Page 52 of The Silent Night Stalker
“You’re the fucking liar! It all makes sense now. Thistwinkfound the letters between Enrique and Carmen, letters I’ve already told Alfonzo about. Enrique was about to propose to her, and then they were going to run off together. But Alfonzo couldn’t have that, could he? The Da Costas are pushing him out, so he made a deal to get them to back off. He had to kill Enrique, and in return, he got to keep them from pushing into Alfonzo’s territory. Now, I’m no criminal mastermind, but do you really believe the Da Costas will stop? I mean, come on. Alfonzo looks desperate in their eyes. Weak. They will pounce on him as soon as they get the chance. And then you were going to kill me because I was being fucking pushy about my fucking brother!”
Mario glances away, saying nothing. Right then, I know without a doubt that Constantine was right. I want to stay in denial, but I can’t ignore the truth.
I stand and turn to face Constantine, who stands with me, showing worry in his eyes. “Do you have anything I can kill him with?”
“Yes, but I am doing it. This is my gift to you.”
My tense shoulders sag, and I shake my head. The anger hasn’t washed away, but Constantine has my full attention. I can’t let him do it. Just because he’s some serial killer doesn’t mean he has to kill for me. He truly believes that what he does is a good thing. Killing Mario will, in a strange way, soil Constantine. “No, I should do it. This is for Enrique.”
He places his hand on my cheek to get me to look at him, and I lean into his touch and close my eyes. Yeah, he calms me when all I see is red. “This is my gift to you,” he repeats. “I love you, and I’ll always protect you, just like you’ll always protect me. I know this down to my soul. I don’t know how relationships work or how quickly people fall in love with each other. How I feel about you is just… right. My belief in you is strong. While it still terrifies me that I nearly killed you, God set me on this path to find you. To be with you. To love you. To find someone for me so I’m not alone anymore, and it’s clear to me that you need someone, too, someone who worships you. Mario needs to pay for what he’s done, and he will. But you haven’t killed anyone before. This is a… different sort of kill for me, but I will do it a hundred times—a thousand times for you if I have to. And it doesn’t matter if I do it, you will still get your revenge, and Enrique can rest peacefully.”
Constantine drops his hand, squats, reaches into his backpack resting on the floor, and pulls out a folding knife. It’s a long blade, and it looks extremely sharp. It glints brightly in the reflecting Christmas lights around the tree.
Mario starts to struggle and roll away. “No! You will pay! Alfonzo will not let you live if you kill me!”
I drop to my knees and grab his throat in a tight vise. “Fuck Alfonzo. He will be dealt with, too. I thought of you both as family. But that’s my fault. My mistake for trusting you two.” His face turns red, and his eyes roll into his head as I squeeze tighter. I could choke him to death. It would be relatively quick. “You don’t deserve to live. Enrique only loved. That was his crime. Fuck you!”
Constantine placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Stop. He needs to suffer more than that. He needs to bleed.”
I let go of Mario’s throat, and he gasps for air, his dark eyes looking at me as if they could kill with a thought. Then his eyes shift to Constantine when he sits next to me. “I’ll pay you. How much do you want? I’ll put it into your account. Just leave town. Go, and we won’t pursue you. I swear it,” Mario says with a hint of fear for the first time.
“Alfonzo won’t let it go. If he can kill Enrique for a tiny bit of territory and a sliver of power, he won’t forgive me for this. Besides, it’s not about money. I don’t give a fuck about your money. I’m doingthis for my best friend. My foster brother. The one who kept me whole when I was suffering. He deserves his justice, and I deserve my revenge.”
I watch in fascination as Constantine grabs a fistful of Mario’s hair in one hand and calmly carves an ‘E’ on his scarred face with the other. Mario grunts and tries to fight it, but all he can do is take it.
“So everyone knows that we know,” Constantine explains. “They will live in fear, wondering when we’re coming for them next. They will understand that this is about Enrique and his revenge. And those who find Mario’s body will know that Mario and Alfonzo have no loyalty to their family. God punishes those who deserve it, but sometimes we need to hurry the process along. They will be judged in the next life.”
He does the same on the other side of Mario’s face. My former friend glares daggers and snarls obscenities at us. He can bitch all he wants. There’s no getting out of this.
Constantine grips Mario’s throat much as I had done earlier, but he doesn’t squeeze as tightly. “That is nothing compared to the pain you put my angel through. He’s pure. Beautiful. I’m furious that you’ve made him hurt and suffer.” Though he says he’s angry, his entire demeanor is calm. Fucking chilling. Whenever I’m with Constantine, he’s either shy, sweet, or submissive. This side of him is something I’ve never seen before. Not that I’ve forgotten, but it’s a reminder that, at the end of the day, he’s killed multiple people, no matter how he justifies it. And you know what? I don’t give a shit. He’s given me my revenge on a fucking silver platter. He’s found Enrique’s killer. I will be eternally grateful to my little bird.
Without letting go of Mario’s throat and hovering the knife right in his view, Constantine glanced back at me. “You don’t have to stay, Angel. It’s going to be messy.”
“I’m not fucking going anywhere. Do it.”
“Wait! What do you want? What can I give you?” Mario cries out, thrashing through his bonds, but there’s no way to get out of them. Constantine did a perfect job of tying him up.
“Unless you can bring Enrique back to life, there’s nothing.”
He snarls and thrashes again. “You’re going to die painfully! I guarantee it!”
I make a fist and I’m about to break the bastard’s face again, but Constantine raises a hand to stop me. “I’ve got this, Angel.” Then he turns his attention back to Mario. “I don’t like to torture. Those I free from their suffering, I always make sure they don’t feel a thing. But I don’t mind making an exception for you. You don’t know me, but they call me The Silent Night Stalker.”
Mario’s eyes explode wide, and for the first time, I see true fear. Then he looks at me. “I’m sorry, okay? I was just obeying orders.”
I scoff. “Now, we’re throwing Alfonzo under the bus? Typical. You’re both weak. Pathetic.” With that, I nod at Constantine.
I watch on in mild fascination as he nicks and slices Mario. There isn’t a lot of screaming since Mario toughs it out. His shirt is unbuttoned, and he’s missing swaths of skin on his chest. No cutout hearts for him. That’s when the real screaming begins, and I have to stuff a rag into his mouth to shut him up.
The last cut is to his jugular, where he quickly bleeds out. His dark eyes soon glaze over in death, and his body stills.
“It’s done,” Constantine says. His bloodied hands rest on his lap, palms up, and the knife falls onto the rug. His head hangs low, and I realize right then how hard that was for him, more than I assumed. It was his first revenge kill, and he did it to protect me.
I sit in front of him, and like I always do because I can’t fucking help myself, I cup his face with two hands and lift his head to look atme. “Are you okay, baby? Please tell me you’re okay.” I know Constantine isn’t the most stable mentally, so his reaction has me worried. I was so deep in my revenge that I didn’t stop to think about how it would make him feel. Well, I did, but I talked myself out of it. Fuck, I should’ve done it myself.
“I-I’m fine… I think.”
“Constantine…”
