Stealthlike and steely, the thief from Guller's Creek skirted around the most squeaky of the floorboards before giving away her position in the abandoned house. The inky confines of the boarded up abode definitely played in her favor. She had been lurking within, waiting, for nearly forty minutes, Krysira's eyes were accustomed to the dim light just fine. Cass's, however, she concluded were not so lucky.

Krysira's strong right hand, complete with a cool, damp rag, slapped over the voluptuous prostitute's mouth and nose as she struggled to slither behind her. Krysira was not a brute, by any stretch of the imagination, but she was long and lanky. Some of her catches would die swearing that arms and legs had come from every which way. Krysira was a street fighter, no doubt about it, and with such a title usually came the skill of playing dirty: throwing sand and mud into people's eyes, crotch kicks, biting (and that was only when she was behaving in a particularly "fair" mood).

Cass was soft, her skin was smooth to the touch, her hair was silky. She even smelled sweet. Huh, prostitutes sure have the life. They primp for a living, Krysira mused as she pressed the chloroform-soaked rag tightly around Cass's mouth and nose. The thief's free arm was now moving to put the prostitute into half of a bear hug. A few more moments of struggling came from the soft whore and then finally Cass's form slouched against the lean midsection of Krysira.

"There you go now. We're just gonna take a little trip. I've got someone I want you to meet," Krysira crooned as she laid Cass's limp form on the ground. She ripped a few slim strips of drugged rag off and then shoved them up Cass's nose for good measure. "Can't have you waking up in mid-trip, now can I?" After tightly binding her, the instructed thief then grabbed the fabric hood she had brought along and yanked it over Cass's head, "There you go. It's an improvement if you ask me."

Krysira hoisted Cass over her shoulder, though she was heavier than anticipated, and then made for the back door. The setting sun was allowing for even longer, darker shadows. And Krysira was one who knew well how to stick to those shadows and not be seen, particularly when she was carrying pay dirt over her shoulder. Besides, the IronHelm Flats weren't but a stone's throw from here. And Nocent would be waiting for this little trinket.

Whether or not "that Stephen" had double crossed her would remain to be seen. Krysira found it easy to slink away between shadows and alleyways, and although Cass's voluptuous form was heavier than she looked, the thief from Guller's Creek found her way to the boss.

Only a once did Cass's slumbering moan hit Krysira's ears, when she accidentally banged the prostitute's head on a doorjamb as she was entering the desolate main room of the IronHelm Flats. Once grandiose and even considered opulent, now even the roaches knew to stay away. Too bad Krysira never got that memo.

She flopped Cass down onto a dusty table for a moment as she caught her breath. Krysira knew that Nocent would be awaiting this little delivery, for gods know what reasons. Krysira figured that this curvy little whore somehow would play a part in the bloody rituals that Nocent concocted. Pity... Cass, while not pristine woman, still had a set of curves that would rock the ocean, and a rack that could make a grown man cry. "Guess we'll see what she's got in store for you, Tits." Krysira stooped to gather up Cass over her shoulder and make her way down the stairs to the decrepit bowels of the property; where Nocent felt most at home.

Krysira only hoped that if Nocent had something particularly gruesome in store for this piece of ass, she wouldn't have to watch. On the other hand, if the plan was a little easier on the stomach, Krysira was all in. Maybe it was the fact that she felt something of an odd link to the woman after she had carried her all this way. Maybe it was because she had snuffed out Cass's air, holding her very life in her hands that revved her up. In any event, Krysira's hair and skin were on edge to see what was going to happen to this one.

A second figure was seen moving in the shadow behind Nocent. When a pair of eyes were hit by the existing light just right, they glowed with a fierce red aura. A low chuckle was heard as the figure stepped out of the shadow and into view. It was a blonde-haired elven woman with deeply pale skin, almost pearl white to the sight. Dracina wore a long, sleeveless black dress, explaining how she had blended in with the shadows so well.

Her blue eyes, with only a bare hint of the contrasting red in her pupils, looked the tied nude woman over with a scrutinizing gaze. She seemed to be mentally examining every nook and cranny on the poor girl while she came over to Nocent's side. A sadistic, maddened grin crossed over her bright red painted lips as she saw Cass' growing terror.

"Oh... she's a pretty one, Nocent," Dracina said with a taunting coo. "I'll enjoy finishing her up when we're done playing with her." She reached to feel up one of Cass' calves, enjoying the feel of the soft flesh. "Mmm... so delicate too. Already the fear is causing her blood to fill with an intoxicating aroma." And for a moment a pair of sharp vampiric fangs were visible past her lips.

She stepped over to where the table of instruments was, carefully looking over each piece of frightening metal. She picked at a few, then let them continue their rest on the table surface. Her eyes even lit up when she noticed a relatively large object on the table shaped like some manner of egg with a handle attached to the smaller end.

"Ooh... you even brought a pear!" she said in delight, her eyes momentarily glancing to Cass' crotch. "Such a lovely tool for stretching particularly sensitive spots beyond their endurance. Ha ha ha...."

"I am no friend of Stephen Kidd's! Please please don't kill me.....I have money. I can ppp...pay you"

Krysira's hushed steps came from the corner of the room where she had been sharpening a few daggers. Her lips were turned upward in a smile as she chuckled and addressed the leaking Cass, "Money? You think they want your money? You really are a dumb slut, aren't you?"

She was twirling a small, cruel looking blade in her hand, letting the light reflect off of its pristine edge. "You think that if these two wanted money, you'd even be here going through this? If they wanted your money, bitch, you'd already be dead. I would have killed you when you tripped into that abandoned building instead of smothering you out and feeling you up."

The odor of wealth now practically dripped off of Krysira and her new wardrobe; the take-no-shit attitude was just another expense of her recent upswing of luck. Another chuckle, "Maybe you guys should take care of her tongue. She ain't gonna be needing it anymore. Not where she's going. Not too many c@cks in the afterlife that need sucking."

EXCRUCIO part I
<Mature Content>

Behold......the spine-chilling entrance of the dark beast, Lord Pharagos. Always such a warm and lovely surprise......

Nocent carefully watched the expression on Cass Goodman's terrified face when she looked upon the massive winged horror known only as "Pharagos". The demonic seraph was indeed a magnificent sight to regard.....though young Cass might have felt otherwise.

The motherless son of Hell.........the baneful outcast from Heaven's hallowed gates. Master of his dominion.......loathed by the world of mortal men.......lustfully sought after by the Fangs of Bhaal. This was Pharagos's legacy..........the vast power within him was proving to be immensely useful to this swelling campaign. Nocent stepped forward so that she congregated amidst the chosen face cards of the god of Murder.

Such a finer gathering had not been arranged since the truly archaic days of old.....far before her....and far before any in this room.

Indeed......since the magnificent times when thick blood rained forth from the very Heavens in droves, and the scorched corpses of headless children decorated the maggot-ridden trees which were wrought solely from ragged human flesh. Yes, this assemblage was exceptionally majestic......and yet, even so, there were still several cards missing from the magnum opus.

Master Bhaal had dealt the game this night..........and the evening's gruesome hand consisted of the following horrors:

The Queen of Spades..........Dracina Hemdagg
The King of Clubs.....Pharagos
The Ace of Diamonds.......Krysria Clayborne
And of course..........The Queen of Clubs.......Herself.

A superior hand of her Lord..........with plenty of his deathly cards still to spare. The other ?faces? would be joining this hellish game in future nights to come.........never ever tip your entire hand in one sitting.

With a sharp nod of her head, the barbed wire which was suspending the captured prostitute off of the ground was lowered so that Cass?s bare feet could touch the floor. While her bound hands were still suspended over her head, the taught pull on them was greatly diminished.

The core of this evil cabal approached the terrified woman and placed a gauntleted finger under her tear-soaked chin. Gimincka?s voice was saturated with an unearthly poison......a venom which had no cure: ?I know little dove.......those wires and barbs hurt your pretty little wrists and hands don't they? Such delicate and ripe flesh you have.........so smooth and .......so delectable.........Captain Kidd must thoroughly enjoy himself.?

The lethal eyes of Bhaal?s Priestess fell upon the large, moist breasts of Cass. Giminicka's armored hands began to aggressively fondle the naked woman?s bosom.........covetously groping and squeezing each breast and nipple until Nocent herself was forced to wet her own lips with a sultry tongue. The Anti-Scathachian?s lips twisted into a malignant grin as she spoke once more, ?Such mountains of pure sexual pleasure for your insatiable clients to suckle upon............such luscious t*ts to boldly wave at wealthy, ogling patrons in hopes of snaring some filthy gold........your mother would be so proud.?

Nocent removed her powerful hands from Cass?s breasts as she continued on, ?The only two differences which I can tell between you......and those Scathachian whores.....are as follows. Firstly, you freely ADMIT to being a whore whilst they hide under virtue and pretend to be otherwise......when in fact they too are miserable c**k-sucking harlots.?

The Fallen Sister reached to the wooden table which was bedecked with many brutal tools and instruments of torture and pain. From the table she procured two large meat hooks.....not unlike those seen at an industrious slaughterhouse...........their points well-sharpened but certainly not devoid of random gouges and nicks. Giminicka?s green eyes remained fixated on her bound prey..........those piercing orbs locked upon the helpless captive whose screams chaotically resonated in the dimly lit corridors of this subterranean labyrinth.

?Secondly.......and I think more poignant in this case........is that those women can effectively wield a blade..............while you, my love.......can only die on one.? With that, Nocent held up one of the cruel hooks.....its iron frame forever stained a dull crimson due to its constant submersion into flesh and blood. ?This is going to be extremely painful....my sweet little whore.?

With the raw force of a pressurized piston, Giminicka?s arm fired upwards effectively plunging the sharpened hook through the lower portion of Cass Goodman?s exposed left breast. As the prostitute serenaded the ghostly hallways with her anguished squeals, Nocent plunged the hook further upwards until its gruesomely deformed point poked its way through the top of the fleshy breast.

The same harsh deed was quickly repeated with the other hook on Cass?s right breast. An equally large bite was taken on that side as well as the savage steel tore through her plump flesh.........blood bubbled and spurted from the superior portion of her breast as the bulky hook shred tissue and violently lacerated blood vessels.

Giminicka then silently attached the long, blunted shaft of each meat hook to the suspended chains which dangled from the damp ceiling.......this forcing Cass to stand on her bare toes in order to ease the suffering which coursed through her battered and mutilated body.

Such a symphony......the Hells be praised.

EXCRUCIO part III
<Mature Content>

Dracina merely gave a nod of her head to Nocent. The vile torture was just about to get worse. The prostitute thought hanging by her breasts was painful alone, but the vampire would show her that there were even more delicious forms of pain.

She walked over to the table that carried all of the assorted implements and snatched from it the pear that she admired earlier. Dracina turned it over a few times in her hand before glancing back to the hanging Cass Goodman. She noted how high the woman hung at the moment and shook her head; she wasn't that tall. She'd have to fix that.

Murmuring a few words and making wild gestures, Dracina slowly ascended from the floor. Invested the power of perfect flight by her spell, she flew up to the hanging whore and examined her with delight. She showed Cass the pear in her hand, its cold, iron appearance so deceitfully unintimidating.

"Know where this goes?" Dracina asked Cass coolly, a small, sadistic smile spreading over her ruby lips. There didn't seem to be a response coming, so Dracina continued. "At first I think you'll like it, as it starts as a sensation you're not unfamiliar with." With that, Dracina brought her fingers to the woman's privates and teased the folds there before spreading the opening.

"But the notoriety of the pear is that it's such a deceitfully nonthreatening appearing device. It's true horror will only come into perspective once its too late." She slipped the pear into Cass' vagina, the whore being no stranger to having things put in there. "Like that?" Dracina cooed. "You won't for any longer...."

She made a twist of the pear's handle, and the egg-shaped metal head began to spread apart against Cass' interior walls. More twists of the handle were made and the pear spread further, beginning to stretch the muscles painfully. Dracina was silent as she conducted this horrifying and invasive torture, gaining a perverse pleasure from it. The handle was twisting more and pained vaginal muscles stretched and began to tear in agony. The pear was such a merciless device.

Muscles were stretched beyond their limits now, and were being torn with excruciating pain. The final twists of the pear's handle assured that Cass Goodman's privates were now nothing more than a ruined hole.

Dracina leaned in to whisper into the prostitute's ear. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she asked. She chuckled and then flew back down to the table. She was not finished with her fun yet.

She claimed a sturdy, iron clamp from the table and flew back up to Cass, lower this time. Her head was right near Cass' crotch and she admired the swelling there for a moment before raising one of the woman's legs, holding the foot in her hand. She placed the clamp around the big toe.

"This little piggy went to the market," Dracina began with a twist of the clamp, a very loud crack heard as the toe broke. She moved on to the next.

"This little piggy stayed home." Another twist. Another crack. On to the next toe.

"This little piggy had roast beef." This toe was swiftly snapped too.

"This little piggy had none." The fourth toe was equally ruined.

"And this little piggy..." Dracina stopped for a moment and looked up at Cass' moaning and screaming. "...went SCREAMING all the way home!" And with that, she bit off the smallest toe on Cass' foot with a sickening crunch. The cacophony of agony that escaped the whore was music to her ears.

Dracina tossed the clamp to the floor and spit out the toe.

"Poor... poor thing," she said. "It's not over yet."

The vampire floated down to the table once more and claimed a scalpel. Within mere seconds, she returned to the heights of hanging Cass. Dracina stared her in the eyes and grinned. "You have lovely eyes..." she said, then brought the scalpel to an eyelid. "They'd look great in my collection."

She stabbed the scalpel into the area around the lids and began cutting away. "Stop trying to close them, you might ruin them..." Dracina complained as she cut the circle around the lids. When finished, she began peeling and severing resistant muscles, ignoring the breaking screams from the prostitute. Eventually the eyeball was exposed and Dracina plucked it out.

The nerve that connected it to the brain was severed, leaving an empty socket. Dracina flew down to the table and deposited the eye into a jar. She returned back up to Cass' side. "Now to finish the set," she said.

More cutting and more peeling followed as Dracina repeated the macabre procedure. The vampire laughed at Cass' screams and whimpers while she plucked out the second beautiful eye and severed its connection, leaving Cass blind. The visual organ soon joined its companion in the jar.

"I think you deserve a sweet kiss for being such a good sport," Dracina whispered to Cass as she flew up behind her, grasping her shaking form. Fangs extended from her canines then, and she bit into Cass' neck, draining a few pints of the mutilated woman's blood. As consequence of her bite, it would be the only euphoric pleasure Cass Goodman would experience in this horrible end of her life.

After a minute, Dracina finished the amount she was allowed by her colleagues to take. Cass could feel the distinctive sensations associated with the drain, that lightened feeling which blood loss creates. Dracina slowly floated down to join Giminicka by her side.

"Oh... the sheer pain and terror made her blood taste so gooood," Dracina said with a delighted shiver. "I suppose our friend Pharagos gets the distinct pleasure of finishing her off now..."

Giminicka smoothly folded her large arms across her well armored chest. Her crimson tresses tumbled down her back and perfectly framed her truly evil features.

The deafening and musical screams of Cass were still fresh and alive in this dimly lit chamber. Nocent and Dracina had carved the weak bitch up quite nicely........and now, as The Queen of Spades had just stated, it was time to allow their dear friend Pharagos to viciously extinguish this little whore's light.

The emerald eyes of the Fallen Sister slowly swept over all those gathered here in the lower levels of the IronHelm Flats......Dracina.....Krysira.....Pharagos..... and then finally onto the disfigured whore herself, Cass Goodman.

Nocent remained deathly silent for nearly two minutes, just taking in the many arousing sounds which hung like a massive spider's web in this gory chamber of torture.........the melodic rattle from the chains suspending the struggling woman......the harmonic moans of pure anguish....the blood spattered pleading........and naturally, the high pitched shrieking with each new assault upon the prostitute's maimed and mutilated body.

Such wonders.

Giminicka turned to The Black King, Pharagos. Her tone steady and even whimsical regarding the gruesome matter at hand, " Her flesh is yours my friend........but be sure to leave enough recognizable meat behind in order to frame the good Captain Kidd. After lovely Dracina put those delectable kindred bite-marks on the slut's throat, we certainly wouldn't want to leave any of the insane Captain?s ?handwork' out of this lovely affair....."

Her laugh was thick and sardonically dripping with the ebon claws of the Beast........."Lord Pharagos.....let your Harvest begin."

Through blood drenched eyes, Cass saw but a brief flash as the monster's huge arm slashed upwards. Pharagos's claws, like long ebon razors, opened up the smooth flesh of her abdomen cutting deeply into both her intestines and her stomach lining.

At first it felt like a firm brush against her clammy skin, but very soon the rush of screaming nerve endings sent lightning bolts of agony throughout her mutilated body. The prostitute opened her mouth to scream, but a wave of blood messily gushed out long before her shriek did. Her face, frozen in utter shock and anguish, bore witness to the bright splash of blood which was violently sprayed across the grimy wall. Moments later, Cass felt the grotesque shudder of her stomach muscles tearing open as well as the pang of her innards spilling sloppily onto the stone floor.

As she weakly hung there in the IronHelm Flats facing this hideous brood of evil beings, her chaotic thoughts raced about in wild circles. Her existence was now ending in an explosion of pure suffering and violence. Why had Stephen Kidd done this to her? Sure, he was a tricky son of a bitch and even sometimes a bit nasty, but this was far beyond his realm of brutality. Her last thoughts lingered on him, on what she had possibly done to warrant this atrocious attack, and on how she had spent her last few days of precious life.

As blood steadily poured out of her open wounds, the shadows greedily stole the prostitute's very soul from her maimed body. And in this darkest hour, as her world faded to black, Cass Goodman sadly realized that she had ultimately died as she had lived....powerless and afraid.