Cassie: Part II
During the day she would work and at night she would hunt. She frequented herself at bars up and down Bourbon Street during big events. It was usually crowded enough to lure an attractive, unsuspecting, usually drunk, young man to “escort” her home. Sadly enough, none of those men ever made it home themselves. When Bourbon was scarce, she would take a night off and relax at the Dungeon. Every once in a while she could pick up a straggler who had a few too many after closing. Cassie only had three rules: No locals (homeless and drifters excluded), follow your instincts, Cassie had a peculiar foresight for catastrophe so if anything felt wrong about the peculiar situation, she would abort, and the third rule was the most important, never fall in love. There was one time, however, that she broke all the rules.
There was a young man she had never seen before; he was beautiful. He had chestnut brown hair that had naturally brilliant topaz highlights. His skin was a smooth olive brown that enhanced every definition of his body that she could see. She spent the entire day shadowing him. The opportunity to have an “accidental” meeting presented itself in Jackson Square just in front of the Cathedral. She tripped on some loose bricks in the road and stumbled right into him and he caught her with both arms. If she could have fallen in love, she would have then. His eyes pierced through her as if they were scanning her soul. If she had believed in God she would have thanked Him that those eyes could do no more than see her flesh. They wouldn’t have been anything special to just anyone. Only someone as observant as Cassie could appreciate eyes like those, the deepest mahogany with slivers of gold that were accented by his highlights. After a short conversation and over exaggerated flirting from her part, he finally invited her to meet him later for a drink. She pretended to refuse so he would insist and once he did she shyly accepted and agreed to meet him in that same spot later that night; He was waiting for her when he arrived just after nine.
She was hoping to convince him to go to the Dungeon. With its obscenely loud music and lack of any real lighting, it made for the perfect hunting grounds. For the same reason however, many people avoided the location. The club of the same name that had its own entrance off the street usually attracted a very colorful array of people, mainly dressed in trench coats, corsets, fishnets, leather, and boots, all black. The bar was less attractive to the club goers but they still seemed to repel most people. She was ecstatic when it was he who suggested the very same bar. He was snared before they reached the entrance; he was hanging on her every word, smiling at every giggle and guiding her by the small of her back. They turned the corner from Royal to Toulouse Street. He pulled the rubber slabs covering the entrance out of the way so she could pass thorough untouched, except by him. Everything was falling into place perfectly until he heard her voice.
“Elijah?” the high pitched shriek came from behind the bar. The voice was filled with questioning excitement. He spun towards the bar.
“Evey!” he flung his arms open and the small girl behind the bar vaulted over the counter into his arms. She was just as awkwardly beautiful as he was and Cassie was suddenly filled with an emotion she had never felt before, jealousy. They held a strong embrace, long enough to make the bouncer clear his throat. As it turned out, Elijah and Evey were siblings. Two years earlier their parents had been killed by a drunk driver and after the funeral they each went their separate ways meeting up or checking in every few months or so, however this meeting was unplanned and unexpected.
The rest of the night was as awkward as the introduction. Her web was unraveling as fast as it was spun. Elijah and Evey were catching up over the bar every spare second Evey could find. It took painstaking effort to keep Elijah’s attention on her and not on Evey. Although she was a little weary that her new victim was the sibling of a local, none of her rules were being broken so she proceeded as planned. She would just have to give this mission extra attention.
The drinks kept coming and Elijah was beginning to sway in his bar stool. With years of practice, Cassie had been able to make it seem like she was getting drunk, but she wasn’t. She would always order clear drinks, like vodka on the rocks and then take it to the ladies room and replace it with water. Her mind had to be free from the effects of alcohol and drugs for her to carry on in her line of work. The more Elijah drank the less he paid attention to his sister. They were getting up to leave when her rules began to break.
“God, I hate to think of you leaving again.” Evey said with doe eyes, “you should just stay here! Do you even have anything to go back to?” She asked as if she already knew the answer; and she did. A shiver ran down Cassie’s spine. If he agreed to stay, it would mean that he would be a local, meaning she could not carry on, and she so desperately wanted to. Even worse, what if she actually could, and did, fall in love with him? The next few minutes were crucial.
“Why don’t you just twist my arm while you’re at it?” He smiled drunkly. “I promise I’ll think about it, but I can’t make any decisions like that right now. It’s too import(hic)ant.” He swayed and Cassie caught him. She needed to move fast. The quicker she could get him outside the quicker she would be able to side step what could be a potentially dangerous situation. She started guiding her prey towards the door.
“Well where are you staying?” Evey asked making stop and spin around again, almost causing him to fall. Cassie was there again to steady him. This time she held on to him. Evey noticed.
“I have a room” he slurred. Cassie continued moving him towards the exit. Evey was eyeing her questioningly. You could tell she was frantically trying to think of a way to get her brother away from Cassie.
“Well, why don’t you just hang out here until I get off at two and we can hang out. I can make sure you get home safe” her emphasis on the last syllable was like ice but Elijah was too drunk to notice. He swung his arms around Cassie and looked down at her dotingly.
“Oh I think I’ll be just fine” he slurred even worse this time. Turning around and waving over his shoulder he yelled,
“See you later sis!” Cassie spun her head around to shoot Evey an evil grin. She was staring right back and if looks could kill, Cassie would have dropped dead.
Instead of helping Elijah back to his hotel, she took him across the river to her place. It hardly took any coercion on her part. He was more than willing to accompany her home. The whole way there Elijah couldn’t stop his internal dialogue.
“So what do you think? Should I move here? Evey is here. I’ve missed her. You’re here too. I like you. You’re so pretty.” He rubbed the back of his hand across her cheek and her heart jumped. She had to work faster. With every passing second Elijah was getting closer to deciding to become a local and she was falling in love like she never knew possible. If she waited much longer she wouldn’t be able to go through with it.
Cassie’s instincts were beginning to waver. All three of her rules were about to be broken. Elijah was so close to deciding to move there, part of which was her own fault, Evey’s suspicions and status as a local made the mission more dangerous than usual, and she couldn’t help falling for him. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. This was what she was. She would never stop; it wouldn’t be possible. One just can’t stop being a monster. She stopped fooling around and moved straight to the kill.
He was lying on her bed, arms sprawled waiting for her to join him. She smiled sadly and turned to her dresser where she pulled a small red box out of a larger black box. From this, she pulled a tiny vile, sealed at the top and containing a clear liquid below. A small needle protruded through the tube, with the point soaking in the liquid. Removing it from the canister, and careful to hide the needle in her hand without letting the tip touch her skin, she slowly crawled into his arms. Her hand slid to the back of his head at the base his skull. He was rubbing her thigh with one hand while he stroked her hair with the other. She tried to force a smile when he kissed her on the forehead. His lips stared moving down her face and his hands started moving up her leg. He twisted his other hand into her hair and she did the same, jamming the needle in. His body went rigid as their lips locked. Then, his sagged and his eyes didn’t open. One solitary tear fell down Cassie’s cheek.
She had lain in his lifeless arms for only a minute. The warmth of his body hadn’t even started to wane before she continued. Getting rid of the bodies was always the most difficult part. It was for this reason she chose a house with a basement that was right across the street from the river. Her basement had been renovated into what highly resembled a butcher’s back room. She dragged his body down the steep stairs taking extra care not to hit his face. It was an odd consideration compared to what she had just done, or what she was about to do to him. Once she wrestled his body on to the table in the middle of the room, she took a second to reminisce, something she never did, kissed him softly, got out her tools and went to work.
The sun was just starting to make its presence known as she dropped the last bits of Elijah’s body into the river. It hadn’t been as hard as she thought it would have been to cut him up. She only hesitated once. Her affections died the instant she made the first cut. She knew this wasn’t the most brilliant of disposal plans but it worked. She had never been caught and she planned to keep it that way. She just kept her wits about her and paid attention to her surroundings. The only thing still bothering her about this case was Evey. She had an entire manuscript of scenarios memorized in her head about what had happened between her and Elijah. Even if Evey persisted, there was no proof he had stayed with her after they left the bar. It was shortly before six in the morning when she finally fell into bed.
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