The wolf and the hunter, chapter 2
Sorry for the long wait, but like I said, lots of work this semester! Yes, this is indeed the story described in the summary, but it'll take a couple of chapters before it gets that far. Meanwhile, enjoy this second chapter!
Dick dropped his duffel bag down on the kitchen floor, slung his dark blue police jacket over the back of a chair. He took a couple of steps into an apartment that would have seemed lifeless if not for the distant typing sounds coming from the bedroom. The owner of the apartment had heard him come in the front door, and the voice of a young woman shouted:
''I'll just finish up this paper and I'll be right with you!''
Dick left the kitchen, crossed the vast living room to arrive to the bedroom. At a desk, seated in front of a computer, was his girlfriend Gina. Her back to him, she ran her fingers over the keys of her keyboard, the text appearing just as fast on the screen. He approached her without a word, his already quiet footsteps muffled to nothing by the thick carpet and suddenly grabbed the armrests of the chair on each side of her. She jumped, startled.
''Good God!''
Gina turned to him, not so amused by having the living daylights scared out of her. A smile still appeared on her freckled face, and even though she gave his forearm a quick slap, she could not manage getting angry at that grinning idiot.
''How many times must I tell you not to sneak up on me?''
Deep blue eyes held her brown ones.
''I think you secretly hope that I'll do it more often.'' He replied.
Gina narrowed her eyes in a playful 'I'm keeping an eye on you' -manner.
''You're not getting away that easily, my friend.''
Dick grinned even wider and attempted to pick her up from the chair and into his arms.
''Waitwaitwait!'' She complained. ''I need to finish this!''
''You've been at it the whole day. Now I require some attention.''
He lifted her up bridal style. She stopped wriggling to throw her arms behind his neck, sliding her hands into his longish black hair, tugging lightly at the dark strands. Their lips met, softly at first as if they tested eachother, like they weren't quite sure of where the other's limits went. Sure, they had done a lot more than just kissing before but they were still new to eachother, and Dick always let Gina take the lead in the beginning, not wanting to startle her or make her feel like she had to do things she didn't want to.
She intensified the kiss by tightening her grip around him, pressing herself up against his chest. Damn, he felt good. His whole being gave off an aura of power and elegance, and she often wondered how a guy like him had ended up with a girl like her. There was no doubt that he could get any girl he wanted, his supple yet strong body ripped with muscle and wonderful blue eyes being undeniably attractive assets. Gina, on the other hand, was nowhere that close to perfect beauty. She was petite, barely 5'3'', looking rather ordinary. Her face had too many freckles for her own taste, her red hair was hard to tame and her rack was nothing to write home about. She also found her own eye color boring and her nose slightly too big.
Gina really didn't understand how Dick could like her enough to become her boyfriend but she sure wasn't complaining. She had been surprised by how kind he was, for most of the handsome guys she had met took what they wanted from one girl before jumping to the next. She knew all too well. It was clear from the way Dick kissed that he had quite a lot of experience, but he never spoke of his ex-girlfriends when he was in her company, nor did he ever compare her to them.
Whenever Dick was with her, she felt that she had his whole attention, that he was hers fully. They had only been together for a very short time, but Gina already thought that he might be the one she'd like to grow old with.
She let go of him so he could set her down on the bed, grabbing the front of his shirt immediately after her back touched the mattress, dragging him down over her. He followed easily and passed an arm behind her waist, holding her tightly against him while he kissed her again. God, was he beautiful.
Someone knocked twice at the front door. Intrigued because she wasn't expecting any visitors, Gina went to open. Dick had left early that morning and he had his own key to her place, so this could not be him. A hand on the door handle, she wondered if she was going to let this someone in. She had been on her way to the shower, the sweat from last night still clinging to her body. Dick knew how to keep a girl busy, she gave him that. Nevertheless, she poked her head out, finding a guy dressed in blue overalls and a matching cap standing on the door mat, holding a large tool box.
''Morning, miss!'' He greeted cheerfully. ''I'm here to check on the water pipes.''
Seeing confusion appearing on her face, his smile dropped.
''Oh. I see that your landlord hasn't notified you. We check the pipes annually to make sure that every thing's all right and to avoid water damage before the accidents actually happen. But no matter, I can come back later if now is inconvenient for you.''
Gina did not feel like sending the guy away since he already was here and opened the door wide to let him in. Her shower could wait.
''By all means. Come in.''
''Much obliged, miss. You have no idea how much easier it is for me to get all the maintenance done in one go than having to leave and come back another day.''
He found the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink. After having set aside the detergent and bleach bottles, he took a wrench out of his tool box and tapped it lightly against some pipes leading away from the water tank.
''Look here, miss.'' He said, obviously having found something. '' Your landlord is right to have everything checked out regularly. There's a cracked piece here that I will have to replace. If it'd broken completely, you would've gotten water all over your floor.''
Unable to see what he tried to show her from where she stood, Gina approached and got down on all fours to stick her head under the sink, looking at the area at which he pointed. She didn't realize her mistake before the wrench slammed into the back of her skull.
When Gina regained consciousness, it was with one hell of a headache. The damn bastard had hit hard. Blinking a couple of times, the young woman tried to rid herself of the white spots that danced before her hurting eyes. It took her a while to realize the position she was in. A dirty rag was tied around the lower half of her face, muffling her every sound. She tried to lift a hand to the throbbing lump she knew must be forming on the back of her head but her arm did not respond.
She lowered her gaze and saw that her wrists were fastened with duct tape to the chair in which she sat, and a second look made her aware that her ankles had suffered the same fate, taped to the chair's legs. Cold sweat started to dampen the back of her shirt. This was definitely not good. She couldn't move to defend herself, she couldn't scream for help. Who the hell hated her enough to do this?
As she raked her mind trying to remember anybody that could hold such a grudge against her, she let her eyes travel around, scanning her surroundings. The place was a large, almost empty construction built with corrugated iron sheets, a sort of warehouse. The high roof was held up by a network of iron beams, and from between the beams hung a long electric cord that held a crappy naked light bulb about four feet above her head. Said light bulb cast a yellow light that still was strong enough to hurt her eyes and pancaked her shadow over the crude concrete floor.
Gina tensed up. Had she just heard the sound of footsteps? She listened. She heard footsteps indeed, growing louder by the second as a person approached. A metal door opened somewhere behind her and the footsteps came closer until the person stopped right in her blind spot, the shadow of a man joining hers on the floor. Fingers undid the knot of the gag, granting her speech. She took a large lungful of air, not aware that she had been holding her breath when she listened.
She kept her eyes fixed upon her own shadow as the man came around to stand in front of her.
"What do you want with me?" She asked, struggling to keep her voice steady as the fake plumber's face came into sight.
A chuckle rumbled in his throat and he covered her taped hand with his.
"Don't take it personally. It's your boyfriend I want."
"Dick?" Her brow furrowed. "What business could you possibly have with him?"
Dick was a police officer. Could it be that he'd made enemies that were now coming for him?
In the light of the bulb she clearly saw the malice that glittered in her captor's eyes.
"Well, what do you know." He sing-sang in a sickening sweet voice. "He never told you."
"Told me what?" She snapped, annoyed by his game.
"Blüdhaven has a bad case of what my boss likes to call 'an infection of roof-rats'. Vigilantes."
Gina snorted:
"And you think that he might be one of them? I've never heard anything so ridic…"
She interrupted her own sentence. What did she really know about Dick? To be fair, she actually knew very little. And there was that moment a couple of weeks ago, when she had waited for him at his apartment and had decided to do his laundry for him. As she was putting freshly cleaned and dried clothes in place in the closet, a glint of black and blue had caught her eye.
Curious, she had taken the garment out to take a closer look at it. At first she'd thought it was a circus suit, as she knew that Dick had been a performer and helped out at an old friend's circus when he was needed. But she was rather certain that acrobats did not wear Kevlar. Then she had heard the key move in the lock and the front door swinging open, and had hurried to put the black and blue suit back in place. Then she had simply forgotten it.
Gina bit her lip and a grin spread on the fake plumber's face when he saw the wheels spinning in her head.
"You see? Now he'll be rushing here to save his sweetheart, and I'm ready for him."
His hand squeezed her immobilized one and she was suddenly aware of the gun holstered at his hip when he stood up. He cast a glance at his watch:
"He's late, though."
"Was it a good idea to remove the gag?" She asked, sticking her chin out in defiance. "If I scream and he hears it, he will come to kick your ass."
She wasn't so sure of what she affirmed. She had no idea of how good a fighter Dick was, although judging from the musculature he possessed, he should be able to pack quite a punch.
"You'll scream you say?"
People used to say that the eyes were windows to the soul, and in that moment, his brought his madness to the surface. The blade of the slim knife he held jumped in sight as he pressed the button that released it, steel catching the yellow light like a murderous diamond. Wild and crazy, his eyes bore into hers.
"I'm counting on it."
When the razor-sharp steel broke her skin to dive into the pool of red underneath, she did just what he wanted her to do. She screamed like she never had before.
"Come on. You're not gonna take a nap now, are you?"
How she wanted to tear her head away from his touch, but his hand held her chin in a tight grip. To be honest, she didn't even have the strength to move. She barely could think straight. Her clothes felt sticky and moist, glued to her skin by sweat and blood. For twenty minutes he had been taking the knife at her, slow and thorough, careful not to slash too much at anything major, prolonging her pain like the fucking sadist that he was.
Deep cuts littered her face, arms and torso, and both her legs had been stabbed twice, rending them useless should she come loose and attempt to run. If she ever came out of this alive, her mirror would be a daily reminder of this night, the bloody gashes too deep to disappear without leaving large ugly scars or without expensive surgery she never would afford.
In the beginning she had screamed and cried, and the sorer her throat became, the more she tired. Now, her head hang limply, her chin resting against her chest. Few were the inches of her body that weren't covered with red.
The fake plumber sat on the concrete floor, playing with the bloody knife in his hand. Muttering to himself, he looked impatient. His impatience turned to irritation after a few minutes and he turned to his maimed victim, the young woman he had bled as simply as if he'd been tapping a maple tree for its syrup.
"I'm starting to think that this boyfriend of yours isn't coming," he said flatly, his eyes gone back to normal, "and that's really disappointing. I, who was ready for him and everything."
Suddenly, a deafening BANG echoed through the place. The iron exit door sprung off its hinges to fly a good seven feet into the warehouse, scraping horribly against the floor when it landed. It had almost been bended in half by a violent kick, and the one who had treated it so mercilessly stepped forward to the door frame, heavy steel-toed boots hard against the concrete.
"Dick got held up," the newcomer said, his voice sounding oddly metallic, "so I'm filling in for him."
