Chapter 23 ONE: HIS TRUE IDENTITY

“They killed him! He was about to give an information that could have helped us identify and track down the masked man, but they killed him before he could say a thing.”

Derik sounded frustrated, hitting the wall with his fist. His finger bruised. Then he continued to pace the room, frustration making his veins swell. The corners of Kevin’s eyes crinkled as he observed his odd reaction.

“This is not about Jeffrey getting killed that’s making you uneasy, is it?”

“No, it’s not!” he yelped, then slumped his shoulder, exhaling loudly. “It’s Natasha.”

Kevin’s eyes snapped open, and his stomach knotted with dread. “Did something happen to her?”

“She was kidnapped.”

Kevin blanched. He nibbled on his bottom lip as he felt the fear of a year ago coming back to him. Felt his heart throbbing within his chest and his knee growing weak. His imagination boggled as he waited for him to explain how it happened.

“The same masked man took her.” Derik declared.

A cloud of gloom settled over him. “C-Rex?”

And just then, at that very moment, everything made sense. Kevin was only two days away from his eighteenth birthday, just as he was two days away from his wedding with Loretta before they kidnapped her—it made perfect sense. T-Rex has been waiting for this very day.

He plans to torture her on my birthday while I watch—just as he did with Loretta on the day that we were supposed to get married. He thought with dread.

“We have to get her back.” Derik’s voice brought him back to the present.

“How?” he eyed him. “T-Rex now have her. Jeffrey was our only lead, but now he’s dead.”

“Cedric!” Derik suggested aloud.

“Cedric?”

“Yes, right now he is now the only chance we’ve got at finding Natasha and getting her back before something terrible happens to her. If he’s a member of Beocraft, then he should know where they’d taken her.”

His pupil flared. “What!? Are you crazy? You want me to go talk to Cedric after what happened the last time?” he leered.

“Cedric is our only option right now. He’s our best bet at finding Natasha. He must know something about where they are taking her.”

“No way. There’s no way I’m ever speaking to that guy.” Kevin had harboured a slight but irrational phobia for Cedric—especially after their last encounter. No amount of convincing could get him to go talk to Cedric.

“You could talk to William, or Lawrence, and have them send some men over to Cedric’s residence.” he suggested. “That’ll be much easier.”

Derik shook his head. “Why, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten in a hurry what’d happened the night we combed Cedar forest in search of this evil organization. Every single one of our men lost their lives simply because we had underestimated them. We don’t know what Cedric might be capable of, or what dark powers he possesses. We will risk the life of anyone we send over there.”

He walked to him and placed a thoughtful hand on his shoulder. “You have to do this, for Natasha’s sake. You are the only one Cedric trusts, prey on that trust.”

Kevin felt an icy shiver run down the length of his spine as he folded his fingers to knock on Cedric’s door. Every part of him was screaming out to him to turn away and run. But the one thing that kept him standing was the desire to save Natasha.

After what felt like minutes but was actually seconds, he knocked on the door again—this time even louder. Shuffled backward, waiting for Cedric to pop his head through the door any second. Felt his knee trembling as he waited.

After several minutes standing still and waiting, there came no response. He walked to the door and knocked again—this time even louder than the last. He waited again, but there was no reply. Then he wondered if Cedric was home.

Kevin turned the door handle and found, much to his surprise, that it wasn’t locked. He blinked in surprise as the door swung open. It squalled on its hinges, loud and rusty. It struck him as odd—Cedric never leaves the door unlocked.

He opened the door just enough to peer through. Peeked through and found no one inside. Then he opened the door wide and stood at the entrance, peering into the room. He was much too scared to step inside, and too concerned for Natasha not to.

He edged into the room, his eyes darting in all directions. “Cedric?” he called out, walking across the room.

The entire house was awfully quiet, like there was no one home, and it scared him all the more. He walked through the once comfortable living room into the passageway, hoping to find him in his room. Icy wind whistled through the windows of the bottom floor. Stopped when he found that the room was locked from outside.

Cedric wasn’t home.

Kevin turned to return to the exit, but stopped in his track when a thought came to him. He returned his gaze back to Cedric’s bolted door. Seduced by curiosity to see what was inside that room; to see what Cedric has been hiding from him all these years, he walked towards it.

Heart pounding against his ribcage, Kevin approached the door with great stealth. Turned to look behind every second of his step. Hands grew larger as he reached for the padlock. Clutching the padlock in his fingers, he tore it from the door.

The door fell open, and he turned to look behind once more to ascertain no one was watching him before proceeding into the room. Once inside, he gazed upon the large bed across the room, and beside it a bookshelf with several books arranged on it. The curtains on the window were pushed aside and sunrays penetrated the room through the blinds.

A large poster on the wall just above the bed caught his eyes. He’d seen them before. It was a picture of the two scary eyes of a wolf staring down at him. He knew what it was—the insignia of Beocraft.

Kevin ambled across the room, browsing through the books on the shelf. Most of the titles and pictures on the books were disturbing. His eyes were drawn to the title of a book.

Torture techniques.

The cover page had a disturbing image of a blood-soaked heart being pulled out of a man’s chest by what appeared to be a surgeon. An intense feeling of revulsion grew within him as he stared. Then he noticed a little study table beside the shelf; a lamp and a book sat on top.

The book on the table had been opened to its centre. And the way the chairs around the table had been set up gave Kevin a hunch that a group was here recently, reading.

He glanced through the pages of the book on top and found the pictures of a tortured girl. Her eyes were sworn open to keep them from closing—so that she could watch as her body was disembowelled. There was a text written just below it—it was Latin translation.

Another book on the shelf caught his eyes; its cover had the image of a man screaming while he watched his innards being pulled out through his stomach. Kevin threw his face away in disgust. Turned to glance at its title.

Seven most painful ways to die.

Kevin’s face contorted at the sight of the cover page.

What the hell is Cedric doing with books like this?

Kevin noticed a little drawer close beside the table where he stood. Observed a ring placed on top of it. Reaching for the drawer, he picked up the ring and examined it. Felt familiar in his grip.

He looked over the ring and wondered where he had seen that ring. His features became frozen in shock when he suddenly remembered. The same ring he’d given to Loretta for their engagement. Remembered vividly that he couldn’t find the ring on Loretta’s finger back there in the warehouse where T-Rex had tied her to the pole and made him watch as he tortured her.

He knew T-Rex must have taken the ring off her finger before he tortured her. He was in awe of Cedric and wondered how he’d managed to get his hands on this ring.

Then Kevin caught a glimpse of something hanging from one of the drawers. Pulled the drawer and found, much to his dismay, dozens of photographs scattered inside. He scooped the photos from the drawer and glanced through them—they were photographs of him. Surprised but, nonetheless appreciative.

He saw a picture of the night he was taking to Leonard under the stone bridge. He was horror-stricken—how could anyone have captured this moment? They were all alone that night. No one else was there.

Or had he been terribly mistaken?

His eyes moved to the next picture. In it was the photograph of when he’d broken into the shifter’s prison to rescue Ashley. Fear gripped him as he stared at it. It didn’t make any sense.

His eyes were drawn to another photograph of himself and Derik when they were both inside the bungalow at old Avenue Street—the room with hundreds of photographs. Panic struck his brain.

What the hell is happening?

Chest heaving, he observed another photograph of himself standing outside the old warehouse peeping through the keyhole—this was the night he’d followed Cedric. Sweat gathered at his forehead as he moved on to the next.

His breath hitched when his eyes met a picture of himself kneeling beside Mirabel’s corpse; the picture seemed to have been taken by someone from amongst the crowd that’d gathered that day.

He glanced at another; this one was taken at De Laurel while he was standing outside the hospital window, staring at Natasha inside. Someone had been standing there by his side, taking his photograph.

Kevin’s eyes widened at the sight of another photograph of himself in Natasha’s room just before they had sex. The anxiety became overwhelming.

How the hell did Cedric get all this?

He felt his heart throbbing within his chest as he glanced through the photographs. Moments he thought only he knew about were lying open before him in the photograph.

Someone has been taking pictures of me this whole time.

His hairs stood on end, his eyes widening.

They’d been watching me.

He finally understood Leonard’s words.

Shut all your doors and windows. They may be watching you as we speak.

Glancing through the photographs felt like every moment of his life had been watched. Someone had been watching him, and he doubted it was Cedric. Cedric must have hired someone to follow him.

A cold chill went down his spine when he felt like he was being watched, even at that very moment.

His eyes fleetingly caught on something. And he turned to look at another drawer just below the first. Driven by instants and curiosity, he pulled it out and found a black hooded garment that had been neatly folded inside.

Kevin felt something else lying beneath the garment. Pushed the dress away, revealing a shiny metal mask. He took it out and glanced at it. The mask bore a sticking resemblance to the one C-Rex had worn over his face the day he kidnapped him from his room.

Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to the letter ‘T’ carved on Cedric’s mask, just a little close to the left eye. The metal mask fell from his hands and made loud noises as it hit the floor. His eye widened and his face froze in shock as he backed into the wall, panting.

Oh God,

His jaw went slack as horror transformed his face.

There was no mistake.

Cedric is… T-Rex.