She was right. Letta wouldn’t understand. How could she? She thought of the little girl outside in the common area, playing around with the other little kids. She couldn’t imagine sitting by while her daughter was tormented day in and day out, subjected to cruelty by the one she’s supposed to love and trust.
“Do you know how it feels to be conditioned to this? To feel as if you are nothing without the person who wants to do nothing but heart you?” Rene continued, coming to stand in front of Letta. When Letta shook her head, Rene asked, “Would you like me to tell you?”
“Yes, please. I want to know how I can help.”
And, so, Rene did. She spoke of how it was in the beginning. She’d been bullied throughout life, too fat to ever make a proper wife and too stupid to be anything but a maid. Unlike Letta’s parents, Rene’s were spiteful and bitter. They made it their mission to remind Rene of her shortcomings, at least when they had time to pay attention to her.
So, when Benny took an interest in her, she clung to him like a life-saving raft, allowing him to take her from those who’d tormented her before. He had been charming, caring…her savior. He pulled her in with his chivalry, coming to her rescue when her family and friends degraded her with their words. He fought for her when other men disrespected her. It was all she ever wanted, someone to come to her aid and see her as more than the fat, ugly girl no one wanted.
“I thought it was flattering at first when he wanted me to dress in layers. He was jealous, worried that someone would come along and take me from him.”
That was it. He’d slowly gained her trust and shone her an attention she’d wanted forever, all the while conditioning her for his sick desires. It didn’t happen overnight. Instead, he’d spent years conditioning her, building her up before effectively tearing her apart brick by brick. The cruelty of it wasn’t lost on Letta as she listened on, tears springing to her eyes.
Little Ben had been nothing more than a tool to secure his place in her life. She’d tried to leave before, gathering up her belongings and moving back to her parent’s home. Even they had been blind to the destruction Benny had caused. They praised him for taking care of her, keeping a roof over her house and accepting her when no one else ever could.
Letta couldn’t fathom the gravity of being possessed so completely you simply accepted the treatment. It was love and hatred, a mixture of conflicting emotions that drove Rene mad as she clung to the good times. Each loving embrace kept her grounded, even when they were followed by the worst beatings she’d ever experienced. She knew he could be good to her and her son, he’d shown it before and she thought she could bring it out of him again.
Letta knew the truth. There was never any good to begin with. It had all been a game, a ploy to dominate the woman and keep her with him.
Rene cried, and Letta tossed an arm around her shoulders. As the tears stained her shirt, causing the thin fabric to stick to her shoulder, she couldn’t help the feeling of dread that coursed through her.
Her mind went to Tyrin, the look in his eyes as he demanded Benny no longer be allowed in the compound. There was determination there and Letta had ignored it, concerned for their way of life, concerned about keeping the family together and safe. She hadn’t once thought of the reasons behind Tyrin’s demand.
Now, sitting beside the woman, knowing all her and her son had been through, she knew. Tyrin must have seen it too, considering his violent reaction to the man. The moment the thought occurred to her, she pushed away from the woman and exited the room. Running past a group of children, she raced to the infirmary and tossed the door open. The room was empty.
She walked past his bed and searched the restroom in the back of the room, but it was no use. Relief and panic rose within her, entwining themselves into an emotion she couldn’t name. Benny would not be coming to collect his family that day, or any other day.
Nine
It would have been easy for Tyrin to simply produce his dagger and carve out the heart of the man. But Tyrin wanted more. He wanted the man to feel the same sense of hopelessness those women had felt, the same sense of fear he’d instilled in his own son.
He listened as the muffled protests pushed through the closed bathroom door. The bonds and gag he’d gathered from the hooker came in handy after all and he was thankful Benny had the foresight to come prepared. After all, torture required a good amount of creativity and an abundance of tools, tools Benny had tucked away in a briefcase beneath the bed.
He opened the case, marveling at the metallic devices within it. Surgical equipment, speculums of different sizes and depth, scalpels, syringes – there was enough equipment in the bag to provide the depraved man with years of pleasure.
He picked up the top row of equipment and placed it on the bed. Beneath it he found neatly folded garbage bags, tape, and tarps. It was more than enough to keep a crime scene clean and Tyrin found himself thinking it would be a shame not to put them to good use. He pulled out a few tarps and duct tape before making his way to the bathroom.
Benny was seated in a metal chair with a white back, his hands tied behind him and his ankles tethered to the legs of the chair on both sides. His eyes widened as he watched Tyrin enter the room, growing even larger when he saw what Tyrin had been carrying. He screamed against the gag as Tyrin slid past him.
“This is such a nice bathroom,” Tyrin said. “Well, maybe it once was.”
The dark tile was caked with a combination of dust, smoke, and whatever else hadn’t been cleaned from it. It would take a scraper and gallons of bleach to make the walls white again, still he needed to preserve the scene. He stretched the tarp along the wall, taping it in place with the duct tape. He covered each wall, careful to cover the tub, sink, and toilet. Once he was finished, he pulled a protesting Benny from the room and covered the floor, returning Benny back to his spot once he was done.
“There. Now I don’t have to worry about making a mess. The manager frowns upon stuff like that.”
He walked back out to the briefcase and pulled out the garbage bags. Out of everything in the case that struck him, those struck him the most. The only reason he could see for garbage bags would be for disposing of something or someone. The tarps were enough to keep the blood from staining anything.
Had he meant to use them on his wife and child should they have refused to work for him? He wanted to believe otherwise, but he knew better. The hooker had only been a placeholder for his wife, someone he could use his tools on without worrying about being reported, as long as he paid enough. As for his wife? He knew she wouldn’t report him no matter what he did, but she was slowly becoming defiant, something Benny couldn’t stand and something he’d rather do without.
He carried the bag into the bathroom and sat them on the covered sink. He wasn’t sure how far he’d take it, but at least they would be there should he need them.
He returned for the tools, carrying them into the bathroom and seating them atop the garbage bags. The way Benny squirmed and protested let him know he’d managed to strike fear in the man’s heart. He watched as Benny used his toes in an attempt to push the chair over. It scraped against the tarp, tearing a hole in the covering and Tyrin winced. What should have offered an easy cleanup was being torn apart by the chair, leaving enough of a hole for blood to stain the floor.
No matter. It was nothing a mop couldn’t handle if it came down to it.
He gazed over the instruments, wondering which one he’d use first. Picking up a speculum, he turned it over in his hand, inspecting it, eliciting a fearful response from Benny. He could imagine what Benny had in mind for the instrument, but Tyrin had no desire to slink that low. Instead, he tossed the weapon aside, moving on to the next.
Next was a syringe, filled with some sort of clear liquid he was certain to render a victim unconscious. He tossed a questioning glance over to Benny who couldn’t hide the hopeful look in his eyes. He wanted the syringe, perhaps hoping Tyrin would take pity on him and allow him that escape. Tyri
n, however, had other plans. He tossed the syringe into the wastebasket before searching for another tool.
Each object brought about another wave of terror as Tyrin inspected them before Benny’s eyes. But it was the scalpel that had Benny stone still in the seat, fear pouring from him in waves. His breath hitched as Tyrin took a step toward him, waving the object before him. Light reflected from the metal caused him to close his eyes as Tyrin continued his slow approach.
“It’s funny. Most men in your position would be terrified at the thought of anyone sticking a speculum up their asses and clicking it open. You, however, are afraid of a scalpel? I wonder why.” Tyrin reached toward the man, placing his hand on the man’s forehead. Building the connection, he swam through a sea of memories until he found what he was looking for. “You poor man.”
He watched the memory play out as a young Benny was sliced repeatedly by a scalpel, his father laughing each time he cried out. For a moment, it was enough to make him want to let Benny live. That was before the scene morphed, providing Tyrin with a glimpse into what would have been the future. His son’s future.
Spurred forward, he pressed the scalpel to the man’s neck, lowering his face until he could look Benny directly in the eye. “My only regret, is that I won’t be able to hear you scream.”
With that, he began slicing away at the man.
~*~
Tyrin dumped the last of the garbage bags into the dumpster behind the hotel. The cleanup hadn’t been easy, but he was certain the room was cleaner than it had been before Benny rented it. He took the key to the manager, offering another two hundred dollars to ensure he’d remain silent.
“Believe me. Afta what he done did to my girl, he deserved every bit of what he got.”
“I need one more favor,” Tyrin said.
Tyrin left the office and headed toward the car. It wasn’t much, but he was certain the wife could make use of it. He cleared out all evidence of Benny, discarded the trash, and slid into the driver’s seat. The compound was a thirty-minute ride from the hotel and he spent that time trying to come up with an excuse for his absence. He also needed to find a way to make the wife believe her husband left her for another woman he’d found at the hotel and somehow decided to leave her the car. Hopefully the redhead would be convincing enough when she called Letta, but Tyrin wasn’t sure.
Letta was a bright woman and he was sure she’d put it all together. His absence that morning, coupled with the sudden change of heart from Benny certainly appeared suspect. If he knew her, she’d put it all together already, but she wouldn’t tell the wife. At least he hoped she wouldn’t.
He turned on to the street a block away from the compound. Cutting off the engine, he exited the vehicle after stashing the keys in the glove compartment. If the wife decided to pick it up, she’d easily be able to find the keys with the directions the redhead would give Letta. If not, it didn’t matter. All that mattered to him, at that moment, was making it to the compound undetected.
Ten
The sound of metal grinding against metal had Letta pushing herself upright in bed. A quick glance around told her she’d fallen asleep in Tyrin’s bed where she’d been waiting on him for hours.
She followed the sound to the window on the far side of the room, next to the bathroom. As she’d suspected, it was Tyrin, pressing against the glass and pushing the window open.
She’d noticed the latch broken an hour before. That, along with the fact he’d gone missing the night after his confrontation with Benny, told her everything she needed to know. He’d hoped to be back before his absence was discovered and needed an easy way into the room. Unfortunately for him, Letta had been on to him.
She stood beside the window, watching as he crouched down and slid inside feet first. Once his feet touched the ground, he pulled the window back in place before fumbling around with the latch.
“It’s broken,” Letta said, stepping back as Tyrin turned toward her ready to pounce. She noticed when recognition hit him, and he relaxed his stance.
“I’m sorry. I just needed some air.”
He walked past her, ripping the black t-shirt from him. Dropping it on the floor beside the bed, he kicked it into the corner and took a seat on the mattress.
Letta gasped at the dark red stain left behind by the shirt. It was all the confirmation she needed, confirmation she could have done without.
“Is that blood?” she asked, her voice shaky.
Tyrin didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. She already knew. She knew the moment she entered his room to find him gone. She knew once she’d received the phone call from a young lady claiming to be Benny’s new woman. The woman stated they no longer needed Benny’s car and would park it a block away, leaving the keys in the glove compartment. Letta knew better. Benny hadn’t done one kind thing for Rene in all the time they’d been at the compound and she doubted he’d had a change of heart.
“Why did you do this?”
“Do what?” Tyrin asked, looking genuinely concerned. “As I said, I needed some fresh air.”
“You killed him.” It was a statement. The blood-stained shirt laid crumpled in the corner where he’d kicked it, creating smears of blood on the concrete floor. The fight must have been violent to produce that amount of blood. Any less would have dried by then, undetectable on the black fabric unless it was washed.
Tyrin looked away from her, but not before she could see a tinge of regret in his eyes.
“You can’t tell them,” he whispered, still refusing to meet her gaze. “If they knew…”
“I told Rene that I received a call from a woman claiming Benny was leaving with her. I also added that Benny spoke to me as well. There was no way Rene would believe Benny wouldn’t want to give the news himself, being the control freak he was.”
It had pained Letta to lie to the woman, but the alternative was far worse. Who knew how Rene would react should she discover the truth?
Letta sat beside Tyrin, taking his hand in hers. “It must have been hard…”
“It wasn’t,” he confessed. “It was easy. The hardest part was keeping him alive through most of it. The bastard was too eager to die.”
Letta didn’t know what to think about what he was saying. She hoped he was joking, but when he finally met her gaze, she could see the anger that burned there.
“You enjoyed it?”
“Every moment. If you had seen what I had, you would have felt the same way. His wife and his child weren’t his only victims, and he had every intention of escalating his abuse toward his son. The girl who called you was a prostitute he’d paid to have sex with. Only when I got there, she was gagged and tied to the bed. He’d been beating her with a belt and would have done much more to the poor girl had I not intervened.”
Letta removed her hand from his and hugged her belly, the gravity of what he was saying seeping in. Still, regardless how evil the man had been, she couldn’t wrap her mind around him enjoying taking the life of a human. Then again, she shouldn’t have been surprised. The Fallen had made it abundantly clear humans were nothing to them but an inconvenience. Why, then, would she expect him to be any different?
“Have you ever killed another human before?” she asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer. If she was going to have him around her daughter, or the other families in the compound, she needed to know all there was to know about him.
Tyrin shifted his weight, causing the bed to bounce beneath her. “You have to understand. If you go down this road with me, you can’t expect me to think of things as humans do. We value life much differently than you. For instance, if one of your people died, they could easily be replaced. You can have a child, keep your population growing and heavily sustained. For the Fallen, our numbers are finite. If you kill one of us, that one will never be replaced.”
“What does that have to do with you killing?”
“A lot,” he answered simply. “That man will be replaced with his son, who I hope makes better c
hoices with his life when he is older. By killing him, I saved countless lives, even those that haven’t been born yet. That prostitute would not have survived another day the way Benny was escalating, taking away any chance for her to seek a better life for herself and her own children. She has three of them she rarely sees but she’ll be making her way back to them soon enough. He was, himself, a product of the abuse his father had put him through. His son would have ended up the same. The mother would not be around to stop it. The evil this man created would pass on for generations, tainting thousands of lives with his actions.”
“But how can you be so sure?”
“When you’ve lived thousands of years, you can easily see the pattern. It is better the man suffers in hell. Trust me.”
With that, Tyrin stood from the bed and began rummaging through a bag of clothes Brayden had given him. Finding another pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt, he began walking toward the bathroom.
Eleven
Letta sat in the conference area, clicking her fingernails against the metal table. She’d always found the room oddly raised her anxiety, taking on the appearance of an interrogation room, but it was the only place they could speak in confidence.
It was also the only place she could think without the distractions of children and the others, pushing for more information about their new guest. She’d known having him there would be a problem. Were she in their same position, she’d have tons of questions herself. But what could she do? If she told them everything she knew, she was certain they’d grow to fear him even more than she did at that moment, and that wouldn’t be good for any of them.
Instead, she locked herself away, avoiding them as she dealt with her own inner turmoil. Tyrin had no problem taking the life of a human. He actually enjoyed it, and there she was, placing the lives of The Opposition in his hands. The life of her daughter!
Was there even a line Tyrin wouldn’t cross? Was there a way of determining what actions he deemed worthy of death and what actions he thought could be forgiven? While she could agree that keeping Benny alive would create a ripple effect of destruction for anyone affected by him, could she honestly say there was no saving him?
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