THE TORMENTOR 2
THE MASKED
The Masked - Episode 13&14
( Where•are•you, Ixora? )
Book 2 in the Mindf+ck Trilogy
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From the top of a tree opposite Romeo's mansion, a gunman sat, witnessing everything silently.
He's a part of the brotherhood who was sent to eliminate Tina and Monty.
There's a sniper rifle in his hand, and he was ready to shoot Tina even before Romeo did it.
He lowered the mask covering his face and grinned, watching as Romeo left Tina's body outside and went back into his house like he wasn't the one who just killed someone.
He jumped down the tree, packing his rifle back into his bag.
He hung the bag on his shoulder and pulled off his mask completely before dialling a line.
It didn't take long before the line connected.
"She's down, the girly one. Romeo Ford killed her" he said.
"The drug dealer?" The husky voice of the leader came from the other end.
"Yes, she's outta the way, so our focus is on the tomboy. She'll be down before tomorrow gets over" the gunman finalized and ended the call.
He slipped into darkness.
--
[Romeo's Mansion]
There's no way the cops would be avoidable in this case, so Romeo began hiding every gun and weapon in the house immediately he got back inside.
He packed everything into one big bag and opened a space in the bathroom ceiling, then he threw the bag inside and closed it.
He left his room and went downstairs, trying to calm his anxiety till he got to the living room, but then screams of Bethel and Clover from outside alerted him.
They're back, and they must have seen the body.
Innocently, Romeo rushed out of the house to see the scene he truly expected.
Clover and Bethel... staring down at Tina's body with shock-filled eyes.
Romeo rushed towards them, his eyes widening more and more the closer he got.
Till he got to them and gasped in pretence.
"F+ck! F+ck no!"
Clover was damn speechless, only the width of his eyes showed his shock.
"Tina! Tina you can't..." Bethel knelt beside her bleeding lifeless body.
"Tina Quinns!!!"
--
[A Dark Street]
Monty has been following Bronx undercover for forty minutes now.
She was finally able to track his phone again, so she trailed him to this street.
He's trekking, so she trekked with him in darkness, and when she figured out this might take long, she texted Tina.
Monty: Will be back late.
She pocketed the phone before continued her tailing.
Bronx finally stepped out of the darkness, and she was surprised when he entered a gravesite.
She followed him, till he arrived at a particular one which has Zoe Smith written on it. His mother.
It's the smallest tombstone there, and it seems he only built it here for memorial reasons.
His mother was buried in Tennessee according to what she knows.
Bronx knelt in front of the grave and smiled genuinely.
"How have you been, mom?" He said.
"I look fine right now, don't I? I stopped being a wound addict" He smiled again, sighing out.
Monty stood still where she is.
"Ashton is still being the jerk he is. He even left me for his friends and came to Cali,, but I followed him here" He looked up.
"I'm in a cult mum. I joined to make myself stronger, but then... I'm getting scared,, and I can't even leave if I wanna leave. They'd kill Ashton and i, and now I've been tasked to kill two schoolmates...I...I feel terrible" he shook his head, trying to stop the tears building in his eyes.
Monty changed position at this point.
"I don't wanna kill anyone, I've never killed anyone" he continued, and Monty clapped, the sound loud and resounding.
Ashton shockingly stood, turning around to behold her.
"Monty?" He quickly wiped his eyes.
She continued clapping till she got to him and stopped, then she faced the tombstone.
"Your son is the dumbest one alive, you should know" she said.
"You stalked me here?" He blinked, and she faced him.
"You're tired of the cult too, but you don't know how to get out? You have a task to kill Tina and I?" She nodded.
"I told you to back off" Bronx said.
"Well I don't wanna back off if the killer of my father is in the cult!" She replied.
"How sure are you?" Bronx asked.
"That night when they took me to your coven or whatever...how did they know I had those cameras on? How did they know about the ones in me eyes? How did they know I was a virgin if they haven't been keeping an eye on me?" She replied.
Bronx went mute.
"My father was killed by a cult, judging my the bullet found in his upper body" she said, bringing out a bronze-line bullet from her jacket pocket.
Bronx's eyes widened when he saw it, and she scoffed.
"You recognize it, don't you? Your cult uses this, right?" She came closer.
"No...not them" he shook his head.
"Then who?" She asked impatiently, and his eyes remained wide.
He was unable to talk till Monty's phone rang.
She stepped back and checked... It's Bethel calling.
Not like she has her line, but as the webmaster, her phone is programmed to recognize the number of any ILC student.
She swiped green. "Yes?"
"It's Tina... Tina is..." Bethel said, and Monty frowned.
"Tina is...what?"
"She got shot... come to our mansion" Bethel replied and hung up.
Monty kept standing there, wondering if she heard wrong, but it's nothing like that.
She heard it lucidly, so she took off, down the site.
Bronx kept standing there too like he's in a daze, thinking about the bullet she showed him.
There's only one person who uses it, but it can't be, can it?
He eventually gave up on his thoughts and ran after Monty.
They both arrived at the main road at the same time, and each of them jumped in their cars.
Bronx drove after Tina, and soon...they arrived at Romeo's mansion.
It's not like before anymore.
The front of the gate is now surrounded by cops, but Tina's body is still on the ground, covered with a white cloth.
The wailing of police cars filled the place, and the people in the neighbourhood are also present, lowering their heads in pity.
Romeo, Clover and Bethel stood at a side, getting interrogated by the cops since she got shot in front of their house.
As Monty came out of her car, she could already feel grief surrounding her like a shield, and her heart raced so much as she walked closer and closer to the body on the ground.
She could remember leaving Tina at home. She was eating snacks when she left her at home, so she better not be the one under that wrap.
She better...
Her thoughts paused when a strong breeze came, and it blew away the cloth from Tina's cold face.
Monty froze, falling on her knees.
"No... Tina?" She crawled fast to her body.
"Tina? Tina!!!" She screamed, unable to touch her dead body.
"It's not her, it's not Tina..." She laughed, sitting on the ground.
"It's not her" She shook her head repeatedly, pointing at the body.
"That's not her, I left Tina at home, she was eating snacks..."
Another car halted at the scene, and the two affluent parents came out of it—Mr & Mrs. Quinns.
Mrs. Quinns just fainted immediately she saw her bubbly daughter's body, and Mr. Quinn had to catch the woman as tears poured out of his eyes.
Monty rushed back into her car, driving away from the scene.
Bronx got in his car too, driving after her and dialling a line on his phone.
The brotherhood leader's line.
"Bronx Smith?" The husky voice boomed.
"You really dunno what you've just fallen into cos I now know your identity! I know who you fuckin are motherfûcker!" He yelled, unable to stop his tears.
"How dare you kill Tina! F+cker! How dare you even pull the trigger on her!!! How!!! Dare!!!! You!!!!" He was crying for real as he drove and spoke at the same time.
"The cult didn't kill Tina" the leader said calmly again .
"Lies!!! You're insane!!!! She did nothing wrong you animal!!!!" He growled, stopping the car for a while.
"The cult didn't kill Tina, but Monty will surely get killed by the cult. We warned you, Bronx. All these started the moment you saved Monty. You shouldn't have done it" the leader replied, and there's nothing more annoying than the coolness of his voice right now.
"Don't dare touch Monty, don't...
The leader hung up on him, and the line beeped thrice.
"Hello? Hello motherf+cker? Hello!!" He yelled madly into the line.
With no answer, he threw the phone off and continued the drive to Tina's house.
He barged in and was surprised to find Monty hollering Tina around the house.
"Tina! If this is a joke then you need to stop it! You were eating snacks before I left, so who's that imposter that's laying dead in front of Romeo's mansion?"
She went to the kitchen and peeped in.
"You know I've never liked hide and seek, I prefer Russian roulette so come out bîtch! Come out and let's play!!" She giggled, going upstairs.
"Tina I know you're in this house, come on!"
"Monty!" Bronx went after her as she began opening the bedroom doors.
"Tina!!!"
"Tina is gone, Monty" Bronx said behind him, and he stopped for a beat before facing him.
"You said?" She muttered, tears sliding out of her eyes.
"It's real, Tina is dead" he said, and she ran to him, pouring deadly punches into his face.
"Your cult!!! They did it!!! Your fuckin cult!!! They killed the only person I have left!!!!!"
She was still pouring the punches as she yelled at his face, and in no time, his face became a map of bruises, but he didn't shake.
He took it all, crying too.
--
[Thorne Island]
The signing of the engagement documents just got over, and right now they're eating dinner modestly.
"What do you plan on doing after school?" Mariya suddenly asked, and Elsa looked up from her meal.
"Mykel's future has been decided since he was born. He's gonna be the biggest guitarist in this city soon, and thankfully he's already in his last year. Just a lil bit more time" Mariya said.
Mykel smiled.
"I'm gonna become a curator, an anthropology museum curator" Elsa replied.
"Interesting" Mariya said.
"Yeah, I've always been in love with biology, reason why i choose it. I'd love to work in an aquarium too, maybe I can alternate between the two. I love fishes" Elsa said.
"That's soo... Cool" Mariya smiled.
"She's the coolest person alive" Mykel signed, and Elsa smiled, then Mr. Thorne entered.
"Darling" Mariya stood, and the tall agile man darted his eyes to Elsa who's still seated.
She's staring at him too.
Mykel doesn't have any similarity with Mariya, so she was expecting him to at least look like the father, but he's nowhere near the father too.
In fact, someone else looks like Mr. Thorne, and she's picturing the person in his head right now, especially the eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Thorne" Elsa greeted.
"Yeah, thanks... you're the fiancee? Ixora Rhodes?" He replied.
"Yeah" she smiled, and Mykel stood.
"The case I told you about in Russia?" He signed.
"I'm pretty sure your gramps and his wife are already handling it" Mr. Thorne confidently replied.
Elsa's happiness was boundless as she took her cup of wine.
She lifted it to her lips to sip, but she missed as a result of excitement, so the wine poured all-over her dress.
"Shit!" She cussed as she quickly stood, the wine crawling down her legs to the floor.
"Oh no, you need to clean that fast. Take her to my room, Mykel" Mariya said, and Mykel quickly led Elsa away.
"You should take your bath, you don't wanna smell like wine when you get home, that'd make Serena suspect you" Mykel said as They arrived at Mariya's room.
"Thank you" Elsa stroked his cheek before, entering the bathroom he pointed at.
She stripped herself and stepped under the shower to wash off the wine smell.
As the water cascaded over her body, her hands brushed over every part of her skin.
The hair, waist, shoulders, chest, the breà sts.
The piercings are still there, but they have different rings right now.
The one with Warren's initials aren't there anymore, they've been replaced with another set of titanium rings, and this one has full words crafted into them.
The right one has SELF
The left one has LOVE
SELF LOVE.
She finished taking her bath and exited the bathroom with a new towel wrapped on her body.
She met Mykel who's still standing in the middle of the bedroom.
He's already waiting with a new black dress for her.
"It's my mum's, but you both have the same stature, even the curves" he said as he handed it to her.
"Thank you" she replied.
"You look happier" he said with his head tilted.
"Of course, I can't wait to see Nadine" she replied, and he gave her wet face a gentle thumb stroke.
"I'll be outside" he said, giving her the privacy to dress up.
She finished dressing up and her phone rang at the same time...
It's Dr. Fat.
"Hey, Dr. Argent" she called his real name.
"You finally found out" he replied.
"Yup, what's up?" She sat in bed.
"A doctor friend of mine in Itaewon seemed to have carried out reconstructive surgeries too, turns out I'm not the only one who can actually do it" he replied.
"Are you saying he did it for Evelyn?" Elsa said.
"That's what I have to find out, I'll spoon you the details soon" he replied.
--
[Chicago's Place]
It's a rusty old house at the end of Obsidian Island, and Chicago and Warren has been here since they left Serena's mansion, both looking like apparitions as they worked without breaks on their phones.
Chicago is trying to find out who has the potpourri scent in ILC, and Warren is trying to figure out the new students that got admission this semester.
If Evelyn is currently in Cali, then the safest place for her would be the school cos she can easily hide under another person's identity.
"Do I really have to search with scents? Can't you just check the concert hall cameras to see who covered you?" Chicago suddenly said.
"There are no cameras in the hall" Warren replied, and Chicago dropped low on her chair.
"You better have good drugs waiting for me after all these stress" she muttered, returning to her phone.
Warren's phone buzzed, and when he saw the unknown line, he frowned before picking.
"Young Lord?"
It's the voice of the new maid at the family house.
"Beatrice? How the f+ck did you get my line?" He stood.
"Luckily, I took it from Lydia before all of these started" Beatrice replied, and Warren almost hung up, but her next words stopped him...
"Elder wants to tell you something, about your birth mother"
Warren stood still, his new eye patch is starting to get bloody again.
Five minutes later, he was already driving out of the area, using one had on the wheel till he arrived at the family house.
When he stepped in, he met Capri and Ashton there too, then Lydia and Beatrice.
Elder Creed is on his wheelchair in the middle of it all, looking sullen.
"Your mother didn't run away, I told you that lie so you won't hate yourself" Elder Creed said, looking up.
Warren stopped walking.
"She died after she had you cos she was too weak to have a baby, but she insisted on bringing you to life. Her twin sister got angry after her death, she crippled me and shot down several nurses too. She ruined the hospital and ran away...it's her pictures I've been burning." Elder Creed said.
The air turned thicker with tension.
"The year you went to jail, she threatened to cripple you just like me, so I got scared and had to leave you in jail cos I knew she wouldn't be able to reach you there...but now she's back again..." Elder Creed continued.
Warren felt his head going empty as a cold breeze blew into the skull, as if his brains evaporated.
He closed his mouth on bitterness, feeling so hollow.
So empty.
So null.
So void.
For a minute, he stopped breathing, but he was quick to resuscitate himself, lest he crumbles.
His breathings are steamy as he took one more step forward, then the second step.
At the third step, he was already with Elder Creed, and he didn't wait before throwing a punch at the old man's face.
Elder Creed fell off his chair, and not even Beatrice nor Lydia made a move to help him up.
The old man crawled on his broken knees despite his bleeding lips.
He crawled to Warren and held his legs, crying.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to keep it from you for this long, I was—
And that was interrupted by two more punches from Warren.
Elder Creed fell flat on the ground, bleeding massively from the mouth and nose.
Warren was about to punch him again when he saw the urn sitting on one of the couches.
On the body of the urn, Doreen Creed was written. It's the ashes of his mother.
That sight made his fist drop, and he began walking to the urn slowly.
Capri and Ashton stayed still, but Beatrice shifted closer to Lydia.
"Do you think I should say what I have to say now too?" She asked.
"No, that'd be too much. This news needs to digest first before you say your part" Lydia replied, and Beatrice shifted back.
Warren finally got to the urn and carried it, his warm tear dropping on the lid from his one eye.
--
[Crescent Hospital, Dr. Fat's Office]
"You're gonna hypnotize Rafael? Are you crazy?" Dr. Fat said.
Serena is in front of him, glaring.
"He's suspecting too much she it's dangerous!" She replied.
"And that's because you're too loud and pompous! You said you could carry Ixora's personality but what happened? You're all shades of Serena right now despite having her face! It's barely been a month but look at you! You're not it!" Dr. Far said, and Serena slapped him.
The man supks, holding that cheek.
"Serena?"
"I pay you, so I see no reason why you should complain about my deeds! I spent one year apart from them, and Stonia understood that my character change is cos of the hardships I went through, but Rafael is only trying to be a nut head which I'll make him regret. Tomorrow night, I'll spend the night at his mansion, and you better be prepared cus I'm gonna sneak you in, and you'd get him to believe I'm his long lost daughter!" Serena glared, walking out of the office.
Dr. Fat rubbed his cheek, scoffing as he took his seat.
"You have no idea the price you'd pay for that face"
--
Serena hissed when she arrived at her car.
She slammed her palm on the window angrily, flinging back her hair.
"I'm too young for these problems, duhh... I want nothing but a rich arse life and caring parents, and that's suddenly a problem?" She hissed again.
She had sneaked out of the house without guards or driver, so she has to drive herself.
She was about to get a hold of the steering when she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror.
"Why do I suddenly look bloated?" She muttered, applying foundation.
"And what's this smell? Did someone poo here?" She squeezed her face as she got air fragrance and sprayed the car.
Then she zoomed out.
--
[Russia, Barinov Guild]
Nadine didn't understand the meaning of Anfisa's words from last night, till tonight when Konstantin entered her room.
It's past 9pm, but the lights in the guild is all off, making things even more suspicious.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"No questions, give me your hand" Konstantin replied, and she just obeyed, hoping this leads to nothing but survival.
Konstantin pulled her out of the room, and she covered her mouth to kill her gasp when she saw all the guards by the hall are down.
Sleeping? Dead? She has no idea.
They must have been injected.
She held Konstantin tighter, following his lead down the sea of bodies.
Getting to the end of the hall, they met Anfisa who's already waiting, and without further talks, Anfisa led them down the broad staircase.
"Are you sure everything has been taken care of?" Konstantin asked.
"Mother and father and Akem are asleep at the dinning, I made sure to sedate their wine, and the guards in this part of the guild are all down. I poisoned the air" Anfisa explained.
They got to the base of the stairs, then they stealthily stepped into the green lawn.
From there, their journey to the main gateway began.
Konstantin left Nadine for Anfisa, and as the ladies walked in front of him, he guarded their backs, wiping off their steps.
The silence in the guild continued, even deepening as they got to the shallow lawn, close to the middle.
Everything was going well till they arrived at that middle, and every single light came back on.
They all froze, and the sound of footsteps made them turn around to see Galina coming downstairs with Kol and Akem.
Anfisa quickly hid Nadine behind herself, and Nadine swallowed.
"Since I announced the wedding, I've been expecting something like this, so I never ate from the kitchen. I know when you came into the dinning to check if your sedative worked, and I was just smiling with my head on the table and my eyes tightly shut... y'all are so brave, it deserves some accolades" Galina said.
"I'm so disappointed in you, Anfisa. Even you?" Kol said.
"This won't end well, Konstant. Let's go back inside" Akem said.
"Back inside? That'd be after that girl dies, and if Anfisa or Konstantin tries to stop it, wound them" Galina replied, snapping her fingers.
Guards from the second gateway poured into the lawn, and Anfisa kept holding Nadine close as Konstantin faced them alone.
They're more than hundred, and the lawn turned to warfront in a matter of seconds.
Konstantin was throwing punches in every direction he could, backflipping and hand-standing, flinging the guards in different directions.
They're strong, not the ones to die with one punch, so they kept coming back.
They're using sharp weapons, but he's only with a gun which he doesn't want to use cos of Nadine.
Stray bullet might hit her, and that'd be disastrous.
He got a cut on his back from a cutlass, and he let out a cry of terror, turning around.
Anfisa removed the cutlass from his back, then he took it and swung it at the occipital lobe of the guard, cutting it off and bathing his white shirt in blood.
Another cutlass cut landed on his arm, and he followed the cutter, grabbing his head and turning it around, breaking him completely.
He roared out cos Anfisa's side is already full too, and she had to leave Nadine and face the fight with her brother.
In a minute, she brought down two of the guards, but she was rewarded with a knife slash to her belly.
Nadine covered her mouth with her palms, fear taking over her wide eyes as Anfisa's blood splashed.
One of the guards began coming for her with a knife, and her eyes widened more.
She shifted back with two steps, but before the guard could sink the knife into her chest, Konstantin reached there, kicking the knife off and swinging her away from that spot.
The blood from his cut back and arm stained her skin, and she trembled in his hold as he changed position again, using his forehead to nod the guard to death.
Anfisa is already on the ground, and three of them are trying to get her with their knives, but she kept slipping till she was able to stand.
She snatched a knife from one of them and gave them the stabs of their lives on their noses.
Despite her bleeding belly, she went low again, taking four to their backs and stabbing them to death too.
Blood painted the green lawn, turning it to red.
Galina, Kol and Akem stood at a distance, watching the mayhem.
Akem is sweating as he watched Konstantin getting hurt repeatedly, but he can do nothing.
Konstantin had to let go of Nadine again when his opponents got too much, and he made it round, giving them two fingers on their jugulars and bursting the pipes, splashing their bloods.
He got cut with a cutlass from behind again, and his flesh ripped.
"Tan!!!!!" Nadine yelled in horror, causing him to turn around as blood soaked his white shirt completely, turning it red.
Nadine is already held by four guards, and the worse part? She's bleeding from the face, and the hands of one of them is on her hips.
Ragingly,Konstantin pulled out his gun, ready to spill out the brains of that one.
But Galina was faster, she shot him on the shoulder, but Konstantin's hand still didn't go down despite the blood and pains.
"Surrender!!" Galina ordered.
His hand still didn't go down.
Anfisa made a move at this point, shooting at Galina, but a guard blocked her, taking the hit and dying on the spot
She kept shooting, but guards kept taking the hits for her till seventeen guards dropped dead.
Galina aimed for Nadine, and Anfisa dropped her empty gun.
"Stop!!!" She yelled.
"Surrender!, Konstantin!!!" Galina commanded.
Konstantin's hand still didn't go down, his eyes refusing to tear away from the hands on Nadine's hips too.
Nadine is shivering like she got drenched by the rain or something, and her eyes are still wide as she stared at bloodied Konstantin.
Blood is pouring out of his mouth at this point, but he stood demurely, still refusing to lower.
"Surrender, Konstantin! Or I shoot at the count of 3" Galina continued.
"One" she started immediately.
Konstantin began pulling the trigger.
"No .. Konstant!" Anfisa shouted.
"Two" Galina counted.
More blood left Konstantin's mouth as he dragged the trigger farther, his eyes drowsy.
"Three!" Galina finished up, but before she could shoot, a Lamborghini Gallardo drove into the guild, roughly skating through the bloody lawn like it's the owner.
The guards quickly made way as the smell of power dominated, and the car stopped in the middle of the blood splashes.
Galina lowered her gun, and immediately the person came down from the car, the guards began dropping their weapons and bowing automatically.
They dare not bow.
"The Pakhan?" Akem muttered shockingly, but it wasn't over, cos the Pakhan didn't come alone.
He's with his chic wife who stepped out of the second side of the car.
"Ma'am Adeline?" Galina said, and Adeline swiftly revealed her gun from the thigh straps.
She unapologetically shot Galina on the stomach, and Galina went on her knees, bleeding out with a painfully loud groan.
"Wrong, it's Godmother Adeline" Adeline said sternly like a teacher, stopping beside Madden whose eyes are colder than mountain snow.
TBC.
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