Page 36 of Seven Graves

The Executioner

I haven’t been this excited about something since the first time I broke into Viper’s apartment.

Her little car is no match for my menacing legs that I can’t help but bounce, knees knocking the glove compartment while she drives like a flustered Karen next to me. It’s the absolute definition of cute.

“Stop staring at me. And be still. You’re making me nervous.”

“But I’m excited,” I whined, cocking my head while continuing to stare at her. I know it irritates her, and I’m banking on that. I’m starting to realize she gets hot and bothered quicker when she’s… hot and bothered . “Bodies, blood and boo-boo’s all in one night? Makes my dick hard.”

“You need medication, Malek. Truly.”

I grabbed the ‘oh shit’ handle and impatiently tapped my foot instead, glancing around the car. “So, where do you keep all the stuff?”

“There’s a storage unit I rent outside of town. We’ll go grab the hearse first and then stop there to load up. Simon’s place is on the outskirts of town, so it’s not a far drive. Also a reason not to pass this up. Should be quick and simple.”

My brows lowered, and I could feel my stupidity about to make its debut. It’s fine. She loves it. “Does it not bother you that there’s serial killers that close to your neighborhood?!”

Seven snorted, smiling and looking over at me.

Yep. I’m an idiot. “You’re just over an hour away.

A house full, I might add. It should bother other people, but I clean for these creeps.

It’s not gonna bother me . As long as they’re happy with the job, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just a list of houses to skip while trick-or-treating. ”

“I’m crushin’ on you so hard right now, Viper.”

“Please, shut up.”

She pulled up about a block away from the funeral home and we walked the rest of the way.

The house was dark and silent, and she must grease this garage door in the back for it to pull up that easily without a sound.

We put the hearse in neutral, and I pushed it forward so she could coast it out of the driveway without having to crank it.

In a matter of minutes, we were in and out of Leviticus House, made the same mad dash at the storage unit, and pulled up at Simon’s.

This does not, in any way, fit the narrative of what horror movies portray of a creepy killer’s humble abode.

Not in a million years would I ever believe that some elderly couple didn’t live in this quaint little house with healthy ferns hanging from the front porch and a manicured flower garden with a bird bath.

It looks like he fertilizes his fucking grass .

It’s not the kind of place you’d think you would end up being somebody’s lampshade, for sure.

“Are you sure we’re at the right place?” I asked, opening the hatch of the hearse while Seven started hauling supplies towards her.

“Yep.”

“This might sound strange coming from me, of all people but…I’m kinda creeped out.”

She smiled and slung a strap over her shoulder, turning towards me.

“By all means, stay in the car.”

“Not a fucking chance, cherub.”

I oofed as she shoved a duffle into my chest. “Mask up, buttercup. Quit bein’ a pussy.”

I grumbled under my breath the entire way up the solar-lit sidewalk, sliding my ski mask over my head and shrugging on a pair of black gloves. Seven clunked up the steps and rang the doorbell, glancing at me, and then doing a double take. Cue, the whisper-yell.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Malek?”

I knew she’d say something about it. In fact, I was hoping for it.

I’m pretty positive I just planted about a million dirty thoughts in her little head with the skull print on this mask.

I knew she couldn’t see my grin, but also knew that she knows it’s there.

I shrugged and the door opened before I could say anything else.

Holy shite…

I had to look down just to see the guy. Half our height, and reminded me of The Penguin from Batman.

Or like he should be working at Gringott’s Bank.

Or living in The Shire. Okay, I’m done now.

Seriously though…this is so far from what I expected, I’m practically jumping now at the opportunity to see whatever this dude did.

“Simon,” Seven smiled sweetly, shaking his hand.

“Miss Black.” His dark eyes flickered up to me and I tried not to be disrespectful when I dipped my chin, lest Mr. Murderer think I’m taking a stab at his height.

“This is Mr. Shamrock, Simon. He’s gonna do my heavy lifting tonight.”

Mr. Shamrock…I see what you did there, pet.

Simon grunted his approval and turned to the side to let us in.

The inside of the house looked as immaculate as the outside…

until he led us to the study. There were books, a laptop, and broken glass all over the place.

A pretty brunette was laying in the middle of the room, one of those pieces of glass jutting out of her slashed throat while she laid wide-eyed, and staring lifelessly at the ceiling.

Seven passed me a pair of blue sockies to cover our boots and we did that before setting our things by the door.

He left us to it with another grunt, and we got to work.

Plastic shower curtain set out. Commercial grade cellophane.

Bleach. Viper bagged the broad up pretty quickly and I hoisted her over my shoulder to carry her out to the hearse.

Simon was sitting in a rocking chair in the living room as I came back inside.

His head was unusually large for his body, and he looked a bit aged, but maybe not quite as old as my father.

His dark hair was peppered with gray, and he worried his lower lip with his steepled fingers while he stared off at the wall.

Seven might not ask questions, but…I have an itch and it’s gotta be scratched. I’m going for it.

“You good, Simon?” His head swiveled slowly at me, fingers still poised on his mouth, and I inwardly cringed, wondering if my girl has a very valid point in not talking to these chaps.

“Diamonds in pocket. She was thief.”

“She tried to rob you, mate?”

He nodded once. “She use poison. I pretend. Not first. Not last.”

I smiled under my mask. “Well, good riddance to her. Nice job.” He looked at me like I was a lunatic.

Me . The guy that’s helping clean a body out of his fucking house.

I mean…I guess I get it, and he’s not wrong, but…

still. “Okay, bye.” I swayed down the short hallway back to where Seven was finishing up.

“Can you take that bag of trash to the hearse for me? I’ve gotta light the place up and see if we missed anything. And what the hell are you doing in there?”

I shrugged and picked up the bag. “Killer shit. You wouldn’t understand.

” I swear her irritation turns me on way more than it should.

She was running over everything with a blacklight when I came back inside and we found a couple more spots, cleaning them before packing up.

Simon was still waiting in his chair while we got ready to head out.

He held a small velvet drawstring bag out towards her.

“Take three,” he grumbled, sitting it in her gloved hand. Then he glanced up at me. “One for Shamrock. Good man.” Seven looked between us in utter confusion.

“You didn’t actually eat that poison did you, dude?”

He smacked his lips. There’s the psycho… right there . Finally seeing it. “For rat. Taste like pecan. Be okay.”

She took a lot less time than I would have, picking three rocks that were likely worth more than my Nova, shoving one into my hand and passing Simon the bag back as she swallowed and made her way out the door.

I inspected it between my finger and thumb, smiling, though he couldn’t see it, and nodding at him.

“You were way outta her league. Fuck her.”

Simon smirked at me, grunting. I pocketed the diamond and followed Sev back to the hearse. We loaded up and pulled outta the driveway and it was a few minutes before either one of us spoke. I decided it would be me.

“Well? Pretty sure you won’t have to skip Simon’s place trick-or-treating. He likes me, and he gives some damn good—”

“Do not …finish that sentence.”

Geez…fine.

Eidelwood Cemetery is about as close to accurate as I think you could get if you’re into old horror movies where the monster lurks in a foggy graveyard under a full moon.

That’s all I could think about while we parked on the gravel path that leads all the way through the several acre, wooded burial ground.

I peeked over to see a huge concrete tub next to an already dug grave just past a row of headstones.

“What the hell is that?”

Seven shoved the gear shifter into park and turned the car off, trying to follow my line of vision.

“The big box over at the side? That’s the vault.

And we’re lucky they waited to inter that thing, otherwise I’d have to risk a bit more cleanup time with the crematorium before my parents are up for the day. ”

“So…we’re burying the body in somebody else’s grave?”

“Yep,” she answered about as casually as I would if we were talking about murder.

Calm down, pecker . She got out and I followed her to the back of the hearse to unload Simon’s little thief.

“We’re gonna dig a little deeper, cover her up and then the vault will seal the deal before Mrs. Porter’s burial service tomorrow. ”

“No way, this is Mrs. Porter’s grave?!”

“It is. I really hate it too. I feel like we’ve put her through enough in the past couple days, but…

this is the easiest route.” She took one end of the body, and I took the other, careful about where we stepped as we maneuvered past graves.

“Right here’s good.” I had the feet and was about to bend down to lay the body on the ground, but was almost shocked when the head thunked to the dirt and Seven stalked past me to go get shovels.

Damn…

I dropped my side and met her halfway. She hopped into that grave like it didn’t matter at all to her that we could get caught, or at the very least…

haunted by some wraith out here. After the first few minutes of us digging in silence, I had the unpleasant notion that we were standing six feet below the ground, likely right in between two rotting people.

I think this is the first time anything like this has ever bothered me. I needed some kind of distraction.

“So. A snack-sized Igor is more intimidating than my Pops?” Her shovel stabbed into the ground, and she chuckled to herself, stomping on the spade with her boot.

“Igor…”

“Is he Russian? Kinda sounded like it. I mean honestly, I think his tidy house was more creepy than the dude, himself.”

“The last time I cleaned for him, there were two bodies. One was missing skin in several places. The other one was missing a couple organs.” I stopped shoveling and looked over at her, wiping my brow. “You know I have to address the situation when there’s things missing.”

“He didn’t…”

She cracked a smile and started shoveling again. “He sure did. Only way I was gonna find any of it was to wait for it to digest and dig through his sh—”

“Uggghhhh, stop! ”

She broke into a fit of giggles, and I cringed.

Once we were finally deep enough, she had me hop up and roll the body down.

It landed with a pretty sick thud and took us a good half hour to cover.

Truthfully, I was really glad to be out and surprised to see it was only half past four when we finished up.

Made me wonder how long it would have taken her if I hadn’t been here.

I was chugging a bottle of water when I looked around, finding her with her back turned and taking her hair down while she cooled off, leaning over the back of a headstone.

And the thought hit me…right in the dick.

“Hey, Viper? What time do your parents slither outta bed?” She didn’t even look at me when she answered.

“Around six. Why?”

Perfect…

I crept up behind her, I guess not stealthy enough. Probably because I’d gotten her good in the basement the other day. She’s starting to expect all aspects of my shit. She turned around, spotting the look I knew had to be in my eyes and threw a palm out, landing dead-center on my chest.

“Don’t even. It’s not happening.”

“You serious? But your smutty book—”

“Is exactly that. A book . Don’t get me wrong, it’s entertaining and delicious, Malek…

but there aren’t just random bodies out here.

We’re standing on a few dozen people I’ve worked on, comforted their families, and tucked them snugly into caskets.

The night you called me to your house, you were all about a war on disrespect.

I’d never actually do that to them. You can understand that, right? ”

Another valid argument. Damn it all.

“I do. You’re right. Sorry.”

Her hand dropped away from me, dragging back her damp hair, and I thought all my Irish luck was gone before she smiled softly and raised on her tiptoes to kiss me. I thought maybe she’d changed her mind, but she pulled back and sighed.

“Thank you for all your help. Really. This would have been a pain in the ass without you.”

“I did tell you how I enjoy bein’ paid, right?”

I watched her eyes go sultry and her movement slow down while she leaned forward, tracing my lower lip, flicking my piercing with her finger. My cock twitched.

“How often do you think about it, Malek Byrne? You like the feel of that hard, round thing in your hand? Make ya feel dirty?”

“Y-yes,” I choked, watching her lower her body a bit.

Holy fuck…is she about to…

“Wonderin’ what it would feel like when it gives with some warm flesh around it?

” I think I’m gonna shoot off like a Roman candle before her knees even hit the ground.

I swallowed hard, tilting my head back and wondering how the hell I just managed to turn this around.

She’s right though. I’ve spent many a night since I first saw her, fisting my cock and thinking exactly this.

“Ready to find out?” Her hands slid down the back of my calves and I closed my eyes, afraid to breathe.

“Fuck, yes…”

Something hard and cold pressed into one of my hands and I instinctively grabbed it, dropping my chin just as she abruptly stood.

A fucking shovel .

“Be a good boy and help me take these back to the car, yeah?” She smiled like an arse, and patted my cheek, turning and prancing towards the hearse.

Ohhhh, Viper…are you about to get it for this one.