19. Chloe
Chloe
I ’m exhausted, but it’s the good kind of exhaustion that comes after working hard or in this case, fucking hard.
I’ve never felt so content. I have Zack’s heart, and I’ve given him my whole truth without being the slightest bit judged for it.
We drive, my hand resting on Zack’s thigh, his muscles tense.
“Are you okay?” I ask him, unsure if he’s about to flip back to denying how he feels about us.
“We’re nearly there.”
There were three men on the tape I saw back at the biker bar. I can only assume the third guy is next.
Whatever happened to Kat, he’s getting revenge for her by killing the men one by one.
I don’t ask Zack anything more about it. I’ve put a lot of pressure on him to tell me something that has clearly eaten him up from the inside for so long. We have forever for him to become comfortable enough to tell me everything .
“Whatever happens next, I want to be there for you,” I tell him.
He glances down at the tin of pills. I know he wants another. He’s been taking them like candy, so I’m sure he has an addiction. If it’s what he needs to get through this, I won’t judge. But instead of picking them up, he takes hold of my hand and kisses my knuckles.
“I had a twin sister, Kat,” he says out of nowhere.
“On this day, three years ago, she killed herself, leaving me a letter and a tape behind. The letter said that she only trusted me with what was on the tape. I watched it once all the way through, and that was enough to have what the men did to her permanently scarred on my mind. You saw what that other girl went through. The men I’m killing tonight all drugged and raped Kat in the same way. ”
“Zack. I’m so sorry.” I enclose his hand in both of mine. “The police did nothing?” It feels like a stupid thing to ask, but I want to keep him talking, to be able to finally piece him together.
He shakes his head. “No. They wouldn’t hear me out. Those men…Their faces are all I see every night. Kat’s cries haunt my days. I’ll be walking down the street, and out of nowhere, I hear her begging for help. I became obsessed with wanting them to pay, and I knew that it was up to me to end them.”
I finally understand.
He lets out a sad laugh. “I had it all planned out so perfectly. Even had a speech ready for each one. But with you there, everything changed. All I want now is for them to be dead and for you to be mine.”
“You have both of those things. We’re going to kill the last man together. That’s where we’re heading, right?”
The universe answers the question for me as we arrive at a sleepy neighborhood. I can sense that the monster Zack is hunting lives here. Another wolf hiding among the innocent.
“His name is Christopher Davis. Kat was best friends with his daughter, Alina. He lives here with his wife. She’s away at a fucking bingo night, and Alina’s got her own life out of town. He’ll be all alone.”
Zack turns down a narrow alley and parks away from the streetlights.
“Were his wife and daughter part of it?”
“The wife I don’t think has a clue on any of it, but Alina played an involuntary role. Christopher was using his daughter to lure her friends into his basement. Anytime she invited someone over for a sleepover, he’d drug them, including Alina.”
“His own daughter?” I gasp in disgust. “How did you figure it out?”
“I found a ridiculous amount of sleeping pills locked away in his kitchen. I tracked Alina down and tried to talk to her about her father and his friends. She told me about the sleepovers, and that her father’s friends would often come over on the same nights.
She also mentioned waking up feeling off.
As soon as I mentioned the possibility of her being raped by those men, she shut me down and left.
The fact that she never mentioned me to Christopher told me I was right about it all.
He and his friends, Jackson and Walter, would rape the girls and record the whole thing.
I recognized Christopher on Kat’s tape instantly.
The other men took some tracking down. I knew I couldn’t deal with them too far apart in case the others ran. So I planned it all for one night.”
That’s truly awful. I know the horrors of men from my own experiences, but there’s something about seeing the pain that these men’s actions have left on Zack’s face that makes it worse.
They are the ones who turned Zack into the killer he is today.
“I’m sorry you’ve had to do this all by yourself,” I tell him. “You’re not alone anymore, baby.”
I’m going to make sure he never forgets that he’ll always have me no matter what.
I listen intently as he tells me exactly how he wants this next kill to go. It’s the final one, and the most significant since it’s the ringleader, so I want to make sure it goes perfectly for him.
With a plan in place, we head down the alley.
Zack doesn’t want me to be bait again, but I assure him this is the best way for us not to get caught.
“Chloe, I told you not to put your life below others. If you go in there and something happens to you…”
Putting my hands on his shoulders, he goes quiet. “Nothing’s going to happen. Not with you here. Stop worrying, and show me the chaos that I adore in you so much.”
His pierced brow rises as he smirks. “You adore?”
“Yes, Zack.” I kiss him and let my lips linger afterwards. “I adore all of you.”
Leaving Zack picking his jaw off the floor, I head around the corner to the path leading to Christopher’s front door.
The lawn is neatly trimmed, and the bushes are blooming with flowers. It’s an idyllic white picket fence home.
When I reach the door, I take a breath then frantically start rapping my knuckles on it, careful not to be too loud and wake the neighbors.
A minute later, the door unlocks, and a man in his early fifties with short brown hair and glasses answers. He looks a little bit older than his appearance on the tape I saw earlier.
The soft smile Christopher gives me would fool anyone else, but not me. I see the intent hidden away behind his glasses. He doesn’t eye me up like the other men did, but I still feel that same predatory energy rolling off him in waves.
“Can I help you?” he asks kindly, and more than a little curiously.
“Yes, I hope so. Please,” I reply quickly, pretending to be out of breath as I look over my shoulder. “My-My boyfriend, he tried to hurt me. I ran out of his car, and he drove off, leaving me here like this.” I gesture down at my bare legs. “Please, I’m cold, and-and?—”
“It’s alright.” Christopher places his hands on my shoulders and eases me inside.
He checks no one’s watching before closing the door behind us.
When I see him about to lock it, I make a show of pretending to faint.
Abandoning the lock, he catches me before I hit the wooden floor.
I try not to cringe away from him as he holds me close to his chest and carries me through to a couch in the living room.
“You’re in shock,” he tells me as he lays me down. “God, you’re freezing.” His hand settles on my bare thigh and starts rubbing me.
“That feels nice.”
He stops and wets his lips. “You said your boyfriend left you alone?”
Sitting up, I nod and force some tears out. “He wanted to go all the way, but I said I wasn’t ready. I’ve never done it before. He got mad at me and tried to hit me.” I hiccup.
“Did he do this to you?” He runs his finger alongside the cut Zack left on my leg. My skin breaks out in uncomfortable goosebumps. Crap. I forgot about that.
“I think I caught it on something getting out of the car.” That doesn’t explain why there’s no fresh blood, but Christopher doesn’t seem too interested.
A shadow passes by in the hall, and I sob louder. “Oh gosh, you didn’t need to know all that. I’m sorry I woke you up with all this mess.” I gesture to his striped pajama bottoms and plain white t-shirt.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m glad I can help you.
I’m actually a veterinarian. It’s not that far off being a doctor so if you do need patching up at all, I can see to it.
I’m not letting you go until you’ve been properly cared for.
” He smiles triumphantly at me, his prize catch, and I make myself smile back.
“Do you live here by yourself?” I spot some photo frames on the mantelpiece.
He’s with a woman and a young girl in some of them, most likely his wife and daughter.
My stomach turns when I see one of him laughing with two other men on a fishing trip.
Walter and Jackson. Did they spend those trips laughing about everything they’d done?
“Yes, it’s just me. I have a daughter about your age, but she lives with her husband out of town. The other woman is my sister. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re safe now.” He’s a smooth liar.
Wringing his hands together, he subtly slips off his wedding band. Then he brushes some of my hair behind my ear while he pockets it. I tense my muscles so I don’t end up smacking his hand away.
As I scan the room, I do a double take of a photo on the wall.
Christopher is stood by a barbecue, talking to a man I don’t recognize.
It’s the other man in the background of the photo who has me feeling like I’ve seen a ghost. Wearing ordinary clothes and smiling as he chats to someone off-camera is Father Daniels. That can’t be possible.
My mask slips, and I’m left staring numbly at him. The drugs must be messing with my mind because I swear he looks straight at me from within the photo. The image of his caved-in skull flashes in my mind.
“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Christopher presses the back of his hand to my forehead. I want to push it away, but I can’t move.
“You—You said you’re a vet,” I say nervously, trying to figure out what I’ve just seen.
“I am.”
“Then why are you with a Father?”
He frowns then looks to where I’m staring. “Oh, that’s a friend of the family. Tristan Daniels. You know him?”
I manage to nod my head and swallow down the thick lump of fear threatening to choke me. “I recognize his face from church. My mother was a religious woman, and we used to attend worship every Sunday.” He seems to accept my story.
“Do you need to get in touch with her?”
“No. She passed away a few years ago. My boyfriend, well, I guess ex-boyfriend now, he was all I had.” Pulling myself together, I smile at Christopher.
“Thank you for letting me in. You seem like a good man. I don’t want to think about what could have happened to me if I knocked on anyone else’s door. ”
“It’s my pleasure, you’re in safe hands with me. Wait here for a moment, I’ll get you some tea to make you feel better.”
I keep my eye on the hall after he leaves. The dark shadow is still out there, and I smile at it.
When Christopher returns, he’s carrying a large mug of steaming hot tea.
“Here, it’s a little hot, but it’ll warm your hands.
We can get to know each other a little better while it cools enough to drink.
” His sweetness turns my stomach sour. Glancing down, I see the start of an erection in his pants.
He clears his throat bashfully, and I take the mug, pretending I didn’t see anything.
Watching me eagerly, he sits in front of me on the edge of the coffee table, his legs crossed awkwardly.
“How rude of me, I realize I never asked you your name.”
“It’s Chloe.”
He touches my knee and squeezes. “It’s lovely to meet you, Chloe, I’m Christopher. How old are you exactly? I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that you said your boyfriend tried to pressure you into doing… things. ” His voice gets raspy as he says the last word, and he looks at my thighs.
Putting on my best coy act, I shift on the seat so my legs part and Christopher can see I’m not wearing any panties. At the same time, the shadow in the hall draws closer. Its energy takes up the entire room, and like a thunderstorm rolling in, I can feel it in my bones.
“I’m old enough to know how much of a creepy bastard you are.”
Taken aback, Christopher lets go of my leg.
The shadow engulfs us both, and I smile at its comforting darkness.
“What are you smiling—” Christopher stops short as I throw the tea in his face.
Before his screams alert the neighbors, the shadow stuffs a cloth into Christopher’s mouth and wraps tape around his head to secure it in place.
Christopher claws at it and ends up scratching the raw, scalded skin on his face, making him cry harder .
A sharp punch from the shadow to the side of Christopher’s head has him falling limply onto the carpet.
Hopping to my feet, I open my arms for my shadow. He comes to me, stepping into my embrace and giving me a proud, wicked smile that makes my stomach flutter.
“Good job, little sinner.”