Page 1 of A Wild Darkness

CHAPTER ONE

SEBASTIAN

I’d never given much thought to anything outside of killing.

Truthfully, it’s the only way I know how to survive.

“Now, Hank. Can I call you Hank?” I ask, patronizing him.

“Fuck you!” The man strapped to a metal table, in an abandoned art studio downtown, spits out blood from where I knocked him out only a short time ago. The blood drips down his chin.

This is the only place we could find on such short notice. The clouds from the afternoon rain dissipate, leaving the bright sun to peek through the blurred poly sheeting that covers the windows. We don’t have much more time before it grows exponentially brighter, exposing what we’re doing to people passing by on their early morning commute to work. Because anyone walking or driving by could see our dark silhouettes.

“That’s not very nice,” I chide.

My cousin, who’s also my business partner, steps over to the table. “Do you know why you’re here, Hank?”

The man’s eyes bounce between River and me. “No! Who are you guys?”

“God, I’m so sorry,” I mock, resting a hand on my chest. “I’m Sebastian, and this is my cousin River.”

“So what? Why the hell am I here?”

“You’ve done some bad things.” River tsks, shaking his head.

“What? I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

Clearly, this guy is going to need us to spell it out for him, just like all the others.” I slide a photo of a young college woman from my pocket and hold it up in front of him.

“You raped and strangled her, didn’t you?”

“Never seen that bitch in my life.”

But the way his pupils flare when he looks at the photo tells me she’s definitely one of his victims, one he’s proud of.

I know because that’s the same look I get when I kill someone.

River grabs his chin, jerking his head to the side to force eye contact with me. “If I were you, I’d start telling the truth, or we’ll make your death a lot more painful than we planned for it to be.”

“Are you some rogue cops looking to settle a score or something because you think I got away with it?”

River and I exchange a smirk.

“Funny,” I say. “Our Hank here is a comedian.”

“We’re definitely not law enforcement.” River chuckles.

I flip the photo up again, bringing it within an inch of his face. “You killed her.”

River removes his handgun from his waistband and taps it on the table near Hank’s temple. “Remember, hard or the harder way. It’s up to you.”

“Fine! Is that what you want to hear? That I strangled her!” Hank’s body jerks against the restraints.

“Go on.” I motion for him to continue.

“I wasn’t going to kill her, but that bitch wouldn’t stop screaming.”

“Ugh, I really hate when they scream, don’t you?” River cocks the gun.