The Dog & The Moth

Chapter Five

Adam woke with a start, his inability to see made him panicky.

"Adam, calm down."

I was sitting directly in front of him, reaching for the tie over his eyes.

"You fucking wish!"

A loud sound resonated through the basement and I didn't understand what it was until he yelped and my hand stung.

I was standing over him... looming. A handprint beginning to mark its territory. I quickly bent down and cupped his face, "Baby, I'm so sorry, Ivan told me to do it and-"

"Who's Ivan?"

I froze and stared at him, "No one, just be quiet, okay?"

He nodded as a tear bypassed the tie and slid down one of his cheeks.

"Why are you crying, dove?" I asked, wiping the tear away before standing back up. Adam stuttered out an "I'm scared" before shakily inhaling.

"I know. This was the only thing I could do. You would've left me otherwise, and I can't lose you again, Adam."

"Again? D'mitri, I was nine, and-"

"And I should've taken you there, I know-" I chuckled.

"No, you fucking predator, you should've left me the hell alone."

I frowned angrily, "Don't say that."

There was a long pause before he whispered, "You never told me why there aren't any pictures of your family."

"Why would you wanna know that?"

"We'll be here for a while, right? I just thought-"

"Fine," he nodded, waiting for me to continue, "I was born to a Russian prostitute who tried aborting me by using a coat hanger because my father 'rapped her'," I laughed, "Can you even rape a prostitute?" he just sat silently.

Glad he's blindfolded, huh? Admit it.

Yes, now let me finish.

"We moved here and at four I was taken away by CPS after complaints, then given to an impotent family. My adoptive father died two years later and when I was around eight or so, I killed the old bitch Diane, and was sent to multiple foster homes 'because an eight year old would never do that.' I'm not much of a family man."

"Can I look at you?" he asked quietly in the silence that followed my backstory.

"No." Ivan answered.

"Shut up." I hissed, grabbing my head.

"D'mitri, is that Ivan?"

I sighed, "yes."

"Is he why you won't take the blindfold off?"

Ivan laughed, "D'mitri doesn't want you to see it."

"I said shut up!"

Ivan stopped talking, my head was pounding.

"I'm sorry about him, love. He can be insensitive at times."

Adam nodded before speaking, "What don't you want me to see?"

My jaw clenched and unclenched before I pulled a free chair and sat as close to him as I could. The corner of his lip was bleeding from me hitting him.

"I must've hit you hard."

I leaned in and kissed him, only he yanked his head back and let out a sob.

"I'm a bad man, Adam, a really, really bad man. I don't mean to be," I put my palm to his temple and rubbed my thumb across his eyebrow, "How'd you get this little thing?" I asked, touching the thin scar on his brow."

"A cat attacked me and one of it's claws got stuck."

"And are you scared of them?"

When he didn't answer I grabbed his jaw harshly and brought his face closer to mine, " I asked you a fucking questi-"

"Yes! I'm terrified of them, Goddammit!"

I let him go with a 'good' before leaving up the stairs.

When I came back an hour later, Adam was still and quiet. I approached him, petting his hair before pulling his chin up.

"Adam?"

He hummed.

"I need you to keep your arm still, can you do that?"

He nodded. I grabbed his loose wrist with tight arms and squeezed it, slipping an IV needle in his vein.

"This'll keep you nice and health, okay?" I said bandaging the needle down.

"Why are you doing this?" he choked out in a whispering half-sob.

I cupped his jaw, "Shh, dove, you're okay. We've got a special something for you."

"We? You don't mean Iva-"

"Shut up and watch, Jesus fuck!" I snapped, turning his chair around to the other wall and took the tie off his eyes. He squinted when the light made contact with the bright fluorescent light of the room before looking up at me with painfully glassy eyes.

I walked over to the table in front of him, " Adam, do you know what's in this bag?" I asked, holding a burlap sack. He shook his head. By the scruff of its neck, I pulled the cat out of the bag, "He's awake now!"

"D'mitri, please don't do this." he begged.

"I am sacrificing my own fucking cat for you, Adam!" he sobbed as I picked a syringe from the table, "Wanna know what's in this?" I didn't give him the option to answer, "it's a handy little tool called succinylcholine, which is a fancy word for a major paralytic."

Adam sobbed as I injected the paralytic in the feline and let it take its course through the cat's body. The cat mewled lowly as I picked up a knife and brought it towards its paws before digging the blade into the would-be ankle. Adam yelled as the cat's paw fell into a bucket after I tossed it and moved on to the next paw, "See, Adam," I started, cutting into the bone, moving to the next once again, "I just don't understand Egyptians. They worshiped these things, and here it is, succumbed to a human." I laughed, disposing of the other paw and moving to the last, "Humans are only on the second level of the trophic pyramid, right next to things like grasshoppers." I finished off the last foot and moved to the bloodied gray tail. The cat's voice made a reappearance as I flipped it on its back and opened it up from its crotch to its throat, where the last breath of the cat was taken and it ultimately died.

I looked at Adam, who was vomiting over the arm of the chair. He was dry heaving, sweat dripping down his skin as I made my way to him.

"Are you still scared of cats, Adam?"

He snapped his eyes up to meet mine, his head dragging slower than his eyes to do the same, "Is that what that was about? So I won't be scared of fucking cats?"

"Are you?"

"No, D'mitri! I'm scared of you!" Adam yelled. I sighed and squatted next to his seat, "Adam, are you aware that psychopathic children tend to wet the bed, act their fantasies out on animals, and develop fetishes at young ages? Psychopathy can be traced to biology, childhood, and relationships. I know full well I scare you. I was made to be the way I am, just as you were made to be scared of people like me. It's a predator-prey situation. I am literal text book criminal psychology."

"Then the police won't have a problem finding you." he all but growled.

I gave a short laugh, "I could tell them where I was and they wouldn't have shit on little ol' me."

"How do you know?" a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Do you honestly think this is my first time doing this? I mean, they haven't even found the others." I gave a pity laugh and walked up the stairs.