Nixxia forced her cough down, holding it in; her heart throbbed against her ribcage as she watched Damon climb downstairs; she wasn't even aware of the stairs until the moment Damon pushed open a slim door and disappeared down the stairs.
From her knowledge of underground buildings, she knew this was a dangerous place. Just like their kingdom, this place looked like a place where prisoners were kept and punished.
Was Vernon planning to torture her?
The room remained quiet, a disturbing silence; the wind outside picked up, and even though it was muffled because they were underground, Nixxia could still hear the howling and whistling, adding to the eerie feeling of the whole scene.
Vernon was silently leaning against the metal table, his calculating eyes watching Nixxia as he continued smoking, unbothered by Nixxia's intolerance to his smoking.
Suddenly, the creaking sound of the slim wooden door was heard, drawing everyone's attention to it.
Nixxia confirmed her guess with extra fear; she saw Damon dragging someone by the chain that was locked around his neck; the clinking of the metal chain was a haunting music and a sharp reminder of her unredeemable suffering.
Nixxia could see the visible fear in the prisoner's one good eye as he saw Vernon's figure.
He tried to struggle, but his weak legs couldn't do much. His wrists were also chained together in front of him, and his legs too, but the chains on his legs were long enough to let him move around, and they seemed really heavy.
Despite the man's feeble struggle, Damon dragged him over to Vernon, pushing him down on his knees.
"B-boss... please, spare my life," The man begged in a very cracked and shaky voice.
"P-please, B-boss, I've learned - ah!"
"Be quiet." Damon tugged the prisoner's chain, causing him to choke.
Vernon ignored the prisoner and walked over to Nixxia. "Do you see him?" He pointed to the man on the ground.
Nixxia nodded. "I see," she replied.
"Good. That is going to be your situation if you don't tell me what I need to know by the end of the week. Oh, and as for this..." He pulled out his gun and threw it on Nixxia's lap.
"Get him closer," He ordered.
"Yes, boss." Armani's voice was oddly different; there was no longer the warmth Nixxia had gotten accustomed to; he almost sounded chilly, as if he knew something ugly was about to happen.
Nixxia's decision about not trusting anyone was solidified; everyone here was a two-faced individual. She would never risk her life by trusting anyone, and she'd rather return to the ocean than trust Vernon.
She stared at the gun in her lap as she was pushed closer to the prisoner; she didn't touch it; it felt like the object would taint her soul if she touched it. Her mind helplessly tried to escape her body as it sensed that something horrible was about to happen.
"Let's try again." Vernon took his phone out and gave it to Dane, who showed Nixxia a picture of a man in a gulf field; she wouldn't have known that the man was elderly if not for his white hair.
The man looked energetic, and it seemed as if he was having fun in that picture. However, Nixxia didn't recognize him, and she knew that Vernon wasn't going to be happy with her answer.
She slowly shook her head, looking up at Vernon, "Don't know..." She whispered, scared.
Vernon's smile crept her out. "Of course, you don't." He tilted his head to the prisoner, and Dane showed him the same picture.
The prisoner struggled to see what was shown to him as he'd been kept in darkness for a long time, and having lost an eye to torture wasn't helping much, but the moment he recognized the man in the picture, Nixxia saw how his whole body vibrated, his knees shifting him back.
"I-I recognize him, Boss. It's Raja... t-the m-man I b-betrayed you with," He stammered, still shaking.
Vernon smirked, leaned down, and pressed Nixxia's cheek roughly between his fingers. "Do you hear that? That's a working brain. But don't be scared; he was once like you, claiming he knew nothing, but after some lessons, here he is, fully retentive, just like you would be by the end of the week. Now, tell me, do you remember my face from anywhere? No?" His eyes narrowed in sadistic delight.
Nixxia gulped, her lips trembling. "No."
Vernon chuckled, "Of course, I knew you'd say that."
"Ugh!" Nixxia gasped in pain and shock; her cheek stung, and her vision blurred from Vernon's hard punch.
"Dane, target." Vernon's voice took a dark turn.
Nixxia noticed that Vernon's face was set to something sinister, something she didn't know how to describe.
"Yes, boss," Dane went to Nixxia and picked the gun on her lap. "Your hands." he removed Nixxia's hand from her stinging cheek and pushed the gun into her hands, positioning it so that her index finger held the trigger.
"Good, you learn fast." Vernon walked around and stood beside Nixxia, placing his hand over Nixxia's shaky one that was holding the gun. His index fingers laced over Nixxia's gently so she didn't press on the trigger yet. He noticed how cold Nixxia's hand was and smiled to himself; he loved basking in people's fear.
Armani stood behind Nixxia, his hand gripping the back of the wheelchair. His face was neutral, but his mind was disturbed; he knew what Vernon was about to do, and he didn't think it was the best idea to trigger someone with amnesia in that manner. But he dared not say a word.
"Focus, Ms. Amnesia; I'm about to trigger your instincts," Vernon whispered beside Nixxia's ear.
Nixxia sniffed, and hot tears fell from her eyes. She wanted to remove her hand, but Vernon grabbed it tighter around the gun, "Shh, be still. You're about to do something that'll remind you of what you're used to." Vernon's face was close to Nixxia's, his hand raising Nixxia's toward the prisoner.
Damon dragged the prisoner in front of Nixxia, holding his head up by the chain.
"No! Please, boss, take pity on me! Give me another chance! Please!" The prisoner struggled as he faced Nixxia's gun.
"Concentrate. Focus. This is who you are." He pressed down on Nixxia's index finger, firing off the gun and startling Nixxia.
"Good girl," Vernon whispered and straightened up, throwing the gun back to Dane.
Nixxia was frozen; her hands were visibly shaking, her lungs closing in on her; she didn't know if it was from Vernon's cigarette smoke or from the pungent smell of blood that was flowing out from the now-dead prisoner's eye.
Vernon had made Nixxia shoot the prisoner in his good eye, killing him on the spot.
'I killed a human...' Nixxia was mortified as she realized that this was her first murder.
Even as a Merman, she'd never taken a life; it was against her morals and culture. Mermen do not take a life unless during battles when they are fighting enemies. That was why she hated Pelagius for taking her mother's life, and now, she had found someone she hated just the same as she hated Pelagius: Vernon.
'Why did Vernon have to make me kill that man? He could have killed him himself, why soil someone else's hands?!' Nixxia's thoughts clawed sharply inside her mind.
"Stop," Vernon said to Dane, who went to carry the dead prisoner out.
Dane immediately stepped away from the dead body, bowing his head.
"She stays here with him..." Vernon's dark eyes found Nixxia's.
"I hope you've understood how the weapon works; next, it'll be you pointing it to your head if you continue with your facade." He gave Nixxia a bone-chilling smile and turned away from her, heading to the exit.
"Lock the doors," Vernon commanded.
Nixxia didn't understand what was happening until she felt Armani slowly step away from her; she snapped her head behind her and panicked when she saw him walking into the moving box.
"No, come...take me, please," Nixxia was literally crying, but no one spared her a glance.
She was startled when Damon walked over to the dead prisoner and stepped on the chains, rattling them against the solid floor.
They were leaving her in a room with a dead man.
"Please? Armani? Please." She tried to turn around but ended up falling to the floor, the wheelchair falling over her back.
Nixxia gasped in fear, crawling away from the dead man.
"I dare you," Were Vernon's cold words to Armani, who moved to leave the elevator and help Nixxia.
Armani remained put, watching Nixxia as she struggled to escape the gore and blood; he felt pity for her; she was going to be traumatized for life after this experience.
As the elevator slid closed, Vernon had an unreadable expression on his face, The whole place was filled with his overbearing aura, silently intimidating everyone.
"No! Take me! Please!" Nixxia cried as the elevator made its way up.
Everyone in the elevator heard it, but no one dared move and help her.
"No..." Nixxia crawled further towards the wall, sitting down on the floor; her whole body shook from fear and disgust as she watched the dead man.
The urge to barf was strong as the unpleasant smell of blood filled the room, she didn't know if it was because she was a Mermaid but she believed that her sense of smell was quite sharper than the humans because she could smell other substances from the blood, they smelled dangerous, like something that would have eventually killed the man if Vernon hadn't made her shoot him.
Nixxia was traumatized; she was locked in a room with a dead man; she knew what would happen next; the body would start rotting and smelling; she didn't like the smell or images; she wanted to leave.
Her tears were unending, and so was her hatred for the human called Vernon.