His voice echoed off the walls of the kitchen, painful and loud. Behind her, Meris whimpered and she could hear the wood railing creaking. Sonja took a deep breath and stepped away from the stairs, followed by Meris. Rick continued to swear and curse at them, slamming his chair on the ground as he yanked at his bounds.

It took an incredible effort to make her voice sound calm as Sonja turned to Meris, “Hamburger for dinner?”

Startled, the blue eyes blinked twice before she nodded. Rick screamed at them as Sonja pulled out a pound of hamburger and a frying pan. Throwing the pan on the stove, she turned it on full as she ripped open the plastic wrap. Meris joined her after a moment and helped create patties.

By the time they threw the last one in the pan, Rick had stopped making as much noise. Instead, he glared at them, his mouth working silently as he strained against the rope. Sonja could hear the rope straining against his muscles, the cords of power rippling through his arms.

He caught her looking at him. “When I get out of her, you fucking lesbos, I’m going to skull-fuck the both of you and leave your corpses in the gutter!”

His voice filled with a seething hatred, one that radiated from his entire body with a burning flame.

Meris clutched herself and stepped to the side. The thin fabric of Sonja's shirt strained over her breasts and against her hips.

Sonja shivered with the terrible glare he gave her, but forced herself to stand tall. “You were the one who tried to rape me, asshole.”

He renewed his attempts to break free. The chair creaked from the strain. He screamed out, throwing everything into his attempt to free himself. "I'm going to cut your fucking throats and fuck the fucking hole!"

A ping rang out. Sonja jumped and looked down as a screw rolled along the ground toward her foot. It brushed against her big toe and she jumped from the suddenly hot metal. Trembling, she looked up to see more screws coming out of the chair, the wood blackening around each one before it fell to the ground.

Rick let out a primal scream, a bellow of anger and range, and stood up. The chair fell apart and the ropes slipped from his body.

Sonja spun around and grabbed for a knife they used to cut the rope. Bits of nylon still clung to the serrated blade.

When she turned around, Rick had covered the distance between himself and Meris. He had both hands around her neck, squeezing down with white knuckles.

Meris' eyes were large and bulging. Her naked thighs were kicking out, helplessly thudding against Rick's chest and thighs.

Rick snarled, his face a mask of mindless rage as he squeezed, the arm muscles bunching with the effort.

Meris panicked, flailing at him as her face darkened.

Sonja gasped as she stared at him, stunned into inactivity, unable to do anything but tighten her grip on the knife.

Her eyes snapped to Meris, who was turning a terrible color, her legs violently shaking. A splatter of urine hit the floor, the sudden smell of it enough to break the spell on her actions.

With a scream, Sonja lunged with the knife, aimed for Rick.

He spun around, his face no longer showing any human emotions. Instead, it was the face of a monster, a rapist and murderer. Heat rolled off his body, wavering the air around him as he continued to spin, her eyes trailing along his left arm. He had released Meris and was now swinging toward her.

She managed to get the blade up in front of his fist, but the impact caught her wrist. The knife blade plunged toward her, but she twisted out of place, lost her balance, and spun to the ground. She landed face-first and stars exploded across her vision.

She reached for it, her knees slipping on the ground. She managed to get up on one knee, but then Rick's foot slammed her back down.

He leaned into her, putting more of his weight on her back until she cried out. “You’re going to die, fucking bitch. By the time I’m done with you, your mother won’t be able to identify the corpse.”

Sonja heard Meris gasp as Rick’s grip was relaxed slightly with the effort to speak. She could hear her friend pounding on Rick’s chest, lashing weakly out with her feet, but the enraged football player didn’t notice.

Sonja screamed out, trying to push herself off the ground.

Rick let loose with a bitter laugh and threw more of his weight into her back, grinding her into the tile floor.

Sonja whimpered until she realized she still had the knife in her hand. Even with a weapon, she couldn’t figure out how to defend herself, or Meris.

Then... an image of his crotch slammed into her with a clarity that cut through the fear and terror. Sonja gasped as the foreign images seared across her mind, burning away the pain and terror. Then images shifted from her body to a position at the top of the stairs, as if someone was watching her from the basement.

Meris hung from Rick's other hand, the tight grip around her neck choking her off. Her face was purple and the bottom of her shirt and thighs were soaked with urine. A puddle formed underneath her. She was fighting Rick but she was rapidly growing weaker.

Rick stood in the middle, easily overpowering both of them in a matter of seconds. But there was something else about him, a wavering of heat boiling inside him. It rippled off his body like asphalt in the middle of summer.

Sonja caught sight of something else, a translucent woman superimposed over Rick. Her back was to Sonja, but she had short blonde hair and nearly perfect skin except for a discoloration between her thighs and something around her neck. The stranger lifted her right arm and Rick's body mimicked the action, easily lifting Meris completely off the ground.

The feeling of helplessness plunged through Sonja, her hand almost releasing the blade. Then, she saw the images again but this time she saw a way to attack.

Throwing all her weight into it, Sonja lashed out at Rick’s other foot. The blade sparkled in the air before the serrated blade caught the back of his ankle, right at the Achilles's tendon. With a twist of her muscles, tearing some of them, she drew it along the back. There was a wet snapping noise as his leg collapsed underneath him, but Sonja twisted again and threw her arms above her, knife as a shield. She saw a brief moment of his pants, then her knife plunged into his crotch, slicing the fabric almost unnaturally easily. It hit something soft and yielding, then something hard which yanked at the blade in her grip.

As he fell, Sonja screamed as she threw herself away from him, still holding the knife. It slide through his pants with a spray of blood and then he fell on her, knocking the knife out of her hand. It skittered across the ground.

Meris crumbled to the ground next to Sonja. There was a ragged gasp of air as the girl clawed her throat.

Rick’s wail of suffering filled the kitchen as he clutched his crotch, a bright red stain quickly spreading.

Sonja scrambled away, her hands shaking as she grabbed Meris. The young girl gasped for breath, her body curled up in a fetal position.

Sonja pushed herself up to her knees. “Meris! Meris! Are you okay?”

The brilliant blue eyes that looked up at her, filled with terror and pain, were heartbreaking. Meris’ mouth worked for a moment, tears dripping on her lips. “I... ruined your shirt.”

Sonja blinked, then laughed, the absurdity of the statement shattering the terrible emotions rolling inside her. Meris frowned, cheeks red with embarrassment.

Sonja hugged her tightly.

Their cheeks pressed together and the heat of Meris' body felt good against her skin.

Sonja pulled back and stared into the intense blue eyes of her friend. They were almost naked on the floor with their rapist crying out only a few feet away. But the only thing Sonja could do was lose herself in the blue eyes and think about the soft lips only inches away.

Meris' body grew hot underneath Sonja's grip. There was only thin fabric between them. Sonja glanced down to see that both of their nipples were tenting the fabric and Meris' hips rocked slightly.

Trembling, Sonja brought her gaze back up. She couldn't think of the words, so she did the only thing she wanted to do. Leaning forward, she kissed Meris.

Meris gasped and kissed her back fiercely.

Sonja quickly gave into the passion and parted her lips, letting their tongues play with each other and they ground their bodies together. Meris' lips were soft and warm, just like Sonja expected, but all the imagination in the world was nothing compared to losing herself in Meris' embrace.

They broke the kiss long enough to take a breath and then dove back in.

Meris' hand stroked along Sonja's flanks, sliding up to pull Sonja tight to her. Soft moans vibrated in her body and Sonja felt a welcoming tingling at the sensation.

Sonja wanted to reach down and press her hand between Meris' thighs, knowing it would be as soaked as her own sex, but then Rick's ragged moan broke the spell.

With all her willpower, she pushed Meris away.

There were tears on Meris' face.

Sonja wiped them with one bloody thumb, smearing crimson across her friend's face. "Oh, Meris. I don't give a fuck about the shirt."

Behind them, she could hear Rick’s wail dying down, his body shaking violently. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him in a pool of his own blood, a very large stain of crimson. He was pawing at himself, trying to stuff his hands in the opening to stop the blood but it kept pouring out between his fingers. Thick surges of crimson continued to pour out into the puddle as his motions grew weaker and clumsier. The smell of blood filled the air and, for a moment, she was reminded of being at the butcher's.

“Sonja... did you?”

Rick was no longer making any noise. Instead, his body shook violently a few times, then stilled. The stench of blood and death filled the room, mixed in with the smells of burnt hamburgers.

Pulling herself to her feet shakily. Sonja padded forward, ignoring the cooling sensation of blood on her feet as she toed Rick with one foot. He didn’t move, he didn’t make a noise. “R-Rick?”

No response. She pushed him over. His body flopped into the blood, splattering half the kitchen as his mask of pain and agony burned in her vision.

Sonja whimpered, unable to look away from the dead eyes, the haunted gaze. His hands were plunged into the gaping hole of his pants, soaked in crimson clear up to his elbows.

The realization of his death slammed into her with a white-hot flame. It rose up in her throat and she threw herself toward the kitchen sink. She barely made it before throwing up violently. Her entire body felt like it was on fire as she choked on it, spitting it out. The horrible taste in her mouth refused to go away, even when she grabbed a glass and used it to rinse out her mouth.

Eyes blurry, she turned around.

When she saw Meris, she stopped. Her friend stood over Rick's body, bare feet in the blood, crimson staining her knees. Her hands and wrists were also soaked in red. It dripped off her body and splattered in the pool at her feet. In one hand, she had Sonja's knife with fresh blood dripping from the tip. There was something else in Meris' other hand, but Sonja couldn't see what. But the look on her friend's face scared Sonja, she couldn't read her expression but the intensity was far more than Sonja had ever seen before. It glowed.

Trembling, Sonja pushed herself away from the sink and padded closer. "Meris?"

Meris turned, dropping the knife. It landed point-first in Rick's thigh, but his body didn't even twitch. Slowly, she lifted the item in her hand to Sonja.

It took a moment for Sonja to realize what it was: Rick's penis. Meris had cut it off with the serrated blade. One testicle hung out of the torn sack, a shocking white in a puddle of blood that pooled in Meris' palm. Rick had been a well-hung man, maybe about seven inches long, but having all the blood drained out of it made it look like a shriveled hot dog.

Sonja choked on the bile rising in her throat. She snapped her hand up and slapped Meris' hand.

The severed cock flew into the air with a trail of blood splatters. It sailed across the kitchen toward the refrigerator. But, it bounced off something in mid-air and then flew down, landing with a heavy splat in the grease between the burned hamburgers.

“Meris! Did you see-?”

A wet thud hit the ground next to her and Sonja turned to see Meris fainting. The slender girl slid down Rick's body, slumping into the pool of blood.

Sonja gasped and reached for Meris, but her foot slipped with her movement. There was a flash of heat and her foot flew back, leaving her with nothing to balance with. She only had time to call out for Meris before she struck the tiles and everything went black.

End of chapter 11