My head was exploding. Blood poured from my nose, and I think I would have bitten my tongue if I’d not been screaming in agony. I drummed my heels on the floor, but that provided no alleviation. The entire world burned, and I couldn’t stop it. Russ tore everything deep I’d hidden away and waved it in front of my face. He was trying to make me into a monster and was slowly succeeding.
Tears trickled down my cheeks as I sobbed while holding my dead children. My worst fear made real.
I tried fighting back, locking Russ out, but it was useless. Russ had total control, and I was a pawn. The sacrificial lamb. The tragic thing was Belladonna had been correct. Russwas beginning to realise his powers, and he was guessing the possibilities were endless. That thought alone frightened me terribly.
Belladonna
I kicked the door open to the Rage clubhouse and didn’t hesitate. I struck instantly, and the guy in front of me reeled back. Romeo swept in with Slasher. They headed immediately for Drake while I attacked Judas. I hit hard and fast, and the kid pulled back, raising shields. Judas lashed out, hate and anger making him strike like a snake, and I went for his defences. They were tight, but I kept battering away. There was a weakness; I just had to find it.
“You’re her,” Judas smirked as he sought a way through my own shield.
“Yeah, and you’ve no chance. What’s your name?”
“Russ. Call me God.”
“Dude, I call no fucker God. Especially some snotty-nosed kid on an ego trip.”
“I’ll give you ego trip,” Russ yelled. “Leave Michaelson alone! He’s mine!”
Russ struck out, and Romeo staggered as he absorbed the blow. Russ almost pouted when Romeo didn’t crumple like he expected. I re-attacked immediately and hammered Russ. He stepped backward, shocked at my strength as I sought a chip in his defences. My entire focus was on him.
We shoved back and forth, both of us trying to find the weak spot and not give away our own. I was so focused that Drake’s voice took me by surprise.
“Taylor was a good person; she wouldn’t want this,” Drake rasped.
Russ faltered, and that was it. I punched through and entered his mind. It was a seething cesspit. So many negative emotions rolled around, and his thoughts were scattered. Russ fled from me as he began shutting doors and slamming them shut. But it was too late; I was in. I ripped Russ’s memories apart, destroying the easily accessed ones first.
Russ screamed as he fell to the ground. There was nothing he could do now. The kid was mine. I didn’t set out to torture; I just systematically destroyed his mind. It wasn’t easy. Russ had a strong will, but he couldn’t defend against me. He rabbited, pulling back his most precious thoughts until I cornered him in a tiny box. Darkness, where his personality had once lived, surrounded it.
Everything came down to this. Russ’s entire life I’d dismantled, memories, emotions, dreams, all gone. It gave me no pleasure to destroy someone like this, but it was necessary. Russ couldn’t be allowed to have anything intact; that would give him a base to rebuild on. Hate would return, and he’d find different targets.
Despite what people believed, some aspects of your personality were hard-wired into you; being a psychopath was one of Russ’s. His mind needed to be completely destroyed, and so, I cut him out like the infection he was.
Now there was nothing. Just a basic instinct to survive. “Leave me alone,” it screamed.
I couldn’t. Russ would slowly recover, regain his telepathic skills, and continue on to murder. Sadly, I grabbed the last tiny spark. Grief swept through me. This was all that remained of a living person, and then ruthlessly, I crushed it. Russ Kennedy faded into darkness, and nothing lingered of him. The guy destined become a serial killer had been snuffed out. It was done.
Tiredly, I opened my eyes and stared at the drooling, vacant-faced man.
Russ’s body worked, but it was an empty shell. It would breathe, eat, piss and shit as a basic function, but there was no brain activity. Romeo glanced across from where Phoe and Drake sat propped up by him and his brothers. Poker was next to them, one hand on Nun and one on me. Seeing me come back to myself, Poker released Nun and me. Beside me, Stitch had a hand on my forehead, staving off the impending migraine I get after using so much energy.
“Nice job,” Romeo murmured with a little awe. “Clean, surgical, precise.”
“Who was he?” Phoe whispered as Slasher had a hand on her that glowed faintly blue.
“His sister was Taylor Kennedy,” Drake said. His voice sounded a lot better than the last time I’d heard it. Slasher had healed him first.
“Taylor was an officer with the RCPD. She and her fiancé were killed in the war. He arrived DOA, but Taylor survived for a while before succumbing to her injuries. That was the younger brother?” Phoe asked.
Drake nodded. “Yeah.”
Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that they knew the name of the victim or her background. I bet they’d learned every victim’s details—including those who’d been forced into fighting for him.
“Russ wouldn’t have quit. He had plans in place for the children and the rest of the club; even your allies skirted his thoughts. Russ would have kept murdering until he was stopped. Because he’d kill psychically, he’d never have been caught unless he crossed paths with one of us. The kid was a bona fide serial killer in the making. Luckily, Russ was focused on you and hadn’t killed anyone else yet. But the thought was there,” I said.
“Russ’s sister, Taylor, was a cop, but harboured a psychopath.” Drake shook his head.
“Wasn’t the war that turned him either,” Romeo stated. “I caught some of his thoughts. Taylor had covered for Russ. He’d been hurting animals, a classic sign. The kid developed his powers after Taylor’s death. Despite his tendencies, he did love her. The shock tipped Russ over the edge, and his grief grew into what we saw today.”
