THE TORMENTOR 2
THE MASKED
The Masked - Episode 17&18
( Where•are•you, Ixora? )
Book 2 in the Mindf+ck Trilogy
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Stonia was already bleeding from the scalp too when Nadine was finally torn away from her by Konstantin.
"It's ok" he muttered in her ear, but she kept throwing her legs about, trying to grab Stonia again .
"I said it's not her! That's not Xoxo! How could she not detect!!" Nadine shouted.
"It's not Xoxo, very well. Shh" Konstantin replied calmly again, caressing the back of her neck.
"Mum!" Serena rushed to Stonia, helping her up.
"Call the cops" Stonia said, the blood from her nose entering her mouth.
"Call the cops!!!" She yelled, and Serena flinched before rushing inside to get her phone.
By now, Nadine has fallen asleep again in Konstantin's arms, but he's still rubbing her neck gently.
"You're a part of those antichrist boys, aren't you?" Stonia faced Konstantin.
"And?" He replied.
"Your leader came here with an abnormal girl like him, and they didn't only stone Rafael, but they also stoned three cars in my park, and now you came with another crazy wench to hurt me? By the time I start with you all, the whole of New York will find out why I was named Stonia" Stonia said, and Konstantin just took Nadine to the car without answering.
"Yunno what?" Anfisa said, going closer to Stonia.
"Nadine might be deluding cos of the overshot in her system, but sometimes delusions can be real. Last year when I came to this city, I didn't spend much time but I saw lots of their friendship dynamics. Ixora wouldn't start using waist beads when her best friend is missing" Anfisa continued.
And at the same time, Serena is just coming from inside with her phone.
She's wearing a crop top and short skirt, so her waist beads are showing.
She quickly pulled up her skirt to cover the beads.
Anfisa entered the car with Konstantin and Nadine, and they drove out.
"I...I couldn't call the cops. I'm out of battery" Serena said, and Stonia faced her.
She walked fast to her, holding her face obsessively.
"You're my daughter, no matter what anyone says...ok?" She said, and Serena nodded, then she hugged her, her bleeding nose still flooding.
"No one is taking you away from me" she muttered.
Elsa stood her ground, watching her crazy insane mother with empty eyes.
"We should get you to the hospital" Serena said, pulling away from Stonia's hug
She helped Stonia to the park, and she drove her out of the compound.
Elsa released an heavy breath, and she was about to return to the maids quarters when another car drove in.
She had to shift back so she won't get hit, and Winter came out of the car.
"Is Ixora at home?" She asked, eyeing Elsa up and down.
"She took her mum to the hospital" Elsa replied from under her mask, and Winter blinked.
"What happened? Hospital?"
"Strix hospital is the family hospital, go there and find out" Elsa replied, and Winter immediately threw her car keys at her.
Elsa caught it, and Winter smiled.
"Good, drive me to the hospital" she said, entering the car already.
Elsa smirked when she remembered the face Dr. Fat sent her last night, then she entered the car, inserting the key.
"People are good at pretending these days, don't you think?" She said, and Winter slowly looked up from the phone she's pressing at the backseat.
"What do you mean?" She glared, her eyes meeting with Elsa's in the front mirror.
"You know what I mean, miss Winter" Elsa replied, driving out.
"Is your mask starting to mess with your head?" Winter rolled eyes, returning to her phone.
--
[Mykel's Place]
"You came prepared" Mykel signed after stepping back immediately Romeo pulled out the arrow.
"And that's to tell you I'm not leaving this place till you're wounded. I don't care who your father is, Ixora belongs to me, only me! Me!!" Romeo shouted, coming straight for him.
Mykel stood still at this point, waiting till Romeo got to him and tried slamming the hammer on his head.
He went down, then he raised his fist, punching Romeo in the middle of his legs.
Romeo's balls nearly bursted with that one punch, and the hammer fell from him as his hands became weak with his legs.
Sweat covered him, and for one minute straight, he couldn't move from his spot.
Mykel picked the fallen hammer and slammed the nail remover part on Romeo's tummy, drawing his flesh with it.
"Fu...ahr!!!" Romeo gnarled painfully, forceful tears escaping his eyes as his blood dripped to the ground like tonic.
Mykel dropped the bloody hammer, then he gave Romeo the second punch on the spot he stabbed with the hammer.
"Mmmhhppp!!!" Romeo groaned, a thin line of blood escaping his mouth as he fell on the ground, another trail of tear leaving his red veiny eyes.
Mykel rounded his body on the ground as if he's a gutter rat, and Romeo could only groan like a loser.
Mykel then bent beside Romeo's body, smirking.
"Wow...my voice actually opens for you too" he talked, nodding.
"And that's because you're a dick, a loser who was only born to obsess over things. You didn't grow obsession sickness because Matron took care of Warren more than you, you grew it cos that's who you are, a dick. And I know why you initiated me into your gang. You want my father's connections in your drug pool?" Mykel smirked.
Romeo gurgled, clutching at his bleeding stomach.
"Even if you go to seven hells and back, you'll never get it. And you can have the fake Ixora...the real jewel is mine" Mykel finalized and stood.
"The little wounds I gave you should warn you not to ever cross me again. Warren has no sanity, and I have none too. Stay off his lane, and stay off mine" he said and started climbing the staircase.
He suddenly stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
"Whenever you gain enough strength to stand, you should go home, or you can come back upstairs and let me beat you to death" he said and finally went upstairs.
Romeo tried sitting up, but his penis stings, and his tummy bled more, so he continued laying there, weakly.
--
[Satan's Heirs Hideaway]
No one is in the living room and lounge when Konstantin arrived.
He's carrying Nadine in his arms, she Anfisa is behind them, carrying the only bag they brought from Russia.
"Where's everyone?" Anfisa muttered.
Konstantin went upstairs into his room, dropping Nadine in bed and tucking her in very well before covering her.
Remembering how she attacked Stonia made him smile slightly, then he walked out of the room, meeting Anfisa in front of it.
"Anyone in?" He asked.
"None that I've seen" she replied, and then Capri and Ashton came in downstairs, their eyes widening at once.
"Wifey!!" Ashton shouted.
"Gee!!" Capri boomed.
Konstantin rushed down the staircase, and Ashton beat Capri to it.
He got to Konstantin first, and they hugged so tight like brothers.
"Oh... you're still mad at me, I get it but welcome" Capri told Anfisa, and she smiled, coming downstairs to hug him.
"I'm still mad at you, true" she said, and he smiled, hugging her tighter.
Then they brother it, Capri hugged Konstantin too.
"It's been one friggin year, I can't fuckin believe this" Ashton said.
"Before the talks, where the hell is War? If he's at the church, then I'mma go meet him there" Konstantin said.
"Nope, he's in his room" Capri replied, his voice going low.
"What's going on?" Anfisa asked when she noticed the change.
Ashton explained the dead mother revelation to them, and Capri explained the fake Ixora case and Warren's eye stab.
It was a lot, and their eyes stayed wide throughout the narration.
Konstantin rushed upstairs, faster than the air.
He bursted Warren's room open, meeting him in the scan room where he's staring at the glass aquarium and the urn.
His eye patch is back, but it's bloody, and his second eye is totally blind right now. He's seeing nothing.
"What the f+ck!" Konstantin's eyes widened.
"Ow...shit" Anfisa covered her mouth.
"Konstant" Warren muttered, recognizing the voices.
"Dude, are you mad? What the f+ck happened to you?" Konstantin held back tears as he walked to him.
"What the f+ck are you doing to yourself? What the f+ck!" Konstantin repeated, hugging him tight.
Warren hugged back, so tight.
"You motherf+cker, I'm back now, so you better dust your arse." Konstantin said, and Anfisa patted him.
"You'll be fine, dude" she smiled.
--
[Strix Hospital]
Stonia was already getting attended to when Winter arrived with Elsa.
Elsa stayed at the hallway, but Winter was allowed into the ward.
"How did this happen?" She asked Serena who's sitting in the middle of the ward.
"Nadine, the best friend of o and Evelyn" Serena replied, and Winter gasped.
"Nadine?"
"She came back from Russia. I think someone rescued her or something, and then she began spitting trashy shit about how I'm not Ixora, and how mum is too blind to see...she wounded mum so much" Serena explained, and Winter gasped again.
"What the...heck!"
"I dunno what got into her, but she didn't look normal. She looked like a dysfunctional bî+ch" Serena replied, and Winter blinked.
No matter the case, Ixora would never call Nadine a bî+ch.
Ixora loves Nadine too much.
"Are you sure Nadine isn't right?" Winter said, and Serena frowned.
"Meaning?"
Nevermind, I have to be somewhere, I'll call you" Winter replied, rushing out of the ward.
She rushed past Elsa in front of the ward, forgetting to even tell her to drive again.
As she rushed out, Rafael rushed in, looking disturbed. Serena actually called him.
He was about to enter the ward when he saw Elsa waiting in front of it, and he stopped, giving her a glance.
"You should really take that mask off, it's scary" he said, and Elsa smiled under the mask.
"Soon, very soon" she said, smiling with her eyes like she does when she was younger.
Then she walked out of the hospital.
Rafael didn't look away from her till she curved the hallway, then he entered the ward.
"Dad!" Serena rushed to hug him, and he hugged her back, surprisingly.
Serena was even shocked cos she looked up.
"Dad?"
Rafael smiled. "You're my daughter, I was wrong to think otherwise" he said, and she smiled back.
Stonia stood from the bed she's sitting on, folding her arms on her bosom.
"You're finally back to your senses?" She said, and Rafael smiled again
"Forgive my initial attitude" he said, and Stonia scoffed.
"I'm gonna ruin the Nadine girl, and even if she wasn't in her right senses, I never wanna see her with my daughter anymore. And as for the antichrist boys, I'll leave them till I get done with this case" she said.
"Is the government still insisting that I must go continue my prison term?" Serena asked, and Rafael stroked her hair.
"I told you I'm in control, right? No one is taking you back to jail" he said, and Serena hugged him again.
Rafael's smile was shallow as he hugged her back.
He only has to continue acting fine, pretending he's cool with it, till he'll get to this root of this shit.
But then he perceived a smell, and he had to pull away from her.
"What's this smell?" He muttered.
"What smell?" Stonia and Serena chorused.
"Forget it" Rafael replied.
--
Winter dialled her lawyer's line immediately she got to her car in the park.
She was biting her nails as the line rang, and when the lawyer finally picked, she gasped.
"When will the documents be ready? I'm not safe here anymore and I don't even think this current Ixora is safe. That only means the real Ixora is out there somewhere, and if she's somewhere, then she'd have gotten the memories of how we got her to testify! I'm in danger!" She slapped the steering.
"The documents should be ready in three days, be rest assured" the lawyer said, and she hung up, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
"Thank gawd. Three days? Perfect" she muttered, driving out of the hospital.
Elsa came out of the hospital, an ear pod in her ear.
Actually she planted a bug in Winter's car earlier, even a tracker, and she heard her conversation with her lawyer.
She left the hospital too, flagging down a taxi which she rode to Crescent hospital.
Dr. Fat was in a surgery when she arrived, so she had to wait in the hallway till he came out of the theater.
"You didn't tell me you'd be coming" he said, lowering his nose mask.
"It's urgent" she replied, and they went to his office together.
"Last night when I was viewing the pictures you sent, I went blind for two seconds, then my sight came back. I'd have brushed it off as nothing, but then I'm Ixora Rhodes, nothing is normal here" she said.
Dr. Fat immediately called an optometrist, and Elsa was taken into the eye lab where her eyes got examined and tested.
Thirty minutes later, it was all done, and when the optometrist handed the results to Dr. Fat, the look on his face says everything isn't fine.
"Say it" Elsa said, and he sighed.
"Warren was injected repeatedly with toxic chemicals in prison, and one of it is currently causing him night blindness" he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Elsa blinked.
"You got injected with that same shot I think. But the shot you were given isn't much, and that's why you're only just experiencing night blindness right now" he explained.
"I was injected?" Elsa's eyes didn't widen, but her voice sounds shocked.
Dr. Fat nodded.
"And there's no inbuilt remedy. The night blindness will come nightly till you'd completely lose your sight, unless you get eye donor, meaning you'd have to change your two eyes" he said.
Elsa sat, looking stressed.
"Can we not talk about that right now? Nadine is back, I know who Evelyn is, and I even got a ring" she said, taking out Mykel's ring from her pocket.
"That's new" Dr. Fat smiled.
"Your childhood sweetheart proposed?"
"I can't exactly call it a proposal, it's an agreement, but I'm marrying him anyways" she stood.
"Everything is set for me to show myself, we only have to wait for Stonia's signing over ceremony"
--
[Monty's Place]
After Tina's burial, Monty didn't rest.
Getting back home, she got to work immediately, and Bronx still didn't leave her.
He stayed behind her in her power room as she pressed buttons like she's insane, trying to track Tina's phone, but it seems impossible since the phone is off.
It has to be on if she wants access to it.
"Shit!!" She pushed her typewriter away, holding her forehead.
Bronx shifted away from her, not ready to get scathed by her anger again.
"Your phone" she suddenly said.
"Why?" He queried.
"Give me your phone" she glared, and he handed it to her.
Monty took it and went to his messages, clicking on the brotherhood texts and trying to track too, but she met a dead end cos her system got viruses instead.
She punched her system screen repeatedly, angrily as the scene of how Tina's body was buried hit her head.
Bronx just stood behind, feeling mad and pitiful and guilty at the same time.
The head of the cult is the same person who killed her father—judging by the bullet she showed her, but can he say?
Can he really say?
--
[Romeo's Mansion]
Clover stood in the middle of his room, staring out of the window with his hands in pocket.
There are drugs to be packaged at the big table, but he just left it for Bethel since she he's not even feeling like touching anything.
Something is in his pocket, she he's caressing it as he stood there like a statue, staring so deep into space.
He might be an orphan who grew up in an orphanage and committed so many sins by aiding Matron in her child trafficking business, but that's the past. The past can't be pushed behind, but at least the present can be better.
He thought Romeo got better with his obsessiveness, but thos thing inside his pocket is a testament that Romeo was never pure.
He was still standing there when he heard screams downstairs, and he rushed there to see Romeo coming in with bedding tummy.
Bethel was the one who screamed.
"Romeo!" They both rushed to him, his blood drooling so much.
"I'll... I'll kill... Mykel..." He struggled to speak, and Clover hung his arm on his shoulder, taking him inside properly.
Bethel was about to follow them when the sharp pain gripped her stomach again.
Clover saw her, but Romeo didn't, so she quickly rushed upstairs, getting her drug purse where she poured four into her mouth.
She sat on the ground, holding the stomach tight as she swallowed the pills.
Initially, the pain would have subsided immediately she took the pills, but it didn't even work, so she remained there, on the ground, keeping her eyes open and trying to stop herself from passing out.
The doctor clearly told her that when she gets to the stage where drugs don't work anymore, then she's only got few days left.
She smiled dryly, resting her back on the wall.
--
[Two Days Later, Satan's Heirs Hideaway]
Everyone is downstairs, including Nadine who some up from her wild sleep yesterday.
She's sipping milk from a cup gently, and Konstantin is looking at her with shawled eyes and a small smile.
When she looked up and their eyes met, she rolled eyes, and he smirked before looking away.
"So... you're saying the person acting as Ixora is Serena? Her cousin?" Anfisa said.
"Yeah" Warren replied.
His one eye is back to seeing again after some substantial shots from the hospital, and for the first time, the patch on his wounded eye is bloodless.
"I might be deluding, but I was also in my right senses. Xoxo doesn't use waist beads, she hates it, so I don't feel guilty for beating Stonia at all" Nadine said.
She made sure to keep her distance from the guys especially Warren.
Her hate for him is not hidden.
She sipped her milk again.
"And you're saying you felt her in the hall? Like the concert hall?" Konstantin stood.
"Yeah, together with someone who smells like potpourri" Warren replied, licking his lips.
It was at that moment, Chicago entered.
"The hell is she doing here?" Capri stood.
"I told her to come, chill" Warren replied, and Chicago came in with a smirk.
"Whoa, I missed a lot. She's intimidating" Anfisa said.
"Really intimidating" Nadine replied, distancing herself more.
Chicago sneered at her, then she faced Warren.
"You weren't picking my calls, cyclops. You don't get to task me then go ahead to ghost me" she glared.
"The info?" Warren asked straight to the point.
Chicago smirked and got her phone, swiping few times before handing Warren her phone.
Mykel's picture is on screen.
"He scents like potpourri?" Ashton asked.
"It was a hard task, I has to start making researches about the houses of every fuckin student in ILC, and yes he has been scenting like that since he was young cos he surrounds his room with decorative bowls of dried fragrant plants" Chicago explained.
"Meaning he covered me with Ixora that night, and he definitely knows where she is" Warren said.
"Yup" Chicago said, and Warren stood, ready to go out.
Nadine stood too.
"If it's about Xoxo, them I'm going" she said.
Warren didn't deny, he just left the house, then Nadine followed Konstantin and the guys, going after him.
Chicago and Anfisa stayed back, and Chicago threw her weight beside Anfisa on the couch.
"Can you play chess?" Anfisa asked.
Chicago looked at her, her eyes thinning.
"Maybe" she said, and Anfisa rushed upstairs to get the chess.
--
[Mykel's Place]
It's a date night with Elsa, so Mykel is wearing a black suit as he came downstairs, ready to go out.
Elsa is gonna sneak out of Stonia's Mansion, and he's gonna pick her up at the bus station.
He was still checking out his dress shirt when he got a ring at his door, and he frowned before going there to open, only to be met by five people.
Complete Satan's Heirs, and Nadine.
He tried shutting the door, but Warren pushed it back with his boot, and the door opened wide.
"Bring out the vodka! Big, bad visitors you've got here!" Konstantin grinned.
He's the first to step in with Warren.
--
[Stonia's Mansion]
Elsa checked all angle very well from her room door at the maids quarters.
She made sure everywhere is clear before she came out.
Not like anyone cares about her whereabouts, but if she bumps into Serena, she'd likely not allow her, and she can't miss this date.
At least...she needs something to unwind and take her mind off the night blindness.
She left the quarters, and she was walking past the park when she saw Rafael who's just coming out of his car.
With a bow, she greeted him, then she continued her journey towards the gate.
Something fell from her pocket, but she didn't notice.
"Ice girl!" Rafael called, picking it up.
Elsa turned back, wondering why he's hollering.
Rafael rushed to her with the anklet that fell from her,.
"This fell from you" he revealed it on his palm, and her eyes widened when she saw it.
It's the anklet gift Rafael bought for her!
Rafael's eyes widened too when he saw what he's about to return, and their eyes met.
"Y... you..." He muttered in shock, fastly pulling off her mask with immediate effect.
Elsa gasped.
--
[Creed Family House, Beatrice's Room]
Beatrice finished serving dinner for Elder Creed not long ago, and she returned to her own room after she ate her dinner in the kitchen.
Lydia is not back yet—she's still outside, shielding Warren from Maureen like Elder Creed ordered.
Beatrice brought out a small purse from under her pillow, which she unzipped.
She brought out a white, neatly-folded handkerchief and carefully unfolded it, revealing the dark, tender hair of a newborn baby.
Beatrice smiled, and the sight was sad as she heaved, looking up and sliding down the memory lane.
—25Yrs Ago, Crescent Hospital—
A mild shower is wetting the streets, so everywhere is cold, adding to the tense hospital atmosphere.
There are two pregnant women in the two opposite childbirth theaters, and the two are too weak to birth their babies on their own, so they're birthing through operation.
One is Mariya Thorne, and the second one is Doreen Creed.
Mariya's husband wasn't available when labour pains got a hold of her, so it was a maid who brought her.
But as for Doreen, it was her husband —Elder Creed, and her twin sister—Maureen, who brought her.
They're all waiting at the hallway, awaiting good news, but Maureen wouldn't stop ranting on Elder Creed about what she'd do to him if her sister dies in the ongoing operation.
As for the maid who came with Mariya, she was crying as she tried Mr. Thorne's line repeatedly.
Beatrice is one of the nurses inside Mariya's theater, and she's praying for success with her mind too, not only for Mariya but also for Doreen who's in the opposite theater.
Luckily, the operation of the two women was successful, and the cries of babies filled the theaters.
Not one, not two, but three!
Mariya gave birth to a baby boy, but Doreen had two baby boys.
Nurse Beatrice was beaming with smiles as the doctor handed Mariya's baby boy to her, then she started stitching up Mariya.
But then...she glanced at the opposite ward, and her eyes widened when she saw the nurses over there are crying.
The twin babies survived, but Doreen died!
Beatrice wasn't able to process that shock when gunshots echoed outside the ward...
Gunshots from Maureen who's venting cos of the death of her sister.
The shock of the gunshots made the nurses run helter skelter, trying to make their way out of the ward to avoid stray bullets.
One of the nurses slammed into Beatrice, causing Mariya's baby to fall from her.
"Stop!!! Stop running!!! The baby is..." Beatrice was crying as she knelt, but...
Before she could pick him up, the running nurses already matched him, and as the tender new baby that he is...he died on the spot.
All these while, Mariya is still unconscious, and even the maid that brought her to the hospital has been shot down in the hallway by Maureen.
The hospital turned upside down, and the sound of Maureen's gunshots continued bouncing off the walls as she ran mad totally, shooting every nurse and doctor that came her way, even patients.
Beatrice sat on the ground, crying sinfully as she stared at Mariya's baby who just died on the ground.
The cries of Doreen's twin babies penetrated into her ears from the opposite theater, and she looked up to see all the nurses and doctors already abandoned the ward, leaving the crying twins with their dead mother.
Beatrice stood, walking fast to that ward and taking one of the twin babies (Mykel)
"I'm so sorry...very sorry" she muttered, her guilty tears falling on the baby's cheek as she took him to Mariya's side.
She placed him gently beside Mariya, then she took the dead baby from the ground.
"Never forgive my sins, gawd" she sniffled, taking the dead baby out of the ward through the washroom.
TBC.
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