Chapter 34 Casey
CASEY
I pull in a breath and shake out my hands.
“Live in three. Two. One.”
I wink at Dallas, who’s sitting against the far wall. He and Hayden have a great view of the show and I hope they enjoy themselves.
I hit the button that brings on all the lights. Then wave at my audience.
“Hello my lovely, beautiful little freaks. We have a super special show for you tonight, and I hope you’re ready.”
I pull a folding chair in front of me and straddle it, folding my arms against the back of the chair and leaning forward.
I sigh and shut my eyes before diving into the story.
Of course I keep out all the real personal bits.
People comment they’ve never heard of the Servants of the Divine cult, and I’m glad it hadn’t spread further.
A few rage about how they trusted Matt Brooks.
I read all the comments, taking them all in.
“So, what can I get started for you tonight?”
Charles flops around, but we’d secured the chair to the ground. He isn’t going anywhere.
“Mmmrkmmmerrmerrr,” Charles tries to say something, but it’s jumbled. He’s probably trying to say Merrick, The Merman, but no one will possibly figure it out.
Kneecap him.
Cut off an ear.
Pierce his eyelids.
Hmmm. I push to my feet and grab the sledgehammer we found when looking through the abandoned building. “You know, Char. I’m gonna call you Char. It’s kinda fun that you can’t see the suggestions. You won’t know what’s coming.”
I lift the sledgehammer and bring it down on his left knee. The crunch makes me grin, and the howl is music to my ears. Mmmm sweet, sweet justice. I whistle as I walk behind him, taunting him. I could have just smashed the other one from where I was, but what’s the fun in that?
“Oh, Char. Char. Char. Char.”
He shakes his head and I imagine the sounds he makes is him begging for me not to slam the sledgehammer into the other knee.
“You know, you’re never getting out of here alive, so it’s not like you need your kneecaps. Or knees. Or legs, for that matter.” I smash the sledgehammer down on the other knee. Another howl.
“This is only the beginning.” We should have stripped him to his underwear before we settled him on his throne for the night. Doesn’t matter. I drop the sledgehammer and pull the switchblade from my pocket to start hacking off his clothes.
I tap the earpiece. “You want in on this action? That was so satisfying.”
“No, baby cakes, I like watching you work,” Kendra says with a laugh.
I push the shredded parts of his shirt off, then rip open the legs of his slacks. Dallas acts as if he wants to help, but I shake my head and he freezes. Hayden pulls him back to his spot against the wall. I can’t have Dallas distract me.
The commenters continue with their suggestions and I follow through with slicing bits of one of Charles’s ears off before taking the entire thing.
I leave the other. Charles trembles with each new suggestion that I do.
Pins under the nails is a classic and still one of my favorites.
Breaking fingers. Scalping. That’s a new one, and it gives me the best reaction from Charles.
He’s babbling behind the gag as I rip the skin from his head so slowly.
The sound makes me want to vomit. The open wound will be fun when it comes to waterboarding, though.
Well, my version of waterboarding. I don’t know if it’s really a proper technique, but it’s what I’m planning.
He’s shaking. This man has hurt countless people, I’m channeling their revenge.
“I love y’all,” I say to my audience. “But I’m going off script. I think you’ll still enjoy it, though.” I blow them a kiss and throw Charles’s scalp to the floor. Stomping all over Charles’s skin on my way to the bucket Kendra and I filled with bottom shelf liquor. This is going to fucking burn.
I throw the towel over Charles’s face, and this is where he really starts to panic. He pisses himself and I cackle.
“Don’t worry, Char Char. You won’t suffer for long.
You won’t suffer for nearly as long as you should.
You won’t even suffer for as long as you experimented on others.
” I remove the gag, certain he won’t talk because he’s in too much pain to form words.
Slowly, I dump the bucket over his face.
Loving every second of the gurgling sounds coming from him, I whistle my happy little tune.
His hands try to grab for something, but he’s strapped down too good.
His legs are useless and he’s trying to flop again, but he’s just not going anywhere.
He coughs and sputters every time I stop the flow.
“Stop. Please. Stop. Mercy.”
“Did you show anyone mercy?” I pour again, stealing any words he might have had.
He stops moving, or making sounds. I stop the flow and frown. He can’t die yet. I push on his chest and he gasps out a choking breath. Thank fuck.
“Not done with you yet.”
“Bastard,” he grits out between coughs. “You’re going to—”
I cut off his words with more bottom shelf liquor down the hatch. I pour until the bucket’s empty, then toss it away from us.
“That was fun.”
“You motherfucker.”
“Ah, forgot something.” I force the gag back into his mouth. He’s too weak to fight me. “I got that out of my system. Now, what else, my freaks?”
The comments keep coming, and for hours I keep going, but I’m starting to sag and need to finish this.
“Alrighty, my dears. How does he die?” I can hardly keep my head up I’m so exhausted, but I have to see this through.
Beheading.
“Oh, I like that! And we happen to have an axe onsite.”
Charles moans. Whether in pain or exhaustion like me, I have no idea, but it doesn’t matter. We’re ending this right here, right now.
I shuffle up to the wall Dallas and Hayden have been watching from and grab the axe. Before I can walk away, Dallas takes my hand and pulls me to him.
“Are you okay?” Dallas whispers so so so damn soft.
I nod. “Perfect.” Though the axe is heavy as fuck. I have to wonder if I’ll be strong enough to cleave Charles’s head from his body.
“You look dead on your feet,” Dallas whispers.
“I’m fine.” I heft the axe to my shoulder and march to Charles.
But I trip on my way to him. Thank fuck I twist from the axe on the way down.
Dallas is by my side in seconds. His hands pat me over and despite being irritated he’s in the shot, I can’t help but pull him down and kiss him though my balaclava is in the way.
This needs to be over so I can kiss my man properly.
“You’ve been so good,” I whisper.
The comments go wild. Everyone’s excited I have a partner, so that’s a relief.
Dallas cups my cheek. “Let me help. Or let me go get Ken to finish him off. You’ve done your part. You’re exhausted. Have you even eaten since lunch?”
I want to nuzzle into him. Instead, I turn to the cameras. “What say you? Would you mind if my special guest finishes Charles off? I’m so damn tired. You’ve worked me to the bone tonight.” I fake a pout, even though no one can see it through my balaclava.
Immediately, comments fly in. Let Beefy Nightmare kill Charles.
Beefy Nightmare? I laugh, then nod at the axe. “You read the audience. Get to it.” I kiss him again.
Dallas picks up the axe and his arms flex. He saunters up to the man that gave me nightmares my entire life. There’s hardness in Dallas’s eyes. He wants this as much as me and Kendra. He wants this for us and his sister. Charles didn’t hurt her, but he can be the proxy Dallas needs.
Dallas lifts the axe and why the fuck am I getting hard? Is it because of the wink? The way his arms move? The sound of the axe getting stuck in the plastic of the chair when it slices through Charles’s neck?
“Oh, fuck,” Dallas says, then laughs. “I did that.” He looks to Charles to me, then Charles again.
“Popped your killer cherry, baby,” I say. “Proud of you.”
Kendra kills the feed and rushes to join us. We all stare at Charles’s dead body.
“He’s gone,” Kendra says. Her hand flies to her mouth, and she laughs. “He’s really fucking gone.”
I thought I’d feel elation, but numbness fills my body. I feel… nothing. Nothing because he’s one man and we’ve already killed countless other pedophiles and rapists and there are thousands, if not millions, more that we’ll never get to take out.
Dallas watches me. “What’s wrong?”
I shrug and kick at a stray piece of wood. “I thought I’d feel… different. I’m disappointed.”
Dallas comes to my side and wraps me in his arms. He nuzzles my neck and plants a kiss to my jaw. “It’s okay. Maybe you’ll feel the way you want later. There’s one less monster on the street.”
“How are you?” I ask as I run my fingers through his hair. “The first couple of times I killed people—”
Dallas pushes away from me and vomits.
“There it is,” Kendra says.
Dallas holds up a finger and heaves a bit more. Hayden runs to the bag of supplies to get him a water bottle.
I rub Dallas’s back. “It’s normal. But now I don’t want to kiss you anytime soon.”
He snorts and rinses his mouth out. Thank goodness he took off his ski mask before throwing up. That could have been extra nasty.
“What do we do now?” Dallas asks at the same time the secret knock rings through the room.
“Clean-up crew. We got one everywhere,” Kendra says as she heads over to let them in.
I continue to rub Dallas’s back as he drinks down the water.
“That was such an amazing show,” Hayden says. He vibrates energy like I usually do and I need him to take it down a notch.
“Glad you approve,” I say. “Now we need to hose down and head back to the hotel for proper showers. Make sure you don’t trail anything back.”
They both nod as Kendra leads the crew to our torture spot.
“I need a burger or something after that,” I say. “Oh! Or waffles! I fucking love waffles after a kill.” I rub my stomach when it rumbles.
Dallas takes my hand and kisses the back. “I’ll take you to waffles every day if you want.”