PSYCHOPATH

chapter 19: a wolf is born

Chapter 19: A WOLF IS BORN

~ "Wolves are known to follow one female wolf until death.

You are an animal after all." ~

He ate of her. He closed his jaws around the dying, feeble beats of her human heart and bit down, and with each swallow of blood, each mouthful of flesh, he became.

When he woke from his feast, he was clothed in unfamiliar skin. He took his first steps in a ruined house, crawling and clawing his way upwards besides the desecrated corpse of someone he once would have called 'mother' were it not for his dumb animal tongue. He took his first breath with his fingers caked in dried blood and the taste of her entrails in his mouth.

Then he opened his eyes and saw, truly saw, the depth of things. And with that knowledge, the wild purity of beasthood gave away. He looked to the ruinous heap of viscera that had once been a woman, to the shell of bones that once loved him so much, that still do and yet he still destroyed her anyways. A mothers' love will never give away in the face of death and decay.

****

Oh God, oh God, oh God, holy shit.

Her pulse thumped so heavily inside her that she could feel it hammering away in every muscle.

I just chained up the Code Killer like a dog.

Ella ran as fast as her nimble body would allow, pushing it to the limit, harder and faster to get back to her apartment. She went up the stairs and down the hall at a breakneck speed, her bare feet slapping against the carpet.

He is sitting there in the stairway. Right now.

Police sirens rang out in the distance, circling around the apartment, coming closer and closer with every wail. The awful sound seemed to echo down the hall in time with her heavy footfalls.

Someone must have called the police, woken up by her terrified screams. It was about time. The clock began counting. Tick, tick, tick, tick, like a bomb.

Running into Asher's apartment, Oscar came bounding up to her from where he was waiting, wagging his tail. Right behind him stood Kat and Asher, roused from their sleep. Ella scanned them quickly. They swayed on their feet, bleary-eyed and confused, but most importantly, they were unharmed. Ella let a sigh of relief escape her lips at the sight of her friends.

He hadn't touched them. It was the small mercies she clung to now.

"What's going on Ella?" Kat queried; her voice rough with sleep yet still anxious. She rubbed her arms up and down and huddled closer to Asher. "We heard screaming."

Is he trying to escape? Has he already? I should have taken off his mask when I had the chance.

There was no time to explain when one of the most wanted men in America was right there in the building with them.

The Code Killer was undoubtedly devising a way to escape with each passing second. Raving and ranting, he was absolutely livid when she left him; she knew with time he would chew off his own hand to get out. A cornered animal.

She wordlessly brushed by them, holding a finger in the air as if to say later, not right now. Kat closed her mouth solemnly.

Asher ignored that, stepping into her path. "Was that you? Screaming, I mean."

"Not now Asher." It came out harsher than intended and he blinked back at her in an unhappy way. Ella shot him an apologetic look but still curved around him to get to her bedroom. Kat yanked on his shirt to pull him back. He reluctantly obeyed and this time, remained quiet.