A shadow shifted behind Gabriella, faint yet impossible to ignore. Tania's battered eyes caught it at once. Her whole body stiffened. Her voice cracked with disbelief. "Terry." Gabriella sneered, her lips curling with malice. She raised her hand high. "I don't care who you brought with you. Not even God Himself can save you tonight!" She swung hard at Tania's face. The strike never landed. A grip of steel clamped her wrist. A sharp crack split the air as the bone snapped clean. "Ahhh—" The scream ripped from her throat as white-hot pain surged through her arm. Before she could spit another word, three filthy rats were shoved deep into her mouth. A hand clamped tight over her lips, holding them in place. The vermin clawed frantically inside her cheeks, writhing down her throat, smothering every sound. Another bone snapped. Her other hand shattered under the same merciless pressure. Gabriella's eyes bulged wide. Terror consumed her face. She tried to call her powers, but nothing came. The energy she had always trusted was gone, stripped away like it had never existed. Power Pulse. Theresa did not grant her death. Not yet. She crushed both of Gabriella's hands, then drove her boot down on her feet, one after the other. Bones crunched under the weight. "Ahhh—" Gabriella's scream broke apart as her throat stretched wide, forcing the rats even deeper inside. Theresa's kick slammed into her back. The blow sent her sprawling. Her body hit the ground with a heavy thud, limp and broken, no strength left to move. Theresa shoved her aside and rushed to the steel bed. She tore at the straps binding Tania. "Sweetheart…" Tania's ruined face lifted. A light, faint but burning, flashed in her eyes. "Sorry I came late." Theresa's hands trembled as she freed her wrists and ankles. Her breath came ragged as her eyes traced the countless scars carved into her body. Tania's voice shook with fear. "Why are you here? Did they use me to trap you? You can't stay! Leave me! I'll survive. Please, you can't be here!" She was the one who'd been locked up and tortured for so long. Even so, her first thought was not her own torment. It was Theresa's safety. Theresa's chest twisted with pain. "No one fooled me. Trust me." She brushed the crawling vermin from Tania's wounds and drew medicine from her space. She pressed a healing pill against her lips and sprinkled powder over her bleeding cuts.Tania's eyes softened. Her cracked voice whispered, "Terry…" "With me here, no one will ever hurt you again." Theresa worked steadily, her voice low, her touch firm. On the floor, Gabriella groaned. Her body twitched weakly. Theresa's fury flared again. She wrapped Tania in a cloth, then seized Gabriella by the collar. She dragged her up like a rag doll and hammered her with fists. Bones splintered under each strike. Gabriella's body sagged, limp and unconscious. Theresa refused to let her escape into silence. She seized a bucket of ice water and poured it over her head. Gabriella gasped awake, shivering. Theresa's palm cracked across her face again and again until her eyes fluttered open. Theresa's voice cut through the air like a blade. "Aunt Tania, how many times did she hurt you?" Tania's broken eyes glowed. Watching Theresa unleash her rage for her filled them with light. Theresa's gaze swept over her aunt's wounds. Then she turned back to Gabriella. Blow for blow, she repaid every scar with the same cruelty. She ripped the rats from Gabriella's mouth. The woman no longer cursed. Her sobs spilled in broken pleas. "I was wrong. I admit it. Please, let me go. Please." Tears streaked down her swollen face. Theresa's hand closed around her throat. Her voice was ice."Forgiveness is God's choice. My choice is to send you to Him." Mercy had never lived in Theresa's heart. She returned pain with fire. She bound Gabriella to the steel bed. A quick death would have been too merciful. Theresa had no taste for mercy. She would not leave her alive either. No torment. No delay. Only a clean end. Evil deserved nothing but hell. Yet the fire inside her would not quiet. She thought of every night her aunt had suffered. The humiliation. The agony. The endless cruelty. Theresa's eyes burned as she drew a vial from her domain. It was one of the serums stolen from the Divine Institute. The glass glinted under the harsh light. Gabriella's eyes widened. For the first time, true terror stripped her face bare.