by Liz Long
She risked a look, peeking one eye open to find a tall man standing over a table, his back to her. The harsh florescent light bounced off his balding head as he moved. When she tried to move, she found her arms and legs tied to a table. A cold, metal, surgery table. He’d stripped her down to her underwear, drawn dotted lines over her skin with black marker. Fear gripped Ruby’s heart and she hoped that would be enough to keep it in her chest.
“This has to be a nightmare.” She jerked her head around to see, but other than the figure standing over his station, she couldn’t make out anything around her. She didn’t even know if she was in a garage or building or anything. Sheer terror swept over her; this was where Courtney had died, where Ruby had experienced it the day before in spirit. Now her skin would be torn apart for real.
Killer X chuckled at her statement. “No, my love, you are most certainly awake.”
“We caught the killers. This isn’t happening.” Ruby whispered it more to herself than anything, tried to convince herself to wake the hell up.
He slammed his utensils down in front of him, making Ruby jump as she saw his large muscles knot up in his back and shoulders. He almost shouted in his anger, the snarl in his voice evident.
“Those idiots will not get credit for my hard work!”
Ruby closed her eyes; his lack of concern over volume meant she probably wasn’t in a crowded neighborhood where someone could rush in to save the day. Shit.
“Why?” she choked out, her throat and mouth dry as a desert from the potion’s aftereffects. “Why are you doing this?”
“It’s the only way, sweetheart,” he said with his back still turned. The affection in his voice made her skin crawl.
“I don’t want to die.” Ruby heard the whimper in her voice.
“You’re not dead yet, darling, so let’s not skip ahead.”
The man turned around and Ruby fought back a horrified expression. This killer, a brute of a man, stood at a little over six feet. He towered over her, his thick hands holding an object above her body. Ruby tried to thrash around and her eyes watered at the bite on her wrists from the rope. He gently placed a silver tool on her chest, the symbol he used for his ritual.
This was dark magic. Ruby could feel it, the darkness of the ritual tool gripping her in an invisible vise. A weight of magic pressed on her and sweat beaded across her brow. This thing contained magic from the previous victims; it felt as though living souls made the silver come alive. She sucked in a breath of air, began to pant at the effort and pain now building in her chest. This was an evil tool, something Ruby feared she might not be able to rid herself of even if she did escape.
The hideous man bent down to her face, out of the shadows. This time, she did look away. He grinned at her reaction. The jagged scar that ran from his right ear to the tip of his chin rivaled Cooper’s and looked much older. A gray complexion made him look sickly, but yellow, jagged teeth made his smile that much more frightening. His watery brown eyes stared her down.
“I hate to kill you. You’re so beautiful.” He said it conversationally, as though any minute he’d ask for her number.
Ruby forced herself to look him in the eye and scowl. “So were the other girls.”
Light caught a glint of metal and Ruby glimpsed a scalpel in his left hand. His forefinger rubbed the side of it lovingly in anticipation. “True, but I find you more so than the others. Maybe it’s because you remind me of my sister.”
“Did you kill her too?”
The man laughed, a snarly, hoarse sound that sounded strange to Ruby’s ears. “You and Courtney have the same sense of humor. I can see why you two were so close. And since you mention it, perhaps I’ll tell you a story.”
“Sorry, but I’m not interested in your life story. Busy trying to keep mine,” she said between her clenched teeth. Fear and adrenaline coursed through her; she needed to keep her mouth in check to prevent pissing him off. She was too scared to even think a spell. He could rip her heart out at the slightest hint of magic. Besides, as powerful as he was, her magical influence that worked so well on most people wouldn’t make a dent on him.
“It is a shame we couldn’t meet under different circumstances,” he admitted. “I find you very…intriguing.”
“I’m seeing someone,” Ruby spat out, hoping he heard the disgust in her voice.
“Your best friend’s big brother. My, my, how long have you harbored that little crush? I must admit, I was rather jealous when I saw you two at the bar after your coven meeting. That’s why I left my love note - I had to make sure you knew I was interested, stand out from the competition.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled up in Ruby’s throat. This psycho talked to her like they knew one another, as though they had a relationship. Cooper’s sleeping form flashed in her brain and she hoped he was okay. For all she knew, this nutter had doused him with more than a sleeping draught.
“I looked into your lineage. It’s part of my process, the family history and whatnot.” He glanced at her, raised an eyebrow as though he expected her to butt in, but she remained silent and he continued. “How angry were you when your mother cut you out of her fancy new life?”
“Not enough to pretend you’re my therapist.” Ruby felt torn; she didn’t know how long she could stomach this fakery. She was likely to ask him to cut her heart out now if he planned to spend hours discussing her life from his point of view.
“Since you don’t want to talk about your family, I think I’ll talk about mine.” He stroked her arm with a forefinger, made a little humming sound at her soft skin. Ruby fought the urge to vomit.
“My mother was a witch. A shy, quiet thing who never complained or raised her voice. She taught me all the things a young witch should know,” he whispered in his hoarse voice. “My father, he was no witch, and jealous of her power. He beat us both silly, knocked out six or seven of my baby teeth.”
“How awful for you,” Ruby replied through gritted teeth. She tugged at her ropes but to no avail; he was obviously quite experienced with knots.
“Yes, it really was,” he replied, pleased she seemed to be participating in his game. “Several years later, to everyone’s surprise, my mother gives birth to a girl, my dear sister Angeline. You look like her, you know, dark hair and light eyes. Anyway, wouldn’t you know it, my father loved his daughter, treated her like a little princess. Never once raised a hand to her.
“One day my mother doesn’t have dinner ready; he’s drunk as usual and he hits her until she doesn’t get up from the floor. So the years pass with the three of us together, him hitting me and then attending sweet Angeline’s ballet recitals. I kept up with my magic, of course, while he was out of the house.”
Ruby didn’t want to interrupt; the longer he talked, the longer she lived. Could she play an angle with him?
Maybe if I return his advances, flirt with him, she thought. No, he might question it. Besides, she didn’t think she had it in her; the entire idea made her ill. She knew he’d grow angry if she raised her voice, so shouting was a no go.
He rapped the scalpel on the side of the table, making her squeak in fright. “Pay attention now, we’re getting to the good part.”
Ruby tried to make a noise that sounded vaguely interested.
“I’m seventeen when he barges in during one of my rituals. He’s angry as hell when he discovers I’m still practicing the craft. I’m sick of his bullshit and I’m ready for him. So he hits me, only this time I hit him back.”
He leaned in to Ruby’s face, a maniacal grin flickering at the corners of his mouth as he told his story. Sour breath hit her nostrils and she almost gagged. He took the scalpel and pointed it to the scar on his face.
“This was his last gift to me. Our fight didn’t involve any magic - I used my bare fists to beat the life out of him. It was…poetic. And when Angeline comes home…” He whistled. “She’s twelve years old and beside herself with grief, since she doesn’t know the man like I do. She screams at me, beats
her tiny fists into my chest, tells me I’m a bad son.”
The killer X turned away for a long moment, drawing out the tension so long that Ruby began to shake. She’d seen it happen, knew what this evil man was about to confess. Finally, he broke the silence.
“So I decide to go ahead and be a bad brother, too. I want to use a spell I learned, so I do. And the rush of magic…it was glorious. There’s nothing like that first hit of dark magic, my sweet Ruby. It’s exhilarating.” He inhaled a large breath, exhaled as he turned back around to look at her on the table.
“When I kill you, I’m going to use your magic to control anyone I want. And the first person I plan to visit? Well, I think Cooper will make for a very useful tool and rather ironic, don’t you think, him being your lover and Courtney’s brother? He deserves it after trying to take you away from me.”
Ruby’s panic escalated, the empty pit in her stomach threatening to make her retch with fear. She said nothing, looked away in another direction, only to see darkness past the light on the floor. She didn’t even know where she was or if she could be found. She was going to die just like Courtney.
“Your new friends did good magic the other night,” he said, forcing her attention back on him. “They’re more talented than the last bunch. I’d have Lacy for my own if I didn’t need your power instead.”
Goosebumps popped across Ruby’s skin, the true creep factor of this stalker coming to light. He seemed to know everything about her, about her friends, had watched her for weeks, months even.
“After your sacrifice, I won’t need any more witch’s hearts for a while,” he continued. “But I might play with them - Lacy and the cousins, that is - as a reward for all my hard work this last year.”
Anger coursed through Ruby like white-hot lightning. He wouldn’t stop, would never stop. If she didn’t do something, at least try to save her own ass, more women would die.
She tried to channel her emotions into pure energy. Seconds later, the lights flickered. X looked around with a suspicious face, his gaze coming back to rest on her.
“I’m not going to let you do any magic.”
The scalpel he held came up near her face and she winced, looked away. Sweat began to bead on her brow and she shook her head in a twitchy, erratic motion.
“I’m not - that’s not me, I can’t,” she stuttered.
“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid,” he threatened, leaning over her. “I know what you can do.”
The rank body odor and awful breath that rolled off him made her lip curl back. She fought back the urge to gag again, instead threw him a dirty look.
“You’re going to kill me either way, so I might as well try, shouldn’t I?”
A tense silence came between them and Ruby froze, feared she’d pushed too far. His hand twitched and she closed her eyes, quickly forcing them back open to look at him. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she waited for him to open her chest. Then his face broke into a laugh that sounded less amused and more insane.
“You know how I found you?” he asked.
“Facebook?”
He chuckled, shook his head, and smiled at her like he knew a big secret. “Emily, she had a gift like yours. She gave you up without even knowing you.”
Ruby struggled to remember the name, a memory from a hundred years ago clicking in her brain. Emily Fisher - his first victim taken from the theater parking lot.
He continued to talk. “She could see things, bits and pieces of what was to come. When I cut into her, she tried to make a deal, told me she’d seen a girl who could control people. I knew that moment I had to have you.”
“And yet you took Courtney from me.”
“I had to bide my time with you, my sweet. I only had a hint about you, didn’t even know what you looked like, only your power. I had to find you; I found her first.”
“Aren’t we both so lucky,” she muttered. She yanked at the ropes on her wrists to no avail.
Those nasty teeth appeared with his smile. “I appreciate your tenacity, Ruby. I like that you’re honest. I wish your friends were as honest as you.”
Curiosity got the better of her and she took the bait before she could stop herself. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Stained teeth disappeared under lips that pursed into a sly smile. “I’m sure you’ve thought about it. Courtney hid a million dollars for her brother and never said a word to you. Michael ran around behind your back for how long with that sanctimonious little slut? And Cooper…well, he got himself wrapped up in something he didn’t quite understand. It takes a very special witch to handle dark magic.”
Ruby couldn’t miss the pride in his voice, the tender care he used when describing himself.
“You mean a special witch like you.” She fought to keep her voice even, hoped that stroking his ego would be the right move. It paid off when he lit up at the compliment; she breathed a small sigh of relief.
“Yes, like me. After I take your power for myself, I will never be beaten.”
He paused for a second, his gaze drifting up somewhere far away from Ruby as he seemed to collect the memories. Ruby’s stomach tightened; her gut told her to recapture his attention. She didn’t want him relishing his memories. The more they talked, the longer she stayed alive to do something.
When Ruby spoke, she concentrated on keeping her voice curious, maybe even interested. “How do you know things about my friends? You can’t possibly watch us all the time.”
His spacey look went away as he smiled down at her, pleased. The knot lessened an inch in her stomach.
“I work alone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have friends.”
Ruby actually had to prevent her eyes from rolling back. The surprises and problems kept coming. She switched tactics, decided to appeal to his pride.
“How did you know Courtney hid all that money?”
Those damaged teeth reappeared in a twisted smile. “Courtney was a beautiful girl, too. I loved her for a while before we met, you know. I knew Courtney better than anyone - her schedule, her habits, the spells she liked to practice in private.”
Ruby’s eyes widened. “Does that mean—”
He shook his head, sounded almost regretful. “I said everything I could in my notes to you.”
Her mind flew back to what he’d said when luring her to Denise’s body; she’d assumed Denise’s body had been the “something valuable” that came along with the book. What if he’d meant something about the million dollars?
His gaze wandered, became lost and she knew she had to reel him in again. She looked at the table behind him, which looked much too like a surgeon’s station. “Does your ritual have something to do with water?”
A chuckle escaped X, a rough sound, like he didn’t do it often. He shook his head. “No, of course not. I wanted to send my girls away peacefully as well as wash away any evidence. It made the most sense.”
Fear seized her again and the words spilled from her mouth. “Why am I here? I thought you didn’t want to kill me. Didn’t you get your fifth witch heart with Rebecca?”
He frowned at her, his expression almost puzzled. “No. I did no such thing.”
“But…”
“I didn’t kill Rebecca.” He tapped his scalpel against her arm in annoyance. “Your power is the strongest. Why would I waste my time with her? She had no real power, nothing to give me for the ritual.”
It was Ruby’s turn to look puzzled. “I don’t understand.”
“The ritual,” he said, lowering his voice to a growl. He poked her arm with the scalpel. She jerked back, too late, and blood leaked from a slice. “I need witch hearts. That girl was a pretender. She had no patience and no family history.”
“Not worth your time.” Ruby waited for the small zing of pleasure at all of Rebecca’s lies, but nothing came. Rebecca was dead and now Ruby would follow.
“Correct.”
“So where’s her heart?”
“Couldn’t tell you. Don’t ca
re. Now, it’ll be dawn soon. We need to begin.”
Now might be the time to panic. “No, we don’t.”
“Sweetheart, it’s time for you to make the sacrifice. I hate to do it, but if I can’t have you, I don’t think anyone should.” X managed to spare her a small smile, moved his head to show her his eyes, welled up with tears at her death.
He lifted the scalpel and Ruby clenched her eyes shut in fear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The door burst open and Ruby squinted at the yellow light that flooded in from the street. She made out the shape of an intruder, the best surprise of her life if anyone asked her. The light behind the figure gave them an angelic look and she almost passed out in relief. After a half second, she gave a start. She knew those broad shoulders, that muscular build.
“Michael!” she screamed. She struggled harder against the ropes, her wrists rubbed raw from the thick, scratchy twine. Too bad she didn’t have Lacy’s telekinesis power to untie the knots.
“Ruby,” he said grimly, stepping forward into the room. He spared her a glance before turning an angry glare on the killer, who emitted a high-pitched giggle that made Ruby’s skin crawl. Michael stood with his feet spread wide apart, keeping his right arm behind him.
“I see Prince Charming has arrived.” X snorted.
“You may have killed Rebecca, but you are in no way taking Ruby away from me.” Despite the flat, angry tone, Michael still sounded so matter of fact that it gave Ruby hope.
Michael’s shoulder twitched, a sign that Ruby know to mean he was about to get physically aggressive. Good. To hell with this creepy murdering bastard. Ruby hoped Michael beat the everliving shit out of him. She pulled against her ropes some more, felt them tug a little. If Michael could distract him long enough, she might be able to get a spell out to untie herself.
“I didn’t kill your little girlfriend, but Ruby here, I need her for the ritual. She’s the biggest puzzle piece.” X’s voice sounded raspy and manic.
“And here I thought you loved her too much to kill her.”