Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 9-4: A Shocking Reveal that Changes Everything

After I agreed to chat with him, Nick reached his hand in his pocket, taking a step away from the table, only to then look surprised as he patted his other pockets. “Oh, I think I must have left my phone in your car,” he said to Serenity. “Is it unlocked?”

She nodded. “Oh, umm, yeah.”

“Great,” Nick replied, focusing back on me. “Care to join me?”

I nodded, assuming he wanted to talk more privately anyway. I gave Gabriella one last look as I followed after him. Once we were outside, Nick headed straight for the blue car and grabbed his phone, just like he indicated he needed to do.

I stopped by the hood as he closed the door and began messing with the device.

After a second, he glanced back up at me. “I wanted to send you a link to an article, if that’s alright. Care if I have your number or email to send it?”

I shrugged in response, figuring there was no harm in it. After rattling off my phone number, Nick nodded.

“Alright, it’s sent. Check it out later, when you have the chance. I think you’ll find it interesting.”

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, but the battery was still really low, so I figured I’d just ask about it instead.

“What’s the article about?” I wondered, trying to sound casual.

Nick leaned his arm against the car, seeming to relax as he thought about his answer. “Well, I mentioned I had a sister, right?”

“Umm, yeah?” I replied, now sincerely confused.

“Did I ever say how old she was?” he asked.

My brow furrowed. “Umm, no, I don’t think so. You just said she was younger, and that she still lived with your step-dad.”

He nodded. “She’s nine, actually,” he said simply, giving me a meaningful look, like I should find some significance in that fact.

But I didn’t have a clue why that mattered.

“Okay?” I prompted, quickly doing the mental math and realizing that she was a good fifteen years younger than him. Was he trying to make some kind of connection with me over the fact that Serenity was quite a bit older than me? Because that was kind of stupid, if he was.

However, he didn’t respond right away, eyeing me for a few long seconds, making it start to feel awkward. Finally, he elaborated.

“Remember that story I mentioned, about the Impaler’s first kill?”

Instantly, my chest and spine flashed gray underneath my clothing as sincere shock clawed its way up my neck, raising the fine hairs at the base of my skull. Suddenly, I felt like I was going to pass out, my entire world literally flipped upside down in barely half a second.

“They saved the baby?” I said almost inaudibly, my words sounding like they were coming from someone else.

Nick nodded once.

“And that was your sister?” I gasped in disbelief. “Your mother?”

I couldn’t stop the flashbacks from flooding my mind with horrible images that gave me nightmares for months when I was younger. Shit, I still had nightmares about it sometimes. However, then my mind began kicking into gear as I realized that my reaction was probably more extreme than it should be for the average person.

I quickly tried to collect myself, suddenly being acutely aware that Nick was watching me carefully. After a second, I cleared my throat, sounding sincerely concerned, since I knew that swinging too far in the relaxed direction might be suspicious.

“Wow,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. “Shit, man. That’s messed up. I never imagined that the story you told us about would actually be so close to home for you.” I then paused, realizing the significance of the fact that Nick was specifically sharing this with me. “But why just tell me though?” I asked seriously. “Did you not want Serenity to know for some reason? She can handle a lot,” I added.

Nick shook his head, not answering my question directly. “The truth is, I’ve actually been on this case for a long time. Way before it was actually an official case. In fact, this was the first puzzle involving people that I ever became obsessed with, when I was only a couple years younger than you are now, and it’s the primary reason why I ended up aiming to become a detective.” He sighed. “I’ve always been on the lookout for the kid who saved my little sister.” He then paused. “Well, to thank him really. That particular serial killer targeted only pregnant women, and his MO was something I don’t even feel comfortable discussing, but let’s just say that my unborn sister would have had the worst of it.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I forced myself to keep my thoughts focused, to avoid letting my imagination run wild at what horrible things I’d prevented by intervening. The scene I’d stumbled across had already been terrible by horror movie standards.

I ended up shaking my head, trying to physically rid myself of the memories threatening to invade my mind again.

I then focused back on Nick, seeing that he was still eyeing me.

Of course, I realized now why he was telling me. After all, he’d claimed that he was closer than people realized. However, no way in hell was I going to admit that I was the Impaler. If anything, he might just be baiting me, but there was no doubt I was a suspect at this point.

Dammit.

But there was no evidence, no proof, and my suspicious reaction was only hurting me right now.

I finally took a shallow breath, giving him a sympathetic look. “That sounds horrible,” I replied. “Like, just imagining what this guy did is really disturbing. And it’s even more crazy to think you have a direct connection to that situation.” I paused. “But you still didn’t answer my question. Did you not want Serenity to know about this? I just don’t understand why you’re only telling me.”

Nick shrugged, only to abruptly stand fully upright. “Well, I guess because you’re eighteen, and thus match the age range perfectly.” He shrugged again. “And, coincidentally, Serenity has been on all the recent cases where the Impaler got involved. In fact, it’s almost as if the mystery guy disappeared until Serenity became a detective. But…” he added with more emphasis. “There are a couple of others who were on those cases too. However, since I figured I was already here, I decided I would tell you in case you were him, so that I could thank you in person.”

I scratched the back of my head, trying to seem embarrassed. “Well, I’m not him,” I lied. “And it kind of feels weird having you thank me for something I wasn’t involved in.” I then intentionally became annoyed. “Wait, is that why you came over with Serenity? Just so you could talk to me?”

I didn’t want to imply that I was disappointed, because if that was true then I was actually relieved that he might not be interested. But then again, who was I kidding? My housemate was ridiculously hot.

And sure enough…

Nick quickly held up his hands defensively. “What? No, that’s not how it is. She invited me over for dinner. I didn’t ask.”

Dammit.

“But that’s why you said yes?” I hoped. Dammit, why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut?

He shook his head, holding up a finger. “It would be a reason to say yes, but it was not the main reason I did say yes.”

Shit! But why was I even surprised?

Stupid genius. Why did Serenity have to be so hot? Or at least, why couldn’t he already be in a relationship or something?

Dammit.

I tried to keep my expression mostly neutral, maintaining a critical look as if I didn’t believe him. I then spoke up again. “So then, what are you going to do once you find the real Impaler?” I wondered, figuring that was a safe thing for a normal person to ask. “Obviously, it’s not me. I don’t even match the description. Granted, a description like that is hard to believe.”

Nick shrugged again. “I’ll try to find him, and then – whether I do or don’t – I’ll still end up classifying the case as currently unsolvable and let it sit on the shelf to collect dust indefinitely. I’m not about to get the guy who saved my little sister thrown in jail.” He hesitated. “At least, assuming the Impaler doesn’t reopen the case with a new vict…I mean, a new murder of a serial killer. I probably won’t be the one to take the case next time, and there are other people out there just as smart as me. Smarter even. They might figure it out.”

It was obvious he was giving me a warning to stop, in the event it somehow really was me. But I could also tell that Nick wasn’t completely confident in his assumption, which meant I’d successfully convinced him otherwise, and just needed to continue to play on that doubt as much as possible.

“Well, then do your best to find him, if that’s the case. Hopefully, he’s a nice guy and will take your warning seriously. I’m sure he would appreciate the thank you too, although I doubt he did it for a pat on the back.”

I wasn’t sure if that had been too much, but I figured it might be an assumption most people might logically deduce.

Nick finally sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Right. Anyway, I guess we should all get going. I just wanted to share all that with you, just in case. But I can see I still have some searching to do. Sorry about that.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I mean, it’s not like I’m offended or anything. Although, maybe don’t be so forward about it, if you talk to anyone else in that age range. I’d like to think I’m pretty mature for my age, but I don’t know that other eighteen-year-olds would respond to an accusation like that very well. You basically accused me of murder just now.”

“Sure,” he agreed, moving to walk toward the house.

Apparently, Gabriella and Serenity had been watching us out of the window, something I would have noticed if I wasn’t so shocked by Nick’s disclosure, because they opened the door the moment we approached.

Gabriella looked especially worried, prompting me to give her a reassuring smile, even if it didn’t seem to help much.

“Ready to go?” my girlfriend wondered hesitantly.

“Yep,” I agreed simply, moving to give Serenity a quick hug. We then exchanged a quick farewell and ‘see you later’ before Gabriella and I were climbing into my car while my housemate ran back inside to grab her purse. I then waited until she and Nick were getting into her car too, before beginning to pull out, making sure Serenity was following me down the driveway just to guarantee that they were really leaving the house.

Once we were a few miles down the road, finally going our separate ways at an intersection, I gave Gabriella my full attention, knowing she was patiently waiting to talk. And I was sure we had a lot to talk about, between the situation with my friend’s coworker, not to mention how we might proceed with our relationship now that Serenity knew we were an item.

Which reminded me about the fact that we were about to be alone again, in her apartment.

I tried to keep my thoughts focused as my chest began graying underneath my shirt in anticipation of what I felt confident was going to happen once we arrived.

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf