Chapter 43
Aya took up position in the shadows inside the back doors where the clergy was more likely to be easier prey.
Yohji was around at the other side of the doors hiding behind the greenery. Omi and Ken were around the front just in case the person took the other route and went after someone coming into the church.
Aya knew who the bastard was going to go after. If the man wanted the biggest attention getter at night he would go for the priest. What Aya needed to do was find the priest.
He didn't need to actually show the killing this time. He would have the cameras showing him coming and going and let the scene inside tell the rest of the story. He might even make his sword obvious for a split second outside.
Of course he was pretty sure that the man was already inside. He just had to keep his eyes open for any slight flick of movement, and be careful not to do any slight movements himself. No need to give his own position away. He'd been extremely careful coming in, watching for any sorts of alerts like what he himself would've left. He would've left something by the door, even a can, to warn him of when the door opened even a little.
But then he'd never had to murder innocents before, so there was no record of what he would've done if it really had been him. He just knew that he would've wanted to be alerted should someone been waiting for him, whether it was the police or another team. And it was that thinking that would've gotten him out of a situation like this, with an entire team laying in wait for him.
Aya strained to hear anything that wasn't from the priest…his eyes widened. The priest wasn't praying, he wasn't the one talking. There was someone in the confessional with him already.
Aya couldn't alert Yohji, on the off chance that he was wrong and the killer hadn't entered the building yet. He needed to be sure that the door was still covered should he be wrong and have to run back to his place. He didn't want the killer to be warned and go somewhere else for his next kill.
He needed to make sure that he caught him tonight, or the next death would be on his head.
He crept up on the confessional. If he was wrong he would just say that he hadn't realized it was already in use. He wondered if that was even believable. It wasn't a bathroom.
Aya jerked the door open. The second the door was open the person inside lunged out at him.
Aya shoved his sword between them, so that if the man tried to tackle him to the ground he'd fall on it. It also made it harder for the man to swing his sword up into him, as he'd have it in place to be able to turn in the right direction.
He stared the man in the eye. The man wore the wig, like before, but Aya hadn't expected him to go as far as violet contact lenses. Maybe so that if anyone saw him and lived they would give that as the description. The man was close to the same age as himself, with a similar build, and a face that was narrow like his own, but with unremarkable features. So if anyone did survive to tell the tale the wouldn't be able to remember anything but the eyes, hair, and rough age. He wouldn't have been able to clear his name.
"How did you know I would be here? There are a million places all over the damned city I could've been!" the man snarled at him. Aya drove his knee into the man's stomach.
"You were so sloppy it was pathetic," Aya taunted.
"Please! This is a holy place!" the priest pleaded as he ran out of the confessional.
"You idiot!" Aya shouted at the man. He lunged at the priest, but only to shove the man behind him.
"Even more fun, Abyssinian. I can run you and the priest through in one shot!" the man howled with laughter.
Aya didn't bother answering him. If he let the man get under his skin he wouldn't be focused enough to protect the priest and not get himself killed.
"Swear to God that you won't ever speak of me to anyone and I'll save your life," was all Aya said to the priest before going silent again.
"I swear!" the priest sobbed.
That was all Aya needed. He wouldn't get out of this completely unscathed if he was protecting someone else, but as long as he didn't die or leave blood all over the place he would be fine.
Aya kept his stance and let the man attack him. It was smarter to let the other person come at him in this situation.
"Why protect the priest? Do you think he'll absolve you of your sins?" the man laughed. Aya blocked his first strike easily, testing the skill behind it, which was very little.
Aya ignored him. He didn't deserve to have his sins forgiven. Murder should never ever be forgiven. Yohji's wires shot out past Aya. Aya quickly cut the wire. No, he wouldn't let Yohji take his revenge for him.
"Take the priest outside," Aya said to Yohji without looking back.
"Are you out of your mind!" Yohji shouted.
"Go with him. He won't hurt you," Aya said to the priest without so much as checking to make sure the man knew who he was talking about.
Yohji's shouts alerted Ken and Omi, who came running in.
"Bombay, can you take the priest outside?" Yohji asked when the priest made no signs of moving away from Aya.
"Come with me. I promise I will do everything I can to protect you," Omi assured. Aya could guess he was giving one of those smiles that calmed everyone down.
He could hear the priest reacting to Omi, following the boy out.
"Block the exits." Aya said once Omi was outside, sidestepping to avoid a swipe from the left.
His slid his sword in a circular motion around the man's and flung it from his hand easily. If the man had any real skill the sword never would've been lost so easily. But that was what he had been betting on. The man had never seen Aya's sword in use outside of katas, so he'd never known what some of those moves were meant for, and had probably spent hours doing it over and over trying to figure out how the hell ones like that one were supposed to kill someone. He knew how to hack and that was all. He had no skill against another sword.
Aya could've just killed him and been done with it. But that was too easy. First he was going to give him a hit for every one he had endured from Kritiker. Aya stabbed the man in the shoulder to wound him enough that he wouldn't be using that arm to defend himself, being that it was the arm that he had used as the strength behind the sword attacks.
"Was there a reason? I've never even seen you before." Aya would've known if he'd seen the man. Even if he hadn't been able to place it there would've been some sort of recognition. The man hadn't even been there to interrogate him.
Aya grabbed the wig and ripped it off his head so hard that a small chunk of hair came off with it from one of the clips that had held it pinned to the cap.
Aya grabbed the cap and yanked it off, too. He wanted to remember the details of the man's face and hair before he ruined them. He needed a reminder of this sin just like he had to remember every other one. He would not forget a kill ever. Killing someone, no matter how evil, should never be forgotten. It was a rule he lived by.
He kicked the man under the chin, knocking him flat on his back.
"You can't kill me without the higher ups coming down on you!" the man shouted at him.
"Then I guess its unlucky for you that I've never really cared about what the higher ups do." Aya booted him in the ribs over and over hard enough to hear a few of them snap.
"I asked you a question. I expect an answer. I'll know if you're lying." he waited, watching the man curl in on himself.
The man sobbed something out that Aya couldn't hear.
"Louder!" Aya snarled at him.
"My job…you took my…"
"What the hell is he talking about?" Yohji asked him.
"Weiss was supposed to be my team!" the man sobbed out.
Yohji started to cackle behind him.
"No wonder you got the job without even applying, Aya! If that was the competition!" Ken laughed.
"You didn't even give me a fight worthy of a child, and now you give me a pathetic reason like that?" Aya roared at him. He couldn't keep track of the hits anymore, he just beat the man through the floor.
"Aya? I think he's dead," Yohji's arms wrapped around him and pulled him back. Aya looked down at the corpse, and then stabbed it through the eye.
"You couldn't go for the chest?" Yohji groaned, looking away with a shudder.
"Can one of you take the body and his sword out? Bring them to Manx."
"In my car? You're going to get blood all over my car!" Yohji cried out.
"Well we can't leave it here, and we can't exactly drag it down the street. Besides, three of us have to stay back and have a chat with the priest about keeping his mouth shut."
"You're going to kill the priest?" Ken gasped.
"No," he really wasn't planning on it.
"I'm not driving around with a corpse!" Yohji hissed at him, as though he wasn't knee deep in corpses in their line of work.
"I'm not doing it!" Ken protested. "They'll pull me over for sure! And Omi's too young to drive!"
"Then I guess it stays here while you call Manx to send someone to pick it up."
"But then what will happen to the priest? He's seen everything!"
Aya ignored him. He already knew that. But he had a plan, if the priest went along with it.
Author's notes: Thanks JollyBigSis and Blackorcid for your reviews. :D
