“I knew it,” Kate said, oozing with satisfaction. “You owe me for that one!”
“You’re right,” I replied with a nod of concession. “If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve gone.”
I looked at Kate as she basked in her small moment of victory. I could still sense that something was wrong.
“Do you want to tell me what’s really going on now?” I asked, looking back toward the doorway Norah had just exited through. “Does it have something to do with David? Why is Norah back so soon?”
The color drained from Kate’s face and she seemed to deflate. “David and I had a fight,” she said.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I was hoping that she did. I knew she felt torn about discussing her problems with the man. Sometimes, she felt like it was a betrayal to say anything bad about Norah’s father, but he walked all over her and she needed to get things off her chest. “You were already in bed when I got back, and I didn’t even know Norah was here. What happened?”
“Well, David called with some news. Tracy’s pregnant,” she said in mock excitement.
“Oh.” I don’t know what I was expecting her to say, but it wasn’t that, “sooo…” I was trying to think of what to say next, but Kate began talking in a flurry, pouring out all the emotion that she’d carefully kept bottled up for so long.
“Pregnant!” she shouted. “I can’t believe it! Tracy’s practically a child herself… and David?! David can’t bring himself to be a father to the kid he already has!” Her face was white with fury. “And he calls me up and just dumps it on me! I guess she’d just taken the test, and they thought I’d be excited that Norah was going to have a sibling! Excited! Can you imagine?”
I shook my head.
“And then you know what he said?”
“What?” I asked.
“He asked me to come pick Norah up so they could go out and celebrate!”
“Wow, father of the year,” I said, “nothing like deserting one kid to go celebrate another.”
“Exactly.” Kate dropped her head into her hands and started to cry.
I looked at her for a moment. She had every reason to be upset, David had virtually abandoned her after Norah was born. It must be deeply hurtful for her to see him so excited over another baby, and treating another woman the way he should have treated her. Even still, her reaction was so strong that I couldn’t help wondering if there was more to the story.
Gently, I put an arm around her. “I’m so sorry, Kate. He’s an absolute fool. You deserve better, and so does Norah.” I paused delicately, then asked, “what else did he do?”
She was sobbing openly now. When she spoke, it was difficult to understand through her tears.
“He… he… he said Tracy is going to stop working so she can stay home with the baby when it’s born. And he said Norah would be better off with them since I work!” she choked out.
“What?” I couldn’t help it, I spat the word. I felt like I’d been struck by lightning, every nerve was alive, sizzling with anger. “Well, it doesn’t matter what he says, does it? He can’t just take her!”
“No, he can’t just take her, but he can take me to court, and that’s what he said he’s going to do. I tried to be reasonable, I said he could have her for more weekends, but he lost his mind. He started yelling and threatened to fight me for full custody.”
She blew her nose into a napkin Norah had left on the table. When she spoke again, her voice was softer, more resigned. “The worst part is that I know he’s not doing this for Norah. It’s just that she’s convenient now. She’s a prop so that he can play ‘family’ with his stupid girlfriend. She’s going to end up just being their babysitter… I know it!”
She dissolved into quiet tears. I wrapped my arms all the way around her and pulled her against me, rocking her slightly as she cried. Kate very much felt like a little sister to me. If you didn’t count the years I’d been asleep, she was technically older than me, but while my body may not have aged in that time, I felt that my mind had grown. I felt like I had the wisdom of centuries. I needed to protect her.
David had already been on my radar. He’d never done anything outrageous, but I’d had my eye on him. I knew that if I watched him long enough he would slip up and do something to land himself on my list, I just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Now, seeing the pain on Kate’s face cut me to the core. She didn’t deserve this, and Norah didn’t deserve to be used as a pawn to placate his new love interest. I could only imagine the kind of damage he would do to his sweet daughter if she spent the rest of her childhood trying to earn the affection he would never give. David had just moved to the front of the line. The world, and specifically the worlds of the two most important people in my life, would be much better if he were dead.
I was quietly comforting Kate while my insides churned. All the rage I had been nurturing for Kyle had a new target. Instead of planning that attack I needed to figure out what could be done about David. Suddenly, the tether of reality snapped my mind back before it could jump into action. If I killed David next, there would be no doubt that suspicion would fall on Kate after what had just happened to Joe. As much as it pained me, I had to be patient.
“We’ll get through this,” I assured my best friend. “He won’t get away with this. In the end, things have a way of catching up with men like that.”
“Well, so far it just seems like all his baggage gets dropped on my head. Life would just be so much easier if he were dead!”
Kate clamped her hands over her mouth in shock. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Norah hadn’t been standing there, then, said guiltily, “I can’t believe I said that! Of course, I don’t actually want him to die.”
“I know you’re not actually planning to go push him in front of a bus,” I said lightly, then, in a more serious tone I added, “but it’s okay to be angry. All that man does is bring you pain. What value does he add to your life, or anyone else’s for that matter? I know it sounds cold, but I don’t think you need to feel guilty for acknowledging that you might be better off if he were dead.”
“I don’t want him dead. I can’t think that way. He’s Norah’s father, and she would be devastated to lose him.”
Kate was too nice. I was never going to convince her to openly admit that she would be better off with David gone. It was for the best anyways, because if she did say it, she would never forgive herself when he actually turned up dead. Fortunately, I was more removed from the situation. I could see the truth. Norah would be devastated – for a moment. She would likely forever feel like she’d missed out on having a father. But that pain would be far less, in the long run, than what she was destined to experience from a man who only used her to fill his immediate needs. Right now, he wanted her around because his whore was interested in playing house, but what happened when that inevitably got old? David would leave Tracy when he tired of her, just like he had left Kate, and Norah would be left broken. Kate would have to pick up the pieces. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let that happen.
Wiping a tear from her cheek, Kate laughed weakly and said, “It sure would be satisfying to see him get hit by a bus.”
We both laughed together for a moment before Norah poked her head timidly back into the room. Even at seven years old, she was perceptive. She didn’t know what was wrong, but she had sensed that we needed some time to talk. Now, she was checking to see if it was safe to come back. Kate seemed to have gotten past the worst of it for the moment and flashed her daughter a bright smile, signaling that everything was okay. The sensitive girl smiled in relief, and it struck me just how much she looked like her mother.
Kate’s freckles had faded with age, but I could see the evidence that they’d once been just as prominent across the tops of her cheeks as Norah’s. Norah kept her hair much longer, often pulled back in a ponytail, but they both shared the same honey blonde color that shimmered in the sun.
I watched them together for a moment. They wer
en’t doing anything special; Norah had brought in a drawing she had made and was explaining every single detail to Kate, who was doing her best to look interested in every word. I found myself overwhelmed with love for them both. It took everything in me not to march right over to David’s house and kill him on the spot. The hunger raged inside, more powerful than I’d felt in a long time. Whatever satisfaction the last kill had offered was gone now. I felt a tremor in my hand. It had been two days since I’d killed Joe, and I was in less control now than I’d been during the months of biding my time beforehand.
I shook my head. I wasn’t that I lacked control; it’s just that I was angry. I had two more than deserving targets and I needed to at least get to work on one of them.
I excused myself and went back to my room to put my plan together. Kyle was married. While his wife may very well want him dead, she added a complication. My initial thought had been to take him at home, but the more I considered it, the harder I realized that would be. Even if I were to wait for her to leave before I attacked, I would have no way to ensure that she didn’t return unexpectedly. Plus, I really needed a long time alone with him. It would be easier if I waited for him to leave, and found a way to grab him on the move. Without my own transportation, that was going to be a challenge, but I would find a way.
I pulled up the street view of his house, and noticed something that hadn’t been there when I had gone by to check out the place myself. The same minivan I had seen at the store was parked in the driveway, but next to it, there was a bright red sports car. I would bet my life that Kyle never let his wife drive that car. If I ever saw that the van was gone and the car was there, there was a good possibility that I would find Kyle home alone.
Monday morning dawned cool and gray, but it did nothing to dampen my mood. I had decided that I needed to wait until Kate and Norah were at work and school before I began my surveillance of the Gordon house, and the rest of the weekend had dragged by. Now that the day was here, I was so excited that I actually stayed in my room until I heard them leave. I didn’t think I could contain my enthusiasm, and I was afraid they would wonder what was going on if they saw me.
When they had finally left, I packed up my bag again and called a cab to pick me up a few blocks further away than last time. It dropped me off a block away from Kyle’s house, and I saw the back of the candy-apple red car shining in the driveway as soon as I rounded the corner of his street.
The van was gone, which was a good sign. There was no guarantee that he was there, but I was sure that his wife was at least out of the house. It was mid-morning on a weekday, so I hadn’t really expected to find him home, but it was possible. I contemplated my options for a moment. If I staked out the house for a few days and got an idea of their daily routines, I might feel secure enough to attack him in his home. That would be the smart thing to do. I looked down at my trembling hand. If there was any way to take care of him today, I needed to do it. I couldn’t let this chance slip away.
I casually surveyed the street as I neared his house. Most of the houses appeared quiet; everyone must already be off to school or work. I saw one woman vacuuming through her living room window, but she was five houses down, and I hadn’t seen any cars drive by. Operating in the daylight was unusual for me, but I felt like it was as safe as it could be. I quickly slipped into his side yard and disappeared behind a large tree. From there, I had a view into several of his windows.
The first window was a bedroom and there was no one inside. It looked like a guest room as opposed to the master bedroom of the home. I moved further along the side of the house, brushing past some bushes and trying not to make too much noise. I could hear dogs barking in someone’s backyard and traffic from a few streets over. The sound of my footsteps and my breathing seemed amplified, and I had to assure myself that no one else would hear me. The backyard was not fenced, so moving ever so slowly, I crept around to get a look in a large, ground-floor window. It was clear that it was the living room. There was a green chair against the outer wall facing away from me, and a television above the fireplace.
Suddenly, a form entered the room from the right. Before my mind could even process what I’d seen, my body responded. I jerked back, plastering myself flat to the wall beside the window. It was Kyle. He hadn’t been looking this way, but his sudden presence caught me by surprise. After allowing myself to breathe, I peered back into the room more cautiously. Kyle was sitting on the couch across the room from me. I was in his sightline if he looked, but his eyes were down. He was sliding some socks on, and I could see his shoes on the floor next to him. I couldn’t believe my luck. He was home alone and getting ready to leave.
I didn’t have a lot with me. I had brought some essentials in my bag, but I honestly hadn’t imagined that things would work out quite this well. I pulled my knife from my bag as I darted around the front of the house. My plan was coming together on the fly as I entered his driveway. I’d try his car door and see if it was locked. If it was, I’d have to accost him at his door and force him to the car at knifepoint. That would be risky. I would have to hope that my luck would hold out and the car would be unlocked. Then, I could get in and wait for him to come to me.
I put my hood up as I approached the car to conceal my identity just in case a neighbor happened to look outside, then I walked around to the passenger side of the car. I reached for the handle and held my breath as I grasped it. I felt it click back and the door popped open. I almost squealed. No rushed plan had ever come together so nicely.
Tossing my bag on the floor in the small backseat, I crawled in beside it, crouching and folding in on myself so that I fit in the tiny cavity. It wasn’t comfortable, but I was almost completely hidden by the seats and the center console. He’d have to be looking to see me, and I knew from experience that people were far more likely to miss something than they were to see it. It’d been true in my own time, and it seemed even worse today with all the technology that held everyone’s attention every moment of the day.
All I had to do now was wait.
After a moment, I heard the sound of a door closing, then the dull padding of sneakers on pavement. He was getting closer. I held my breath as he approached, but to my horror, he walked past his door. The trunk!
I was hidden from someone at the front of the car, but not from the back! He was going to see me! What was I going to say? I could pretend to have been drunk and fallen asleep the night before, but he would surely recognize me. I’d be on the defensive, and that was not a position I liked. My mind was racing as I waited for him to yank open the door and start screaming. I heard the latch and then the whine of the trunk opening behind me. He muttered something and there was a thud as he dropped something inside. A moment later the car shook as he slammed the trunk shut and walked back around to the driver’s side of the car. I was stunned.
The driver’s side door opened and I felt the car sink as he plunked his heavy frame into the seat. I struggled to keep my breathing controlled after having held it the entire time he was in the trunk. Fortunately, the sound of the engine roaring to life gave me the opportunity to take a few deep breaths. I held as still as I could while he backed the car out of the driveway and began driving down the street. It had worked. All I needed to do now was take control.
He turned left off of his street and after two more turns I was beginning to question if I still knew where we were. The timing of when I took control could make or break the plan. If we were stopped, he might be able to get out of the car. If we were on the freeway, he could lose control and kill us both, or at least me who wasn’t buckled in at all. After stopping for a moment, presumably at a light, he pulled forward again. I thought I knew where we were, and if I was right, there wouldn’t be a better time than now. I jumped into action.
My sense of direction had not failed me. We’d just passed one of the busier streets and he was heading toward the freeway. His eyes caught the movement in his mirror as I reached around the seat, but I was fast. I
had the blade against his skin before he knew what was going on. I looked up at the mirror so I could see his face as reality sunk in. At first, his eyes were on the blade as it glinted in the morning light. It was like he was transfixed on that immediate danger, he couldn’t look beyond it, he hadn’t seen me yet. Then, I saw him shift his focus. There was the tiniest upward motion and his eyes met mine in the mirror. The color drained from his face and I heard the breath wheeze from his lungs as he recognized me from the store.
“I warned you,” I said menacingly into his ear.
He bounced off the curb which brought his eyes back to the road. I could feel the car slowing and veering to the right as he tried to pull over. I couldn’t let him stop.
“Keep driving,” I ordered. “If you stop, so does your heart.” I pressed the blade into his neck with a bit more force to drive my point home, and he straightened out and sped up without hesitation.
“What do you want?” he asked, sputtering his words as fear gripped him.
The tremor in my hands was gone. I was already drinking in the sweet satisfaction of his terror. He had beaten his wife, abused her for years probably, and now he was going to pay. He deserved to pay – to suffer and tremble like the coward that he was. Once again, as it had so many times before, I felt purpose flooding my veins. The plan may have been rushed, but it was working, and I would take my time with this kill. I would savor it. I would appreciate every detail as I made him face what he had done. I would break him. Each strike, slice, and stab would be a lesson. I wouldn’t stop until he understood exactly why he deserved every moment of his torment. He would grovel at my feet before the day was done; he would pour out every sin he had ever committed in the hopes that I would be end his miserable life. When I was finished, justice would be restored. Excitement throbbed within me in a way it never had before. It had been far, far too long since I had exacted this kind of revenge.
“Where am I going?” he asked, after I had ignored his last question and simply enjoyed his fear.
Evil Unbound- Death's Mistress Returns Page 11
