I pottered around the yard and house with a frown. We had missed something. I knew we had. But what, I didn't know.
Was it something I had heard? Something I had seen but not comprehended? Surely not. The others, except for Sarden, were all so much more experienced and talented than me. Their senses were more sharply honed than mine. If they hadn't picked it up, then it was unlikely that I had or would.
A bit of the house rattled loudly for a moment, causing repetitive banging noises. Had something come loose? It was a very windy area, especially since it faced the cliff.
Walking through the house full of odds and ends that made up the furniture, I felt something sharp prick my arm. Like an insect bite. Batting at it, I heard the light tinkling of something falling to the floor. There was nothing there when I looked. I walked into a doorpost by accident, feeling slightly giddy and unsteady for a moment. A shadow flittered and a bird flew by. I staggered and blinked, shaking my head to clear the fuzziness.
Maybe my blood sugar was low or I was dehydrated or something. Maybe I had been too nervous and this was the low following the adrenaline rush from earlier.
Stumbling outside, I took in a few deep breaths. Maybe I should just head back to write my report. They were right. There was nothing here.
Still, I had a strange feeling about this. Something felt wrong. When I turned to leave, I felt the urge to turn and check one more time. The only part of the house I hadn't checked was the part of the house facing the gulf with the veranda built right on the edge of the cliff.
This time I went around the outside of the house and climbed the veranda steps. Then I froze. A man in grey wolf furs was partially propped up against a wall. A cord from behind secured his neck to the wooden post behind him. It was so tight that he couldn't make a noise. Bleeding fingers scratched at the tight cord that was suffocating him.
I didn't think too much. Right now, a life was a life and to me, life was precious. Nevermind he had been my captor for a few months before. Nevermind he was a criminal who deserved death. Right now, he was a victim I was meant to protect and he was dying. I needed to save him.
A quick glance around and seeing no danger, I pulled my belt knife out, quietly creeping close to try. I had to cut him free before he suffocated to death.
When he spotted me, he seemed to blanch in horror. Weakly, he tried to wave me away, making shooing motions at me. His eyes flickered all over the place.
"No," he mouthed. "No. Run."
I drew closer, trying to avoid making the veranda steps creak as I climbed them. Just in case. The hairs on the back of my neck warned me that there was still danger nearby. I had to be quick and careful.
Dropping quietly by the side of the man draped in smelly wolf skins, I cut the cord tying his neck to the wooden post. He retched and leaned forwards, trying to muffle his explosion of choking, coughing gasps for air. At the same time, he pushed me away, speaking in a low wheezing voice that could barely be heard for its hoarseness.
"Run," he shoved me so that I lost my grip on my knife, but it barely made a sound, falling on the drape of his furs. "Run, Filla. No match - for - him. Go. Get lost."
And well, that was probably true. After all, the serial killer had controlled and tied Tirion Wolf to a wooden post in his own home, evading us City Agents with ease. And Tirion Wolf was definitely no push over. He was a buff man, not lacking anywhere in the muscles department. I knew, because he once made me scrub his back in the bath and had mine scrubbed by him in turn.
He had made me undress and get into all sorts of positions, but he hadn't done anything besides look at me. He had seen me without seeming to have had any interest. No disdain. No pleasure. It had taken the bite out of the humiliation and embarrassment.
In fact, if I remembered rightly, he had muttered something about it being like bathing a daughter. After which, he had started calling me Filla. I suppose I was rather lacking in the assets department at that time. My figure hadn't matured much back then. I had been a late bloomer. Perhaps that was what had kept me safe from him. I had forgotten that. Strange how certain memories come back at the wrong times.
I felt somewhat pleased that he had recognised me, but couldn't dwell on the feeling. We had to leave.
I grabbed the man's furry sleeves, pulling him to indicate he should come with me and he shook his head, still trying to keep his coughs and breathing as quiet as possible. He bent over a moment, bracing his hands on his thighs. I had come to try and keep him safe and rescue him if needed. I couldn't leave him here.
"I came here for you," I hissed, pulling at him with urgent frustration. He didn't budge. It was like trying to move a boulder. The man didn't want to come. "He'll kill you."
"Filla," Tirion Wolf picked me up, kissed the top of my head and flung me off the veranda. "Go."
The wind was knocked out of me and I bumped my head on a rusty tin wateringcan, making my eyes water with pain. The tin wateringcan made a clatter and we both froze.
A blur and I was pinned to the ground. My head was smashed against the ground once, twice. Then I was lifted by the back of my collar and shaken like a ragdoll.
"Tirion, my wolf man," a voice said from behind me, "I'm surprised. You would try to save this little chick drowning in waters too deep for her? Since when did you have a heart? I heard the only person in your life that you were ever nice to was your last victim. What happened? She turn out to be too young for you?"
There was movement behind me and the ground loomed in my vision.
"I heard that little girl you let go went and became a City Agent later on." I was shaken again and lifted a little higher. "Don't tell me that's you, little chickadee. It is you, isn't it? That's why you stuck around while I went to make sure the rest of your team were leaving. Did I miss something? Hey, sweetness, talk to me."
I was shaken hard again, while I grasped at my collar that was strangling me. Finally, he half dragged me back up those veranda steps and dumped me on the dirty wooden decking in front of Tirion Wolf who was on one knee, struggling to get up and fumbling for the knife I had dropped earlier. The serial killer holding my collar kicked it far away. From the way Tirion Wolf moved, I realised he must have been badly injured already. The men must have fought earlier. Before my team and I had arrived. That's why he refused to come with me.
"Let her - go," Tirion breathed heavily, still trying smother his coughs and deep breaths.
I blinked and realised that he must have had some broken ribs. It wasn't just that he'd been trying not to alert the enemy earlier, but perhaps that he had broken ribs and it hurt too much to cough and breathe.
Roughly forced onto my knees with my head pressed against the floor, I felt another hand untuck all my clothes and find their way inside.
"She's definitely not a little girl anymore," my assailant said lightly, while I gasped and winced at his squeeze. He was digging his fingers into a bruise Flint had given me earlier. "A pretty good size. Young and fresh. Not much to look at otherwise. The perfect age for popping cherries if hers hasn't already been done. Why don't you have a feel?"
I was held in place, with my head pressed against the floor while I felt the ease with which the serial killer pulled Tirion Wolf over, so that he was over and behind me. Tirion's hips were forced to bump into mine. I was dragged upright by the fist in my hair, so that I ended up sitting between Tirion's legs and leaning back against his chest. My clothes were pushed up out of the way, obscuring my vision, while Tirion's calloused hands were placed squarely on my breasts.
After a long moment, I felt those calloused hands give me a gentle squeeze and then pull my clothes back down into place.
"She's like the daughter I never had," Tirion said. "The perfect little girl. I would've kept her if I had been a better person and wasn't afraid that being with me would be bad for her."
"You're hopeless," the serial killer sneered. "Fine. Let's see how you'll react if I threaten her then. Shall I do what you couldn't bring yourself to do to her all those years ago? What if I torture her slowly in front of you?"
Tirion hugged me tight and protected me with his body when the serial killer began kicking. Not a single blow landed on me, but I could feel and hear Tirion flinch and the grinding of his teeth when the blows landed on him instead.
The serial killer laughed. He sounded as if he had seen or heard a great joke.
"Look at you," he sneered. "A serial rapist and killer protecting the very type of girl he used to target. If this isn't an oxymoron, I don't know what is."
I was finally starting to come out of the daze that the murderer had bashed into my head. Stirring slowly, Tirion wrapped himself around me even more tightly, preventing me from moving.
"Stay still," he breathed in my ear. "Good girl. Don't be scared. I'll protect you."
"I'll kill her first," the mad man who had stopped kicking Tirion said while he was catching his breath. "Give you a taste of what it's like to lose your daughter after she's been used and abused like you did to all your other victims. You can watch helplessly while she struggles and screams for help before she surrenders to the pleasure and screams for a whole other reason. Then I'll cut her a little, while she's…" the vigilante serial killer went into graphic detail while he kicked Tirion aside and draped me over a broken coffee table. He gave little demonstrations, while I slowly reached for the small sap I kept in a pocket as an emergency weapon. It was a pity that the place where my belt knife had fallen earlier was too far away.
The descriptions made me feel sick, but it kept him distracted, while he made gestures and pretended to hurt me.
"Don't kill her. Don't you want me dead?" Tirion struggled back into sitting with his back against the tin wall. "Give me a knife. I'll do it myself if you promise not to kill her. Didn't you say you were a man of your word?"
Although I couldn't see him, I felt the mad man's smile grow against the back of my neck. I shivered.
"Here," the man behind me tossed a black handled knife onto Tirion's lap. "Go for it."
I was held down onto the coffee table and could do nothing but watch with horror. Tirion Wolf picked up the knife, tested its edge with a finger and nodded. He looked at me and gave me a small smile.
"Live well and be happy, little one," he said in the voice he used to use when he tucked me into bed. I couldn't help it. Tears sprang to my eyes.
He had been one of the few people who had ever been nice to me, even if he was my kidnapper. Even if he was one of my nightmares.