AH -CH1- (Patreon)

- End of the Beginning -

Rene tilted his head to one side as the security guard crossed in front of him. Lifting his pistol up but keeping it close to his body, he lazily rested the rear sights on the back of the guards head.

He wasn’t much further than ten yards away. The shot would be easy.

Boring.

Tracking the guard as he made his circuit Rene had to fight against the inner impulse to pull the trigger.

Pull it. Pull it. Pull it. Drop the hammer, feel the boom, watch the blood, paint the room. Spray and splatter, foreplay and gray matter.

Grinding his teeth silently Rene eased his finger off the trigger and onto the trigger guard. His inner demon demanded its payment.

And Rene denied it. It’d receive its due soon enough. Until then it’d have to deal with it.

Easing out of the darkened corner he’d been hiding in, Rene flitted across the grass and into an adjoining courtyard.

Silent as a caress Rene glided to the far side door and listened for a moment. The soft hum of electricity beyond the door was all he could discern.

Opening the door smoothly, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, Rene stepped into the room.

Confidence often would disorient people long enough to subdue anyone nearby. A door opened swiftly or slowly was more likely to alert someone.

Kill them. Spill them. Drain them dry.

The voice was a soft mutter in the back of his head. Rene was glad for that.

As of late it’d grown louder than he could ever remember previously when his emotions ran high.

It made him feel like time was catching up with him. It’d started with his body slowing down. Now his mind was starting to slip.

His steel reinforced control was slowly eroding with each and every day he grew older.

A sad and ugly realization was forming in the back of his mind. In the darkest bits of the night.

And that was that he would lose control soon. Lose control and go on a rampage and have to be put down like a crazed animal.

Crazed? No, no, no.

Animal. Yes.

Beast we are Rene; at least, so far for today.

It only took a single moment for Rene to realize the room was empty. Rene had a sense for these kind of things.

Really they were just trained senses to the point of what some people would call ESP.

Closing the door behind himself he dismissed the interior with a thought. The room’s decorations didn’t mater a wit to him.

Pressing a gloved hand to the switch he slid it into the off position and moved deeper into the manor.

His target was a man only a year older than Rene himself. The forty-three year old had fled to Mexico with his secretary. Along with all the money in the joint account he shared with his wife of twenty years.

It’d only taken a week for the wife to sell enough belongings to meet Rene’s price.

The contract was beneath him, but it would pay the bills.

Except it wasn’t the material bill that concerned him right now. It was the butcher’s bill on his soul that was coming due that did. The need to kill someone.

Rene was a murderer and he couldn’t escape that. But he could at least make it into a trade and then only eliminate those who deserved it in a way.

Time to pay, we collect today. A feast for me, a priest for he.

As the guttural voice petered off in his mind, Rene looked up around a spiral staircase.

“No more rhyming tonight, or I’ll make you wait,” Rene whispered to himself.

Please forgive, we jest, we kid. A game it was, heaven forbid.

Rene thumbed the safety on his pistol, contemplating leaving the house entirely and refunding the woman her money.

Fine. Fine!

Moving up the stairs without a sound Rene kept himself ready. There had been little information the wife could provide him with other than an address. Worse, he had no time to prepare. Not the way he usually would.

The little monster that sat behind his eyes would only allow him free reign for so long. And that meant rushing this job.

Then he heard a sound that he often heard on contracts like this. Soft rhythmic bed creaking and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. It came from somewhere ahead of him. In what he could only assume was a bedroom.

Well he took his secretary, so yeah. Better make it worth while. I mean, did you see the picture of her? Damn. You should hire a secretary.

Rene could only agree. He was a murderer, sure, but he still enjoyed women. And sex.

Slipping his pistol into the holster under his dark clothing, Rene pressed up to a wall and crept along it. Base boards could and would creek. In his personal experience walls tended to have less of this problem. Not always, but less.

He’d have to wait until they finished and make it clean. He’d been paid for the husband, not the entertainment.

Why not both?

Two for one special.

Rene ignored the voice. He’d been doing that his whole life.

After the husband was bled dry the voice would leave him be. For a time at least. Rene only had to wait for the secretary to finish the husband.

Finding the door he wanted by sound alone, Rene put his back to the wall to wait for a bit.

Old guy like this won’t take long. Not like you’d know. You got laid, what, six-teen days ago? I think I’d forget what a woman felt like at that point.

That or his suck-retary will get bored.

Rene flexed his muscles slowly as he settled into position. His knees had an ache in winter that he couldn’t quite get rid of. It was a shame his monster needed regular payments, otherwise he’d take the entire fall and proceeding winter off.

Long gone were the days of running around in the government employ year after year. Though he was now apparently cashing the checks his body had written for that period in his life.

No sooner than he got comfortable than he heard a groan from beyond the door and the soft thump of a body falling into the sheets.

A higher pitched voice asked a question in a complaining tone.

The man responded with a murmur and there was no further discussion.

Minute man, minute man, can you come any faster?

Five minutes after that and Rene felt safe enough to work the unlocked door open.

Letting his eyes take stock of the room as he entered he left the door ajar. A rapid exit was worth more than the security a closed flimsy door would provide.

Laying asleep on the left side of the bed was a beautiful woman of perhaps twenty. Nude and only partially covered in the sheets.

Beside her was the overweight husband.

Rene ignored all other details beyond that. It wouldn’t do him any good and would only prove to be a problem later on.

Reaching into a pouch on his side he lifted out a dark black case.

Gently opening it he retrieved the preloaded hypodermic syringe inside. Removing the cover on the needle he repositioned himself.

Holding his hand above the womans mouth he guided the needle up under the carotid artery of her throat. If he did it right she’d be out in seconds of the injection.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, KILL! KiLl hEr NoW!

Feeling his mind shudder under the desire and need to jam the needle into her eye and into her brain, Rene stood still. Battling internally with the monster that he was he fought to preserve her life against his own desires. She didn’t deserve to die for sleeping with a married man. One who would drop her as soon as she lost her youth.

Instead of winning the battle with himself, it felt like he was starting to lose.

The monster would win and the woman would die.

Pressing his hand down suddenly against the womans mouth and nose he jabbed the needle into her neck. It didn’t feel as precise as he wanted it to be but it felt like the better answer.

Depressing the plunger with his thumb as soon as it entered her the needle filled her with strong sedatives.

Her eyes flicked open, met his, then glazed over after a few seconds. Then closed once more and she was dead to the world.

She’d be unconscious till morning, but alive.

Removing the needle with a shaking hand he recapped it and slipped it back into the case. Then put the case in his pouch. He’d dispose of everything later when it was safe.

Now, mine, me. Feast. Blood. Take. Take. TAKE!

Unable to contain himself any further he put a knee on the woman’s stomach, his left hand on her bare chest, and leaned over her.

In his right hand he unclipped his Glauca B-One, flipped it open, and buried it in the man’s throat. Savagely ripping the blade from one side to the other Rene felt his own eyes go wide and his body shudder at the sudden act.

Blood pumped in an arterial spray timed to the man’s heartbeat. Lifting his hand Rene slammed the blade home into the mans larynx and dragged it down across the side.

It was done. But not over.

Lifting his left leg up he brought his knee down into the unconscious woman’s shoulder as he slapped his smashed his left hand into the dying man’s head.

The hilt of the blade crashed into the temple of the dead man who wasn’t quite done dying. When he didn’t fall still with the first hit, Rene struck him again.

Dropping back into the bed the man moved no more, even as his blood sprayed across the room with every beat of his heart.

Panting, Rene crawled off the woman.

“Sorry,” he said lamely to the woman he’d used as a platform.

Feeling the pressure on his mind ease with the kill he could practically taste the sweet smell of the man’s blood in the air.

He enjoyed it.

He knew it was wrong. Knew he’d just killed a man for money. And enjoyed it. He didn’t care. He felt more remorse for bruising the woman than killing the man. More remorse for the poor fool who’d be paid less than ten dollars to clean up this mess.

Wiping his blade off on the sheets he folded it back up and slipped it into its holster.

Turning from the scene Rene exited the room and closed the door behind himself. A minute later and he’d made it back to the garden corner that had been his hiding place earlier.

Once the guard passed him again he’d be off.

Back to his dingy hotel room.

Then a plane ride back to a house he hired someone to decorate and clean because he didn’t have the time. To sleep in a bed that was too large for him by himself.

To maybe buy a prostitute, read a book, play a video game.

Wait for the need to kill again to rise.

Paralysis struck him.

His entire body seized up and he lost control. His mind clawed at his muscles, demanding them to move, as a light began to build around him.

Then the faint light became a blazing spotlight all at once.

Illuminated like a beacon it wouldn’t be long before someone saw him

“What… the… fuck…” Rene ground out between clenched teeth.

Then the guard was there, a pistol raised in Rene’s direction.

The guard shouted something at him. He couldn’t quite make it out as the light was actually putting out a lot of noise as well.

It wasn’t loud enough to drown out the sound of the single gunshot though.

Rene felt the large caliber round burst through his chest and blow out the back of his spine.

The light around him flickered than become something else.

Rene was now standing in a room of interlocking stones and at the center of a blazing purple circle. Around him stood men and women in vibrantly colored robes.

Candles dotted the walls and gave the room a creepy old timey feel.

Then Rene was free to move.

At which point he promptly fell flat on his face and died.

***

Rene’s eyes opened unto a world of darkness. Stretching out in every direction there was nothing.

In fact, Rene had no eyes. Trying to inspect himself, he found he was nothing. No feet, torso, hands, nothing.

Case in point, he felt nothing.

Not even the monster behind his eyes.

Laughter rang throughout the void. Roaring, guffawing, laughter.

“Damn, now that was absolutely hilarious,” a disembodied voice said.

Rene couldn’t reply since he had no mouth.

“Ah, yeah, sorry. Here.”

Then Rene had a body again. The same body in fact. Complete with hole in the chest and exploded heart.

“There ya go. Anyways. That was pretty funny. The look on the summoner’s face when you did that lovely face plant. Ah, shit. That’ll keep me laughing for ages.”

A man appeared before Rene. He sat in a throne ten feet away.

He looked to be in his twenties with dark hair. A trim goatee adorned his chin and his eyes were a chilling blue. He was fit but not athletic. Dressed well, but not expensively.

Laying his lap was a furry creature. Red of fur and a dark red tail. It didn’t look too big but dominated nearly the entirety of his lap. Most of it’s body was made up of said tail and its eyes had a strange quality.

They looked black and fathomless. Shadowed.

“So on the scale of heart attack to being run over by a run away llama, that was clearly an eleven,” the man in the throne said.

“Who are you?” Rene asked, his mind not quite catching up.

“Me? Hm. That’s a good question. You can call me… ah, whatever. You can name me.”

“Name you?”

“Why not? I’m not worshiped in the world you’re in. Not for a very long time at least. My name would mean nothing.”

“Aren’t you death?”

“Goodness, no,” said the man with a laugh as he rubbed a thumb and forefinger across the head of the creature in his lap. “Though she’s a friend of mine.”

“What if I wanted to call you old man?” Rene asked, his hands trying to discreetly check his equipment.

“Old man works. And don’t bother looking, it’s gone. Not that it’d matter, I mean, did you forget that you’re dead?” The man said with a laugh as if remembering it again. “Splat. Right in front of them.”

“So… are you a messenger then?”

The man sighed and shook his head.

“Such a rigid mind. While you’re working on that part, I’m going to pretend we skipped ahead to the next part of the conversation.”

“There’s a next part?”

“Of course there is. I mean, unless you want to die and move on?”

“Not particularly. Truth be told though. Life wasn’t worth much, I can’t imagine my afterlife would be better.”

“I know. In fact, you’re honestly scum of the earth. But hey, you didn’t pick the hand you were dealt, and you played it as well as you could. Not to mention your demise was amusing and not of your own choice. So, yeah.”

Standing up the man set the furry critter in the throne and moved over to stand in front of Rene.

Measuring him against himself, the man could only be about five foot ten. Maybe five nine. Rene was an even six foot which made measuring others easy.

“So, here’s the deal. And believe me, this is a deal, contract, agreement, whatever you want to call it.”

Rene cocked his head to one side, listening.

“First, I’m going to stick you into a pregnant woman, and have you be reborn. In this world since you were summoned here. As part of this rebirth I’ll be removing that little bit of you that… well, was fucked up. You’ll no longer enjoy killing people. You’ll even feel this wonderful thing called remorse and regret. Shocking.”

The man held up a finger as if to clarify that part was complete.

Blue text began to appear out of thin air in front of Rene. It was writing down what the man had just said.

“Second, you will retain all memories of your past life at the time of your birth. This is to make sure you remember all this and the deal you’ve struck. No point in sending you back if you can’t even remember why you’re going back.”

The blue text began writing another bullet point with the most recent addition as the man held up a second finger.

“Payment?” Rene asked.

“Err, what? I don’t follow.” The man admitted, two fingers in the air, watching Rene.

“You can’t read my mind?” He was still trying to get an idea of what he was dealing with and any information was good.

“I could if I wanted to. I choose not to. Now, you asked about payment?”

“No contract is ever one-sided. What am I paying you in? Since I have a soul, I’ll not be bartering that,” Rene said.

The man started to laugh again, smiling wide at Rene.

“You’re a real treat. Payment. Payment is to be made in good deeds. Consider this,” the man said with a flick of his left hand. “Your bank account.”

Floating in mid air at the upper right part of his view was a bar. It looked quite similar to a loading bar. Except vertical.

The top part of it was blue and the bottom red.

“Every action you take will shift that little marker in the middle. Actions that are good? Moves it up and into the blue. I expect that blue bar to be full. For you to live a life worth living and that you enjoy it. And help others enjoy life.

“Actions that are bad? Well, that’s when you move into the red there. If you get to the bottom of the red…”

The man stopped and let both of his hands drop to his sides and stared deep into Rene.

“I’ll pull your soul out of you personally and use it for a cum rag for when I’m done skull fucking your corpse,” the man said with a smile.

Rene shuddered involuntarily. Little had ever actually created fear in him, yet the cold assurance of that statement did. The promise of it.

“I understand,” Rene said.

“Good! Should you adhere to the contract there won’t be a problem. Now, off wi-”

Chirping from the throne interrupted the godlike man.

“Huh? But-”

Before he could finish his statement, the furry creature interrupted him with continued chattering.

The back and forth continued for nearly a full minute. The man trying to interject only to be chittered down by the furry creature.

Eventually the man turned to Rene and shook his head.

“Ptff. Fine. One more thing to add it seems,” the man smiled and held up a third finger.

“Going to change things up here a bit. Should you find yourself in trouble, all your previous abilities, training, and learning, will return to you as if you had never forgotten it. This includes all things you’ve already forgotten up to this point. I think it’s a little much but I’ve been over ruled.”

A single chirp from the throne punctuated that statement.

“Yeah, yeah. One word of caution by the way. Should this happen, it’ll be fairly obvious and you’ll be… different. Let’s just leave it as a surprise as to what’ll happen. I will give you this though in advance. It’ll probably help. Maybe.”

In the bottom left hand of Rene’s view a screen came into being. Oddly enough, it seemed to be a written log of everything they’d been discussing.

Like it was subtitled.

Though the man had no name attached to his lines. It was blank.

“It’s like a video game,” Rene blurted out before he could think about it.

“That it is! You were from a modern world after all, so yeah, video game. Alright, off with you. Try not to have too much fun.”

“Wait, what about the monster? The one in my head.”

“There was no monster. You knew that from the very beginning. There was only ever you. Don’t worry though, you is a much better person now. Try not to rip your mom apart on the way out. She’s a nice lady and that’s a low tech world and all.”

And then Rene was born. Again.