by Eva K. More
Dancing, wearing short skirts, being out late, and worst of all – lying to them about all those things.
“I know they are,” Andrea said. “But it’s progress that you finally see that life is not all about being careful.” The waiter arrived with their bill, and they paid for their drinks.
Kat pushed her wallet into her purse. “They are just careful because of my mother.” That was what she always told her friends, that was what her grandparents alleged when berating her for doing something they didn’t like.
“Your mom died in an accident, nobody can prevent those,” Lorry said, always the voice of reason.
Of course, she agreed, an accident couldn’t be prevented, but Kat’s grandparents had undoubtedly tried to minimize the risk. Just in case.
If they knew she was still in the city center at this time of the night, they would probably have a heart attack.
The girls then went out of the restaurant and crossed the street, walking to the taxi stand. There was only one cab, and as they were headed in different directions, Kat told her friends to take it; after all, the way to her home was much shorter.
Andrea looked concerned for a moment because even if she was the most carefree of the three, she knew that they needed to be careful in the city, especially at night, but Kat wasn’t afraid to walk the streets at this hour. So, deciding that this was the best decision anyway, the girls parted ways, and Kat waved them goodbye. Once the car was out of sight, Kat started walking home.
Her new self wasn’t about to stop the change from progressing just because the sky had gotten dark. Her grandparents had always forbidden her from visiting the city at night.
There were still some people milling around, minding their own business. Besides, her flat was a mere twenty-minute walk from here. No need to call a cab for this short trip. This way, she could also free her mind from her jumbled thoughts.
No matter how much she wanted to forget the man who had so smoothly shot the wits out of her brain with just his presence, she just couldn’t get him out of her mind. Thinking about him made her tingle in all the right places, and her heart started beating like a drum.
She felt bewitched ever since opening her eyes and catching that glimmer of lust in that stranger’s eyes. Was that possibly love at first sight? No way. She spent her entire life inside a golden cage, that’s true, but she wasn’t stupidly naïve. So it definitely was lust.
Lust at first sight. How poetic.
Kat frowned at the thought. At least it had been a severe case of lust on her part, but what about him? He had looked at her with a smoldering gaze, walked up to her… And then he had turned and walked away.
Had he found her somehow lacking up close? Had he seen that she had been entirely out of his league? Not only had he been older, but he had had that aura of supreme male authority, a token of his experience in life.
In comparison, she was a toddler. Why would a man like him be interested in a simple girl like her?
At that moment, someone ran past Kat and bumped her with their shoulder. The guy didn’t offer an apology and continued running. Startled out of her reverie, she realized, with surprise, that she had walked down a street she had never been to before.
She had been so absorbed with her thoughts that she had taken the wrong way home.
The streets were more deserted here, and Kat stood alone on the sidewalk. It didn’t perturb her, but she still searched her bag for her pepper spray – just for good measure. Unfortunately, the device seemed to be stuck at the bottom of her purse, and when she yanked it out, her favorite lip balm fell down the dirty street and rolled around the corner into a small alley.
With a silent curse, Kat moved forward and crouched down to pick up the small tube.
A sudden cracking sound captured her attention and she snapped her head up. At the end of the alley, amid two big, overflowing waste containers, three men were standing. The light of the streetlamp wasn’t bright enough for her to see their faces, but the dark atmosphere reminded her of a crime scene in a movie.
Then she heard that sound again. Widening her eyes in shock, she watched one of the men, small in height but with a rounded belly, fall back against the brick wall of the building. Goosebumps appeared on Kat’s skin when she heard the gurgling sound he made.
The man facing her was maniacally laughing while the third one, a hooded man whose back she could only see, and who seemed to be the largest one of them, didn’t move an inch.
When she caught a glimpse of the object that the large man was holding in his hand, she gasped. With sudden clarity, she realized what she had just witnessed. The small, round man slid down the wall in a mass of bloody limbs. He had just been shot. And if his frozen wide-eyed expression, the blood oozing from his mouth, and the two growing stains on his upper torso were any indication, then he had been shot dead.
Panicking, she managed to stand up, but her bag fell to the ground with a loud ‘thud.’ At that moment, both men turned to watch her. It felt like an out of body experience, as if she was inside a dark nightmare. She couldn’t see the hooded one’s face, but she felt the atmosphere change. Dread settled in the pit of her stomach.
The charged silence continued for a few precious seconds.
“Beast!”
The hooded man turned his whole body in her direction, and she knew she had to run. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t seen their faces or that she didn’t understand why she had witnessed that brutal murder; it only mattered that Kat had been somewhere she shouldn’t have been.
Kat didn’t think about her bag or the direction she was running to; she just pushed her legs forward, away from the danger behind her. It was like suddenly the people that were on the streets disappeared without her noticing it, there were no open shops and nobody to help her.
Blindly she was running past several blocks, pushing her leg muscles to their maximum. Her breath quickened in exasperation, it felt like she had been running for an eternity, but it could only have been mere minutes, and when she turned around, the hooded man seemed much closer than she had thought.
Pure adrenaline was running through her veins, but deep down, she knew that she still wasn’t fast enough.
Rounding a few corners, she looked back once again and felt a sudden rush of relief when she saw nobody else. Still, out of breath, she decided to hover behind a parked minivan. Had this just happened to her? Was this what her grandparents had always warned her about? At this moment, she wished she had followed her Baba’s rules.
Desperately pulling air into her lungs, she leaned back on the cold surface of the vehicle. Nothing had ever prepared her for a situation like this.
Kat tried to still her breathing for a moment and listen to the sounds surrounding her. When she was satisfied with the silence, she straightened and moved out of her hiding spot, only for two strong arms to wrench her back into a hard chest.
“Now, now. What do we have here?” One of the men she had seen was standing right in front of her.
Up close, she could see the small splatters of blood on his grey suit and the sinister grin on his face. Even without the darkness of the night, he would have looked evil, she was sure. There was no warmth in his beady eyes, and his teeth looked as sharp as broken glass.
Realizing the hooded man must have been the one holding her, she thrashed around, trying to free herself out of his tight grip. The moment she opened her mouth to scream, blinding pain erupted in her cheek and made her gulp in shock.
The sleazy guy had slapped her hard and was now holding her chin in a painful grip. His face seemed too sleek for a man his age and his nose too big for his gaunt cheeks. The thin lips were pulled back in an unattractive sneer.
“Shut up, you little slut!” little drops of saliva landed on her face, and the disgusting smell of his breath assaulted her senses.
Kat’s shoulders hurt, and her vision blurred. She had never been talked to so rudely or slapped.
The man let go of her face, but
not before slapping her other cheek. Kat swallowed her cry. She will not show them her fear.
And she was terrified.
“That’s a good girl. Now-” he pulled her head up by her hair, “What’s a girl like you doing here in the middle of the night? Didn’t your daddy tell you that it’s dangerous?”
Kat felt the man behind her tense. Bile was rising in her throat, so she clamped her mouth shut. When he yanked on her hair harder, she moaned in pain.
“Answer me, bitch!” Kat was sure that the headache, along with the fear, was going to make her pass out. The worst part was that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to wake up again.
“Please…” she mumbled hoarsely. “I didn’t… I didn’t see anything.” Shameful tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes. She didn’t want to appear weak, but her mind was succumbing to the violent pressure.
The man before her straightened with a haughty laugh. “Did you hear that, Beast?” It was a rhetorical question, aiming to ridicule her. “What exactly did you not see?” He put his hand on his pointy chin, mocking a thoughtful gesture. “You mean, us killing that motherfucker?” the man said, with a new condescending tone.
Kat’s answer was a painful sob. Was that how her life would end? Her rumpled hair fell in front of her eyes when she collapsed; her body supported by the agonizing grip of the man behind her.
“Ah.” The man in front of her sighed deeply. “So how should we end her, Beast?”
With a spurt of newfound strength, she turned her head to face the man in question. She didn’t want to die, but even without having a chance of survival, she at least wanted to look her murderer in the face. The boss was a weasel, but maybe his muscle had some shred of humanity.
The dim light and hoodie shadowed his eyes, but what Kat could perceive of the rest of his face made her whimper in fear. It was too much, and she started to feel her body going limp.
The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was a silver skull.
***
The man stood in the shadows, grimacing as his call went through.
“Yes,” the voice on the other side answered curtly. He was always like this; he never liked to be disturbed, especially during business hours.
“Ivo has her.” There was nothing else to say; it was better to rip it like a Band-Aid.
“Her? Who are you talking about?” He waited for a moment until the severity of his words settled in. “Her?” The older man repeated with an alarmed tone.
The man in the shadows winced and massaged his forehead, feeling a significant headache pounding behind his eyes. “Yes.”
“Are you sure?” it was as if he didn’t want to accept the facts.
“Fuck, yes.” Of course, he was sure. His hands were still shaking with anger and disbelief. Talking about bad luck…
From all the women in the city, it HAD to be HER.
“How is…” the younger man heard the quiver in the older man’s voice, “Is she unharmed?” this was the first time in many years that he had perceived a touch of fear in it.
He swallowed. “For the moment.” He couldn’t bring himself to say he witnessed Ivo slapping her hard. Just thinking about it made his blood boil.
“Jesus.” It was a silent prayer. “How in god’s name could this happen?”
“I’m not sure… some sort of unfortunate coincidence.” What else could he say? He couldn’t delve too much in the why and how. What he needed to do now was to find a way to fix it.
“For fuck’s sake! Have you lost your mind?” now the fear was replaced by rage, which was expected.
The younger one sighed and rubbed his chest. “I know,” he growled. “I’m sorry, Maryan, I swear I don’t know how it could have happened. But I will get her out.”
“Just fucking pop that motherfucker! Why didn’t you do it anyway?” Maryan was furious.
Truthfully, that had been his first instinct. But when the first wave of mindless anger had subsided, he had remembered his priority: vengeance. And also, the multitude of lives at stake.
Running a hand through his hair in exasperation, he tried to reason with the older man. “If I do this, then everything we did up until now will be lost,” he said gravely. “We’re not ready to lose Ivo yet.” Then, with a much softer voice, he repeated his earlier words: “I’m sorry.”
An eerie silence followed the younger man’s statement. He knew that he had put Maryan in the worst situation ever, but there was no other way, and he knew that the older man would see the importance of their current mission.
“Fine,” Maryan conceded finally, but with a sharp note in his voice. “See that you get her out unharmed, or else.” He let the threat hang.
The man in the shadows didn’t need a reminder about the gravity of the situation. There was a lot at stake. He knew he needed to find a way out of this mess as soon as possible.
And it was his fault. All of the shit that happened mere hours ago was his fault. And yet… he balled his free hand into a fist. Why couldn’t she have stayed put like the good little girl she was supposed to be?
He had been stuck with the monotony of the last years, believing that her daily rituals were a sure thing. That’s what had been reported to him.
It’s not like he didn’t want to keep an eye on her.
Her angelic features were everything he ever wanted to look at. But he should have been more attentive to the changes in her attitude than the effect her vibrant smile had on him.
He should have known disaster was waiting just around the corner. He had thought, though, that he would have been the most significant threat in her life.
“Keep me updated,” Maryan said. “And don’t disappoint me!” The younger man gritted his teeth when the call ended. If there were one person on earth he would not want to disappoint, that was Maryan.
He just hoped that whatever he needed to do for the girl would not work against his plans.
hrobbing pain in her head was what woke her up from a dreamless sleep. Kat fought to keep her stomach steady when she tasted a metallic flavor in her mouth, and pain blazed across different parts of her body.
Within a few seconds, she realized that she was slumped over a cold, hard surface. When she opened her eyes, a blinding light overwhelmed her senses, so she cradled her head protectively with her hands while moaning.
Every limb was heavy and aching.
Memories of dark alleys and monsters filled her mind. Before she could fully grasp what had happened to her, she saw the figure leaning on the wall opposite her and widened her eyes in disbelief. She could hear her spiking pulse.
The tall man wore a short-sleeved shirt and had his arms crossed in front of his chest, emphasizing his enormous bulging biceps. Dark tattoos made his arms appear even more ominous. His midnight-black hair was matted from wearing the hood, and startlingly intense eyes were watching her calmly.
The scariest part was the half mask covering the rest of his face – including his nose – in the form of a silver skull.
Terrified, suppressing a shudder, she remembered everything that had happened before she fainted – the murder of a man in an alley, the horrid man with the thin face slapping her and threatening to kill her, and then, turning around and looking straight into the face of death.
A glance confirmed her lousy feeling; she was in a small room without windows, illuminated by a bright lamp that cast a white light on the ugly grey walls. The metal table and chair she was sitting on were the only furniture in the room.
Obviously, her captors had deemed her too weak and pliable and hadn’t bothered with restraints. Looking back up, she bitterly thought that she would not have a sliver of a chance if she dared to challenge her situation.
Kat silently prayed as she watched the masked man observe her with calm coolness. She wasn’t a religious person, but at this moment, she prayed that whatever dreadful plan the men had for her would not be as bad as what her mind was coming up with.
She had always been a
rather creative person, and the depths of her mind conjured up the most devastating scenarios.
The ugly man had called this one ‘Beast.’ His size alone would have intimidated her, but the shiny, silver skull covering the lower part of his face added a dark nuance to his already menacing aura.
With a gaze as cold and eerie as a wolf’s, he looked like a beast.
Kat flinched when he pulled away from the wall and started walking up to her. He carried himself in a confident, silent way, sauntering over to her like he was the owner of the air she breathed. Something was disconcerting in his eyes, a hidden intelligence behind hard all-seeing orbs. She had never met someone who could say so much without uttering a single word.
You are doomed.
Well, shit; was all that Kat could think. Still, Kat realized she was alive now. Whatever the reason, they hadn’t killed her. Yet.
Despite her growing fear, she tried to calm herself down.
Beast stopped right in front of her, and Kat shivered in terror but kept her eyes locked on his. She felt a wave of hostile anger radiating off him, evident in the crease on his forehead and his tense muscles. She couldn’t move her eyes from his intense gaze, too afraid to miss any movement that might indicate her last breath.
The uncomfortable silence was disturbed by the sudden opening of the door. Kat jerked but didn’t turn her head. She gulped when she saw the ugly man stop next to Beast. If it weren’t for his fierce eyes, Ugly would look almost harmless, and definitely small with Beast by his side. His beady orbs gleamed feverishly, like a snake sizing up a mouse.
“Sleeping beauty is finally awake.” The man grinned ominously. In the harsh light, he appeared even more disagreeable with his sleazy, combed back hair and polished suit that hung loosely on his thin frame. “Beast here didn’t scare you, did he?”
Her wide, terrified eyes darted between the two figures in front of her. The man in question unmoving, his hard gaze unwavering.
