Page 78 of Make Me Hunt
I stopped as many as I could, because they were interfering with the main goal of this. Keeping the balance betweenevilandgood.
Those copycats made me reconsider things.
Too much public noise always draws someone who wants a piece of the pie.
And it wasn’t about not sharing.
It was about them not respecting the rules.
So, one by one, I shut them down, including getting rid of the emperors who refused to obey.
Then I brought a new kind of game to life. This time, more private, more exclusive, tailored for the elite.
But no matter how much I’d like to lie to myself—
I’ve also done it for me too.
To satisfy my lust to kill, that darkness inside that never sleeps. Just waits for the chance to come alive.
And that brought me closer to what Kharon would eventually become.
I gave the rulers and politicians of that era the chance to be part of the game, without the risk of getting hurt. I used people on death row as contestants, though my favorite targets were the ones who’d killed, raped, tortured the innocent... but were wealthy or influential enough to escape charges.
The leaders would enter the game as observers or even…. Valiants, right in the middle of the events. And to make it more exclusive, I even charged an entrance fee.
Spectacles like these don’t come cheap, and sometimes, the price to get into the game is exactly what separates those who pretend to have power from those who truly do.
Besides, it motivates the current contestants to enter of their own free will, win this game, and walk away rich.
The only rule I forgot to mention?In reality, no one survives.
I’d never let a murderer, an abuser—or whatever sin brought them here—walk away. Not with that kind of money. But I let them enjoy their freedom for a few months before their life ends abruptly—usually in anaccident.
I make sure the money goes to their victims—and if they’re dead and have no family, the money goes to different charities.
This year, the game was supposed to take place in an old opera house downtown. I usually choose the location months in advance. There’s a lot of planning, analysis, and tech that goes into it.
But this year I reached for the impossible. Brynn’s story couldn’t leave my mind. And neither did her scars.
I’d do anything to wipe that memory away. That’s not possible, though, so the only thing I’m left with is revenge. And I won’t stop until I have that. There’s something within me. A force driving me stronger than my reasoning, a kind of fog that’s taking hold of all my thoughts. Like I can’t rest. I won’t find peace until that happens.
And for the first time in my life, I scrap all my plans and start everything all over, with just two days before the game.
Funny, how there have been a lot of firsts since I met Brynn. Funnier still, considering I’ve been alive long enough to try anything and everything this world has to offer. I call my team of hackers just two days before Kharon and ask the impossible of them.
I don’t want them to move the time of the event. We can’t postpone the day. Kharon has taken place every year on Halloween for the last millennium. Sure, it wasn’t Halloween back then, but the date was the same, October 31st. The night when forces of evil align, and dark energies come to life. It used to be a secret day of celebration for the witches. Now the whole world unknowingly celebrates the greatest power in this universe—my father. Their energies combined only increase his strength. It’s the only night of the year I still feel tingles of ancient power rushing through my body. Like something forbidden, something I lost long ago.
I don’t have many memories of my past, but I do sometimes have the feeling that kind of power is still pulsing inside me.
The last-minute change of plans makes it almost impossible for my team to have everything ready on time. But I don’t handle rejection well, so the only acceptable thing to hear is “we’ll get this done.”
Setting up the building isn’t the main problem; relocating all the patients is. The larger problem being that I want the staff to come in.
I had someone dig up information about Brynn, and now I’ve got the full list of staff who were working at the sanatorium back then. None of them will live—except for the nurse who helped her out. The woman resigned shortly after Brynn escaped.
I had one of my hackers make sure the rest of the staff show up on Halloween morning. A couple of them died in the meantime—lucky bastards—because the rest are going to participate, whether they like it or not, in my game. Not as the contestants, but as the scared, worthless prey they are.
A few of them also changed jobs, but my men assured me they’ll be present here today. I don’t offer mercy or clemency. I don’t give a fuck if these people have families or people who love them. Knowing who they truly are, their families are better off without them.
