There was one more

I felt as if my veins were on fire, the throb behind my eyes pulsing my sight in shades of red. The sleeper was awake and still hungry. There was one more.

I found a writhing slave to send on the errand. She would know who to look for, she had served him before. Her masochistic need would throw her at his feet begging to be allowed to please him this time. I'd given her the anedote. She would tell him his slave had been taken and where.

Finding a darkened spot within the alley of a different district, I waited.
He came alone.

I knew he would.

The anger dissipated from his face when I stepped from the shadows. Relief flooding the squared features as he fell to his knees. The embrace of my waist was almost touching. Tenderly brushing his dark hair from his temple as he buried his face in my belly, I looked down at the man who had been my cruel keeper. Clutching his hair tight, it was a quick wrench of my hands until I heard the crunching snap. It amused me that I'd had enough strength. My thumb held against the side of his throat, counting the fading pulse until I realized it was my own that I felt and nothing more.

My timing had been precise, it was payday and his pouch was heavy with coin. Too, those in the streets would be in a hurry to pay their tabs or celebrate. No one noticed the fair featured slave as she stepped from the alleyway.
Each stride now seemed heavier and the apartment in the Anbar district seemed a million pasangs away.

With the last bit of adrenaline I had, I climbed the firewalk to the roof of an abandoned insula halfway back, crumpling into a small heap.