I Would Kill For You

35. Become The Beast

"Put away the gun and then we'll talk." Damian retorted with a steady tone. 

If it weren't for him, I probably would've had a panic attack by now. His presence was empowering, his hand in mine the only thing that kept me on my feet. I had to be strong, if not for my sake, then for his. I took deep breaths and tried to pull myself together. 

"Your dauntless bravery never ceases to amaze me. Alas, it's verging on recklessness way too often. It's what will get you killed, brother." 

His angelic countenance and soothing voice frightened me more than Gabrielle's unstable behaviour. Unlike her, he was still acting like the Joseph I knew, and that confused me. What if this was all a misunderstanding? I kept on hoping that it was. There was absolutely no scintilla of malice behind his chocolate eyes, just a bizarre glint of... boredom?

Damian propelled himself towards his twin, but this time, I was the one to pull him back to me. I squeezed his hand tightly and glanced at him with a pleading look.

  "What do you want to negotiate?" I asked, moving my sight to Joseph. 

Prove us wrong, I beg of you, I implored him mentally. 

His eyes bore into mine. He dragged the chair away from the table and perched on it. We repeated his actions, sitting right in front of him. 

"Your silence in exchange for Damian's life."

I leant forward in stupefaction.

"I..." I peeked at Damian briefly. "I don't understand."

"I think you understand very well. I know you found Gabrielle's earring. Damian's face when he saw me said it all. And going out when there's a storm outside? I immediately knew something was off. If you're wondering, I hid her earring in his room because we were hanging out a lot in mine, and I didn't want you to accidentally find it. Damian wasn't supposed to come back so soon. If I knew that he'd return today, I would have hidden it elsewhere."

"The day our mother was due to leave us, she realized she had lost one of her diamond earrings. She spent the entire afternoon looking for it, because it was a very precious family heirloom." Damian said absently, staring in the horizon. "But despite her meticulous search, she couldn't find it anywhere. Because she didn't lose it. You took it, didn't you?" he asked, and I knew he was referring to his brother. 

"The ridiculous act of a seven-year-old boy, desperately trying to delay his mother's departure." Joseph snorted with melancholic laughter. "I took it when she was sleeping. I've kept it ever since."

"Just like you took Monica's, Avery's and Gabrielle's earring." Damian presumed.

A glacial shiver racked my body. This was the moment I never thought I'd come to witness. I hoped wholeheartedly that that was a wrongful supposition. But Joseph shattered my hope with his answer:

"An earring is the only thing that bounds them to the land of the living. The worms have already devoured their bodies. They're gone. All they left behind is an earring and an empty coffin. A different sort of heirloom."

There was a sharp pinch behind my eyes and a painful lump in my throat that meant I was about to cry. My vision blurred until his silhouette became a shadow of faded colours. I felt drained of energy, and I turned my head to the side, as if that would stop them from seeing me cry. 

"Why?" I asked weakly, forcing myself to look at him. I wasn't facing my friend anymore. I was facing a killer, and I regarded him the way you regard a killer: with a mixture of terror and contempt. "Why did you kill them, you sick..." A sob tore from my chest, keeping me from completing my sentence.