F(r)iendly Exchange part 2

" Are you sure about this?" A hushed question sounded in the dark.

" Of course." An earnest voice answered back.

" I get it. Now follow me and be sure to stay still. Remember, don't ever move a muscle." Carla warned Eve one last time. He's concerned this cousin of his will jump in the excitement later.

[ How did it turn to this?] He contemplated as he glances at Eve, whose eyes glittering in eagerness, nearly glowed in the dark.

Back in the pleasure boat, Eve surprised him by offering an exchange. It was very tempting for him and thus agreed to her peculiar request.

" Bring me to your part-time job, and in turn, I'll give you a clue on who the master is."

He won't doubt her means of gaining such information, nor question why she can't just expose who the bastard is if she knew. A trade is a trade, and he respects that rule. Plus, given his means, that bit of info is enough to guide him to uncovering the scum's identity.

" Naturally." She assured Carla by showing her: "I will only enjoy the drama, I swear." expression. However, it only made him suspicious.

" Wait." He yanked the little delinquent ready to go to battle.

Eve:?

" Wear this." Carla handed her a fox mask. The implication was too obvious.

She tilted her head as she scanned the object then pointed at the other mask in his hand.

" I want that one."

" Really?" He asked yet still handed it over.

A chuckle responded to his query as she wore the devil mask. The melodious voice shoots up the creepy vibe given off by the disguise. The red paint on the hideous face seemed like a devil set on fire.

Half an hour later.

" Please! Please! Have mercy!" A man cried through snot and tears while clenching his stomach. His clothes were stained with blood and dirt as he sprawled all over the floor.

" Stop, please! Why are you doing this to me? I have no enmity with you! Stop! Stop!" His desperate pleas, conspicuous in the dark alley, fell in deaf ears as heavy kicks ram his wriggling body.

"Who are you? Let me go, I beg of you." His anguish-filled sobs were getting softer.

Knowing that it was useless to implore the beast torturing him, he gazed at the cloaked person standing not far away. Since he was lured here up to when the crazy bastard started beating him, that person remained impassive- just silently watching.

" Sir! Sir! Please, I will pay you so please! Help me! Let me go!" He tried reaching out to him, simply desperate for his aid.

Another kick shook his core, making him spat blood.

Feeling his consciousness leaving him, he gave up. However, the faint sound of footsteps nearing him made his eyes glimmer in hope.

The man wearing a terrifying demon mask came, crouching before him.

Then he saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring down at him. There was no pity nor condemnation- it's as if he is only looking at a struggling ant.

" You beg him to stop, but when they did implore you, you didn't. So why ask?"

" What?" A dumbstruck inquiry escaped from his bloodied lips.

" I said when you were strangling them after violating them repeatedly, did you stop when they begged you?"

" H-how.." did you know?

The shock he felt was too much that he even momentarily forgot the pain wringing his body.

Nobody knows that. How did he find out? He is terrified of that conjecture. It's over. Even if by a miracle they let him live, he is doomed. The reputation he so painstakingly built crumbled before his eyes.

" Cousin, why are you still chatting with this low life?" Carla reproved Eve, who promised to be well-behaved yet still came over.

" But, he beckoned me to watch his struggling visage up close." She sincerely explained.

" That's not..." He palmed his face and decided not to delve into the matter anymore. In any case, his job here is complete, and they could leave.

Fishing out his cell, he then made a call.

" Yo, it's done. Send the trash to the bin. I'll leave him at the back alley near the bar. Don't forget the evidence against this asswipe, lest he smooth-talks his way out of jail."

After giving instructions, he glanced at the terrified man who jolted awake from his words.

" You should prepare your ass. I heard they prefer jade-like dude like you in there." A creepy giggle successfully fainted the man.

***

The next day, news spread all over Saarthal that a famous actor is a suspect over alleged rape-murder cases. His victims were said to be his fans, who had been reported missing throughout the years. The conclusive evidence against him fueled everyone's censure and damnation, demanding him to be punished severely.

" I heard they'll be issuing him capital punishment. " Tess, sitting beside Eve, suddenly interjected. They are currently watching the news in the lounge over afternoon tea-time.

She glanced at him, not knowing his reason for telling her that.

" Do you think he deserves it- hanged to death, that is?"

" I think he deserves more than that."

" Oh? Care to tell me why?" Tess mounted the teacup back on the table.

" He raped and strangled them to death, so they should return that to him." Eve impassively answered while munching on a macaron.

" So he must be violated too and be strangled to death?" Tess inquired.

" Similar, but not quite. " Eve continued, letting off an eerie smile.

" After violating him the exact number of times he attacked his victims, they should cut his genitals off. Following that, they should suffocate him nearing death, let him recover, and choke him again, exactly as much as he strangled them. Don't you think that will be fair enough?"

Her vile but somehow reasonable ideas caused Tess to view his cousin in a new light. He should criticize her view on the matter, but he can understand where she's coming from. Morally speaking, he should reprove such opinion, but deep down, he wholeheartedly agrees with her words.

" Still, it's quite regrettable. If there is a way to revive him so he could savor death, again and again, it would be nicer." Eve seemed disheartened, and like a regretful old lady, she let out a heavy sigh.

Tess grinned at her reaction, his thoughts wandering.

It is enough as long as they implement proper punishments. As the successor, he can't shed off his remaining rationality and prop her beliefs. It's enough for Carla to be that person.

His orbs dimmed in a split second, then spoke,

" You should be careful when tagging with Carla's trash collector job." He stood and patted Eve's head before leaving the lounge. He still has some things to deal with to wrap everything clean.

Eve watched Tess go away, reflecting that none in the family can be underestimated.

When he was about to cross the doorway, he paused and uttered,

" By the way, don't tell Carla I knew." With that, he finally left.

[ Trash collector. How ridiculously appropriate.] Eve giggled.

( By the way, Halfsie, who among the family knew of Carla's side job?) His last words made her ponder.

( According to my careful observation, all of them knew, host. But, they pretend as if they don't. Only Lucian confronted your cousin about it, demanding he never kills them despite their crimes.)

[ Never kills, huh.] Eve recalled last night's beating that falls slightly short of annihilating the man. She thinks that one more punch could have ended his waste of a life.

In all honesty, the reason why she finds Carlaeon the most interesting is this hobby of his. She knew from Halfsie that he hunts deplorable criminals as a way to blow off steam. It was like sequelae of his abuse. Despite recuperating from his injuries or counseling him from the trauma he encountered, his mind never really recovered. The inhumane torture he endured twisted his mind irreparably, making him thirst for an inexplicable sense of brutality.

Years after his rehabilitation, he began searching for the men who abused him and made them relish a life worse than death. Nevertheless, the craving for the violence he felt did not dissipate. In the end, he can only resort to tormenting people to appease his inner demon. Lucian found him subsequently and demanded he, at least, persecute scums who deserve it. That's the only way he'll agree to his extreme actions.

That was how a daredevil, who micromanages the city through his not-so-righteous motives, came into being.

Recognizing that Carlaeon is a crazy vigilante, Eve had wanted to tag along to his action-filled secret life for quite some time. But somehow, Carla won't simply do it. She can only propose for an exchange using his abductor's information to get some action. Regarding that incomplete data, Eve could only pin it on Halfsie's semi-amazing plot-unveiling skills. Since it can only uncover the plot of the person she met, it can only report clues it gathered from Carla's buried memories. It is possible that he was too young or too tortured that he couldn't remember hearing those words spoken by his abductors.

Anyway, not that she can do anything about that.

She counted the remaining days she could enjoy such lively festivity and sighed in regret.

[ Forget it. I'll just come back in the future.]

As if recalling something, Eve grinned, patted her butt, and went towards Lucian's study.

[ It's about time to cash in the third gift.]

***

A few days later.

" Jesus! Man!" Ulfius shrieked at the sight of a man slumped on the floor. For a moment, he thought he stepped on a crime scene.

Sarien opened his eyes, glanced at who the trespasser was, and continued to play dead.

" What is it again? Thinking of that lass?" He carried a small bag of snacks and sat next to the lifeless being.

Not hearing his response, he resumed,

" Come on, man. Cheer up. You'll be seeing her tomorrow at your banquet." So quit acting like a deposed concubine, will you? Is what he wanted to spout. However, observing Sarien is genuinely infatuated with that person, he could only suppress himself from ridiculing this surprisingly fragile-hearted buddy of his.

" She has not come back yet." There was no record of her returning to the country, and it doesn't help that she has not returned his mails. He is worried something has happened to her. But, what can he do?

The poor soul had no idea Eve was too occupied being Carla's pendant of misery. He could only lament and ponder things trying to soothe his distressed mind. Like now, he spends his breaks on the rooftop, as if creating the perfect MV to his melancholy.

Ulfius watched Sarien painstakingly sit up, grab one of his drinks, gulp a couple of times, and heave a sigh, whispering in his heart that good-looking people will always look good whatever they do. It's truly unfair. He rolled his eyes at God's partiality.

***

" Master, it's late. You need to rest." Balin reminded Xaphael for the third time. He's been working non-stop and refused to retire.

" Later." A cold voice responded.

" Xaphael, it's already five in the morning, and your banquet will be starting soon."

Xaphael finally lifted his head and met a stern-looking man before him. Balin only calls him by his name when he is furious. It wasn't a word from a retainer to his lord but a worried guardian to his misbehaving kid.

Considering that the festivity will be starting in the evening, he opted to distract himself with work rather than drown in some inexplicable, annoying feeling. It's been bugging him for quite some time, and he doesn't know how to deal with it anymore. He even interrogated rats himself, hoping to quell his irritable mood but to no avail.

" I get it." He set his pen down and massaged his forehead. When he opened the drawer to put the files in, a familiar note caught his eyes.

[ Be back in a while, don't miss me too much. - Your mate.]

He stroked the small letter with his finger, recalling the confusion he experienced when he received it. Narrowing his eyes as if realizing something, he inquired.

" Any additional report concerning later's event?"

" I have stated all there is to it before, Master."

Seeing Xaphael deep in contemplation, Balin probed.

" Is there a particular information you wanted to know?"

" Is that person really going to attend?"

Balin scrunched his brows in perplexity. His Master has never cared about the attendees before. He only listens to the list of invitees.

" Forget it." Seeing Balin seem stuck in a difficult situation, he ordered.

" There is one, Master. A letter arrived a day ago." Balin hurriedly uttered after remembering the matter.

The fingers tapping the note paused as he impassively asked,

" What did it say?"

" It confirmed the person's attendance to the banquet and also questioned why Master had blocked the phone communications." He didn't consider Xaphael would want this kind of information. To think he failed to report it is his negligience. Alas, it seems age has caught up to me, he mused.

[ Blocked phone communications?] But he doesn't recall doing such a thing.

[ Is this why I haven't been able to receive a single mail from her?]

" I get it. You may go." Xaphael fumbled his phone after sending Balin off.

A few minutes later, a chuckle filled the study.

" Truly a heartless girl." He muttered in a low voice as he saw a sign that he has been black-listed.