Four years earlier(Warning graphic violence)

Hael had to wait to exact justice for Ariana, but now the time had finally come. Derek came to, a brutal pain causing him to gasp before he opened his eyes. Sam and Paul were tied up on the opposite wall, still unconscious. In the middle of the room were two chairs, equal distances apart. Above them hung two heavy metal chains, one per chair. The room itself smelled weirdly like bleach.

“It’s ironic that you woke up first, Derek.”

A chilling voice commented behind him, sending frissons of fear down his spine. As Hael Wilder came into view, the real unease started crawling in Derek’s belly. Hael’s eyes were dark, almost black, but his expression — the rage that sparkled from his eyes? Derek knew he was dealing with a bigger monster than he and his brothers combined. He was looking at a stone-cold killer. Then Hael smiled.

“Do you have any idea why you’re here, Derek? What could you have done to cross my path?” Hael waited, his gaze never wavering from the older male, and Derek shook his head, unable to say anything with the tape over his mouth.

Hael looked at him with dead eyes and a smile that offered no comfort at all.

“I’ll wager you have quite the dry mouth with that tape. Where are my manners?” Striding forward, he yanked the tape off Derek’s mouth,

“What the fuck, man?”

Hael interrupted, waving away any questions.

“I should tell you that no one will hear you yell, and should you manage to escape me before our business is concluded, my men are just outside with orders to shoot you in the dick.”

Derek didn’t know what to think; he was used to being the big kid in the sandbox, and being at the mercy of a bigger bear was foreign to him, so he stayed silent and thought. Hael walked over to the sink where a pitcher filled with liquid and two glasses were. He deftly poured them a drink, waltzing back, coming to stand directly in front of his prisoner.

“ I wouldn’t want you to think I’m a bad host, so I poured you a glass too. I’m afraid I’ll have to be your hands, though. Is that a problem?”

Derek looked at him suspiciously. “What’s in it?”

Hael raised his brow, shaking his head, then he raised his glass to his lips, drinking the whole thing.

“Does that make you feel better? I poured the drink in front of you, so you know I didn’t put anything in it. Now I’ve swallowed my drink, poured from the same pitcher to prove it’s not poisonous, if you don’t want it, I’ll drink it myself.”

“No, no, I’ll drink it.” Derek hastily agreed, desperate to quench his thirst, and Hael smiled his approval.

He gratefully gulped down the liquid, its fruity flavor leaving a pleasant tang in Derek’s mouth.

Hael took the glasses back to the sink, washed them, and placed them back with the rest.

“You know, I admire the way your brothers and you survive in the woods; it can’t be an easy life living with just the basics.”

“We have everything we need,” Derek said, wondering where this was going; why weren’t Sam and Paul waking up? Hael caught his gaze and looked over at Derek’s brothers, smiling. “They’ll be out for a few hours yet; my guys were aware of your reputations, and I’m afraid they both put up a fight.”

What the fuck is going on here?

“Look, I’m losing patience, and you’re pissing me off, and what the fuck is going on with my mouth, ow FUCK!”

Derek’s face felt like he’d given oral to a porcupine, the sensation of a thousand quills embedding themselves into his lips, face, and mouth quickly becoming unbearable.

For the first time today, Hael’s smile was genuine.

“ I find botany very interesting. My education around them differs slightly from yours; I don’t look for edible things in the forest or plants to use for medicine.”

Derek looked at him through tears as the pain steadily increased, unable to do anything else.

“There is a particular plant I find fascinating; it’s hard to source; you can only get it from a private garden in India. It’s called Gympie Gympie. Have you heard of it?” Hael looked at him for a second and carried on.

“Ah, well, it’s a beautiful tree, with pretty white flowers and a fruit that looks like a Mango. I like it because it’s not hard to disguise the taste.”

Derek’s heart began thudding faster, feeling heavy in his chest as he started to struggle against his bindings. “What the fuck did you do to me, you psycho? You drank the same thing I did, I watched you pour it!”

Hael came closer, close enough for Derek to see all the different greys swirling in his eyes, a look of pure cruelty worn on his face.

“What did I do to you?” Hael growled, “The question you should have asked is, what did you do to me?!”

Hael roughly clipped the zip ties holding Derek prisoner, watching as the man fell to the floor, unable to get up.

He grabbed a rope, using one end to tie a slipknot around Derek's neck, 

“You dared to try and hurt my girl, you and your bastard brothers, or is Ariana so easy to forget?” 

Hael grabbed the other end roughly, jerking Derek around as he tied his arms and legs together behind his back. He pulled the rope tight, ensuring Derek was in the right stress position. Squatting down so that their eyes were level, Hael snarled, “The Gympie Gympie has a fruit that, when cut and rimmed around a glass, dries quickly, becoming almost untraceable.”

Derek started vomiting, slowly putting together the pieces. Hael was quick to help him along, knowing he would soon be unable to think beyond the horrible pain he was in.

“It has these fine hairs that imbed themselves permanently into your skin, releasing a toxin that makes the victim feel like they’re being burnt alive and electrocuted at the same time, there is a cure if you get it in time, spoiler alert, you won’t, but it involves pouring Hydrochloric acid onto your skin to remove the top layer and then applying wax strips which need to be ripped out to remove the hairs-they don’t break down naturally by the way.”

Derek was mumbling incoherently now, as the poison spread through his system like wildfire. He could feel his throat starting to constrict and tried to look at his brothers one last time. That movement caused the rope around his neck to tighten, cutting off his oxygen supply, and Hael stood, wiping his hands on his shirt.

He started walking towards the exit, turning back briefly.

“Oh, by the way, that technique I used to tie your limbs behind you has a special name, it’s called incaprettamento, my family uses it to dispose of the worst people we know, if the poison doesn’t kill you, then the human bodies inability to hold stress poses for long periods definitely will, causing your legs or arms to droop, tightening the rope around your neck until you kill yourself.”

Hael knocked on the door, ignoring the noises behind him. As it opened, he walked outside, where Max and three of their soldiers waited.

“When the noise stops, clean up the mess and prepare the next one. I’m going to get some lunch.”

Max nodded, looking a little spooked as he watched his boss casually walk to his car.