23.
At night I have tormenting dreams in which Selena appears. She’s leaning over me and pricks an injection needle in my arm. With a demonic grin she looks down on me. I want to pull her hair, but I can’t move.
When I wake up with a sore head, I realize it maybe wasn’t a nightmare. A very small wound in my upper arm confirms my suspicions. Somewhere in the course of the night Selena entered my room and probably gave me another dose. I notice it’s still early in the morning when looking at the rising sun outside.
My arms feel heavy and although I slept the entire night, I feel weak. Damn it! The fact that I’m starving to death after not eating for an entire day only makes me feel more lifeless. Are they planning to murder me through starvation or what?
With great difficulty I struggle to my feat. It wasn’t until now I noticed I’d fallen asleep with my boots on and pull them out. As a sleepwalker I drag myself to the bathroom. I undress myself, get under the shower and let the ice-cold water stream over me. My teeth chatter and I shiver like crazy, but I want to be as fresh as possible. I can’t stand too long under the jet because the water is already reaching the edge of the tub.
Nah well, I couldn’t care less. They have closed the drain and after all I need to have a wash.
Luckily I find towels in the closet underneath the washbasin. The drying off takes a lot of effort. I’m disgusted by the thought, but I can’t do anything else but to put on the same dirty clothes I’ve been wearing for a few days already.
At the moment I’m totally dressed the door opens. My heart immediately skips a beat and rages like crazy.
And old, stylish man enters the room. His grey hair is neatly combed backwards and he wears a perfectly ironed dark blue suit. His skin still looks flawless with only some slight wrinkles underneath his eyes that look intelligent to me.
He comes towards me with self-assured, elegant steps and meanwhile looks openly at me from head to toe. He’s taller than I am, for sure about twenty centimeters. A slight smile plays about his lips.
‘So, Manon, welcome to my house.’ He looks at me like a python looks at its victim.
He gives me the creeps, but I don’t let it show. I look back at him with a mixture of dread and anger, with my hands on my hips. I’m not planning to talk to him and press my lips tightly together. Just who does that old fart think he is?
‘You don’t look bad,’ the man continues. ‘But I’m being impolite. My apologies. My name is Noël Borgax.’
He extends his hand to me, which I’m not willing to shake. So that’s what N.B. means: Noël Borgax. Sounds as nasty as the guy himself.
He smiles and puts his hand in his pocket again.
‘You’re a pithy thing, aren’t you? But that couldn’t be otherwise. Jabar has probably trained you well.’
He demonstratively turns his back on me and walks to the window. I see my chance and get closer to him.
With his look on the outside he says: ‘Don’t you try to do anything, Manon, it’s no use.’
I abruptly stop in my movements.
‘If you turn around, you’ll see what I mean.’
With a tug I look behind me. There’s Selena, the bitch. She looks triumphantly at me and holds a pistol on me, which I think is a Beretta. She grins, exposing her fangs. Aha, so she really is a vamp and not a transformer in the shape of a vamp.
‘I think you two already met.’ Noël still hasn’t turned around yet. That guy is really sure about his power.
‘Selena is my loyal right hand,’ he continues. ‘A little bit like you are Jabar’s.’
Except that we don’t kidnap people and don’t play dirty tricks, cunt!
‘Do you know why you’re here?’
For a game of Monopoly? I’m still not planning to have a conversation with him, so I shut up.
Noël turns around and looks at me with his eyebrows raised. I fix my gaze back on him.
‘Hm, has the cat got your tongue? It doesn’t matter, it makes our job a lot easier.’
I really have to hold myself back not to fly at him and pull out all of his tidy hair. Unfortunately I’m not immune to bullets.
‘I still have something to settle with your master. He isn’t as kind as you would think, Manon.’
A likely story, just play your dirty psychological game. Just try to set him against me, shithead.
‘How well do you think you know your pseudo-father? Well?’
Jabar really must be bothering him. As soon as he’s talking about him a furious expression comes around his lips and his eyes look fiercer.
‘He’s a busybody,’ he continues imperturbable.
I look at him as if I’m not at all interested in what he has to say. And that’s actually the way I feel about it too.
‘He has ruined my life,’ he continues his monologue. ‘Because of him I am who I am now!’
Yeah yeah, it’s always easy to blame someone else of things that went wrong in your life. Typical for psychopaths: lies and using manipulation.
I stay unmoved and that really starts to get on his nerves now. He clenches his hands to fists and looks sharply at me.
‘You don’t believe me? You still think that that elf is a saint? I’m the one who’s the victim of his actions!’ His voice cracks.
Still another feature of a psychopath: they play the poor wretch as well as the self-assured one who made something of their life. Depending on the person whom they’re dealing with and are trying to manipulate. Reading those psychology books served a useful purpose.
Noël still withers me with his looks and then walks out of the room, with Selena in his tracks. With a loud hiss the door locks.
Shit, I should’ve asked for food. I’m not that proud that I want to die of hunger. I walk to the bed and right at that moment the door swings open.
I can’t believe my eyes!
That same devil I ordered a week ago to bring the money back to the robbed shops is standing in the room. He’s holding a tray on which are a jug of water and a plate with sandwiches. Without losing me out of his sight he walks to the bed and puts the tray on it.
Immediately it occurs to me that I don’t have Diedie’s mojo to protect me against his telepathical influence! That doesn’t look so good for me.
‘Do you recognize me?’ he sneeringly asks.
He looks freshly washed and pedantic. Absolutely not like when I met him for the first time. Further on he wears expensive looking cotton trousers, a roll neck and leather slip-ons.
‘I recognize your ugly conk, yes,’ I answer. ‘What was your name again? Rumpelstiltskin?’
He only grins.
I wither him with my looks. ‘Is it your turn to interrogate me? Can’t your little boss handle it anymore? Isn’t he strong enough?’
In one step he’s in front of me and he slaps me with the flat of his hand. Autch! Goddamnit! My head turns aside and my cheek already feels red and swollen.
‘Don’t you dare to besmirch Noël’s name ever again, you stupid bag. The next time it won’t stop with just a slap, but I’ll use my fists.’
‘Oh, now you’re tough, aren’t you?’ I rub my painful cheek.
‘I surely could have handled you the first time, but I had to take part in the game.’
‘Oh, why? Did the game of goose become worn? Are your Barbie dolls broken?’
‘You think you’re smart, don’t you, stupid bitch. But who got caught? And who’s locked up now?’
‘I can only see one, or no, two that are locked up to me. Two otherkinds that are working for a human.’
‘Who says he’s human?’ He looks provocative at me. ‘Well?’
‘You follow his orders, seems slavish work to me,’ I ignore his question.
‘And what do you do for Jabar then?’ He says enraged.
‘Free choice. I’m not obliged to do so.’
‘We neither!’ His voice sounds convincing, but doubt appears in his look.
‘You murder because he asks you to do so. I know you let those two brother jump of their roof.’
‘So what? I’ve done what you also do. Protect our kinds so nobody hears about us.’
‘We’ve never murdered for that!’
Is he comparing my and Jabar’s behavior to what they’re doing? The filthy guts!
‘Is he human?’ I ask calmly.
I can’t lose my self-control right now.
‘That’s none of your bloody business.’
‘You don’t know yourself, do you?’
‘Of course I know. I can read his mind!’
‘And how does that look? A cesspool of vice?’
The conversation is starting to annoy me and above that the hunger is gnawing a hole in my stomach. Even if they strew poison on it, those sandwiches will disappear in my throat. But I don’t want that devil to see how greedy I am for that plate.
I can see his fist coming my way and can just duck away.
He stands in front of me, roaring. ‘It looks better than inside your head.’
‘Stay out of my head or you’ll be sorry,’ I hiss.
‘Oh, I’m so afraid of a transformer that can’t even change her fingers,’ he sneers.
I could just strangle him! Otherkinds are very sensitive when it comes to their gifts. It’s like a professor that suddenly has an I.Q. of forty-eight. Extremely humiliating.
‘Besides, I don’t need to read your mind. We know everything about you and your moronic friends.’
We can call each other names until our throat hurts, but I’m not getting anywhere with that. If he’s planning to keep standing over here, I can just interrogate him. Who knows what I can do with the information.
‘What exactly is your name?’ I ask politely. It really costs me a fucking effort.
‘Just call me Ed.’
Hm, something tells me that isn’t his real name. I wonder how that comes?
‘Ed who?’
‘Ed Doe.’
‘Did you encourage Joseph Jones to kill his boss and that secretary?’
‘Why you want to know?’
‘Curiosity. A feature many women have. Or aren’t you mentally strong enough to do something like that,’ I draw him out.
‘Yes, I did it and it wasn’t even that hard.’ He looks at me so fulfilled I feel like kicking his balls!
‘What did that Joseph do wrong?’
‘He was your friend’s boyfriend, that was already enough.’
I see in his look he’s provoking me.
He continues: ‘And it was fun to do it. Only to show that I can do it. That we can play with your lives.’
‘How old are you? Five?’
Now he’s quicker. The punch rebounds off the side of my head. I see stars for a moment, but, unstable, I manage to keep standing. A second punch hits me in my stomach. Now I do double over. I try to breathe, but it comes out faltering and jerking. Fuck, that hurts! But I can also feel the adrenaline rushing through my body.
Great.
With a cry I fly at him and bang my head into his stomach by which we both fall to the ground. Lying on top of him, I transform my fingers into sharp knives and cut him, without hesitation, in his both sides. Immediately afterwards I jump up and take the necessary distance. It surprises me that the transformation works, but I don’t have the time to give it a moment’s thought. I transform my fingers back to normal. Ed starts to whine loudly. It’s music to my ears.
The door swings open and Selena rushes in.
Okay, I’m in for a fight, bring it on. Ready for battle I defiantly look at her.
‘Do you still manage?’ she asks Ed. She looks down on him as if he’s less worth than a tapeworm.
‘Yes,’ he says while moaning. ‘But quickly. I can’t hold it that much longer.’
I can feel my brains tingle. Oh, no! Oh, no! Ed is doing his mojo!
The next moment I can move, but I don’t want to. The long for standing still is too dominant. Somewhere I do realize this isn’t right and it conflicts with my will, but still I can’t do anything about it. The brains are after all the conductor of the body.
Selena bends over and takes something from Ed’s pocket. It’s a digital photo camera. She comes to stand in front of me and looks triumphantly at me. Then she gives me a well-aimed left and right. I feel my lip splitting open and taste the blood.
‘You’re pretty like this,’ Selena grins and takes a few photos.
She grabs in her pocket and pulls out an injection syringe of which she takes off the cap and throws it on the ground. I feel the prick in my upper arm and at the same time my strength trickle out of my body.
Then she walks to Ed and supporting him, they leave the room.
The tingle in my head disappears immediately and I start to stamp enraged on the ground. Okay, not really grown-up, but I don’t have a punching bag to vent my displeasure on. I do feel satisfaction when I notice Ed’s blood on the parquet.
Then I realize I didn’t hear a hiss and rush towards the door. In her hurry to bring away Ed, that bitch forgot to close the door. Quickly I put on my boots.