Chapter Thirty-Six

Willow

“Can I help you?” I ask, smiling at the man on my doorstep in his beige uniform, a badge clipped to his chest, a gun holstered at his hip. “How can I help you?”

“I’ve been trying to contact you and your mom for the past few hours. Is she home?”

I shake my head. “Mom’s at work.”

“Where does she work?”

“LEG Energy,” I respond.

“Funny,” he replies, looking behind me and into the house. “Because I checked at LEG Energy and they’d never heard of her.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I reply, eyeing him warily.

“It’s probably an error.” He looks around me again and into the house. What is his deal?

“Is there a problem, officer?” I snap, feeling guarded. I don’t like this guy; he gives me the creepy vibe.

His demeanor softens and his smile becomes sad and sincere. “No problem, little lady, it’s your sister.”

“What about her?” I ask, feeling my heart rate elevate.

“I’m afraid she’s had a bit of an accident that landed her in the hospital early this morning.”

Sounds like her. Probably fell off her bike. “Is she breathing?”

He nods.

“Is Nokosi with her?”

“He sure is. Don’t like him?”

I grunt, “You have no idea.” Sighing, I wipe my hands on my nightgown and blow a raspberry. “Well, if he’s with her I’m sure she’s fine and doesn’t need me.”

“She does need you,” he responds, and I hear the sincerity in his voice and see it in his eyes.

“Fine.” I step back. “I can’t drive, I’ve had my meds, can you give me a ride?”

“Sure can.”

“I’ll just get dressed then,” I say, smiling and allowing him into my home, motioning to my tatty pink nightgown. He steps inside, looking at the lack of furniture and pictures on the walls. “What did you say your name was, officer?”

“I didn’t, sorry, long day.” He holds out his hand and I take it. “It’s Officer Deacon.”

“Officer Deacon,” I repeat, feeling my heart thrum with excitement. “I have heard a lot about you from my sister.”

“All good I hope.”

“So good,” I lie, “I feel like I’m in the presence of a hero. Please, follow me and sit while I get dressed.”



***



Officer Deacon

My head hurts. I’ve never felt so hungover. Did I drink last night?

No… it hasn’t been last night yet. I was talking to that girl… the one with the weird green eyes. The mud shark. The brownie fucker. I was pouring her a drink… she was upset… worried about her sister… and then…

Now I’m here.

Where is here?

I blink open my eyes, surprised to see a blinding light pointed directly at me. I hear groaning and try to find the source, but my head keeps lolling.

I think the groaning is me.

Fuck it hurts so bad.

“Hello?” I try to speak but it’s muffled. There’s something in my mouth. Fabric. It tastes bitter, like it’s been used to clean and hasn’t been rinsed properly.

My hands are pulled tight behind me… My shoulders ache. My entire body aches. It feels like I’ve got the flu. Am I dying? Bleeding? Wounded?

I look down. I’m only wearing boxers and a white wifebeater. I was dressed. I was in my uniform. Fuck. My gun.

“Shut the fuck up,” a feminine voice hisses at me and yanks my hair back. Her fingers grip my cheeks painfully, her nails digging into my flesh.

It’s her. The one with the freaky green eyes like her twin.

“What do you want from me?” I ask but I can’t speak properly. This fucking rag in my mouth.

My eyes adjust. I’m in a white room. Plastic sheeting lines the walls and floors.

Oh my God.

I’m going to die.



***



Willow

Willow: I know we’re not exactly speaking right now, but I need you to meet me in our spot ASAP. It’s important. Come alone. Don’t tell Lilith.

Nokosi: I have been calling and texting you all fucking day! Where have you been?

Willow: I’ve been busy. Come around and you’ll see.

Nokosi: I’m only coming because I have to tell you something and not because you’ve asked.

I pace back and forth, twisting my braid around my hand as I go.

It takes him a while, but he gets here. I greet him at the door, blocking the garage behind me from his view. Man, I’m so fucking excited. If this doesn’t show him that I love him and I’m worthy of him, I don’t know what will. If this doesn’t earn me his love and trust, I definitely don’t know what will.

“Okay, before you say anything,” I state as Officer Deacon thrashes in the chair and screams around the gag in his mouth. “I just want to tell you that I know what I did to you was wrong, so I want to make it up to you.” I yank him inside as his eyes find Deacon and quickly close the door behind him. “Tada!”

“Willow… what the fuck?” he gasps, eyes wide and on the cop that abused him growing up. “What have you done?”

“I’m going to kill him for you.”

Nokosi swings around to look at me, his eyes still wide but now full of disbelief.

“Unless you want to do the honors yourself?” I motion to the spread of weapons on the floor by the far wall. I didn’t have a table, so I had to make do. “There’s a screwdriver, knives, pliers, if you want to pull out his teeth or something. Or… I have his gun?”

“This isn’t right, Willow, you’re not thinking straight,” he whispers, gripping my biceps. “You don’t want to do this. He’s not worth the prison sentence.”

“Prison? I’m not going to prison, I’m dying. By the time it goes to trial I’ll be dead.” I place my hand on his chest as Deacon screams louder, even more scared now that he knows I’ve got nothing to lose by killing him. “Isn’t that awesome? I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

Nokosi looks at a loss for words, understandable. This is a lot to take in.

“Oh my God… this day just won’t fucking end,” he whispers and gulps audibly. “Look, Willow… your sister is sick. She needs you.”

“I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT MY SISTER!” I yell at him, annoyed that he’s even thinking about her after what I’ve done for him. “My sister has everything. She has her life, money, the guy I want, friends… well, that last part is debatable, strength and energy to do things every fucking day.”

“Is that what this is about?” he asks, shocked. “You want me? You did this because you thought it would make me love you?”

“He abused you,” I yell, pulling the gun from the back of my pants and pointing it at Deacon. “He abused you for years. Don’t you want revenge? Look at this room. Nobody will ever know what we did.”

“Willow, I don’t want to kill anybody. I just want a long and quiet life. Okay? I don’t want this on my conscience, I don’t have the stomach for it. If you truly love me, you won’t force me into this.”

Okay… I suppose he sort of has a point.

“Fine, turn around,” I say firmly with a shrug of my shoulders. “I’ll do it. He’s not leaving here alive. He’s a pedophile and I’m sort of what you call a… vigilante, rapist-pedo hunter. Cool, right?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Nok asks, gripping his head with his hands, looking at me with wild eyes. “Let’s just put the gun down and go and find Lilith. She’s really fucking—”

I push the barrel of the gun against his mouth, enraged at the sound of that bitch’s name.

“DON’T SPEAK ABOUT MY SISTER!” My teeth are bared, I’m really fucking mad. I need to calm down.

Nokosi raises his hands but shows no fear. He’s so brave.

“You love her so fucking much, but you don’t know what she’s done or why you two met to begin with,” I hiss, taking deep breaths. Officer Deacon screams for help again so I hit him around the temple and scream, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” He immediately goes silent with a whimper.

Much better.

“You think she’s so innocent?” I ask Nokosi whose hands are still raised, and eyes are on me. “Yep, sweet Nokosi… you were scouted by my sister for me. Do you recall her trying to entice you to do things to her that could be considered rapey?” He doesn’t answer. I don’t care. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

I press a kiss against his unresponsive lips, standing on my tiptoes to do so. The plastic sheeting crackles under my movements.

I then walk over to Deacon who flinches, and I lift his wifebeater, showing the star-shaped burn on his rounded beer gut.

“Oh God,” Nokosi chokes. “No.”

“I normally heat a knife, or something sharp and burn draw the sigil into their flesh, but I just held his badge over an open flame and pressed it against his skin. Cool, right? He screamed and screamed. Not good when you have neighbors. I had to hit him a few times, but we managed it in the end. Look at it.”

“You’re dying, you’re weak… you couldn’t have killed all of those innocent people.”

“They were rapists and murderers and disgusting arrogant PIGS!” I sneer, pressing the barrel of the gun into the blistering burn on the older man’s stomach. He cries.

I love it when they lament as I torture them.

“You don’t know that, Willow. Arrogance doesn’t mean they were bad.”

“Male means bad,” I respond darkly, turning again to look at him. “All men are vile fucking pigs. You have no idea what they did to us.” I laugh lightly. “Or maybe you do? Because that’s what he did, isn’t it? He fucked you, made you think you were enjoying it when really it was destroying your soul.”

“I’m not destroyed,” he insists. “I’m strong. I survived. I’m okay. Look at me. I’m not damaged.”

“Yes, you are,” I say, raising the barrel of the gun again and pointing it right at the sobbing officer’s eye. “And I’m going to end your pain by ending him.”

“Don’t, Willow… Lilith is dying, she has the same tumor as you. She needs you!”

My lips part as a new wave of pain floods through me. “What?”

“That’s why she’s in the hospital,” he explains, taking a step towards me. “She collapsed. She’s really sick.” His eyes fill with tears despite everything I just said about her.

“You really do love her, don’t you? Even knowing what she did? What she came to do?”

He looks away, at the man behind me who is still shouting for help through the rag. Or trying to. He’s not very smart.

“Shut up,” I snap at him again and he does so, looking at Nok for help. “Don’t you look at him, you fucking pedophile.” I raise the gun. I’m not even enraged anymore. I’m dead inside.

My sister was always supposed to live after me. It was my one saving grace. And now I’ll never get Nokosi because he’ll choose the dying sister that he loves. He doesn’t care what I’ve done for him.

“Well, if she’s dying, I guess I really have nothing holding me back.” I pat Deacon’s cheek. “Sorry, dude. You fucked up touching him. Any last words?” Yanking the fabric from his mouth, listening to him yell for help for a little while, I twist the silencer onto the end of the pistol. I got that from the twelfth guy I killed. His daddy was a hunter who promised me over the news that he’d find me and kill me. He hasn’t yet and I’m glad of it. This doohickey has been a great tool to use for my little hobby I’ve got going here.

Nokosi moves closer and starts to speak, “Maybe we should—”

POP.

My elbows almost buckle when the gun fires and the bullet soars through the air, hitting Deacon in the eye.

The splatter of blood across Nokosi’s face shuts him up and he becomes deathly pale.