Chapter 86

I

It didn’t take Chastity long to find someone to spend the night with. All she had to do was to walk into a local dance club, and men surrounded her. She literally had her pick of men and she chose the one who wasn’t fighting with someone to get to her. He was 28 years old, dark haired, blue eyed. He saw the mesmerizing blonde with the green eyes and knew he wanted to bang her senseless.

And though Chastity didn’t yet know it, he was an undercover police officer. He recognized her from the description given in the all points bulletin from New York State. His job was to try and get her to tell him her plans. He’d then report back to the authorities in the States that he had information for them on the missing person known as Kathryn Marie Hope.

“Where to, Chastity my dear?” he asked with a slight accent. “We could go to my place uptown. We won’t be bothered there. I live alone.”

“I like it, baby,” Chastity purred. She didn’t yet know his name. He said it, but it was too loud in the club for her to hear him. He decided to see if that would work to his advantage.  

Florian LeMieux was good at what he did. His job with the Provincial Police was to make people tell him what they didn’t want anyone else to know.

His place, one set up specifically to entice those who wandered in to thinking they were with a like minded individual, was a palace. That would all be lost on Chastity. She had her own place not far from there, purchased with Kathryn’s money and credit.

Once they arrived at his place, they lost no time in getting each other’s clothes off. Florian noticed that Chastity was well built. She’ll be heaven to screw, he thought.

He only hoped that her real identity didn’t come out while this was going on and freak on him.

Meanwhile, Chastity was pleasuring his manhood, and he decided to enjoy it.

Later, he asked her how she liked to be fucked.

“Force yourself on me, baby,” Chastity said with sultry conviction. “Show me no mercy.”

“You want me to, in essence, rape you?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes,” said Chastity; “that’s exactly what I want.” Chastity’s thinking was that if Kathryn made an untimely appearance, the brutality of being raped would keep her imprisoned forever, and she, Chastity, would finally have ultimate control.

“I can’t do that with a clear conscience, even if that’s what you want,” Florian said. “I’m not that kind of man.”

Chastity gave him an evil look that scared him, saying, “Then what fucking good are you?”

That made him angry. He took out handcuffs and cuffed both her hands to the iron headboard as she lay on her stomach.

“You’re nothing but a whore!” he spat at her. “So I’ll treat you like one.”

He then took her from behind and fucked her hard and brutal. It wasn’t the rape she wanted, but he didn’t care. She was too busy being pissed off and trying to escape from the handcuffs to enjoy it.

When he was done with her, he said, “Now, tell me Chastity; since you’re kind of tied up at the moment, what you’re planning to do if and when I let you out of here.”

“To get as far away from you as possible,” Chastity shot back; “I call the shots here!”

“No, my dear,” Florian said; “you do not. I do. Now tell me, where’s Kathryn Hope?”

“What makes you think I know where that bitch is?”

“All your identification is in her name,” said Florian; “What did you do to her, and where can she be found?”

“She’s someplace no one will ever find her!”

“Where’s her body, Chastity?”

“Not telling,” Chastity said; “Not you, or anyone else. Where that stupid girl is no one will ever know.”

“How about I arrest you for murder?” Florian asked. “I’ll have your ass extradicted back to the States faster than you can get dressed.”

“You’re a fucking cop?” asked Chastity as she finally freed herself from one of the handcuffs. The other one came off easier. She got up off the bed and grabbed her clothes and got dressed. She then got her purse and car keys and demanded that he take her back to the club where he picked her up.

“I can’t do that, Chastity,” Florian said; “I cannot allow you to leave.”

“Fine,” Chastity said in a snotty voice, “I’ll find my own way back, then.”

And then she left.

He let her go, but he knew one thing that Chastity didn’t know.

That she was Kathryn Hope, and that she was not in her own mind; he would pass that along to the authorities.


*

Chastity found the car easily and went elsewhere to find someone to play with. And she’d take them back to her place.

And that’s where she woke up the next morning with a stunning young blonde in her bed.

God, Chastity thought while the girl was pleasuring her, I never want to go back to being that whiny Kathryn. She has no idea how much I love to get laid.

“Mam’selle,” the girl said when Chastity had her orgasm, “I need to leave. I’ve had much fun with you. I hope you’ll look me up again the next time you’re in town.”

“You know I will,” Chastity said. “Bring your boyfriend next time and we’ll do a threesome.”

“How about my girlfriends? We all like playing naked together.”

“Even better,” Chastity said.

The girl was soon gone, but she wouldn’t get far.

Chastity had her ID and her car keys. Or so she thought.

Lost on Chastity was the fact that everyone was looking for Kathryn. Including the sweet young thing who had just left.

===

Christian was about to make the hardest call he’s ever had to make in the time he’d known Kathryn.

To her father to tell him she was missing.

At least Christian knew that Chastity had taken Kathryn’s car into Toronto and was looking to get laid. The local police had called him that morning with the news.

He drew in a deep breath and called the number to Eric Hope’s lake house.

The phone rang twice before Hope himself answered.

“Eric Hope.”

“Eric, this is Christian DeWitt, and this isn’t a social call, I’m afraid,” Christian said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kathryn’s alter took over last night,” Christian said, “and Kathryn is missing. The police think she’s in Toronto.”

“Why in the hell is she in Toronto?” Eric asked; “To my knowledge, she’s never been there.”

“Apparently, Chastity has,” Christian said; “I just got, within the last half hour, escrow papers for a house Chastity has purchased there in Kathryn’s name.”

“Is it too late to reverse the sale?” asked Eric. “Kathryn would never do that.”

“I’m working on that now,” Christian said, “because any money that Kathryn has is mine. I’ve given her an allowance since she’s been home. When her art starts selling, she asked me to discontinue it. Her show isn’t until early December.”

“Should I tell Kelly what’s going on?”

“Not yet, Eric,” Christian said. “Let’s see if the authorities can find Kathryn before we have to resort to telling Kelly. Kelly is there with you, right?”

“Yes,” Eric said; “She and her roommate Miri have been here since early yesterday afternoon. They’ve gone into town to have lunch and meet up with Kelly’s friends from high school.”

“If Kathryn shows up at your place, try to keep her there and call me immediately,” Christian said; “I’ll arrange for someone to bring her home.”

“She’s not going to have to be re-hospitalized, is she? She’s been doing so well,” Eric said.

“I hope not, Eric,” Christian said; “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Good, good,” Eric said, his mind reeling that Kathryn was missing. He didn’t blame Christian DeWitt for that. He blamed himself for not seeing Kathryn’s problem early enough for it to be taken care of.

The call with DeWitt ended and Eric sat heavily on the couch. Krysta was at the market, and the girls were out in town.

He put his head in his hands and sat there for a long while. He then heard a familiar voice tell him, Eric, we will fight for Kathryn together. I promise you.

===

II

Chastity got bored and headed back toward Eric Hope’s lakeside retreat. She had a score to settle with that backstabing cunt Krysta Banks.

Her anger over Krysta’s defection knew no bounds. Chastity wanted to kill her for what she did.

She found Krysta at a small market not far from the lake house. Chastity just sat in the car and watched as Krysta loaded groceries into the trunk of the car. Krysta had no idea that Chastity was even there. She had not yet been told that Kathryn was missing.

Chastity debated on whether to follow Krysta right then, or let her think there was nothing wrong. Chastity decided to wait.

Instead, she headed into town, where her presence would be felt by someone she wasn’t expecting to see.

The oldest daughter of the bitch who was part of The Triad she wanted eliminated.

Once in town, finding Kelly wasn’t hard. Chastity just looked at the girl she forced Kathryn to abandon 17 years before and felt nothing but hate for her. From out of nowhere, a second girl; tall, brunette, with a very familiar face.

Mirielle Summers! Chastity thought. How in the hell do she and Kathryn’s daughter know each other?  

The ironies were completely lost on Chastity.

Maybe I should be following them around, then take the Summers girl out, Chastity schemed. What better way to get Julia Terranova’s attention than to kill her daughter?

“Bitch won’t mess with me after she has to bury her precious little love child,” Chastity said under her breath. “But I have to plan how to do it. Maybe I could take out Kelly Hope at the same time.”

While Chastity was making plans, Mirielle Summers was getting weird feelings about something awful that was going to happen to her friend.

Trouble was, they were with a couple of Kelly’s friends at the time.

“Kel, I hate to break up the party, but I think I need to get back to your grandfather’s place and lay down,” Miri said; “Something I ate must not have agreed with me.”

Kelly looked at her. Miri did look a little pale. After promising her friends that she and Miri would return before heading back to school, Kelly and Miri got in the car.

“You feeling okay, Mir?”

“I think that hot dog made me a little queasy,” Miri said; “I didn’t realize it was pork until after I ate it.”

“I totally forgot you didn’t eat pork, Mir!” Kelly said; “I’m sorry, I should have said something.”

“I think I was more into figuring out the weird hot dog buns than whether the hot dog was pork based or not,” Miri said.

“The ones you’re familiar with are Coney Island buns,” Kelly said as she turned out onto the main highway; “These are New England style buns. Some places around here use one or the other. And some use both.”

“I didn’t know there was a difference between hot dog buns,” Miri said, the weird feeling in her gut not going away; “I thought a hot dog bun was a bun was a bun.”

“We’ll buy some of those before we go back to Northwestern so you can show your family,” Kelly said.

“And I have cousins who live in Maine,” Miri said, laughing; “You’d think I’d have seen them before.”

“Ever been to your cousins place in Maine?”

“Not that I can remember,” Miri said; “Maybe when I was real little. They usually came to Chicagoland.”

They drove a little ways before Miri’s sixth sense went into over-over drive.

It was then that Miri noticed that car that was following them.

“Kel, pull over,” Miri said; “I think I have to puke.”

Kelly did as Miri had asked, and Miri really did have to vomit. The other car sped by them well over the speed limit. Kelly noticed it and found it strangely familiar.

“Mir, you okay?” she asked, not wanting to believe she just saw her biological mother’s car speed down the highway.  

“Yeah,” Miri said; “Kel, my sixth sense is going crazy! That car that passed us when you pulled over. There’s something about it I’m not feeling so hot about.”

“Miri,” Kelly said slowly, “I think that was Kathryn’s car. What I don’t understand is why she is here. She and her family live about four hours from here.”

“Kathryn, as in your biological mother?”

“Yes.”

“You think that car is headed to your grandfather’s?”

“There’s only one way to find out, and I hope I’m wrong,” Kelly said.

“Let’s go, then!” Miri said.

They had pulled back out onto the road and about a mile ahead was a disabled semi truck. It appeared to have been forced off the road. A heavy duty wrecker was attempting to remove it. It backed up traffic for miles and Kelly and Miri were in the thick of it.

“Great,” Kelly said; “We’ll be here forever!”

Miri only sat quietly in the passenger’s seat, all the while her sixth sense screaming at her that there was something very wrong at the home of Kelly’s grandfather.

===

III

Chastity wasn’t feeling so good herself by the time she reached Eric Hope’s lakeside home. She felt Kathryn trying to regain control.

-You’re not going to hurt my family, bitch! I’ll kill you myself if you even try!

And end yourself, too? You love your life too much to sacrifice it to get rid of me.

-I’ll do whatever it takes to end you, even if it means ending my own life. I cannot and will not live like this for another day longer.

You don’t have the guts to do it, Kathryn! You’re weak and spineless!

-Still trying to convince yourself that you belong here? I am not weak because I am fighting you for control.

You won’t get control, Kathryn! I won’t let you take away my life. I love getting laid and making people do as I say.

-You’re a whore, Chastity! Nothing but a dirty, filthy whore! You’re not using my body to get your kicks! I’m so done with you! Die Chastity! Just fucking die!

Nice try, sister. That shit doesn’t work anymore. I will win because I want it more than you do!

-I will win because I have a family who needs me!

Aww, ain’t that sweet? God, you fucking make me puke!

-Let’s see how much you want it, Chastity.

The car suddenly entered the drive that led to Eric’s house. Krysta’s car was there and Eric was helping her unload the groceries. They both looked up in time to see the black sedan screech to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust. The driver got out and Eric gasped.

It was Kathryn.

But when she spoke, it was in an all too familiar voice.

“Okay old man,” Chastity said; “You have two choices. Kill me or kill your daughter.”

Eric reached for the gun under the passenger’s seat in the car Krysta had been driving.

“Let Kathryn go, Chastity,” Eric said.

“Never!” his daughter’s evil alter cried defiantly.

===

It only took a half hour to free the semi from where it skidded off the road. Once the obstacle was out of the way, Kelly floored the car and headed to her grandfather’s house.

“Kel, slow the hell down!” Miri said; “We can’t do anything for Kathryn if we’re dead in a ditch somewhere!”

“Mir, Kathryn’s in trouble!”

“At least go the posted speed limit,” Miri said.

Kelly slowed down a little, but not enough to satisfy Miri. Miri realized that it wasn’t about that, it was about saving the woman who gave birth to Kelly 17 years before.

Soon they were driving down the path that led to the house. Once they had the house in sight, Kelly stopped suddenly. What she saw she could barely comprehend. She literally leapt out of the car.

Before her was this scene: Kathryn with her back to the treeline; her grandfather holding a gun on his own daughter; Krysta standing there, looking as though she were in shock.

What Kelly heard was inconceivable. Kathryn’s two personalities, arguing with each other; Chastity taunting Kathryn, while Kathryn begging her father to kill her.

*

“Daddy, please!” Kathryn cried; “Please just end this! I can’t live like this anymore!”

“Kathryn, I can’t shoot you,” Eric said; “I couldn’t live with myself if I did!”

“See, Kathryn,” Chastity taunted her, “Told ya he wouldn’t do it. I win!”

“You do NOT win, Chastity!” Kathryn said angrily; “If I have to end myself to be rid of you, then I will do it, and you have no say!”

Eric seemingly went into a trance as Kathryn and her alter argued. He heard Helene’s voice: If you must shoot, Eric, then aim to the right of Kathryn. That’s Chastity. That way, you can rid Kathryn of her alter and not harm her.

Helene, I don’t see anyone over to Kathryn’s right.

Trust me, Eric, she’s there. I can see her.

Are you sure?

Yes, my love, I am sure. Kathryn is our daughter. Chastity is the evil that took Kathryn away from us and away from her daughter.

Aim to the right?

Yes. We must rid Kathryn from the evil that has inhabited her body and kept her from her love and their children, as well as Kelly Clare.

Eric raised the gun to shoot at what he didn’t see.

Off to his left, he heard: “Grandfather! NO!”

*

Miri thought she was seeing things, then realized it was a form of her sixth sense.

She saw two people that no one else saw.

To Kathryn’s right, a woman with a perpetual smirk on her face. That must be her evil alter, Miri thought.

Behind Kelly’s grandfather was an older woman. She was blonde with grey, the hair worn in a twist like her Aunt Natasha’s. The woman looked at Miri briefly as if to say, you know who I am and you can see me.

You’re Kelly’s grandmother, aren’t you? Miri asked the woman in her mind.

Yes, I am. I’m Helene. You’re Mirielle.

How do you know who I am?

You look just like your mother, the woman who helped end the Occupation.

What are you doing?

I’m helping my husband rid our daughter of her evil alter once and for all.

I can see her, too.

I know you can, Mirielle.

Miri shook her head to clear it. This isn’t possible, she thought. I just communicated with a dead woman in my head.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kelly yelling, “Grandfather! NO!”

===

IV

Eric heard Kelly’s voice, but not what she was yelling. It distracted him enough that when he went back to concentrate on the target, the unseen Chastity to Kathryn’s right, the gun was still at Kathryn’s right, but not where he had it originally.

Before he realized what was happening, the gun fired.


*

The scream was deafening to Miri’s ears. Kathryn had fallen to the ground, but didn’t appear to be injured. She was unconscious, but alive. Then who screamed like that, Miri asked herself.

Then she realized it was Chastity. Was Chastity dead?

Kelly ran toward her grandfather, screaming, “How could you?! How could you shoot your own flesh and blood?”

Eric looked dazed. I shot Kathryn? he asked himself.

Miri’s training took over, and she went over to Krysta to ask if she was okay. Krysta couldn’t form a coherent sentence, and Miri thought she was in shock. Krysta then asked Miri, “What happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Miri said; “but I’ll need a first aid kit. Do you have one in the house?”

“Yes, I think so,” Krysta said as if she were a robot.

“Go get it for me, please?” asked Miri.

Krysta turned and walked into the house while Miri went over to where Kathryn lay on the ground. The bullet grazed Kathryn’s arm, but other than that she was uninjured. She would need to have to wound cleaned and dressed. Where was Krysta with that first aid kit? Miri thought.

Behind her, Kelly was shocked that her grandfather had begun to sob. “I’ve killed my little girl! I’ve killed Kathryn!” he repeated over and over. “I promised to protect her and I failed!”

Kelly left her grandfather where he was for the moment and went over to where Miri, who had the first aid kit.

“Is she...?” Kelly began to ask.

“No, Kel,” Miri said; “The bullet grazed her arm, but she’ll be okay. The bullet is over to the right somewhere. Leave it where it is. The police will need the scene unaltered.”

“The police? Miri, Grandfather thinks he’s killed her!” Kelly said; “The police being here will send him over the edge!”

“Tell him that Kathryn is okay physically, that she’s slightly injured,” Miri said as she dressed the wound; “He did not kill her. Please make that clear to him.”

“Mir, how do you know all this?”

Miri looked at Kelly and said, “You know I was trained from the time I was ten years old to use weapons and develop survival skills. I also learned a lot from the adults around me. My Aunt Jasmine is a doctor; Aunt Kate is a nurse; Uncle Jere is a journalist and knows a lot about police procedures. Mom knows a lot about many things. I can hack a computer because of her and my dad.”

“Why aren’t you pre law then?”

“Because Granpa David would kill me if I even thought about being a lawyer!” Miri said. “Now go tell your grandfather that he didn’t kill Kathryn, okay?”

Kelly went to where her grandfather stood and told him what Miri told her.

“I need to see for myself,” Eric said.

As Kelly and Eric approached, Miri had been writing something on the leg of Kathryn’s jeans.

“What did you write, Miri?” Eric asked.

“That Kathryn’s blood pressure, pulse and temperature are normal,” Miri said; “It’s for the paramedics and the hospital.”

“Why is she not awake?”

“Because she knocked herself out when she fell. She might have anything from a headache to a concussion, but only a doctor can tell for sure.”

“Mir, what’s that over there where the bullet landed?” Kelly asked, seeing what looked like blood at the base of a tree.

Miri looked, and she could swear it was blood. Whose, she didn’t know. Kathryn’s injury bled little. She thought it was weird that the bullet was in the middle of all that.

Maybe Chastity really is dead, she thought. For Kathryn’s sake, I hope so.

Soon, the police, paramedics, and an ambulance arrived.

Eric heard Helene’s voice in his head... we did it, Eric! Chastity is no more!

===