"Foolish bit of quim... Ain't no one's gonna remember yah add anything but a lesson in what happens to daft girls," Thomas roared down at her, spraying spittle all over her face as he spat out those angry words. He could tell Melinda was resigned to her impending death as all fight left her and she lay there on the cobblestones wracked with pain from the beating he'd already given her. "This is gonna go slow...and your screams of agony will echo down these alleyways forever," he vowed to her with a certainty and finality in his voice most would find chilling.<br/><br/>The wind shifted and the acrid tang of the smoke from the foundry nearby tainted the air. Hot, stinging bits of soot and embers wafted thorough the air making Thomas hiss with annoyance but went unnoticed by Melinda, perhaps do to her low position on the street or the way her closed eyelids protected her eyes. What she couldn't ignore was the cold fire that burned across her breasts as he dragged the razor sharp edge of his blade low across her collarbone. The agony of it slicing into her flesh shot through her like electricity and carried with it the knowledge he could have killed her, he could have placed the knife and inch or two higher and cut her throat... But, sadistic bastard that he was, Thomas chose not to.<br/><br/>"Never, eh... And her leadership never lies now, does she?" Thomas teased nastily then coughed thrice as the foulness in the air got to him. "Fucking foundry," he said in a wheezing tone, struggling for breath some as he stomped on Melinda's belly petulant, tacitly blaming her for his discomfort.<br/><br/>That's the moment everything went strange. A massive cloud of ash and horrid gases swirled about Thomas obscuring him from view. Close as she was to him, Melinda could feel the heat bound up in the cloud and was made ill by the sulphurous smells it carried. Thomas screamed and tried to run out of the cloud but it clung to him like a lover as it choked and cooked him alive. His cries of pain and surprise and horror went on and on... until they stopped and he fell to the ground in a heap...then moved no more.