable of. Not yet.

I'm gonna smoke you out