"Do you believe in God?"

Suddenly I did because surely I was looking at the very devil himself, and
if the devil was standing before me right now then that meant there had to
be a God - right?

I was vaguely aware that although I fully intended to answer him, I was
doing no more than opening and closing my mouth and I guess I must have
looked something like a large fish. I was unable to form a word or utter a
single sound.  I settled for a jerky nod instead.

"Well then mate, perhaps you might want to start prayin' because I'm going
to tear out your spine and beat you to bloody fucking death with it for
looking at her like that."

I had intended to offer a hot denial, roar in outrage that he 'must be out
of his mind' and I simply had 'no idea what he could be talking about' that
I sure as hell 'didn't appreciate the implication', but once again fear
rendered me incapable of speech and somewhere in the back of my mind I
realized I had just pissed in my own pants.

I didn't feel so 'slick' now and I briefly wondered how I ever thought that
I was.

He smiled then, and it was the most horrible thing I had ever seen in my
quite horrifying life and if I could have I would have moaned, maybe even
sobbed.  It didn't matter I was in the middle of the bronze and that it was
crowded, because..it was just me and him.

"Do you honestly believe that I don't recognize the intent in your hungry
little eyes when you look at her?  Do you think that I can't see exactly
what kind of death you want to give her?  Look at me!"

He purred rather than spoke, and although he never raised his voice I was
helpless against the implicit command and I obeyed his softly spoken order
and raised my gaze to his.  He nodded slowly - and god help me - he was
grinning again.

"I've been dealing death on this planet for longer than you could possibly
imagine.  I cut a bloody swathe through Europe for over a century the likes
of which the world had not seen before and hasn't seen since.  I've taken
more lives than some wars.  I'm the top of the food chain, boy; I'm the
fucking shark here.  When I see you looking at her I know exactly what
you're planning."

Even though what he was telling me should have been impossible, I believed
every word he said.  I may have thought I was a killer but this man - no,
not a man - this monster was death personified and I felt something then
that I couldn't name because there simply wasn't a word for how scared I
was.  I wondered briefly if this was how my victims felt just as I -

"I want you to listen closely now, mate because what I'm gonna say is
important."

When the silence stretched out I realized he was waiting on something from
me, some kind of confirmation that I had heard and I was for damn sure not
wanting to disappoint him, the consequences of angering him further were
just too damn awful - but fuck it all, I still couldn't get my vocal chords
to work, it was almost as if my body had already begun to shut down in
protest and I was laying bets right now that maybe you could die of fright.

I nodded a little desperately and my hair flew forward across my forehead
stinging my eyes, but when I saw him straighten I knew it had been the
reaction he wanted and Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, I was so fucking relieved.

"When she dies." He began with an almost dreamy smile on his face. "When the
light goes out of her eyes for the last time, and she takes her last breath,
I will be the very last thing she sees, the very last thing she hears, and
the very last thing she feels.  Because I will be the one to deliver her
death..do you believe that, mate?"

I was nodding again, dimly aware that I must have looked like some kind of
fucking demented head-banger or one of those creepy retards - I was supposed
to be slick for Christ's sake!

Not so slick now.  No Sir...

Not that I would have believed it possible but just then my eyes got a whole
hell of a lot wider and I'd be god damned if his grin didn't too - but
suddenly I wasn't quite so bothered by that killer's grin - I just realized
that I had a whole set of new things to worry about, new facts had come to
light, and these facts were gonna have to take priority.  These facts were
leaking out at a truly sickening rate from the gaping hole that had suddenly
appeared in my chest.

"Now I know I said I was gonna rip out your spine and beat you to death with
it but I'll let you in on a little secret, mate"  he leaned towards me and
whispered his last sentence in a conspiratol tone, one dark eyebrow raised,
icy blue eyes twinkling mischievously  and I know there is something wrong
with a mischievous twinkle in the eye of a monster, but there it was, and
I'll be a monkey's butt, but by Christ I almost grinned right back!  "I
LIED"  He laughed and slapped an odd shaped, throbbing blob on the table in
front of me before sliding gracefully out of the booth.

I watched him for a moment as he swept across the smoky dance floor in a
swirl of expensive leather and cigarette smoke, towards the girl with
dancing green eyes and shining red hair who raised one small hand in
greeting and favored the monster with a dazzling smile as he approached.

My gaze returned to the object on the table in front of me and I realized
that the last thing I would see before I died was the very last beat of the
heart he had so casually torn from my chest cavity..........Not so slick
now.  No Sir.

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