Catacomb Heart

Can Love...?

Havens face twisted in pain until she pulled on her hand causing Zak's glare to break from Andrews.

"You're hurting my hand. What's wrong?" She asked looking up to him with her chocolate eyes.

Zak eased his grip on her small hand but didn't let it go as he whispered his profuse apologies.

"Shh." The woman in the burgundy coat hushed making Zak throw her an annoyed glare.

"You okay?" Haven mouthed making him nod and take her hand properly in order to massage her knuckles after he squeezed the blood from her fingers.

He felt her body move closer into his until her lips were by his ear. "You've been trading death glares with him since we walked in.. Do you know him?"

Zak shook his head "He has your attention a lot of the time. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get jealous of that."

Haven smiled softly "I'm all yours. As you know."

"Shh." The woman hushed again.

However before Zak could trade another glare Haven looked over her shoulder "Move seats then."

Zak baulked in surprise not to mention the woman who looked appalled at her idea. "No? Well you shh it then." Haven added turning her attention back to Zak.

"You're bad." He chuckled lowly.

"Damn right." She smirked before they both turned their attention back to the judge.

Throughout the court hearing Haven had heard how Andrews attacked and killed his girlfriends stepfather after finding out he had and was still abusing her from childhood. Disgusted and full of hatred, Andrews kidnapped the man, strung him up in a barn and inflicted as much pain as he could possibly give. It also came to light that Andrews himself was a victim of abuse at the hands of his father who later died from heart failure.

The judge believed the pent up aggression and fear of history repeating itself spurred Andrews to act out his violent intentions on the victim to try and find himself some peace to continue with life. But as Andrews left the scene of the murder, he was involved in a hit and run killing an innocent man and his wife in their late 70s. Police pictures shown in court noted that there was still hair from the elderly woman stuck on the smashed windscreen.

His girlfriend, or now ex girlfriend, was named Christina...

Haven realised that what he did was out of fear and love. Only upon committing an act, he scared the one woman he would do anything for and lost her and his freedom too.

Andrews turned slowly in his seat to look over at Lockerby who was leant against the mans arm with her head resting on his shoulder. His fists clenched together until he tore his eyes away from her to hear the judge give his sentencing.

"Through the seriousness of your crimes and lack of remorse for the victims and their families, I hereby sentence you to 4 life sentences.. 3 for each individual victim, and 1 for the brutality and twisted nature in which you subjected a human being too."

As the gavel went down on his fate, he heard a small gasp and knew instantly who it belonged too.

His eyes cast back at the woman who had given her time to him religiously for the past three weeks. Who had showed more courage and determination than most people he had ever known. One he was suppose to help after agreeing to it with his lawyer.

His only reason for not complying was the fact she never disclosed her first name to him, leaving him to imagine what name would suit the angelic face and deep innocent eyes.

"Get me a list of everyone present here today." He growled at his lawyer as he locked eyes with the man beside Lockerby, who tugged her on from her paused position and wasted no time in leaving with a satisfied look on his face.

"Why do you want that?" The lawyer questioned closing his briefcase.

"Because she broke the rules and he has to know his place..." Andrews answered before being led away by the officers.

"Are you okay?" Zak asked Haven after noticing her prolonged silence since the court case, he realised even the ride home had been quiet.

Haven sighed "I can't work out how I feel."

Zak stopped preparing them lunch and placed the ingredients down. Using a hand towel, he cleaned his hands off before applying his full attention to her. "How do you mean?" He asked sitting down beside her.

"Well I can't work out if I feel sympathy, anger or sadness, heck maybe even happiness."

"Why would you feel happy?" Zak questioned finding that emotion the hardest to understand based on the subject.

"It's a mix.. Happy that he isn't being sentenced to death, happy that he doesn't have that prospect looming over his head and happy that the victims families got justice."

"Life inside a prison isn't really a life, Haven. Yes maybe he will get to live, but what quality of life will he have now?"

She frowned. "Which is why I kinda feel sad... What Andrews did, he did out of love and because of his love for Christina? He will never see life outside those prison walls."

"It's an awful thing, but he committed an awful set of crimes." Zak responded.

"Oh! No, no, I know. I'm not saying he should have ever got away with it. He deserves to be in prison for what he did. Which leads me to anger. How he hasn't spoke to me since I've been going into that place. Most of the men in there would chew their legs off just to talk to someone different and there he is being given attention but not using it! Then sympathy.. Sympathy because he was abused as a child, because as a child he must have been terrified. Sympathy for one of the first times he finds love in his life, it made him crazy..." She finished with Zak soothing his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Love makes people do stupid things." He answered remembering the women he's had to remove from his house because of their extremities. "It can warp their minds, their realities, it makes them act irrational, not to mention the devastation a person feels when it's not returned or when a relationship is over. Baby, Andrews killed than man for himself too, you heard the judge and no doubt that's came from the interviewing him. They knew his past and the hate he projected.. The lack of remorse for that couple? That was the second lot of blood he shed but didn't bat an eyelash.."

Haven nodded in agreement before turning to face Zak fully "But can Love create a killer?"