Bloodlust

What makes a sociopath different from the rest of society? That's what this thriller explores as authorities try to match wits with a serial killer before time runs out.

 

            Tick. Tick. Tick.

            The clock echoed throughout the small room, where a man sat staring patiently at the door opposite him. As it opened, a flicker of a smile crossed his face as he gave the clock a glance.

            “It’s about time, officer. Here I was thinking you’d forgotten about me.”

            “Cut the crap.” The detective roughly drew back the chair facing the man and sat down, slapping an assortment of files on the metal table between them. He then set down a tape recorder and pressed ‘record.’ “Testing�"Detective Rick Walsh, interrogator. Your name for the record, please.”

            “Umm….” The man leaned forward, so that his mouth was close to the recorder. “Talen A. Spencer, at your service.” He sat back, crossing his arms and settling down in the chair.

            “Do you know why you were brought here, Talen?”

            “Oh, I have an idea.” The smile again. “But why don’t you enlighten me, anyways?”

            Rick clasped his hands together. “Over the past six weeks, several women have gone missing, many of them along the same road you live on.” He opened one of the files next to him and spread a series of photographs in front of Talen, each bearing the face of a different beautiful, smiling woman in her mid-20’s. “Do you recognize any of these faces?”

            “Yes, I killed them.”

            “Wha�"?” Rick’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me, you what?”

            Talen’s eyes twinkled. “I. Killed. Them. I killed them all�"and it was so much fun, too, you had to’ve been there, I’m telling you.”

            Rick couldn’t make sense of what the man was saying. “Y-you realize you have the r�"”

            “Oh, please, to hell with my Mirandas, Rick�"may I call you Rick? Good�"Rick, I find my time far too precious to sit in this nasty little room being quiet. I want to have a little fun.”

            Rick sat back in disbelief. “You son-of-a-b***h,” he said in barely more than a whisper.

            “Uh-uh-uh, Rick�" language. You’re still on candid, umm….” He looked down. “Tape-recorder. Let’s keep it PG for the kiddies, eh?”

            “PG? I’ll show you PG.” Rick sprang up from his chair and made a violent motion across the table.

            The loudspeaker in the room gave a squawk as a voice said, “That’s enough, Rick. Outside, now.” Rick continued to glare at Talen, making no move to exit. “Now!” the voice said again. With a final look of disgust, he turned around and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

            Someone was waiting for him on the other side. “What the hell d’you think you’re doing?” the man asked him.

            “Captain, I’ve been working on this case since it started, and this man�"this man is f****n’ laughing at me, at�"”

            “Laughing? Of course he’s laughing! If this little punk really did kill those women and he watches T.V. at all, he knows how close you are to this case. He just wants to see if he can break you. Under no circumstances am I to see you make another threatening move towards that man again, do you hear me?”

            “But�"”

            “Do you hear me?”

            Rick glared at him. “…Yes.”

            “Thank you. Look Rick, I know you’re a good cop and I trust you. We have men searching his house as we speak�"just keep the little b*****d talking until they find something that’ll stick, ok?”

            “Ok, whatever,” Rick answered, crossing his arms and looking away from the captain.

            “Good. Now get back in there and do your job.”

            The captain marched back over to the observation room as Rick opened the door once more and stepped inside.

            “Trouble in paradise, Rick?” The laughter in Talen’s voice was unmistakable.

            “Shut it.” Rick resumed his seat. “Let’s start from the beginning.”

            Talen sat up and leaned across the table towards him, glancing at the clock once more. “What d’you want to know?”

 

* * * *

 

Leaves rustled as two men and an escort of officers walked up to Talen’s house. One of the men rapped on the door.

            “Police! We’ve got a warrant, open up.”

No answer. The man turned to an officer and nodded. Stepping aside, he allowed the officer to move up and kick open the door. Removing his gun from its holster, he let the others go ahead of him before entering the home with his partner, gun raised.

“Clear!” echoed from every corner of the house as the police fanned out. Both men re-holstered their weapons, looking around the darkened room. “D’you see a lightswitch, Craig?” the man asked his partner. Craig looked back toward the door, found one and flicked it on�"nothing happened. “Go figure.” They took their flashlights out of their belts and began to walk around. After examining the fireplace, the man turned to Craig and asked, “How’d the captain connect this guy to th’ case, anyways?”

“Someone called in a tip�"probably one of his neighbors.”

“No name?”

“Nah�"remained anonymous.” They stopped talking for a while, examining random objects as they saw them. Finally, Craig called out, “Hey, Adrian�"notice anything strange?”

“’Sides the boring colors?”

“Yeah.”

Adrian turned on the spot, taking in the immaculate sitting room they were standing in. “Not really, why?”

“No pictures.” Craig waved at the walls. “Plasma T.V., brick fireplace, furniture straight out of an IKEA catalog�"the guy’s a poster child for normalcy, but he doesn’t have one photo.”

“…Yeah, that is weird�"but we already knew he wasn’t all there, else we wouldn’tve kicked in his door. Keep lookin’.”

Once they were convinced there was nothing there, they passed into the kitchen, which was much the same as the sitting room: stainless-steel kitchenware and a trendy little table for two, officers walking along a gleaming checkered tile floor.

“Heh�"” Adrian scratched his head. “Guy’s gotta be hidin’ something… no one’s this perfect.”

“Hmm?”

Craig saw a lone painting hanging on the wall behind the table. “Hey, where’re you goin’?” Adrian asked. Craig ignored him as he meandered around the officers to get a better look. It depicted a group of men playing poker. Looks like he painted it himself, he observed, looking at the crude brush-strokes. He felt that there was something off about the piece; however, he could not quite figure out what it was…

“Yo, anyone home?”

“Huh?” Craig looked around to see that Adrian was standing right next to him.

“I’ve been tryin’ to get your attention the past few seconds�"what’s up?”

“Oh, nothing�"just thought this was a random place to hang a painting.”

“Okay… well, you wanna follow me to the guy’s room?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

“Right then.” Adrian gave him a weird look as he turned towards the hallway leading out of the kitchen. “Over here.”

They walked along the corridor towards the last door on the left. “More of the same,” Adrian said, looking at another perfectly organized room. Next to the bed was a bookcase that rose to the ceiling. As Adrian headed over to it, Craig looked at the wall over the bed. Another painting, eh? he thought, looking over the scene of a woman being served dinner.

“The guy’s a real Shakespeare nut,” Adrian turned towards Craig.

“What makes you say that?” Craig asked without taking his gaze away from the painting.

“A good bit of his collection’s Shakespeare�"it covers an entire shelf.”
            “Hey, guys�"you may want to take a look at this,” an officer said from the dresser. As they made their way over to where the man was standing, they saw that he was holding up a half-zip running shirt.

Adrian reached over and took the shirt from him. “Definitely too small to be a guy’s,” he said, turning it over.

Craig frowned. “I seriously doubt it’s his wife’s stuff, either.”

“How’d you come up with that one?”

“The bed’s a single.” Craig ran his finger over the dresser’s bare surface. “Plus, even if one of the two is an obsessive, it doesn’t mean they both are. There’s no makeup, heels, accessories…the guy lives alone.”

The officer looked amazed. “Why are you working for us with wits like yours?”

“Eh, I grew up around here�"I guess I just wanted to be close to home.”

“Is that so?” The officer turned back to the drawer. “Well, there are several more shirts like that one, including some jogging pants and a dress.”

Adrian passed the shirt to his partner. “What d’you think?”

“Don’t know�"it’s pretty circumstantial. Unless we find more, it’ll be tough to turn a jury against the guy.”

A sudden crash caused them to look around sharply. There was a commotion coming from the kitchen. As they hurried down the hallway, they could hear someone cursing loudly. “What’s going on?” Craig asked once they arrived.

After a second, they realized that the refrigerator opposite them was standing ajar. “Holy sh�"” Adrian put a hand over his mouth and turned away once he saw what was inside.

Craig simply stared for a few moments, eyes blazing. Finally, he slowly took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the station. “Captain�"yeah, it’s Craig. We’ve got a problem.”

 

* * * *

 

“Have you ever killed anyone, Rick?” Silence. “Do you not want to play anymore? Fine�"well, seeing as you are on the force, I’ll assume you have. I have, too�"many times. Many, many times. And do you know what still fascinates me to this day? Blood. It’s so…random�"and depending on where you cut, it may spray like a mist, spurt like a fountain or gush like water. However, I like the little cuts, the little… intricate ones that only let out a tiny rivulet that runs down the body like crimson sweat. I like to watch their eyes, wide with fear�"I like to hear them scream through the tape, their bodies bucking as they strain against the ropes; helpless, screaming little s***s that know I decide when they die… and then it’s done�"their breathing is stifled, their tears stop running and if you wait long enough, you can see the last bit of life leave their eyes. It’s pure ecstasy.”

Rick clenched his fists. “And how is it that with all these people you’ve killed, you’ve never been caught?”

“Hmm…I don’t know�"I was too smart for you, I guess. I never stayed in any one place too long, at least not long enough for the police to pin it o�"”

“What changed?”

“…Excuse me?”

“What changed?! You’ve killed all these people without anyone noticing�"why now? Why let yourself get caught if you’re so clever?”

Talen shrugged and smirked. “I was bored.”

“Bored….”

“That would be correct.”

            Just as Rick was about to say something, the speaker gave another loud squawk. “I need to see you again�"now.”

            He gritted his teeth, but did as he was told. Talen smiled as he watched Rick leave the room, but it became even larger when he saw that Rick didn’t close the door properly. Excellent�"now I can listen. He looked at the clock again. All according to plan.

            “�"talking out of his a*s.” Rick’s voice floated through the door. “He may be a sick little b*****d, but he’s acting too slick for a guilty�"”

            “He did it.”

            “…What?”

            “We’re pretty sure he’s telling the truth, Rick. Craig just called….” Talen chuckled as silence filled the room.

            The door burst open�"Rick flew across the room, grabbed Talen by the throat and pinned him against the wall, his chair sent skidding across the floor. “Rick�"no!” The captain came running in after him.

            “Their hearts? You�"you cut out�"what the f**k are you?!”

            The captain grabbed Rick by the shoulders and pulled him away with difficulty. Talen sank along the wall, bent over in laughter. “What�"what’s the matter, Rick? C-can’t convince yourself I’m not a m-monster anymore?”

            “Y-you sonofa�"” Rick tried with all his might to free himself, but it was no use�"the captain held him firmly to the ground.

            “Heh�"heh, heh…” Talen slowly got to his feet, wiping tears from his eyes. “Don’t despair, Rick�"it’s not too late for you to play the hero.”

            “What are you on about?” the captain asked, still struggling to keep a hold on Rick.

            “You haven’t figured out my little game yet? My, my, my…I hope you didn’t think I gave myself away for no reason. Well�"” Talen smoothed his hair away from his face. “Did you know I keep a different container for every victim?”

            Rick stopped struggling as he looked up at Talen in disbelief. “What are you saying?”

            Talen’s eyes widened maniacally.

            “Did your men happen to find an empty one?”

 

* * * *

            “What are you talking about?”

            Craig was back on the phone with the captain, shifting through the containers in the refrigerator. “An empty one? No, I don’t see�"wait�"yes, yes there’s an empty container in the back. What’s that supposed t�"sweet Jesus, are you sure? He told you that? Christ… hey, Adrian!”

Adrian hurried over as Craig shut his phone. “What’s up?” he asked, careful not to look at what was in the fridge.

“Get all the men over here now.”

“Why, what d�"”

“Now, Adrian! This is an emergency.” Adrian obediently went into the hallway and called for the officers to meet in the kitchen while Craig continued to look at the container, his heart pounding. Why would he tell�"? S**t, I’m not qualified to do this stuff, why does this have to happen? Ok…calm down, I need to think cle�"

“They’re all here, Craig�"now what’s going on?”

Craig turned away from the refrigerator, wiping sweat from his brow. “Ok, I need everyone to search this house as thoroughly as possible. We think there’s another girl hidden somewhere and there’s a good chance that she’s still alive. No time for questions�"just go. Adrian, follow me, please.”

As the officers scattered every which way, Craig led Adrian towards the bedroom. “What makes you think there’s someone else?” Adrian asked.

“No time for that�"I’ll fill you in later. Help me search this room.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious nothin’s he�"”

“Just do it!”

Adrian looked offended, but did as Craig asked. After 20 minutes of searching, however, they found nothing. “Look, Craig�"” Adrian turned away from the bed. “If there is another girl, who’s to say she’s even in the house? He could have her shacked up in some abandoned building somewhere for all we know�"”

“He hasn’t.”

“Christ, Craig, there’s nothin’ here! We’ve searched everywhere and aside from that s**t in his fridge, there’s nothing to suggest we’re in anythin’ but a suburban home.”

“Yeah, but this guy’s smart, Adrian�"he wouldn’t have risked driving to his house from some other location with these girls’ hearts in his vehicle. I’m telling you, the girl’s here somewhere�"we’re just missing something, something we haven’t thought of, someth�"” Just then, he looked down at his feet. “Holy mother of God…”

“What is it?” Craig pointed to the base of the bookshelf, where the corner of a rug was trapped underneath. It took Adrian a couple of moments to catch on, but eventually his look of bemusement turned to incredulity. “No way.”

            “Think about it. The bookcase is enormous, not to mention the amount of books he has on the damn thing�"it’s too heavy for one man to move on his own.”

            “So, what�"a panic room?”

            “It makes complete sense. He’d have privacy and no one would hear what he was doing.”

            “…Let’s say you’re right, then. How d’you open it?”

            “Well…” Craig looked at the walls surrounding the bookcase. “Usually, you’d have a keypad somewhere on the wall�"but it doesn’t look like there’s one here. In that case, there’d have to be a remote somewhere…”

            “C’mon, Craig�"d’you really expect to find a remote in this house?”

            Craig didn’t answer as he looked around, his hand to his mouth. Why would he give us all this information if it’s a dead end? He hinted at another person, left the clothes where we could find them�"which means this should be easy to figure out, too, but how�"unless… A surge of adrenaline went through him as he turned to the painting over the bed. “Of course.”

            “Of course, what?”

            “This.” He walked over to the painting and examined the woman. “Did I ever tell you that I minored in English at my university?”

            “No�"what does that have to do with anything?”

            “Well, you said the guy liked Shakespeare, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you see Titus Andronicus anywhere in his collection?”

            “Wha�"?”

            “Titus Andronicus�"a Shakespeare piece. Do you see it?” After a few seconds, Adrian found it and pulled it from the shelf. Craig reached over and grabbed it from his hand. Flipping the book open, he turned it over and a keypad remote fell into his hand.

            “How in the hell!”

            “Remember when I pointed out that there were no pictures in the living room?”

            “Yeah, why?”

            “Well, there were two handmade paintings that I noticed while we were looking around. That one�"” he pointed to the wall behind the bed, “shows Tamora being served a pie made from the bodies of her two dead sons in Titus Andronicus, which makes sense considering this a*****e has a fetish for human organs. The guy’s been giving us hints all along.”

            “Holy s**t… why d’ you think he’s doin’ this?”

            “Doesn’t matter right now�"follow me.”

            He rushed into the kitchen, Adrian close behind. “I was trying to figure out what was odd about this painting, but now I think I know. What do you see when you look at this?”

            “Uh…” Adrian looked at it closely. “Nothin’ interesting�"just a couple of guys playin’ poker, why?”

            “Everything’s slightly blurred, the people, furniture, room, everything�"except for the cards. The ‘river’ is completely clear, like it’s supposed to stick out.”

            “Why’s it imp�"s**t, the combination! He’s given us the key.”

            Craig’s attention was already focused on the keypad in his hand. “9…4…7…2…8….”

            A loud click sounded from the bedroom. Looking at each other, Craig and Adrian ran down the hall to find that the bookcase had slid aside to reveal a large opening. “Hey, everyone�"get in here now!” Adrian yelled out the bedroom door as Craig quickly grabbed the flashlight from his belt and made his way into the room. As the other officers followed him to the opening, the beam of light fell upon the figure of a body chained to a table in the middle of the room.

            Craig bounded over to the table. The girl was gazing up at him, tears pouring down her face as she struggled against the chains, her back arching off the table in an ecstasy of terror, screaming through her gag. “It’s alright, we’re not going to hurt you,” Craig said as he quickly removed the gag.

            “No!”

            “Look, you’re fine, we’re going to get you out of h�"”

            “Nooo! It’s a trap!”

 

* * * *

 

“Why d’you keep looking at the clock, Talen?”

            Talen grinned as he gazed across the table at the captain and Rick. “Do you really think I divulged all my dirty little secrets without having a few tricks up my sleeve?”

            A hot surge of terror shot up Rick’s throat. “What did you do?”

            “Oh, it’s nothing much�"it’s just that, if your men don’t get out of that house in, oh…two minutes�"they’re going to be caught in quite the pyrotechnical display.”

 

* * * *

 

            “This place is gonna explode. Hurry, the keys, get the keys!”

            “Christ�"where are they?”
            “The chair over b-by the wall�"hurry!”

            “Everyone else, get out of here, now!” As the officers turned and ran towards the exit, Craig grabbed the keys and began unlocking the girl’s restraints.

 

* * * *

 

            “One min�"”

            “Shut the f**k up!” Rick was now pacing the room as the captain attempted to get the detectives on the phone.

            “Ooo�"there’s that temper again. You know, it’s going to get you into trouble one of these d�"”

            “Shut�"the f**k�"up.”

            Talen obediently stopped talking, his eyes still trained on the clock.

            “Yes�"Adrian!” The captain suddenly yelled out. “Get out now, it’s a trap.”

 

* * * *

 

            “Yeah, we know, we know, but we can’t leave without th’ girl.”

            “Christ, Adrian, I thought I told you to leave!” Craig yelled as he struggled with the remaining restraints. Adrian cradled the phone between his head and shoulder as he bent down to help Craig.

 

* * * *

 

            Talen’s eyes sparkled with insanity as the captain pleaded with Adrian over the phone.

            “Five seconds.”

 

* * * *

 

            Craig and Adrian finally unlocked the last restraint.

4

            Craig hoisted the girl on to his back and went running for the exit with Adrian.

3

            They were in the bedroom, the hallway…

2

            The refrigerator was still open as they tore through the kitchen, the containers twinkling innocently at them from the shelves.

1

            The door was right in front of them, they were almost there, just a little more….

 

0

 

* * * *

 

            A tremendous explosion roared through the speaker in the captain’s phone, causing him to send it flying across the room in his astonishment. As it hit the ground, the connection died. Rick stared at Talen in horror and rage as Talen leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, a look of immense satisfaction washing over his features.

            “I believe this is where I shall lawyer up, as they say.”

 

3 months later

            The courtroom was silent as the judge made his way over to the bench. A myriad of emotions could be seen on the faces of those present�"sadness from the victims’ families, cold rage from Rick and the task force sent to Talen’s home�"but nothing from Talen. For the first time, he was not smiling as the judge sat in his bench, cuing everyone else to do the same.

            “Now,” the judge began, “I know that this case has tested the patience of most of those who sit in this room today, but before we reveal the jury’s verdict, I would like to impress upon all of you that this is a courtroom. Regardless of the result, I will not tolerate emotional outbursts�"I will have order. Before the decision is read, Mr. Spencer, is there anything you would like to say?”

            Talen turned and nodded at his lawyer as he stood up and faced the judge. “Yes, your Honor.” He looked around at everyone. “Now, normally, this is where the defendant would appeal to those congregated in the courtroom. Do you all expect me to say how very sorry I am for what I’ve done? Do you want me to cry and blubber like a baby and tell you it will never happen again?” He turned back to the judge. “Well in that case�"f**k you all.

            “I don’t give a damn for any of you. Your tears do not sway me. Your anger does not frighten me. I don’t seek your forgiveness or your pity�"I simply did what I did because I wanted to do it. Circumstances never forced my hand, nor did I ever lose an ounce of sanity.

            “That is why I will not bother lying by telling you all that I cared for those I’ve killed. If I were to have any regrets�"” He turned to look at the row directly behind him, where Craig and Adrian sat with Talen’s last victim, “it would be that I didn’t succeed in killing more of you.

            “Right now, you all think I am a monster�"and maybe I am. But I don’t want you leaving this room today thinking yourselves better than me. I am still a human, like all of you. I was born the same, I breathe the same, I move the same and I shall die the same�"the only thing that separates you from me is your ability to feel, to love.

            “So before you hand down your verdict with an air of fire and brimstone, I want you hypocrites to think�"really think about what makes me such a monster, because I assure you that if you were to strip away those emotions of yours, you are all monsters�"the difference is that I’m willing to accept it, while you all cower behind your ideas of morality. If you choose for me to die today, I shall pass with a free conscience. My question to all of you is�"could you say the same?”

 

* * * *

 

            “What’s up?”

            Craig turned to look at Adrian. “Nothing�"that b*****d’s speech just got to me, is all.”

            They were sitting on the steps of the courthouse, the sun bathing them in light. “Ahh, don’t worry about it�"the sonofabitch got what he deserved. I’ll tell you what, though, I’ve never heard of a jury handin’ down a death sentence that fast�"I don’t think they even said anythin’ before they voted.”

            Craig forced a smile. “True. I’m just glad we lived long enough to hear it.”

            “Hey, guys!”

            Craig and Adrian turned around to see Rick and the captain walking towards them. “Want to grab a bite to eat?” Rick asked.

            “Sure thing,” Adrian answered as he and Craig stood up and walked along beside them. After a while, Adrian turned to Rick and said, “Y’know, there’s still something that bothers me. Why’d that b*****d let us save the girl?”

            Rick thought about it for a moment. “I guess he was just testing us�"he was trying to show how much smarter he was. Plus, he said he was bored.”

            “Bored?” Adrian raised his eyebrows incredulously.

            Rick laughed. “That was my reaction, as well�"but I believe it. You know about the anonymous tip, right?”           

“Yeah�"didn’t one of his neighbors call him in?”

            Rick turned to him and smiled. “No one said anything about a neighbor.”

            The others just stared at him, Adrian’s mouth slightly open. “You don’t mean�"he�"!”

            Rick chuckled and continued on his way.

 

 

 

Author's Note

Look at dialogue, mostly--it's my weakpoint. Also, look at plot and make sure it's not too cliche.