"You tricked us!" said Ariel, sounding outraged. She quickly switched to English, looking at Inez as if she wished to drown her in the said glass sand.
Yes, they had been tricked. Inez had suggested that no one should reveal that she could understand their language. This way, they would speak freely without any worries, as they would be under the belief that no one could understand them. "Not really smart, are you? To be played by dumb shifters like us." She asked them in English, paraphrasing their remarks about Killian and the shifters. The witches narrowed their eyes.
Killian turned to Laxus and said to him, "Bring in the funnel." Laxus obligingly retrieved two funnels from the tool shelves. Inez had no idea if they were just props to scare them or if Killian truly intended to use them. Given that Killian was not particularly sane and was quite unhinged, and he had watched the entire pack almost getting burnt to death, she had a feeling that it was the latter.
Misha and Ariel both stiffened.
Killian turned to look at them and smiled, "There is no need to be so scared. This is just a trailer; you still need to face Third Eye."
The two witches turned even paler.
Killian’s expression morphed and twisted. He glared at the two women and said, "I told you that if you don’t tell me the truth, then I will be the one to snatch all your breaths away except one. And that’s only because I don’t want you to regenerate. That’s the only reason I will hand you over to Third Eye."
"But you have the truth!" Ariel gasped. She spoke in English, "This woman told you what you wanted to know."
"Exactly. She told me the truth; you wanted to lie and give me a fake name to escape," Killian snarled at them. If Inez weren’t by his side, he would have been fooled by these two witches. "That’s a very disappointing mistake that you have made."
"They still have a backup plan," Inez told Killian. "They were talking about escaping; I think they have something else on their bodies."
"There will be no escaping," stated Killian. He turned to look at Ajax and said to him, "Hang them upside down, and Finn, call Third Eye; tell him that we need to make sure that these witches stay put. I don’t want them running anywhere."
"Wait... we will tell you everything," said Ariel when she realised that she truly could not escape Killian’s hands. She looked desperate as she said, "I will tell you everything."
"But why would you do that? Were you not afraid that you would be branded as traitors and no one would come to avenge you just now? How can we trust that you will tell us the truth?" said Inez as she tilted her head and looked at the two glowering witches.
"That sadly means that we can no longer trust your words," said Killian with a raised eyebrow. "Besides, I don’t think you know anything about The Great One. I have heard this name for ages. Witches of all ages and times would take on this title, hoping to unite the witches from all over the blood. It’s just that I have never seen anyone succeed."
"This time we will succeed," hissed Misha, her eyes turning blacker than that of a beast as she looked at Killian.
Now that the two witches had realised that there was no way they were going to escape, they had dropped all pretences.
Killian simply smiled as he walked over and poured the glass sand in the eyes of the witch who dared to glare at him. "Will you? I promise I will find the one who dared to harm my pack, and the death I will give her will be so promising that no Great One shall arise for the next seven generations of you witches."
Beside him, Laxus clenched his fists and bumped the sharp hook that they were going to embed in the back of these two witches. "But first, we will take care of these two bitches who dared to hurt our pack."
Killian pulled his lips upwards, obviously eager for vengeance on behalf of his sister and woman. "It will be a fucking pleasure."
"Are you okay?" Inez asked as she looked at the man who was washing the blood off his hands.
"I am fine," said Killian, but there was this subtle tightness in his voice which told Inez that he was probably not alright. She sighed and said to him, "No matter what you are thinking, I think you should stop thinking about it because you are probably wrong about it."
Killian paused. With his back still turned on her, he took the towel from the rack and started wiping his hands with it. "You don’t understand."
"Then make me understand." Inez jumped down from the counter of the kitchen and walked over to where Killian was standing. She reached out and hugged him from behind before saying to him, "What can I not understand?" She tilted her head upwards and looked at the man. "Tell me. I want to know what is bothering you other than not being able to protect your pack?"
She felt him tense in her arms and sighed. "I don’t like double standards, you know."
"There aren’t any double standards between the two of us."
"There are. You repeatedly hope for me to share with you and stay as an open book, but then you get all cagey when it comes to you. I am not saying that I want you to tell me everything — I get that there are some things that you don’t want to tell me, and that’s fine. But if you are going to get all defensive when it’s your turn, then you need to stop asking me to be honest with you."
"I never said that I wanted to hide it from you. You can ask me about anything, and I will tell you the truth—but you have to be sure that you can bear the weight of what you might find out."
Inez frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I think these attacks are more personal than just a means to get us off their path."