Alicia was fast asleep when the door slammed, waking her from her dreams and plunging her back into the nightmare of reality. Joe stalked into the room looking excited and agitated.
‘I don’t know what to do! I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t see him again. I just can’t face him again!’
He strode back and forth, gesticulating madly, whipping himself into a frenzy. He stopped abruptly and plopped down next to Alicia, startling her and causing her to shrink away. He rubbed a hand lovingly over her voluptuous ass as she quivered in fear and began to sob.
‘Talk to me. Tell me what to do,’ he said, staring deeply into her terrified eyes.
‘Let me go. You should let me go right away before you do something you’ll regret.’
‘If I let you go I’ll just find another woman.’
‘Then turn yourself in. They have people who can help you.’
‘Doctors? Psychiatrists? They’ll just lock me up with this hunger still gnawing at me each and every day. That would be torture. No, I need to find a cure, another cure, a different cure.’
‘Joe. Listen to me. You have to let me go, Joe. You can’t keep me here. They’ll catch you.’
‘You’re right. I can’t keep you here forever. I’m going to have to go after him. But I’m taking you with me.’
Alicia had no idea what the man was talking about, but it didn’t sound good.
‘You have to go after who?’
‘Damon Trent. He’s the one who made me what I am. I have to find him. Destroy him. In order to destroy the curse.’ Joe sat down and told Alicia everything and she listened, not just in order to gain his confidence and trust, but because she was legitimately curious. The story he was telling was unbelievable, but by the time he was done he almost had her convinced.
‘So you believe that this Damon Trent guy passed on some type of virus to you when he molested you and that’s what’s causing you to change?’
‘It’s changing me into a killer! And if I don’t find him then you’re going to wind up being my first victim.’
As much as it chilled the blood in Alicia’s veins to hear that he was thinking about killing her, she was encouraged by the fact that he hadn’t murdered her yet and also by the fact that he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to hurt her. It was that virus inside him making him crazy. It sounded ridiculous when she repeated it to herself now, but when he’d told her about the correlation he’d found between the werewolf and vampire legends and the evolution of the serial killer it almost made sense to her. If he could just find and kill that fucker that infected him then he’d be cured and he’d let her go and maybe they could even go out again sometime once he was normal.
Alicia knew that she was being a fool.
Why would she want to go out with the guy who chained her up and bit her nipples off and was more than likely going to murder her?
Because you’re a sex-addict, her subconscious answered back.
The likelihood of him curing himself by plunging a stake through the heart of a serial child murderer was so remote it was crazy. Still, it was the only thing she had to hang her hopes on.
‘I’ll help you.’
‘What?’
‘I’ll help you find him … and kill him.’ Joe stared into Alicia’s eyes for a long moment. He saw an honesty and a trust there that was almost childlike. There was loneliness there too, and a need-the need for love. He reached out and stroked her long curly black hair and leaned in to kiss her.
As Joe’s lips touched hers Alicia screamed at herself: Bite his lips off. Bite off his fucking tongue! Kill Him! Kill Him!!!
Instead, she returned his kiss. Their tongues duelled and danced and Joe lovingly caressed her beautiful body, careful to avoid her savaged nipples, which were still raw and tender. He kissed her throat and sucked the sweat from the hollows of her collarbones. He licked the salt of her tears from her cheeks and brushed his lips against her eyelids. He sucked her bruised lips and kissed the tip of her chin. Then he laid her down and removed the leg spreader from between her ankles, slipping off her restraints and kissing the chafed and torn flesh beneath, shivering at the meaty metallic taste of her blood.
Joe stroked her buttery caramel thighs and Alicia moaned in appreciation. She tried to tell herself to fight him, to kick him off and run for her life, but he was so big, so strong. She doubted she’d have had a chance of overcoming him even for a second and she was enjoying his touch, enjoying the emotion in his eyes, in his soulful moans, and delicate caresses. As much as she hated to admit it, she was falling for him. She gasped as he lowered his weight on top of her and parted her thighs, entering her with cautious probing thrusts.
He lowered his head to the nape of her neck and she stiffened, momentarily certain that he would bite her again, tear out her throat like a vampire. But when he raised his head there were tears in his eyes.
‘I love you, Alicia. You have to help me.’
‘I will. I promise.’
That night they made love, gently, softly, sweetly. They gave and took, exchanging pain for pleasure, solitude for solace, and when they were done they held each other and wept for both their lives.
