I struggled to get to my feet but stopped dead in my tracks, half-kneeling in the middle of the driveway. My heart dropped down into my stomach.
Standing right there, right in front of the metal gate, was Fabio, the knife held loosely by his side. I hadn’t even heard him come up from behind.
His eyes were so calm that for a split second, I was calm, too. As though nothing was wrong with me trespassing and witnessing a murder. I half-expected Jules to jump out from behind a tree and yell that I’d been pranked. The blood, though, dripping off the point of his knife - that was real. His eyes followed mine to the knife. Then he spread his arms wide and dropped the weapon to the ground. It clattered dully against the driveway.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said.
Gav
“Don’t be afraid,” I said.
She didn’t trust me. Smart girl.
Taking a slow step back on her injured foot, she turned to run. I sprinted forward, and with a single fell motion caught her arm while I pulled the syringe from my pocket, jabbed the needle into her neck. There wasn’t a lot left inside, but I hoped it would be enough.
The batteries. I knew I had forgotten something. The damned alarm system, the most important thing of all. The electronic net that protected me. And I had gone and forgotten the batteries! Stupid spring cleaning!
Her delicate hands—librarian hands, I thought idly—clasped at the syringe, then at my wrists. The sedative was already beginning to work, and her nails scratched me only slightly. Soon she was limp in my arms.
I couldn’t believe it. All of the luck in the world, the opportunity of getting to kill early, all of my elation was gone. I cursed my own stupidity. Then I turned back to the task at hand: getting rid of her. My witness.
I lifted her up, her round curves soft and voluptuous against my skin. As I hefted her in my arms, I smelled her shampoo, a soft vanilla scent. It tickled my nerves and aroused me.
Lust, intervening.
Normally, I wouldn’t mind an interruption, but her presence raised some questions that I could not possibly ignore. She would be awake again, sooner rather than later, and I would ask her then.
Was it mere chance that she landed here outside of my window? Or was she part of some larger plot, a police investigation, maybe? The forest around me was black and quiet, but snipers could be closing in at any moment. I hoped that if they shot me, it would be in the head.
Calmly, then, accepting whatever fate came to me, I made my way back to the house, carrying her already-stirring body in my arms. No snipers shot me dead. Good. Excellent. Now there was only her to deal with.
The shadow swirled at the base of my consciousness. You could kill her, it said.
“No,” I whispered to myself. Not an innocent.
You could keep her for yourself. Torture her. Keep her as a pet.
She moaned softly and I held her tight to my chest, feeling strangely protective. The shadow would not have her. Step by step I made my way to the front door, all the while listening to the dark voice that murmured terrible thoughts. There must be another way to deal with this.
Kill her. Take her, then kill her. Take her—
I shut the door behind me, closing out the darkness.
Kat
The world bled into my vision. Dizzy, I raised my head and looked up. I was in a hallway. The front door was right there. I was inside. Inside his house. Oh, god.
“Wha… what?” I mumbled. I blinked hard, the dizziness making the floor under me fuzzy and indistinct. It was hard. Wood.
“Who are you?”
I turned my head to see Fabio standing next to me, his knife in his hand. Don’t be afraid, he’d said, and then he’d stuck me with something in my neck.
Well, I wasn’t afraid. I was fucking terrified.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped. My hand shook in front of me as I shielded myself with one arm. My other hand was planted on the floor. Another wave of dizziness swept through me. How long had I been out? “I didn’t... I didn’t see anything!”
“Really? You were running quite fast for someone who didn’t see anything.”
“I didn’t!” I touched my neck and my hand came away with a small smear of blood. It must have been a needle. Something to paralyze me. My mouth was cottony. He leaned toward me and I cringed back. “Please! Please! I didn—”
“Are you with the police?”
I stared in blank terror at the knife he held in his hand. The sharp edge glinted in the dim hallway light. If I told him yes, would he kill me? Or if I told him no? I looked up to his face, trying to make out his features. He didn’t... he didn’t look angry at all. He looked calm. I swallowed. Maybe it was okay. Maybe I could reason my way out of this.
“Please,” I said, trying to speak calmly. “I’m sorry for trespassing—”