Warning: Gore is in this chapter.
Alastor looked at his reflection in the glass of the window and it made him disgusted with himself. These last few days had made him feel utterly useless. His daughter was lost in some other world and he couldn't reach her, his son was almost killed on his watch, his wife was overwhelmed with fear and he didn't know how to comfort her. He couldn't protect his family. Just what kind of husband and father was he?
"A pathetic one. One who your wife and children don't deserve."
"Alastor." Charlie placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He lied.
"Don't worry dear, Husk is supposed to come back with the expert tomorrow."
"Already she seeks another man for safety and comfort."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked defensively. "You need Husk to be here to make you feel safe? You don't trust your own husband to protect you?"
"What? That's not true. Alastor of course I trust you to keep us safe. But neither one of us know anything about what's taken Carrie. This expert does. If we want to get our daughter back we have to seek help from others. Remember?"
"I...I...You're right. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me just now."
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah Dad you look a little off." Aaron said.
"I'm just stressed. Stressed and worried about all of us."
"Maybe you should take some time to just breathe and calm down." Charlie suggested. "Blow off some steam? Is there anything you want to talk about?"
"No. I just need a moment to myself. To clear my head."
"Alastor I don't think you should be alone. At least not when you're feeling like this."
"It's just for five minutes. I'll be alright."
Alastor didn't want his wife or his son to him in a vulnerable state. He didn't want them to doubt that he was holding it together. That he couldn't handle the situation they were in. He had to handle it. He had promised Gabriel that he would be the man of the family. That he would do whatever it took to keep Charlie and the kids safe.
He left them in the living room and stepped outside. He took a few deep breaths and tried to relax but his mind was still so foggy. So filled with thoughts that made him doubt himself even more.
"What does she see in you? You're either a coward. Not at all worthy of someone like your wife."
"Stop it!" Alastor thought.
"You let people walk all over you! You're a living doormat! A pathetic wimp! Charlie could never love someone like you! She probably never loved you to begin with! She probably chose you out of pity!"
"Stop! I don't wanna hear this!"
"Or maybe it was out of fear? Maybe after she saw what you did to those boys, she became afraid that you would do the same to her if she rejected you!"
"That's not true! It's not true! Not true! Not true!"
"How can it not be true? Don't you remember exactly what you did to them? How you looked? How you acted? Remember?"
"No! Please! Don't bring that up! Don't bring it up!"
But the voice in his mind was already stirring up that dreaded memory he had spent so many years trying to bury. The memory that haunted not just him but his wife as well. The memory of the very first time he let his inner demon takeover.
...
There he was again. A scared nine year old boy, lying on the ground, weak from the beating he had taken from the Chambers brothers, and now forced to watch them violate Charlie. He saw her struggle, scream, and cry. She was so scared. He couldn't let them do this to her. He just couldn't.
That's when he saw the switchblade that lay next to his hand.
"Are you gonna cry little girl?" Vince taunted. "Good! I like it when they cry! Here! Let me lick away your tears!"
He leaned closer to her all the while tearing her dress and unbuckling his belt. His slimy tongue was just mere inches away from her tear stained cheek when he felt a blade get stabbed deep into his side. Said blade was then jerked back out so hard that it caused the sadistic teengaer even more pain.
"Son of a bitch!" He cursed. "What was that?!"
He turned over and saw Alastor. He stood on his feet, a bloody switchblade in his hand, his brown eyes suddenly crimson red, and a twisted smile evident on his face.
"Hey retard! What do you think-"
But he couldn't finish. At that exact moment, Alastor swiped the blade right across Vince's crotch and ultimately dismembering the very organ the defined his gender as a male. Vince let out an agonized yowl and dropped to the ground, squirming and bleeding out.
"You know Vince, I just realized something." The boy said still smiling. "You know how you find pleasure in tormenting those weaker than you are? Well I just found out that I find pleasure in tormenting tormentors. Isn't that funny?"
Keith released Charlie's arms and tried to run but Alastor was too quick. He stabbed both his legs and sent him falling on the ground just like his brother.
"Oh no." Alastor tsked. "No you're not going anywhere. Neither one of you are. For so many years you did everything you could to make my life miserable. You even tried to have me eaten alive by dogs! You caused me pain, made my mother cry each time you inflicted pain on to me, but worst of all you touched the only light in my life! You touched her and you were going to force your disgusting seed into her! That dear fellows is the straw that broke the camels back!"
"You've been begging for what we did to you since kindergarten! You're a damn freak! How did you expect us to treat you?!" Vince said.
"You got us, okay?" Keith said. "You got your payback now drop the knife, take your girl, and go!"
"Payback? Oh no this was just saving Charlie. You want to see what my payback for you all is?"
"You don't have it in you, you little shit!" Vince said.
"Bold words coming from someone who doesn't have balls anymore!" Alastor laughed.
"Look this doesn't have to get anymore ugly!" Keith said. "Just let us go!"
"Let you go? Are you actually begging me to let you go? Is that what you're doing? Tell me something, how many times did I beg you two to let me go? Countless!" He moved closer to them. "Charlie begged you to let her go but you were still going to rape her anyway, weren't you? Our pleas never appealed to your better nature! Why? Because you have none! There's no hope of goodness for the likes of you two! You're a lost cause! And I'll make sure that you never lay one finger on Charlie again!"
It all happened so fast and yet so slow at the same time. The way he stabbed them repeatedly and slit their throats. The pools of blood the spilled out with each strike he made. The insane laughter that erupted from his unstable smile. He had unleashed years of pain and anger on to those who had forced him to feel it. He was giving them their long awaited comeuppance and he relished in every second of it. Right until they were stone cold dead.
Charlie was petrified. She couldn't run or speak, she could only sit there and watch the massacre take place. She couldn't recognize the boy who stood before her. This wasn't the same Alastor she knew. Not the same sweet, caring, and understanding friend who would try so hard not to get upset. This was someone else entirely.
"Oh my God! What did you do?!"
It was Bryce, the one who had cowardly fled. He had heard brothers tortured screaming and came back to see what happened. He witnessed the entire blood bath and just like Charlie, he was too paralyzed by fear to do anything.
"Oh goody." Alastor grinned when he faced Bryce. "You've returned. Now you can face your punishment!"
Bryce started to run but he tripped on a root and tumbled down a hill. When he reached the bottom, he discovered that he had hurt his ankle so bad that he could barely walk. Which meant there was no way he could escape Alastor's wrath.
"Wait!" Bryce said when the ax-crazed nine year old stood over him "Wait a minute I...I barely ever did anything to you! Teasing was the worst of it and...And to be honest I didn't like harassing you to begin with! I would tell my brothers that we should leave you alone!"
"But you still went along with it! You didn't do anything to stop them! You knew what they were doing was wrong and you did nothing!"
"I couldn't! You don't understand! I can't say to no them! You think you had it bad? Who do you think they tortured when you weren't around? I live with them! They've done stuff to me that you could only see in your nightmares!"
"Oh how sad, perhaps if it was just me your cowardice effected I would find your actions more forgivable, but you left Charlie to be raped! She pleaded for your help and you ran away!"
"I'm sorry!" He cried desperately. "I'm sorry! I am so sorry! Really I am! You're right I did know what we were doing to you and her was wrong but I didn't know what to do! I was scared! Please try to understand!"
"Too bad! Nothing excuses what you did! And I'll never forgive you!"
He raised his blade to strike.
"Alastor stop!"
He turned stiff as soon as he heard her sweet voice call to him. When he moved to look at her, he saw her staring at him with a horror stricken face.
"Alastor please stop!" She pleaded. "This isn't right! I'm not in any danger anymore so you don't have to do this!"
"Yes I do! He needs to pay! To pay for never helping me! To pay for not helping you!"
"He's human! He made a mistake! We all do! But he's apologizing! He's begging you for your forgiveness! You don't have to give it to him but can you at least let him live?!"
"Why should I?!"
"Because I forgive him! I forgive him for not helping me! He is a coward! And he should be punished but not like this! Don't take away his life! Not when there's still hope for him! Hope for goodness!"
"I don't believe any of them could have any goodness in them!"
"What about you then?! What'll happen to you if you do this?! You have goodness in you but how much of it do you think will be left if you kill someone just to inflict more pain?! And me! Do you think I want someone I care about to become a monster?!" She was sobbing so hard. "You say you're doing this for my sake, but if you really care about me then you'll stop this right now! Before it destroys my best friend!"
He looked into her tear filled eyes. She was crying. She was crying because of him. Not because of Bryce. Because of him. He had scared her. He had made her cry. He had hurt her. That realization was enough to silence the repressed anger and bring back the boy's reason. His smile vanished, his eyes changed back to their original color, and soon welled up with tears just like hers did.
"Please don't cry Charlie." He sobbed. "Don't cry. I hate it when you cry. It hurts me."
He dropped the blade and looked at his blood stained hands in shocked revulsion. As if what happened before was just a bad dream and he was now waking up from it.
"Charlie I...I didn't...I didn't mean it...I didn't mean it!"
...
"But you did mean it, didn't you?"
"It wasn't like that!" Alastor spoke out loud. "I was angry and I did want to make them suffer but I didn't want to go that far! It was like something inside of me turned me into somebody else! It was like it was me and but at the same time it wasn't me!"
"You don't really have any idea what you're doing, do you? You can't take care of this family. You can't use this body to do anything right. You're better off not using it all. You should let someone else have it. Someone who can put it to good use."
That's when Alastor felt his mind going dark and his movements no longer responding to him. He tried to fight it but his self-doubt and insecurity had made his will weak. Weak enough for the demon who owned the inner voice to take full control.