Kiss of the Succubus Ch. 01

Grace looked to the doorway to see Kristof being led out in handcuffs. He looked at Grace, with disappointment and anger burning in his eyes.

"You lied to me! You lied to me, you bitch!"

The officer shoved Kristof into one of the cruisers, where he continued to curse at Grace while the officer drove him away.

"Boy, they come in all types, huh?" Joe asked.

Grace said nothing. She hadn't yet mentioned to anyone how she'd coerced Kristof into helping her, and she wasn't looking forward to that part of her statement.

An officer handed Grace and Joe cups of coffee, which they graciously accepted.

"Sorry I didn't listen to you before," Joe said. He breathed in the early morning air, taking in the sights of the busy crime scene. For him, this was home.

"No sweat," Grace said, holding the cup to her lips. "It was a wild hunch, anyway."

"But it was the right one."

Grace looked back to the doorway, where Catherine Balko appeared. She was covered in black garbage bags, one around her torso and two duct taped to her legs. Her face was still drenched with blood and semen. She looked directly at Grace, with the same smug disdainful smile she had in the old photo Grace saw in Dylan Becket's file.

The arresting officers led Catherine into the back of a police car, where she shot one last defiant stare at Grace. The officer shut the door and drove her off to the station.

"We should get back," Joe said, looking at Grace. "The captain wants to have a word with you."

* * * * *

The mutilated corpse of Jaclyn Becket lay in the washtub, soaked in its own blood. Rose and Violet stood at the tub's edge, looking down at the messy task that awaited them.

"I hate this part," Rose said with a sigh.

"Don't be such a baby," Violet said, giving Rose a playful shove. Rose scoffed.

"Like you didn't throw up the first time we did this," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Let's just get this over with. Faster we're done, faster we get paid."

Violet removed the white terrycloth robe she was wearing and let it fall to the floor. Rose smiled at Violet's naked body and removed her robe as well.

The two naked girls each grabbed themselves a long serrated hunting blade and climbed into the bloody bathtub.

They made quick work of their task, beheading and dismembering the body and stuffing the amputated body parts into the black trash bags they'd set at the tub's edge. They'd found it was easier to simply tune out what they were doing, engage each other in conversation, and the unpleasantness of the task did not overwhelm them.

Violet sang along to the cheerful melody of the Tokyo Police Club that played on the radio as she vigorously hacked off Jaclyn's limbs.

"..and I wonder what you're doing tonight..."

Rose joined her for the chorus.

"I burn the house down and I leave it behind / I didn't need the money but the money was nice /
I need a countdown when the fire is high / sitting on the curb and it's hot tonight."

Somehow it made it easier. Rose made sure not to look Jaclyn in the face after she'd removed her head. She made that mistake twice before and not only lost her lunch but had nightmares for weeks.

Instead she simply grabbed the head by the hair and tossed it into the very bottom of the bag, and made sure never to look inside the bag again.

"If there was ever a reason not to stay a virgin, this is it," Violet mused.

She looked at the nails on Jaclyn's hands and compared them to her own. She liked the style, and made a mental note to look for that shade of polish as she tossed Jaclyn's forearms into the trash bag.

"You checked her, right?" Rose asked, as she tied the first trash bag closed. "Made sure?"

Violet shrugged.

"Luke said she was. He saw her cunt what, a day ago?"

"Well it's just-" Rose started, and paused. Jaclyn's torso was all of her that remained in the tub. Rose knelt beside the dismembered torso and examined it closely.

"What?" Violet asked.

Rose spread apart Jaclyn's labia, and saw a very much broken hymen inside. Violet tsked.

"That's nothing. The hymen can break over anything. Luke said she was-"

No sooner were the words out of her mouth when a glob of semen dribbled from Jaclyn's vulva. Rose looked up at Violet in shock.

"Oh, shit," Violet said.

* * * * *

On her way back from Captain Pillar's office, Grace stopped outside of the holding room where Catherine Balko was meeting with her lawyer.

"Fifty bucks says she pleads insanity," Joe said, rounding the corner. He had a file folder tucked under his arm and his usual sarcastic grin.

"Judge Getty would buy it, that's for sure," Grace mumbled. She stared dejectedly at the closed holding room door before making her way back to her desk. "So what do you got for me?"

"Rubena Selimaj," Joe said, handing the file folder to Grace. "That's the girl who tried to shoot you back in the bitch's basement. Originally from Ukraine, she emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1999. Then she, and another girl, Jolan Demachi, came to the U.S. in 2012, both to live with and work for, one Catherine Balko."

Joe tapped his finger on the folder for emphasis. Grace took a seat at her desk and looked over the file.

"Any clue where this other girl might be?" Grace asked.

"Alpert is questioning Kristof as we speak. He says the kid seems a few aces short of a deck. It sounds like he had no idea what he was into."

Grace looked over the file intently.

"Rubena and Jolan both attended college here. We need to question their professors, schoolmates, everyone who knew them. Maybe somebody can point us in the right direction."

"Couldn't agree more," Joe said, crushing a Styrofoam coffee cup in his fist. He tossed the wadded up cup into the trash can. "Three points!"

Grace yawned and stretched her arms over her head. She would have loved to curl up next to her husband back in bed, but knew that sleep was a luxury she would not enjoy for some time after the events of today.

"And the panty shrine?" Grace asked. "Anything with that?"

"Forensics is looking into it."

Forensics did. Of the thirty-nine pairs of panties hanging in Catherine's basement, one was personally identified by Sarah Wainwright as belonging to her. After several blood transfusions and extensive surgery, Sarah's doctors were confident she would pull through, although she would bear extensive scars across her body for the rest of her life.

Through DNA evidence, forensics matched another one of the thirty nine panty trophies to Jaclyn Becket, strengthening Grace's suspicions that Catherine, not Lukas, was responsible for the disappearance of Jaclyn and likely her brother Dylan as well.

Grace's attempts to question Catherine were put to a standstill by Catherine's lawyers, but after she was out of surgery, Grace received permission to question Rubena Selimaj.

Rose was handcuffed to the hospital gurney, in spite of her doctor's estimation that she would never walk again. She lay helpless, filled with needles, IVs, and a breathing tube in her nose. She jerked upright when she saw Grace and Joe enter her hospital room.

"Hello, Rubena," Joe said as they entered. "Can I call you that?"

"I really couldn't care less," Rose muttered.

Grace took a seat by Rose's side, while Joe paced at the foot of the bed. Grace grabbed a tray of uneaten food from the bedside, and slid it away out of Rose's reach.

"Rose then," Grace said. "Rose, can you tell me anything about Dylan and Jaclyn Becket?"

Rose stared at Grace contemptibly.

"They've both been missing for weeks, and we'd like to find them. It might help your case if you cooperated with us," Grace said.

"It would really help my case if I didn't," Rose said.

Grace looked at Joe. He peered at Rose suspiciously.

"Is someone threatening you?" Grace asked. Rose did not reply but instead looked Grace in the eye.

"We can protect you," Grace said. "All we want is information. Dylan, Jaclyn, and Catherine's brother, Lukas. Can you tell us anything that might help us find them?"

Rose laughed, then cringed painfully. Her heart monitor spiked, and she clutched her belly. She looked up at Grace with a mad grin.

"Let's be honest with each other. In all likelihood, I'm going to be dead very soon," Rose said. "How merciful my death is, depends on how quiet I keep."

Rose breathed slowly, and she held onto her belly tightly until her heart monitor gradually returned to normal.

"Listen honey, you help us find the bastard that raped and killed three women that we know about and we got you witness protection guaranteed," Joe snapped. "You want to play hardball, we'll leave you in this hospital to rot, now what's it gonna be?"

Rose broke into a painful laugh. Joe stared out the window angrily.

"You CAN'T stop him! He will kill ALL of you, don't you get it?" Rose grunted. "You back off now, maybe he crawls back under whatever rock he came from, but if you go after him, he goes after you, you got it?"

Rose broke into a coughing fit. Grace waited for her coughing to subside before she continued.

"What about Jolan Demachi?" Grace asked. "Can you tell me about her?"

Rose looked at Grace sadly.

"Violet," she said, softly. Her eyes followed the length of the catheter that fed its life-saving fluids into her veins.

"Was that what you called her? Violet?" Grace asked. "What happened to her?"

"She fucked up," Rose said. "I guess I did too. But you won't find her either. I made sure of it."

Grace sighed. She looked at Joe, who only shook his head.

"Tell me something, Rose," Grace said. "If Lukas is so dangerous, why are you here? Where was he when you were being stabbed and Catherine arrested?"

Rose shrugged sheepishly.

"He only comes out at night."

* * * * *

Violet didn't tell Catherine about her find, and neither did Rose. When Jaclyn's body was disposed of, Catherine paid them in cash and the college sophomores were on their way.

They spent their weekend shopping and getting high. It was their way of lying low. It wasn't long before Detectives Harker and Pratt showed up on Catherine's doorstep, and when they did, Rose and Violet were glad they were not present during the visit.

The very next day, Catherine invited the girls to dinner. Wary about being seen near Catherine while she was under investigation, the girls parked down the road and sneaked in through the back gate.

For dinner, Morris served a meal of Okroshka soup and baked veal.

"So, what's the occasion?" Violet asked, as Morris placed a glass of red wine in front of her.

"I'm buying a new house for Lukas," Catherine said. "He won't be staying with us much longer."

Rose and Violet exchanged glances.

"Well... that's good," Rose said.

She took a sip of her wine and continued her meal. The three ladies ate in silence while Morris washed the dishes in the next room. Rose glanced at Violet, who shot her a bemused expression at the curiously low-key celebratory dinner they were enjoying. Violet sipped her wine and looked at Catherine, who calmly ate her meal without uttering a word.

Finally Catherine broke the silence.

"So who's job was it to ensure Jaclyn was a virgin?"

Rose and Violet looked at each other in panic. Finally, the purpose of the occasion revealed itself.

"Ma'am, it was both our responsibilities," Rose said. "Your brother said Jaclyn was a virgin two days before; we both assumed nothing had changed!"

Catherine laughed.

"Ah!" she said in sarcastic understanding. "You 'assumed'! Well, that's perfectly fine then! You know, I'm glad it was both of your responsibilities, because just one of you is going to pay dearly for your assumption, and I don't know who it will be."

Rose stopped chewing and placed her fork onto the table slowly. Catherine removed a small vial of liquid from her brassiere and placed it onto the table.

"Do you know what this is?" Catherine asked. She looked to Rose, and then Violet. "This is an elixir I purchased from a witch doctor in El Salvador. He didn't tell me exactly what it does, but I instructed Morris to pour some in one of your wine glasses, and serve it to one of the two of you at random."

Rose swallowed and gagged momentarily. Both girls' faces went pale.

"Ma'am, we are SO sorry!" Violet pleaded. "PLEASE let us make this right!"

Catherine stared into Violet's eyes coldly.

"Oh Violet. You ARE making this right!"

"Ms. Balko, please!" Rose shouted. "Please give us a chance! I know a girl who-"

Rose's words were cut short when Violet clutched her throat and gasped for air. Catherine grinned wickedly as Violet rose from her seat, and promptly lost her balance. She clutched the dining room table with both hands, keeping her from toppling to the floor.

"What's happening to her? Ms. Balko, help her please!" Rose pleaded.

Violet gagged violently, before vomiting blood onto the white satin tablecloth. Rose looked on in horror as Violet emptied the contents of her stomach, along with pint after pint of blood, onto the table and carpet.

Her eyes glazed over, and the color of her bright healthy brunette hair faded into a sickly yellow before Rose's eyes. Deep boils formed on the side of her face and forearms, prompting Violet to scratch viciously at her skin.

"Get them off me! Get them off me!" Violet screamed, and tore her clothes off, revealing bright red pustules forming all over her naked body. As her boils grew in both size and numbers, Violet savagely clawed at her skin, tearing off long strands of epidermis with her newly painted fingernails.

"Ms. Balko please!" Rose cried. "I can get you a new virgin! I'll get her tonight! But I need Violet's help! I can't do it without her! Help her!"

Violet collapsed to the floor. Black tar-like mucus gushed from her eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears as her body thrashed about on the floor. Rose was on the verge of a nervous breakdown herself as she looked at Violet's writhing body and up at Catherine, who sipped another spoonful of her Okroshka slowly, savoring the flavor.

Almost as an afterthought, Catherine glanced at Violet thoughtfully, and up at the sobbing Rose.

"If you want her suffering to stop, there's only one way to do it," Catherine said, and plunged her spoon back into her soup bowl.

Pausing to comprehend her employer's words, Rose rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife, and returned to the dining room, where she squatted over Violet's thrashing body. Violet's eyes had sunk into her skull, leaving empty black pits in their place, and her skin had faded into a coarse gray, leaving the stark outline of her skeleton visible through it. She let out a pitiful wail, while flailing her stick-like arms in the air at some unseen foe.

Not wanting her friend to endure another moment of agony, Rose plunged the butcher knife into Violet's chest, sinking the blade in all the way to the handle. Black blood gushed from the wound. Violet gagged, and her body went still.

Rose let out a terrified cry as she released her grip on the knife handle. Violet lay motionless, her body nothing more than a gray skin-covered skeleton with black mucus slowly draining from every orifice.

Rose looked up at Catherine, who remained seated at the table. Catherine paid no mind to Rose or Violet, and instead helped herself to another delicious spoonful of Okroshka and calmly finished her meal.

Judge Getty accepted Catherine's insanity plea.

TO BE CONTINUED...