The orgasm hit her before she knew it, and her breath caught in her throat as the first waves of pleasure started deep and rolled through her body. Her eyes met Rebecca’s gaze. She looked into rough seas of desire and felt herself pitch headlong into the second wave of pleasure. She felt Rebecca’s hand press against hers, and she stroked every last bit of pleasure from her sensitive body. Moments later, when the aftershocks had finally died down, she felt Rebecca pull her into her arms and cover them both. Her last thought, before sleep took her away, was that Rebecca’s sweet scent made her feel at home. As close as she could get to the perfect home she had always craved. Rather than scare her, she welcomed it, embraced it, and took it with her as she slipped into sweet oblivion.
Chapter 16
Two Months Later…
The voice is here again. Always, the voice in my ears. It starts as a low whisper and escalates to a cacophonous pounding in my head. I pull wildly at my ears as if separating them from my body will quiet the maddening cries.
It is time. That is what the voice tells me. Time for atonement. She must pay for her sins. Sometimes I wonder if she has paid enough, but the voice reminds me, there is no way she can pay until she dies. I spend nights like these searching for her, taking out her punishment on someone else equally as guilty.
“I want to have children.”
I see the look in her eyes, as though she is suddenly ashamed of me because I can’t give her the one thing she wants. “There are other ways. We can see someone about it.”
She shakes her head, not even open to my suggestion. “I don’t want to go through all that. It may not work anyway.”
This is a fight we have had many times before. She stayed so long out of obligation, or perhaps because she felt sorry for me, but never because she loved me. I have lost the fight before I have even been offered the chance to try. “You don’t understand. It’s not like it was years ago. Can’t we at least try? Please say yes…for me.”
That’s all I need. One word. A simple yes to validate my feelings. Inadequacy has been my companion for too long and yet, here I am again, feeling its cold touch against me.
“I’ve made up my mind. I don’t want to go through that. I don’t want you.”
The words are whispered so softly that I almost miss them. Now, years later, they wake me from the precious few hours of sleep I do get and taunt me.
I have seen the news. I know that someone else stands trial for my crimes. It is a small price to pay. His hands are as stained with sin as mine and then some. God exacts punishment for wavering from his word, just as she wavered.
Tonight, I must hunt again. To quiet the voice. It tires me and keeps me from sleep. I would give anything to have a moment’s peace. I shiver involuntarily as I wait in the dark. The streets are deserted, save a few brave souls. Tonight they are lucky that it isn’t them I am hunting. No, tonight she is my prey.
As with all of them, they do not know I have been watching them, waiting for the perfect moment. She is too far away, but I imagine I am inhaling her scent. The cold burns my nostrils and wakens the voice. One last chance to tell me what I am to do. But I know already. I cannot forget the words that are part of me now.
I tell it to be quiet and a wicked laugh is the only reply, as if I can tell the voice what to do. I press my fingers into my ears in a vain attempt to silence it. I push off the building where the dark has hidden me and make my way across the deserted streets. Even at this hour, the city has gone to sleep.
She walks about aimlessly, her hand rubbing her stomach without even thinking. I imagine I can see a smile tease at the corner of her mouth. Like any mother, she protects her cub. But not from me. Not from the hunter. The wolf. I quicken my pace, treading the ground with silent footfalls.
I close the distance and wait for the stiffening. The shudder of realization. There is none. She has not realized that tonight she will die. I walk ever closer, needing to feel her fear. Needing to smell the distinct scent of helplessness. To see the wild eyes of the prey begging for its life.
She hears the sound of my breathing, and her step falters. Now, I smell it. The fear mixed with the cold odors of the city. She doesn’t turn around, thinking perhaps that she only imagined me, and if she keeps walking, she will find comfort in some safe place. She is completely surprised when my hand finds her shoulder, and I yank her body roughly into mine. “Can you feel me? Did you know tonight would be your last? Surely, you must have guessed I was coming for you.”
She shakes her head and screams into my hand. The answer is always the same. They never know I am coming for them. She won't know until it is too late. This is all for you, my sweet wife. I tell her time and time again. I wonder if somewhere in the night, she senses the chill of evil and shivers without knowing why.
I pull her into the alley, my eyes and ears constantly on the alert. She is strong. She is fighting so bravely for the life I have not yet begun to take. I throw her roughly into a wall, and the blow to the head stuns her, and for a moment, she goes limp in my arms. This is all the opportunity I need to push her into the ground.
She is on her back now, her eyes wild with fear. She shakes her head from side-to-side, the unevenness of the concrete below cutting into her scalp. But she doesn’t feel it. The only thing she feels now is the urge to fight. She knees me in the bottom and I pitch forward, teetering just above her. It is in this moment when our eyes meet, that she recognizes the hunter and confusion alters her features.
I smile evilly and push back up on my haunches. It is then that she sees the glint of steel in my right hand and perhaps feels how hard I am against her distended belly. A low, guttural laugh escapes my lips, and she realizes I am no human. I am a madman. She starts to claw at my body, trying to reach my face, but I capture her hands against her body and send her a look of warning. She stills immediately, perhaps finding somewhere in the recesses of her mind, some ill advice not to fight your attacker. Tonight is the night she should have fought.
I rip her pants away exposing the white flesh beneath and my erection dances wildly. She is still quiet, fearing what will happen to her. One last bit of fight awakens somewhere inside and she starts to writhe beneath me. This sudden movement against me evokes memories long laid to rest, and the faintest sound of laughter teases at my subconscious from far off. Visions of her body underneath mine, her legs wrapped around me, pulling me closer as I drive into her, bringing her to climax.
A blow to my head wakes me from the dream. I am momentarily dazed and not sure what I am doing. But the voice, the voice is there to remind me and with renewed fury, I loosen my own pants and release my aching hardness. There is no slowness tonight. All my moves are done with angry deliberation now. I shove myself inside her roughly, and she screams into my hand. There is no one around to hear, no one to save her.
I pause briefly and look into her wide eyes. It is time. She has to pay for her sins. I run the knife across her neck and as the first drops of blood mingle with the night air, I release a primal howl and punish the woman beneath me. It is over too quickly, and although a sense of calm has taken over, I feel empty. There is just one more thing to do. One small thing to ease the ache that her leaving has left.