Derek woke up feeling dizzy. He didn't drink too much alcohol, so it shouldn't be a hangover, he thought. In fact, he couldn't remember him falling asleep either. It is strange.
It took him another few seconds to realize that there is something seriously wrong. He couldn't move his body, his legs and arms were tightly bound by a sturdy rope. Daniel opened his eyes. What he saw made him gasp. And then, yell in rage.
"What the hell is going on, Ted?!"
His dear friend leisurely laid on the king-sized bed. Gasping Lisa with a flushed face and closed eyes was near. He gently caressed her, still clothed, body. Sniffed her hair. Licked the sweat from her neck.
"Put your hands off Lisa right now! Did you go crazy?!"
Ted, at last, glanced at hist bounded friend.
"Oh, Dan. Are you already awake? It was sooner than I expected. I guess we have some time to talk before Lis wakes up as well."
Ted, step by step, approached Daniel, who was bounded to the chair, forced to sit and watch, unable to move. It wasn't only ropes that restrained, whatever drugs Ted used, they still were in effect and made Daniel's head dizzy and his muscles sour.
"Well, let me tell you what is going on, Dan," Ted said while looking straight in the other man's eyes. "I'm about to fuck the woman I love the most, and you are here to be our witness. Isn't it nice?"
Would he be brave enough to say those words to one of the strongest fighters in the world if that person wasn't firmly restrained and drugged?
"Are you insane, Ted?!" Daniel screamed in rage, "Your joke is not funny. If you release me right now, I won't beat you too much, ok?"
Ted sighed and watched at his friend with disappointment.
"You know me for so long, Dan," Ted slowly said, "but you still can't see the difference between my serious expression and a joking one? I expected more from my best friend!"
Ted patted Daniel on the shoulder and continued.
"Dan, ah, Dan... I love you as a brother, I really do. But why is life so unfair? Even if both went through terrible things, through abuse, through bullying... through the murder. And yet, you are the only one who ever was compensated for all of this. Don't you think it isn't fair?"
Ted walked around the room and eagerly gesticulated while spitting up his pent up resentment.
"I saved your life! To do it, I became a murderer. I killed the man I barely knew. I wanted to save him and leave to the police, but you stopped me. So, I lived through my life carrying this sin."
Ted took a whiskey bottle from a near table and made a long sip.
"You are a lucky one, Dan. You have a talent. You are handsome and popular. People love you. I'm different. All I can do is hiding behind you, looking at the world from your shadow."
He put down the whiskey with a loud thud.
"While you earn your millions, I struggle to get enough money just to survive. While you bang models, I can't even lose my virginity. But all of this is nothing. I can accept it. After all, you are better than me. You deserve all of this. And, honestly, I don't give a fuck about all this material shit."
He stood just a meter away from Daniel and looked at him with unhidden hostility.
"But what makes me really mad is how you have Lis, her affection, her love! Something she never gives me, no matter how much I do or sacrifice for her sake. You, you always the only one who exists in her heart! I can accept anything, but not this."
Ted lost the last remains of his self-restraint and yelled with madness.
"It was me who killed Mr. Green! It is me who saved her from him! After that, I always did everything for her sake! I did things for her that you would never agree to do. I accepted her even when anyone else, even you, wouldn't! And yet... and yet, she still looks at me as at a stranger. And when she watches you, she is full of affection. Why?"
Then, Ted, as if lost his will to continue, weakly sat down on the bed.
"It was seven months ago when a doctor said that I have only a year to live. After that, I did everything in my ability to help her. And yet, she never showed me true affection, even a semblance of love. Before I die, I at least want to get my revenge. On you. On her."
Daniel listened to the madman's angry outburst, unable to understand how a person can hide so much resentment without showing any signs. The person before him wasn't his best friend, it was just a lunatic.
"So?" Daniel's voice was utterly cold, "Do you plan to rape Lisa and then kill both of us?"
The madman looked at him with confusion.
"What? Hell, no. I already killed too many people, how can I kill my best friend and someone I love? I just want you to live the rest of your life with the burden of my betrayal and memories of the passionate love between Lis and me!"
"Then you are out of luck, mate. Because as soon as I'm unbound, I will fucking kill you in the cruelest way possible."
"No, no. My life is my own to take, you know? How can I allow someone else to do it? Though, if it was Lis... Anyway, as soon as I'm done, I will make sure to kill myself properly, don't worry about it."
"You said, 'killed too many people'. Could it be, you are the one behind serial murders?"
"Eh? Me? No way. It isn't 'me'. It is 'we'. You wouldn't believe it, but your sister-"
Ted couldn't finish his words because of the knife that stabbed him in the back.
"You said too much, Teddy. Why are you so stupid? If you just have your mouth shut, maybe I would even allow you to lose your virginity with me."
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The one who was supposed to be under the influence of both sleeping drug and powerful aphrodisiac glared at the dying man with clear and cold eyes.
"H-how? I checked... your body... thoroughly..."
He was still alive, but each word said made him feel agonizing pain.
"Silly, I already explained everything to you a long time ago," the girl said with a shrug, "it is just you who didn't believe me. And I didn't have any real reasons to prove anything to you."
Those words made Ted force a smile on his pale face.
"So... it was all true... sorry... for not believing... I failed you, Lis... Being killed... by you... is my blessing. Thank you, really... For sending...me... to the other side."
In the end, she watched him like she never did before. It wasn't affection, but it was kindness and acceptance. For Ted, it was enough to make his last moments the happiest he ever had.
Daniel couldn't comprehend the situation or the strange words exchanged between those two. But he didn't care, even if his sister killed that madman, he was just relieved that she is safe. Everything is over now. Or so he thought.
Losing the second most important person in his life put a hard burden on Daniel, but at the moment, he didn't have time to experience all the emotions coming with it.
"Are you alright, Lisa? Come here and release me, so what we could think together on how to solve this situation. In the worst-case scenario, I will accept the blame for his death. Everything would be alright."
She slowly approached him with a strange knife in hand. It was the same weapon that killed Ted, but, bizarrely, there was not even a speck of blood on it.
"Yeah, of course. Just wait for a second, big bro."
She gracefully cut the ropes in just a moment. At last, he was free.
"I never knew what you are so skilled with knives."
He just wanted to praise her coordination and speed, he didn't think much about it. But...
"Yeah, of course. It would be strange if I wasn't skilled with this babe after killing hundreds of people, after all. Right?"
Daniel was shocked for a few seconds but then realized that she probably just joked to make the mood less tense.
"Yeah, right, heh. And the reason why I became UFC champ is that I kill people with my fists all the time. There is no better training."
No matter how silly Daniel's joke was, his little sis always laughed. Up until now.
"Now, I understand what Teddy felt when you were unable to see the difference between him being serious or not. Well, I always knew that you aren't good at reading the mood, so I'm not disappointed as much as he did."
Daniel tilted his head, not knowing what the fuck she was talking about.
"You see, big bro. It wasn't a joke. Didn't you hear that Ted said before I finished him? We are the serial killers. Well, in fact, he was just my accomplice. I did most of the killing and chose all the victims."
Now, Daniel looked at Lisa, still unable to accept reality.
"W-why didn't you told me anything, Lisa? Y-you probably killed some criminals, right? Like, you know. Those superheroes from movies."
She looked at him with pity and shook her head.
"No, no. In fact, I only kill good people. Well, other than Ted, anyway. Some kids, sometimes even whole families. Mostly people around our age, though."
She watched him with a sinister smile.
"Now, you understand? I'm not your cute little sister anymore. I'm a cruel murderer, the worst kind of criminal scum."
It was a nightmare. Daniel has read about it. When inside the dream, you don't know that you are dreaming. Everything seems real to you. But, he started to believe that it wasn't real. Yeah, how could it be? His little sis and best friend aren't like this!
The sureproof way to "awaken" inside your own dream is to watch at your hands. The lines on them wouldn't be static. And so he did, hoping to wake up from this terrible, terrible dream. But he was fated to be disappointed. It wasn't a dream. It was a cruel and merciless reality.
"Why you didn't tell me anything? Why keep it hidden from me, but telling Ted? Even if you are a monster-"
"'-I will still accept you anyway', this is what you want to say? Do you really believe that?"
Daniel was silent. He didn't know if he could continue living comfortably while hiding away someone inhuman and their crimes. Let alone helping them. Even if it was she...
"Yeah, you couldn't accept it," she stated with confidence. "Big bro, you are different from Ted and me. You are not broken. Not yet."
He still wasn't sure what to do. Seeing that, a girl pouted.
"C'mon, big bro. You know what to do, right? Catch me, restrain me with your Jiu-Jitsu, then bound me with ropes and send me to cops. It is what any law-abiding citizen should do when dealing with a serial killer!"
She tapped him on the hand.
"Oh, I see. You probably still aren't at your peak, right? Here, a little gift to my beloved brother. Believe me, it would be very useful someday."
Daniel suddenly felt that through Lisa's hand on his shoulder, some kind of energy entered his body and filled it with vigor. The aftereffects of the drugs completely disappeared. In a few moments, he wasn't just at his peak, he felt stronger than ever.
"Now we can play! C'mon, attack me."
He still looked at Lisa blankly.
"Shit, it is so hard to deal with you, big bro," her voice was bitter, " Okay, let's change the rules. I will attack to kill you. And you will try to survive. It was the plan from the start, anyway. I just wanted to spice things up a little bit."
Suddenly, she stabbed at his heart. It helped Daniel to come out of his stupor.
"Why are you doing it, Lisa? Everything I did in my life was for you! Does it mean nothing to you? Does my love for you is so cheap in your eyes? You just don't make any sense!"
At last, feelings overwhelmed Daniel. He felt betrayed, he felt confused, he felt that all his life was a lie. The rage and frustration he felt almost made him insane.
"Oh my. If you are so angry, then put more effort into defeating me. Though it would be impossible, I guess."
And so, their mortal dance started. She attacked him with a speed and grace, he was barely able to avoid being killed in a second.
"I planned to kill you even before I finished off our bitch of a mommy, you know?"
Daniel didn't have any time to say anything, it took all his efforts just to stay alive. Lisa, in contrast, was leisure.
"I want to kill you because I love you. More than anyone else in the world. So, I just can't accept it if anything else ends your life. Everyone will die anyway, it is inevitable. In this case, I should be the one who will put an end to my beloved brother's life - so I thought."
Daniel wasn't willing to truly fight back, but even if he was, it wouldn't change much.
"Ted just hastened my plan. Even if he did nothing, I would still kill you within a year."
Daniel used everything in his surroundings to keep the distance between them, but Lisa easily avoided everything he threw at her. Her movements were faster than his, her reaction superior, her coordination near perfect. Lisa laughed while chasing him around the whole mansion.
After playing with her pray for about fifteen minutes, Lisa decided that the playtime was over.
"Big bro. I guess it is the time to say goodbye.''
Watching her eerie smile, Daniel knew that everything was over. He was sharp enough to understand that she held herself back and haven't used her full force. He was familiar with this feeling from his early experience in the dojo when he fought against someone far above his skill level.
He wailed in despair and anguish as he made his first and last charge at her, his face filled with tears and voice hoarse. And then, his heart was pierced. Lisa leaned on him, gently hugged him, and tenderly whispered in his ear.
"Yes, big bro. I'm killing you. In the same way, I murdered many other innocent people."
He felt her breath, her lovely voice made him shiver.
"Please, hate me. You should never forgive me for what I did, Daniel. Ever."
He could hear something similar to a sob in her voice, but maybe it was just an illusion.
"If... No... When you meet me in another life, don't hesitate and..."
She pronounced the last three words with emotions Daniel couldn't recognize or comprehend.
"...kill me, please."
As those words echoed in his mind, over and over, his consciousness disappeared. Daniel Taylor died.
"Hey, it is cheating, you know?" a feminine voice said, "Lisa, dear. Do you truly want to fight against me? Do you think he really can defeat us?"
Lisa Taylor hugged her brother's corpse, as tight as she could. Her quiet weeping soon shifted to sobbing, and then she wailed like crazy.
"Shut up! Shut the fuck up, you monster!"
Who can understand her pain, her grieve, her suffering, her self-hate, her self-disgust?
"Ahaha, you are so adorable, girl. I want to watch what he could do when the time comes. I want to see, to feel your despair when you realize what everything you did was for naught. Hahaha..."
The wicked laughter echoed through the empty mansion and made people many kilometers away shudder.