Hunter

HUNTER

It turned out that waiting outside someone's house in anticipation of killing them wasn't the most exciting thing in the world. At least it was still the warm season, so while I sat in Damon's hedges, I wasn't going to freeze my ass off. Kai wasn't far away, but he was mostly there to wait until I gave him the signal to move in after I got into the house.

The plan was in motion. All I had to do was wait for the escort to show up. If it turned out to be a bigger guy, Kai would have to knock the man out. If it was a smaller man or a woman, I was confident that after my new strength and self-defense training, I could overpower them. From that point, I would get into the house and pose as the escort to ensure there were no other systems inside or anyone else in the house.

To say that Kai was deeply unhappy about the plan was putting it mildly. As soon as he'd done some reconnaissance and given the original part of my plan the green light, that was the time to tell him what the next part of the plan was. He immediately launched into picking apart every step, pointing out what could go wrong.

When it came right down to it, though, we were navigating murky waters. Obviously, he possessed a great deal of skills and experience that I couldn't dream of, but those things didn't apply to every situation. Most operations he'd done before had been with a team and an intelligence team to supply relevant information. Now, it was just the two of us, and we only had the research I could do online and what he could manage in person.

It would be best if we didn't alert him before we could move on him. I was far less impressive and scary-looking than Kai had probably ever been. With a bit of dress-up and some makeup, I looked less intimidating and hopefully more attractive. Of course, Kai saw me putting myself in a position where I could be identified before he could help me, meaning Damon would have the chance to hurt me or alert the cops.

The argument had gone on for a while, but in the end, I won, though he wasn't happy about it. The result was that he was sticking closer than the plan called for, which hadn't left me happy because if someone saw him lurking, looking grim and scowling, the cops could end up being called anyway. So, of course, he'd decided to prove me wrong and position himself at a café a block away, having apparently done some shopping for new clothes that made him look like he belonged and had brought a book with him.

Drama queen.

It turned out the greatest threat was boredom. It never occurred to me that I'd never been good at just...existing with myself, unlike Kai. It had never come up because I'd always been good at finding ways to entertain myself, whether going for a walk or hanging out with Kai to bug him while I kept busy. But sitting in the dirt in the thick bushes was not offering me much in the way of entertainment especially since we'd had to leave our phones back at my apartment and keep the basic flip phones he'd found.

At least I could brag that my score on Snake was higher than his.

My boredom broke when I heard the soft click of the gate open then gently close. It was followed by footsteps approaching. I realized I'd been sitting there with an ice-wrapped bottle of ether and a cloth, and neither was ready. I fumbled with it, only to freeze when I heard a soft voice say, "Yeah, I'm just walking up."

Peering through the hedge, I saw a woman, or it could have been a woman. Her outfit and makeup made her look childish, and my stomach rolled at the possibility that she might not just look young and the schoolgirl uniform under her long jacket wasn't just for show.

She was pretty, cute even, but her face twisted in disgust as she held the phone to her ear. "Yeah, I know how this works. I've worked with him before, alright? And you better remember the deal. This is my last time with this fucker. You can surprise him with someone else next time. Brayden likes this weird shit. Go with him."

Her eyes drifted to where I knelt, pulling the bottle out and uncapping it, making me freeze. If she saw me, there was no sign on her face as she sighed. "Yeah, fine. Whatever. Just make sure you remember your part of the deal. I need to go. I need to prepare myself before I actually show up."

She hung up the phone and slid it into the small purse hanging from a thin strap at her side. Her eyes slid up to the building, every inch of her face showing disgust and, if I wasn't wrong, fear. The expression did nothing to make her look any older, and I had to wonder how long she'd been going at this for her to be so casual about something she clearly despised. I hated the idea of drugging her, but if that meant taking one shit-hole client off her list and making sure she didn't have to go through another night with Damon, then I would have to suck it up and get moving.

I began to tip the bottle into the cloth when she sighed, her voice low. "Are you here to rob the place? Because he's inside and won't be leaving until morning."

I froze, my brain locking down as I stared at her through the leaves, wondering how the hell she'd seen me. I was wearing dark clothing, and the light barely reached around the corner, where I crouched in what should have been complete coverage. There was no reason for her to suspect someone was there, and I wondered if this was some random ass thing she did out of sheer paranoia.

"I saw movement, and I can see the tip of your shoes poking out," she said with a sigh, pushing strands of hair behind one ear. "So you should probably come out. The camera over the door is fake, but me screaming for help will get a lot of attention."

Kai was going to kill me, but there was little I could do to salvage the plan that was already falling apart at the seams. I stepped out so she could see me. She looked me over, her eyes curious but clearly unafraid. Then her eyes fell on the bottle in one hand and the cloth in the other. "What's that?"

"If I tell you, will you try not to freak out?"

"My friend, I've heard and seen too much to freak out."

"Ether and cloth."

"Ether?"

"It...knocks people out when they breathe it in."

"Oh...are you here to kidnap me or something? Because if you need a sex slave, there's bound to be someone prettier and younger than me."

"Well, I'm gay, so that doesn't sound all that great, and keeping a sex slave makes me want to throw up."

She gave a soft huff that might have almost been a laugh. "Alright then."

"You really aren't bothered by much, are you?" I asked, unable to help feeling sympathy for her. Even if she was old enough to be doing work like this, she had been doing it too long and had grown way too disillusioned.

"Oh, you don't even know," she said with an ugly twist of her lips. "There are plenty of sick fucks in this city."

"Tell me about it," I said, looking toward the bungalow Damon had chosen to make one of his private ‘love' nests. It looked harmless, but I couldn't help wondering what horrors the inside of the building had witnessed since Damon had sneakily taken it over.

"Ohhh," she said, her eyes losing their dull, cynical look and brightening up. "That's for him?"

"Uhh, no."

"No?"

"It's for you. That way, I can get to him because he doesn't know what escort to expect."

Her brow crept up slightly. Clearly, I had surprised her. "Okay, you...obviously have this planned out. Not sure if that makes it stranger."

"How old are you?" I asked her, finally finding the courage as I put the lid back on the bottle and stuffed it and the cloth back into my jacket in opposite pockets.

At that, she laughed softly. "That answer changes all the time."

"How about the true one?"

"Sixteen."

"And you've been doing this how long?"

"Long enough," she said, her features hardening. "Why do you care?"

"Let's just say I've got a vested interest in cataloging every fucked-up thing he's capable of."

"Him?" she let out a bitter laugh. "I don't think there's too much he's not capable of. Only behaves himself because B...my boss would show up, string him up, and make it last."

"Wow, your...boss," I said, avoiding the words pimp or mistress because I didn't want to risk pissing the girl off, "is worried about you getting killed or hurt but not being used for his sick fantasies?"

"That's the nature of the business," she said with a shrug. "But, uh...what do you have in mind for him?"

"I have a debt that needs to be repaid," I said, reaching behind me to pull out the knife I had taken from and used on the dealer. "And I'm very interested in paying it back in full."

She eyed the knife with the sort of casual interest someone might show to a slightly tasty-looking sandwich. "If ever a bastard deserves to get gutted, it's him. Well, him and his buddies he sometimes likes to have around to have fun with me as well."

My stomach rolled, and I gritted my teeth. "Lawyer and fancy rich boy on the city council?"

She took a moment to respond before whistling. "Wow, you're familiar with him. Was what he did that bad?"

"Does it matter?"

"Look, you seem like a nice guy, you really do."

"I was going to drug you to kill a man. What about that screams ‘nice guy'?"

"The fact that you were going to drug me instead of just kill me speaks volumes."

"I really hate the life you live."

"You and me both," she said with a soft smile. "And right there, you give a shit about what kind of life I live. And trust me, in this line of work, you learn to read people well and as fast as possible otherwise, you end up in a bad spot or dead. And you seem like a good man, so why the fuck are you here?"

"He took something from me, quite a few things, he and his friends," I said, tucking the knife away so it was out of sight. "And I have no intention of letting them get away with it. I'm going to make sure he doesn't get to do the same thing to anyone else."

"Took something," she echoed, her gaze going distant for a moment as she mulled her thoughts. "There's only a few things I can think of that someone could ‘take' that would make a good man like you show up like this."

"I'm not getting into it."

"And I'm not asking."

"Okay."

"And what do you want from me? Because, sweetheart, I'm not helping you. I like you, and you're cute, but I'm not helping you."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then what do you want?"

"For you to...walk away. To forget everything about me. What I look like, what I sound like, everything I told you. That I was ever here in the first place. Can you do that without getting into too much trouble?"

She looked toward the house and sighed. "Oh, if you were just chasing me off for the fun of it, my ass would be grass. But if you do follow through on what you're threatening...well, all I have to say is that I ran into the man who killed him, and my boss will leave me alone."

"She won't ask questions?"

"Honey...look at the work I do. None of what we do is legal, she's not going to ask questions, and she's not going to care that he's dead. There's way too many of these pricks in this city looking to get their dicks wet and get off to shit they shouldn't. There's always a paying customer somewhere in the world. His spot will get filled in no time, and it'll be like he never existed."

"Good, that's exactly what he deserves."

She adjusted the strap on her shoulder and then glanced toward the gate. "Am I going to have anything waiting for me on the other side of the gate?"

"No," I told her honestly. "Nothing you didn't already see on the way in."

"Good," she said, walking to it and opening it. "By the way, tell him the tulips were wilted, but daisies are beautiful this time of year."

"Uh...okay?"

"You'll understand."

"Sure, and...I'm grateful."

"Don't be. It's your life you're ruining here. I'm just not going to be a part of the mess you make."

That was good enough for me, and she slipped out the gate with only a little wave over her shoulder. I plucked out the prepaid phone Kai had given me and sent him the coded message that told him I was about to enter the house. The only phrases left were for when I had him vulnerable or I was in a lot of trouble. I seriously hoped the second one never came up as I approached the door.

I rang the doorbell before realizing I hadn't prepared mentally for what would happen. My heart hammered as I fought to get my face under control. While Kai and I had been planning everything about tonight, I'd spent time quietly staring at videos of Damon's face, watching it move in videos, and listening to his voice. Anything that might prevent me losing my mind when I was front and center with one of the three remaining monsters.

The door opened, and his expression dropped to a scowl. "What the shit is this? Is Beatrice playing with me?"

"Hi," I said, my mouth moving automatically, considering my brain was gummed up. "She sent me along to spend the night with you."

"Seriously?" he demanded, reaching into his pocket. "That bitch likes to play games too much."

"The tulips were wilted, but daisies are beautiful this time of year," I heard myself say.

The absurd statement made him pause, and he pulled his hand out of his pocket, leaving what was probably his phone in there. "Really? Business must be booming if she's going to start flinging randoms at me...especially one as old as you."

"I'm not too old, I hope," I said.

"You look twenty," he said, looking me over. "Can you drink?"

"I'm capable of it," I said with a grin.

He smirked. "Good enough. I guess you'll have to do for the night. I hope you know what you're up for."

"I've had a few pointers. I'm a big boy."

"Yeah," he said with a slow smile, making me think of a shark ready to tear me apart. "We'll see how you feel after I'm done with you."

My stomach lurched as I remembered his words that night. He helped hold me down so Callum could have the first ‘honors.'

Let's see how much fight you have left in you after we're done with you .

It was made all the worse when he saw the expression on my face and grinned, reaching out to take me by the wrist and yank me into the house. "Get in here before someone sees us. And get that stupid coat off. I want to see what I'm working with."

Numbness spread through me as I found myself doing what he said robotically. I pulled the light jacket off to reveal the thin tank top I used for clubbing. I tucked it over my arm, facing him so he wouldn't see the knife in my waistband. The pressure of the handle pushing into my lower back was comforting, reminding me I was here to play the victim for a little while, not be one again.

"Hmph," he said, looking me over in the light of the short hallway, tilting his head. "I hope your ass isn't as big as the rest of you. I like 'em smaller."

Nausea swept through me again, as if being a rapist wasn't bad enough, he had to pray on the young and innocent as well. All I wanted was to shove the bottle of ether up his nostril, pour it directly into his esophagus, and see what happened. Instead, I stamped it down, reminding myself I was here to get his guard down so I could incapacitate him before he could figure out who I was or that I wasn't supposed to be here.

"Come," he said and snapped his finger as he walked past me without a second glance in my direction. I spun and followed him, holding onto my jacket so the bottle of ether didn't clink. And then he stopped and turned to face me, peering into my eyes. "You look...familiar. Have I screwed you before and forgotten?"

"I doubt it," I said with a wide smile that felt stretched and false. "You would undoubtedly remember it."

I never saw it coming. The hand flashed through the air and caught me on the side of the face, sending me reeling to one side. "Do not think you're allowed to cute with me. You're going to answer my fucking questions, you're going to do what I say, or I'm going to hurt you. Actually, I'm already going to hurt you, and it's going to hurt a lot. And you can scream and beg all you want, but no one is saving you, and no one is going to give a shit about you."

Scream for us, c'mon. No one around here is going to think twice about hearing screams, so give us a big one!

Blood thundered in my skull as I hunched over, watching him turn away, clearly not caring what I did as he walked into his living room. And the bastard whistled as he walked to a small bar in the corner. Fury rolled through me, and I dropped the jacket on the floor, straightening to follow him into the room, where he grabbed a bottle.

I could feel their hands on me and see his wicked smile as Callum shoved himself into me without regard to safety or health. The smell of tequila filled the room as I remembered him breathing its foulness over my face as I cried out in agony. The last time he'd hit me had been a punch to the gut as they drove me to the ground, my face covered in dirt, snot, tears, and copious amounts of blood as everything struck me at once.

He was going to hurt me?

Hurt me ?

The knife was in my hand as I advanced on him, finding my grip as I tilted it upward, coming to his side. Everything, every line, color, and movement, was crystal clear. I felt I could predict everything he would do and what would happen afterward. There was no haze, confusion, fear, or horror, just the icy cold rage that had lived inside me for two years. "No, Damon, that's where you have it wrong."

He turned, a flash of anger on his face as the drink in his hand swirled in the glass. "Excuse?—"

He saw the knife, and I grinned, hoping it was half as feral as his had been moments ago. "You will never hurt me again!"

The glass fell as he tried to grab my arm, but he was too slow. The knife flashed upward, the point sliding into the underside of his jaw. A wet gagging sound sputtered from his mouth, and in the realm of focus I found myself in, I realized I'd managed to split or pin his tongue to the roof of his mouth with the blade as it slid to a stop under his jaw.

Damon's knees failed him as he collapsed, another cry coming from his pinned mouth as he drove himself even harder onto the blade. I backed up, letting go of the knife and letting him fall with a horrible groan. Blood dribbled from his mouth onto the floor, his eyes wide, pupils blown in terror and pain, and I stood there...watching him. His legs kicked out, one foot hooking a metal stand holding a ceramic face, sending both crashing to the ground. His hands flexed as he clawed at the knife in his neck.

And there, in his eyes, precisely what I wanted to see in all their eyes was the pain and terror. Any choice he might have made about his future was gone, taken from him by someone with malice in their heart. His life had gone from bright and moving up to agony and the realization that death was lurking right around the corner. It wasn't going to be a fatal wound, at least not immediately, and I took the moment as he tried to get a grip on the knife to send a message to Kai to meet me at the house.

I knelt, shoving my knee into his chest and gripping the knife's handle, leaning over to stare him in the face. "Do you remember me, Damon? It's been a couple of years, but surely even a piece of shit like you would remember this face? Maybe you remember my boyfriend? You and your buddies didn't rape him, but the four of you certainly made sure to gut him like some animal."

His wide eyes searched my face. His lips tried to move but couldn't do more than spread slightly as the knife pinned his mouth shut. I tightened my grip around the handle, waiting as he looked through me, over me, and then...recognition filled his eyes as his lips stopped moving and his eyes widened. With a snarl, I yanked the knife out of his jaw, twisting it as I pulled.

Damon shrieked. If I had heard it any other time, I wouldn't have believed it could come from a human. His hands clamped to his face or tried to, pawing at it instead, his body still jerking. I might not have hit anything immediately fatal with the blade, but I had clearly hit something of some importance because his body was struggling to work.

Now, all he could do was make strangled moaning sounds that filled the air, and I could feel a trickle of horror at the mess I'd created creeping into my thoughts. Deserved or not, I was watching a human body slowly shut down. There was probably no fixing what I'd done, and left alone, he would probably die a slow, agonizing death. And yes, that was precisely what the twisted, inhuman bastard deserved, but I could already feel it wasn't in me to let that happen. I couldn't sit there and make sure he died before I left. I needed to end it.

I knelt on him again, taking in what had to be the last moments of his life, and when his arms reached for me, I brought the knife down into his throat. When I pulled it out with a yank, there were only wet gurgles as blood began to pool horribly around his neck and on the floor. I stepped away, carefully avoiding any of the blood in a distant sort of caution.

At first, he struggled even harder, despite the crippling and now the fatal wound. I remembered that clearly, the moment I didn't just think I was going to die but knew it. All the fight they had beaten, stabbed, and raped out of me had come back with a vengeance. A desperate, primal hunger for the life I thought I was going to be removed from had welled up inside and been the only thing that saved me, that and two good people willing to help a bleeding stranger.

But there would be no saving Damon. His struggles quickly weakened, and I watched as his flailing became twitches, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. His life ended in a pool of blood, his throat savagely cut by the blade he and his friends had used on me and my poor, former love. I wonder if he dreamed of going out in his old age, surrounded by everything he'd ever wanted, peaceful in his sleep. Or perhaps, knowing him, he had dreamed of someone's mouth on his dick and a grin on his face.

I bet he never imagined it would happen with him covered in his own blood and piss.

"Holy shit," a voice interrupted the silence that had fallen with Damon's final shuddering breath, and I whirled around, heart suddenly in my throat.

Kai held up his hands, eyes wide. "It's just me. No one else."

"Oh...good," I said, realizing I'd been sitting on the arm of one of the plush chairs in the living room. I hadn't looked at it before, but it could almost be called...homey. There wasn't much in the way of flashy signs of wealth or any real airs being put on. There was just simple, comfortable furniture, and I realized there was a nautical theme. A wooden ship's wheel hung on the wall, draped in fake seaweed. An iron anchor was etched into the wood of a round coffee table under a sheet of thick glass. "Christ, this looks like some retiree's vacation house on the lake or something."

"?" Kai asked, and I could see him moving closer, but it didn't bother me. It was Kai, after all, no more a threat to me than I was to myself...then again, considering how easily and savagely I had just killed my second person, maybe that wasn't strictly true. "You...what happened?"

I looked at the body on the floor and blinked. "I killed him."

"I can see that," he said in a strangely even voice until he was at my side. "But you were supposed to call me once you had him either comfortable or knocked out."

"Plans changed."

"Why?"

I turned toward him, bringing a finger to my face and planting it against my cheek. "I lost my temper a little after he hit me. I told myself these men weren't going to hurt me again and look. He hurt me. Funny how plans don't like to stick."

"He hit you?" he asked, and I could hear heat in his voice, which made me smile.

"What are you going to do to him for it?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Kicking his body a couple of times came to mind," he admitted, drawing back and looking around. "Did he do anything else?"

At another time in my life, there would have been no way I could recount the tale of my second killing and technically my first murder to anyone so soon after it happened. Yet, I managed to lay out the details of what happened while Kai had been waiting for the sign to help me. As I finished up, I wondered if perhaps, deep down, he had hoped he might be the one to deliver the killing blow and spare me the pain.

Kai listened, and when I was done, he walked past me and toward the body, staying on the outside edge of the pool of blood that would start to thicken soon. He crouched down, his back to me, and his head tilted as he looked at Damon. "Sheesh, and here I was, worried you were going to back out or need me to do this."

"I kind of wondered that myself."

"Did you really?"

"No."

He sighed. "What did you touch?"

"With my hands? Nothing but the blade and everything that was on me. I used my knuckle for the doorbell," I said with a shrug. "My prints aren't in any databases, but I figured it was better safe than sorry. Seems you were thinking the same thing."

"You're right," he said with a chuckle. "I guess I didn't have anything to be worried about when it came to you."

"You sound worried," I told him, watching him carefully.

He took a moment before standing up and facing me. "Well, I guess maybe part of me was hoping this might be too much for you. When facing it, you would want to back out, even if that meant leaving everything to me to do. But I guess not."

I tried not to be pissed but didn't quite succeed. "Are you serious? After everything they did? To Lucas? To me ?"

He smiled sadly. "I know. And wanting revenge is a perfectly normal feeling after all they did. But wanting it and turning around and stabbing a man twice to kill him are two very different things. I wasn't sure if you had it in you, and maybe I was hoping at least one of us could go through life untouched."

"What? So now I'm tainted?" I asked, feeling dread and horror finally creeping back into my mind. God, please tell me I hadn't just lost the latest bright spot in my life, the one thing that wasn't just normal and good but amazing and great. "You needed me to be innocent and pure? Because that was gone the minute they got their hands on me!"

Kai watched me, my chest rising and falling rapidly, my face burning with outrage and embarrassment. I could hear the thundering of my heart in my ears, and finally, he smiled. It was sad, but it was a smile all the same. "Absolutely not. I just...I know what you've lost, and I never wanted you, of all people, to be the one that lost it."

"That's about as comforting as a kick to the dick," I said, turning away from him to stare into the nearby, small kitchen. It was absurd how humble and pleasant the house looked. There was probably some room where the true darkness of Damon's taste came out in full, but I had no desire to hunt it down and find out. I knew enough about the man to last me a lifetime, and there were still two more to hunt down.

I wondered what they would say when they heard about their friend's death. I didn't think they would connect it to what happened two years ago. To them, it might have been memorable as the first time they went too far, evident only by the fact that in his last moments, Damon had recognized me. There was a savageness to the joy I felt at that, knowing that as he died covered in his own piss and blood, he had realized that even if the world wouldn't punish him, a man alone would.

"Hey," Kai's voice was soft, and he didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around my shoulders, which was nice. Sometimes, it was exhausting having him be afraid to touch me too quickly or roughly in fear of setting me off or terrifying me. We were together, whatever that meant, and at the end of the day, I trusted him entirely, even if sometimes I forgot and got lost in my memories. "?—"

"I'm still here," I said, hearing the iciness in my voice but unable to stop it. It felt like that other piece of me was starting to retake control, and I hated myself for it, even though I felt helpless to stop it. Killing another person had come so easily to me, and this time, I didn't need the threat to my life to make it happen. Now, I was left stinging at the implications of Kai's horror, and it seemed my response to pain now was that icy deadliness. Not that I had any intention of hurting Kai, not physically anyway, but I still felt the temptation to lash out in other ways.

"Look at me," he said in a soft voice.

I didn't want to do anything he said, but I still found myself turning to scowl at his soft expression. "What?"

"I need you to understand," he began softly, stepping closer. "In no way, shape, or form do I feel anything negative about you. I don't see you as tainted or wrong. When I said that, it's because I'm heartbroken you were put in that position, but that doesn't mean I think badly of you. You are still you. You're still my best friend. You're still the I've trusted all my life and will continue to trust. And I can't see the possibility of that ever changing in our lifetime."

I wanted to stay angry with him, but it disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. It was immediately replaced with a strong dose of shame as I realized I'd gotten so caught up in my feelings that I'd nearly turned my proverbial teeth and claws on the one person left I knew would stand by me. I should have known better than to think he'd ever turn against me or treat me badly.

"I'm sorry," I said, hanging my head and feeling a sting in my eyes. "I know you wouldn't be like that. I'm just...I'm in my head right now. I don't know what's going on, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

He chuckled softly, finally reaching out to cradle my head and smile. "Don't beat yourself up, okay? You've had an...interesting day."

I looked over at the body, and something pleasant stirred inside me. "You know, they say revenge never brings peace. It eats away at you. You get lost in it and never find joy again."

"I've heard something like that before."

"Yeah, it's kind of bullshit if you ask me."

He laughed. The sound was out of place in the grisly environment, yet perfect because I'd always loved it. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Probably just...don't let it consume you, would be my advice."

I stared at Damon's body in silence, wondering if I was ever going to feel anything close to remorse or horror at what I'd done. Instead, I was left with that same feeling of pleasure, even pride, for what I had accomplished. Something inside me was soothed by the sight of his mangled throat, of the lifelessness in his body.

"We need to get out of here," Kai said quietly. "I need to wipe down the front doorknob. Are you sure there was nothing else you touched?"

"Nothing."

"Okay, but...what are you doing?"

I walked over to the corpse and crouched just like Kai had earlier. Damon's expression had collapsed from its terror and agony, making his dead face look more confused than anything else. Then again, maybe he had been confused, wondering how it could have happened to him, how his night had gone from expected pleasure to an unexpected, brutal end. I liked the idea and hoped he was just as puzzled as he had been scared. And that he'd known he would never hurt another person again, and that karma might not be a driving force in the universe, but the rage and pain of someone he'd violated could fill in just fine.

"Two down," I told him, hoping that wherever in hell he was, he was suffering.