Body Tox (The Bodies duet #1)

Chapter 2

“ D aughter, this makes the fifth fucking Guardsman that has ‘mysteriously’ disappeared when you’ve taken them on your little shopping sprees.”

I forced a yawn and continued filing down my fucked up nail. The fat fuck from last night chipped my gel nail polish. It was getting more and more tedious to recover from the mistakes before my father saw the imperfections.

“Perhaps you should hire better employees, father? Ones who won’t run off.”

Of course, the sniveling men were gone after being sliced into beautiful ribbons with my blade. I looked over lovingly at my jewelry box, where my gold knife lay in the secret compartment. My fingers itched to play with my blood-thirsty toy.

Last night, the man wasn’t enough to scratch the itch that my gold blade needed. It was a few hours before he started to fade. I needed a challenge, a true competition.

Why wouldn’t anyone worthy play with me?

“You are doing something that has them fearful of returning,” my father accused.

“I have not spoken a single word to them, father.” That wasn’t a lie.

I didn’t waste time speaking to these meat bags. I only did one thing. Played with my little toys and carved new material for my mask.

The skin of the man was drying out nicely. I would be able to sew his patch of flesh onto my disguise soon enough.

Blood for blood...

“You are a tiresome child. I cannot do my job if you won’t let me ensure your safety.”

I smirked in the mirror as I began twisting my white hair into an intricate knot on the top of my head.

“Have you ever considered that I can take care of myself?”

“No. Because I will not leave it to chance!” Dear old Daddy sighed dramatically, scrubbing his liver-spotted hand down his face. “You know that my career has cost your mother her life, and I will see to it that it doesn’t cost your life as well.”

What life?

I was locked up here like a pretty ornament to stare at my fucking balcony. I was never let out of this hell hole unless escorted by the mindless meatheads my father hired to protect me. Even then, I was never allowed to go anywhere. The idiots couldn’t follow most of my movements even with the help of their shared CCTV footage.

I paused my makeup routine, the blood-red lipstick hovering in my hand.

The rouge color pulled me back to the moment when I saw the red blood from my mother on that damn black-tiled floor on the grounds of our estate. Red was everywhere, smeared, dripping, and puddled like someone had gone crazy with paint—but it was also the year my father turned into an unhinged protector. He would not cease to keep me caged in my damn room because he couldn’t admit he was the reason she was dead.

What my father hadn’t known was that he lost me that night, too. My soul left me in that darkness, leaving in its place a hollow shell.

I’d watched my mother die.

I’d watched as her innocence was taken from her, and I couldn’t forget the sounds of her screams as they echoed through our home. When the window exploded, I had been hiding in my pantry, sneaking some late-night snacks. I heard glass shattering, and it sounded a lot like the window.

I couldn’t move or breathe when the men desecrated the woman who raised me.

After that night, I’d spent years looking for those men. There were three. Three men who took my mother and tortured her. Three men who would become part of my mask, forever silencing them like they silenced her.

Blood for blood. Stitch by stitch, I will find them.

“Please, Echo,” my father said, jarring me from my thoughts of the past. “I cannot lose you too.”

I finished smearing the blood-red color onto my lips and stood.

“Very well, Daddy. I will behave.”

The old man seemed to relax. His shoulders visibly lowered, and his hunched back appeared to straighten.

“You will meet your new guard at Palazzo at noon. He will have a black iris on the table and will be wearing a white tie. I fear I have a conference to attend so I will not be there, but this man has the very best references. Amazing reviews…please don’t screw this up.”

I refrained from snorting at my father’s wording. Somehow hearing your dad say screwed was disgusting at any age. Daddy’s idea of references was made-up shit, like helping at food pantries and wrapping gifts for needy homeless people. This man, no doubt, was just as stupid and useless as the others. No matter. I had to keep this one alive for a while to keep the old fuck off my trail.

Lately, the police had received extra compensation to turn the other way when questioning me. Daddy was speaking the other day about a pending investigation in the back alley of my nail salon. Maybe I was being too blasé about playing with my toys in public. The night couldn’t hide everything.

The police wouldn’t find him. Half his body was likely digested in a grizzly bear by now, and the rest remained drying in my freezer.

Waiting for my father to pet me on the top of the head, scold me one final time about the meeting, and finally leave with his brigade of asshats took too long. I opened the kiln and reached under the drying rack to my hidden patches of perfection.

Remembering how this one screamed when I carved his skin free of his face made my insides flutter. I’d taken time to stitch this piece of human hyde onto my mask intricately. The stitches gleamed under my light, showcasing the different skin textures and tones.

It was funny. No matter what someone’s color was on the outside, we all bled red. I was an equal opportunist with my kills. I had every race, ethnicity, and sex included in my victim profiles.

But, I didn’t fuck with children or animals. The world was cruel enough to them. They didn’t need me to make them understand the viciousness of the world. Unfortunately, that lesson would come to light just by fucking living long enough to see it for themselves.

Once I’d finished adding another layer of skin to my mask, I checked my makeup and outfit before looking at the clock.

I was late by like an hour. Oopsi. Guess the new bodyguard was earning those stellar reviews by being patient with me like a good little boy .

Palazzo was a high-end diner, and the hostess at the front took their time seating me. Must be new. No one ever made me wait.

“I am meeting someone. He was said to have on a white tie and a black iris sitting on the table next to him.” I checked my phone to inform my father I was at the meeting and watched the fish and the array of colors in the aquarium ahead of me.

“Not sure who you want, but you can walk on through. I go on break in a second anyway.”

I narrowed my eyes at the petulant teen. They didn’t even have proper attire to be a hostess. What a shame the establishment has let trash over-run it.

The mermaid in the tank was blowing bubbles and dodging sharks. I saw the tube running from the back of the tank and discreetly took a knife from one of the tables, popping a hole in the air tube.

If the female wanted to play with sharks, then she’d better enjoy the whole experience. I looked around the dimly lit area, seeing a lot of people chortling and carrying on mindless conversation, but no fat second-hand thrift store-dressed ‘guard’ was sitting at the booths.

A single man in the back of the room caught my attention. He was taking up most of the table with just his big body, but he was splayed out.

Pfft…as if he needed to overcompensate.

He had on a very high-priced suit and tie, and his dark hair was shadowing his face as he stared intently down at his hands under the table.

Curiosity took hold, and I walked closer to see what had captured the man’s attention. He was twirling a flower in his grip, his inked fingers showing a gentleness on the black petals, but something told me those hands could be quite brutal.

The realization made me gasp when I saw he was the only one wearing a white tie, and the flower he toyed with sensually in his grip was a black iris.

This was my guardsman?

I stood by the table next to his. A crowd was now gathering over to the struggling mermaid in the tank, making it easy for me to sit silently in the booth across the aisle from where he sat. I wanted to study this man before I made an appearance. He had already been waiting for well over an hour now. It would be fun to see him squirm.

I watched him through a gap in the menu, his hands still hidden under the table. My phone dinged, and I looked down at the screen, seeing an unknown number slide across it.

Unknown: Interesting way to make an appearance, Miss Svenson.

I balked at the message, snapping my head up from my menu and staring at the man. His face was no longer hidden, and he was looking right at me. He had a smirk on his face, an all-knowing dangerous leer.

Who does this asshole think he is?

Another message appeared.

Unknown: Due to the confidential information exchanged, I believe your father would appreciate a closer encounter. Don’t you think?

I glared at the man, which only made his face break into a big smile.

I stood up and abruptly started walking out of the facility. I wasn’t going to be toyed with by this dickhead, and wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of sitting beside me. A new message popped on the screen, but rather than reading it, I swiped my nail across the message and erased it.

The chaos of the mermaid drowning made the restaurant turn into a hushed, frantic crowd that blocked my vision of the smug prick.

I made sure that before I left, he saw my smile through the crowd.

Shaking his head and fingering that damn iris again, another message popped on my phone. Right before I pressed the number to block the asshole’s messages permanently, I involuntarily read the script on the screen.

Unknown: Do you always leave such a mess in your wake? Very vengeful, I see, aren’t you, Little Wraith?