Chapter 4
FOUR
LEVIATHAN
The scraping sound of Gore sharpening his knife is soothing to me. I know it tends to irritate Asi who’s particularly sensitive to sounds, but to me it's like a symphony. I know that Bel feels the same way, and even Mammon who claims he’s not as sick as us must like it too. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be here in the living room with us, but back in his cave.
“No patience, Gore?” Bel teases, eyeing his best friend with a lustful gaze. “Getting hard already thinking about your bounty?”
Gore giggles, his cheeks flushing pink as he shakes his head. “You know it, Daddy.”
“If anyone is Daddy that’s Mammon,” Bel throws back, eyeing Mammon like a dog eyes a juicy steak. “What do you think, Daddy? Have I been a bad bad boy?”
I can’t help but snicker. Bel’s propositioned each and everyone of us, but the only one he actually loves is Gore. I don’t know much about the fucked-up situation they came from, apart that they were in a foster home together, but it’s made them unusually close. Gore’s touch on reality is wonky at best, and Bel uses manipulation and sex to control him.
Mammon doesn’t find it amusing. I don’t think he finds anything funny, really. Being our leader, our jailor, is a task enough as it is without trying to bat off Bel’s sexual advances. Although, whenever Bel brings it up, I can spy the curiosity in Mammon’s eyes.
Maybe he’s a closeted freaky fuck too.
“You’re going tonight?” I ask Bel when he hands Gore his scythe to sharpen. Almost like he’s the damn Grim Reaper. Mammon doesn’t seem to like his weapon of choice and even Asi rolls his eyes.
“Fuck yeah,” Bel says, throwing an air kiss at Gore. “We can’t wait. We have time, so we’re going to bring them back here and have some fun with Trista and Robert.”
“As long as they’re dead by the Winter Solstice,” Mammon reminds them. “Master needs his sacrifices.”
Just a few months until the deed needs to be done. I’d like to think I have more control than Bel and Gore, but that’s not true. I’ll probably be right alongside them, hunting tonight, because the demon I’m named after can’t wait to stake his claim on his prey.
“Are you going with them, Levi?” Asi questions, glancing up only briefly from his sketchbook.
I think it through, running my tongue against my bottom lip, almost tasting the blood I’ll reap and sow. “Maybe just to have a little look. Get the lay of the land first.”
Bel and Gore, they love doing whatever shit pops into their head. I’m certain that Mammon will remind them to be discreet when they go out hunting in the town. Me? I’ve been trained to be more careful, more considerate, because my beast is nothing compared to theirs. That means that I stalk before I kill, I visualize everything, and then leave no room for error.
And then, when the final strike blows, that’s when the satisfaction hits.
“What are you doing!”
“Stop, please!”
“Son, why are you ? —”
I smile. Did my parents deserve their deaths? No. Did my ten-year-old self care?
He didn’t give one single fuck.
Now I’m itching again, the memory doing nothing to hold me back. I stand abruptly, causing all my brothers to glance my way. Understanding dawns on Mammon first, and with a nod, he reaches into his pocket. “Here.”
My collar. It’s not the kinky shit Bel and Gore are into but something to remind me what I am. A dog on a leash. Controlled by a master. Tethered to my duty. A way to make sure I don’t go too far. I don’t show any disgust because I need it or else the hounds of hell will join me on my quest.
I take it from him and put it on, the heavy weight nearly choking me. I breathe through it until my mind settles and the itch goes away. Stalking, preying, surveilling. That’s all tonight is going to be.
Let’s see our prey.
Aiden Walker seems to live a normal life. If the file Mammon gave me was anything to go by, it seems so dreary. Boring. I wonder yet again how other humans can live such mortal lives like mindless little toys. Toys that the Master plays with behind the scenes, whether they know it or not.
Aiden Walker’s done nothing wrong to be on my radar. No records to speak of, no rumors whispered about him in hushed tones. He’s just been chosen by fate to be one of our sacrifices, one of the chosen holy ones to make sure we all see it to the end of days.
I tug at my collar. With the beginning of fall, the sky darkens earlier than usual. It makes me feel at home in the cavernous and sinister pockets of dread. Truly like a monster waiting in the wings, hence why the weight on my neck keeps me tethered to reality. I close my eyes, nostrils flaring with the effort to not whip out my knife and simply indulge.
There are rules. I have rules. They are necessary.
I wait for what seems like another hour, but I don’t grow impatient. If anything, it just heightens the exhilaration. I’m finally going to catch the first glimpse of Aiden Walker—the chosen—and my body thrums with all the things I could do to him.
Cut his throat.
Burn his tongue.
Bleed him out.
His eyes. Pluck them.
I laugh despite myself. Oh, this is going to be so much fun. Master has kept me in Mammon’s control far too long, not allowing me to be free in months. Months where I could do nothing but relive my greatest kills.
The door to the school opens and out pours the teachers. The blurry photograph one of Master’s conduits gave me was enough to get an idea of him but not the full picture. There are only a few of them, all the ones I’ve seen so far are female, so I know Aiden Walker hasn’t come out yet.
Then, once all the females are in their cars, the door opens yet again.
And out comes Aiden Walker.
Without warning, something slams through me. A thick piercing knife in my heart that tears it in two, a crack in my gut where my intestines seep out, an intense rush of something unexpected and all-consuming.
Aiden Walker is a normal human. Tall but not taller than me. Built like he indulges in sweets but not stocky. Predictable with his neatly combed auburn hair and thin glasses. There’s nothing spectacular about him. Nothing that would give anyone pause. So disgustingly… average.
But then why— why —do I suddenly feel like I’m drawn into his nest? Like I’m now the prey his eight-limbed body will cover with sticky web and devour. Incisors, sharp and deadly, that will pierce my skin and poison me. Sully me. Taint me.
Now my kill wall doesn’t compare. All the ones that came before him are irrelevant. I know that even without Master and the fate’s will, I would chase this man down to the bowels of hell and deliver him to the devil myself.
Because, with one look at this plain ordinary man, I come to an understanding. A foreboding sense of dread, a spark of elation, and an animated call to eagerness hits me.
Because Aiden Walker will be mine.