Chapter Six

When I got home from my date with Carla, Avery was waiting in the doorway, biting his lip and looking slightly nervous. I smirked at him, seeing him not as my brother but as a dog, trained to fear his master and do as he was told.

“Get in the truck and wait for me,” I commanded, giving him a shove into the hallway. “I’m going to go change into some other clothes and I’ll be right out there.” He looked at me for a moment, doubt in his eyes. “I said get the hell outside, Avery.”

“D-did you…is she already…?” His voice trailed off and he avoided looking into my eyes, choosing to look past me and into the living room instead.

“No. She’s waiting for us.” I stepped up to my brother and leaned close to him. “She really wanted to scream… I took care of that problem, though…” I reached up, my fingers crawling over Avery’s chest as he shuddered beneath my touch. What a good dog. “See… I cut out her tongue and then gagged her. Duct tape over her panties. They’re pink, by the way. I hope you don’t mind that I ruined the surprise…” I brought back my arm and let the heel of my palm collide into his breastbone, knocking him back into the wall on the other side of the hall. “Now get the fuck outside or I’ll do the same to you.”

I grinned as he hurriedly stood and bustled down the hallway toward the elevator. Good dog.

In the apartment, I went to my room to change into black jeans and a black T-shirt that I preferred to wear because bloodstains were unnoticeable. When I was done, I headed outside and was pleased to see Avery sitting behind the wheel of the truck, staring straight ahead as he waited for me.

I gave him brief directions to our newest victim’s apartment and his eyes widened.

“You left her there? That’s…that’s not how we usually do it. We’re supposed to bring her out to-”

“I know how we usually do things, Avery. I just wanted a change of pace. Is that so bad?” He gave a shake of his head and cleared his throat, not arguing again when I told him the way to her apartment. When we took off, Avery’s hands shook on the wheel. His face had gone a sickly pale and I saw sweat sprouting along his forehead and upper lip.

“Are you feeling well?” I asked innocently, knowing exactly what his problem was. He was afraid. He was always afraid, really, and it pleased me. With him always afraid, I knew I was always in control and that was the way our relationship was meant to be. Screw gentle brotherly care. This was so much better.

“I just ate something off,” he muttered. “I’m fine.”

“I can get your mind off it if you want,” I volunteered, leering at him. “Let’s see. Oh, yeah. She invited me up to her apartment right away. She said she was lonely in her apartment. Didn’t have any friends and all that shit. She pretty much set herself up.”

“Stop, Aric…”

“It didn’t take much before she was all over me. Her hand down my pants, stroking my dick…” I continued, choosing to ignore him. After all, it’s hard to stop talking about- thinking about it- when that want is boiling my blood oh so nicely. “She has really nice tits. Wait till you see them… So while she’s shoving those tits in my face with her hand on me, I decided to have a little fun and get to work all at the same time. I took my belt and tied it around her arms…told her it was going to be fun and she went along with it right away.”

“I don’t want to hear about it, Aric…”

“Why not?” I twisted in my seat to grin at him, “Are you getting jealous? Or are you getting hard…? Well, I guess that in and of itself would say you are, indeed, jealous…”

“Just shut up!” he repeated, flinching at his own tone. Bad dog. Very bad. Bad dogs need to be beaten or locked outside. They need to go without food or be choked to death by their leashes. I realized I was gritting my and immediately relaxed, leaning back into my seat.

“Calm down and just drive, brother,” I urged, rolling my eyes at his immaturity. “It’s just not nice to keep a lady waiting.”

“I just…are you sure no one knew you were going out with her tonight? What if she called for help?”

I slammed my hand down on the dashboard, causing him to jump. “I thought I already told you that she’s new in town and friendless and that I took the proper fucking precautions to make sure she wouldn’t get away. Ask again and I’ll fucking leave you there with her!” He muttered an apology and I sighed. “I hate when you get me upset, Avery…”

“I’m sorry...”

“Good.” That’s a good dog. “I assure you that she’ll be there waiting for us. Don’t you worry…”

-

Just as I promised, Carla was indeed waiting for us, lying between her coffee table and couch, in the midst of unpacked boxes. She lay still on her stomach –she’d drown in her own hot, sweet blood if she was on her back and where’s the fun in that?- till I stepped up to her with Avery ghosting along behind me. Her eyes widened as they rested upon my face, neck craned to look upwards, and she began to squirm, whimpers coming from the back of her throat.

“Avery, I’d like to introduce you to Carla,” I quietly announced, stepping backward to let him get a good look of her. Her shirt was holding her legs together as she futilely attempted to kick free, and her underwear were still held in place over her mouth, now soaked a wet red. “Isn’t she pretty?” He grunted unintelligibly and I grinned, leaning down to look into her face. “I think she is. Red looks so good on women, don’t you think?” He gave another grunt and backed up as I reached down to unbutton my jeans.

Avery and Carla protested at the same moment. Carla’s eyes overflowed with tears and opened so wide I thought – and maybe hoped – that they’d burst as Avery reached out and put a shaking hand on my arm. I glared back at him and wrenched away. I hated being touched unless I initiated the touching. And I especially hated being touched by him.

“What are you doing?” my brother hissed. “We can’t do this here! How do you think we’re going to get out of here without being noticed? Did that occur to you? I swear to God, if we’re caught, Aric… If we’re caught…” He shook his head hard, tears coming to his eyes as well.

“You’re such a fucking pussy,” I snapped, giving him a shove. “I’m not stupid, okay? I have this under control so back the fuck off.” I gave him another shove, waiting for him to back away to the apartment door and sit down before I smiled down at Carla once more. My fingers continued to work frantically at the button and zipper of my pants; my breath quickened as I watched the blood drip from her chin and pool across the floor. As I stepped around her and knelt over her naked frame, a sob wrenched free from deep in her chest and a smile came to my lips as I thrust into her and all she could do was gurgle on the blood gathering in her throat.

This was what it was all about. I had power over her. I had power over Avery cowering by the door. I had power and I was power and there was no fucking way anyone was going to stop me.

-

I glanced over to Avery as I sifted through a box on the coffee table, grinning over at him when I found what I was hoping for.

“You almost done there?” I asked, opening up the pack of cards and sifting through them till I came across the king of hearts. I slipped the rest of the cards into my pocket to burn them later and knelt down in the blood that Avery was surrounded by, wiping the card through the red stain and laying it in the center of the mess just as Avery set the last piece of his work into one of the cardboard packing boxes. Avery stared at me through wide eyes and rubbed his runny nose dry on the back of his gloved hand. I glared at him.

“Do you know how unsanitary that is?” I demanded. “Our customers don’t come to our diner to order a burger with extra snot.”

“Right. They come for the human meat special…” he muttered, avoiding my eyes and I felt my anger bubbling up in me until I was grabbing him by the back of the neck and shoving his face down into the packing box beside him. Inside, Carla’s limbs were stacked neatly, her torso on the bottom and her head on top of that, nestled in between the bits and pieces of her arms and legs.

“Do you want to join her? You’d fit. Do you want to?” I pushed Avery’s head down harder until the cardboard started to bend beneath his throat and he yanked free.

“I was kidding… I’m sorry…” He rubbed at his neck and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“And I wasn’t amused. It’s getting late. Let’s get going.” I stood, careful not to step in the blood, knowing that a stray bloody footprint was sometimes enough to give someone away at a crime scene, and reached down to heft up one side of the box, waiting for Avery to do the same on the other side.

Together we carried the box down a flight of stairs and outside of the building to the truck, tossing it into the truck’s bed. I chuckled the whole way down, pleased with myself for coming up with such an ingenious idea on smuggling her out, and wondering what we’d say if anyone asked what was in the box. Avery, on the other hand, didn’t look even close to being amused, but I ignored it. I was filled with electricity and authority and I wasn’t ready to let my brother ruin it for me.

I think I smiled the entire drive over to A&A’s Diner, and couldn’t stop thinking over how wonderful the evening had been. I’m sure any man can agree with me that nothing beats sex with a beautiful woman and the promise of food - and I had gotten both at the same time.

Avery helped me carry Carla’s box to the back room of the kitchen and we disposed of her in the freezer without sharing a word. I thought I might babble and laugh if I began to talk and Avery looked close to tears. He was such a pathetic little dog, but I had to admit that he was extremely helpful when I needed him.

Only back at our apartment did Avery begin to talk again. As soon as he shut and locked the door behind us he gave a long, loud sigh.

“Get your clothes off. I have to wash them… I have to get rid of them… And go take a shower. And get rid of those cards.”

I rolled my eyes and walked down the hall to the bathroom, stripping off my clothes and tossing them out into the hallway for Avery to pick up and incinerate or bury or whatever the hell he wants. I didn’t mind him doing that, but getting so worked up about it every time annoyed me. As much as it annoyed me though, I knew that being so obsessive about getting rid of evidence had kept me quite safe over the years. It irked me to admit that Avery was always the one to take care of evidence, but tonight I’d strayed from his plan and I’d done a fine job it I do say so myself. Though I doubted any boneheaded cop would ever be able to stop me. No one could ever stop me; I was too powerful.

I stepped into the shower, replaying the night’s events through my head as I watched blood washing down the drain in deluded, pink swirls. I thought of Carla’s body, naked and waiting for me, writhing beneath me. Images of her were still running through my head as I came hard in my hand. I heard Avery cry out in the next room and grinned.

Sometimes it was entertaining to have a pet like him.

a/n:

Lain – I’d be best friends with Aric if he was…you know…real. Thanks to the reviews we got. D: Sorry for taking awhile to update and thanks for those of you who are actually patient enough with us to bother to say anything. We’re both seniors in high school so things are kind of hectic for the two of us. Sorry again.

Ruler (aka Katie) – BLAME ME! It’s my fault this didn’t get posted like, a month ago. I’ve been too lazy to edit the chapter and blah, I just finally got around to it…