Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 10-1: She’s Taking me to Her Place…to Be Alone

“What was that about?” Gabriella finally asked, once we’d driven in silence for a few minutes.

I sighed heavily. “He thinks it’s me, of course,” I admitted.

She was immediately alarmed. “Should we run away then?” she asked seriously.

I shook my head. “He doesn’t know for a fact that I’m the Impaler, so running away would pretty much confirm it for him. Plus, he said he wants to find the guy to thank him.”

“Thank him?” she repeated in shock. “For what?”

I grimaced, taking a deep breath, before beginning to recount the whole story to her. Of course, she already knew about my first kill now, thanks to Nick talking about it, so I elaborated on what it was like from my perspective as a little kid. And then, I dropped the bomb on her, regarding how that woman was actually Nick’s mother, and the baby who actually survived was the little sister he mentioned.

I also realized he’d hinted at it earlier, when he said his mom died almost a decade ago, and that his step-father had moved them away from the city shortly after she passed away.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriella finally whispered when I was finished sharing everything. “I knew he had been talking about you, of course, but I hadn’t thought about how it affected you. No child should have to witness something like that.”

I sunk down in my seat a little, sincerely feeling depressed just thinking about it. “Yeah, it was honestly really traumatizing. I still have nightmares about it, even after all these years. It’s so bad sometimes, I’ll wake up transformed.”

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” she said quickly. “There was nothing you could have done to save her. I mean, you were only nine years old!”

I nodded weakly. Of course, I knew she was right, but it didn’t help the guilt much, especially now that the memory was fresh in my mind again. However, discovering that the baby survived did help. A lot. I supposed even though I felt like I failed, I technically didn’t.

A life existed today thanks to me.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. “Well, the good thing is, Nick doesn’t know for sure it’s me. And as long as I stop, like you mentioned earlier on our way back from the mall, then it will end up as a closed case.” I sighed. “It’s just…”

“Hard to stop,” she finished for me.

It wasn’t a question.

She knew how I felt, having said as much earlier, with her feeling guilty for even suggesting it. Not to mention, my perception of the world was significantly larger than a normal person. If I sensed something going on five or ten miles away, possibly in a house behind closed doors, could I really just ignore it and turn a blind eye?

I mean, stuff did happen, and I did turn a blind eye most of the time, because I didn’t feel like it was my job to come to everyone’s rescue. However, those situations usually just involved a lot of yelling and screaming, not killing.

Either way, ‘coming across’ an incident was very different for me than it was for a normal person.

Unexpectedly, Gabriella sat up straighter, looking like she’d just been hit with an idea.

“What if you worked with the police?” she wondered. I looked at her in shock, prompting her to clarify. “I mean, what if you worked with Nick and Serenity, specifically. You would have to let them in on your secret of course, but–”

She cut off when I grimaced, with me not liking that idea at all.

Gabriella quickly continued. “It’s just an idea, Kai. Just hear me out for a second.”

I nodded weakly.

“You could just tell them where the bad guy is, and then they could handle it. For them, if they shoot the perp, then it’s as an officer of the law, so there wouldn’t be a problem.”

I sighed. “But that wouldn’t work,” I replied. “First, they’re both detectives, so they don’t usually do that part of the job.” I frowned, knowing I never would have been okay with my lifelong friend becoming a cop if she was going to be put in harm’s way on a daily basis. I cleared my throat. “Not to mention, I don’t like the idea of putting Serenity in danger like that,” I admitted out loud.

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Gabriella sunk back in her seat. “Oh, I guess you’re right. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, reaching over to grab her hand.

She jumped in surprise by the unexpected affection, before quickly intertwining her fingers in mine, eyeing me cautiously to make sure it wasn’t too much. However, probably due to the mood of our conversation, I found that I was mostly alright at the moment.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” I replied gently. “Like you said, it was just an idea. You shouldn’t be afraid to share that kind of stuff, or else we’ll never figure anything out.”

She nodded in agreement, pulling my hand up to her mouth, rubbing her lips against my skin, before kissing me gently. When she saw that my hair still looked normal, she grinned. “See! You’re getting used to me!”

“Not at all,” I replied with a laugh. “Almost my entire body is gray underneath my clothing.”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, trying to give my hand back.

I grasped her fingers more tightly, squeezing gently. “No, it’s alright. Just maybe not the kissing.”

She quickly folded her other hand on top of mine, eagerly holding my hand in her lap with both of hers. It actually was too much for me, the gray creeping up my neck, but I tried to focus on the road, knowing it made her really happy to be able to hold my hand.

However, once we were getting close to her apartment, with her instructing me where to turn each step of the way, I finally took it back.

We pulled into a fairly nice parking lot, where every apartment either had a balcony on the upper floors, or fenced-in porch area on the ground level. Altogether, there were probably at least ten separate buildings, all of which were designed with a rocky exterior, making it almost seem like it was a really expensive place to live, though I doubted that was the case.

Granted, Gabriella lived in a studio apartment on the ground floor, so it might sincerely be expensive for those who were in larger spaces. She explained that she wasn’t a fan of having neighbors above her, since she could hear them walk around, but it allowed her to jog on her treadmill without having to worry about bothering anyone below.

As she led me inside the building, which had a glass door separating the apartment doors from the outside, she led me to her black door and invited me in.

It was actually even smaller than I’d been expecting – the whole thing, including bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and living space could all probably fit inside my living room back home. At the very least, I could understand how she managed to save up so much money, because she clearly did only spend money on the necessities, and apparently having a decent amount of living space wasn’t one of them for her.

The treadmill was right next to the sliding glass window, although the view was blocked by the wooden fence, so that no one would be able to see her jogging unless they were actually on the tiny patio just outside. She also had a small flat-screen TV sitting on an equally small black entertainment center, as well as a two-seater couch that looked like it was used, but in good condition. It had a black couch-cover over it, but I could see at the bottom that the original fabric was an ugly shade of tan.

Still, it looked comfortable.

A foldout table with only one chair was sitting in the corner, which I suspected served as the dining area.

There was then a separate room for the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. And then, her very small closet even had a small washer and dryer. However, there was only one door in the entire place, which was for the bathroom. The kitchen had a regular-sized fridge, as well as microwave, oven, and sink, but there was limited counter space.

The entrance to her bedroom was a narrow opening that was about four-fifths the size of a normal entry, being roughly one-fifth too small to fit a regular door.

Her actual room was barely large enough to fit her queen-sized bed, with there being just enough space to walk around the edge. It looked as if she’d gotten creative with her clothing, having some stuff hanging in the closet, while other necessities were folded in flat bins underneath her bed, essentially serving as her dresser.

Her bed wasn’t made, but it wasn’t super messy either. It looked like she kept everything really clean and orderly. Obviously, she hadn’t planned for company, and yet it was clean like she had.

“What do you think?” she asked excitedly.

“Well…” I hesitated. “It’s smaller than I expected,” I admitted. “But it’s nice,” I quickly clarified. “Very clean too.”

Gabriella blushed. “It’s not hard to keep it clean when it’s so small, but I don’t need a lot of space to be happy. Just having my own place is nice.”

I nodded, beginning to see myself living here with her, knowing I probably wouldn’t feel cramped at all. At least, not with her. The idea of having our own space together, even one as small as this, where we could sleep together as much as we wanted, kind of excited me. Granted, part of me wished she could just move in with me and Serenity instead.

I knew that probably wouldn’t work out long-term, but I really didn’t want to stop living with my housemate either, as much as I also wanted to begin living with Gabriella.

“What are you thinking?” she asked me curiously.

I suddenly realized that my hair was snow-white, my skin completely gray. My face felt hot as I looked away. “Nothing,” I quickly replied.

“Aww, come on!” she teased. “Tell me!” Her look then became more intense, her expression hungry as she moved closer and reached out to wrap her thin fingers around my wrist.

I gulped, trying to formulate an answer despite my scattered thoughts. “Umm, I was just…” I took a deep breath, my mind feeling like it was becoming even more incoherent. “I just saw myself living here with you,” I managed.

It felt like there was a current of electricity running up my arm from where she was holding me.

“That would be nice,” she agreed quietly. She then paused briefly, before continuing, her tone more heavy and seductive. “You know why I brought you here, right? I haven’t had enough of you today. I’m still hungry for some dessert.”

I gulped again, my throat feeling dry. “Okay,” I whispered.

She laughed then, causing me to glance at her. “You’re so much fun! I wish you could stay this innocent forever, because I love it!”

I scoffed, feeling kind of embarrassed. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I replied. I was then serious, unexpectedly feeling a little vulnerable. “I hope you don’t get bored of me when I’m not.”

Gabriella shook her head. “No, there are plenty of ways to make this exciting. I’m just enjoying this part while it lasts.” Her eyes then lit up. “Oh! Actually, why don’t you sit on the couch? I need to check on something.”

I gave her a confused look, but obeyed, walking over and sitting down as she’d asked. She disappeared around the corner to her bedroom, beginning to rummage through her closet. By the time she was coming back into the living room, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect, given the sounds and smells.

My eyes only confirmed what my other senses told me.

My skin was already turning gray.

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf