Chapter 3 Hell On Earth

• Scores of mangled bodies were strewn across the floor, almost none of them were intact. Their gory forms twitched mechanically from time to time, with blood flowing out and coalescing until the ground beneath them formed into pools of crimson.
• A gargantuan frost tiger lay prone on the one side with its fangs and fur soppy and dripping with cruor. Its jaws chewed away at the raw, bloodstained morsels that it had filled its maw with, making the observing Rachelle retch.
• That spectacle was the very portrait of hell on earth.
• The eye sockets of the only surviving man had been reduced to a pair of blood-filled crevices, and there was not one part of his body that was left unblemished. To the surroundings that were devoid of life, he yelled a heart-wrenching scream, “Why don't you just kill me, Jensen Hawk! Kill me right now!”
• Having walked the earth for a good twenty years, Rachelle had thought that there was nothing else that could faze her. However, the sight of that macabre carnage that greeted her when she turned, left her clammy on her hands and feet. Reflexively, she shuffled in retreat but did not manage to take more than two steps before she found herself bumping into a bulwark of muscle and sinew.
• The man's baritone inflection rang out with a melodic insidiousness. “Are you pleased by what you see?”
• That caused Rachelle's scalp to crawl. Swiftly, she turned around to the sight of the man behind, standing there regarding her with ambiguity.
• “I'd say, my little bride, you really do know your way around...”
• Jensen then backed her into a corner, one step at a time. The collar of his black bathrobe that had been left half tethered exposed his defined and chiseled chest.
• To Rachelle's horror, she realized that she had seen those scars on the man's chest before.
• As it was still fresh in her memories, and coupled with the likeliness of that voice, Rachelle could seemingly conclude right away that that man was the b*stard who had tried to take advantage of her back in the cave.
• To think that they were one and the same person! This psycho will surely not show me any mercy had he recognized me...
• Her silence was only compounded by Jensen's hostility.
• “If you will not speak to me, then you can forget about ever speaking again!” Jensen's icy mitts had already clasped around her throat.
• “Ahhh...” Rachelle promptly opened her mouth to start gurgling hoarsely. She gestured to her own throat and ear and followed up by waving her own hands.
• That made Jensen pause, and cause his eyes to darken. “You are mute and unable to hear as well?”
• Rachelle nodded swiftly.
• Jensen's somber eyes narrowed as they fixated upon her with sinister intent. “How is that you are able to understand what I'm saying, then?”
• Immediately, Rachelle pointed to his lips.
• “Lip reading?”
• Rachelle nodded furiously.
• She was somewhat fortunate that her vocal cords were still a few more days away from a full recovery, for that had facilitated her cover.
• That way, she could not be expected to be able to tell anyone about whatever transpired there and therefore not be perceived by Jensen as a threat.
• However, a chilling derision arose within Jensen's eyes.
• “Hmph. Sending me a piece of trash that can neither hear nor speak in exchange for my two hundred million worth of dowry? Do you Cloudingtons take me for a fool?” His lips curled up into an unsettling and ravenous smirk. “You shall get to eat well tonight, Lutz.”
• Growling cavernously, Lutz had already charged up to snuff out whatever life was left in that dying man between its teeth.
• She's up next.
• Grabbing Rachelle by her collar, Jensen started dragging her toward that blood-soaked abyss.
• As she put up a desperate struggle in her feigned haplessness, Rachelle stealthily groped for the poisoned needle hidden inside her sleeves.
• Having borne witness to that man's viciousness, she had to seize her chance to do him in on the very first attempt.
• She even began to regret being too soft-hearted in choosing to spare him back inside the cave earlier.
• Just as Rachelle was about to make her move, the phone that was inside Jensen's pocket started blaring asudden.
• He stopped in his tracks to pick up the call. From the other end of the line, came the butler Bram's overwrought voice. “Old Mrs. Hawk's head is working up again, Mr. Jensen!”
• Old Mrs. Hawk?
• Rachelle was taken aback.
• In the next second, she found herself discarded roughly onto the carpet by Jensen, who did not even take another glance at her.
• “Lutz, deal with this woman!”
• Opening up the secret passage, Jensen left them with that before he exited in a hurry.
• Pulling herself up from the blood-drenched carpet, Rachelle found herself coming face to face with the imposing-looking Lutz who was skulking her with murderous intent. The beast exuded an air of savagery, and then with a resonant roar, lunged itself toward her...
• Dodging that killing blow, the fear in Rachelle's eyes gradually rescinded while she set herself upright. Facing down the beast, she evoked an enigmatic smile and used her lips to mouth these silent words.
• Come on, Lutz. Let's play.
• Having lived in the countryside for eleven years, she had the chance to acquaint herself with numerous mentors, one of which was the finest animal tamer of all.
• It so happened that she became heir to that mentor's most profound insights.