Chapter Ten
Dani Kincaid closed her eyes and struggled to steady her ragged breath.
Running wasn’t working anymore. Her stalker had caught up with her again, only this time, he had finally extinguished everyone she loved.
It made her sick to think about facing him again, fear threatening to wear down her defenses.
Just the sight of his shit-eating grin caused her body to lock up like a scared bunny.
She pictured him lounging on her fathers’ favorite spot on the couch, in the same spot where she had opened so many Christmas presents and watched television with her murdered parents.
The same spot where Tommy had nervously waited for her before prom only a few months ago. Defiling everything he touched.
“Daaaaaaani.” Matt’s voice drifted down the hall mingling over the joyful canned laughter. “Dani, why won’t you ever just talk to me?”
She wanted to rush into the living room and attack with full force, to plunge her knife into his chest again and again.
She wanted to kick and punch and hurt him, to make him pay with blood and pain for what he did to everyone she loved.
But Dani was a realist and knew that her chances of subduing the monster in her living room were slim to none.
It was time for a different approach. She hid her switchblade in the palm of her hand and walked down the hallway to greet her stalker.
Just as she suspected, Matt was seated on the couch in the living room, his features ghoulish in the off-kilter lamplight.
He wore a white undershirt and jeans and appeared as casual and comfortable as an invited guest. His eyes and face were still red and irritated from the full can of mace she had unloaded on him back at the movie theater.
Somehow, the pepper spray seemed to have little effect and hadn’t slowed him down one bit.
He should have been pissed at her, angry at the very least. Instead, a mile-wide smile spread across his lips as soon as she entered his view.
“Hi, Matt.”
He scratched his temple, sizing her up and down. Consuming her with his gaze. His cheshire cat smile remained as he threw an arm across the back of the couch and licked his lips.
“There she is,” he said. “You’re a slippery one.”
She sucked a sharp breath in through her nose. “What do you want?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Dani? I just wanna talk to you. I wanna see you. That’s all I ever wanted.”
“And I told you to leave me alone,” she said.
“Can’t leave you alone, baby,” he said. “I’ve waited long enough. Just as the police cooled down, that punk from your karate class tried to move into my place? I don’t think so.”
“I called the cops. They’ll be here soon. They’ll never stop looking for you.”
“You did? That’s a real shame. We’ll have to get moving then,” he said, rubbing his eyes and wincing. “Ooh, girl this still stings. You got me real good back there.”
“Good.” Her voice was surprisingly calm and even. She gritted her teeth, refusing to break his gaze.
His upper lip twitched. “Look, I know this is all very confusing. In time, you’ll see things my way.”
“I’m not confused,” she said. “You’re a monster.”
“A monster? Dani, I love you. I’ve done this all for you, can’t you see that? This thing between us, it’s special. Pure. We’re going to be together. You know that.”
She shook her head. “I’m not special. I’m just a normal girl. There was never anything between us.”
Matt sighed. “Come on, now. We need to get going.”
“I’m staying here.” She said, lifting her chin up. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I know you’re scared, but I promise you, Dani. I would never lay a finger on you.”
“You killed my mom and dad,” she said. “My boyfriend. My friends. Everyone I love is dead because of you.”
Matt sighed. “I know. I’m sorry it had to be this way.”
“It didn’t have to be this way,” she said. “You didn’t have to kill anyone.”
“You know, Dani, there’s something wrong with me. Right here.” Matt poised his forefinger and thumb into the shape of a gun and pointed it at his temple. “From the minute I met you, I couldn’t get you out of my head. I had to do this so we could be together.”
“You’re sick. You need help.” She gasped, the words catching in her throat. “We … we can find someone to help you. I can help you.”
“Yes, you can help me, by coming with me,” he said, standing up. “I’m not a bad guy, really. You’ll see.”
“No.”
“We can be together now that you don’t have any distractions to hold you back. I got my dad’s truck gassed up and waiting. We can drive all the way to Mexico. Wherever you want to go. Just you and me and the open road. We’ll take whatever we want. The world is gonna be ours, baby.”
Dani stood her ground. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
The shine in his eyes dulled. “Oh yes you are.”
Matt lunged through the air, and her vision grew red.
Time slowed as he hurtled across the living room with hands outstretched, fingers grasping, and perfect white teeth bared.
In the past, Dani would have turned and run from such a sight.
She would have wilted away from the horror like a delicate flower and hid from the reality of what was happening.
But now, with her parents gone, she had nothing else to lose and only vengeance to gain.
In that moment, all of the pain and anger took over as months of training and preparation finally kicked in.
Dani pulled the switchblade from her pocket, determined to end this thing between them.
One of them was going to die, and it wasn’t going to be her.
This time, she was going to fight back with everything she had.
His body slammed into hers with the force of a grizzly bear, tackling her against the wall.
The bones in her back cracked as all the air whooshed from her lungs.
She coughed and sucked in a painful breath as his massive hands wrapped around her shoulders, pinning her.
Spittle flew at her face as she rammed the blade of her knife deep into his ribs.
“Fuck!”
His head lowered and his body leaned to the side as a circle of red bloomed from the gash.
Dani pulled out the blade, drew up her leg and delivered an accurate and satisfying knee to his groin.
Matt sputtered and released his grip, doubling over at the assault to his loins.
She didn’t give him time to recover and delivered a right hook under his chin.
His heavy body sailed backward and crashed to the floor.
Something feral rose up into Dani’s lungs as she straddled his torso. Crimson flecks wheezed from his sneering lips, spraying his white undershirt.
“Bitch!”
Dani brought the blade up over her head and plunged it into his chest. Her bicep burned, but she kept bringing the blade up and down. This time, there would be no second chance for Matt Vickers to escape. She would not let him live.
“Leave!”
Swish.
“Me!”
Snick.
“Alone!”
Her knife sliced through the air, each blow in slow motion.
Her arm was a fiery, throbbing limb of vengeance, powered by righteous rage.
Something clicked inside her brain as an arc of his blood sprayed across her cheek, and for a split second, Dani was almost happy.
Euphoric. She wasn’t just exacting revenge by stabbing her attacker. She enjoyed hurting him. She liked it.
Dani would have continued hacking away at his body until her muscles locked up, but before she could finish the job, her work was interrupted. The front door burst open and a blinding beam of light obscured her vision.
“Police! Hands in the air!”
Hands encircled her arms and the knife clattered to the floor.
A scream ripped from her core and Dani was lifted up and away.
Paramedics and police flooded through her door and attended to her attacker as she crashed in a heap.
Her exhausted limbs gave out, all of her adrenaline spent as uncontrolled sobs took over.
She sobbed as his bloodied body was attended to by the paramedics, mourning her lost opportunity, mourning her dead family and friends.
She trailed a tear-blurry gaze up to the wall of framed family photos hanging on the entryway wall.
Her senior photo splattered in red. The photo of twelve-year-old Dani and her and her parents at the Grand Canyon hung askew, the glass cracked.
All of those happy, loving times now forever in the past, cast in blood.
Nothing would ever be the same again. There was no going back; no way to return to any semblance of a normal life.
Matt Vickers had made certain that she was really, truly, and completely alone.