Chapter 14

We eventually reach the store.

How I didn’t turn the car around to go back home, shower and change, I don’t know.

I thought about it.

I was one step away from doing it.

But then she looked at me.

And smiled.

I couldn’t screw up again after giving her an allergy fit with that wretched perfume. I’m still mentally cursing myself for my oversight. Perhaps I should have asked her first instead of just buying it because the internet told me so.

I park the car and look around.

The streets are busy.

Even though it’s a small town, it’s the middle of December and people are strutting up and down the street, browsing shops for gifts.

The worst time to go out.

I glance at Minnie.

She has stars in her eyes as she looks at the beautiful Christmas lights adorning the shops and trees. She’s eager to get out there and explore—I can tell.

But she cannot.

“Stay here. I’ll be just a moment,” I tell her.

She flutters her lashes in confusion. “But?—”

“There are people around, Minnie. Men,” I state emphatically. “You cannot go out.”

“But, Marlowe, I?—”

“I’ll get the dessert for you. Just tell me what you want.”

“How can I tell you when I have no idea what options they have?” She pouts.

For a second, I waver. But then I see a group of men walking down the sidewalk and glancing at my car. I pull her toward me so all they can see is her back.

I seriously don’t need to kill someone tonight. And with the not so ideal developments from the last week, I don’t think I’ll be quite as gracious as I was during our visit to the department store. One lustful glance from a man will likely set me off and that will set off a chain reaction that will either end up with me on the news or at the police station—or both. Somehow, her proximity makes me take leave of my senses and when engaging in murder—in the perfect murder—the presence of one’s senses is of utmost importance.

The unfortunate truth is that since she’s appeared in my life, I’ve most definitely lost brain cells. I am dumber, I feel dumber, I do dumber things.

She’s converted me into a blundering idiot. And though I’m annoyed at that particular development, every time I think of ways to combat that, I spot her and I’m back to being a dumb, primitive male.

That’s the main issue. As long as I’m alone, I can plan a myriad of ways in which I’ll get rid of her and of the ridiculous ways in which she continues to bewitch me with her soulful eyes, her orgasmic food, and that little ass of hers that she keeps shaking while she’s cleaning. But as soon as I come face to face with her, I forget all my plans until only one goal remains.

Gaining her approval.

Fuck. I shouldn’t have taken her with me. But I was too excited at the prospect of giving her a surprise that I didn’t think too long about the implications—yet another thing that I’ve stopped doing since she’s come along in my life.

My lips flatten into a thin line as I look into her beguiling face.

She’s giving me puppy eyes.

Double fuck.

How can I resist that? How can anyone resist that?

“You like chocolate. What else do you like?”

She scowls but soon realizes arguing with me is pointless since I will not budge on my decision.

“I like vanilla, too. Oh, and red velvet. That one is divine.”

I nod.

“I’ll be right back,” I say as I get out of my car and lock it.

Her expression has now changed to that of a wounded puppy and I want to fucking kick myself for upsetting her. I doubt that will win me any sweet points with her.

I sigh.

I better get as many cookies as I can fit into my arms and hopefully a sugar high will make her see me in a different light.

Inside the store, I browse the selection and tell the clerk to pack two dozen chocolate and vanilla. Luckily for me, they have red velvet, too, so I get a dozen of that, as well. As I wait for them to pack my order, I also spot a red velvet cheesecake, and I smile to myself. That will be a good surprise. She’ll have no option but to allow me back into her good graces once she sees the sweet fare I have prepared for her.

After I pay the bill, the clerk stacks four boxes in my arms and I return to the car.

I barely open the trunk to deposit the boxes when I notice something is amiss.

Minnie is not in the car.

Panic flares in my chest. I slam the trunk shut and look around me.

“Minnie?” I call out, my voice loud enough that it makes everyone pause. “Minnie, where are you?”

She’s nowhere to be seen.

Did she… Has she left me?

Was my clumsy attempt at a gift such a turnoff that she decided to leave, once and for all?

But no, that can’t be.

Where could she go? Where would she sleep? She has no money, and her only possessions are the clothes on her back.

“Minnie!” I continue yelling as I run up and down the street.

My heart is racing, and my sight begins to cloud. Fear unlike I’ve ever known floods my insides, causing me nerve-wracking anxiety.

I bump into people right and left as I keep calling out her name.

Where is she? Where the hell is she?

She can’t have run away. No. I refuse to believe that.

People passing by become a blur in the background as I suddenly stop. I’m out of breath. My head is pounding, and my heart threatens to burst in my chest.

I bang my fist against my ribcage to alleviate the discomfort. But the mere thought that she might be lost to me has me hyperventilating.

What if she didn’t leave of her own volition? What if someone took her?

What if a man took her?

Her allure to the male species is a curse. Someone could have easily seen her through the window and become obsessed with her. A concept I might have laughed at not too long ago, but one that could be very much a reality now—a frightening reality.

Fucking hell!

What if she’s cold? She left her coat in the car. She’s only wearing a sweater.

What if she gets lost and doesn’t know how to reach me or how to get back home? She doesn’t have a phone—which I now realize to be an oversight on my part and something I mean to rectify as soon as possible.

The more she’ll wander around, the colder she’ll get. Then she’ll be hungry.

She can’t go hungry.

I gulp down hard and try to push those intrusive thoughts away. I’ll solve nothing if I let the fear overtake me.

What if something happens with Minnie? What if I never see her again?

My veins are about to pop at my temples, but I force myself to focus.

She can’t have walked far. I was only inside the shop for a few minutes.

I look around me again, trying to see my surroundings with a clearer mind. It takes me a couple of deep breaths to dispel the fog trying to lay claim over my mind.

Walking a few feet over, I hear a sharp cry.

Minnie!

I push my way through the crowd, letting her voice guide me. I don’t even care that I’m brushing against other people at this point and letting them brush against me. The pain is ephemeral compared to the regret of a lifetime I’d have if I don’t find her.

The crowd becomes more sparse, and Minnie releases another cry.

I run at full speed, rounding the corner to an alleyway nestled between two tall buildings. It’s dark and hidden from sight.

My eyes widen at the sight before me.

There she is.

Her knees are digging into the icy snow. She’s hugging a furry little thing to her chest as she glares at the man in front of her. He’s in his mid to late forties, dressed respectably in a medium-priced parka and wearing a woolen hat tipped over his face.

“Minnie,” I rasp, my voice harsh and out of breath.

She turns to look at me, her lips tipping up in a tremulous smile. Her eyes brighten.

“Marlowe. You have to help!”

I stride to her side, grab her by the arm, and pull her up. I deposit her and her little furry friend behind me and turn to stare down the man who dared to threaten her.

“What happened?” I ask as I give her a cursory glance to ensure she’s all right. Aside from the new addition in her arms, she seems unharmed.

“Look, Marlowe,” she murmurs in a low, tight voice. She motions toward the little dog in her arms. Gently pulling him from her chest, she shows me the gashes running all over his back. I press my lips in a tight line. The length and width of the gashes are consistent with the impact of a belt against his skin. The dog releases a whine as if afraid she’s going to release him from her arms. He nestles closer, burrowing his snout against her neck.

He’s trembling. And it’s not because he’s cold.

This can only mean one thing.

“Now listen here, miss. You can’t just kidnap my dog,” the man interjects.

“Shut it.” I give him a deadly glare as I hold one finger in front of him.

“Continue,” I tell Minnie, needing to hear the rest of her story so I can adjust the punishment accordingly.

“He”—she wets her lips—“he kicked the dog because he wouldn’t move. That’s when I ran after him. And when he saw me…” She takes a deep breath. “Well, first he threatened to call the police, but then he got a better look at me and he said I could have the dog if I paid for it…” She trails off and I get the gist of it as well as what the man was implying she pay him with.

The man has the decency to flush.

“It’s not my fault,” he cries out. “I don’t know what came over me, I swear. I don’t go around propositioning young girls.”

I let out a dry laugh.

“But you go around abusing animals?” I raise a brow.

He averts his gaze.

“I wasn’t abusing him. I was disciplining him. He needs to learn?—”

“No, you need to learn. The dog seems perfectly behaved to me.”

He’s snuggling tightly against Minnie’s chest, and for a moment, I envy the little bugger. Now that’s one body I wouldn’t mind brushing against. But it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon since she’s still pissed at me.

“No, you don’t understand,” the man cries out. “He won’t pee outside. He only pees inside.”

“He’s a small dog!” Minnie exclaims. “He has a small bladder. You do, don’t you, little baby,” she coos at the dog, who rejoices at the attention he receives from her. Another stab of jealousy spears against my chest.

For fuck’s sake, Marlowe! Being jealous of a dog is low, even for you.

“Maybe he would learn to pee outside if you walked him more often and made an effort to teach him instead of punishing him,” I mention.

“You have no right! It’s my dog! I’ll call the police!”

“Please do. Here, I’ll even help you,” I say as I pull out my phone and dial 911.

“W-wait…” the man mumbles then jumps at me to try to get the phone from my hand.

I’m at least a head taller than he is, so I simply raise my arm. My lips twitch as I watch him try to jump up and down to grab the phone.

“What do you say, Minnie? Should I give him the benefit of the doubt?”

“No,” she answers immediately.

Good girl.

“He doesn’t deserve to own a pet,” she continues.

“You heard the lady.” I smirk and press call.

I might not be able to murder him on the spot for his offenses, but I can certainly do…something. And getting the authorities involved will at least give him a taste of that punishment he’s so fond of inflicting on a little creature. But it will also help me save face with Minnie, since I doubt she’d warm up to me if she sees me murder someone in cold blood.

I want her forgiveness for whatever I did wrong. The last thing I need is for her to recoil in fear if she knows just how far I’d be willing to take this—well, only as far as having his body chopped up in small pieces before feeding them to wild beasts. It might be an affront to said wild beasts to eat something so unpalatable as this coward, but it would be a kind of poetic justice.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the operator speaks.

The man pales and right as I start reciting what had happened, he gets ready to run.

He makes a couple of steps before I’m on him, grabbing him by his coat and pulling him back, half lifting him off the floor.

Scrawny-ass coward.

He squirms and wiggles in an attempt to free himself, but he’s only battling the air at this point.

“We’ll send a car over,” the operator says after I tell her our location.

The man begs me to let him go, his words more fervent with each passing moment.

I chuckle and shake my head.

One glance at Minnie, though, and I thank all the known and unknown deities that I resorted to a non-violent method to make sure this lousy coward gets his comeuppance.

Her expression is soft, and a sweet smile appears on her lips as she regards me—as if I were her hero.

It finally dawns on me that’s exactly what I want to be—and maybe what I’ve been subconsciously trying to be all along.

Her hero.

In his desperation to escape, the man tries to kick me but misses. I shake my head at him and his feeble attempts. What I wouldn’t give to be able to teach him a lesson—one that he would never forget. But just as that thought becomes more and more tantalizing, the blaring sirens dispel all my fantasies.

Damn it.

The police arrives, and upon confirming the validity of our allegations, they arrest the man and take the little frightened dog to a veterinarian for urgent care.

Minnie pouts when she has to hand over the dog to the policewoman, but she eventually relents when she learns it’s for the best of the dog.

As the police car drives away, I quickly text Giles and ask him to monitor the case for me. In my experience, the police won’t do too much, so I’ll have to intervene at some point. It doesn’t matter if it’s two or ten years later. If it means doling out the proper justice, I’ll do it.

“You like animals?” I ask Minnie as I lead her back to the car.

I keep her to my side to avoid getting noticed by other people.

“Of course. Who doesn’t?” she asks as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

“I’d think the incident that just occurred would have answered your question.”

“Those are not people,” she mentions, scrunching her nose in disgust. “They’re far below animals as far as I’m concerned.”

I raise a brow in surprise at her staunch statement.

“They are,” I agree. “Unfortunately, the law is not enough to keep them in check.”

She nods.

“Human law is so peculiar to me,” she muses to herself.

“Human law?” I repeat, amused. “You speak as if there was some other type of law out there.”

Her eyes widen briefly and she clears her throat.

“I was just thinking of what ideal law would be like. There was this book I read,” she mentions, not looking at me. “In it, when a trial would be held, a deity of truth would be called to ascertain whether the accused was guilty or not. Then, that person would be executed.”

“A deity of truth? That’s interesting. I suppose it’s in a book with magic, since you seem to be quite fond of that.”

She smiles.

“The deities of truth are the ones in charge of divining the truth. They use an ancient relic called the mirror of truth that shows the unadulterated facts,” she continues.

“So they’re interpreting what the mirror shows them?” I ask.

“Yes, they’re trained to do so.”

“But doesn’t that skew that meaning of objective truth? Since the mages use their training and personal experience to translate what the mirror is saying. Isn’t that another way of manipulating facts?”

She stops in her tracks.

Slowly, she glances up at me.

“Unfortunately, objective truth cannot account for emotions, can it?”

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as objective truth, pet. Once it passes through the human lens, truth loses any objectivity it might have had.”

“But they’re deities. Not human…”

“Doesn’t matter.” I shrug. “They’re still beings that process information and emotion. Even a computer only does as much as it is trained to do, and the bias from the coding becomes visible in the final product.”

“You’re so smart, Marlowe. You’re right. There isn’t really an objective truth, but they do disguise it as such.” She shakes her head. “I’ve always wondered if there’s true justice out there, or if it’s only the justice of those who get to define it.”

My mouth curls up in a lopsided smile.

“No.” I shrug. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no true justice, just as there’s no truth. But I’m a selfish bastard and I don’t care about other people’s truths. I have my personal justice system based on a number of factors, the most important being firsthand evidence. Like what we just witnessed. That’s enough for me to reach a verdict, whereas for the justice system that might not even be enough to make it to trial.”

“But if everyone operated based on a personal code of justice, chaos would ensue. There would be an unending cycle of retribution. Would that solve anything?”

“That would never happen,” I say confidently. “People are much too comfortable, much too complacent. Very few people are brave enough to take matters into their own hands to achieve what they see as justice.”

We reach the car and get inside. She’s silent and biting on her lip as if she’s mulling over the issue.

“I don’t know, Marlowe.” She sighs. “This law you have going leaves too much room for interpretation. That divine law? I fear it leaves too little. I wish I could have strong convictions like you, but sometimes…” She takes a deep breath. “Sometimes it’s only a matter of survival.”

I slowly turn toward her. She gives me a tremulous smile.

I stare at her, returning the smile with a devious one of my own.

Yes. It is a matter of survival. Her survival. The more time I spend in her presence, the more indispensable she becomes to me—after all, who would willingly give up her spectacular cooking?

Minnie is small, gentle, soft. She needs me to protect her; to keep her safe and happy. I’ll willingly become both the judge and the executioner if it means keeping men who mean her harm away from her. With her penchant for attracting all sorts of attention, she needs me to serve as a buffer between her and the world. And I will do it.

For her, I’ll continue killing—not that it’s a hardship.

But for her, I’ll even break my rules.

As we get inside the car, I hand her a box of cookies from the trunk.

She opens it, and the moment she spots the contents, her entire face lights up.

My chest, too, lights up.

In an odd way.

An inconceivable way.

I never thought I’d want someone of my own.

But Minnie? She’s the perfect pet. The perfect companion. Sweet, loyal, and entertaining.

My lips pull up in a satisfied smile as I watch the way she’s reacting at those cookies—as if it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

And in my mind, a new definition of justice forms—her.

From now on, she’ll be my standard for justice.