Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 31

Chapter thirty-one

"Ifreann" Laufey said, his voice a cold slither as his body was engulfed in flames, burning away the ivy that held him, though it burned his skin also for the quick flash of heat that it was.

"Aww, did that hurt?" she asked, taking a step back, "because if it didn't, this one will! Ifreann!" Her hands pointed palm out towards him, engulfing him in another fireball that did not falter until amid the flame he screamed "Crith talún!", causing an earthquake under foot that made her fall, breaking the spell.

"You bitch." he seethed, his lips a grimace of pain as he jumped at her, his skin raw and weeping. "Get off of me!" she shouted, though even in his charred state he was much stronger than she was.

"Admit that you love me!" he spat, twisting her arms over her head against the broken tiles of the floor. "I don't!" she screamed back at him, "I don't, and I never will! I hate you!" His eyes narrowed and his hands moved to her throat, throttling her just enough to keep her quiet, not enough to kill her.

"No more spells, no more games. You will admit that you love me, and when that is out of the way then you can give me the heir to the coven that your mother promised me you would. You belong to me; don't you understand that yet?"

Her face was turning a dark shade of red as his grip tightened around her throat, and she twisted her body under him, to no avail. "Admit you love me, our marriage will be valid and we can forget these silly lovers spats." he said, leaning closer so that she could see his skin regenerating itself through her tears.

She tried to shake her head, no, and he slammed her against the tiles, letting her go to catch her breath for a moment. "Why...why would I ever do that?" she rasped, a hand at her chest now to try to ease the burning sensation within.

*****

"What has he done to him?" Red shouted, taking his fury out on the side table which contained various blood-soaked instruments of pain. "Buddy?" he asked after a deep breath, taking a timid step towards the limp form of his friend.

"We need to get him off of this...thing." Liz said, moving forward to release the leather clasps that held the man's arms up. Johann leaned forward, loosening the clasps around his legs until he was loose and Red was able to lower him down into a sitting position on the floor.

As well as various deep incisions and dark bruises, Abes colour seemed an unusual pale shade of itself and his eyes had a whitish film across them, shadowy in colour. "Buddy?" Red asked, kneeling in front of his friend, "what did he do to you...?"

"Tortured me, for a while..." Abe said, his voice a whisper between rough coughs. "Then he...got bored, and...he..."

*****

"...poisoned him. You see, I think fish-boy has got maybe thirty minutes at the most left, before he goes belly up and you'll have to go look for a giant toilet bowl to flush him down." Laufey smirked, his grin returning now that he could see the panic in her eyes.

"Unless..." he continued, leaning closer to whisper into her ear, "You say that you love me."