Free Succulent Prey by Wrath James White Page B

he had to convince the man that he wasn't a lunatic with some ridiculous implausible theory by finding the proof himself. That meant a trip back to the library.
    Joe knew that he was getting close.
    Finding the link between the werewolf
    and vampire mythology and the serial
    kil er phenomenon might lead directly to a cure. If he was right, those old myths not only held the answer to how the
    disease was transmitted but also how it could be stopped. He wasn't wil ing to
    drive a stake through his own heart and nail himself inside a coffin or chop off his head and fil his mouth with garlic. Those were the last-ditch remedies for those
    monsters who had progressed to the
    point where they could no longer be
    saved. There had to be a less dramatic
    solution to the cloying hunger that raked at his mind and spirit, beyond al the
    hype and superstition. He had to find the cure soon. Before he kil ed Alicia.
    Sunlight ripped the curtain of night,
    bleeding morning into the sky just as Joe final y succumbed to sleep. He tossed
    and turned fitful y on his couch and
    dreamt of the day he'd been kidnapped
    from the playground by a budding child
    murderer named Damon Trent, who'd no
    doubt intended to make him his first
    victim. He could stil hear the fat
    teenager's tittering, high-pitched voice, like an overexcited young girl's, as he dragged him into his minivan and sped
    off down the street with Joe kicking and screaming for his life in the front seat. Joe stil had the faded bite marks and
    knife wounds on his ass, chest, neck,
    arms, and thighs from where the man
    had abused him.
    No one knew why the kid had released
    him the next morning instead of torturing him to death, as he would with his later victims. Perhaps he had thought Joe
    was near death anyway and would die of
    exposure before anyone found him.
    Perhaps he'd had mercy. He certainly
    hadn't shown mercy to his next three
    victims. He'd torn them apart. Joe could stil remember the feel of the knife
    plunging into his rectum as the man
    stabbed him repeatedly, and how he'd
    screamed like the world was ending,
    convinced that he was dead.
    When Joe woke up, drenched in his own
    sweat and screaming at the top of his
    lungs, the sun was already high in the
    sky and his alarm clock was blaring. It was time for class.
    Joe dressed and showered before
    going back into the bedroom to confront his captive. She looked awful, with blood caked on her breasts and stomach.
    She'd urinated on herself sometime
    during the night, unable to ask to use the bathroom with the gag in her mouth or
    perhaps hoping that she'd make herself
    too disgusting to rape. Joe removed the bal gag then lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom where he
    scrubbed off al the blood and washed
    her tenderly, lovingly, fighting to keep his mind on getting to school on time. He led her to the toilet and watched as she
    relieved herself, glaring at him
    murderously the entire time. He did his best to avoid her gaze. He knew he
    deserved her hatred. When she was
    done using the toilet he washed her
    again.
    Joe carried Alicia over to the bed and
    affixed an other chain to a loop in the ceiling, which he then connected to her wrist restraints. The chain was slack
    enough to al ow her to move about the
    bed but if she tried to get off the bed she would wind up dangling in the air 'til he got home. He explained al of this to her and her eyes began to tear up again.
    "I'm sorry," Joe said to her as he kissed her on the cheek. "I just can't help myself. I real y don't want to hurt you. I just don't know how to stop."
    He turned to walk out of the door.
    "You are beautiful, though. So beautiful." Then he left, locking the bedroom door
    behind him. Alicia heard the front door slam and the dead bolt click into place. Then she was alone. Alone in a
    madman's apartment with no way to
    escape.

Chapter Eleven
    Alicia sat in silence for a long moment listening to the sound of her own
    breathing, trying to steady her pulse