Taunting him would be fun…perhaps in doing so, I could draw out more flavors to add to my experience.
“To the best of my earthly knowledge, twins share blood. But what I find most ironic is your shared taste in women.” My feet stopped as I focused on his scent, letting it tell me more. “I know your brother was unaware of your little crush…but doessheknow?” I took a step. “Does Lavender know you harbor the same feelings for her as your brother, Token?”
A light chittering came from the opposite corner, alerting me. My head swung and I saw a brief flash of black and white hair move from behind one giant birthday sign to another. The rats ran along the signs, squeaking like little alarms.
Gotcha!
I scurried after the lone twin, stopping as the smell of him nearly smacked me in the face.
So close.
I quietly crouched, sensing he was close to the ground. I opened my mouth to speak, addressing him with a whisper. “Ah yes. There it is. Fear and shame.” My hands reached out, ripping the sign aside to find Ryder, surrounded by rats on all sides. “Fear and shame always make such a delicious combination.”
The twin looked at me with those fearful dark eyes of his. “Why are you doing this to us? Why!” He began to cry, searching for an escape. “What did I ever do to you?” He looked all around at the rats, then back up to me. There was no escape.
I smiled widely, biting at the air with my razor-sharp teeth. The intense noise made him jump back, knocking his head roughly against the wall. “Idiot human. Did you listen to my story earlier? I am not a demon who likes to repeat myself.” My arm swung swiftly, my hand squeezing along the sides of his throat, causing him to gasp for air with bulging eyes. “You wereallshitty friends to my human, and you will all suffer for the pain you caused my dear Crissa.” I pulled him closer, piercing my claws into his neck. “I just know your fear is going to taste delicious. Like a sweet little treat.” My tongue glided along his face and he grimaced, choking as blood dripped from his neck. “And Crissa’s revenge will be the cherry on top.”
The human was properly crying now, his sobs ripping through his breathless gasps. My long tongue licked the tears from his face, savoring their salty tastes as I swallowed them down. “Poor pathetic Ryder.” My head tilted. “You do know that’s what you are? Pathetic.” My hand squeezed his throat harder, causing his eyes to bulge as my claws dug even deeper, embedding into him. “Mmm. From the smell of things, your feelings for your flowery friend are not new. But unlike your dearly departed brother, you have known all along how he felt.Veryinteresting.”
“Shut. Up,” he gasped, barely able to speak.
My laugh rumbled through the dark hallways, drowning the carnival music playing over the pizzeria speakers. “Oh, I am not going to do that.” I dropped the human to the ground as my rats piled on top of him and pinned him down. His body thrashed about, fighting them back, but there were too many. “You have actually done plenty of talking, Ry–der. Too much, even.” He stared up at me, frightened as I leaned in close to him. “Allow me to fix that.” With both my hands, I reached into his mouth and gripped the bones of his jaw, tearing and ripping it nice and wide. He screamed and wriggled like a helpless worm as I snapped it apart, swiftly separating the top of his head from the bottom. Blood splattered all along my face and across the wall as his screams finally silenced. “Ahh, much better!” His tongue flopped to the side as blood pooled around his body. The rats squeaked as I grabbed the tongue and slurped it down, humming in admiration.
My oh my…identical by blood, but different in taste. How very interesting! I should try twins more often!
Shooing the rats off the human, I dug my hands deep into his chest and easily broke through the ribcage, forcing it apart. A rat crawled into his chest cavity along with my hand and followed me back out as I pulled the heart out to devour. I held the rat and Ryder’s heart up to the neon light. The little rat took a bite out of the heart and squeaked loudly, its furry face soaked in his warm blood. “Yes.” I giggled. “Now you know why it ismyfavorite part. So full of the human soul, even after death. It truly houses the most exquisite taste.”
I placed the bloody rat back down onto the corpse and pierced the heart with my claw, raising it to my mouth before eating it whole, savoring the taste. Each muscle fiber was perfectly chewy and tasted of ripe fear, laced with the tangy zest of shame and longing. Despite how yummy this twin was, I much preferred the taste of the meaty-armed one.
I licked my fingers and gasped. “Now then.” All of the rats turned to look at me in one swift movement. They had fully fallen under my spell, trusting me completely.
What a gift you have graced me with, Crissa. One that will be rewarded.
My eyes fell to Ryder’s corpse and examined it closely. I noticed that much like his twin, he was tall identical in almost every way…aside from his thick, juicy thighs. “What a shame not to eat,” I sighed, dragging my palm across them. “Leave the legs.” My clawed fingers pointed to human’s long and toned legs as the rats listened. “But feast upon the rest.”
They squeaked and smothered the corpse, tearing into it. A few burrowed into the corpse’s chest, popping out in random places as they ate their way through him like a swarm of bloody piranhas. “Wonderful. Now—” I turned to the dining area of the pizzeria. “Time to hunt down the others.” I closed my eyes and inhaled, catching wind of their scents.
Ahh. It seems they are closer than I expected.
My eyes shot open as I raised to my feet and smiled. “Two down, three to go!” I cackled loudly, the belly-aching laughter ripping through the hall and down the pizzeria as I followed the trails of their fear. The rats finished the twin off and followed me.
Soon, Crissa, you will have all you desire. Soon.
MONTEY
The three of us continued toward the large metal security gate.
Distant laughter ruptured through the pizzeria like a wave. We all froze, knowing exactly who it was. “We need to hurry.” The women agreed and we picked up our pace, heading towards the gate. The sound of Crissa’s laughter continued, growing in volume. “Come on!” I pushed the women forward, urging them to run just as the laughs shadowed us.
“My, and what do we have here?”
Shit!
We all looked back right as we reached the gate to see Crissa, bloodied and nearly unrecognizable, now standing at the edge of the arcade. Her green hair was stained red from so much blood, her face and clothes completely soaked, her body streaked with it as if she’d been showering in it. She wore a large, demonic smile and her eyes were pitch black.
“Montey!” Lavender shouted as we reached the gate.
“I’m on it!” My hands fumbled with the pizzeria keys, trying one after another in the old lock.
