18. Preys and Predators; The Ends starts herel Final Part Rating Mature

9.

Killers #1

It's coming on the end of August,
Another Summer's promise almost gone.
And I heard some wise man say,
That every dog should have his day.
He never mentioned that these dog days get so long.

I had hummed to the lyrics for an hour then, with my guitar and my suitcase on the flooring. I got paid for my stint at the drinking hole, singing nightly to boozers and geezers that laze their hours there just to justified their mates or ran past the last hours of the day. I know I sounded cynical on them but heck nobody bought me a drink all summer. All they did was walked in and drink, with conversation that louse up my mood to draw on the chords. In the end, the owner told me it was time to pack.

"The Summer over and the tourists are gone. People here ain't into music when they are discussing their home issues." I looked at the dollars he had placed on my hand; enough to but the bus ticket and live for a week before I needed another stint as a singer. He was kind to add in a bonus for me, considering that I did all my hours without fail. I laughed at his generosity, feeling like I was the waiter in his place instead of the singer.

"Missy, you want a lift somewhere?" I looked up to the voice and it was a older man with the looks that he had seen nights behind the wheel than myself. "I am going up to Baltimore and could do with some company."

I nodded to his offer, and he pointed to his truck across the station. He told me get on aboard while he gets some money from the machine. I smiled weakly at him, as the only machine I knew that gives me money was the gambling machine. I be darned, I once won twenty dollars for my investment of fifty cents.

"Tell me what in tarnation would a young lady be sitting at there at this unearthly hours?" He had pulled the truck onto the road and headed for the freeway. He had eyed my dressing; skimpy number with the high hems and boots, but I was too lazy to changed then. Maybe he reckon most runaways carry their guitars with them on the runs too.

"I am a singer. I was doing a stint at the nearby beer house. The owner told me to quit as he had no more tourists coming in." I laid it out bare to the trucker.

"Yup, I knew Jake. He is a nice man. Takes the passing singers for his place during summer. Its the only time we were gets any tourist. And outside business." The trucker laughed. "Me, I picked them up and sent them on their way."

"Thanks. I was thinking of going there. When you offered the ride, I decided it was for the better." The trucker chuckled to my reply.

"Not an issue there. The roads at night are mighty lonely and with someone to speak to would make the journey shorter." He reached over with his right hand but I cringe away.

"Fear not, girl. I was reaching for the compartment. I need to get my chewing gums there." Since he mentioned it, I opened the compartment and saw the gums. I passed it to him and it was then I saw the gun and cuffs there.

"Oh, those pieces." He had seen me looking. "I was a Baltimore Cop, retired and now trucker. But the streets are the same. You never know who you would meet."

For the next hour, we traveled in silence, except for the rain that came down just now. I was dozing off on my shoulders but I pinched myself to stay awake. He saw my condition and told me I could sleep in the rear sleeping compartment.

"That is you don't mind my scent and wall posting." He laughed out like before. I crawled in and pulled along my guitar case. He laughed even louder and pulled my case back out.

"I doubt you could hugged that in there. Just leave it outside." I did not had much of a choice. He had my case beyond my reach. I cuddled up into the tight compartment and made myself comfortable. There was his collection of posting; the usual centerfolds with the silicone implants. I seen pervs in my time; walking in on me with their zips open or trying to kiss me with their ugly expressions. You don't get to survive unless you learned how to fight. I did my share with the loss of two molars. Soon I was asleep in there.

I woke up when I felt the hands on my left inner thigh. I looked down and saw the trucker had his hands on me. I was sleeping face up and with my dress hiked up high. I screamed out but he just laughed.

"You are one mile off the freeway and there are no one around." The trucker loom over the entrance of the compartment. "You could be nice and we would not need to be rough." The trucker held up the cuffs and laughed. "I would do either way, but its your choice."

I moved my legs wider and then I replied.

"Can we do it outside? I think this place is too tight to move about." He laughed again while his hand sneaked in further up my thigh. I clasped my thighs so he could feel the warmth. He got up and climbed out the truck.

"Come on out, Missy. The grass are wet and comfortable." I climbed out and lowered myself to the ground. He was right; we are in the middle of a field. He approached me but I held out my hand.

"Let me remove my dress. Its all I got for my singing." I reached for the zipper at the back while he laughed. He reached for his waist belt and pulled it open.

"No concern of mine, Missy. I would get to you either way. Standing or bend over." He had his pants undone and his manhood dangling there. "It just needed some comforting with your tongue and then I would be humping you."

I had then my dress off and faced him in my bra and panties with the high boots. I placed out my hands to him.

"Why don't you remove my bra? The strap on the rear." The trucker was onto my bait as he came up to me. He reached back to my strap while my hands went down to his loins. When he had the strap opened, my fingers was on his testicular parts. I snapped up my fingers with the nails sinking into his sensitive glands. He screamed out with his head reel back. It was then I laid my fangs onto his exposed jugular veins and bit into it. He struggled against my ninety pounds body but in my enhanced ego, I was as strong as the weightlifter who could raised two hundred pounds.

My second bite into his veins broke through his barrier of pain while I suckled on it like the infant on the mother. I gripped harder to make his heart pumped faster for me the circulation of the blood. It also did him an erection but he was not in the position to hump. I did the man a favor; I gave him a good scrub so that he could die with satisfaction. Once I had my fill, I lowered him down to the ground. My bra fell off my shoulders coated with his blood. I removed it along with my pants and boots. I picked up those clothes and reached for my duffel bag. I threw them in and removed the overall and trainers I had inside. It would do for now. I put on those and got back into the truck. I reversed the truck and then went over the dead trucker several times.

I don't know when I realized the dream was over
Well, there was no particular hour, no given day
You know, it didn't go down in flame
There was no final scene, no frozen frame
I just watched it slowly fade away

I sang the other part of the song while mashing up the body with the soil. I would be on my way and with another three more hours of darkness, I could cover a lot of distance. When its get to dawn, I would pullover and sleep in the compartment. It would be the next evening if I do find a town to stop, then I would use the money to get my laundry done. Or find a place to sing. I was in no hurry on the opportunities, for I have alternative livelihood to work on.

And I've been waiting in the weeds
Waiting for my time to come around again and
Hope is floating on the breeze
Carrying my soul high up above the ground and
I've been keepin' to myself
Knowin' that the seasons are slowly changing
Even though you're with somebody else
She'll never love you like I do

It was the scent of her that woke me up. She was still latched to the cage but the current was turned off. As for myself, I was laid on the dining table, spread eagled and naked with my limbs tied to the four corners of the table. I looked to my side and saw my invited guest sitting there nursing his glass of thick red wine.

He got up and walked towards me.

"You woken up. Good. I would like to thank you for showing me the Werewolf. I thought they don't exist but having removed one of them, I had developed a taste for their meat. With his words, l felt the earlier consumed meal was surging up my throat. I let it all out on the dining table.

"Messy, my dear." The man named Henri Letas wiped away the mess. "I am proposing a re-match with your brother's killer. I have checked his body; messy but effective. I would place you in the cage and watch the two of you fight."

Killers #2

I saw her coming in with the rifle pointed at the back of her skull. She climbed into the cage and we faced each other. I had been released from my chains but then my enemy held a kitchen knife in her right hand. It was the man who gave her; a sort of balancing the odds as she was smaller and younger. I was still in my alter ego while she had shown me her fangs.

"Ladies, before you fight. Allowed me to introduce myself." The Man walked up to us. "I am Henris Letas, formerly known as Hannibal Lecter. I had left the country sometime ago and assumed this new identity. However, with the pursuit of the Wolf, I had taken an interest in the case. Probably why from the both of you. I was interested as the Agent involved was my friend. I considered as her as my missing sister. I need to help her find the killer."

I was past listening, that I rushed at the young bitch. She was fast as she had moved away and slashed away with the knife. She got me on the first cut; a flesh wound on the left forearm. I went in again, but this time I had my left arm onto her her knife hand while my fight arm was aimed at her throat. She moved her throat in time and bit into my wrist.

"Aargh!" I howled out loud and swung my right arm to knock her against the cage. She let go of my wrist on the blow but she flicked the knife into my chest with her right hand. The knife cut into my left armpit causing me to let go. She came at me with the frontal kick onto the chin and then jumped onto me for the fatal bite on the neck. I pushed her off with my shoulders and raised myself up.

"I am no young bitch. I killed many in my growing years. Your kind evaded me but I would do the same as I did to the others." She had picked up the knife.

"Listen to me." I spoke to her. "We are being paired to stage a fight. If we don't, we win. He wants both of us to lose. We are doing that if we continue fighting."

She was past listening.

"We are putting up a fight not for him, but for ourselves. For me, its you. You killed my brother. I may had hated him but I did loved him. He was all I had."

She rushed at me but I kicked at her legs causing her to fall on her knees. I rushed in again, but she was ready. She plunged the knife into me; if I had not moved in time, I would had been dead. The knife cut into the left ribs and got stuck there. When she tried to pull it out, I had my right claw across her face. She screamed in pain but my left arm was going for her right elbow. I pierced it from underneath and cracked her joint. She fell back in pain.

"I learned from bitches like you." I landed my right kick into her face and went down with my body weight on the thrust of my right claw. I pierced the flesh and into her heart to exit at the spine. I pulled back with the spinal cord in my hand and dragged it out.

"They die just like you." I told her then.

Killers #3

I marveled at the way women fight; they are like the creatures of the wild. They get their adrenaline all worked up, and then go for the other's life. Unlike men, we have a tendency to be calm in our fight. The ones that reacted with anger seldom last long in a battle with a calm fighter. I looked in to the tired fighter who had just defeated her opponent. I held up the tranquilizer gun and shot at her.

"You deserve to live. You have earned it." I climbed in and release the chains holding her. I looked to the dead girl; with her back exposed to the ribs and pelvis bone. I pulled the body out and laid her on the table.

"Good food must be not be wasted." I bend down to do my work.

10.

Defender #1

I walked out of the room where I was called up for the second time. The Bureau Director and the associated members would decide on my career. I did the inquiry by myself; took on the questions and replied in the best manner I could. I could recalled my replies.

"No, Sir. I do not know where Erich Lichfield'. That was one asked several times.

"No, Sir. I do not know the whereabout of Officer Morales." That was another favorite.

"No, Sir. I do not know anything about those furs. It could be from a stray creature, or a stuffed doll."

"No, Sir. I do not think you need to know of my life with Morales. Its my personal life and nothing to do with this inquiry. If you are implying, I am abetting her in any manner, kindly place in my protest to that question. You are intruding into my personal life. I am not a fucking lesbian." The last line was before I was asked to leave the room. I walked out and sat by the bench. I looked to my portable. It had not rug for two days. I wished Jimmy was here but he was not returning my calls.

It was then I saw Morales.

She had reported back in after missing for several days. She had just walked in to the Precinct and was shoved to the Commissioner for the questioning. Soon the NSA took over just like mine and Morales was given a suspended leve pending investigation. All she pleaded that she went up the hills for a rest.

"Did you see him?"I asked her.

Morales gave me the blank look and then nodded.

"Is he hiding from me?" The blank expression was enough for me to know. I looked up to her and told her.

"I did not tell them anything about us and your personal life. I .... have forgotten it all." The Inquiry Board showed me the furs that was taken by the NSA. They asked me and I told them a blatant lie.

"I seen them before with Burke. He used them to lure us to the myth of werewolves. I had some samples which was in my pocket. I could had dropped it when I was there. I wanted to take it back but the NSA beat me to it. It was a genuine mistake."

Defender #2

I lied to Clarice as I wanted her out of my life. Ever since she came to my City, she had done me more damages than any others. When she asked about Landon, I told her that lie to hurt. She had to go or it would be me. I can't leave as the tribes needed me.

"Thank you for not telling them. Our lives are difficult without them knowing. We would be hunted like before and with the Administration, maybe even sent for more testing and evaluation for national security concern." I explained to her. "We are dying with our dwindling numbers."

"Clarice, I had resigned from the force. I am going to be..." I thought I mentioned that to her.

"To be with him. Good! He would be a nice companion." Clarice injected in. She did not let me complete my statement. I spoke up again but we were interrupted by another voice behind me.

Defender #3

I stepped in to laid my arms around Clarice. She was shocked to see me there but I had prior knowledge of the Inquiry from a close associate.

"Henris, I did not know you were coming. I am so sorry for not been able to meet you for a week now." Clarice apologize to me. She then looked at me and to her friend.

"Let me introduce you." Clarice pulled to face her friend. "Henris Letas, Jennifer Morales."

I reached out to hold the other's hand. It was a firm shake but my eyes spoke to her. She understood and smiled. I guessed there was a code of conduct for killers.

"Henris, I am so sorry to make you wait." Clarice apologized to me. I offered them coffee but only Clarice took my offer. Morales left us while we made our way to the nearby cafe. I pulled the seat for Clarice and then sat down opposite her.

"You couldn't stay away. You had to come. Am I not a threat to you anymore? Why?" Clarice glared at me.

"No, Clarice. I came to help. I am Henris Letas, Inspector, Polish Police. You were in a fix....." I tried to explain but she stopped me.

"I was in no fix except yours." Clarice looked around. "We agreed years ago, You would leave this country. You settled in comfortably in Warsaw. I met you there, as promised. That was the end. Why part now."

"Clarice, Hannibal Lecter does not exist anymore. He was presumed dead after seen jumping into the Suez Canal. It was on the file. Hannibal died the same like Professor Moriarty; down the waterfall." I demonstrated to her with the hands. "Henris Letas had been doing his work as the Inspector. I came here as Henri Letas to see you."

"Swear to me, that you did not get involved in the case." Clarice looked at me.

"I do solemnly ...." Clarice cut me off again.

"I know you did, but I can't prove it." Clarice sighed. "Just leave me alone. I am leaving for DC tonight."

Clarice left me alone at the cafe. I watched her walk. She would be back. We all do, as we are all defenders of the people. In my case, sometimes I defend the bad ones too. I made sure they do not turned up in court.

My portable rang.

"Mr Letas, your key to the apartment is ready. When would you move in?"

"Soon. I intend to stay longer in the City."

Hello, City. I am back to stay.