Scott sighed in relief. Mitch didn't know Kirstie. There was no way. They may have lived in the same building, but the different floors didn't socialize that much. Everyone was so busy with classes and friends from orientation that the floors' occupants didn't merge very often. Mitch would have never even heard of someone named Kirstie. Or, if he had, it couldn't have been this Kirstie.
So it wasn't Mitch. But who was it? And, more importantly, why did he want Kirstie? What did he want with Kirstie? Had Kirstie done something to this person? Had she been rude or something? Scott and Kevin had not been acquainted with the female long, but they were drawn to her warm personality and good heart. Her eyes shown with humor and compassion. They didn't want anything to happen to her, but maybe seeing her would be enough for the killer to...stop? Would the madness stop once Kirstie was in his sight, or would he want to hold some sort of possession over her? Have her play the hostage?
They definitely weren't going to let that happen. No one should be sentenced to that kind of future. But they had to do something. Kevin came up with a solution. He slowly nodded. "Okay, we'll retrieve Kirstie for you." He turned to Scott. "I'll be right back." With his eyes, he tried to send a message to the blonde. Whatever you do, don't get Darien killed. Keep yourself safe, as well.
Scott gave no response, and Kevin left Scott with the man killing his fellow university mates. He tried to further analyze the murderer and his hold over Darien. The man was relatively tall. He was almost as skinny as Scott, if not skinnier. The fingers wrapped around the red-tinted knife handle were long, thin, and tan. They reminded Scott of his. His mother once called them "piano fingers".
Scott almost sagged with relief. Mitch wasn't tall. Mitch didn't have piano fingers. He also wasn't as tan as the man. If Mitch wasn't the one performing the murders, where was he? Had he been killed? Scott's throat tightened. That would be horrible. He didn't even want to imagine what he would do if he saw Mitch's dead body.
Presently, the only dead body Scott was in danger of seeing was Darien's. The older man's hands were pulled behind his back and held together by what appeared to be duct tape. There was a piece over his mouth which prevented him from speaking. He was curled in a ball, and Scott could see blood pooling on his shirt from some unseen wound. Darien certainly needed medical attention, and if he didn't get it soon, Scott was afraid the man would bleed out.
"You aren't very familiar to me. What's your name?"
Scott gritted his teeth. "My name is Scott Hoying. What about yours?"
The man waved his knife around. His other hand was firmly on Darien's shoulder, making sure his victim wouldn't go anywhere. Darien was the only leverage he had at the moment. "Nope. I'm not going to answer that; I'm the only one asking questions here. The role of you and your friend is of my servants. You two are to bring me what I want."
"Why do you want Kirstie?"
The man's brown eyes glowered at Scott. "Do you know her well? How do you know my precious Kirstin?"
Scott raised a hand, sensing the man's anger was rising. "Chill, dude. I just met her. You scared the shit out of her."
The man's face fell before he bared his teeth at Scott. The action was rather animalistic and made Scott take a step back in apprehension. "Did you comfort her?" he snarled.
Scott glanced down at Darien before up to the murderer. "No, she just insisted she follow me. You did a number on her."
Scott sighed when the man seemed to deflate a bit. "I didn't mean to scare my precious Kirstin. She's so fragile, you know. It's hard not to want to protect her instantly. I can understand why you agreed to letting her come with you. But if I discover that you or any of your other mates so much as laid a hand on her, you're as good as dead. In fact, you probably will be by the time I'm done with you."
Scott gestured to Darien. "Did he do something to her?"
The murderer shrugged. "He tried to stop me. That's what that other, bearded man did." A smirk bloomed across his features. "They both paid the price. Well, he will soon enough."
"I wouldn't be bragging right now. I'm still breathing, you bastard."
It was Avi. Scott instantly relaxed at the bass voice. He, for some unfathomable reason, trusted Avi. The man could fight. It was evident. He survived an attack by the murderer, something Alex, a man twice Avi's size, hadn't. Plus, something about Avi's persona seemed to exude a sort of humble strength, a power that was lurking underneath a caring surface.
Kirstie was glued to Avi's side. It didn't escape Scott's attention that their hands were snugly wrapped around one another.
It also didn't escape the murderer's attention.
He launched himself at Avi, full of rage and hatred. Fists began to be thrown, and the struggle sounded loudly throughout the quiet room. Kirstie scrambled over to Scott, searching for some sort of protection. She couldn't fight, and she wasn't even going to try. It would do more harm then good.
Scott grabbed Kirstie and pulled her over to where Darien was lying on the floor. "Help him. Untie him, and get him out of here. I'm going to make sure Avi doesn't get hurt any worse than he already is."
Kirstie nodded and began working on ripping the duct tape from Darien's wrist while Scott tried to distract the man's attention from Avi. However, she couldn't get the tape off, so she searched around frantically. "Scott, I need the knife!" she called out.
Scott turned to acknowledge Kirstie's request when he was unexpectedly hit upside the head. He fell to the floor with a loud thump. Blood began coating his blonde hair. "Scott!" Kirstie called out. The blonde made no movement, and Kirstie didn't know if that was because he was stunned or actually unconscious.
"Precious Kirstie, you are mine! These two men don't matter! They don't love you like I do! They can't treat you as good as I can! I just want you to be mine! You're so beautiful, but you never notice me. Am I not good enough? Did this get your attention?"
Kirstie cried out in horror as the man holding the knife began moving towards her. Out of seemingly nowhere, Avi snatched the knife from the man's hands, threw it in Kirstie's general direction, and tackled the man to the ground. She hastily snatched up the knife and undid Darien's ties. She shot him an apologetic look before ripping the tape from his mouth. He groaned and turned to her. "Thank you. Will you help me stand? We need to leave."
Kirstie nodded and began helping Darien up. While this was going on, Avi had successfully pinned the man to the floor and had given him a black eye. But with his wound, he was beginning to tire. He might have been strong, but he wasn't immortal. More blood was flowing from the wound with all of the movement, and his head began swimming as his vision dimmed.
Avi rolled over off of the man and laid on his back. His hand came up to clutch his bloody side, and he tried to catch his breath. But each breath he took brought extreme pain, and his eyes began to fill with water at the pain. He saw that Scott was unmoving after his hit, and all hope seemed to be lost.
His last thought was that Kirstie, Kevin, and his sister would get out okay. He had grown to care for the small blonde woman over the short time he had known her. Something about her drew him in. She was a light shining in the dark halls. She was the angel that cared for his wounds. If he ever survived this, he wanted to ask her out.
Then, everything went black for Avi.
I apologize for the long wait on this installment. I had a really bad anxiety attack recently, and I am just now getting around to editing these chapters. The next portion will be up shortly, and I do believe it will be the last of the Murder series.
Thank you all for reading!
Love you all, my darlings!
