My body sinks into the couch like a lost lover, eyes heavy lidded with exhaustion and I let them shut for a just a second.

With a start, I jerk awake, whipping my head to where I feel his eyes on me.

"Lilac." Sebastian starts but I turn away, pushing myself from the couch and walking for the stairs, keeping my steps silent when I hear the soft snores and murmurs from the loft above, seeing the bodies sleeping peacefully in the two beds.

I still on the bottom step, turning back to face Sebastian.

"What do you want?"

Seb stops below me, his eyes skimming up and down my body as I do the same, checking over his injuries quickly before I meet his gaze once more.

His lips curl into a self satisfied smirk and I narrow my eyes, "What do you want?" I repeat.

"I just want to talk, Angel."

"Well I don't." I mutter, taking the step up, lengthening the distance between us.

"I need to explain-"

"Explain that you were working for my father the whole time you knew me, that you kissed me while knowing so much more about me then you gave away?" I hiss, "That you let me sleep with you, thinking I knew you and the whole time you were lying?"

"Angel-" I cut him off with a scoff.

I step back down to the bottom step, bringing my face close to Sebs, "That you continue to call me Angel, even though you knew who I was the whole fucking time?!"

He takes a quick step up, his body skimming mine as he takes ownership of the step I'm on, forcing my back to arch over the railing.

His hand comes up, curling into the back of my hair and pushing my face forward as he slants his lips over mine, biting my lips harshly with a growl.

My body relaxes into his, lips moving over his as he invites a moan from my chest, his fingers curling into my blood red strands.

A grunt releases form his lips when I kiss him, biting harshly on his bottom lips until I draw blood and then is shove him back.

"No." I mutter shaking my head, wiping the back of my hand against my mouth. "You don't get to just kiss me and make me forget."

I shake my head, "You had plenty of time to tell me."

His shouoders drop, "I know. I made a mistake."

"And I'm not going to." I state.

I move up the steps, turning my back on him until I reach the top, where I stare back at him.

"I don't want you to hate me." He says to my retreating back.

"I don't hate you." I say softly.

He narrows his eyes, feeling the lie even when it's bathed in truth.

"I hate that I'll never be able to hate you." I amend, "Now leave me alone"

Seb stays quiet, his eyes jumping between mine as he searches for an answer.

"Don't bother coming up with excuses, I don't want to hear them." I shake my head. "You and I are done."

I cling to the rail like it's a life raft, my whitening knuckles tightening on the banister as I watch Seb stumble off the bottom step to the ground.

"I'm going after him." His voice travels up the stairs to lay at my feet like a forgotten puppy, his voice low. "Samael."

My fingers tighten on the rail more, the timber biting into my skin. "He's not yours to kill."

"I know."

He takes a step back before walking for the door, his movements jerky.

"Do whatever the hell you want." I say, watching his back stiffen at my words, hand resting on the doorknob. "I don't care." I whisper, watching Sebastian twist the knob and exit the warehouse, shutting it softly behind him and my shoulders drop, eyes lingering on the spot he stood.

The seconds turn into a minutes before I walk back down the steps, my movements hesitant before I reach the door, slipping my hand around the handle and twisting, pulling the door open and what's meets me on the other side is sweet nothingness.

With the pound of heart in my chest, I shut the door, my eyes going to the basement door as I feel that familiar ache begin low in my bones, my mind cluttered with too many things.

I walk past the lounge I'd laid on only twenty minutes earlier, grabbing the bag that sits on the floor beside it, holding the strap in my hand, my eyes still on the basement door.

I don't even realise what I'm doing until I'm slipping down the stairs.

Dimitri's head snaps up when the stairs creak beneath my weight, the ominous sound a theme song for what's to come.

I drop the bag at the bottom, ignoring his probing gaze as I walk around the room, my own eyes on the chains coiled in the corner. Grabbing one end, I drag it closer, my eyes finally reaching Dimitri's as the sound of the chain dragging across the cool cement permeates the air.

And I smile at the man smiling back at me.

"Good Morning, Dimitri." I say, glancing over his chair to be sure he hasn't messed with it.

"Doll." He drawls out lowly, "Oh, how I've missed you."

"I'm sure you have, Dimitri." I murmur, lifting up onto my tiptoes to hook the chain around one of the exposed beams, and pull it taut.

Grabbing the other end, I walk closer to Dimitri, wrapping it around his throat, tight enough to feel but not enough to cut off his oxygen.

Standing back, I admire the chain link noose wrapped tightly around his neck before I walk for the table of weapons laid out neatly to the side, skimming the options.

"I liked my chain better." He murmurs, "It suited you." He adds, and my mind goes back to the thin chain that once circled my wrists, gleaming and glossy with the polish they would apply weekly on the one Occassion I was allowed to 'wash'.

I blink back into the now and glance at the blood stained, rusted chain holding him up, dirt and dust clinging to the dull metal and I smile back, "This one suits you,"

He ignores the slight dig, "Did you get my gifts, Doll?"

My eyes skip to the bag laid on the floor at the bottom of the stairs before I look back to Dimitri, my gaze crashing with his.

"Yeah, I got them. I prefer my roses red, though." I hum, picking up a small knife from the table of devices, flipping it between my fingers.

"You know, these last few months have been quite eye opening to what I am capable of." I say, looking over my shoulder to Dimitri, raising a brow.  "I'd like to say I've perfected the art of torture, but I am a lover for the quote 'practice makes perfect'." I flip the dagger once more, walking closer.

Stopping in front of his body, I tilt my head, "Aren't you?" I swipe the dagger, releasing the binds holding his limbs to the chair, ignoring his gaze as it trails over my figure.

"I agree," Dimitri dips his head in acknowledgment, "Jedrik and I have had many Dolls over the years, but none were like you, you were the closest we got to perfection."

I ignore the ache that bleeds from my wounds, flipping the dagger between my fingers as I hum, letting him know I'm listening.

I circle his chair, stopping once I'm behind him before I grab the chain, hoisting Dimitri up and out of his chair as he chokes on a gasp.

Kicking his chair out from under him, I leave him standing, tightening the tautness of the chain until it leaves him hovering just about the floor, needing to stand on the tips of his toes to draw in a breath.

Humming under my breath, I circle back around, using my dagger to methodically cut his shirt from his body, then his trousers, leaving him in only his boxers.

He gasps out a laugh, "You were so innocent when we had you, so trained."

I ignore his words, lifting the dagger up to his spine and drag it down slowly, the kiss of the blade a warning before I apply more pressure, watching the skin split from his waist to his hips.

He hisses out a grunt but I ignore any words he mutters next, sinking into the calm that coddles me as I methodically swipe the dagger along his back, applying just enough pressure to split the skin.

I move across his body, counting in my head as the minutes tick by, moving from one limb to the next, to his thighs and the back of his knees, each cut another weight off my shoulders until almost one hundred cuts litter his body.

I step back, the stench of iron permeating the air and I finally glance at Dimitri's face, noticing the slump of his eyelids and I slap his face slowly.

"You can rest now," I kick the chair back over, and loosen the chain, letting him slump into the chair as I re-tie some binds on his limbs, ensuring he doesn't move from the spot and then I slip back upstairs, entering the shower before anyone has the chance to awaken.

• • •

Over the next ten days, I spend hours with Dimitri, adding one hundred cuts each day until a thousand litter his body, not one area of skin unharmed by my blade.

And on the tenth day, I finish with the last slice, pinching the offending object between two fingers and removing it from Dimitri's mouth, my eyes slipping up to stare at those dull honey irises.

"What's wrong Dimitri, are you not having fun?" I tilt my head and drop his sliced tongue at his feet.

He grunts something unintelligible and I blink back, sighing beneath my breath before I walk for the bag that still sits at the bottom of the steps, retrieving the things from inside.

The crumpled note, black rose petals and doll tumble out, landing haphazardly on the ground at my feet and I reach down for them, bringing them closer to Dimitri's slightly swaying body.

His eyes watch me in their heavy state, the exhaustion and pain pulling at his body and face, his skin having lost its usual tan, almost hanging off his bones.

Scattering the items at his feet, I bend down for the note before holding it up to his face, "Thank you for the gifts but I don't want them anymore." Reaching forward, I pry his mouth open and shove the note in, following with the withered petals, ignoring the jerk of his body as he tries to cough them up.

I step back, watching as each falls at his feet, his body jerking with every inhale and exhale, trying in vain to rid his mouth of the items but without the use of his tongue or his hand, the move is for naught.

It takes less than three minutes for his body to still, another four for the air to stop reaching his brain, and after a total of ten minutes, I know Dimitri is dead.

A lightness lifts from my shoulders and I step back, turning around to walk up the basement stairs and leave him to rot beneath.