His laugh echoed through the pit as if Kaito’s words were so kind of joke. Mr. Slade tried to stand but his legs gave out, the weight of the chains dragging him down until he collapsed again, the clinking sound filling the silence.
"It sounds funny to you now, doesn’t it?" Kaito asked, his brows lifting as he studied him. He had tried for more than a week to get the man to talk but not a single useful word had slipped from his mouth.
"You are not expecting an answer from , are you?" Mr. Slade muttered, his tired eyes fixed on the student standing before him. "It has been weeks since you threw in this hell. The school authorities will find out soon... they must have already started searching."
"What investigation?" Kaito asked, dragging a chair closer before sitting down with his legs crossed like he had all the ti in the world.
"Principal Valois should be investigating my disappearance by now. You were the last person I spoke to, so you will be questioned and arrested."
"Wait... do you think I am a fool? Do you think I am a child?" Kaito’s voice sharpened with disbelief. "I am twenty one, don’t forget, the alpha of the largest pack. If I want sothing done, I make sure it is clean. Just so you know, no one is looking for you."
"What do you an by that?" Mr. Slade’s voice cracked with shock. He wanted to believe Kaito was only taunting him. "I am a staff of this academy. If I disappear, they will look for . I am sure of it."
Kaito gave a low chuckle as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. He closed the distance between them so the man could see how serious he was. "You vanished right after our last talk. The school news already reported that Mr. Slade quit his job due to stress and walked away from the academy. Do you know what your colleagues felt? Anger. They think you should have spoken to them if you had a problem. You said nothing, so they let you go."
"But I never told anyone I was sick or stressed," Mr. Slade snapped, his voice trembling with anger.
"Yes, you didn’t. Maybe I dropped a few drugs in your office to make them believe you were unwell and needed ti away from the academy," Kaito said with a mischievous smile that sent cold shivers down his spine. He knew the man was burning with rage and if given the chance, Mr. Slade would stab him again and again without hesitation. "Trust , no one is looking for you. Principal Valois is angry that you left without a letter because it was unprofessional."
"You bloody—"
"You won’t call that," Kaito cut him off, pointing at him with his finger, his eyes glowing faintly. Mr. Slade clenched his jaw and stopped, though his eyes showed he had words biting at his tongue. "Forget about them finding you or worrying about your disappearance. No one gives a damn because you are nothing to them. Even Dr. Dylan, the man you worked for, does not care that you are gone, so why are you still loyal? What are you holding on to?"
Mr. Slade turned his face away, refusing to answer. "Maybe you should try playing the good cop because this bad cop doesn’t suit you."
Kaito’s lips twisted with a bitter chuckle, not because of the joke but because of the insult. "You think I’m playing so cop ga here?"
Mr. Slade nodded and even laughed. "Yes. I never thought I’d find you funny one day, but here we are. Life is silly."
"I’ll show you what’s funny." Kaito stood and walked to the table hidden in the shadows. He reached into a bag and pulled out a small leather purse that held his tools. He had not wanted to use them on Mr. Slade, but things were not going as he planned.
He placed the purse on the chair, and Mr. Slade’s eyes followed every move he made. Kaito pulled out a sharp pair of scissors, the tal catching a faint glimr of light. He smiled as he stared at it. "This one is my favourite. Did you know that?"
"No... no, no," Mr. Slade stamred, pressing himself against the wall as much as the chains allowed. His body trembled, and fear cracked through his voice. "I can’t afford that, not with my health condition."
"Do I look like I care?" Kaito asked, frowning as he bent and caught the man’s toes in his hand even while Mr. Slade tried to jerk him away. Kaito did not answer the shouting. He brought the scissors close to the first toe, watching the man’s face as if he were studying a book.
Mr. Slade’s voice broke into a frantic plea. "Wait, Kaito, please."
Kaito paused for a beat as the tal edge hovered, then closed the scissors and cut into the skin. Mr. Slade scread, a raw, terrible sound that shook the stone around them. The pain made his whole body flinch but Kaito let him hang there, breathing the burn of it in.
Blood welled and ran over the toe but the cut was not deep enough to take it off. Kaito let go and the red pooled on the floor. He leaned in, calm and cold. "If you do not tell the truth in the next five minutes, you will not have a foot to walk on," he said, voice flat and final.
Mr. Slade tried to reach down to hold the wound but the chains stopped him. Teeth clenched, muscles trembling, he felt the world narrow to the pain and to the heavy press of fear in his chest. Tears leaked from the corner of his eyes and mixed with the sweat on his skin as he rasped, "I will talk. I will tell you."
"Then stop wasting my ti," Kaito replied, not moving. Sweat shone on Mr. Slade’s brow now, beads forming and sliding down as his voice shook with each word. "It is true. I am not Dr. Dylan," he gasped out at last, a small thing that broke inside him as he said it.
Kaito pinched the skin between his brows and crouched until he was level with the trapped man, his hand settling on the heavy chains like a promise of worse to co. He let a spark run along his fingers and then into the tal. Electricity crawled into the links and shot a white hot line up into Mr. Slade’s arms. His head snapped back and his brain blanked for a mont, confusion and pain folding into one slow panic.
"Do you want to talk now?" Kaito asked, gentle for the first ti, as if kindness might be another kind of knife. "Who is Dr. Dylan?"
"He is my brother," Mr. Slade managed, voice thin and small. The na felt like a stone falling.
Kaito blinked, surprised, but pushed that aside and asked what mattered. "Why is he after my mate?"
"For her blood," Mr. Slade whispered, each word a step toward the edge. "He wants her blood."
Kaito’s confusion ca quick and raw. He could not wrap his head around the idea that anyone would want Angela’s blood. "Why would he want her blood?" he said, anger and fear tangled in the question.
Mr. Slade’s eyes went wide with sothing like dread and sothing like defeat. He swallowed and said the thing that made the room tilt. "Because of the prophecy. It says she has the blood of immortality. Anyone who tastes it will live forever."
Kaito felt his jaw drop as if a hand had struck him. The words sat heavy and ugly in the pit. Mr. Slade laughed then, a small nervous sound that echoed in the dark and made Kaito’s anger hang there, stunned and raw. "If I were you, I would not bother with poor Mr. Slade or with Dr. Dylan. Many more will co for her. They will co for her."
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