Blink {Featured}

Chapter Thirty Five

ERIC BLAKE (59y), POLICE HEADQUARTERS, UK FEBRUARY 2023, 18.09

'The fuckers are outside, my boy. Let's gut these two sinners and finish this business. You were always best at the job. It's why I like you.'

Eric's heart warmed at the praise the voice in his mind lavished. For as long as he could remember, the voice had been there to guide him, strengthen him, make him into what he was today. Chief of Police, above the law, powerful, and it was all thanks to the voice. Yet the voice gushed kindness on him. Truly, the voice was the epitome of wisdom, of grace, of justice.

'Why thanks Eric, but without you I'd get nothing done. You're my hand stretched out to smite the wicked. To punish the wrongs of the world.'

Eric's tongue flicked over his teeth, a few felt looser than last week. One of the problems that came with age. The man cuffed to interrogation room four's only table looked just about ripe to gut, his head rested against the edge of the table, blood dripping to the floor from his mouth.

'Justice,' he said--to the man, to himself, to the voice-- 'This is just punishment for the wicked, Dan.'

The man leaning against the table didn't respond, and Eric's temper flared. He lashed out, hit the man's head with the cutting implement. 'It's rude to ignore your betters, Dan!'

The Man's head whiplashed with the energy of Eric's slash but came to rest in the same place.

'Is he dead?' Eric asked the voice.

'No, Blake. He's still alive in there, but not for long. Besides, he was just the bait.'

A vivid image of a man licking his lips floated in Eric's mind. The voice was eager. It put his own blood to boil with excitement. He paced the room, kicking the detective he'd knocked out a few minutes ago with each pass.

'The one I want is outside. With him gone, you and I will conquer this world. Bring justice to all and fire with it.'

Pictures of flames raining down from the heavens like a grand-scale meteor shower, stars spangling behind them, the wicked running and falling, filled his mind. He glanced at the box of implements resting on the table and felt reassured. He could win this. If not for all his experience, then because the voice was with him.

'It will be glorious, and you will rule over all the just citizens of earth that pass the test of fire.'

Another image floated into his mind, this of him--grey haired, muscled, smiling but not showing his teeth. A great golden crown was placed atop his head as he stood towering over a multitude of kneeling people, a sceptre in his hand. The image made him giddy with anticipation.

'Of course, we can keep a few dolls for you to discipline as you choose.'

A pause.

'You like to cut them don't you?'

Eric licked his lips again, glanced at the collapsed detective then at the suspect.

'You like to be in them, to feel their fear, to see the inevitability of death in their eyes, to share that intimate moment when their life bleeds away.'

Desire and a flood of memories kept Eric from answering. The girls, their perfect young faces, their succulent bodies, their innocent screams, their wide eyes. He fought arousal and shook with yearning to have another now. So many girls, but they never satiated his hunger for more.

'They were all bad girls. Each one. I led you to them so you could redeem them at the end. Now their souls sing, and you got to have your fun. You are more than the ankle biter, you are their redeemer. I promise you, Eric, there will be more.'