Page 37 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

Christopher watched Deborah work her magic with the couple, her blouse now completely unbuttoned to the waist of her skirt, her breasts accessible for both the man and woman.

“Doesn’t your friend want to join us?” asked the woman.

“He likes watching,” said Deborah in a perturbed tone. “Don’t you, baby?”

“Yes. Yes, I like watching,” he said, smiling at her.

He remembered what this was like. Finding another couple who would let you do all the things you wanted to do, all the things you dreamed of doing. He remembered the hunt, the thrill, the morning-after feelings of disgust and regret. Promises of never doing that again, only to have your body betray you one more time. Until that night, that fateful night.

“What do you say we take this to our place?” said the man.

“Perfect,” said Deborah, standing. She held a tight grip on the man’s cock, straining against the zipper of his pants, the woman smiling at the pair. The wife reached for Christopher, rubbing the front of his pants.

“This one needs some work,” she smiled.

“He’ll come up to the challenge. Don’t worry.” They headed toward the front door of the private club, Deborah and Christopher following. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she seethed.

“What do you mean?”

“Get your fucking head in the game, Michael! This couple is golden. They want it. They’re practically begging us for it. I can tell. Now get with it!”

He nodded at her, following the couple down the block to a small apartment building.

We’re with you, Christopher. The couple is identified. Law enforcement is in the apartment.

He said nothing but obediently followed Deborah, who was already pulling out the man’s cock in the elevator. Lowering to her knees, she sucked him hard and then bit down, making him yell. His wife giggled and stroked Deborah’s face, brushing back her hair. Deborah willingly stood and captured the wife’s mouth, shoving her tongue into her mouth violently.

The apartment seemed non-descript. Plain furniture, plain rugs, plain everything. But like all couples with a penchant for their kind of sex, they had a secret room with all the play toys you could want or need. Christopher watched as Deborah stripped the couple and then stripped herself. She looked over her shoulder, and he slowly started to unbutton his own shirt, praying for time.

Chaining the woman to the fleece-lined cuffs hanging from the ceiling, she shoved three hard, cold silver balls roughly into her vagina, and the woman squirmed. Deborah reached for her nipples and twisted hard, slapping the woman across the face. Gagging her with a thin red scarf, she turned her attention to the man, cuffing him to a bed, his legs spread wide.

Deborah took delight in biting and slapping his rigid cock. Christopher knew it must be painful for the man, but his gagged mouth could only groan. She stood on the table and lifted her leg, still covered in the stiletto boot.

“Wait!” he screamed. She turned, anger and fire in her eyes. “I can’t do this. I can’t let you…”

“What the fuck are you talking about? This is what we do, Michael. I find them. I fuck them. I kill them, and you get to watch as I make them beg.”

The eyes of the man and woman went wide, their bodies flailing against the restraints.

“No. No, this isn’t what we do. It’s what you and my brother did.”

“Your brother?” her eyes narrowed.

“I’m Christopher, not Michael. I’m his twin.”

“His twin? What the fuck kind of game is this?” she sneered at him, anger filling her features. He nearly left the room but stared her down.

“I’m sorry. I have to stop you. I can’t let you…”

Move… move… move! Christopher, get out of there now!

“No, I have to make this right.”

“Who are you talking to? You will not stop me!”

She lifted her leg and slammed the heel into the chest of the now sobbing man. Christopher leapt forward, his pants and shoes still on, his chest bare. He shoved Deborah off the table and knelt beside the man, holding his hand over the now gushing blood. He heard footsteps outside and banging on the door, the heavy deadbolt holding tight.

Turning, he watched as Deborah slashed at the woman. The large butcher knife glinted with every movement of her arm.

“Stop! Deborah, stop!” he yelled.

Turning her anger toward him, her body covered in blood, she jumped onto the table and slashed at his chest and neck, blood squirting in all directions. The splintering of wood turned her attention for only a moment, and then through her deafening, sick laughter, Christopher heard his brother’s voice.

Stay with me, Christopher. It’s okay. I forgive you.

Sounds and sights assailed him. His vision blurred. He stared up at the blood-red ceiling. A gunshot sounded, and then another and another, and Deborah’s eyes went wide as she slumped forward.

Christopher’s body finally relaxed. It was done. She was dead.

“Christopher, stay with me,” said Adam.

“I-I’m sorry. I killed them. I killed…”

“We know, Christopher. You killed your brother’s wife and son. We know. It was an accident, Christopher.”

Christopher’s eyes grew wide, and then as if knowing how, he smiled and nodded. The knife had nicked several arteries. Blood was pumping too fast. Adam saw the damage, the pints of blood pouring quickly from his body. There were too many wounds. He would never get them all tied off.

“Let me go,” he pleaded, looking up at Adam. “Let me go. I want to be with my brother. I need to tell him… tell him I’m sorry… tell him…” The last breath of Christopher Krauss faded into the room as police and paramedics raced back and forth between the couple.

Deborah lay dead on the floor. Three gunshots fired expertly through her internal organs.

“Damn,” said Adam under his breath.

“He would have been brought up on manslaughter charges, Adam. You know that,” said Kane. “He knew that and wanted to go.”

“I know, but I also know he was living with a helluva lot of guilt. I’m a doctor, Kane. I try to save everyone, even the bad guys. Except her,” he said, pointing to Deborah, “her I wouldn’t have tried to save. She is just one mean, evil bitch.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The couple would survive to get kinky another day, although both claimed they would never partake of that lifestyle again. Christopher Krauss was laid to rest next to his brother, his brother’s wife and son, and their parents.

The police did not question how Kane and his team of misfits knew so much about the murders. They were only grateful to have a final resolution. A win for them was a win for the public. Kane had no interest in telling anyone that his team was part of the investigation, and the police department was just fine with that.

With the deaths of Christopher and Michael Krauss, Aislinn felt an unusual release in her chest that other nightmares had not possessed. It was as if the story had finally finished, and she was a part of the ending. The conclusion gave her peace. The horrible, disorienting feelings that Deborah had given her were gone and laid to rest as well.

Flip insisted on living in his travel trailer, saying it was more his style and easier to clean. He did not intend to leave the area, having found his family.

Adam decided to move his practice closer to Kane and Aislinn, selling his suburban home and buying a loft in the building across the street. Spook was still living the furthest away on the other side of town but at least showed up more often.

The wet, cold days of late winter and early spring gave way to the sunshine and beauty of summer. Kane and Aislinn had slipped into a steady rhythm. Aislinn became the new business manager for PPS. Personal and Private Security. She managed all of the contracts and even built their website. The resolution rate was higher than the police departments, but Kane knew if the others joined full-time, their business would turn toward more serious crimes.

Their personal relationship was on a high that didn’t seem to end. Kane had proposed twice to Aislinn. Both times, she smiled at him and said, ‘not yet.’ Kane was a patient man, but he wanted this woman as his and his only. In his mind, marriage was the way to make that happen.

As a family, they met every Sunday for dinner. Flip and Aislinn would share the cooking duties, and, more often than not, Dr. Brennan would join them as well. She was highly interested in trying to find out about their connection, particularly the exposure to the pink dust for them all.

“So, what’s happening in your world, my darling Aislinn?” asked Dr. Brennan.

“Well, we just finished two more cases this week. Kane and I bought the loft downstairs, and we’ll be expanding the space to give us an additional bedroom and more office space. I think I’m going to buy some new furniture this week, and oh, we’re going to Ireland next month to get married, and you’re all invited.”

Aislinn chewed her mouthful of food and smiled at the table as silence filled the room. Kane dropped his fork and stood abruptly, walking away. Her eyes followed him, grinning. She watched him open the bedside table and pull out the familiar red velvet box. Walking back to the table, he kneeled down as he had so many times before.

“Aislinn Carter, will you marry me in one month… in Ireland?” he smiled at her.

“I will,” she said, smiling back.

The table erupted in cheers and laughter, and Kane lifted her from the seat, nearly overturning the table. He kissed her, devouring her lips, tasting the spaghetti sauce.

“Will you always make me work this hard?” he asked.

“Always because I love you,” she said quietly.

“Congratulations!” said Adam, hugging them both. “Ireland? Why Ireland?”

“Well,” said Aislinn, smiling, “my mother and grandmother were from Ireland, and Dr. Brennan, Angela, and her sister both think some of my gift may have come from her. With the revelation of the pink dust, I’m not so sure that’s true any longer, but it would still be interesting to visit and learn more about my heritage.”

“But I’m definitely not Irish,” said Flip with a sideways grin.

“No, no, yer definitely not,” said Angela, smiling. “But there may be something to all of you being connected. Besides, there’s nothin’ like an Irish wedding. You’ll see!”

“You have this all planned?” asked Kane.

“Yes,” said Aislinn shyly. “We’re getting married at the castle ruins near my grandmother’s birthplace. We’ll be staying in Dublin for two weeks, all of us, and then spending some time with Angela and her sister.”

“You’re coming too?” asked Kane.

“I am. ‘Tis been too long since I’ve seen my sister. ‘Tis time I go home,” she said with misty eyes.

“Well then, to good friends and strange gifts,” said Adam, raising his wine glass, “Slainté!”

“Slainté!”