Death of a King

Chapter 17

"Back again, little one?" I heard the beast ask. He sat atop his motorcycle, the metal now rusting and decaying along with any form of body he still had left. His empty eyes watched on without feeling, his bony face staring without emotion. The only sign of life detected on his face was the small, impressed smile tugging at the corners of his mouth where sharp teeth speared past his lips.

    I looked away from him, turning my gaze in the opposite direction. This didn't help though. Because where I now faced featured Dustin, settled in his ever torturous throne with blood soaked clothes and a wicked vapor about him.

    Toby wasn't here.

    "Of course he's not here, you killed him." The skeletal figure from behind me informed. The jingle of his chains signaled his approach as his heavy footsteps thundered throughout this world like cannon fire. He came to a stop just behind me, the tips of his clawed fingers brushing down the back of my hair, "Don't you remember? You shot him."

    No, I hadn't shot Toby. I shot a Reaper.

    "One in the same, my precious piece of meat." The creature mumbled. He rounded me and crouched down until he blocked my view of Dustin. With his head tilted just a little too far to the side, one might think his neck had been broken. Or maybe it was never in tact to begin with. He smiled again, "You still don't get it, do you?"

    My mouth opened to argue but as always, no words came.

    The skeleton chuckled to himself, then burst into his pitched laughter that pierced my ears like a siren, "I gave you the warnings, you didn't listen."

    But that wasn't a warning! How was I supposed to know the doppelganger of my little brother was actually the Reaper? That made no sense, there was no pattern-

    "Ahh, but that's the fun of it. No pattern means no way to prepare." The beast stepped sideways to reveal Dustin once again. The Vice sat in his throne, cold eyes glaring down at me. The creature pointed towards him, "Tell me you see what I see?"

    At first, Dustin looked as he always has in these hellish visions. But the longer I looked, I noticed something was different. The blood centered in his chest hadn't come from an outside force. It came from within.

    It came from him.

    The monster giggled and nodded, slapping his hands against the darkness at our feet. Dustin reached for the hem of his shirt, his fingers moving with an inhuman grace that I recognized all too well from the real Dustin. When he lifted the shirt, over his hips then his torso and finally past his chest, I saw where the blood was coming from.

    A hole ... where his heart should be.

    He had no heart? Is that what this demon was trying to tell me?

    "Yes, you stupid girl. Your thoughts are distracting." The thing spoke this in earnest with dark bother behind his words, as if my thoughts were actually causing him harm. Again, he pointed at Dustin, "Look and listen."

    I looked, but saw only ripped flesh and exposed tissue still bathed in blood from whoever took Dustin's heart. I listened, but heard nothing.

    The creature nodded, taking my arm rather firmly, "That's the point. You hear nothing, no heartbeat. The organ is missing, stolen."

    Stolen, by who?

    Dustin dropped his shirt, and I saw a single tear escape from his eye. It streaked down his cheek but the tear, like all others, was composed of blood.