Two of Carl's women over the years had become pregnant. Having learned a lesson from the debacle with Hannah, he made sure that they never gave birth. The, ever, faithful Beulah had alerted him on both occasions. The first girl had been convinced by Carl that an abortion was the only choice. The second one, well he had been forced to resort to violence.
What an odd situation that had been. Her name was Ruby. A small, dark haired girl with pretty blue eyes. A nice shine to her. Carl had wooed her and she was moved in withing weeks of their meeting. It was only after another couple of months, that the trouble started.
It seemed Ruby was a bit of a split personality. Bubbly and fun at first, there was a dark side to her, too. Usually the girls with the light were a little naïve and quiet. That should have warned him that something might be wrong. When the depression hit Ruby, her light faded and Carl was thrown into turmoil.
As Ruby's moods changed, so did her light. Some days it was like a flickering candle, changing hour by hour, or minute by minute. That was before she became pregnant. With the raging hormones and emotions, it made life difficult and dangerous. He could not cope with the rollercoaster they were on. First, he had to deal with the fact that she was expecting his child, then he had to ditch her.
On a day when she was morose and angry, Carl's demon could come to the fore. The light usually protected the women in his life, but Ruby's mood gave him an opportunity to attack. The claws and fangs came out, but he didn't want to use them. This was about the baby, not about killing her.
The kicks and punches did the job. Unsurprisingly, once he became the beast, it had been hard to control the violence. Poor girl had taken a right beating. It took a few weeks for her to recover and once Carl knew she was alright, he left. He gave her some money, more to assuage his guilt than help her.
There were times when he genuinely liked the women he had chosen. Others were used as a stopgap until someone better came along. All of them that he had given up had been diminished by him and he had ditched them without looking back. It was only Hannah who he thought about when he looked back over his life. He couldn't remember the names or faces of a host of other girls.
The murders were still occurring throughout this time. The modus operandi varied sometimes, but he often returned to his favourite scenario. Creeping into a woman's house at night and slashing her throat. On one occasion a dog had been sleeping in its owner's room. One look at Carl and the thing went berserk. What was it with dogs? He ripped the animal open before concentrating on his preferred prey.
The police had been going house to house in his area interviewing people to find possible witnesses or suspicious activity. Carl invited the officers into his home shaking their hands before they were admitted into the house.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" Carl smiled at the officers.
"No thanks, Sir. You've heard that there have been a number of murders in the area?"
"Oh, yes terrible. I won't leave my girlfriend alone in the house of an evening."
"You don't go out at night yourself then?"
"No. Only if my girlfriend and I are going for a meal or to the cinema."
"Have you seen anything suspicious? Men walking about or running late at night. Strange cars parked in the street."
Carl paused, as if in thought, before meeting each of the officers' eyes in turn. "Nothing I'm afraid. Have you got any clues from the people you have spoken to?"
"A witness who said he saw a large man with hunched shoulders in the street of one of the victims. Nothing more specific than that I'm afraid."
"I hope something turns up."
"Well, thank you anyway. Inviting us in and answering our questions makes our lives easier. Sorry to have troubled you."
"No problem."
Someone must have seen him when he was still part beast. Carl wasn't bothered about that. The police had left, happy with his explanation.
It would be difficult, but he would have to try to keep his demon suppressed for a while. The police were stepping up their efforts to catch the person who was killing random women in their own homes. That meant finding a woman who could exert a strong influence on him. If Hannah had been around none of this would have happened.
If she hadn't left him, none of these women would have died. Well, not all of them anyway. Walking away from him was a selfish act. Hannah had the blood of these women on her hands. Carl nodded vigorously as he had this thought. He almost convinced himself that he wasn't to blame.
Time to find a good girl. A light girl. The police were out and about asking questions and the murders had to stop for a while. Walking through town, he caught flickers here and there, but nothing strong enough to curb the beast. Damn Hannah and her moral strength. If only she hadn't left him. What was that? A glow around a small plain girl. He set off in pursuit.