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The police keep pace with the bulk of the crowd where they think the danger of real violence breaking out is.And yet, we are the true danger here.
Finally, we have our moment.Brian signals to me, and I nod.We both switch from the safe whips to our kill whips.We bump and herd Dante away from the crowd, back toward the noise of the stage.
“Hey!What the fuck!”Valentino shouts, but it sounds like a whispered growl underneath the music—as though it could be just a growling backup vocal to the band on stage.
We work as a unit to rip at his costume, so we can get to vulnerable unprotected skin.He didn’t wear an entire separate set of clothes under his heavy costume, and because it is a costume, buttons and zippers pop free much more easily than they should.
He struggles and runs from us, but he only ends up getting entangled in cords and stage equipment.He trips and falls in a tangle, and then in concert with Brian, I allow that terrifying part of me to come out—my own monster that mirrors his—and we beat Dante to death while his screams blend into the music and the screams of the other event participants.
It’s only after it’s done that Brian removes his mask to confirm for sure that it’s him.There’s something unsatisfying in our victim not knowing it was us—or why.But I feel Brian’s buzzy adrenaline—the same frenetic energy from Halloween.Only this time when he turns toward me, I don’t run from him.
But I sense the shift, like maybe this is the moment he’ll come fully back to me.Even behind the costume… maybe we’ll have a repeat of the pumpkin patch—a night I have shamefully fantasized about on an obsessive loop for weeks now.I’ve brought myself to orgasm under the spray of the shower more times than I can count, thinking about that night.
And the most shameful part is that my fantasy never starts with the fucking.It starts with the chase.Brian is right… I don’t have a death wish but I do flirt with death.How could I not, when I sleep with the reaper every night?
We’re about to make our exit when two new Krampus demons pop out from around the side of the stage.Their gazes shift to Dante’s fallen body then slide slowly back to us.They’re too close to allow us to run.
Everything is so loud, and with the masks I can’t communicate effectively with Brian to know what to do.Who are these people?Are they just curious participants who stumbled upon a murder scene?Are they undercover cops?Are they men with Dante that we simply missed because they weren’t the usual suspects?
I drop my whip and grab one of my knives.I keep it concealed under the layers of my costume, finally jabbing it in and upward under the ribs of the Krampus demon who rushes me.He doesn’t see the glint of metal until it’s too late.I can’t tell what Brian is doing from this angle, but he seems to be scuffling with the other guy.
He’s got the guy’s mask off now and is interrogating him—demanding information now that he’s got the upper hand in the fight.I scan the area, looking for cops or witnesses to our crimes.Was Dante worth it?Are we going to get out of this?My hands drip with the blood of the man I just killed, his body sprawled at my feet, while Brian continues to yell at the other one.
The run is circling back around as the Krampus demons herd their prey back toward the stage.We’re too exposed here.Too visible.Somehow we’ve managed to move closer to the side of the stage, closer to the visibility of the crowd that doesn’t realize what’s happening around them.They’re too taken with the event.They’re too concerned with taunting or fleeing pretend demons with whips to notice the real monsters of the night.
The screams of the crowd mix in and cover up the scream of Brian’s victim as he hits the ground.The cops are still at the back of the crowd, but they’re making their way closer.They’ll see us soon enough if we don’t get the fuck out of here.
Just as I’m about to run for Brian and grab his hand, I feel a hard grip on each of my arms, and for a moment my heart drops in my stomach, and I think it’s cops, and we’re about to be arrested and lose everything.We’re about to be separated forever.
“Brian!Run!”I scream.If I’m about to be taken in, at least he can save himself.
He turns glowing red eyes back toward me, and suddenly he’s not fucking around.He rushes us, pulls out a gun from under his costume and puts two bullets first in one man and then in the other.
They release me and are on the ground before I even realize they weren’t cops at all, but other Krampus demons.The gun fire draws attention as people scream and scatter and the band stops playing.Brian grabs my hand and we run in concert with the fleeing crowd, blending into their panic to escape into the night.
10
BRIAN
Mina and I blend into the crowd, making our exit as the shrieks of horror rise up, separating themselves from the screams of people just having fun running from holiday demons—as people begin to realize they’ve stumbled upon actual dead bodies and not just a macabre Krampus display.
When we’ve separated off from the crowd, we run the few blocks to the Stryker building.I’m grateful I still remember the code and that Martin hasn’t bothered to change it.Why would he?He has no reason to suspect anyone has ever breeched his security or that anyone has ever died in this building.The cleaners were very meticulous that night.
Once inside, we shed our costumes, clean the blood off us in one of the bathrooms, and get on the elevator to ride to the top.Mina is shaking from the huge adrenaline dump she just experienced, and I’m not faring much better.I pull her against me, and hold her until she calms.
This was entirely too stupid of a mission.I was just so desperate to get to Valentino, but I never should have tried to pull off a kill in such an uncontrolled environment with so many potential witnesses.Masks don’t make us invincible from capture.
“Who were those guys?”Mina asks finally when we reach the top floor.“Were they with Dante?”
I shake my head, remembering the small amount of information I could get out of one of our attackers before I had to put him down.“He said Benjamin Barker told him we’d be there and showed them what our costumes looked like.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know.Someone with a vendetta?Someone hired by someone with a vendetta thinking they could get the drop on us, the same way we were doing with Valentino?”
“Did Dante know we were coming, then?”
I shake my head.“I don’t know, but we’re going to fucking find out.”
