Chapter Three

Through the smoke I could make out the faint outline of portraits on the wall, but I could not see their pictures.

We entered a section of the church that was, actually, quite red. Red ceiling, red walls, intricate red carpet. At first I thought I was hallucinating (not to mention the weird angel statue in the corner) but after shaking my head a few times I thought, yep. This place truly is weird.

However, there was one thing in the room that was truly the opposite of red. There was a man who was standing in front of a burning brazier; staring into the flames. When he looked at me, I let out a gasp. He skin was indescribably white. The only way that I can truly describe it was like this; it was only one slip darker than milk. Not only that, but he was imposingly tall, and his skin was stretched tight over his body, producing an alert, taut pose, like a dog when it's about to fight another dog. Behind pale cobwebs, his eyes were the color of glinting yet washed-out silver coins. He walked up to me, looking me up and down. Holy shit, I thought, this must be Capricorn.

"This is the man, Basta?" Capricorn inquired of a man standing on the shallow steps that were carpeted in black. It was the man from the van, the driver. I waved at him and in return he gave me a look of disgust.

"Well…yes…sir, but I assure you he didn't look half as broken when we first found him. Maybe-"

I glared at him. Really, broken? I'll break him. However, Capricorn waved his hand to silence him and turned his cold eyes on me. I couldn't help noticing the fact that he was, well, kinda handsome, in an authoritative kind of way, off course.

"What's your name?" he asked me, polite enough.

"Vincent, call me Vince," I replied just as politely.

"Well, Vincent-call-me-Vince, would you mind telling us how you got your, eh, injuries?"

I looked around, and I noticed that I had a bit of an audience. Quite a few of the black-clad men were lounging around, sitting at the long benches on either sides of the room or clustered together. There were also a few maids ridding the tables of stained coffee mugs, bread baskets and plates, all the while sneaking awed glances at me. I grinned. Although presumably broken I still had my hard-to- resist-looks.

"What are you grinning for? You had better answer me and quick before I have Basta here drag you behind his car and leave you in a shed for the rest of your short, miserable life." Capricorn's voice was as sharp and precise as a knife and everyone in the room jumped when he spoke.

I frowned for a minute and then looked away. "I killed someone…a few…people actually."

"Why?"

"I…I don't...actually know…"

I gulped, feeling beads of sweat forming on my forehead. How in the world do you tell someone that you think you might be a psychopath?

{{{I hovered above the bed of a man, knife in hand. He was in his fifties, a heavy man with balding hair. My stomach gave a violent lurch and I retched, right there, besides his bleached mattress. He went on sleeping. I want this, I crave the few minutes of pleasure-laced delirium, the sight of the kill. There was no form of security in the weary apartment, and the locks were so easy to pick. Therefore the pleasure of the kill was just to tempting to resist. I raised the knife and held it above my head in two hands. I began to furiously sing "Latin Simone" in a strained voice and when I had sung it three times over, I let the knife own on the chest of the man. His eyes flew open and he let out a scream. But there I was, stabbing. Stabbing and stabbing and stabbing and stabbing and stabbing, I had no control; I could not stop, for now the pleasure, like an orgasm, had hit me. It hurt me and excited me all at once, my breathing became loud and heavy. I ran to the next room and the next and the next, stabbing and breathing and singing and dancing and moaning and stabbing and screaming and …}}}

I snapped out of my daydream to find everyone staring at me, hushed. Capricorn turned away from me in disgust. "I'm a psychopath."I whispered desperately, but he didn't hear me.

"As you can see, Basta, not only is he broken, but he is also stupid. It-"

"Hey!" I blurted, "Hey, just you watch it. I may be injured but I ain't stupid!"

"As I was saying," he continued calmly "He's stupid, broken, and has not been taught respect. It was ridiculous for you to bring him here because now we have to get rid of him somehow…"

"But, Capricorn!"

Everybody jumped in surprise (again) as Basta leapt forward. Capricorn raised his eyebrows, his mouth parting in surprise and Mortola, standing at the top of the stairs with her arms folded, gave a small "humph." Basta himself looked surprised as he stood at the center of attention. Such an outburst seemed very out of character for him.

"Sir, all I'm saying is that we should spare h-"

"Why, Basta, don't tell me that you've taken a fancy to the man?" Mortola's voice was like poison and I wasn't the only one who noticed the double-meaning in her words. Basta clenched his teeth.

"Well, Basta…"Capricorn said, giving him a faint smile that sent a shiver down my spine, "Well, since you've taken such an obvious fancy to this young man, let me give you a little task…" Capricorn ran his little pinky over his extremely effeminate lips, thinking. "Here's this; this man here, Vincent was it? Yes, Vincent will become your apprentice. Teach him everything you know and how we do things here. Teach him our routine, how to get people to do what I want, and most importantly teach him how to start a fire." I noticed Basta flinch. "Supposedly, he's already a murderer so you won't have to bother with that. If by the end of one week he isn't a fire-raiser that meets my expectations, kill him. Understood?"

Basta looked up at Capricorn with pleading eyes that I wouldn't expect out of such man, but then his expression turned cold and he humbly bowed his head.

"I understand."

"Good. You may start his training now. Get out of my site"

I noticed Mortola grinning nastily and realized that she must have held some type of grudge against Basta and found his discomfort all too entertaining.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I am nobody's apprentice. I'm not gonna learn how to be some mindless servant to some goat-king man! What the fuck, just let me go home!" But nobody was listening to me, for Basta had dragged me out of the church and into to bright sunlight.