52. Ana

FIFTY-TWO

Ana

aka vanya

fourteen days later

M y excitement isn't dampened by Dima's anger. His hand is gentle on my back as we walk into the warehouse and Yulia is crying like a dickhead. Her mind has broken, it's what happens when you get no interaction. The muscle slowly decays, and nothing is real while every fear comes out. She's not frail enough to break her body straight away with them cutting my timeline down from 104 days to a fortnight. Killjoys.

But she doesn't know that with her senses all being cut off. Two weeks is nothing, she hasn't forgotten how to speak and looks to me, hoping I'll be her savior.

"Help me, I'm sorry, Ana."

It's the wrong thing to say because Vlad storms forward and punches her in the ribs. The force has her swinging like a pendulum on the chains and I squeeze my lips together, trying not to laugh.

Humming in my head, I go to the table while Val studies a wooden bat and Dima joins in on whatever he's doing with another. There's more of them lined up against the wall but they're going to break upon impact. A hand strokes down my hair, making me turn and Vlad is there with a smile on his face.

"What do you need, solnyshkuh?"

Him to stop smiling at me. Fucking weirdo.

But I don't tell him that and focus on the one thing I want.

"A fire poker and a foundry furnace."

He's trying to work out what I want to do with them, but I focus on the missing jewelry from her body.

"Where's her rings and necklaces?"

I can't fucking think with the screaming and turn to the cunt exasperated of her noise.

"Yulia? Shut the fuck up, you're being a bad guest."

Dima laughs and comes to my side with a cloth bag clinking as he places it in my hand.He's not put off by this torture and he ignores Vlad's presence as he holds my hip and kisses my forehead.

"Ready, lisichka?"

There's a disgusted groan coming from the shadow I've collected, and Vlad can't control his mouth.

"She has a name, use it." He looks at the hand on my hip and adds, "Stop fucking touching her, she doesn't need help standing."

I repeat the same conversation I've had with him multiple times as I lean further into Dima.

"Don't talk to him like that and go away, why are you even here?"

Valentin chokes on his laugh and drops his chin to his chest as Vlad pins him with a deadly look before gesturing to the swinging cunt that is Yulia.

"That bitch took my kid from me, there's nowhere else I'd be."

"What do you need her jewelry for?" Dima stops me arguing with the dumbass as he gestures to all the items she treasured over lives. She hurt people just to have them on her skin and they'll be there forever when I'm finished, but he lowers his voice to say, "I'll get you a better ring, don't keep her tainted ones."

"What the fuck are you buying her a ring for?" Vlad interrupts a conversation he wasn't part of. "You'll have to ask me and the answer is fucking no, it will always be no."

I watch them both because that doesn't make sense. If I buy Dima a present I don't need to ask anyone's permission so why does he need to? He might work for Vlad, but his money is his own.

Dima ignores him and he kisses my forehead as he gestures towards Val. "Go sit with him, I'll make sure she's still alive for you."

My head moves back, and I look around, expecting Yulia to be on the verge of death since Dima doesn't like torture, something to do with all the blood and how messy it gets, but he does it now. There's no hesitation as he shares a look with Vlad and they each pick up a mix of different-sized knives before moving as one.

I stand beside by Val, he moves things off the table then taps the wood so I don't sit on the floor. I'm so engrossed as I watch Dima work that I don't open the bag and lift myself up, crossing my legs under me, and taking notes of what he does. He's good at it and he doesn't go too far that she'll die straight away. It's not as crazy as Vlad who works around him, whispering things that have Yulia thrashing, impaling the knives deeper into her body.

The door opens, stealing my attention as Tali walks in and he stands at my other side with a burger in his hand. He holds it out to me while we watch the entertainment together, alternating our bites and providing commentary.

"I bet she passes out in the next ten minutes."

Val scoffs at Tali's suggestion and I shake my head as I take another bite. "No, she won't. Dima promised she'll be awake."

I nearly choke when a puddle that's the wrong color to be blood forms on the floor. Our audience of three groans in disgust as the orange-brown liquid runs down her leg and Vlad pushes against her back as Dima quickly steps back, grumbling, "What the fuck? Don't fucking push the cunt at me."

I start chanting and pound my fists against the table. "Clean it up."

Silver moons knowingly lock onto me, after the bad dreams Dima has knowledge of the punishments and he moves away from the puddle of piss, shit, and blood as he lowers the chains. Watching torture is as much fun as doing it when I get to control them like little puppets.

Vlad huffs as he looks at Dima and he grabs the chain, treating it like a leash and looks down at his clothes before addressing the nonce.

"If you get a single fucking drop on me, I'll make this worse."

I don't know what can be worse than her tongue lapping through that mess as she adds her own vomit to it.

Once it's semi cleaned up, I sigh and kick my feet, dangling them over the table as they hook her back up. I jump down with her jewelry and check the foundry furnace is at the correct temperature before I fill the bowl with all the metals, not caring to remove the stones. I'll have to buy Dani a new furnace, so it isn't tainted with this shit.

The fire poker isn't glowing enough, so I change my plan and Dima is still grumbling about the mess on the floor as he pulls on the chain so Yulia is back to standing. His grumbling doesn't stop as he takes off his t-shirt and lays it on the ground, directly over the remaining liquids. My cheeks hurt from how hard I'm smiling — I knew he was nice.

Val's annoying voice is falsely sweet, making me grimace.

"How cute, the Bratva's own Romeo and Juliet."

I turn and slowly bring my middle fingers up of each hand as I ask, "Do you want me to tell Dani?"

Dickhead shuts up and focuses on whatever he's doing to the wooden bats as I turn at the sound of cursing.

"Stupid fucking bitch," Vlad snaps and punches Yulia in the ribs, causing the chains to rattle as she wheezes. He doesn't stop punching her as he mutters and I'm going to stab him.

My voice raises from the frustration of his controlling tendencies as I remind him, "You're not allowed to kill her."

He stops and takes a step back with a small nod of his head but his anger is directed at Dima as he steps around a trembling Yulia.

"Move three steps back."

I pause with the knife near Yulia's neck and scowl at him. "Stop speaking to him like that." Using the tip of the blade, I point at him. "You're really starting to piss me off when you do it and I already think you're annoying."

Yulia is a dumb bitch and she breathlessly laughs like we're not clearly in the middle of torturing her. Her voice is slow, broken up as she taunts, "You said he was your father." She laughs, again. "But you're nothing, you don't know how to be a daughter."

Vlad grips the back of her head as Dima's fist flies out and lands on her jaw. The top portion of her face remains in the same place as the lower part of her jaw moves unnaturally to the side. The deafening crack is proof that it's broken and I stop them from taking my kill away from me. Prodding her jaw with the handle of the knife, I force her to look at me as I wave my hand, gesturing to everyone in the room. "These people are my family." I point at myself while she murmurs in pain. "Only I get to kill them if they piss me off."

Warmth spreads through my back as Dima strokes down my spine and weight gently lands on my head. I look up to see Vlad placing his hand on my crown to hold my head like it's a basketball. He pulls Yulia's head back by her hair and softly says, "Go on, solnyshkuh."

Weirdo.

I go back to my plan and they all groan in disgust when I cut her clothes away and Tali screeches, "I'm eating."

He's always eating so I ignore him.

I don't have to think about what to do once she's vulnerable, unable to help herself or hide, and I add my own brands to her skin. The letters on my stomach look better on Yulia's as she thrashes, trying to get away from the knife. Dima and Vlad both move at the same time, grabbing each of her arms to keep her still for me. They have matching grimaces too, but I focus on my canvas.

The thick blade of the knife easily parts her skin as I write the names of everyone she's hurt. Nina's is the biggest, stretching across Yulia's ribs, until I add Theo's across her chest. My gloves are soaked in blood and it causes the knife to slip, but Vlad is a controlling asshole and he catches it before it can hit the floor.

"Can you turn around?" I ask as I snatch my knife back.

Nodding once, he turns and looks at the wall like I've put him in timeout. It makes me laugh and I wish I told him to stand in the corner now. But Yulia's irritating whimpering stops me and my lips twist to the side as I assess her body for a place to hide the next name.

Armpit.

That will hurt and no one else will see it.

Dima forces her arm in the air and his face softens as he watches me carve the letters deep enough that her blood covers them. Once I'm done, I step back, looking at the name as Dima does the same.

V L A D

He drops her arm to take the knife from me and I stupidly look at Vlad, at the boy I promised to save. He's still turned to face the wall and I keep having these moments of wanting to apologize to him. Not for who he is now because he's an asshole, I have the need to apologize to the boy even though I couldn't have saved him.

Yulia screams as Dima throws a fine powder on her raw skin, it dusts each cut, settling between the parted flesh, causing her to shake. She ends up moving closer to me, all the fluids on her body have me quickly stepping back so they don't get on me and I'm about to kick her whenshe's dragged back. Vlad turns, eyes full of fire, and he wraps a chain around her waist, another around her neck to keep her in place. His grimace roughens his voice as he leans away from her filth and nods at me. "Keep going, solnyshkuh."

I've done all the names and I look up dumb when he continues staring at me like a freak. Vlad gently holds my wrist like he's afraid of touching me and guides the knife to her cheek as he softly says, "Your name isn't there."

My brows come together as I slowly shake my head. "She didn't sell me, I was being trained."

His nostrils flare as everything becomes deathly still and I'm too slow as he tightens his hand around my wrist. It doesn't hurt, but he controls my hand as he carves five letters across Yulia's face so deeply that I can hear the blade scraping against her bones.

V A N Y A

He leans into her and darkly whispers, "You should have stayed away from my daughter." He twists the knife in her cheek and I jump back from her nasty blood as he continues whispering, "When I die, I'm coming for you again, this is just the fucking warm up."

Dima pulls her away and shakes his head once at Vlad. Whatever that means makes the psycho stop attacking my torture victim and he lets go of my hand. I step forward again as I laugh to myself, remembering everything she has said and done. I repeat her as I dig the knife in the curve of her tit and carve a line under it.

"They want someone flat. You're losing me money."

The temperature turns arctic, and Tali drops his burger so he can join in as I continue cutting in a circle. Her screams are subdued, and Dima steps behind her, injecting something into her neck without any care to remove the needle. He's still pissed about the mess and grumbles at Vlad.

"You're doing it next, she fucking stinks."

I pause with the tip of the knife scraping against her ribs and ask, "What did you do to her?"

Vlad smiles as he slaps the back of Yulia's head hard enough that her chin slams against her chest. "She had a nice meal that she added ingredients to herself." He slaps her again, even harder, as he asks, "How did your shit taste, could you tell the difference between what was yours and what belonged to the horse?"

His smile drops when he looks at me.

"Everything she has experienced is nothing in comparison to what she deserves."

Tali puts on three pairs of gloves, then he copies my incision on the other side of Yulia's chest. He's stolen my job, the ass, and I kick him in the shin on my way back to the table.

"You can tell whose daughter she is," he mutters as he rubs the spot with the side of his foot.

My helper follows me as I ignore the reminder and Vlad's pride heating the back of my head. Dima stretches around me as he kisses the top of my head and Yulia screams as Vlad curses under his breath, "Filthy fucking bitch."

Dima turns, checking the torture, then smiles down at me without any sign of wanting to throw up. He's developing a stronger stomach, I'm so proud of him. I lean up on my toes and kiss the side of his jaw and whisper, "You're doing such a good job."

His lips twitch and he raises a brow as he hums low in his throat, he doesn't say anything though, he simply kisses the top of my head. The chains rattle, bone meeting bone, and Yulia wheezes as Vlad barks, "Move."

We move in sync as we go back to Yulia and I glare at the controlling asshole, if I want to draw out her torture I will, he doesn't get to dictate what an appropriate length of time is.

Dima must have already told Vlad what I want to do because he lowers the chains as Tali kicks her tits further away. The chain around her neck keeps her in place as Vlad wraps it around his fist, choking her and snapping her hair as it gets caught between the links. He kicks her in the back and she falls forward, arms outstretched like anyone here will help her.

Dima grabs her arm as she falls to her knees with a crack, and he holds it out for me as I tighten my grip on the knife, finding the exact point of her arm I need. I look at her as I press the sharp serrated edge to her forearm, so she knows why this is happening and my voice is low, haunted.

"You laughed when Nina was crying."

Her face is covered in blood, bruises, and vomit with snot mixing into the trail of her tears, eyes are swollen shut, but there's a small enough gap that she can see as I cut a ring around her forearm. Her screams are deafening and right in my fucking ear as I cut through the muscle. The bone takes longer and sweat beads against my hairline as I press my foot against her thigh for purchase. Each pull of the saw knocks my elbow into her face as I swap to my non-dominant hand to give my right arm a break. My shoulder burns and I limply shake it to get the ache to dissipate as Vlad roughly snaps, "Vitali. Take the saw."

I look up at Vlad's instruction and I'm about to argue when Tali gently moves me aside. He's faster than I am, and they take over my torture. Which isn't fair when I'm the one who had to live with her.

Her screams get louder, and more drugs are pushed into her to stop her from passing out. They must be slowing her heart rate too because there's less blood than there should be.

When her arm hits the floor, I laugh at the thought that comes to me.Taking Yulia's sawn off arm before they can stop me, I wave it in her face and laugh, "You did this with your own hand."

The meaning stops my laugh but it comes back as my arm cocks back and she gets slapped with her very own hand. There are tears in my eyes and Vlad pulls her head further back as I keep slapping her. Or she keeps slapping herself and the clap of her own hand against her face is the best sound in the world.

I can't mention the videos she made me watch because Vlad's here, so I throw her arm on the floor when it gets boring and swap my gloves with the heat-resistant ones as I go to the furnace. I can feel the heat of the molten metal on my face as I carefully walk towards Yulia, making sure I don't spill any. She's already been positioned on her hands and knees, exposing her back, and Vlad presses his booted foot against her head to keep her in place as she thrashes. I grit my teeth, imagining the pain of the metal burning through my skin and becoming one, it must be close to the hot oil, so I slowly tip the cup over her lower back. Some of the stones were real and remain intact as they paint her in everything she worked for.

Her screams bounce off every surface and I bring my shoulders up to protect my ears as I continue pouring. They hurt my ears, and I can't cover them without spilling the melted gold and platinum on myself.

Hands brush my shoulders and I pause, turning to look at what it is.

Val stands behind me, smiling down at me as he presses his palms flat against my ears to dull the screams. I smile back because I think he's trying to be nice then go back to my pouring now that the screams aren't as loud.

Once my sculpture is complete, Val and Tali remain at my sides as they walk me back to the table we were seated on under Vlad's orders that it's his turn now. I can't help my eye roll and I don't attempt to hide my insult as I say, "You need to learn that not everything is about you."

He steps in front of me and lowers his head so we're eye to eye, his voice lowering too as he acts like he has emotions.

"She took my child away from me, don't ever think this is about anything other than you."

Before I can insult him, Tali lightens the situation as he softly teases, "Aww, Vlad is being nice, someone write down the date and time so we can get a plaque made."

Val nods at my side and loudly announces both the time and date, making Vlad straighten up, shaking his head and calmly walking back to Yulia who's wheezing on the floor in a puddle of her own… fluids.

Dima doesn't look scared of me or disgusted as he walks over to me and slides the gloves off my hands. He's careful not to get any of the blood on my skin as he softly says to the three of us, "You might want to go outside for this bit."

All three of us refuse as we sit taller and Tali acts dramatic, hooking his arm around my shoulders. My uncle who is a year older than me noisily kisses my temple and demands, "On with the show."

When Dima steps back, I can see the bats clearly, specifically the screws and razor blades embedded into them. Vlad and Dima don't have any emotions on their features as they each pick up two modified bats. They keep her in a kneeling position, Dima's boot on her head that squashes her face into the shitty puddle as Vlad cocks his leg back. His boot hits her calf and she can't scream as Dima pushes his foot against her jaw. The chains rattle as Vlad uses them like a whip, the two bats held in his other hand, and he pulls until she's forced out from under Dima's foot.

They don't speak to each other and move like they're aware of what the other is thinking, like a bloody version of synchronized swimming. Vlad hooks the chains above her head, and he stamps on her lower back, making her scream. My body moves on some weird instinct, and I cross my legs, wincing as they push them inside of her.

"Is this what it feels like to watch someone get kicked in the balls?"

My question is rhetorical but Val answers with wide eyes.

"Think this is worse."

There's no orifice left without a bat stuck out of it when they're finished and Dima stamps on the handle sticking out of her mouth, pushing it deeper into her throat until her neck cords.

He doesn't stop despite Yulia being lifeless and Vlad has to drag him back. I was supposed to kill her and my face falls, seeing that she's dead now. He stops raging and looks at me with remorse weighing down his eyes. Dima said he's mine so that's the same as me killing her so I relax, smiling up at him as he storms towards me.

"I wouldn't do it, he's got a gun." Val's whisper is timed with the sound of a barrel loading and Dima cupping my cheek.

I grab Dima's arm and pull him to the side to see Vlad stood covered in blood aiming at him. My voice hardens and the threat is real as he slowly lowers it to his side.

"If you hurt him, I'll kill you."

He holds his hands up but continues plotting, it's there behind his creepy little eyes as Dima remains unbothered. If Vlad makes me kill him, I'll hate him even more because then Inessa will be sad. I've become accustomed to having the weirdos around me and asking me questions all the time which will obviously stop, she's never tried to stop me hitting him though, maybe she knows how annoying he is. I'll have to ask her later and if she gives me permission I won't feel bad.