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PROLOGUE

THAT NIGHT

Zaire “Ze”Esai watched from the shadows as the man he’d hunted dangled from a hook in the ceiling. The place he’d chosen as his kill room smelled of mold, dust, animal feces, and piss. Broken windows and corners filled with cobwebs were indicative of a location time forgot. That was why he’d chosen the abandoned factory for the occasion. The area was dark except for the one spotlight that shined on his target.

“Please… please… I can give you whatever you want. I can pay you,” begged the naked man whose wicked deeds had pique Ze’s bloodlust.

Ze said nothing. He knew his silence would only increase the man’s terror, and that was what he’d wanted. His breathing was measured even though his heart was racing with the anticipation of this kill. Hell, his cock was throbbing with the need to release, but not before it was time. Some men got off on porn, he got off on seeing a person’s insides outside of their body. That darkness was a side of himself Ze thought he’d always have to keep hidden from others. He’d found a home and acceptance with the Lords of Chaos Motorcycle club. More importantly, he had an outlet as club enforcer.

The man hanging from his hook was club business and Ze dressed in his best to give the man all of his attention. It had taken two months of Ze stalking the man’s hunting grounds to finally capture him. His prey. As far as Ze was concerned, he was the apex predator. The echelon of big game hunters, because he didn’t hurt innocent people. No, he enjoyed taking out those who had it coming. Criminals who preyed on people who felt they were weaker than them.

“I’m begging you… please let me go,” the man whined in a pathetic voice that squeaked and cracked as tears and snot flowed. Sweat glistened on the man’s body in the spotlight, the sight of it all very enticing to Ze.

It was time, Ze had allowed a good twenty minutes to pass in silence. Fostering the terror to grow, for the doubt to fester, and for his bloodthirst to rise. He walked over to the man, who was still pleading for his life and trying to make a deal for his freedom. He could practically smell the fear coming off the man in waves.

Ze reached up, stroking his fingers down the man’s muscular torso all the way to his groin, stopping before he could touch the man's flaccid cock. He’d save that for last. “Tell me,” he began. And when he spoke, it wasn’t his usual voice. No, this tone came out of him naturally when he was in this mode. Deep, sensuous, and dripping with his dark desires. “Did you give any of your victims a chance to escape you?” His green eyes studied his prey, watching for the tell-tale signs of deceit.

The man choked on a sob. “I…I d–don’t know what… you’re talking about,” he said between strained pants.

Ze laughed, a smooth sound that flowed through the atmosphere. It was a funny line, because he’d always heard it from his prey. They never knew what he was talking about when he questioned them. As if playing dumb or innocent would save them. He knew just how guilty they were. Every one of them deserved his brand of justice.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Ze asked as he walked around the man, touching him in places he wanted to thrust the blade of his knife into as he went along.

The man’s breath hitched in his throat. “L–listen… I… I can pay you,” he pleaded.

“Oh? And just how much is your life worth?”

“W-what?”

Ze stepped up to him and leaned forward so his lips were beside the man’s ear. “How much is your life worth?” he asked again.

“Name your price,” the man said.

“No, you tell me,” Ze shot back.

“I can give you a hundred thousand dollars by tomorrow morning,” the man said.

Ze stepped back and shook his head. “I asked you how much you think your life is worth. Is that it? Or is that the amount you think my mercy is worth?”

“I can give you a million dollars!” the man blurted out, his blue eyes wide with fear as sweat glistened on his body. A sight that turned Ze on so much. “Hell, two million if that’s what you want. Fuck… just tell me, please. I don’t even know why you’re doing this.”

“Sara Miller, Destiny Comner, Linda Beltrov, Allison Walters, and tonight, it would have been Tiffany Muffin,” Ze said, after rattling off several names of women who were found murdered in the same fashion.

“I… I don’t know–”

“Yes!” Ze snapped and grabbed the man’s jaw tightly, causing pain as he dug his nails into the man’s skin. When the man whimpered, he knew he was successful. “Yes, you do know them.” He released the man’s jaw, then trailed a finger down his torso where he wanted to slice the man open and watch as his entrails spilled out at his feet. “Sara was the first woman found. The wounds on her body were sloppy, like her murder may have been an accident. Was it?”

“Please… I swear…”

“Or did you set out to kill her, but wasn’t sure if you’d be able to go through with it? Is that why her body was found in such a mess? Defensive wounds on her arms and legs, but you were smart enough to cut off her fingertips. Did she scratch you?” Ze asked, then looked over the man’s body and saw some scars here and there. One in particular looked like scratch marks. “Did she scratch you here?” He ran his fingertips over the old scars and the man’s body trembled from his touch.

“I don't know what you mean. I don't know her!”

“Tell me about Tiffany. What was it about her that intrigued you?” Ze asked, then began walking around the man again.

“Who?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know the names of your victims.”