Mason's booming laugh echoed through the house, causing white hot rage to set Gabriel's teeth on edge. The ape's laughter was bad enough, but his lieutenants and the enchantresses joining in drove his thoughts to murder.
I will kill you. I will kill all of you motherfuckers.
"Okay, so just so I got this straight," Mason coughed out between laughs. "Your little pet that you kept chained and naked in the basement not only got away, but he managed to catch you napping, steal his shit back, AND send you flying off to the lake all while fucking NAKED?" The renewed laughter assaulted him like nails from a nail gun.
"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "That fucker did something to his portal and sent me through it and it fucked me up bad." Gabriel had walked two painful hours to get back to the mansion, calling down death and destruction on the artist fuck the entire time. His wounds were finally healed, but it had been a rough walk back home. He had never been so grateful that Mason's army had cleared the area of monsters and civilians, since he was in no condition to defend himself.
"And you want us to do what now?"
"I want you to go find the fucker and kill him!"
"Big request from such a little man! Why don't you go kill your little butt-buddy yourself if it matters that much to you?"
I will FUCKING KILL you!
He slammed his fists into the pockets of his duster in impotent rage. It hurt that he knew Mason didn't miss the motion, or that he was right.
"You know I can't. My powers don't work like that."
"Your powers don't do shit, you limp dicked fuck." Mason's glee was turning from jovial to cruel, something Gabriel had seen before and tried hard to avoid.
"Listen, man, he's not just a danger to me - he's a danger to you too. To all of this," he waved at the compound around him.
Mason scoffed. "He ain't a danger to shit. He was here for… was it weeks or months? Whatever, he was here for a long ass time and didn't do shit. Even when he escaped the only person here he did anything to - COULD do anything to - was you. Hey Blake!"
The tall, lean lieutenant stepped forward, the scar on his face all the more pronounced by his total lack of hair. "Sir?"
"You think this artist asshole could have taken you out? Sent you through his little portal?"
Blake chuckled, not bothering to respond.
"Yeah, I thought not. Hey General!"
Tom stepped forward with a click of his heels. "Sir!"
"Who is your weakest out there?"
Tom thought but Mason waved him off before he could answer. "Doesn't matter. Whoever the weakest is, you think that artist dude could take them out?"
"Not a chance, sir!"
"Yeah, I thought fucking not." Mason turned his gaze back to Gabriel. "Listen up - none of my men are going to help you fix your little problem. They are training for this crypto thing."
"Cryptid." Gabriel regretted the word as it exited his mouth. Mason fixed him with a deadly glare.
"Cryptid," his voice was a low growl when he said it. "They are training for this cryptid thing and they're sure as shit not going to take time out of their training to track down your little basement boyfriend so you can tell him what a bad, mean man he is. They're sure as shit not going to do any killing for you. You want him dead, you go fucking find him."
"But what if he comes back here?"
"What the shit do I care? If he comes back here we'll find some gardener or cook to kill him for you."
Gabriel should have turned and walked away. He should have kept his mouth shut. He knew it was the right move, but the anger was too high. This was the kind of anger that came from alpha male bullies who loved to bully him just because he wasn't physically strong. It was the kind of anger that didn't go away until he strangled some bitch until the light left her eyes.
"He's coming back, and when he does he's going to fucking kill all of you. Of us!" He quickly corrected.
Mason went still, as did the room around him. Gabriel realized his mistake and backed away. "Okay, look - I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"He'll kill us? He'll kill ME?" Mason was on Gabriel in an instant, lifting the gaunt man by his shirt with one hand, the other balled back in a fist. At the last second Mason opened his fist, choosing to slap Gabriel across the face.
"You think he has a chance in hell of killing ME?" The anger in Mason's eyes turned to a cruel glint as an idea came to him. Gabriel saw the change and knew that he'd rather have had the anger.
Mason dragged Gabriel back to his chair, sitting down and pulling Gabriel over his lap. He held the man's head down with one hand, pulling his pants down with the other. He began smacking Gabriel on the ass, each loud smack was followed by a bark of laughter from Mason. Gabriel tried to keep his jaw clenched too tight for sounds - oh how he tried - but it was inevitable. Hot tears stung his eyes as he cried out from each slap, the cries becoming howls as Mason's handprints began spurting blood with each hit.
He didn't know how long the humiliation went on, only that it seemed to never stop until it did. Even the humiliation was burned away by the pain, until there was nothing left but that incessant sound of flesh on flesh and the red haze of unendurable pain.
Then it was over, Gabriel being tossed away in a limp pile. His eyes were closed but he could hear Mason walking away, his tone bored.
"Don't let him leave. He can do his church shit if it helps the troops, but the rest of the time I want him locked in the basement."
Gabriel thought he had no more fear or humiliation left in him, but he realized he was wrong.
"Oh, and take all his fucking clothes."
Soft sobbing was the only sound in the room as the house staff stripped him and dragged him out of the room, his feet thumping softly on the stairs as they carried him into darkness.