28. First Kill

Levi first took Elise out to dinner at a fine restaurant, then they made their way to his large mansion in the quarter. He parked in the alley behind the house and led her in through the back entrance. They emerged from the house onto the balcony. As they Looked down, Elise could finally see the theme of the party.

She gave Levi an odd look. “Angels and Demons?”

“Yes, that’s the theme. Is that all right?”

“Yeah, it just seems weird.” For her it was. It was strange to see people dressed in wings and Halos trying to look the way they thought angels looked, and then others with fake horns and pitch forks. Most of the guests were dressed in fancy apparel. But with, in her opinion, tacky props.

“You know angel wings are not really that small.” she said as they passed one of the women in wings.

“Well, you can show them yours if you like.”

Elise could in fact allow her wings to show if she wanted. Most of the time angels made themselves look like every other human. They preferred to blend in and not allow anyone to see them flying. But angels could just as easily show their wings and let people see them fly if they chose to drop the ruse.

“I certainly will not.” She said, appalled at the idea of making a spectacle out of herself.

“Fine I guess you will pretend to play a demon then. You did choose to wear black.”

She thought to herself. ‘So that is why he liked that I wore black.’

“I need to go and meet a few of my guests. You can join me if you want.” Elise followed behind him until he stood in front of a stout balding man.

“This is Richard Moxley. He is the Governor. Governor this is Elise Durand.”

“Ah, always nice to meet one of your girls Levi. I must say this is the prettiest one I have ever met.”

Elise face broke into a scowl. “She is not one of those girls I assure you.”

“Oh, I'll be dammed. You finally got a girlfriend.”

“I wouldn't call her that. She is more than that.”

“Whatever. We can discuss semantics later. Did you secure the votes.”

“Yes, you will be endorsed where you need it. Have no worries. You will be reelected.”

“Goodman, this is one hell of a party. I don’t know how you come up with the ideas for these things.”

“Well, this party was inspired by Elise actually.”

Richard looked at Elise. “Is that so.”

“I don’t know what he means.”

“Well, whatever the case, if you will excuse me. I see someone across the room who looks like she could use my attention.”

“All right, Good to see you, Richard.”

“Same.” The governor said as he went off to try his luck with a woman much younger than himself.

“So, this is what you do all day.”

“What?”

“You fix things.”

“Yes, I do. Well, when people ask me for something.”

“And how do you do it?”

“I have my ways.”

“Well, I think it is horrible that you are going around turning things in favor of others. I mean where does it stop? Do you sell drugs?”

“I make it a point not to hurt kids or support anyone who does. I don’t traffic whether that be drugs or people. I have a line I won’t cross. So, you see it isn't so bad.” Elise thought for a minute. She didn’t like what he did, but then again, she had never seen him do anything that was truly evil.

“Fine.” She said. Even though she still didn’t know how she felt about it, she decided to put it on the backburner. After they met with a few more people, Elise got bored and went to get a drink. She left Levi to his business.

“I'll have a gin and tonic.” she said to the bartender. Then she turned around and looked for Levi. She caught him in the crowd. He was busy talking to some associates when a women came up behind him. She put her hand on his back, and he whipped around. Elise focused her hearing on them just in time to hear him telling her to get lost.

Elise felt secure about their relationship. She didn’t think much about him talking to other women, but she did feel a smidge proud that she was the only one Levi wanted. As she stood near the bar she heard a familiar voice. She looked over to see Sean.

“Sean?”

“Elise.”

“What are you doing here, I didn’t know you were...” she didn’t know how to put it. Elise had assumed he was neither rich, powerful, or well-connected. So, she could not understand how he was here.

“What you assumed I was some poor piece of shit?”

“No, I just didn’t know.”

“Well, I come from money. In fact, my parents are loaded.” It was true they were. He neglected to mention that they had cut him off. He was party crashing, He thought he could score some free alcohol and food. This was something he did often. He would find a party in the society pages and then crash them.

“That is good for you Sean.”

“Yes, it is. Isn’t it?” He said moving in close to her.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes, there is. I told you I would have you, and now seems like the perfect opportunity.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her off to a secluded area. She allowed him to take her with him. This would end now she thought. He dragged her along until he found an empty room, then he tried to push her up against the wall.

She didn’t budge. She grabbed his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “Sean, you need to stop.”

He continued trying to push her.

“Stop!”

“No. You have been uppity since I met you. You never give me the time of day, and I think it’s time I taught you a lesson on manners.”

Elise shoved him off with a small amount of force, and he almost fell over.

“I said stop.”

“Do you really think you can make me?”

Elise was silent.

“You’re just like the rest of them. Maybe when I am done with you, I’ll carve you up like the last one. I bet your precious boyfriend wouldn’t like you so much then.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“Oh, yes. Plenty of times. You’re nothing special, and now I’m going to help you know that.”

Elise hated this particular brand of violence. Just listening to him was making her angry. He moved to grab her again. She was so focused on her anger she didn’t move. He grabbed her, squeezing her as he tried to turn her around.

Elise shook herself out of her stupor and she snapped. She reached back between her shoulder blades, pulled out the double-sided sword, and brought it down. She stood, looking down over his lifeless body. A few minutes passed before she snapped back.

“Holly Crap, I killed him.”