by Jisa Dean
"There was a girl, medium height, medium build, blonde hair, green eyes, around 18 when you met her. Her name is Noel Denton. Do you remember her?"
My gaze is laser-focused now. I don't care what he did before that question because now I am all in for getting this monster to talk.
"I... I don't know. I don't remember." Another slice this one tipped to lay the skin open like a fillet. "I don't know man, I swear. I...I know what this is about. It's about the Senator taking all those girls, right? I...used to work for him. Is that what this is about?"
Out of nowhere Psycho punches the guy in the face making blood shoot out of his nose. I jump at the violence but I can't look away.
"I won't be lied to, Mr. Tabbs. Shit like you never stop when the money is good. Think hard, Mr. Tabbs. A young girl picked up on the corner just two blocks from the university with another girl walking beside her. Ring any bells." This time when he punches the man he does it in one of the wounds.
"Now think hard and tell me what I want to know."
"Yes, I remember damn it."
I don't know whether to believe him or not. He could be saying anything just to make Psycho stop.
"We were set to get both girls but the other one," he looked over at me, "her, she was late so we just got the blonde instead."
Fear runs down my spine like someone dumped ice water down it. This time Psycho places his hand on the guy's throat and squeezes so hard and for so long that I think he's going to kill the guy but just when Tabb's eyes start to lose focus he lets him go.
"Tell me that one more time. I don't think I heard you. Did you just say you were going to take both girls?"
"Yeah," it's hoarse and barely more than a whisper
I can't hear them as well as I want to. What sounds like an above-ground train comes close to the building we are in, so close it shakes the place a little bit. The guy's lips are moving though so I know he is still talking to Psycho.
"We knew if we got the blonde the other girl would follow after her but the timing was off and we couldn't take both of them and not be seen. Even when she came looking for me I was going to grab her but the damned meth addict next door stopped that from happening."
Psycho turns around and sparkling violet eyes land on me. "You and I will be having a talk about this later and you will not like the consequences of putting yourself in danger." Dear Lord I don't even want to guess at what that means. Without turning around he asks the man, "Where did you take the girls? Noel? Where did you take Noel after you picked her up?"
"They have houses set up all over man. We took her to one of those. I didn't have anything to do with the girls after the other guys took them."
He spins around on the man and all put shouts, "Names!"
My world spins and for the next three hours I watch as Psycho gets as much out of the man as he can and hurts him as much as a human can be hurt. When the guy finally passes out, because of the pain or the loss of blood, Psycho throws water on him to revive him enough so he can do more damage. At some point, I have to look away. I can't look anymore. So much blood is pooling at the bottom of the table the guy is laying on it makes the floor look like Psycho and Tabbs are standing on water, well one of them is standing the other one is bleeding and laying there.
I'm not sure when Psycho looks over and notices I'm not watching anymore. Him walking on the plastic has me finally turning back to see what he's going to do. He has his hand on the side that's draped like curtain between my area and Tabbs area.
"You don't need to see the end of this, Cherry. Close your eyes and try to rest if you can."
He slides the sheet closed and I am left in dim light listening to the two men. Even though he shut the drape I can still hear the screams coming from the other side. It is a sound I will never forget for the rest of my life. The last thing the man hears before he dies is Psycho telling him he should have never taken the girl. And I'm left in the silent aftermath wondering how I feel now that the man responsible for Noel's disappearance is dead.
Six
____________
The next time I wake up I'm not tied down at all. I'm lying on a bed in what looks like some low-level motel room. I think for half a minute that I might have gotten lucky and Psycho just left me here because I was too much trouble. When I spot the fact I'm in an oversized black t-shirt my hope for that dwindles.
I have to get out of here and away from him. Yeah, he says he likes me and he did give me a tortured man for a present, which has to take the prize for most out there gift ever. But who knows if that will end and I'll be his next victim. I have no idea what the guy's name even is so I'm not really playing with a full hand in this game.
I'm still a little groggy from whatever the hell he keeps giving me to make me fall asleep. As soon as I'm back in the real world I am so having someone run tests to find out what I was given and if it will have lasting effects on me. I listen for the sound of anyone in the room with me but I don't hear anything to tell me he's here. Of course, he is super quiet and I wouldn't necessarily be able to tell if he didn't want me to know.
I hazard a glance around the place and when I'm sure he's not in the room with me I risk raising my head and taking a better look. My eyes land on a laptop sitting on a desk and I can't stop my heart from pounding so hard I think the people outside if there are any, will hear it. I'm not sure if I'm in luck or this is a trick. A game that he's playing and if I fail it he'll have a reason to kill me.
Still, I have to take that risk. I have to try. I'm up and off the bed before I can self doubt the wisdom of what I'm about to do. I raise the top and even though the thing is password protected I don't need a password for what I'm about to do. I type in the code that takes me to a black screen and start typing my message with shaking fingers and a thumping heart.
N: This is Nyx. Are you there? I know you helped me before but I'm in real trouble this time and I could use the help.
I wait, all the time switching my gaze from the screen to the door. Finally after what feels like forever I see the reply.
Kronos: I am indeed here. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"
N: Something happened when I was meeting my source and lots of people got hurt. I was trying to run and stay hidden until some of the interest in all of this passed but someone, a man, came and took me from my hotel room.
K: What does this man look like?
N: What the hell does it matter what he looks like? I need help!
K: Do you know where you are right now?
Do I? I thought the guy had taken me on a plane at one point but the place I'm in doesn't sound like the place we were at. Maybe the guy took me to a third location. I want to peek out of the curtains but I'm afraid he'll be on the other side waiting for me to do something stupid like that. I'm not a fucking secret agent or a spy or an assassin or any of the other things these people I am messing with are.
N: I don't know...
K: Where does it sound like you are? Use your other senses and do it quickly if I am going to be able to help you."
I found Kronos when I was doing my research in the human trafficking world. He is a hacker that took an interest in what I was doing and thought it was a good cause. He has been an invaluable source of information and leads for me for years. In some instances, I am almost certain he might have even saved my life a time or two. But if I can't tell him where I am he won't be able to save me now.
I brush the curtains back to take the barest peek out of the window. I can tell we are on the ground floor and that trees butt up against the back of the hotel where the window is facing. What look like cedar trees or fern trees are in row after row right in front of the forest. It tells me nothing.
N: I don't know. Everything looks kind of like home. Lots of green trees. I could be any fucking where.
K: Descript the man who took you? Are you still with him?
N: He left but he'll be back soon. I can't stay here. I have to try to run for
it. I've seen what this guy can do to a person. He is one dark fuck. I need to run.
K: Hmm...
K: does he have dark hair?
N: ...yeah
K: tall, kind of boyish face that hides the killer he is underneath?
Something runs down my spine and I worry it might be fear. How the hell would Kronos know what this guy looks like? I wouldn't have said Psycho had a boyish face, especially when I've seen him practically dissect a man in front of me. But now that it's been said, or typed, I can see it. I don't want to reply. I don't want to think that the person I've put my trust into for years could have something to do with Psycho coming after me. Surely it must be the fact that this guy has a very bad, very deadly reputation and Kronos recognizes him from that alone.
K: Does he have unusual eyes? Say the color of a washed-out gray or blue.
N: I wouldn't say they're washed out. I think of them more as violet eyes...
What the fuck am I doing? I can't possibly be sitting at this guy's computer fighting over the color of a psycho's eyes when I've been kidnapped and my life is in danger. What the hell was in those shots?
N: What the hell is wrong with you? I need help and you're telling me you know who the psycho who took me is?
K: I wouldn't call Zeus a psycho per se. He can be rather messy about things sometimes but he always cleans up his messes and I never have to worry about the job getting done when I send him.
I stand so quickly that the chair flips over and damn near takes me to the floor when I try to back away from the computer, which has now become the most dangerous and sickening thing in the room. The person I thought was helping me this whole time - someone I thought was a friend - has been involved this entire time. Kronos could have been the one to rat Poppy out to the Senator. Hell, I have been so stupid in thinking I have a friend out there helping me. I could have been talking to the fucking Senator and I wouldn't even know it.
I don't even think before I have the door open and am running towards the forest. I don't give a good fuck if I'm in only a thin t-shirt and that I'm bare underneath or that I don't have any shoes. Fuck it all. I have to get away. Away from him, away from Psycho or Zeus or whatever the hell he calls himself. I want to run away from everything. My responsibilities, my past, my broken heart.
It's colder than I thought it would be this late in May. I didn't realize how far away the woods were when I set out for them, but they are not as close as I first thought them to be. I'm going to tear my feet all to shit once I'm in the thick undergrowth of the forest but I don't really care. I can't. I have to run.
Just as I'm nearing freedom something hits me from the back that doesn't just take me down, it knocks all the breath out of my body and leaves me more trapped than I have ever been. It takes me a few minutes to realize I've not been hit by a thing but by a person, a fully grown, very healthy, very heavy male who is getting hard in all the wrong places for anything good to happen. I wiggle away or try to, but he isn't giving me any space to extract myself.
I decide I am not going to make this easy on him and start fighting him back and I use everything I have at arm's length, nails, teeth, dirt, and sticks. If this psycho is going to kill me than I am going to make it worth his time. I realize what kind of person I'm dealing with when I bite down onto his hand and instead of doing what a normal human being would, he moans - he fucking moans - and pushes his pelvis further into the cushion that is my ass. Not seconds later warm air is fanning my cheek and ear.
"Go ahead, Cherry. Bite me as hard as you can, break the skin, make me bleed. None of that shit makes me mad. What makes me mad is you leaving the motel room without any god damn thing on under this t-shirt and running away to God knows where."
I don't move because even though I don't mind dying for my cause I don't want to have the pain linger either. I was thinking a nice, clean bullet would do, not hours of torture or worse. The cold of the ground is seeping through my shirt and I'm starting to shake but I don't know if I'm too cold or because I failed to get away from Psycho.
"Do you know how mad I would have been if something happened to you? If somebody had taken you or tried to hurt you? I would have set this damned town on fire and slaughtered everybody that got in my way until I had you back." He stands and pulls me up with him. His grip on my arm is unbreakable but I have to run away and being out here might be my last chance at freedom.
I don't think about what I'm about to do so he doesn't sense it coming. I rear back and hit before he can stop me, but it is just surprise that causes him not to be ready for my punch. Still, it is enough of a shock that he releases his hold on me long enough to take off running for the trees again. This time I make it inside the very edge of them before his arms wrap around my waist and lifts me off the ground. I have no leverage this time and can't get a good enough grasp on anything that would help me break away from him but he has to set me down sometime and I will most definitely be ready to fight as soon as I am able.
"I thought you realized we were on the same side when I killed the man who took Noel from you." Oh yeah, cause nothing says stable like a corpse as a gift. I arch my back to see if I can shock him into letting me go again but this time the element of surprise is gone. "Oh baby, I don't want to spend the first half of our married life having to tranq you or tie you to a bed" his voice dips lower before continuing, "unless you ask me to, then I would gladly tie you down any damn where you want me to."
"Hey, what are you doing to that woman? Are you okay, lady?" Both of us turn to look at a man out walking his dog by the tree line. The concern on his face is genuine and he starts to walk closer to us.
"If you don't want an innocent man to die then I suggest you play along, otherwise he dies. I will not allow anything or anyone to take you from me. Not even for a little bit of time." Our eyes meet and all I can see in his are truth and promises. He's not bluffing. My heart kicks up into my throat as I try to thank of another way to escape. I can't let someone who was only trying to help me be hurt. I just can't.
As soon as my feet touch the ground I turn into Psycho and hide my face in his chest waiting on the perfect moment.
"Ma'am, are you alright?"
"No," the big body underneath my hands tense up, "I could just die from embarrassment but other than I am fine." I turn to the man with a smile on my face and hope to God he can't tell any part of my story doesn't add up. "This big jerk told me it would be okay to come out and...um...well, he said we wouldn't be seen or heard by anyone and, um...clearly he was wrong." I switch from blushing and stammering to offended dignity that has the stranger sold on the story I'm pushing.
Thank God. Psycho's arm twines around my waist and pulls me back to him tighter. When I look back I can tell by the way he's standing in the shadows and not moving around much that he is being as inconspicuous as a freaking huge bear of a man can be. I also spot a thin line of blood running from his lip that I must have split that is going to kill my cover story if I don't think of a way to get rid of it. Probably shouldn't use the word kill right now either.
Right now the guy is blushing and looking anywhere but at us. That will change soon I imagine and if he sees the blood I don't think I can sell the same story to him. When I see his head start to come up I do the only thing I can think of to cover up the blood. I push up on my tiptoes and pull on Psycho's neck, sending a quick prayer to heaven that he will just go with me on what I am about to do. When he bends down enough that I can reach him I lean forward and lick him, taking the line of coppery blood up with my tongue.
From a lick to something that is supposed to be a French kiss, or at least look like that is what we are doing to the stranger. It backfires on me when his tongue brushes up against mine, causing me to gasp and try to pull away from him. He lingers for a second more before he lets me go and I turn back to look at the stranger trying to save me. This guy will never understand how close he almost came to dying today.
The fact that I have the taste of Psycho in my m
outh is also not an okay thing. It makes me feel weird and off balance and I don't like it at all. It fucks with my equilibrium and makes it that much harder to pull this off. It also makes my body tense and moisture seep out of me. What the hell is wrong with me? Is Psycho starting to rub off on me and now I have a kink for blood?
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I was young once myself. My Betty and I are going on almost thirty years of marriage this October. You are American, right?"
Well, that has me stopping what I was going to say. In fact, I can't think of another thing to say other than where the hell am I. A rumble from behind me clues me in that Psycho is picking up the story where I left off.
"Up for our honeymoon. How did you know?"
"Oh, you two have the look about you. The one that says forever. Can't stop kissing and touching one another. Just like me and Betty."
I doubt that, sir. Unless Betty was thinking of cutting your dick off and force-feeding it to you in your sleep and you were keeping her knocked out through the whole thing I seriously doubt our situation is anything alike.
"That and I was hoping you all weren't underage since you all were sneaking around to conoodle with one another. Your wife looks awfully young." Both the stranger and Psycho laugh.
It's my turn to blush bright red and try to look anywhere but at the guy. I can't believe I let this stranger think I was going to fuck in the woods and that I had to lick Psycho. What the hell am I doing?
"Well, I'll just be on my way but if the police catch you they might give you some trouble. I'd go farther back in the woods so no one has a public view of you two. Remember, it might be legal to have sex outside in Canada but not if the public can see you." He winks after telling us.
"Canada?" It comes rushing out before I can stop it even though I feel a jab to my side from Psycho. "Canada...," I fish around for something to say since the guy is starting to look worried again, "is so beautiful. One of the reasons we came up here was to... be in nature. Naturally. Thank you for telling us of a better place." I shut up and turn myself back into Psycho's chest to hide again.