The Kills That Bind Us (Ch 3)

https://www.wattpad.com/story/128420180-the-kills-that-bind-us 

Chapter 3

Dee and I exist in a haze of blood and disquiet passion. She brings men to the cottage and I stay away until summoned. The bodies burn down to nothing when I finish what she starts and on days we spend time together she begs me to tell her my name or anything substantial.

She isn't ready so I smile and strip her bare while she fights our mutual attraction, drawing blood until I have my face planted between her thighs and my name is the last thing on her mind. Dee tastes like strawberries and it's never enough. I take and take, consuming all I can until one day she's bringing up the fact we don't go out or do anything resembling normalcy.

"Are you bored?" I tilt my head so she knows I'm serious, "What makes you think I want to date when I'd rather see you slice through a man's neck with a dull blade so you have to work at it? Exercise comes in many forms, baby."

"You're an asshole." She pouts, from the ugly pink sofa in her otherwise darkly furnished living room. For a woman who nearly always wears black the pink sofa threw me off and I want to burn it every time I look at it. "Can you ever be nice? It's been two months and you still won't tell me your damn name!"

"No, and you need to prove yourself to earn my name."

Dee perks up at the challenge, "Prove myself how?"

I pretend to mull over the answer even though it's always the same. "There's a man I need you to kill. No..." I hold up a hand knowing she wants to interrupt, "You will do this no questions asked and if you please me, I will tell you my name."

When Dee stands, the short midnight blue dress she wears hugs her petite frame like it's sewn on, "Oh, I think I've proven I can please you in many ways, Slick. Who's the target?"

Instead of answering I smack her tight ass hard enough to leave a mark then leave the apartment with colorful curses following behind like a recording I could listen to over and over without complaint.

● ● ● ● ● ●

I ignore Dee's text and phone calls for two days gathering everything I need to finish my mission. Plus, I'm tired. Dee has a ferocious appetite for all things and it's nice to crawl into bed sleeping for twelve hours straight knowing she's waiting to do my biding.

When I find Dee at the cottage with a man beating her with a bloody fist on the third night, I simply come up behind and snap his neck like a dry pretzel. He falls on top of her shrilling, flailing body and with a sigh, pluck her up and toss her into the shower. She sputters as the cold tap sprays over her bruised body and it takes a lot not to laugh at how she resembles a drowned rat.

"W-where were you?" She accuses through busted lips.

I cluck my tongue at the mess she's made yet again, "I should put a leash on you, Dee. Who's the asshole?"

"Where were YOU!?" She screams, grabbing the front of my black hoodie and I push away with a warning glare, "Answer me! You said you would protect me!"

She slaps me soundly across the face and I return the act. She gasps, bursting into over dramatics until I coolly state, "Tit for tat, baby. Don't forget who you're messing with." Examining beyond her bloody face note she's naked and a raw, unfamiliar emotion takes hold, "Where are your clothes? Did you fuck him?"

Dee raises her hand but thinks better of it, "No, he ripped my dress off before I could get him into the room. The drugs I put in his drink didn't work. You know I don't sleep with these assholes!"

I storm back into the front room to look at the piece of shit that hurt Dee knowing our time together has ended. She didn't know by not keeping her head down and waiting, causing me interfere, has concluded the use I have for her psychotic, murdering soul and I can no longer stay.

Swallowing all the anger I want to spew in her anxious face force myself to say, "Don't worry about anything, baby. Get cleaned up and I'll handle this. Are you going to be okay until tomorrow?"

Gingerly, she touches her face where it's swollen and already a nasty shade of blue, "I'm sorry I lashed out. You promised to protect me and when he attacked, I thought of my sweet pet. He could have come to my defense, but you made me give him up. Are you coming back?"

Smiling, I kiss her forehead gently, "I'll join you in your apartment before sun up. Okay?"

Dee nods stoically with glistening blue eyes and I ignore the tug of protectiveness that momentarily makes me want to hug her shivering body. I turn my back instead, dragging the man I killed out to the plastic lined trunk of my car.

I take care of Mr. Esquivel and go to the apartment, watching Dee curled up on black silk sheets like a content but dangerous animal. She sleeps so deep, without remorse for the lives she takes I wonder how no one notices the shadowy cloud of starless despair practically seeping from her pores. Inhaling deeply, smelling death and strawberries, close my eyes to remember this moment.

I take a shower before joining her, laying in the dark contemplating my next move. I wasn't meant to stay in the city for as long as I had, but Dee made it worthwhile. They will find out what I did and if I bind her, she will forever be in agony.

Like me.

In the morning I tell Dee to get a coffee and take a book to the park. She's dressed in a vintage black baby-doll dress with dark sunglasses perched on top of her tightly wound hair to hide the shiner she received the night before. At the door I take both sides of her pinched lips, forcing them up into a smile, smearing her dark red lipstick in the process.

She grunts, scratching my arms with unforgiving nails, "Tit for tat, right?"

Smirking at her sass, lick the soft skin of her cut lip tasting pennies. "Right. I'll see you later, baby."

I'm there when she sits on her favorite bench beside Mr. Esquivel, who wears a new hat and coat although the weather is warm. Peering at the scene holds none of the previous joy although I am once again amused she doesn't know she's sitting beside a dead body.

"Why are you not claiming her?" A deep voice asks where I'm hiding in the shadows of a large elm tree.

I keep watching through binoculars at my gorgeous murderess, "I broke the seal when I killed for her. The previous numbers won't count now."

"She's good for a few dozen more. Bind her. Abatu knows you've misallocated this body he gifted you. You shouldn't be here spying on a family that no longer remembers your given name. When will you let go of your humanity?"

Scoffing, I glance at the old man behind me holding a cup of steaming coffee looking unsuspecting with a grandfatherly face, "He knows I'm good for souls. I will take my punishment, but she's no use to me anymore."

"You're lying. She's what, one in a billion you've found over the last three hundred years so unflinchingly skillful at murder?"

Gritting my teeth I look through the spy glasses, "It doesn't matter. It's time to move on."

"Yes, these bodies fail sooner than later."

Mr. Esquivel leans from a gust of wind that blows Dee's dress up. She giggles, glancing over but drops the book when he falls on top of her. She screams at the top of her lungs, falling off the bench and the heavy, bloated body follows.

People run over to see what the matter is but Dee has fainted. I laugh deep in my chest, whispering a goodbye to my murderess as people call the police and try to make sense of the scene.

"Are you sure you want to let her get away?" The pesky demon is still behind me with an unnatural gleam in his cataract eyes. "You aren't the only collector."

"Away?" I spin around and Dee is no longer on the footpath in front of the bench.

"Ah, she's remarkable. Good luck with the next one brother."

I walk away to where a taxi is waiting to take me to the airport. Yes, I may find another pawn willing to gift me souls, but there will be no one willing to bind their kills to me like Dee.