Double Trouble

Misty Temper was a strange name for a girl to have. Most people didn't believe her when she said that was her name. Some would laugh. It was funny she mused; a redundancy really, and an understatement.

Her first victim was Gideon Sparks; a bartender who owned a heavy metal dive bar called The Rusty Nail. Gideon proposed to her with a day right out of her most gothic fantasies. She awoke to breakfast in bed, a single black rose on her tray. Gideon slipped back underneath the black velveteen comforter with her, his broad dark brown chest glistening with the sweat from their love-making in the early morning light. He smoothed back her long twisted locks and caressed her shoulder.

"You still haven't touched your French toast," he mumbled as he nibbled her neck sweetly.

"OK, OK" she giggled "I'll eat the damn toast."

Misty lifted the tray and on top of the frosted toast was an onyx ring. Her heart nearly burst she was so happy. She tried the ring on, holding it up to the faint light and it sparkled darkly against her skin. They were so perfect for each other she thought. They had to be the only African-American Goth couple around for miles. They honed in like two corresponding satellites. She loved his mysteriousness. He would be gone at odd hours of the night, but she never questioned him. He did run a bar after all.

She worked nights too at the local morgue. How trite she thought that she should work there, given that she was into gothic culture. Her crazy friends always wanted to visit her there but she wouldn't let them. There'd be no molesting the dead on her watch.

She made her way out the house to where her late model sedan was parked and noticed to her chagrin that the key was staring back at her from inside, still stuck in the ignition. She'd been in such a rush last night to get to Gideon that she'd locked herself out her car.

"Ah, fuck me!" she yelled. She remembered that Gideon had mentioned something about keeping a Slim Jim in his work shed. She never went in there because it was his private domain. Sometimes he'd be in there for hours doing wood working. Once inside the shed, she tried the drawers in a red tool chest. The Slim Jim was nowhere to be found. In her haste to get to another chest she tripped over a hack saw that was on the floor and fell against the wall, noticing it gave way a little. Investigating further, she found a wooden panel and slid it back.

Misty cupped her hands over her mouth to stop the flow of vomit that stuck in her throat. The boy inside must have only been about six or seven. He was enclosed in a plastic bag next to a bottle of embalming fluid. It didn't take her long to put two and two together. She carefully placed the panel back and went to call AAA roadside assistance.

Night had long since fallen, gripping the city in its cloying embrace. The Rusty Nail closed at 2 a.m. Misty waited in the driveway for Gideon to come home. His vintage Harley rumbled like a beast as it crawled to a stop on the driveway. He dismounted the bike and ran to grab her in a sensual bear hug.

"Hey, baby," he growled, his hands cupping her butt.

"Hey," she smiled with effort. "Gideon," she began, "let's do something different tonight. Something wild."

"Sure," he grinned. "What you got in mind? I'm game."

"I always wanted to make love in the wild. Somewhere secluded. Like we could drive out towards Santa Cruz - out in the middle of nowhere."

"Your wish is my command, baby", he drawled seductively.

They parked off the roadside nestling the bike in a groove of trees. She got off the bike and gave him a long slow kiss.

"Now, I want you to get naked and let me worry about the rest," she smiled coyly.

He lay down on the grass compliant. He looked so vulnerable that she had to remind herself of her resolve.

"Tell me you're deepest fantasies," she whispered. "I want to know all your secrets."

"You already know mine, honey."

She looked at him quizzically as she tied each wrist and both ankles to four tree stumps firmly with a rope she had brought from the shed and stored in a knapsack.

"I was wondering what you were gonna do with that," he smiled.

"Do I know all your deepest, darkest secrets, love?" she asked finally revealing a secret of her own. A large kitchen knife freshly sharpened that day. "I'm guessing you're into some really freaky shit, right?"

He looked up confused.

She pouted dramatically looking down at him balancing the blade between each hand.

"You looked so perplexed. Let me enlighten you 'babe'. Isn't that what you like, Gideon - babies."

She pulled out the knife and lifted it up high in the air over her head. Reality dawned in his stare.

"Oh yes, 'babe' you're finished."

Before she could hear any explanations or apologies she struck with a swift blow. The knife savagely sliced through bone, muscles and sinew. Blood spewed everywhere. This was gonna be a bitch to clean up she thought.

They'd never find Gideon's body when she was through. She burned all his remains and scorched the spot where he was killed. She rode his bike to his house and parked it. Now all that was left was to play the devastated fiancé. She was devastating all right she thought with a wry laugh. She buried the little boy's body in a beautiful meadow. After everything had died down she'd send a letter to his parents telling them where he was, letting them know the perpetrator was dead and would never hurt anyone else again.

Nine victims later Misty stood behind the Rusty Nail in the Alley watching her latest conquest. She only killed them when they deserved it she thought. And now it was almost a disease within her. She craved to see their pathetic whining in the final moment. Contestant number 10 had murdered a woman in this very alley three weeks ago. She saw it happen when she was dumping the trash outside her ex's old place. One minute the murderer and his victim were there and the next, gone. But she knew what she saw.

It happened then, just like it had to the victim. She saw a flash of him, blonde, exotic looking. His body moved like lightening as his sharp teeth tore at the side of her neck and sucked mercilessly. She could feel something vital draining away.

The next evening came and with it a hunger. She woke up in her ex's apartment. Instinctively, she knew she was different. Everything was brighter, faster, smoother, more graceful. Then it dawned on her that she probably wasn't even human. She smiled cutting the inside of her mouth on accident. This was more then she could have hoped for.

"Hell Yeah!" she shouted into the night sky.