14. Alek #2
“His daughter,” I say as I casually take a drink.
“Did you kill her too?” Butch asks, his eyes sparkling.
Bile rises up my throat, and I swallow it back down. “What do you think?” I ask, my dark eyes meeting his for a second.
It’s quiet for a long moment between us before Dante finally speaks again. “Fuck man, you’re a serious killer, no wonder my dad picked you up,” he says with a dark laugh. “Bastard can kill a little girl, he can kill anyone.”
I ignore the urge to reach out and grab him by the front of his shirt and tell him I’ll kill him right fucking now if he wants.
“Yours?” I ask him. “Your first kill.”
“One of the guards we had back when I was a teenager was secretly a spy,” Dante explains.
“I caught him rifling through my father’s desk.
When he saw me, I shot him. I’d been learning how to use a gun for a few years, had never shot anyone though.
The blood was fucking insane. I was five feet away and I’m pretty sure it still splattered on me. ” He laughs and shakes his head.
“Pop’s wasn’t happy about that one. You killed the guy before asking any questions about why he was here, who sent him,” Butch recalls.
Dante clicks his tongue. “Yeah, he really laid into me after that one,” he says. “Tell him about your first Butch. It’s a funny one.”
My eyes shift to Butch who looks way too excited to be talking about the first time he killed someone.
“I was shooting at some chickens we had back in the day,” he starts, “I thought someone was breaking into the estate and decided to take it into my own hands. Shot the damn shadow about five times, turns out it was one of our cousins sneaking in after a night out! Sure as fuck glad I wasn’t that close to him—Reggie was his name, I think. ”
My stomach drops but I keep control of my face.
“Reggie yeah,” Dante agrees. “His father wasn’t too happy about it, but he shouldn’t have been sneaking around. He could’ve been killed by anyone.”
“So, your first kill was your family…that’s ironic,” I mutter.
“Yours was practically family,” Dante reminds me. “Don’t be jealous.”
I scoff softly, but hold back what I really want to say. As if I could ever be jealous of them.
“You, Matthew?” I ask him.
Matthew rings his hands and looks to the side for a moment. People are starting to gather more in the living room like they’re preparing for something.
“Rung a friend’s neck…” he tells me, his voice low. “I was twelve. He messed with my sister so I had to show him who was boss. Went a little too far. Couldn’t take it back.” He downs the rest of his drink. There’s a dark, empty look in his eyes, but then he smiles at me. “Wasn’t the last time.”
I feel a shiver run up my spine. I wasn’t planning on taking Matthew out, but maybe he’s just as bad as the Bianchis. Maybe…I am just as bad as them. The thought runs around my head.
Am I not just as excited to kill them as they seem to be about their first kills? About ending the Dresvanni?
What is the difference between them and me? Are my reasons for wanting them dead any different than their reasons for wanting the Dresvanni gone? Is revenge still cruel and pointless?
I set my half empty drink on the coffee table and stand up from the couch. I need some air…
“Where you going?” Dante says, “They’re about to bring out the surprise.”
I stop where I’m standing as the second entrance to the living room opens and a flash of bare skin appears in my vision.
It’s a woman. A naked woman. She’s fighting with the guards that are dragging her across the living room and to the cage. I fight the urge to jump into action immediately.
“What’s this?” I ask Dante.
He motions to his father who steps over in front of the cage just as the woman is tossed in and lands on her hands and knees.
“Up, get up,” Stephan orders the woman. His voice is harsh and careless.
She slowly stands up on her feet with her hands grasping the metal bars.
“Please, why are you doing this?” she asks, tears streaming down her face.
Stephan smacks the cage with one of his hands as if to punish her and then looks out at all the party guests with a smile.
“For my son Dante’s birthday! A beautiful treat for all to enjoy,” he says happily. “A virgin… but she won’t be after tonight, will she?” he laughs. “Dante, you get first dibs of course.”
I feel Dante looking at me, and when I glance at him, he’s grinning.
“And if I want to give that to someone else?” he asks Stephan.
“It’s your birthday! Do whatever you want!” Stephan insists.
Applause fills the room for a second or two, along with murmurs of interest.
The pit in my stomach is filled with bile and all I can do is stand here and look back over at the cage.
I can’t let this woman be used this way, but I can’t just yank her out of the cage and out of the house in front of all these people.
So, I’m forced to watch as several people go up to the cage and reach in, touching her naked body however they want to.
The woman whines and cries out, begging for help. I hear her voice as I turn away from the cage and look back at Dante, Butch, and Matthew, all of them look like hungry animals. Their eyes fixed on the caged woman as if she is simply for their amusement and nothing else.
“You do this every year?” I ask. I keep my voice level and low.
“Every birthday, of the inner circle anyway,” Dante explains. He licks his lips. “Poor things never know what’s coming.”
I growl under my breath, though I don’t mean to.
“You’re pretty worked up, never had this type of thing before?” he asks.
An idea sparks in my head and I quickly look back over at the woman in the cage. “No,” I tell them. I quickly walk over to the cage and grasp the bars with both hands. Dante follows me.
“Look at her, she’s no innocent,” he croons. “I’ll let you have her first, if you really want. Since you’ve never done this before.”
“Would you?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he replies. “You want that don’t you? To touch her, use her… I mean, God, look at that body.” He reaches into the cage and tries to touch her ass but I grab his arm and yank it away from her.
“Don’t touch her,” I hiss. He looks at me with wide eyes.
“She’s mine,” I insist.
“Whoa,” he puts a hand up. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” He has an amused look on his face.
“I have to have her,” I say, and look up at her again, looking over her body up and down, grazing my eyes along her naked breasts and the triangle of hair over her pubic area. Lecherous and needy.
“I’ll pay you,” I say quickly.
“Pay me?” Dante asks, raising a brow. “For what? To have her just to yourself?”
“Yes,” I tell him as I reach into the cage and ghost my fingertips along her thigh. She flinches away from me, her eyes big and frightened.
“How much?” Dante eyes me.
“How much do you want?” I ask him in return. I only have so much money, but right now I’m willing to risk it all.
Dante laughs and moves over to the lock on the cage. He motions to the guards next to it. “Give me the key,” he demands.
“What are you doing?” the woman asks as the cage is unlocked, and he opens the door.
“Shut up,” he sneers at the woman and grabs her by the arm. I watch as he pulls her out of the cage and then tosses her over to me.
“Whatever you’re going to do to her, make it good. You owe me.” He grins at me, but his eyes are dark, desperate. “I don’t want to see her again afterward, you got it?”
I realize what he means, and my mouth goes dry. He expects me to kill her and make sure she’s never found afterward. Is that what they do to the others on their birthdays?
It takes all of me not to pull my gun out of its holster and shoot him in the face right where he stands. I have the young woman in my arms, though, and I know if I hesitate it might tip him off.
“I’ll do whatever I want with her,” I growl at him, and grab her by the arm tightly. So tightly that I’m certain it will leave a bruise, but it’s nothing compared to what they want to do to her.
“Let me go!” the woman fights me. I smack her across the face and she nearly crumbles to the floor. I pick her up off of her feet and toss her over my shoulder. She’s skinny and dainty in size, so it’s not difficult to carry her across the room in several large steps.
I feel eyes on me, jealous and irritated eyes.
“Don’t worry, everyone! We’ll still have plenty of fun, believe me,” Dante assures the crowd.
My eyes meet Stephan’s from across the room, and his lips pull up at the corners before he mouths to me.
Have fun.
All the way up the stairs to my bedroom the woman kicks and screams, and no one does a thing about it. They all continue their conversations and God knows what else as I ascend the stairs with her.
She scratches at my neck and tries to knee me in the stomach, but it does no good.
“Stop it,” I growl the second we’re in my room, the door slammed shut behind us.
“Let me go, leave me alone! You-You fucking monster!” She flails her entire body as I set her down on the floor, and the second she’s free she goes flying across the room to the corner, covering her naked body with her hands.
“Calm down,” I tell her quietly.
“You calm down!” she cries, her dark hair knotted and tangled around her head. “Don’t touch me!”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell her as I step closer. My voice lowering to a whisper. “I need you to shut up, though, just for a second.”
Her breath is ragged and she balls her hands into fists. “What do you want with me? My body? Money? I don’t have anything to give you!”
“Shhh,” I hush her as I step even closer and slip my hand over her mouth. “I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m going to get you out of here. You’ll be safe. Do you understand?”
She blinks her wet eyes. “Nod if you understand.”
She nods her head.
I pull my hand off her mouth. She’s shaking from head to toe. “Now, I need you to be calm,” I tell her. “What’s your name?”
I watch her throat move as she swallows, and tries to settle herself. “Jules,” she explains. “I’m Jules. I’m just here for Spring break, I—” she stops and shakes her head. “I want to go home. I don’t want to be here.”