I always knew of it growing untamed inside the garden of him like an unplucked and prickly weed. Though he was a good person, at times he watered the weed more than the flowers.
He’d take the biggest slice of cake, spread a bit of gossip about his opposition and greatly enjoyed the way the maids and house staff cowered around him.
It was difficult for me to notice, because Magnus always put me first. It wasn’t until I was in high school when I had cheated on my exam that Magnus came into the principal’s office and somehow re-structured the events differently, making it seem as if another student had cheated and not me. They were expelled. I asked Magnus what had occurred as I was still confused about the events, he had patted my head and told me not worry about it. I was good. There was nothing to discuss.
“Duckie, listen to me.” Magnus grabbed my cheeks. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you out as soon as possible. When the alarm rings, just run and hide. Okay? You’ll be completely fine.”
I pointed my finger to my largest, most erotic issue on hand. “Dig Graves may interfere with that.”
Dig Graves who was perpetually grinning, tilted his head to me. “Hi.”
Magnus ripped his eyes up to the madman. “Don't you touch my sister.”
“Your sister is going to fuck me,” Dig Graves said. “And we are going to do nothing but fuck, and fuck some more.”
Pure poetry.
“And when I’m fucking her?” Dig said with a sinister smile. “I’m going to—” He sneezed and sneezed, each one grew louder after the next. “Hold—on—give me a—second.” He sucked in a breath as if he were drowning, furiously rubbing his eyes under his sunglasses. “Can anyone see a cat around here?”
Before he left, Magnus hugged me. He squeezed me until I could not breathe, and I had to grit my teeth to endure it. I did not like this odd affection. The touching of fronts together. Hot. Tight. Irritating. I preferred a handshake or a brief nod. Or, if the person was somewhat appealing, and I was in the mood, a brief sexually intimate encounter that occurred below.
Lastly, Magnus pressed his lips to my forehead, and he was chauffeured quickly into the SUV.
I stayed here, in the new home of serial killers.
The inmates were positioned in a circle, all facing each other, and they clutched their weapons while I cradled my sunscreen. We glared. Every person picked their target. The smell of fear and wrath took root in the air.
Blood was about to carpet our feet.
Dig Graves stood opposite me at least ten long lunges away gifting me his full attention. I focused on him, my eyes wide, my heart skipping a beat.
Above us the drones flew high above our heads and the countdown to the Execution Battle began.
Five.
“Don’t you dare run away from me.” Dig Graves threw across the circle.
Four.
“If you run, I’m going to hunt you down.”
Three.
“There is nowhere you can hide. I. Will. Find. You.”
Two.
“I will always, always find you.”
One.
11
I would not kill.
That is the difference between being Soulless and not being Soulless; the ability to take life.
Only Soulless had the proper infection of wickedness to steal a precious life from another. It was why we needed them to kill each other so as not to blemish our goodness.
