𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄- 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐃

𝐎𝐍𝐄

"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘," Rhiannon remarked from the couch as Alana walked through the door. Rhiannon was invested in something on her laptop that she hadn't even bothered to look up as she walked in their shared apartment. She didn't need to, not when she'd known how to kill a man in almost twenty different ways if someone dared to break into their apartment. She had Alana to thank for that, because she was technically the computer genius, but she knew how to hold her own in a fight. 

"He went down easy," Alana remarked, smirking as she slid her boots off by the front door. She needed a shower immediately, because it was like she could still feel his blood on her clothes, or in her hair. "Cried like a little bitch, though."

"Don't they all," Rhi sighed, shutting her laptop and cocking an eyebrow at her. "I hope you cleaned those boots before you got here. I'm sick of cleaning blood off the floor every week."

"Of course, I did," Alana assured her. "I'm not an idiot." No, she really wasn't. Alana took every single measure possible to make sure that these murders weren't being traced back to her. To any law enforcement officer that tried to come for her, it would be like chasing a ghost. Besides, once she finished her job, she'd be out of this shit hole, and she'd move somewhere else. Preferably somewhere with a beach. 

"I guess that's one more off the list," Rhiannon grimaced, shaking her head. "Only four more to go." Alana knew exactly which names were left on the list, but they were the ones that needed more planning. Because when she finally got to that number one spot, she was going to take her time. Alana was going to make every second of it count. Even then, a few hours of pain would never make up for years of torture on their behalf. 

Alana followed Rhiannon's gaze, to the picture that sat on their mantle, and she knew that Rhi was reminding herself why she did this. They needed to remember why they were doing this, who they were doing it for. 

"You'll make them pay, won't you?" Rhiannon asked solemnly, and Alana mustered up the courage to look at the photo, at the face smiling back at her, and she nodded. "I'll make them pay for every minute of it," she promised. Alana remembered the night that she had said those same words, as she was right on the brink of death before she made a vow to her. She had promised to take them all down, no matter the cost. Maybe in another life, Alana would have felt remorse for it, but it was hard to feel guilty when she was ridding the world of one less monster every time she brought that knife down. Or maybe in another life she'd died that night too, and wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life living in this pain. 

"I really miss her," Rhi sighed, looking toward Alana, whose face was hardened. She nodded her head stiffly, still looking at the photo in front of her. I know. Me too, Alana was silently telling the girl. "Now go and take a shower. You smell foul." Rhiannon shoved Alana away from her, covering her nose with her forearm as she pointed down the hallway. Alana chuckled as she shrugged off her hoodie and tossed it in the laundry before she made her way down to the shower. She heard the sound of Rhiannon rummaging through the kitchen, and Alana assumed she was making dinner. Thank god. 

Rhiannon was just about the only person in the world that kept her sane. When Alana first left that hospital room, the person she'd run right to was Rhiannon. And when Alana confided in her on what she planned to do, what she'd promised to do, she refused to let her go alone. So, Rhiannon and her fled and never looked back once. She had her own personal reasons for helping her with this, and a day would soon come when both Rhiannon and Alana would finally get their closure. 

The shower was more like a sauna as Alana stepped into the tub, watching the water turn red as she washed the blood out of her dark hair. It was times like these when she really let herself think. Sometimes she thought about what her life had been like before she'd been turned into some kind of monster. She shook her head and quickly snapped out of it, because that was a rabbit hole that Alana didn't particularly feel like going down tonight. 

It must have been at least an hour before Alana managed to drag herself out of the shower, and Rhiannon didn't say anything as she stumbled into the kitchen immediately after. She knew it was like her ritual now, that she needed that time to think after each kill. Rhiannon didn't say a word as she slid a plate of pasta across the counter and smiled softly at her. 

"What did you find?" Alana questioned as she sat on the couch beside Rhi, who's laptop was still open. It looked like security camera footage, cameras that Rhiannon probably hacked. Sometimes, she was grateful Rhi had forced herself to tag along because of her computer expertise. Whenever Alana wasn't thinking about her gratitude, she wished she'd never dragged Rhiannon into this mess at all. She shoved a forkful into her mouth and leaned over to catch a glimpse of the house. 

"I got an address, and I got access to his cameras," she replied, flipping through each camera. She practically had a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the entire outside of his house. That would cause problems when it came time to kill him. 

"Can you kill his cameras when I get in there?" Alana asked her. Rhiannon could do just about anything with a computer. Before she followed after Alana, Rhi had been finding tests online and had sold the answers to the highest bidder. SAT's, LSAT, MCAT, she had found them all with her skill. And she had made a killing off of it, too. 

"I can, but it would raise suspicion," she hummed. Alana didn't know what that meant for her, but she trusted Rhiannon to find a way. She'd never let her down before. "That's not all I found," she said slowly, looking toward Alana with a sorrowful expression on her face. 

"What is it?" Alana tried desperately to read the expression on her face, but it wasn't telling her what she needed to know. She could only guess that it was bad news, and she hated bad news more than anything. 

"Well, I did some more digging. And I came across his wife's hospital records," she admitted quietly. "And his daughter's." Alana's heart stopped, and Rhi nodded softly as if to confirm her worst fears. "Between the two of them, six hospital visits in the last twelve months. Broken bones, tumbles down the stairs..." She didn't need to say anything else, because Alana could read between the lines. She clutched her hands into fists, trying to calm herself down enough so she doesn't run over there right now and kill him. 

"How old is his daughter?" Alana asked slowly, not sure if she wanted to know the answer at all. This man was a coward, and if Alana didn't have reason enough to make him pay, she was sure as hell of her reasons now. "Six years old," she replied hoarsely, and Alana felt her blood come to a boil. He was a coward, that's what he was. 

"God damn it," Alana hissed, dragging a hand down her face. "Fuck," she groaned again, placing her fingers on her temple and massaging it gently. She remembered a time when she was helpless herself, too scared to fight back. But that girl was long gone now, in fact, she died a long time ago. 

"It's not fair," Rhiannon muttered, feeling just as angry and helpless as she did right now. "That a man like him gets to walk free after everything he's done?" Alana knew what she was thinking enough to read in between the lines. How does a man like him get to walk free when she's dead and there's nothing I can do about it? 

"Not for long," Alana assured her, her words icy and firm. "He'll get what's coming to him. Soon."

"Then we better start preparing then," Rhiannon replied. The time that they both spent before each murder studying was more than a person would think. But they needed to be careful so they wouldn't get caught. Alana wouldn't have to be so careful if not for Rhiannon. But if one of them went down, then they both did. And Alana would take the blame for every single thing if it meant that Rhiannon would be free. She owed it to her to make sure that at least one of them walked free, after everything. And it was going to be Rhi that walked out every single time if shit hit the fan. Not Alana. 

They had at least a month to learn his schedule, the layout of his house, and just about every single thing about him. She needed to know where his wife was during the day and at night, where his daughter went to school. 

Since he liked to prey on vulnerable women, Alana would give him a taste of his own medicine. Let him know how it feels to be scared for your life every single day. Let him suffer for everything he'd put her and countless other women through. 

And then she'd strike when he least expects it.