Elysium Dreams

blood gushed from his mouth and his chest. The chest wound pulsed in time with his heart.

  It slowed. He gurgled again. I wiped blood from my cheek.

  “You should have worn your shark suit. I may be just a lowly sociopath, but I am just as much of a monster as you,” I whispered to him like a lover telling a secret. “I hope Hell hurts.”

  Epilogue

  My living room was completed when we returned from Alaska. I sat on the couch, drinking a soda. Nyleena sat with me, not talking. We’d just finished watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I hadn’t left my house in over a week. We were officially on leave while we all healed. Gabriel hadn’t left. He’d videoed with his cell phone my encounter with Dr. Ericson.

  Lucas had saved Xavier before Gabriel had even been found in the tree. Dr. Ericson had injected him with blood thinner and sliced open his leg. By the time I killed Dr. Ericson, Xavier had been at the hospital getting treatment. It had come out over the police channel in the car.

  Ericson had been smart enough to cut the microphone off, but not smart enough to destroy the radio.

  Gabriel had sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and five to his vest. His chest looked like he had slept on quarters that had left bruises.

  “How do you feel?” Nyleena asked.

  “Like hell,” I told her.

  “No, I mean,” she paused. “Lucas and Xavier talked to me about you having issues on the case.”

  “I’m a monster,” I told her. “But a good monster. I can live with that.”

  “What are your plans for the rest of the week?”

  “Well, they say the stitches will come out at the end of the week. After that, I’ll have a few new scars. Otherwise, I don’t really have plans.”

  “Why don’t you come out with us on Friday night? We’re all going to dinner. I’ll even consider inviting Malachi,” Nyleena said trying to sound playful. She and Malachi didn’t exactly like each other. While they trusted each other, they only tolerated one another when necessary.

  “I don’t know who would suffer worse through that dinner, you or Malachi,” I said. “Probably you, Malachi doesn’t have a huge range of emotions. You really are a masochist.”

  “We all have our faults,” Nyleena wiggled her eyebrows. “Come on, we can make a weekend out of it. Dinner Friday and then away for the weekend, we jump in the car and just drive. We could be in Nebraska by Saturday afternoon, go to Ash Falls Archeological Site or somewhere equally historic and dull.”

  “You know,” I frowned. “I do have something to do actually. Mind if I ditch you for the day?”

  “Sure, but what?”

  “I have to go see an old friend,” I walked into my garage. The door whirred open as the car roared to life. I dug out my cell phone and made a call.

  I drove in a daze, eventually pulling into the maximum security facility, but not remembering how I got there.

  A guard led me down a hallway into an interview room. Across the table, chained at the feet and ankles, sat my brother. I sat down in the opposite chair.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “What happened to your face?” He asked.

  “Serial killer.”

  “I read the article.”

  “So did I,” I sighed.

  “What is it, Aislinn?”

  “I’ve come to realize something about both of us.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re both monsters, but good monsters. The only difference is that I sit on this side and you sit on that side.”

  “You are not a monster.”

  “Yeah, yeah I am. I’m ok with it. I just want you to know that I’m doing well in my new job. I know how you used to worry.”

  “I worry even more now. The killers in here have created a fan club for you.”

  “It’s nice to have fans,” I smiled. For the first time in ages, I heard my brother laugh. The sound tugged at my heart. Yes, I was a sociopath, but I was also human.