Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" Mercy slowly opened her eyes , her vision was blurry and she could hardly make out the silhouette of a man standing right in front of her- " Is that an axe in his hand? It's ... red...with blood...", she wondered as she tried to make sense of everything around her. She soon realised that she was sitting on a chair with her hands tied behind her. She twisted her arms but it hurt. She was in some kind of an abandoned factory. In front of her was a man- standing and watching her- he had a mask on his face- but he was dressed like a businessman, in a brand new suit- his bloodied axe was glistening in the single beam of sun light that peered in through the broken ceiling of the room. It was a large room filled with huge wooden boxes on either side with 'FRAGILE' tags on them. There was a huge iron door in front which was the only entry and exit point in the room. In the centre was a wooden table upon which lay a black bag. She felt a strange numbness throughout her body. Her skirt was half torn which revealed her beautiful brown legs. She wanted to scream and call for help but her lips won't move- she was trembling with nervous excitement and maybe with fear- maybe today was the day she would die! The man was calmly watching her as if he was undressing her with his eyes- it was creeping her out and she tried to cross her legs in embarassment. She kept thinking how she ended up in this situation, the last thing she remembered was her getting into a taxi from the police station and the smooth manly voice of the driver asking her for her destination and everything was blurry after that. Or maybe there was something else she didn't notice. What could it be. She shut her eyes and tried to think hard- the black taxi...the driver... was he old? No, around 40-ish. He had dark hair. And what else? Yes... there were some flowers on the seat. When she asked the driver about them he said that some previous passenger must have left them there. The flowers...yes...they looked familiar... "Flowers?Red? ... Good God!", she opened her eyes and looked at the man again. "Could he be ... the serial killer?", she kept thinking. "Am I being held captive by the same killer that I was investigating?", she swallowed hard and kept staring at the man with fear and suspense. The man walked towards her. "Aah... so you're awake?", he said. "I was admiring your beauty...my my... what lovely legs you have...", said the man standing a few feet away from her with his bloody axe still in his hand. "Agh! who the hell are you... why am I here?", Mercy asked repelled by his words. "Patience sugar...patience...let me stare at you for a while...after all you won't be alive for long, now that you've met me..", said the man. Mercy could feel that he was grinning underneath that horrible mask. She really wanted to kick him in the guts. "What have I ever done to you?You creep...", she yelled in anger. "Such anger... ah.. it turns me on...", replied the man walking behind her, "Why... you've been after me for so long ...I thought you'd want to meet me...after all you're my number one fan...". Mercy took a good look at the man in the mask. He stood no less than 6 ft. tall and wore a black suit and had golden cufflinks,his shoes were well polished and he had black gloves on his hands. He wore a peculiar looking japanese kabuki mask on his face and his hair was dark. The short axe he was holding in his left hand has fresh blood on it. Could it be that he had killed someone recently? He had a dark devilish charm about him and he spoke quite elegantly. Is this the killer that she was after? "Huh... so you're the serial killer that the police is looking for... tell me do you plan to kill me too?", asked Mercy boldly. "Oh ,so you're smart too ... yes my dear, I hate to say it but I have to end your life too... You are starting to annoy me a little... ", replied the man pacing slowly across the room. "So you killed Amy? You scroundel!! Why did you do it? Why?", yelled Mercy. "Meh! Just for the fun I guess...I get bored easily...", replied the man calmly, as he dipped his axe into a bucket of water to remove the blood stains. Mercy was furious and she tried to twist her arms to free herself but it was of no use, the restraints were too tight. "And who have you murdered now?", she asked. "A nobody...well she was a cop but still a nobody... she should have minded his own business but he interrupted me...and I hate interruptions...she even tore your dress trying to save you...ha ha! ", the man replied as he cleaned his axe and raised it in front of his face and looked at it for a while. "You do this for fun? You demon!!", Mercy asked. "Yes... it's just a hobby my dear... most people like to travel or to paint or play an instrument...me...I like murder...the screams, the blood of my prey...thrills me...", he replied. "You're sick!!", she said. "Ah! No... I'm evolved... I'm better...You see what does it matter if I kill a few people every now and then...the world is full of people anyways... stupid people, boring people... I kill them because I'm smarter... they're just prey for me and I am the king of the jungle...", he replied cleaning his axe with a piece of cloth. "So why do you leave flowers for your prey and what's with the obsession with murdering innocent women?", she asked again. Mercy was actually trying to buy some time by stalling him for a few minutes longer. The police would definitely notice that she was missing and they would track her through the transmitter on her necklace. "Hmmm... so you think that by asking these questions you will be able to stall your imminent death and the police will save you? How naive you are little girl... I've already thrown away your necklace while I snatched you away... now there's no way anybody can rescue you....", he replied as he finished cleaning his axe. Mercy was amazed. "How did he know about the necklace?", she thought. Mercy was dumbfounded, she had to get out of there as soon as possible- the maniac was going to kill her now! It must've been just over an hour that she was in the taxi- she was chatting with the driver about the flowers and then she suddenly fell sleepy. But she didn't understand how she was kidnapped, how she went unconscious and was brought here. Could it be that the driver was the killer who brought her here? She didn't she his face-all she heard was a voice. Or was the cab driver his accomplice? Above all she didn't understand why her limbs were all numb- maybe she was drugged? Whatever the reason, she had to think fast before something bad happened. *Clank* Her trance broke as she heard a loud metallic sound. *Clank* "I have brought a few tools so that I can enjoy killing you... don't worry you won't feel a thing...the drug in your system will numb all your pain...", said the man as he took out a few small knives from the bag and laid them out on the table behind him. "What in the world? He's gonna torture me to death?", Mercy's eyes opened wide as she saw the sharp tools on the table. "Think Mercy! Think!", she said to herself as the man approached her with knives on both hands. Suddenly something sparked in her mind. "I know who you are!", she said raising her head and looking straight in his eyes. The man stopped and looked at her. "Oh? So you think you have solved the mystery?", he said mocking her. Mercy was finally beginning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. She knew who the man was and how he killed all those women. Her numb body was starting to twitch with excitement- the drug was starting to wear off. She began to recall all of the random incidents from the past two months and she finally understood how they connect with each other. All she had to do was to stall the killer for a few more minutes- Detective Lester would surely come to her rescue. Or so she thought. She only hoped that they were tailing her from the moment she stepped into the cab. "Where are you Lester?", she kept thinking as the killer stepped closer with the knives - she could see her face reflecting on them.