Page 56 of Stalk

With shaky hands, Ren pushes up the sleeve of my hoodie, then unsheathes my blade and hands it to me.

“Grazie.”

Ren watches with terrified, child-like eyes as I take scumbag out of the water and drag him out onto the floor once again. His eyes blink up at me a bit. He turns his head to the side and spits out some water.

With my knife secured in my dominant hand, I slice one cheekbone open. Then the other. His blood swirls against the water droplets on his face, watering down the crimson, like a watercolor painting on a human canvas. Scumbag yells out again, but this time it’s softer. Hoarse.

Eccellente.

I move to crouch over his body, weighing down his shifty hands by standing on them with each of my feet. The dumbass yells louder. I roll my eyes, then carve an “x” into his left pectoral. The scream gets louder.

“Do not make me cut out your tongue, you slimy piece of trash,” I growl.

His eyes are wide and alert now, but his mouth snaps shut. I feel Ren’s eyes on me. I’m sure they’re horrified by what they’re witnessing. I don’t care. I don’t have time to soothe them.

Now, back to work. I won’t play with my toy much longer, but my artwork is not yet complete. I drag the tip of my blade across his other pectoral. Scumbag squirms underneath me, and I smile. My knife moves lower, to the top of the ribs. When I spot the first intercostal space as he hyperventilates, his body flexing, I stab.Hard.He can’t control the scream this time. Fed up with the noise and not wanting any nosy neighbors poking around, I seek help from Ren.

“Find me something to put in this bastard’s mouth,” I order. When I look up, Ren hasn’t moved. “Christ, Ren. Give me something. Anything.”

They finally move, reaching for their backpack. They retrieve their shirt and tear off a piece. Then, they ball it up and toss it to me.

“There. Was that so hard?” I ask with a glare.

I shove the fabric into the guy’s mouth, then wipe the sweat from my forehead. I stab him a few more times in the lower intercostal spaces on both sides of his rib cage until his entire chest is a bloody, watery mess. I’m almost ready to get the job done, but before I do so, I rip down his obnoxious swim shorts and stab him from the root all the way down to the head of his soft, unimpressive dick.

That’s got to hurt.

His eyes bulge and tears stream down his red face. He looks into my eyes, and I stare right back, loving that I get to be his own personal demon to drag him to hell where he belongs. Scumbag doesn’t scream. He just stares at me, consumed by his pain and no longer seeing a way out of his situation.

It’s the perfect time to strike. With one last swipe of my knife, I slit his throat and watch the blood pour out and down his chest. In seconds, his head flops to the side and he exhales his last breath.

With that, I stand up, walk to the hot tub, and dunk my knife into the water to clean it off. Ren hasn’t moved, but their eyes follow my body like a magnet. After resheathing my knife, I stare them down. “Dude. Get out of the fucking tub.”

I expect Ren to remain nonverbal and to do as I say. I wasn’t expecting them to suddenly throw up over the side of the hot tub and then start sobbing.

Fuck.

Unlike the dead guy laying on the ground, I remove Ren from the tub as gently as possible. I’m surprised when they don’t flinch at my touch, due to all that they just witnessed. I set Ren on a towel nearby and wipe their mouth off with my sleeve.

I tenderly trace their jawline with the back of my knuckles. “Deep breaths, okay?”

Ren manages a small nod.

When I turn around, I notice just how bad the state of the patio is. Dead guy bleeding out near the doors that lead back into the house. Turned over side table. Glass on the floor.

Worth it.

There’s no way I’ll be able to clean up this mess quickly and alone. Ren needs to get out of here as soon as possible, too. I retrieve my cell phone from my bag and call Marco.

He answers after the first ring.“Aggiornamento?”

“Sì. Ren sta bene.You have our location?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to need you to clean up. Ren needs to get out of here.”

“Va bene.I will meet you soon.” With that, Marco hangs up.

---