by Levi Fuller
I nod. “Good.”
“When do you think—”
“Hard to be sure. Two, maybe three nights from now. And remember, don't come back here. He will get suspicious, as will his dealer.”
She nods again, more vigorously than before as the idea of tipping James off spikes fear through her blood.
I check my watch. “You'd better get going, before they wonder why you took so long to pay.”
“Right. Of course. Thanks. See you afterwards, I guess.”
I nod and shoo her out the door. Her bike roars to life and then fades away up the trail.
I shake my head. “I will see you again, but you won't see me.”
I begin to pull down the scene I had painstakingly created, returning the hut to normal. I step back into the glorious spring day and turn to leave. I don't like to leave my prey alone, but I can’t have any doubt cast on my whereabouts. Besides, the lady who wanted the lamps would be at the Bistro soon.
The pressure spikes in agitation as I leave. “Patience. Their time is nearly up. Besides, I need to collect the rest of Brent's special present of eight-legged friends before the hunt can begin.”
****
Violet rubbed her eyes. These psych files were all beginning to meld together and the epiphany she had almost had down in the Freezer had not returned.
“You should take a break.”
She looked over at Dhillan where he sat, evidence reports spread around him.
She returned his smile. “Did you get anywhere with the John Doe?”
His smile faded. “I got a hit from finger prints. Looks like he went off grid five years ago when he lost his job and everything else swiftly afterwards.”
“You mean he was homeless?”
“Yeah, though no one local seems to recognize him. Mark sent the twins up to Charleston to see if anyone there recognizes him.”
Violet sighed. It wasn't likely and even if they did, they weren't likely to be of any help.
She narrowed her eyes. “If he is not local, what the hell was he doing up in Kanawha Forest?”
Dhillan shrugged and pulled a file closer. “I don't know. But I do know that I am sick of this. Sick of finding bodies with no usable leads. This can't all be coincidence. We have to stop this.”
She met his gaze and nodded. “I know. Why the hell do you think I'm here, reading bland psych reports until I've gone cross-eyed?”
Dhillan chuckled, took a quick peek over his shoulder then leaned in to kiss her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking past him when his lips released hers.
He chuckled again, then picked up a file and began to read.
Violet shook her head at him, but couldn't resist the smile that curled her lips.
****
I watch the teenagers walk off towards a spot I had marked on the map I had given Nikki. They should be gone at least two hours. Plenty of time for my purposes. I head back to the disused ranger’s station and start collecting the spiders in their small containers, putting them on a cart I can wheel up to the campsite by hand.
I listen to the birds singing, enjoying the spring day. The pressure in my head throbs, a sure warning sign that even with my mini hunt over the winter, I am pushing my own limits in waiting so long for this one. It never used to build this fast. But pleasure can also be amplified through denial and I know, with every aching throb, that this hunt will feel glorious.
I look at the small arrangement of tents. They have three. The double one, shared by James and Nikki, a single for Brent and a heavy duty one they are using to store their supplies.
I head to the heavy duty tent and smile. This will be where it happens, where the beginning of this hunt will be.
My heart beats faster as I enter the tent and begin emptying the containers. The spiders stir feebly as I place them around the items near the back of the tent. They have been essentially knocked out by me carefully lowering the temperature around them. A few may have died, but I smile at the rest, more than enough to trigger extreme fear in an arachnophobe.
Pleased with my work, I step back outside, sealing the zipper tightly behind me. The warm weather will wake the spiders soon and I don't want any escapees. I take a marker and leave a red 'x' on the tent, knowing that Nikki has been on the lookout for it. The last item I have brought with me is a large package of food. The prearranged signal James has been waiting for. I leave it by the fire pit, but in plain view of the trail they'll be coming back in on. I can't risk anyone using the tent before nightfall.
I take the cart and return to the ranger's hut. There, I fill it up with the few remaining things from my faux sting operation. In the empty room, only one thing remains, a new full-body black suit.
My heart races in anticipation and my head feels ready to explode.
“Just a few more hours,” I tell myself, heading out into the sunshine and down to wear I parked my motorbike.
****
“What are you doing here?”
Violet looked up at Mark and shrugged, hoisting the psych file she was reading in answer.
He shook his head. “It's a Saturday. Shouldn't you be relaxing?”
She cocked her head to the side. “I could say the same thing about you.”
Mark shook his head. “Nah. I'm old, all my long-time friends are back in Tennessee and I've never married.” He glanced around the meeting room. “Where's Dr Chais? I wouldn't have thought the man would be able to stay away.”
Violet threw her pen at his head then sighed. “Dhillan and Kareena have gone to visit their aunt for the weekend.”
“Ah. And Dr Mavros?”
Violet shrugged. “Not here either, as far as I know.”
Mark watched her rifle through the pages for a moment longer then crossed his arms. “Enough of this. You're becoming a little obsessed.”
Violet met his eyes, a retort at the ready.
“I know why it is important to you, rookie, but you'll burn yourself out. Come on, let's go grab a bite to eat.”
Violet gave her mentor a half-smile and placed the folder down. “All right. You are probably right anyway. I need to give it some space.”
He nodded and then led the way out of the Hut.
13
The night is perfect. I can see a million stars and the creatures of the forest all fall silent as I pass by, dark and stealthy as the moonlit shadows. I hear them before I see them. James is telling Brent a crude joke, laughing over the crackling flames.
I pause in the deepest black of the tree line. My hunt will begin when each player has taken their place. The pressure in my head blinds me momentarily as I wait, forcing me to wrestle with it. Taking command of the urge to simply rush in to their pool of light and slaughter them where they sit, I continue my vigil.
“Hey, baby, what is the time?”
Nikki looks down at her watch obediently. “Just before 9.”
James smiles. “I'm gonna go for a walk. Don't follow me. Okay?”
Nikki nods and Brent huffs a sigh, even as he agrees.
“See you later.”
We all watch James collect the backpack he has never let leave his side and a torch, then disappear into the treeline opposite me. The place he thinks he is meeting his dealer is half an hour from here, far enough that he won't hear anything.
I look back to the fire where Brent is watching Nikki, a longing in his eyes. I smile. She'll have no trouble convincing him to go into the tent.
After twenty minutes or so, just when the pressure in my head is threatening to break through my control, Nikki stands and stretches, the move pulling her crop top high enough that the bottom of her bra is visible.
“Brent?”
He looks away from her chest and up to her face with some difficulty. “Yeah?”
“Will you come with me?”
I feel my heart rate spike and my blood begin to tingle as the adrenaline surge courses through me.
This is it.
Brent offers no argument and asks no questions, his face eager as he follows her to the tent I had marked with an 'X'.
As soon as they step inside, I am off, out of the tree line and straight to the tent on silent feet. I take the lock I brought with me and clip the zipper to the base.
Then I move back, just a little, to wait.
****
Brent watched Nikki shut the tent behind them and felt his heart begin to race. He had wanted her as long as he could remember, but she was with James and no one dared to take what was his. So he had left it to her. If she made the first move, he would follow through and somehow they'd find a way to lose James.
“Nikki, I—”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then we can't leave here, okay?”
He felt his desire falter. “Why? What's going on?”
She shook her head, looking like she was listening hard.
“Nikki, what did you do?”
“It wasn't me. The police contacted me. They'll take him away Brent. For good, this time, that’s what she told me. I'll be free. We'll be free.”
Brent felt the heat course through his body at her words and moved to the back of the tent, trying to spot a suitable place for them to make the most of their wait.
****
Brent's scream is like a shot of pure bliss. It hits my mind and punctures the painful pressure. His terror is making him nearly incoherent, Nikki's words of comfort having no effect.
I watch, unable to contain my laugh as he tries to yank up the zipper to escape the spiders he disturbed.
“Is someone there?”
His plea is so desperate that I relish in it for a moment, even as Nikki begins to sob. My smile turns feral as he speaks again.
“Please! Let me out!”
I step right up to the tent, to the place his head is pressing on the side, his hands shaking as his small pocket knife has no effect on the tough fabric.
“Kill her.”
His hands remain still, even as his panicked breathing never slows.
“Kill her and I will free you.”
He screams again and I feel the urge to congratulate whichever of my eight-legged companions did such a good job at punctuating my demand.
I hear him step back, his apology strangled by a fear so intense reason has long since fled.
“Brent, don't, stop. Look, I'll kill the spiders okay? Brent? Brent! Don't! Please!”
Her fear is even sweeter than his. It isn't blind terror, like his, it is the sound of a fragile thing breaking, of her hope in this boy, her fear of losing his imagined protection, all shatter her heart. I can imagine the look on his face, the lack of any emotion but the all consuming desire to escape.
Her pleas turn into screams of pain and I laugh again, moving towards the sounds. The fabric begins to darken, blood creating an arch on the inside.
“She's dead! Let me out! Let me out!”
“No.”
Brent's words become incoherent again as his panic heightens.
I sit and listen, my eyes locked on the blood stain as it spreads, absorbed by the softer inside of the tent.
I shut my eyes, riding the waves of delight as he screams and begs. The sound of a body hitting the floor reached my ears and I stand, moving over to unlock the zip.
I unveil the scene and grin beneath my fabric mask. The inside of the tent is covered in Nikki's blood. Brent is on the floor, unconscious, fear having pushed his body too far. His hand is still wrapped around his bloodied knife. Carefully, I raise it, still in his fist, and slice his neck. Then I turn to the girl's corpse. She still has one final act in tonight's hunt, although I'll only need her head. As their blood mingles, I step back outside.
The waves of release flood through me, then begin to build up to a pending crescendo. There is still one more to hunt.
****
James sighed and shifted his feet. A while ago he thought he might have heard a noise, a distant scream, maybe. He'd dismissed it as a fox cry.
Where was his dealer?
He had been glad when he had been messaged. It was the first time since he'd gotten out of prison. He hadn't ratted on them, so there wasn't any reason for them to be mad, or so he told himself over and over.
Footsteps sounded from his left and he turned towards them, squaring his shoulders and adopting the alpha male stance that had saved him more than once in lock-up.
“What the hell took you so long, man?”
****
I watch his face pass through several emotions as his torch beam falls on me. Confusion, anger, then cocky smugness. No fear.
Not yet, anyway.
“Oh, hey. I wasn't expecting a babe. What's with the get up? Do you have the money?”
I remove my hands from behind my back and toss Nikki's severed head at his feet. He gives a strangled yelp and stumbles back. I feel my heart pounding in delight as fear leaves it mark all over his face, even as he splutters curses and bravado.
Not going to run? He is braver than I thought.
I move my hand to the sheath at the small of my back and release my hunting dagger, the gently curved blade glittering in the moonlight.
“You think that little needle is enough to scare me, you freaking bitch?”
I give him a mirthless laugh and then begin a slow stalk towards him. I watch his alpha male facade crumble, his eyes drawn inexorably back to the head lying at his feet.
I watch him turn tail and race into the woods.
Not brave enough.
My blood roars in triumph as I give chase. He is following the path I planned, the one on the map that showed an active ranger’s station just across the river.
I laugh into the night as the sounds of our footsteps get lost in the sound of rushing water from the swollen stream.
I stop a few strides short of my target as he scrambles back from the steep bank. His eyes are frantic as they search for a bridge that doesn't exist.
Those eyes, so much like my uncles, zero in on me and for a moment, I am facing him down again, making him pay slowly for every vile thing he did, for taking my sister from me.
The moment passes as he turns to keep me in sight, his back now to the water. I watch the shadows above him swell in alarm. He fears the water, fears drowning in its depths.
He squares his shoulders, readying for a fight now that he can no longer flee.
Adrenaline fires through my body and I dart in and out, making a series of deep cuts along his arms, torso and back. His fighting skills are pitiful, the sort that would only ever work against an opponent who knew nothing of combat.
He bellows in fear-fueled rage and lunges at me. I take the opening and swivel in behind him, slashing my honed blade just above the backs of his knees.
Hamstrings severed, he collapses like an unstrung puppet, screaming for mercy.
“Please,” he begs in a broken voice as I close in again, “take the drugs. Just leave me alive.”
I clean off my blade on his shirt as his body reels in pain, then I sheathe it.
He sighs in relief and I laugh at his stupidity. How can he actually believe that I would set him free?
I grab his lower arm and deliver I hard kick to his upper arm. He screams again as his the bone snaps.
I crouch down in front of the whimpering boy. “This was a good hunt.”
He looks up at me, his eyes clouded by a haze of pain, fear and confusion.
I roll him slowly towards the edge of the bank and he begins to try to fight me off again, his fear piquing as he realizes my intentions.
But his legs won't obey his commands, and his dominant arm is broken.
“Don't!”
His scream comes too late as I give one final shove. I hear the splash as his body hits the deep waters. All the way back through the woods I play out the scene I imagine of him losing the battle against the rushin
g water, his eyes, the ones that were his curse, going dim as the light leaves them.
14
“What the hell is wrong with this place?”
“Keep it together, Detective Turner.”
Violet stepped to Mark's side as the forensic team pulled the bloated body from the river.
Dhillan met her eyes and she saw her anger mirrored back. They had to be right. Nowhere could have this much bad luck. There had to be something more going on here.
“Dr Chais, any preliminaries for us to follow up?”
Dhillan came over, shaking his head. “No. The body has been in the water for at least two weeks. With the heavy snow melt, I doubt he fell in anywhere near here.”
Mark and Violet both sighed, him in defeat and her in frustration.
“Any ID?” Violet asked
“Yeah.” Dhillan glanced at Violet, his eyes sad. “He's one of the missing kids Boone County Police called in about.”
“To hell.”
“Zip it, rookie.”
Dhillan looked back at his team. “I'll get you a report as soon as possible.”
Mark nodded and Violet watched Dhillan bite his lip. “Do you think the other two are in there?”
He met her eyes then sighed. “If not in the water, then here in Kanawha County, yes.”
Mark heaved another bellowing sigh. “We'll get Dr Mavros in on it. If you can get us some idea of where the body may have fallen in, we'll ask her to try and give some good areas to target.”
Violet nodded eagerly, Dhillan following suit more reluctantly.
Violet and Mark took their leave to go and question the fisherman that had had the misfortune of discovering the body.
****
We’re standing in Kareena's room, each wearing a VR headset. I’m not normally called in to meetings like this, but apparently Mark wanted me here, backed by my new best friend, Violet.
