Wraith kicked in the door to the apartment that James and Jennifer shared. He was mildly amused at how easily they had let themselves be found. If he had not been tired of this game, he might have actually been disappointed. He did like a challenge after all. Now that he knew everything about James though, he was not at all surprised at the ease with which he had found him. If it had not been for Link, James would never have been able to get his hands on Wraith's money anyway. Wraith still was not entirely sure why Link had chosen to disclose the fact that he had provided James with access to the money. But then Link's motives had always eluded him.
When he first entered, Wraith heard a shriek come from his left. He turned and saw Jennifer with a suitcase packed. She was just walking into the living room that was visible from the front door when he gained access. He thought about shooting her right away, but since she was in a state of paralyzed shock, he stepped up to her and hit her hard enough to drop her and keep her senseless long enough to deal with James. He hated her for it, but his odd feeling of love for Jennifer remained, and he was not certain he would be able to kill her. Better to take James out first and then tackle the issue of Jennifer.
Wraith sped into the bedroom with his gun drawn and eyes ready for any sign of movement. He was not going to give James even one second to react to his presence. On the far side of the room, he saw James look at him in surprise. Wraith quickly squeezed off two rounds from the silenced handgun. He saw the bullets impact into James and the look of horror register on the imposter's face. But something was wrong. There was no blood and James did not sink to the ground like he should have. Instead of gaping holes with blood seeping out, there were strange cracks reaching out and away from the entry wounds.
Wraith studied this with his head cocked for a second before he realized what the problem was. He had not shot anybody. He had shot a damn full length mirror. But the look James had given him after being shot had certainly seemed genuine. Wraith knew that he had not made that expression into the mirror. It was only when Link appeared in the mirror and looked at the upright dead body of James that everything started to make sense to him. He almost wanted to scream at the horror and irritating poetic justice of it all.
"You have got to be kidding me." Wraith said to Link.
"Nope." Link said. "I told you to leave him alone. I told you he was your brother. And with you being an only child that should have meant something to you. But you are just too damn stubborn to listen. Now look at what you have done. You have chased yourself fruitlessly. At the cost of Vixen and however much money you would have been making by performing your job instead of taking all this time off. Was it fun for you? It has been a blast for me. I knew you would take the bait I put out for you. I set the trap for you and watched as you ran in circles. I have been waiting to watch you destroy yourself ever since we were kids. I am glad to say it was not at all disappointing."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up." Wraith said, his voice getting louder each time he said the words. He pulled the trigger again. Hitting the image of Link in the mirror. It did no good. Link simply smiled at him as if he was looking at a mentally challenged person that had just done something stupid.
"I will deal with you later." Wraith said and stalked back out to where Jennifer was trying to pick herself up off the ground. He kicked her in the shoulder, knocking her back down onto the carpet. Jennifer squealed slightly with the impact. She looked to be on the verge of a total breakdown. Wraith raised the barrel of the gun and pointed it squarely between her eyes. All it would take would be one slight flex of his finger and she would cease to exist. Just another one of his many victims. Dead and gone. Forgotten.
He tried to pull the trigger, but as he looked into her eyes, he found that he could not pull the trigger. Wraith's hand trembled slightly and he half lowered the gun until it pointed more or less at Jennifer's abdomen. He shook his head and tried to focus. What the hell was his problem? He had never had any trouble killing. It was what he did. It was who he was. Wraith was a killer, a destroyer, a harbinger of chaos. He never hesitated to do what must be done. Yet here he was, unable to do something so simple as pulling a damn trigger. It was not like he was planning on ripping her apart like he did to other victims. He did not want to mutilate her body and make a statement. He just wanted to shoot her in the head and rid her of his mind.
"Fuck." Wraith said, with genuine frustration. Jennifer's eyes were wide as she watched him wage his internal struggle. He lowered the gun and she started to rise. The movement caused him to bring the gun back up and retake aim on her face. Finding the gun pointed back at her head, Jennifer froze in mid movement. Once again Wraith was fighting with himself. Every fiber of his being told him to kill her and get out of there. After all, there was still a police car parked outside. They had not stopped monitoring this place, and they might have seen him kick the door in. He needed to deal with her and leave before the place was surrounded by flashing lights. His hand shook as he tried to force his finger to pull the trigger. It was no good. He lowered the gun again.
Jennifer did not know what to do. She had seen James step out of the apartment to smoke even though he had told her that he had quit. She did not really approve, but she could not really blame him under the circumstances. Jennifer had been completely shocked, however, when he had kicked the door in and rushed in with a gun in his hand. She didn't even know he owned a gun, and found it even more disturbing that he had it on him. Jennifer had been about to say something about it to him when he had hit her and knocked her down. She had been knocked nearly witless, but she had heard a few muted coughs coming from the bedroom. She took this to mean that the gun was silenced, but she had no idea what he was shooting at in the empty room. He talked to himself briefly and then came back out and kicked her. Jennifer did not know why he was pointing a gun at her, but she feared to speak. He was obviously both upset and violent right now.
"James?" She finally ventured. She did not know if talking would make it worse or not.
"No." Wraith said, aiming the gun once more at her face. "Not James. Do I seem like James? Damn it. Damn it all. James is nothing. He is a fucking worm. How in the hell did I not know he was in here?"
This last question came with him pointing at his head with his free hand. He was clearly upset and Jennifer was very confused. She had seen him act with violence in the hospital when he had come to her rescue from that horrible woman, but then it had been a controlled violence and he had done so in her defense. She had never thought that he could have been capable of acting so violently toward her. But then, what was it he had just said? That he was not James? And then he had pointed at his head as if it were something vile. So if he was not James, then who was he?
The answer came to Jennifer as she watched him vacillate back and forth about whether or not he was going to kill her. This was not James. Or rather it was his body, but James was not at home. This was the monster that they had been running from. The man that her and James had been afraid of. This was Wraith. The man that had been on a killing rampage and that had sent the crazy woman to kill her. And yet it was James too. The thought was so crazy that she had a hard time wrapping her head around it. How could the man she loved possibly have another personality that she had never seen before? Especially one as murderous as Wraith?
Wraith still stood over her locked in his internal struggle when a bald man entered the apartment through the broken doorway and pointed a gun at him. Wraith did not immediately take the gun away from being pointed at Jennifer, but his eyes shifted slightly in the direction of the newcomer. He appeared to have visibly calmed down from his internal battle over whether or not to kill Jennifer. While his outward appearance gave the impression that he was so at ease he could fall asleep on his feet, his muscles were tightly coiled, ready to turn and fire with deadly accuracy and speed.
"Stop, Wraith. You don't want to do this." The bald man said. "Just put the gun down and we can get you the help you need."
"I don't need any help." Wraith replied, as serenely as he would discussing the weather. "And I really do want to do this."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wraith spun, dropped to a kneeling position, and took aim. The man in the doorway fired his gun, but missed entirely. The speed with which Wraith had moved had thwarted the first attempt of the intruder to put him down. His aim had been trained on where Wraith had been standing and he was not able to correct his aim quickly enough. The bullet impacted harmlessly into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
Unlike his opponent, Wraith did not waste a hasty shot. He brought the gun to bear, took quick yet careful aim, exhaled, and squeezed the trigger. Once, twice, and then a third time for good measure. All three nine millimeter rounds found their mark and the man crumpled to the floor. He had tried to move when he realized he had missed his target, tried to get a better aim and put Wraith down, but he had simply not been quick enough. Once again, Wraith proved that there really was no match for him when it came to his ability to kill. Wraith simply smiled at the crumpled body and returned his attention to Jennifer. The newcomer had not been considerate enough to use a sound suppressor on his gun, so he had precious little time. He needed to take her out of this world and make his exit.