Chapter 201: Midnight Theft VIII
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Dickon flinched.
Then Sekhmet looked back to Reyan.
"And you believed them," Sekhmet said quietly. "That is the funniest part."
Reyan shook violently.
"I can fix it! I can... I can help you! I can give you names! I can...!"
Sekhmet crouched beside him. His shadow covered Reyan’s face. Reyan went still, trembling.
Sekhmet’s voice was soft.
"You wanted to sell my house," he said. "So I will show you what it feels like to be owned."
Reyan’s eyes widened.
"No... no...!"
Auri tightened her foot slightly.
Reyan screamed. Sekhmet’s fangs slid out. Dickon’s breath hitched. His mouth opened. No sound came.
Sekhmet bit Reyan’s neck. Reyan convulsed. His scream broke into a wet choking sound.
Sekhmet drank. Just enough to take control of the moment. Warm blood rushed into Sekhmet’s mouth. He stopped before killing. He pulled away.
Reyan collapsed, shaking, eyes rolling back.
Sekhmet’s voice stayed calm as if he had simply signed a contract.
"Now," Sekhmet said.
He did not say the system words out loud. He did not need to. His will moved through his blood.
It was a command... A decision.
Reyan’s body jerked. Then it began. Reyan’s veins darkened under his skin like ink flooding paper. His spine arched. His fingers curled into claws. His mouth opened in a soundless howl.
His teeth lengthened. His eyes reddened. His skin paled into a sick corpse-white. The change was not beautiful. It was ugly.
A punishment made of flesh.
Dickon stumbled backward, eyes shaking.
"What are you doing," he whispered, voice breaking.
Reyan’s throat made a guttural sound. Grrrk... His bones cracked once. Then he went still.
Not dead. Worse... he became a ghoul.
He stared at the ground, panting like an animal, drool slipping from the corner of his mouth. His mind was broken down into obedience and hunger.
Dickon’s face went white. When he looked at Reyan. Then at Sekhmet. Then at the void seam still open behind Sekhmet, breathing cold.
Dickon’s pride shattered visibly. His lips trembled.
"No," he whispered. "No, no, no..."
Sekhmet stood. He looked down at Dickon with calm authority.
"This," Sekhmet said, nodding at Reyan, "is what you hired."
Dickon shook his head, barely breathing.
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"And this," Sekhmet continued, voice still soft, "will be your fate if you keep barking like a dog."
Dickon’s eyes snapped up. He felt fear. Pure fear.
"You wouldn’t," Dickon whispered.
Sekhmet’s lips curved faintly.
"I already did," he replied.
Dickon’s mouth opened. He tried to speak. Then he tried to crawl backward again, like fear could pull him through stone.
Sekhmet stepped closer.
Dickon flinched.
Sekhmet spoke quietly, but every word landed like a nail.
"You said your father would destroy me," Sekhmet said. "Good. Let him come."
Dickon shook his head violently.
"You don’t understand," he gasped. "He— he—"
Sekhmet cut him off.
"I understand perfectly," he said. "He is a bigger dog. That is all."
Dickon’s breathing became ragged.
"You can’t fight Iron House," he whispered, voice cracking. "You can’t—!"
Sekhmet leaned down until his face was close. His eyes were cold.
"And you cannot fight me," Sekhmet said. "Look at what is left of you."
Dickon’s eyes filled with tears he hated. His mouth trembled. He looked away like a child.
Sekhmet straightened.
"Auri," Sekhmet said calmly.
Auri turned instantly.
"Yes, master."
"Throw Reyan in," Sekhmet ordered. "He will learn what hunger feels like when it has no dignity."
Reyan’s ghoul body twitched.
Auri grabbed his hair again. Only a few hairs remained.
Reyan made a wet sound.
Auri tossed him into the void. He was gone.
Dickon watched it happen and made a broken choking noise. It sounded like his mind trying to run away from reality.
Sekhmet grabbed Dickon by the collar again and lifted him.
Dickon’s feet kicked uselessly.
"Please," Dickon whispered again, pride dead now. "Please. Please—"
Then, like a drowning man grabbing any rope, he threatened again through tears.
"My father—!"
Sekhmet’s eyes sharpened.
"You should save your breath," he said. "You will need it in there."
Dickon’s eyes widened in horror.
"No—!"
Sekhmet walked him to the seam. The darkness licked at the air.
Dickon started crying openly now, not noble tears, not dramatic ones, just ugly terrified tears.
"I’m the young master," he whispered. "I’m— I’m Iron—"
Sekhmet’s voice stayed calm.
"Not tonight," he said.
Then he tossed Dickon into the void. Dickon vanished.
The seam remained open for a breath longer while the last of Raka’s men dragged bodies into line and tossed them in too. The corridor emptied until only Sekhmet’s people remained.
Sekhmet closed the void land. The air snapped back into normal. The corridor suddenly felt too quiet. Too clean. As if the whole raid had been swallowed by night itself.
Sekhmet turned to the others. Raka stood straight, waiting for orders. Auri’s eyes were cold and satisfied in a controlled way.
Vera and Vela stood close behind Sekhmet, like new blades finding their place.
Sekhmet exhaled once.
"Good work," he said.
Raka’s face shifted slightly. He felt pride. Not loud. Just real.
"Thank you, master," Raka replied.
Sekhmet’s gaze hardened again.
"Dispose of any blood traces that could lead city guards here," he said. "Make it look like nothing happened."
Raka nodded instantly.
"Yes."
Sekhmet looked at Auri.
"We will return. Watch the building until dawn," he said.
Auri bowed.
"Yes, master."
Sekhmet looked at the twins.
"You return with me," he said.
They nodded in perfect sync.
Sekhmet turned away and began walking back through the internal route toward Dawn House.
His body felt warm with fed blood. His injuries were mostly sealed. But his mind did not feel light.
Not yet.
Because he knew what he had just done. He had swallowed fifty enemies into darkness. He had taken a noble heir and turned him into stored prey.
He had taken a traitor and turned him into a monster. He had escalated the war without letting the city see the blade.
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