by Tiana Laveen
A fairly normal room, except there was one cold spot—his nightstand drawer, filled with blue light and neatly cut ice. It was a deep freezer, and she was amazed by the beauty of the glowing ice, almost like sapphires and indigo diamonds. The bathroom was completely ice blocked and sterile, the whiteness blinding. The odor of fresh bleach made her blink, her eyes watered and her nose suddenly felt slightly congested.
What were you bleaching so much? Evidence? Did you kill someone in here?
She made her way back out into the hallway and pulled on several doors that were electronically locked.
Hmmm, why are these locked? What are you hiding?
Removing her torque, she began to work on one of the shut doors, her wrist moving at lightning speed and her curiosity zooming even faster.
****
Xzion fisted his twitching hand, sickened with queasy anger. He didn’t think it was possible to get madder than he had been earlier that evening. The damn cop woman forced him to play her little game, go on foot to the bus stop for his kill, then drag his tired body back home only to see, as soon as he pulled up, that someone had been in his house...or was still inside. The blue back-up lights lit flooded the rooms, clearly visible from the outside. Nothing around him seemed suspicious—no strange cars and disruption to the outer perimeter...until he looked closer and saw the size 9 shoe imprints in the snow. Snow always told secrets. It had a really big mouth and even with snow shoes, it was hard to cover. It kept excellent records, and until the sun and heat came, it would tell the world your every move, with or without your consent.
He removed a gun from his jacket and made his way closer, each step swift and determined. Standing by the front door, flooded with an angry bilious sea in the pit of his twisted stomach, he observed that it wasn’t broken down in the least... and was still locked. He cocked his head to the side, his adrenaline rushing as he made his way to the side of his home...and there it was...the lock had been removed. He looked around again and saw no one, then quietly entered the beacon of light that had become his first ‘welcome home’ warning.
He entered the living room. Nothing looked out of place, but he knew better. He kept his eyes focused and his ears tuned as he pulled out several drawers, immediately noticing the missing materials. Smirking, he shook his head and kept going.
They won’t be able to read or understand it...nice try though...
The hall bath and several other rooms, including the kitchen, were empty, but the alarm had been disabled. He clicked his gun, and the sound echoed throughout the room as his heart rate accelerated, not due to fear but because he hoped it wasn’t her...
****
Jayme seized the moment, blending in with the indigo light as her entire form strobed under the now pulsating, luminescent room that resembled an odd stark white and slate steel decorated science lab. Bubbling crimson concoctions, long clear test tubes with unknown substances and bleeping computers greeted her with their eerie strangeness... so many computers in the cold room, doing strange things. The temperature made her feel as if her blood would freeze mid-stream in her veins. She carefully began to pace the large room, judiciously taking note of the blinking green and black screens and becoming increasingly agitated at the buzzing noise in the chamber. One apparatus moved up and down as air suctioned back and forth, like a blood pressure machine on hydraulics. Much to her surprise, she had absolutely no idea what she was looking at. Prodigious and disturbing, at least she was relieved to not see any human body parts floating about, discarded murder messes or cadaver debris. But then again, why would she? If he was the killer, he wasn’t known for keeping trophies or tumbling into the pitfalls of irresponsible sloppiness. Matter of fact, he had been surgically clean about his kills, until he began to scribe messages on their bodies, and everyone understood them loud and clear, minus the mysterious ‘star’ burnt into poor Owen’s flesh...
She walked toward a translucent liquid filled cylinder with cerise droplets in it that reminded her of suspended blood in clear, liquefied stop animation. She peered closer and removed her cellphone, prepared to take photos of the area before heading to another part of the room hidden by a partition with a heavy steel bar across the threshold. She snapped, back to back... *click*
Damn flash.
Too bright. She was sure it had caused the entire scene to be white washed and she’d have to redo it. Quickly reviewing the shots, looking closely at the detail, she made sure she had gotten visual documentation of the hard to capture glass... then she paused when something caught her eye. She zoomed in to full capacity on one of the photos.
She stared at it, noticing a tall, dark reflection in the clear canister. Her heart sank deep into the pit of her belly as her anxiety skyrocketed. Before she could spin around, her gun in tow, all she could do was muster a stunted scream that pitifully escaped her gaping mouth, silenced when a large hand covered her lips. She slid into his firm grasp as everything went black, floating into the peculiar, hazy world of complete unconsciousness...
CHAPTER FIVE
Xzion leaned casually against the table, his jean covered legs relaxed as he looked at his precious capture from various angles, and deliberated. He’d tossed the make-up soaked towels aside, and was now fully able to appreciate the prize. That was his first rule of thumb right after he tied her up...remove that damn make-up. He was supposed to be planning her death at this very moment, but instead, he was fixated on her, though he wasn’t surprised at his repeated derailment of his own tasks.
His right eye zoomed in on her body, slumped and tied to his dining room chair. Her perfume filled his house with a light, airy sweetness. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared for it, but because it was a part of her, something that had been on her flesh, as he wished to be, he found himself drawn to it—envying the fragrance for being allowed to be so close to her. He softly patted his lips, recalling how he raked them over her neck as she fell into his arms once he removed the chloroform soaked cloth from her nostrils. Turning, he slowly walked over to his small radio, jamming the ‘On’ button. Gwen Stefani came on, singing, ‘Luxurious’.
He smiled upon recalling hearing the song for the first time while in a club in Cuba, strangling an egotistical man named Juan Ramirez in a filthy restroom dotted with sprayed piss from local drunkards and jerk-off juice from the same undesirable ilk. The Kingpin had attempted to shoot Xzion square in the head and met his demise in the way of three bullets to his own dome, followed by a swift kick to the throat, the last act of violence being simply for Xzion’s own personal satisfaction...
Xzion began to pace back and forth. He picked up a crooked wooden staff he’d chosen in South Africa, patting it against his palm as if it were a baseball bat, and this was his last chance at a home run. He paused, watching her slowly rouse to awareness after two hours of being knocked out cold...
One long, slender leg moved, then the other. Her long dark lashes fluttered. She whined helplessly as she became fully alert, looking to and fro at her bound arms and ankles, her wig hanging half off her head, and in a state of utter confusion.
So pretty...damn...I want you so fucking bad...but I can’t have you. Seems such a waste to kill something so exquisite, so strong, so sweet...if I could just get one tiny kiss before I take your life, you’d make me so...what’s the word? Happy...yeah, that’s it.
He laughed and turned away from her, ignoring her screams as he casually walked over to a hidden panel on the side of the wall. He knew she was watching, and he loved it. He put the house on complete lock down...no way back in or out...
She was trapped.
****
At least an hour had passed, of that was she was certain since she first awoke. He’d left the room and now, he was back. She had drifted back into a deep, woozy sleep, struggling to keep a grasp on reality. Jayme screamed louder, her vision returning as the fuzzy, tall dark image became clearer. He was standing there...his shirt off...wide shoulders, arms ripped, dipped in swirled, threatening dark ink,
and his sheeny, olive skin illuminated—glistening—as each muscle contorted. He briefly turned and faced her again, just long enough for her to see more of his tattoos displayed on his broad back.
She looked at him closer, noticing his jeans and missing shoes and socks. He rubbed on his jaw as he regarded her. The daze still clouded her mind.
Oh Lord, God...
“What are you...going to do with me?” she asked, her voice slurred. She was trying to keep her cool, but her body was already at the point of no return. Goosebumps covered every square inch of her anatomy. She surveyed her wrist—the skin had become ashen under the arctic harshness and cool, ropey restraints.
Xzion turned to her, smiled and glanced down at the floor before looking back up at her. She didn’t like his face. She didn’t like his expression...
He was smiling—smiling while she crumbled inside.
“Well, I think you know the answer to that, Officer Knight.” He huffed and crossed his arms.
“You don’t want to do anything foolish. I’m a cop.” Then she remembered he’d already killed at least two of her kind and more than likely didn’t see her any differently than the ones he’d slayed. For good measure, she kept talking. “And, I’m with the FBI so you better...”
He interrupted her with a boisterous laugh and dismissive wave. “Yeah, I already checked your wallet. I should’ve known they were behind this shit, too chicken shit to come after me themselves, as usual.” He looked down and worked a piece of dirt out from under his thumb nail, his grin even broader. “They always fail, send in a pawn such as yourself.” He sighed and looked back up at her. “I gotta hand it to them though—they are persistent, that is for sure. Can’t say I blame them with all that’s at stake.”
She listened intently, urgently trying to follow his breadcrumb trail of logic.
“Anyway, I’m going to ask you some questions and you better answer me correctly, Officer Knight, or I will make your death painful, so unnecessarily painful,” he said, impassive.
Jayme remained straight-faced, her head still whirling from the drugs in her system.
“I don’t want to make it hurt, I want you to go peacefully, but if you disobey me, then you’ll leave me no choice but to, well,” he shrugged and sighed indifferently, “you’ll see if you try to take me there...” He rose leisurely from the steel table and bent down by her knee, his eyes boring into hers.
Jayme stared back at him. His eyes were drawing her in. It seemed to her that he may be stalling, calling his own bluff. His words were threatening, but something else was there, something she had trouble getting a grasp on in her current state. She hurriedly turned away, feeling like a trapped rat in a cage.
Fuck! Jayme...keep cool. You’ve got to get out of this...you have to...
He grasped her chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing her eyes back toward his. His gaze sparkled too damn much—changing from dark brown to black, dazzling, and then, his expression turned completely mad—insane, crazed and driven, with deep concern mixed in. He sucked in air and pulled back from her as if suddenly in pain.
She glanced down at her ankles. Loose... She jerked, causing the chair to almost tip over as her foot connected with his ribcage.
“Goddamn it!” He lunged for her as she continued to push and shove, beating into his flesh as if she had on twelve inch spiky heels. In the blur of commotion, he grabbed her free legs, pinning them with his hands, and the shit hurt. His powerful grip surprised her, caught her off guard and she heaved a sigh, her ragged breaths escaping in the cool air. She caught his eye, and didn’t care. She wasn’t going down without a fight. Much to her surprise, after a few moments, he started to laugh. The man laughed as if nothing had happened...
“You’re turning me on...” His grin faded into a sneer. He caressed her calf, making her jump and jerk in his steady grasp. “I like that...” Then his gaze narrowed. He trailed his fingertips up and down her leg, slightly tickling the softness of her knee pit.
“You had so many chances to just walk away, but instead, you kept on, trying to solve a mystery, wanting to be important.” He frowned, confusing her, and then, he made her stare even deeper into his eyes—his gaze too damn intense. “Your department doesn’t appreciate your talents, and you finally had your chance, right? Had your opportunity to be a star, to be rewarded for all of your hard work. But you were too blinded by your vocational goals to see what the fuck was really going on here. It’s kinda sad, actually, but that is the way with...people like you.”
Jayme remained quiet, not wanting to provoke his insanity-driven drivel even further. She could see he was stark raving mad—the ice chambers, the strange room full of odd and percolating equipment, the bizarre charts and maps and now this...threatening a cop after being alerted of her affiliations. She had to play this right, no time to come undone—but it perplexed her the way he kept looking her up and down. He was livid, yet his gaze on her was laced with lust and the way he worshipped her legs with his mere touch was crystal clear. She’d dealt with the undercover sex industry too long to not know that look as soon as it reared its horny head. It was the same, all the time.
I could use that...I can use that to my advantage...
****
Xzion’s frustration grew, as well as his erection. She was still too doped up for him to delve inside her psyche, make her obey, crack her open like a walnut and force the woman to talk—spill her guts right there and report the whole truth and nothing but the fucking truth so help her God. God? These people didn’t even know who God really was... Never mind that, but she looked so unbelievably sexy with her thighs parted, exposing her bright red panties as her black skirt rode up her taut thighs. He sucked it all in, every cell of his body delighted by the raunchy display. He looked down into her bursting cleavage. The c-cup mounds rose and fell as her hard nipples strained against the fabric of her shiny shirt.
“You like what you see?” she smiled, breaking his trance.
Xzion swallowed and scowled. Now he knew where he stood with her. She recognized his perverted thoughts, though she couldn’t quote them verbatim—his wayward eyes had led him astray but once again, his dick was the one truly to blame. He was innocent, damn it, but it didn’t matter. The damn thing had sold him out...left him there all alone with nothing but a sex-driven ache below the waist. Now, the woman thought she had a dog in the fight, so he had to set her straight. He quickly got in her face, forcing her to gasp and lean back.
Yeah...a reaction. You were so cool before.I have you just where I want you now, baby...
“You think I’m like so many of the others, like I’m one of your prostitution and pimp undercover operations?” he yelled. “I’m not.”
He watched her sink within herself, pleased he’d put her in her damn place.
“Don’t look so surprised. I know exactly who you are and what you’ve been doing up until this point.” He watched her throat bob up and down as she swallowed, hard, titillating him. Never, in his twenty-eight years, had he ever been so attracted to someone.
“I’m not a fucking john.” He stood tall, shoved his hands in his pockets and sucked his lips. “Sex does not cause me to make fucked up decisions, horrible choices, weaken me. You’re a beautiful woman. So what?” He shrugged, fighting a grin. “I do find you attractive, Officer Knight, but that fact won’t save you. I’m not controlled by... pussy.” He nodded, let the nasty word linger in the air for her to paraglide on. “Tits and ass are everywhere. You of all people should know that.” He put his hands on his waist as he stood with his legs far apart, looking down at her. “You’ve got nothing special.”
He’s lying…
“I’ll make love to you,” she offered, trying to bring him back to her corner of the ring, only he wasn’t fighting, at least not on her level. Her attempts were so apparent, and maybe some horn dog that couldn’t control himself may have fallen for it, but not the kid.
“Is that what you call it? Making love?” He turned away, a
look of disgust on his face. “You mean fucking, right? You’ll let me fuck you? That’s what you meant, as if someone like me,” he pointed to himself, “would fall for that. I’m sure it’s good though.” He winked at her, while her discomfort grew at an exponential rate though she kept her face stiff.
“I’m sure it’s damn good and trust me.” He rushed toward her, causing her to strain as he spoke low in her ear. “Officer Knight, if I were that type of guy, I wouldn’t need your permission...but I’m not that type of man. You just need to know where you stand. Let’s not play any more games, shall we?”
She jerked her arm, trying to free herself as he began to pace around her.
“Settle down, Knight. You’re not going anywhere. The party just started!”
He looked at her, and hatred consumed her. Her body calmed and she gave a faint smile. It unnerved him and she added insult to injury as she slightly bent at the waist, showcasing her breasts. He didn’t like what she was doing...he wanted her to stop it, but a suggestion to do so would be a confession...
“You’re not a rapist, good to know...but I’d give it to you, baby.” It rolled off her tongue so smoothly, as if it had been crafted and hand-packed just for him. She refused to let this die, and what the hell was he going to do? He’d been busted. She was going to ride this opportunity until the wheels turning in her mind fell off. What did she have to lose? She tried to get away and failed. She had the kind of determination that would drive a man insane...
