by Mercy Cortez
"Sisters, Aimee and Erin Davies. Erin is the redhead. Aimee is twenty three and age for Erin is unknown however this is a birthday trip for her. They are both British. That's as much as I could get" I spat the words out while he wrote them down on a notepad and nodded at me.
"Okay good. I will look into them and get the background check sorted; first I want to see my little redhead. I’m going to step out and have a little look at our new neighbors. Can you search and get the background information?" he said whilst walking to the door.
"Yeah, sure" I opened the laptop that sat on the table in the living area of our suite. I typed in their names and found Facebook pages rather easily. These people, they make it so damn easy to learn everything about you through social media, and then they tick the privacy settings thinking that makes them safe. In less than five minutes I had hacked Aimee’s profile. See you aren't safe, not from people like us.
Aimee Davies. 23. Lives in Leicester.
She has a sister called Erin and that seems about it.
Looking through her timeline showed me some things of interest. Mother is dead. Father seems out of the picture. No boyfriends since University which it seems she quit before finishing due to mothers illness. She was studying Sociology, rather apt really. She seems to have very little in her life. A few friends but nothing substantial, no angry ex that would come and beat me senseless... Yeah, if he could. Now Erin.
Erin Daniela Davies. 15. Lives in Leicester.
She stopped updating this until a month ago. She has a friend called Joanne. By the looks of her photos she has suffered with an eating disorder because she is very thin in some tagged photos. No boyfriend. And looks like she has never had one so I assume virgin. Yeah she would fetch a big lump of money. Shame I won’t let that happen. I can’t.
Chapter Five - Aimee
"Erin, come on, we are going to the Spanish Steps today. Hurry up!" I moaned, banging on her door.
"Okay, okay. One second." Her voice was strained in annoyance.
"You said ‘one second’, ten minutes ago," I laughed. She appeared, her chestnut almost red hair sat perfectly at her shoulders and she had a summer dress on and sandals. She wore no makeup. She never did; her complexion was so soft and pale makeup never sat well on her skin.
We walked out of the hotel arm in arm; the sun was burning my skin making me regret the tank top and white skirt.
We reached the steps in no time; the space was lively with tourists and people taking photos. I was gazing at the amazing fountain that sat at the bottom of the Spanish Steps when I noticed a man in the distance. He had a full zoom camera lense - pointed right at me. I was suddenly on edge. I had Erin by my side and I turned fast squeezing her hand three times. I taught her from a young age that if I did that, it meant something was wrong and to comply with whatever I said or did; in today’s world you can’t be too careful. I remember at school they would say to you if you get lost look for a policeman or a mother to help, I somehow doubt that advice is as strong anymore. Evil can have many disguises; they say some of the world’s worst serial killers were actually rather charming. As I span around to head back to our hotel and hopefully lose the threat I hit head first into another tourist, I apologized but didn't look up until he didn't move. I moved my eyes to his face and smiled, he was attractive and when he smiled back, his face brightened. He stared at me for a touch too long and then pushed past me to the fountain. I uprooted myself from the spot and walked quickly with Erin back to the hotel and then finally checked to make sure that we hadn't been followed. I hoped I was just being paranoid, but I couldn't risk it. Tomorrow was Erin’s birthday and nothing was going to spoil it.
Chapter Six - Rahul
I sat in the far corner of the Spanish Steps watching my delicious prey, pointing my camera at the two girls. I knew what I would do once I got the young, virginal girl. I couldn't wait to break her in, bruise her soul and tear her apart. The look in those big green eyes when I taught her how to obey me, the look would be so arousing. I wanted to tear her and make her bleed. Make her howl in pain. The thought brought a smile to my lips. I had come dressed in black, in the shadows to photograph my new toy. We had to have many photos of our girls before we shipped them off. We had a website; so ordinary, isn't it? This website was by invite only. We didn't have the best of the best girls but that was about to change. Romanians had gotten old; we came here looking for an Italian temptress but we got two British beauties. I had already decided that I might keep the younger girl for myself; I wanted to be the first and only one to tear her pussy and I wanted to have her fucked over and over until I said otherwise. She would learn to accept it, because I would fuck her either way. The more she struggled the more I would hurt her. I would scar her flesh with bite and burn marks. She was mine. My cock twitched at the thought. I got some photos of them laughing and throwing coins into the fountain hoping it would wish them luck. I wasn't entirely sure that luck was all they needed.
The brunette stared at me, making me grin. She was head strong and independent; I was glad Draco wanted her, she was going to be a fighter and I just wanted a giver. I wanted a little innocent girl who would take a beating when I decided she needed it. I had a girl like that once; she was exquisite, in fact she looked a lot like our little Ireland Erin, though she had brown eyes. I had so much fun with her, she was willing to do anything I asked, she wasn't at first you understand but once I found that she didn't like me cutting her skin deep with a knife she began to comply easily. We played too hard one night, we were celebrating our five years together which was also her 18th birthday, she looked so sexy, and her little tanned skin all red, I didn't think it would be that bad. I had pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the ribs and then in the stomach, I got a blade and cut around her thighs, I wanted her to cry, she was so much prettier when she cried. Instead her fucking pussy bled out, she screamed in agony which just made my cock harder and then she bled out slowly on my floor. Turns out the girl were pregnant, selfish bitch. She left me on purpose; she was just weak, she betrayed me. She was getting too old anyway. Erin, she wouldn't be weak and I knew it. I couldn't wait to beat her. I watched as Draco had a stare-off with the brunette; he really should have kept his distance, but by tomorrow Erin will be naked in my bed, sobbing and pleading for me to not hurt her, I owed that to Draco so I would let him off.
Chapter Seven - Draco
I could smell her, touch her. She smelt like wild lavender and her eyes were a piercing hazel that I hadn't noticed before. Her features looked familiar to me in a strange way. I saw her look uneasy after seeing Rahul with his camera; she was like a scared little rabbit except she was a homicidal rabbit. I smiled at her and watched her cheeks slightly blush, I tried not to think about the fun I would have making her blush in different ways. Making her body feel completely different.
I brushed past her and didn't look back but wanted to chase her and tell her to run; tell her to go back home, but it wasn't worth it, for all the other women who would have to end up taking her place it being her made no real difference.
When we got back to the hotel Rahul was quiet, staring at the photos of Erin on his camera and smiling to him-self. To anyone else, it might have looked like a smile of love, but I knew it was a smile of ownership, of hurt and pain. Only a year ago had his little Dahlia been killed by him and he never shed a tear, in fact he went out and fucked a prostitute and didn't come back until the next day. I hated him so much it hurt. I hated that I had to take all this, that in my line of work I had been all over the world with different gangs in different criminal activity and not a single one was anything like Rahul. He was the devil in a Sunday hat; he dressed and acted like a civil man, but inside he was just hatred and filth. Then, I guess after what I was planning to do to save a life, I wasn't too dissimilar to him.
We had a plan. It was a good plan, one I was going to sabotage completely. Our hotel rooms where adjoined by a locked door which we planned to pick in the night and take the gi
rls away to another location. We would inject them with a tranquilizer, shove them in a van and be gone. That was Rahul’s plan. Mine… Well mine was a little more dramatic.
Rahul had gone out to find a strip club. He needed his lust for something drug and STD riddled tending to, and I knew like clockwork he would go. It was late and I was waiting by the adjoining door for our girls to come back to the room after their dinner. I waited half an hour when I heard them laughing and giggling. Such a sweet sound, so innocent and pure. I waited for Erin to come into her room where my door was close to, I knew it was hers because I heard her on Skype to her friend Joanne the previous night. I heard her alone and heard as Aimee announced that she was having a shower. I waited five minutes and then slowly opened the door to find it empty. I heard movement in Erin’s bathroom and so I walked over her marble floors and waited behind the bathroom door. I had a chloroform-soaked rag ready and I saw her come out in a beautifully delicate floral dress, her red hair curly and lying on the small of her back, she was so small and fragile. He would break her so easily. I couldn't watch another one die like Dahlia. Dahlia was so beautiful and so special. I had fallen for her beauty, and one night without Rahul, she kissed me. I think she wanted me to tell Rahul - I think she wanted to die - but I never did. I watched Erin and she reminded me of her, I couldn't let another young girl go through that. I was doing her a favor. I was doing this as a sacrifice; one day Aimee would understand. I reached up behind Erin, but she turned before I was ready. I had a blade in my other hand and her eyes widened to it. She went to open her mouth and I threw the rag and pushed my hand firmly over her mouth. I didn't need Aimee here. Not yet. Erin’s bright green eyes pricked with tears. I stared into them begging her to forgive me for what I was about to do. She didn't fight. She stood in shock for a few minutes, but was suddenly possessed by a fighter, and quickly scratched the arm holding her mouth, leaving tiny scratches in my flesh. She knew she wouldn't overpower me. She was just a girl. She had no chance, but she tried. She slapped my arms and her brow creased in fear. I pushed her against the white paneled wall and thrust the knife at her throat. I had to be quiet and a gun would be too loud. I knew how to cut a person’s throat deep enough that they died almost immediately as the brain starves for oxygen, it was the quickest way. I had killed many people in my line of work. Most of them I barely thought about, but Erin, I would never forget. Maybe I should have told them to run or killed Rahul, but Rahul was a small fish in a big pond and he was my lead to the real cartel; the bosses, the movers and shakers. Think of how many lives would be saved taking them down and how many would die if I killed Rahul. I was logical. I always thought of the options I had, and this may seem extreme, but it was the only thing I could do.
I heard Aimee stepping out of the bathroom and saw the panic shoot in Erin’s eyes. She was scared for her sister. Her eyes almost begged me not to hurt her, if only I could at least promise this young victim that.
I couldn't look into those desperate eyes anymore and I think she knew that, her tears finally escaped and landed on my hand clamping her mouth.
I brought my lips to her ear and whispered gently to her
"Please forgive me. I promise I will do everything in my power to protect your sister," I spoke softly with a husky voice.
I looked into her eyes one last time and she blinked once, maybe it was my way of accepting what I did was right, maybe it was sick but I felt that action was her saying thank you, not just thanking me for saving her sister but something in her eyes told me she almost wanted this, she had a look in her eyes that said she wanted it all to be over and she was ready to be with her mother again in some other life. I pressed the blade into her throat and pushed it deep as I sliced along her neck, cutting the carotid arteries making it impossible for her to make a sound as I removed my hands from her lips. I watched as her eyes glassed over and the red in her cheeks depleted, this death took no more than a minute to bleed out and it meant she had no vocal cords left to scream. She fell to the floor and the blood ran over her dress and seeped onto the tiles in a pool around her upper torso. I stood staring at her beautiful features withering to a shell when Aimee walked into the room. She had a big smile spread across her cheeks and was now dressed in a pink silk night shirt. She held a small light blue box in one of her hands and a card in an envelope in the other. I glanced at my watch and noticed it had just gone midnight; and it was realised that Erin had just turned sixteen in another world because now she would be forever fifteen. As Aimee entered the room I scrambled for the syringe I had in my pocket.
Chapter Eight - Aimee
I walked happily into Erin’s room, it was finally her birthday and I always had this tradition where at midnight I would give her one present. I wasn't sure if this present was a good plan or not, as it might bring up old wounds, but I knew she would love it. I held onto the Tiffany & Co. box and almost skipped into her room, the anxiety from the Steps earlier having left me after my much-too-long shower.
My eyes flashed as I entered, my mouth hung open. I heard a voice.
"Be quiet."
I looked at the man in front of me, he didn't look scary or threatening, to anyone else he looked harmless. He had a wide white smile that could make any girl melt, I had seen him before, by the fountain, and he had shaggy long blonde hair and innocent baby blue eyes. His Australian accent added to his worldly charm. He looked like a sweet and kind surfer but with a jaw gripped tight that showed anger. I looked down at the blade gripped in his palm and the blood dripping from the edges. His face read almost of sorrow, but only almost.
I looked at the floor, my voice lost in a scream. I looked down at her soft cheeks, her auburn hair and her still, green eyes. She wasn't blinking, she wasn't breathing. I saw the crimson spread from her cut throat, all over the Italian marble floor. It seeped into the cracks. This girl, this fifteen year old girl with blood staining her favorite floral dress... She couldn't be my sister, I wouldn't believe it.
My scream echoed through the room, I didn't care if he killed me in that moment, what did I have to live for now? I reached down and kneeled in the blood of my sister and held her body close to me and sobbed into her hair. I didn't want to ask why, I didn't have the energy; I just wanted to hold my sister and cry until I couldn't feel anything ever again. I had lost so much. I dropped her present to the floor and her birthday card was now soaked in her blood - blood sprayed along the walls and on the canopy over her bed. My little Erin was gone and I was alone. I couldn't move. I think I was in shock. I could have ran or fought but I didn't, I didn't want to leave her. He came up to me and he expected me to move or to care but I was lifeless. I held onto her and he kneeled beside me. I looked up onto his eyes that seemed so warm but must be so cold and said the first thing I could think of.
"You will pay."
He lunged at me with a needle and pierced it through my neck. Suddenly I felt weak and my eyes heavy as I drifted off imagining all the ways I would make this murderer pay for his sins. I would see him in hell.
Chapter Nine - Draco
I had picked Aimee’s now unconscious body up and noticed the gift she was going to give to Erin. I placed her on Erin’s bed while I opened it.
Inside was a locket, a simple silver locket with an inscription on the back reading 'You are never alone.' I felt it in the pit of my stomach, the guilt spewing at me. Inside the locket were two photos: one of an older woman who looked just like Erin, and another of Erin and Aimee smiling together. I held the necklace in my hand for a few moments and placed it in my pocket.
I picked her up again and headed back to my room, then placed her on my bed. She would be out for a few hours. Luckily, no one had heard the scream, or if they had, they decided to ignore it. I went back to Erin’s room and cleaned up a little, bringing the bags of bloody items with me to burn later. I picked Erin up and placed a scarf around her neck. This was the tricky part. I hadn't planned on killing her here. It was too messy and unprofessional but she had taken
me by surprise so now I had to get her out of the hotel with ease. I went to her wardrobe and found a hat and pushed it over her head and then picked her up in my arms and would claim she fell asleep if anyone asked. I was in the reception when I saw the red stain coming through the scarf and I hurried to our van. Rahul wouldn't be back tonight, so I drove out as far as I could and marked the location on a map. I brought Erin out and started to dig. Within an hour, she was in the ground and buried. I had that pinch of guilt again when I left her there alone.
I got back to Aimee in the hotel. I needed to get her to our location and I was dreading how the hell I would explain this to Rahul. I left a note on the side table for when Rahul got back saying:
Change of plan. You know where to meet me. D.
I drove for a couple hours worried that she would wake up soon but she didn't, and finally, I made it to The Shell. Where ever we went for these sorts of trips we had a Shell. It was always in the middle of nowhere and always a building that could be carved into our uses. We had high security put in place before we had flown over her. Finger print scanners and pass codes to each door. You can’t be too careful who could find us or who could get out. Well, they thought they were careful, but I guess I was the exception to the rule. I held Aimee and brought her through the building. She wouldn't be allowed into our quarters; she was just a product we had to refine and sell. I found her 'bedroom,' and I use the term bedroom lightly - it was more of a cell. The walls were white, everything was white. Rahul’s great idea, he said that having either darkness or too much white made someone’s sanity decay and made them easier to manipulate. In the dark, though, they felt they could hide, and in Rahul’s words... 'They can hide, but they can’t run' he used that like a mantra.