[ She smiles her reptilian smile again. It still doesn't touch her eyes. But there's something a little different about her. Maybe a hint of cruelty that she lets slip into the shape of her mouth, or the way her dark pupils dilate just so.

Absently, on the table, her six-fingered hand taps a steady, rolling rhythm. ]

There are really so many ways to go about it. The human body is quite remarkable. You can never be sure how much it can endure until you've pushed it to its very limits.

One of my favorite things is to start with the eyes. Witnessing your own torture is certainly terrible enough, but I find that vision causes terror before it's truly warranted. Victims can be so very stricken by the sight of their own blood. All that screaming and thrashing is so very distracting.

[ Her fingers abruptly stop. ]

No, I want them to feel it. Vividly. Viscerally. Every. Cut.