The air in the abandoned warehouse was suffocating thick with dust, the metallic tang of blood hanging in the corners like a curse. Shadows clawed across the cracked concrete floors, twisting and stretching with the weak, swaying light of a single overhead bulb. Calvin stood in the center, a predator in human form, his black-clad figure sharp and terrifying, eyes glinting with a hunger that made the hair on their necks rise.

The two lackeys were trapped like rats, heads covered with sackbags, their backs pressed against worn ropes, each tethered hand submerged in a round empty basin. Sweat dripped down their pale skin, glinting under the flickering light. Their...