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An hour later, I pull up on my Ducati at a property in a middle-of-nowhere town outside of Hollowcrest, where Levi lives and works. It’s a huge farm-style home, with an actual barn attached to it. The house is all white, with an adorable-looking wrap-around porch that you’d find in a magazine. My mind wanders off to picture tiny feet running around the yard, and a mother sticking her head out of the front door to let them know that dinner is ready. Thanks to Levi, those images are nothing more than ghosts now. A shiver runs down my spine, and I find myself instantly wanting to burn the picture-perfect house to the ground with him inside of it.
The barn to the side is exactly what you’d expect—big and red. What I don’t expect as I’m walking up to the side door isfor it to be locked. Who the fuck locks a fucking barn? I sigh, reaching into my pocket for something to rectify this situation. I pull out a small tool kit that I keep on me for this exact reason and pick the lock quickly and quietly. I push the door open slowly, peering around it to make sure the coast is clear. When I step inside and close the door behind me, I definitely don’t expect what I find next.
There are no stalls, no horses, no farm equipment, or whatever the fuck you’d typically find in one of these. Inside Leviathan Cristoff’s “barn” is a fucking torture chamber. Several chains are hanging from the ceiling and against the walls. Several weapons are arranged on shelves along the back wall, ranging from a simple knife to a power drill. I don’t venture into my imagination for what he might need all of these for. If this guy is working for Sabel, I can imagine all the horrible things he does for her. I note stains of various disturbing colors littering the walls and other surfaces. I try not to imagine all of the people who likely took their last breath inside of this place. I try not to think about what Levi does with the remains. I stare down at the ground, wondering if he buries them. While I’m not exactly a saint, I don’t think this guy murders for vigilante purposes like me. My thoughts are disrupted by a guttural scream coming from an open door on the wall to my right.
I quietly walk over to the back wall, grab a Smith & Wesson, and shove it in my back waistband. I head over to the wall where the door is located. I hear another blood-curdling scream that has me jogging. I follow the wall until I get to the open doorway, peeking inside. I instantly recognize Levi from the photo Elle sent me. He has his back turned toward the door. He’s standing in front of a man who’s strapped down to a chair in front of him. Levi is holding some sort of knife in his outstretched right hand. Blood drips down the knife and into a large puddle that’s already gathered on the floor beneath it.
The poor guy in the chair is strapped down withbarbed wire. It’s evident he fought the wire with how deeply it’s embedded into his skin, and with how much blood seeps from the punctures. His head is hanging down, and damp, long blonde hair covers his face. He’s shirtless, and his chest and abdomen are full of deep gashes. I notice that his chest rises and falls, telling me that he’s still alive. At least, for now. I’ve been in this particular business a while, and I can say that this poor dude does not have much longer. He has on a pair of what I think are white boxer briefs. Hard to say with how much blood covers them. And there’s a fuckingscrewdriversticking out of his right thigh. Creative, I guess.
I sigh because I do not have time for this. I walk up to them without a second thought, grab the screwdriver out of the poor dude’s thigh, and shove it right through the side of his neck. It’s not my usual style, but the guy was hanging on for dear life. I did him a favor. I grimace, turning toward Levi.
“What the—” Levi swings his knife through the air to cut me, but I pull the gun from my waistband and have it pointed at him in a millisecond.
“I wouldn’t,” I say, cocking the gun. Levi drops the knife and raises his hands.
“Now, now. No need for all the theatrics,” Levi says, waving a hand to the guy in the chair, who is nowverydead. “Who are you? Take off thatridiculousmask, son.”
I grind my molars at his degrading words. “Nope. Not how this is gonna work, Levi. Untie him,” I say, nodding my head to the guy in the chair. He hesitates before moving to the man and doing as I asked.
“So, you know who I am. Do I get to know whoyouare, too?” Levi asks, back toward me, to show that he isn’t intimidated. His mistake.
“Nope,” I say, gun still pointed at his ugly ass skull. He has the nerve to fucking laugh.
“Son, look, whoever sent you … just leave. I’ll let ya go. Won’t tell a soul you were here,” he says, untying the guy and lifting him out of the chair by hooking his arms under his. Levi drops him on the ground in the corner of the room with a ‘thud.’
“No one sent me. Get in the chair,now,” I order, stepping toward him with the pistol. He takes his time, but sits in the chair. Once he’s seated, I don’t waste a second before taking the butt of the gun and knocking him upside the head with it once, rendering him unconscious. I grab him before he falls off the chair, and I sit him back. I then move to secure his wrists and ankles with the same barbed wire that he used for the dead guy. I wrap another around his upper chest to make sure he doesn’t slump completely over, and then I wait.
“I gotta tell ya, Levi. You aremuchmore enjoyable like this,” I say to his unconscious body. I expect him to be out for maybe twenty or thirty minutes, which gives me time to go around his barn and find some things that I’ll need when he wakes. Once I have everything I want, I make my way back to the room as he’s starting to stir. He groans and then attempts to grab the side of his head where I hit him, only to find that his wrists are bound.
“Ouch. Maybe try not to move, yeah?” I say, leaning back against a table along the wall across from him. His eyes shoot up to mine, and then down to his wrists and ankles. And to my absolute delight, he tugs at them.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” He seethes, spit flying from his filthy mouth.
“Well, for one, I’m beating you at your own game, Levi. You reallyshouldbe more careful, you know,” I say, pushing to stand from the table. I turn around and grab a weapon from it before moving his way. He looks up into my mask, and I see the fear flash across his eyes before the anger returns. My blood hums,and I find myself right back in the game like I never left. The adrenaline pumps through my veins, heightening every sense along with it. An awareness of familiarity pulses inside of me as Sloane’s face flashes through my mind. I pause, quickly pushing it back into the depths of my mind. She does not belong in a place like this. I focus again on the task at hand, walking toward Levi. He’s beginning to panic now, realizing how truly fucked he is.
“Who are you? What do you want?” He’s moved on to bargaining, I see.
“I’ll be asking the questions, and you’ll be giving me the answers from here on out. Got it?” I say, stepping toward him with my weapon. He looks up at me but doesn’t speak. A grin pulls at the corner of his mouth. What afool.
“I’m not going to tell you any—” I don’t let him finish that sentence. I bring a butcher knife up to his right ear and slice it right off his head in one downward strike. He screams, shattering my eardrums. I guess I deserved that.
“Since you want to pretend you are incapable of hearing, I did you a favor and removed one of your useless fucking ears for you,” I say, holding up his dangling ear for him to see. His eyes go wide, and his olive skin tone becomes a pale green. He heaves, proceeding to vomit a large amount onto the floor. He nearly misses my shoes. I jump back, disgusted. It takes everything in me not to gag at his stomach contents on the floor.
“Gross man, watch the shoes next time,” I say, offended. “Now, where were we? Oh yeah,” I say, tossing his ear to the side and wiping the blade clean on my pants. “I said, I’m going to ask the questions, and you will provide the answers, got it?” Levi nods, sobbing.
“Good. Now, why were you in Sloane Keenan’s apartment?” I ask, not wasting any more time. His eyes shoot up to me, andI can see fear in them. He’s afraid of Sabel, which answers my question. I need to hear him say it, though.
“S-Sabel,” he sobs, giving her away like the sorry asshole that he is. “She asked me to look around Sloane’s place. Sab-Sabel thinks you’re lying to her. She thinks you’re hiding something.”
“Lying to her about what?” I press, teeth clenched.
“Sabel thinks you’re protecting the girl,” Levi says, snot running down his sorry face.
“ProtectingSloanefrom what?” I grab his throat, pulling him forward as much as his body will move against the restraints. He screams.
“Man, I don’t know. That’s all she told me. I didn’t find anything at her place, okay.” I squeeze his throat a little harder, nearly cutting off his air supply in the process. I let him go and walk back toward the table. He sucks in a deep breath.
