#WIAE27 Chapter 27

Night kept on cursing as he stared at the two lifeless bodies in front of him. And I didn't feel anything... I didn't even feel an ounce of remorse for what I did. And I should. Cathy only did that to save her family... but she should have known that every betrayal has a price. She should have been prepared to pay the price. And that was her life.

"Shit," Night cursed again.

I pursed my lips and looked at him. I had never seen him as perturbed as he was today.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said, looking at me. "You shouldn't have killed Ella."

My lips quivered as I replied. If there's a death that I would regret, it wasn't Ella's. She deserved it. She deserved what she got... and if she didn't, then I also didn't deserve the hell she made me go through. But I guess nothing in this life we're living was fair. Death was the only ending. She should've known.

"How would I know?" And then I looked at him, my eyes lifeless. "You never tell me anything."

I was tired.

"Because you're not supposed to know anything! Not yet!"

A smile slowly broke on my face.

"Alright," I said, giving in. "I'll play your game... and I've played my part. Now do yours."

Napatingin si Night sa mga katawan sa harap niya. Ella's eyes were still wide open... and she was looking at me. I was the last person she saw before her demise. She probably never expected that. She pushed me around whenever she could... she never expected that I'd be the one to take her life. Funny how life works that way.

One second you're alive... the next one, some bitch just killed you.

Nung hindi gumalaw si Night, nagsimulang gumalaw ang mga paa ko. I was looking for the phone. I needed Sandra. I needed her help.

"What are you doing?" Night said, holding my arm as I held on the phone.

"I'm going to call Sandra."

Agad niyang inagaw sa akin iyong hawak ko.

"No."

I stared at him.

"Will you help me, then?"

He stared hard. And yet, I still couldn't read him. There were so many things he was hiding, and I couldn't wait until I get a hold of all of his secrets. He was hiding so many.

He didn't say a word, and instead, crouched down and put his hand over Ella's eyes and made them close.

"She shouldn't have died," he whispered.

But the dead would remain dead. And there's nothing to do about it.

Night asked me to stay out of his way as he cleaned the mess I created. He asked me not to look at him as he dismembered the body, but I kept my eyes on him. He was a monster, I knew, but I never thought I'd be seeing this side of him... how evil he could really be. How low he could get just to play this game he was leading...

"How can you cut down your own friend, Night?"

He got a knife and a black bag, and started cutting the joints.

"How can you kill her?" he shot back. "And you even killed your own friend."

My eyes went on Cathy. She was laying on the cold ground, blood still flowing from her wound. She was just a part of the mess Ella created. She shouldn't have played the game. She was a pawn... and pawns get discarded first.

"That's the price of betrayal, Night," I said as I looked at him. "So, don't you ever betray me."

He looked at me, blood splattered on his face when he cut Ella's arms.

"I'm not your enemy."

"Sure..."

There was nothing to do but believe that everything he said was nothing but blatant lies. He's not telling me the truth. He was just playing his game... and if he, for one second, think that I was just playing my part, then he's wrong. I had my own game I was playing. And I had a different aim.

I sat down and hugged my knees. I sat far from them. I didn't want their blood on my clothes.

"What are you going to do with those?" I asked as he began to bag the remains of Ella's body.

"Disposing the body," he said. After he was done with Ella, lumapit siya sa katawan ni Cathy.

His face and hands were covered with blood. I should feel disgust, but I really couldn't feel anything anymore. I was finally understanding his words... that in this life, heart would do you no good. It would be the cause of your downfall. And I was not about to go that path. I still had things to do.

There's no way I'd die before finishing my business.

Night looked serious as he began to cut her...

"Can I?" I asked, looking at Night as he was holding the bloody knife.

"You want to cut your friend?" hindi makapaniwala niyang tanong.

Slowly, I nodded... I didn't know what was wrong with me, but something was seriously wrong. There was this lust inside me. The blood looked so enticing.

Lumapit ako sa kanya. He gave me the knife.

"You begin with the joints," he said as he positioned my hands. "You can't cut through the bones with just a knife, so you cut the joints."

I watched as he guided my hands. Nothing felt this empowering.

"You cut deep," he said as the knife dug deeper.

He made me do it. I cut my own friend. I couldn't believe what I was doing, but I did it. And after that, he got the knife from my hands. He unceremoniously began to mutilate her. He finished the joints, cutting through the bones. He tore off the limbs one by one, blood continued to flow. I tried to pry my eyes away, but I couldn't. I wanted to see this. I wanted to see what happened to the people who dared cross me.

Death. That was the only payment.

And blood... lots of blood.

"Won't you ask me why I did it? She was a friend..."

"She's just a pawn. I wouldn't care if she lived," he said. And then he removed the heads from the body. He took the fingers, and the teeth. "Her death's on you."

Inilagay niya sa ibang plastic bag iyong ulo at mga daliri.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Cleaning your mess," he answered as he sealed the bag. "They shouldn't be able to identify the body without the head. The fingers would give away their prints."

He began to put the limbs on another bag. Sweat were dripping down from his forehead. It had been almost an hour since he started cutting the bodies up.

Morior Invictus

"Is that her family motto?" I asked as I saw Night cutting a portion of Ella's skin. A phrase was tattooed on the skin.

"Morior Invictus. Death before defeat," Night said.

The side of my lips lifted.

"But she was defeated..." I whispered. "She was scared before I killed her."

It defeated the purpose of her life.

Night looked at me. He was finally done removing everything that might help identify the body. He was a bloody mess. Hindi ko alam kung saan niya natutunan ang mga ginawa niya... The way he dismembered both of them, he did it with ease. As if he had done this before. And the thing was... he didn't scare one bit. It just made me more curious. I wanted to know more about him.

"And let's dispose them before you get yourself killed for what you did," Night said.

I didn't know why he was helping me, but I didn't care. He called someone from another phone—one hidden in another place. There were lots of things hidden in this place. Lots of secrets buried... some I might never know of.

"This is Nightly Von Klampenberg, number 291316. I need a car in the old location. Bring me my guns, and leave the car there. Do it asap," he said. "And bring me two sets of clothes. One for me and one of a girl."

Pagkatapos niyang ibaba ang tawag, ibinalik niya sa dating lalagyan iyong cellphone. He put the black bags in another black bag, and then brought out a bleach. I was surprised to discover the things they could hide in this place.

"That's a lot of blood to clean," I commented as he started cleaning the floor.

"You're a messy killer," he said as he began to scrub.

"Why don't you just ask your people to clean this?" I asked him.

"You killed a Dieux. I can't just ask anyone to clean this mess. This is between us," he said, and then looked at me. "This is a secret between us."

And I felt tingles in my spine. A secret. Our secret. Did I just get something I could hold over his head?

An hour passed and he was finally done removing the blood. He picked up the gun and then tossed it to me. Binuhat niya iyong mga plastic na naglalaman ng mga piraso ng katawan ni Cathy at Ella.

"Where are we going?" I asked him. We changed clothes inside his car. We put them in another bag. The bodies were resting in the trunk.

He started the engine and then placed his hand on the steering wheel.

"Hiding your mistake," he said and then sped away.

Nakarating kami sa isang pier. Doon, may naghihintay na isang yacht sa amin. Night threw the plastic bag over, and then assisted me to get on the yacht.

"Do you know how to drive this?" I asked him. He didn't answer me, and instead, he began to maneuver the yacht to the deepest parts of the sea. Ilang minuto kaming naglalayag bago pa man siya huminto. Kumuha siya ng lalagyan at saka itinapon doon iyong mga suot naming damit. He burned the clothes we wore. He tossed the knife he used to butcher the dead—it was long and blood was covering it from end to end. And I tossed the gun I used into the deeper part of the sea.

No one would ever know... and soon, you'd be forgotten, Ella.

"Do you think anyone will suspect us?" I asked him as we threw the remains of the bodies in the sea. No one would ever see them again... the fishes would feast on them even. Nothing would be left.

Night didn't answer. He just kept on throwing the limbs. He kept quiet, until we returned to the secret passage.

"Shit," he cursed when the passage wouldn't open. "Fucking shit."

"Wala ba tayong ibang dadaanan?"

Umiling siya.

"We have no choice," he said. "We have to go through the gates."

Biglang lumakas ang kabog ng dibdib ko. Kung doon kami dadaan, malalaman nila na nanggaling kami sa labas... And the Dieux were not stupid. I knew they'd be able to put two and two together. That I was the one responsible for her death... and then a war would be waged. And more lives would be lost.

"There must be another way," I replied.

He looked at me.

"There's no other way."

"What will I say? If they asked why we're outside... and why we're together?"

I needed to fabricate a believable lie. I didn't get this far only to get caught. There were lots of things I needed to know. There were lots of secrets I needed to unearth.

"I can tell them my parents contacted me," I said. Surely they wouldn't question my parents... No one dared. Ever.

Agad na umiling si Night.

"No."

At nakuha niya ang atensyon ko. Why was he so adamant against it?

"Why?"

"Nothing."

But it didn't feel like nothing.

"You tell them you needed time to think... so you went outside."

"That's a lame excuse," I commented.

"It's better. And believable. Given your state of mind," he said and then threw me a look. "Don't ever do that again, Estrella. Don't kill without thinking. You're fucking impulsive."

He didn't understand betrayal because he didn't have any friends. He didn't understand how I felt. I was trying to be merciful... I'd spare Cathy's family because she was a friend... despite everything she caused me. That was the extent of what I could do to her. Everything else, it was her mistake. She chose the wrong person to wrong.

"And if they ask why we're together?"

He tossed me the key.

"We're not together. You arrived alone. I am on my way to Berlin as of the moment," he said and then walked away. But he stopped midway. "Whatever happens, don't talk to anyone about this. Not to Lorenzo, not to Laurie, not to Avo... and definitely not to Fuji."

I looked at him. He was so serious.

"Why not Fuji?"

"You just killed the person he loved the most."