[Farai]

The air was crisp. Faces felt tender. It hurt to breathe. With the rise of the early morning, you would hope that the sun would do it's best to bring warmth but it wasn't looking promising with the crowd of clouds in the grey sky.

Farai was pissed. She was always pissed, though. But today she woke up with a different anger to serve. She was saving scraps of last nights run for the morning, she knew that food had been scarce in the winter so she specifically saved it to enjoy in the morning. It was gone. Not where she'd left it. Someone had to of ate it. So she woke up pissed.

The kids have been her go-to scapegoat, for obvious reasons. Her primary source of entertainment was making their lives absolutely miserable. Her goal each day was to make each one of them cry. Lately it has been proving to be slightly more difficult, perhaps because they were becoming accustomed to their new lifestyle. Farai would accept the challenge, it just meant she'd have to be a little more abusive than the day before. Fine!

But this wasn't about entertainment or about breaking any goals, she was fucking angry and her comrades knew better than to take her food, so it was obviously one of the kids. "Wake up, you fucking twerps." She spat, standing over the pile of kids, chains in a pretzel among their little heap. "Which one of you sneaky shits took my rabbit scraps?" Her face was closer now, drool gravitating towards the snow beneath them. Eyes wild with rage. "FESS UP, punks, or I'll fuckin' dissect you one by one until I FIND IT."

---

ooc: for slavers and the kiddos only pleeeeeeeeease!!! let's get this shit show goin'.


@Blondie @Adiemus @"Riss" @akante @Nova @Gyr @TranquilTempest @Jadeth @"Kotake" @Nicki

just tagging everyone who originally volunteered to be a slaver/the grief kids!

[Rannoch]

He had sat up most of the night, making sure they had not been followed. Of course, it was absurd to think they would have been.  The scene of massacres they had left behind would deter anyone, and make them think twice before confronting the crew.  The air this morning was cold, bitterly cold.  The breath that escaped him rose into the air and disappeared after a few seconds.  He had enjoyed the quiet of the night, of course there had been a few cries and whines for parents and guardians in the dead of night, but a quiet, harsh whisper from the older male quieted them quickly.  

The still of the morning was interrupted when the loud mouth of Farai decided to cut through the silence.  

She spoke of stealing rabbit scraps, blaming the shivering whelps , as she did.  He could hear the rage in her voice, and the threats she made afterwards were anything but empty.  The girl had a fire in her, and it was always hard to stave.  Rannoch was by no means the leader of this group, he would rather not be, but he would not see the product dead before they were delivered to the final destination.  Otherwise this would have been for nothing, and that would irritate the veteran, he had never- EVER, not delivered product.  

Rannoch turned his head towards Farai, and the whelps, growling low, "Gutting them would not be very wise of you, Farai.  They need to be alive when delivered."  They had gotten less then what they had wanted, and delivering dead product would not help their cause.  "Tear their ears, or take their tails as a lesson if you must, but do not kill or maim.  Dead product would be less then beneficial."  

Because until proven otherwise that is all they were, product to be dealt and traded for their benefit.  No one likes damaged goods.

[Vtoleni]

He perched atop a plateau adjacent to their makeshift camp, playing sentry with a fastidious eye for... undesirables. From his mouth emerged the little femur of a rabbit, meatless and white and sucked dry of marrow, pushed out by a prying tongue and spit unceremoniously onto the ground. Nothing like a snack to start a working day off right, you know?

When poor purloined Farai shrieked her outrage to the uncomforting dawn, the coyote did not jump at the sound, nor did he even deign to turn around. He smiled to himself instead, a mouthful of sharp little needles, and casually swept loose dirt over said femur... and the remainder of the bunny bones next to it. Dinner and a show, how lovely... though Vtoleni supposed it was a touch early to be calling much of anything dinner. Oh well.

Sauntering back over to the other mercenaries (ah, such an ugly word, they were just businesspeople, don't you see?) with an inappropriate air of joviality that might irk those nearby trying to deal with the tense situation, Vtoleni circled in on thin legs, ending up on Rannoch's left, the better for him to slide like liquid metal between the big wolf's front legs and squeeze out from his chest just as suddenly. It was like him to play with boundaries, to push them occasionally, stretching his shows of power to see where they'd go... but this was hardly his preferred sort of toy, was it?

"Ze punishment must fit ze crime," disagreed the creature passionately, still smiling wide, as though this mattered at all to him beyond the game of it. "Surely our, h-heh heh, our employers von't miss one itty thief, herr Rannoch... poor Farai is hungry!"

Vtoleni turned to one of the children. A very familiar one, who daresay might find him... quite familiar as well. The child of old stories. He seized the thorny leash that bound her throat, as though to pull her forward, and the rapacious gleam in his cold eyes was there like it had been when her grandmother had turned her frail back upon their guest, when he summoned his friends in the night...

when he tore than poor old woman to pieces.

"How about you, mausi?"

[Angel]

"Wake up, you fucking twerps."

She was growing used to be woken up like this, but that didn't stop her from flinching as her eyes opened. Every night she reminded herself to keep track of what day it was, but every morning she was jolted awake and now the days were blending together in one long, unending nightmare. She'd never dreamed she would be in a situation like this - how could she have? She'd never known evil or greed or cruelty; her parents had taught her to hunt only when she was hungry and to never waste parts of the animals she'd killed. These strangers were treating her - and her unfortunate companions - like rabbits permanently trapped seconds before the killing blow. She was exhausted, constantly on edge, and (though she would never admit it) terrified.

"FESS UP, punks, or I'll fuckin' dissect you one by one until I FIND IT."

Fortunately for Angel, seeing others afraid pushed her own fear to the side, and as she lay huddled among a group of her strange new comrades, she felt only anger. The tiny white pup bared her teeth at Farai, her least favorite of the slavers, ears flat against her head and sleepy eyes narrowed with contempt. "Just TRY IT, my dad is going to TEAR YOU APART!" she snarled in a fierce but less-than-intimidating baby voice. The thought of her father coming to save them was the only thing that had kept her going through this trial, and she hoped her constantly reminding the other children of how strong her dad was was helping them too. He was probably nearby now, devising a plan, knowing he couldn't take all of these bad wolves at once (she thought he probably could, but he wanted to be cautious. He was so smart).

The other bad people were coming now, arguing among themselves like the filthy, honorless animals they were. Good. Maybe they would all fight each other and then they would have the perfect moment to strike while they were weak. She didn't seem to care that the subject of their argument was whether or not they would kill the children; they couldn't really be in danger, not while they were being watched over by her father. Besides, like the old looking one said, they needed to be alive! She wasn't sure what for, but every second she lived was another second to escape (and then come back and exact her terrible vengeance).

The slimy looking one grabbed for one of her companions - Irene, who was too quiet and nice for her own good - and Angel reacted instantly. She lunged forward ferociously, spitting and snarling. She reached the end of her leash and was raised up onto her hind legs, neck straining against the thorns and roars of fury choking and interrupted by the noose. "LEAVE!" she wheezed, pink eyes wild, forepaws flailing as she desperately tried to reach the bad man's face, to destroy those evil little eyes, "HER! ALONE!" Her leash was so short, too short, she couldn't reach, she couldn't breathe, but she had to do something. She had forgotten about Farai's anger, about the scarred old man; she remembered only her quiet comrade and how she would do anything to save her from the slimy man.

[Irene]

A lady does not eavesdrop.

That's what she told herself as she lay curled up among her new "siblings". Their body warmth did little to stop the shivers that shook deep in her limbs; she curled them in closer, hoping that might hide it. But there was no point, anymore. She just lay, listening to the indistinct bickering and barking and cussing that these monsters echoed from all sides. Every time Irene thought she'd counted them all, identified them, more popped in out of nowhere.

Eight days in was when she'd given up on trying to assess what the hell was going on.
Now the girl simply bit her tongue and held her breath, absorbing each blow with whatever semblance of dignity still clung to her.

"FESS UP, punks, or I'll fuckin' dissect you one by one until I FIND IT."

As the grey woman lunged over at them, hovering and snarling, Irene did not move. Terror ripped through her, but her body was frozen, her face placid as she tried with every fiber to seem unperturbed. Calmly - or with what seemed to be calm, she hoped - she would untuck her legs and begin to pull herself upright. It was only as Angel screeched at Farai that she would flinch, every hair on end and eyes widened for a moment in shock. What the hell. With pursed lips, she turned to face Angel in complete disbelief, her glance quickly stealing to Farai before coming back to the white girl. "Angel, please--" Hushed, urgent, pleading.

"Gutting them would not be very wise of you, Farai. They need to be alive when delivered. Tear their ears, or take their tails as a lesson if you must, but do not kill or maim. Dead product would be less then beneficial."
Everything was horrible. Life was cruel. Death was everywhere.
At least, everywhere she went.

"Ze punishment must fit ze crime," She twinged at his voice, knowing it too well and wishing she didn't. A frown was plain across her face as she turned to look at the crooked coyote, his grin unnerving and his voicing sending chills. As best she tried to keep what little composure she had, Irene felt herself shrink back, ears dipping. "Surely our, h-heh heh, our employers von't miss one itty thief, herr Rannoch... poor Farai is hungry!"

His eyes met hers.
Gods how she hated how he looked at her.

All she could see was his face in the background as she heard her grandparents be slain. His face when she heard their death rattles. His face when she was bound and taken away. He was her scourge. She froze as he grasped her leash and tugged her forward, feeling the greedy thorns bite at her throat and her body pull towards him. She gagged and whimpered against her will, her weak legs trying their best to stay standing, to stay composed, as she regained her footing. As she was brought forward to him.

But Angel's violent snarls split the air, and the gentle girl watched in horror as the sibling that was not her sibling screamed each word. "NO, ANGEL PLEASE!!!" Her voice shrieked pathetically, obviously hoarse from days of intentional quiet. Her eyes flooded with tears, jaws snapping shut almost as quickly as she'd opened them, cursing herself inwardly for speaking in the first place. It was what they wanted, wasn't it? To pull them apart, tear them into shreds, destroy them as civilized children. Irene had no plans to let that happen.

But Angel is ruining everything.
Her eyes darted from the straining white girl to the bastard coyote, the last of her tears streaming down her cheeks before she'd stand, low with tail tucked, facing the captor that seemed to favor her. "Please, sir," She stole a gaze at Angel, the panic overwhelming, "Please, we didn't eat anything! She didn't eat anything! We've been here all night."

Not that they needed to be informed of that.
They'd been the ones to chain them up.

[Ariadne]

There was so much yelling, so much noise, too much commotion.. Ariadne cringed as she tried to remain asleep, but nothing came of ignoring the loudest of mouths. Nothing came from pretending Farai wasn't there, or Rannoch, or even Vtoleni. From the shadows, she offered a sympathetic glance towards Angel and Irene. 'Just TRY IT-' declared the white one with pretty eyes, 'my dad is going to TEAR YOU APART!' and something tugged at her heart.

It took all her self control not to take out the anger she felt over her parents being murdered by the same roving slavers she now ran with.. 'WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE?' she wanted to snarl, 'where do you get off, having hope?' but she refrained.

Instead, Ariadne managed to slip closer to the children, her body and approach more of a cower towards the more veteran slavers. She'd clear her throat and shake her head. "F-Farai ca-can.. can eat herself i-if... if she's.. if she's s-so hungry, s'what.. s'what the boss'll do if.. if we're short.." or so she imagined.. Whoever they served likely would do much, much worse if shipments came up short and bloody.

"I'll.. I'll te-tell him you all c-conspired.. Go fi-find a r-rabbit.. they're m-meatier.." the younger wolf did her best to shove herself between the children and the duo who were so hungry for blood. She offered a meager baring of her teeth in their defense. Although, from the right angle (the front, of course, facing her comrades with her back to the children) it looked like she might just be smiling.

Hungry cop, loud cop, bad cop, but who gets to be the good cop?

[Jones]

If it wasn't the bitter cold, the consistent yelling, the oncoming threats, the desolation of losing his beloved mothers would be enough to numb him alone. Jones preferred the night, it was the only time he succeeded in escaping captivity of the slavers. It was the only time he could revisit his beloved Mom and Ma. It was the only time he'd felt whole and warm since the night he'd lost them. They were too trusting, too caring. They should have turned the scarred-monster away when he'd came in and asked for assistance. Perhaps he'd still be with them now.

But after getting to know the slavers, he'd guessed that even if his mothers turned him away they'd find another way to ambush his perfect home. They had an agenda, he was learning, and they would do anything to fill it.

The morning the cold bit hardest he was awakened abruptly by Farai's bitching. Jones thought hat if he ever got ahold of Farai, he'd go for her tongue first. As she went off about who stole her rabbit, and then loomed over himself and his orphan-friends slobbering like a blubbery fool, his ears flattened and he shared bared teeth with the monotone female. He wanted to use all of the words he'd heard his Mom use, "Fuck off!" he wanted to scream at her. But anything he did would put his orphan-friends into danger, too. So instead he stared and growled as ferociously as he could manage.

Bravery dissipated instantaneously at the sight of Ronnoch approaching. The large, tattered looking male had a constricting hold on Jones without even touching him. He cowered between Angel and Irene, pressing so close that their thorned-chains were piercing into his skin. He didn't care -- the pain reminded him he was still breathing, even when in the company of the one who put an end to the only life he'd ever known.

He listened as Ronnoch lectured Farai, and then Vtoleni appeared and seemed to support Farai's threats. Now Angel was screaming and Irene was yelling. This day was beginning to be a bit more chaotic than he'd been growing accustomed to. "You tell'em, Angel!!!" Jones supported his pink-eyed friend. He enjoyed Angel's company. It was her stories of her father alone that helped him wake up every day, leaving his dreams of his mothers behind. The idea that her father was just beyond, waiting for the perfect moment to save them all was exciting for Jones.

When Angel screamed a warning to the interrogating Coyote, it motivated Jones to stand up (even though Ronnoch was still there), and grin. He took a protective step over the worried Irene, and raised his voice as well."YEAH, and if her dad doesn't get your ass..... I... I WILL!" He looked over at Angel, like "holy shit what did I just do??" and added, "SO.. WILL SHE..." He took a giant gulp, swallowing the remaining courage that he had, and stared blankly at his captors.

It was as if Ariadne had the gift of timing when she came between them, and in some way Jones felt that she was protecting them? That couldn't be right? She was a slaver, too?
He wouldn't question it, though. The boy knew the way Ariadne spoke to her comrades would surely dilute the severity of the threat he'd foolishly made.  

---

[Vixxie]

friendly bump/reminder for @Nova and @Corvo (who I think is playing a slaver, right?)

<3

[Achsul]

The brute lay on his side to let the wound in his face drain as the pain grew worse through the night. His head throbbed and he would have been more irritated to be woken from sleep but he wasn’t sure if the uneasy rest that gripped him even counted as such. Farai’s angry cry pierced his skull and he slowly lifted his head with a displeased grimace; the world swam unsteadily before him when he opened his remaining eye and he thought he would be sick. The pups began squealing, sending needles across the surface of his brain, and he clenched his good eye shut while Vtoleni had his fun (eliciting more screams from the children). Then he finally stumbled to his feet, drawing up his great bulk and attempted a slow wobble in a random direction.

“You could make them empty their stomachs,” Achsul suggested with a low, gruff laugh. “One by one. Rough up the little liar. Teach ‘em a lesson. If they were hungry before, they’d certainly be hungry after, yeah?”

Achsul thought killing them defeated the purpose of enslaving them, but they all knew that they still had too much fire in them and they would have to break some of their will down, snap their resistance so they wouldn’t struggle so damn much. Achsul suddenly surged towards the child of the stray queens, moving to bowl him over with his paws and pin him to the earth. They didn’t have to kill them, they just had to make them hurt and helpless. He would like to slowly crush the air out of the pup, not enough to kill him but enough to put the true kind of fear into him; the kind that haunted you for eternity.

“Stop screaming, little shitbird. Hush now.”

Achsul’s eye socket oozed, dripping off his cheek, as his words hovered above the boy, quiet and dangerous.

[Aiden]

A familiar shout from a familiar voice was enough to jump start Aiden from his sleep. Scrambling to his paws he looked around frantically trying to spot Farai, if only to make sure he wasn't the one that had incurred her wrath. She was easy enough to spot. The beast slathered over their recent acquisitions, a place the young wolf was not only relieved, but not surprised in the least to find her. Many in their trade were quite cold and uncaring as a heart has little place in a slaver. But Farai was far from cold. Everyone in the pack expected fire from here, though the proof in Aiden's crouching form showed not all were used to it.

Slinking towards the scene, he was one of the last to arrive. The pups, wait, merchandise, were already being manhandled. Aiden had gotten somewhat used to such happenings but when he heard Farai planned on killing one of the little ones a shock colder than the air around him shot through his stomach. It wouldn't be the first time a troublemaking slave had been killed in front of him. But it would be the youngest. He couldn't help but realize it wasn't too long ago he was in the same position, a little fluffball stolen away. Aiden's feelings had slowly been stripped away but not completely it would seem. He sat down a few steps from the scene looking back and forth between the players. Multiple times his mouth came open but words dissipated before he found the courage to speak up.

"Maybe...maybe Rannoch's right." He finally manged. Maybe not on the maiming, but he would never voice that. He swallowed, trying to raise his quite voice, but sat to look non imposing, "We have a quota. It's easier to keep what we have than get some more."

Now would be the time Aiden would usually reassert himself into the group dynamic by roughing up a pup a little, but it seemed to have been taken care of for him. He didn't want to get in the middle of the other's fun.

[frey]

The bleed is a steady drip down the side of his face. Black blood, long dried, painted over with clean red as he, absentmindedly rubbing a paw over his head, reopens the tear along his ear. The pain is familiar though. It doesn't bother him anymore. He didn't sleep, hadn't for a while - someone had to stay up, to make sure nothing happened in the dark of night. Frey took some solace in the self-designated task, watching the three others breathe and whimper in their dreams. Nightmares, probably. The boy didn't need to sleep for his own hell. It haunted his waking hours, too. Bi-colored eyes stayed fixed firmly on the prone form of the Achsul in the early morning light. The others are around him, surrounding him. It's a small comfort, and he takes it as Angel breathes against his side, Irene shivering almost violently, Jones quiet and heavy behind him. Frey isn't concerned with the other slavers, the stuttering Ariadne and the more violent Farai. They don't matter to him, just the male with the missing eye. Sometimes he still tastes the blood on his tongue - Speaking of Farai. 'Which one of you sneaky shits took my rabbit scraps?' All hell broke loose as the slavers woke one by one to start another day of torment. Angel reacted like a spitting fire, lunging to the end of her rope to snap at Vtoleni as he tugged at Irene. Jones began to bark as Irene pleaded. Screaming, bickering, but Frey just watched as the only one who had his eye -ha- rose to his feet to put in his two cents. Frey watched, quiet and calm, a pale ghost in the morning light as he raised a paw to Jones. 'Stop screaming, little shitbird. Hush now.' He hadn't even finished before Frey was lunging forward like a bat out of hell, teeth going back to that already bleeding face - he took one eye, he could finish the job - fangs furiously trying to rip into anything that he could reach. Violence claimed his little body as he did everything he could to hurt him as badly as possible, to kill him like he killed his father, make him bleed - They wouldn't even remember the other kids were there. [ooc: frey is going after Achsul trying to rip his face up. right now he only has one of his cropped ears, so whoever wants can feel free to rip off the other one to match in trying to get him off! any question of mess ups let me know goals: murder Achsul and get the attention off the other kiddos (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

[Farai]

As Ronnoch approached, followed closely by Vtoleni, Farai's gaze did not venture from the children. Fixated on them, she began to circle them slowly. Tightening the circumference as she lapped. Still listening to Ronnoch's lecturing, and Vtoleni's taunts, she salivated. Quite frankly she didn't give a rat's ass how the kids were delivered, the slimy shits didn't deserve to live even as slaves for stealing her food. "Thanks for the warning, Ronnoch, but I'll have my words with The Collector if one of these shits ends up missing." She'd take the punishment if she had to. This group of kids were the mouthiest yet, and she wanted to shut them up. Eternally.

The movement stopped before Angel, who was the mouthiest of the four. She shared a cheshired smirk, and through her clenched teeth she hissed her threats, "I'd like your dad to try and tear me apart, girl. I want him here to watch me DEVOUR you."[/color] It was then that Ariadne stepped in between with her smart-ass remarks, creating a divide from Farai and the snacks. "Eat myself? Why don't I start with you, you pink fuck." She spat, turning away from Ariadne with force, not excusing her clumsy shove had she knocked into the opposing slaver.

As she turned her back to the group, she heard more yelling of children. Angel sending threats, Jones chiming in, Irene pleading. Another fuckin' day.

But then she heard snarling, from one of the kids. He went after Achsul, and she couldn't hide her amusement. "Huh! Would'ya look at that, Ron? They're getting a little out of hand, aren't they?" She shouted over the yaps and snapping of teeth.

She turned a glare towards Ariadne and another to Aiden, "Why don't you two handle it, rookies?" Let's see if the had it in them.

---

ooc: short because i'm worthless but also because i'm too excited to type anymore sorryyyyyyyy!!

[Vtoleni]

What fun it was to smell gasoline in the air and light a match! The coyote had not been entirely serious with his suggestion; it was more a black joke than anything else. As funny as it might have been to coax Farai into lunching on an unlucky child while the leashed-up others screamed and cried for their dead parents, that... was terribly short-sighted. Their employers were sadly not very keen on jokes that cost them a perfectly good body and may refuse the slaver band payment at all for failing to keep their end of the bargain.

No, he'd only been playing around with his stuffy crew. But who could know that of a slippery, insincere animal like Vtoleni? Surely there was not a deathly serious bone in his body...?

Rannoch did not take the bait and Vito, as the old coot had once called him, let him be like the good sport he was. Farai however, bless her heart, was more than happy to snap it up, though he chiefly ignored her in favor of teasing Irene, the precious little shrinking violet. But oh, someone wasn't so happy about that, either! The girl he'd come to know as Angel lunged, chomping at the bit, hindered not by her ferocity, but the cruel restraint around her neck. LEAVE HER ALONE, she was snarling at him, and what an interesting position she was in to be making demands of her elders! The white beast locked eyes with Angel, his smile like a jagged line carved into ice, and stroked Irene's cheek with the back of one bony paw, slow and mocking.

"Oh, mausi, don't cry!" shushed Vtoleni as the aristocratic darling began to whine and plead for mercy. "It vas only a little joke, silly thing. I vould not let Farai dine upon you... or your, h-heh, your friend there, heh, though she is not quite so pretty."

They'd worked themselves into a nice rage, and Ariadne walked right into it, trailed by Aiden, good cop and doormat cop extraordinaire. Vtoleni licked at his whiskery muzzle, his skink-blue tongue striking against the snow-white face, and giggled at her little warning, more still at Aiden's passive agreement. It was a foul sound, like some aural personification of the feeling in your spine when a worm crawls out of your half-eaten salad. "Ze adults are talking, boy, vhere are your manners?" Smiling condescendingly, he looked back to Ariadne. "Be nice, fraulein. Settle down. No child in our possession dies today."

Pesky Ariadne. He didn't like being threatened. Maybe she'd have herself a little accident out here if she repeated her transgression.

He actually hadn't even heard Jones's ill-advised insults, having of course been preoccupied with this duo of bleeding hearts, but Achsul manhandling the mouthy brat drew his attention with the telltale signs of a scuffle. Vtoleni watched, his gaze half-lidded in an expression that was both contemptuous and amused; he made no move to help as the one-eyed wolf inadvertently moved too close to Frey's chain and the inevitable happened. Just stood by, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth in a sort of laugh.

"You heard her, rookies,"  called the coyote over his shoulder. "Break zem up."

The fire tried to die; he blithely gave it more fuel.

[Vixxie]

SMOL BUMP

[Rannoch]

After he spoke things just delved deeper into chaos.

Vtoleni slipped out from between his legs to torment one child in particular, Rannoch merely rolled his eyes at the jest.  The coyote, which would range closer to snake than canine, tugged at the leash that contained one of their products.  Rannoch never learned the names of those he took, not that the fear of getting attached crossed his mind, but merely for the fact that he did not care enough about them.  He wasn't one for learning names anyway, he only knew Farai and Vtoleni's names from working with them for so long.  He did not know, nor care to learn the names of the greenhorns that had joined them.  

He also did not appreciate being threatened by someone who's name he did not even know.  So while Vito, and Farai concentrated on tormenting the product, Rannoch turned his body towards the greenhorn, Ariadne, who so foolishly stood between the product, and the slavers.  The yelps and screams of the puppies, and the words of Farai and Vito were drowned out as he made sure to focus on the smaller, more inexperienced girl.  He made sure to keep his voice low, but everything about his body language screamed dominance, and authority.  "You may be apart of this group for now, and you may have collected product, girl, but remember who here is experienced- remember who here knows how to kill, and dismember, and torture, remember who here knows the best and quickest way to slit a throat in the dead of night without.. making.. a sound."  His eyes were slits as he spoke to her, "Sleep well tonight," and when he ended his "conversation" with her, he turned quickly and violently to the puppies, looking at Jones in particular.  Not speaking, just standing there in silence, staring, waiting to make eye contact with the little heathen.  

Without breaking eye contact, he said in a stern, but quiet tone, "Enough,"  and then adding afterwards in the same tone, maybe even with a little sarcasm included, "What are you waiting for?"  Head turned towards the greenhorns, eyes glaring, daring either to refuse, "Break them up."