Ajin followed close behind Siras as he dragged Cale through the dirt. Cale was kicking and screaming with rage.

"DAMN ALL OF YOU!! YOU CANNOT DO THIS!!"

Siras let go of Cales hair and slammed his fist down onto Cale's mouth. He could feel several of his teeth shatter with the blow.

"Stand up." Siras sneered. "Here's your chance to kill a real werewolf, rather than a bunch of elders who can't defend themselves."

Cale spat out a mixture of blood, and shards of bone that were once his teeth. A small crowd of werewolves were beginning to gather around them. He was going to die. But if he had to die, he was going to take the smirking assassin with him. He jumped to his feet, ignored the searing pain in his foot, and lunged forward.

Siras parried, ducked, and dodged easily. Cale was awed and enraged by Siras' elegant motions. Unfortunately, Cale felt unbearable pressure on his injured foot. Siras was crushing Cale's instep with his heel. He buckled with a short gasp.

"What's the matter, Cale? Are you trying to fight on a pierced foot? Shame, really. I thought you would have been more of a challenge."

Siras ground his heel harder on Cale's instep. Cale howled with pain. How was he supposed to fight him? He wasn't able to even touch him, let alone injure him. What could he do? Suddenly, a gruesome idea found its way through the pain and into Cale's head. Not giving it a second thought, Cale brought his nail down and skewered Siras' foot, along with his own.

The two werewolves screeched, but Siras was the one who buckled. Cale ground his nail deeper. His foot was already numb from the pain. Siras angrily lunged forward and drove his nail through Cale's cheek. For a moment, everything went dark as Cale felt the nail inside his mouth.

But he was rudely awakened by the sound of his flesh being torn open as Siras pulled his nail forward, leaving a horrid opening in the side of his face. His entire body went limp for a brief moment. He could feel the flesh hanging from his face, but somewhere in the back of his mind, a part of him was screaming.

Now. The voice was telling him to do something now. What was it? Siras began to turn his foot, ready to break off Cale's nail. Take it out. It's right there. Just one quick motion, and he'll fall.

Cale's eyes began to focus, and he saw his target. With a burst of energy, he yanked his nail out of Siras' foot. Siras nearly lost his balance, but he steadied himself. Before he could make the final blow however, he felt something come loose in his ankle. His achilles tendon had been severed. He felt himself falling over.

For good measure, Cale landed one last blow that would surely leave Siras on the ground.

Before he passed out, he brought his nail upward and split Siras' groin open.

------------

Run.

Keep running. Get the others. They'll help you kill this monster.

For the first time in his career, the assassin had run away from somebody. He couldn't believe how ferocious Liek was. How was Liek able to simply stand there and take a nail into the shoulder? What was he up against? How deranged had Liek become, where he would rip off another assassin's nail and jam it through his eardrum?

He shook away the horrible images. He had to keep running. Something exploded inside his head, and he fell to the ground. Liek came out from behind a tree holding a hatchet.

"Please..." He struggled to say.

What was wrong? Why couldn't he talk?

"Be silent, assassin. You shouldn't talk with a shattered jaw." Liek said darkly.

The assassin rolled away, and began to run again. The only sounds in the air was the wind in the trees, the sound of his labored breathing in his ears, and the sound of a hatchet coming from behind. There was a meaty crack as the hatchet buried itself into the back of his knee. He immediately fell. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he tried to scream. Pain coursed through every inch of his body. He could feel it in the fiber of every muscle. He could taste it. It was cold and metallic. Was this how his victims felt when he killed them?

"You're afraid, aren't you!?" Liek's voice shouted from behind.

Footsteps were slowly coming from behind him. The assassin could only shut his eyes and whimper. Please let it be quick.

Liek reached down and yanked the hatchet out of the assassin's leg. He wasn't through. He rolled him over, and stared down at him.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

The assassin gave a pitiful nod. How embarrassing. Here he was with a child standing over him, and he was the one covered in his own urine.

"Do you want the pain to end?"

The assassin closed his eyes and nodded again. He waited for Liek to give the final blow. Instead, Liek began to laugh like a madman.

"Cowards don't deserve a painless death. Cowards, who kill families and then run away from what they've done, cannot be allowed such a favor. No, assassin. You should have stayed and fought."

Liek swung the hatchet down onto the assassin's thumb. Despite his jaw, the assassin's eyes went wide and he screamed.

"I'm going to cut off each of your thumbs. Then when I'm done, I'm going to put out your eyes with your own severed fingers. How does that sound? Does it frighten you? Do you wish that I knock you unconscious?"

The assassin cradled his hand to his chest and continued to scream. Liek leaned over and slammed his throat with the tips of his fingers. The assassin began to gag and cough violently. Liek tapped the his head with the blunt side of the hatchet.

"There are so many things I could do to you, assassin. There are things I could do with this hatchet far worse than you can begin to understand. But I'm not like you."

The assassin let his coughs die down to a sob. Liek raised his hatchet and brought it down.

"I'm not like you at all."

As Liek walked away, he ignored the screams of the assassin, begging him to kill him.



to be continued....