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“Ah, Aeron will enjoy that,” I mumbled and then sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that.” David wasn’t going to live past tonight so I wasn’t worried what he would overhear but watching the flurry of emotions wash over my victim’s faces as they heard me run through my words made it more fun.
Silent tears streamed down his face as he scooted backward, a hand slapped over his bleeding shoulder. “You’re crazy,” he spat.
Was that the best this man could come up with? “You haven’t seen crazy.”
His eyes were like saucers now, the man scrambling to his feet and taking off down the sidewalk, finally giving me the chase I deserved.
“Oh, now we’re talking.”
Funny enough, had he run toward the city’s center or, god forbid, back home, this moment would have been over, and I would have had to explain to Samael how we were going to clean up my mess.
Fortunately for me, David wasn’t that smart, and he headed farther into the empty park. His screams echoed through the shrubbery lined on either side of the path, but there was no one to save him. With the curfew enacted, no one would risk their life for someone they didn’t know unless a patrol car passed through.
I kept the same swift pace as I followed him, twirling my knife as the excitement built up in my chest. It had been a while since I had chased one of my victims, most of them cowering in place until the only thing to get them to stop screaming was death. It was never merciful.
“Oh, David,” I whispered, letting the brisk air carry my words. One of the bushes off to my right shuddered, alerting me to the man’s presence.
Hiding?
“David…” The rasp to his name came out unintentionally, the grip on my machete tightening as I imagined the best way to slice into him. Just a few days ago, he had been boasting about being the perfect man. Here? He was nothing more than a sorry excuse for trash, and I wished I could show these moments to his girlfriend. I’d never taken pictures before but I savored this kill just like any other.
He shrieked and burst from the shrubbery, leaves and branches cracking around him as he took off again, heading deeper into the park. With each step in that direction, the shrubbery morphed into untamed greenery and then the edge of the forest. Primrose essentially ended at the line of thick trees and vines, giving David even less hope of being rescued. Just my luck, I supposed.
My pace never quickened as I repeated his name, enjoying the way it echoed through the forest. The path was lit only by the moon escaping through the tree branches as I stalked my prey, his startled cries alerting me to his position.
“Why are you doing this?” he yelled before scrambling through more underbrush.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the only reason he was going to die tonight was that he was a sorry excuse for a human. He hadn’t killed anyone, hurt anyone, or done anything other than cheat on a girl I didn’t know. She was sweet, and her genuine outlook on the world intrigued me. Saying that this kill meant something wasn’t the entire truth because I was enjoying this just a little too much.
“David, you do realize you’re running the wrong way.”
His steps halted, his ragged breathing picking up pace. Oh, David knew now that he wasn’t going to live through the night, didn’t he? I waited to hear if he’d take off, pleasantly surprised when I caught a flurry of movement headed my way. Did he not realize that I had been behind him?
With a chuckle on my lips, I sidestepped and then yanked him by the collar when he tried to pass me, snarling into his ear. He froze in my hold before trying to squirm away, his mouth poised to scream again. My hand slapped over his face to muffle the sound of his pitiful cries, which did nothing more than spur on my need to kill him and make an example out of him.
As much as I loved the terror that erupted in bloodcurdling squeals for mercy, there was a time and place for that. An open area like this wasn’t as safe as a back alley or desolate pockets around the edge of the city. If David screamed much longer, a police officer would eventually show up, and there was no promise that it’d be Samael.
I dragged him farther into the darkness, enjoying how he tried to fight my hold. Years ago, I had used a sedative to make it easier to overtake my victims but quickly realized that it robbed me of the moments I so desperately needed. I needed to see the fear and anguish in their eyes as I stole their life. I needed to hear their cries and pleas, telling me that I didn’t need to do this, that I was better than this, that they wouldn’t say a word to anyone.
They were full of lies.
I wasn’t better than this. These were my demons and I enjoyed feeding them.
Pressing my serrated blade against his neck, still covering his mouth with the other hand, I leaned over to his ear again. “Scream, and you’re dead.” He nodded frantically as I slowly loosened my grip on his jaw, the scratchy sound of his pleas erupting into the night air.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. He was making this too fucking easy. I hadn’t even started, and I was already getting hard. I yanked him down to his knees as he tried to take off again. He groveled at my feet, sobs wracking his entire body. How had that sweet girl ever thought David was worthy of her love?
Deciding to stop wasting time, I made my first real slice, giddy with the horrified expression plastered on his face.
“You’re him, aren’t you?”
I realized that this was a double-edged sword, that David would not only be seeing death itself but also Dr. God Hands using his craft for evil. The grin that took over my face was a gift from the devil himself. “Depends,” I purred, making another slice down his bare arm. He gritted his teeth together to avoid making a sound. I had him cornered, but it was surprising that he hadn’t tried to run again. “Who’s him?”
“The Skinner.” He said on a gasp, “You—how could you do this?”
A chuckle fell from my lips. “Because what the public fails to understand is I’m not a surgeon by profession.” I knelt in front of him, calculating where I would strike next. The beauty of my blade was that they couldn’t feel the pain until after I sliced. Most of my victims didn’t even know they had been cut until they saw the crimson stream running down their limbs. Their screams were more from fear than the agony, the fear that they wouldn’t survive the night.
David’s eyes grew wide as sanity finally took hold of him. He tried to scramble away from me, but I was a predator, and the mere thought of a chase excited me. I knew that it was fucking dangerous, that I could get caught if David happened to slip through my fingers, but I was confident enough in my craft that I gave him the leeway to crawl from me.
