Having read Katrina’s mind, Khal knew that Rene’s husband worked at Collin’s Bank in the Finance department. After leaving the library, Khal made a bee-line for the bank, which wasn’t far at all. When he reached the outside, he saw that it was fairly busy. Not wanting to be seen on camera stepping inside, for reasons he was unsure of yet, he made eye contact from across the street with the first person that stepped outside that appeared to work there. Luckily, it was someone that worked directly with Rene’s husband, which made the whole process easier. 

Khal pushed a thought into Daniel Trumble’s head to make sure that his coworker Misha Bloom had lunch away from the bank. Whatever persuasion it took. Around 12’o’clock, Misha stepped outside, walking in stride with Daniel, and they headed down to a little taco truck just down the road. Apparently, Rene had already prepared Misha a delicious lunch, which Khal discovered from watching them through Daniel’s eyes, but Daniel managed to be very persuasive at getting Misha out of the building. 

When they stepped outside, Misha didn’t look up, nor spot Khal across the road, so Khal followed along a little ways behind and across from them until they reached the taco truck. Khal then got in line right behind them. 

He put the thought in Daniel’s head to drop his wallet on the ground, seemingly by accident. Daniel did so, and Khal quickly leaned down to pick it up and hand it to him. In that moment, Misha turned to look at him, and Khal saw everything. 

One look into Misha’s eyes, and he was plunged into the intimate world he shared with Rene. 

With Khal’s Rene. 

Every intimate kiss, cuddle, and carnal session between them. Their love was so vivid, so consuming, it almost made Khal sick. He quickly turned away from them, blocking the fact that they had ever seen him from both their minds, and hurrying away with his new insights. He went over how Misha and Rene had met. The dirty thoughts that Misha had about his husband. Their sweet little wedding. Raising Emory together and loving almost every moment of it. 

Khal learned a great deal about Ari too, Emory’s mother, who had done a hail Mary with a turkey baster, and roughly nine months later, had birthed the precious little girl that all three of them loved more than life itself. 

Khal saw through Misha’s mind was it was like to be inside of Rene, and have Rene be inside Misha. He saw their struggles with Misha’s family disowning him, and attempting to wreck the wedding by screaming outside that they would be judged for their sins by God, and cast into the fires of hell. 

Misha’s memories of childhood flowed through him, and Khal saw every struggling test, every beating he took for not acting “normal”. Every time he had glanced at a boy in class, or in Sunday school, and his mother had caught him doing so. One time, he had been unable to go to school the following Monday because he couldn’t even sit down due to the wounds she had left on his buttocks with her belt. She and his father had taken turns. 

Khal felt a surge of familiarity, the way his own father had always hated him for his differences. He quickly brushed off the thought though. Comparing himself to Misha made him feel sick. Misha was just a man. A pathetic human. 

Khal had the powers of a God.

Khal saw the mad scramble that was Misha’s mind, diagnosed as severe ADHD when he was well into adulthood. His parents had always punished him for his outbursts and erratic behavior. They refused to get him seen by a doctor, believing that medication was the devil’s work. They chose to pray over the issue instead, something that clearly hadn’t helped.

Somehow, despite all that stress and abuse, Misha had turned out to be a genuinely kind and loving man. A man who cared a great deal about his family. Who would do anything for them. Who would just as soon kill himself as he would yell at his daughter or beat her the same way his parents beat him. 

Misha had looked deep into Rene’s eyes as they said their vows, and meant every word of them. That he would love and cherish Rene for as long as he lived. And with all his heart, he knew that Rene loved him back. 

Khal was livid. 

Khal was the one who deserved Rene’s love, who had searched it out in Rene’s many past lives. How could it be now that Rene had found someone else? In every other life where he had met him, Khal couldn’t remember his lover ever having mentioned past relationships. 

Of course it was possible, but…

Khal had never felt this betrayed before. Not when Aidan had thrown him in the ocean and left him to be tortured for decades. Not when Cody had burned him alive. 

This was cruelty beyond all of that. Rene had moved on without him. Had created a new family, a happy family. He was content in this life. He didn’t want or need Khal. 

Khal wasn’t going to let that betrayal go lying down. 

*****

He had searched a number of tattoo artists in the city by the time it had gotten dark. None were quite up to the artistic perfection that he was looking for. He had decided that first and foremost, Rene would have to be marked. The ankh, just like Khal’s, just like Asim’s, given to them in their first life together when their goddess had bestowed upon them their gifts. He had spent all day thinking about how he would go about actually marking Rene, when two young women walked past him talking about a true crime podcast they had listened to. 

It became clear in an instant. The puzzle pieces finally coming together. 

Everyone loved a good serial killer story. It would rush through the city faster than any feelgood story he might come up with. And the chaos of it would allow him to mark Rene exactly as he wanted to. And not only that, but if Khal played his cards right, it would also make Rene care a lot more deeply about him. 

Khal walked into the small studio of Jeff Aquino, and his eyes immediately lit upon the exquisite work plastered all over the walls. Samples of the artistry that this man was capable of. When Jeff Aquino stepped out from the back of the studio with a bright smile, looking every bit the gentle giant he was at well over 6 feet tall, and built like a linebacker, Khal knew he had his man. 

Jeff Aquino’s life was over the moment he made eye contact with Khal. A flood of happy sappy memories couldn’t change Khal’s mind about what needed to be done. He didn’t particularly care about the future victims, they just had to look similar to Rene, to make sure the canvas was perfect. 

Khal sent Jeff Aquino on his way to set up a house that Khal had learned about in passing a young man on the street who was wealthy and into some heavy bdsm stuff, leaving him an expansive basement with a whole lot of tools and an infloor bathtub. That young man was already on a flight across the world, pushed by Khal to be out of the way for this next endeavor. He’d thought briefly about having him be the first victim, but his death would have brought immediate attention to the location, so he was shuttled away and out of sight. 

Location was set. 

The killer was picked, without his consent, of course. 

It was just a few days until the gala, until he began to really work his wiles on Rene. 

Jeff Aquino was at the house, and Khal was staked outside of Ari’s, well hidden in the bushes, bitterly watching them enjoy their blissful family dinner, when he got the text from Rene about the interview. 

Wednesday night. Dinner. He would meet Emory. 

Khal knew this would work. 

It had to. 

*****

The first thing that popped into Khal’s mind when he made eye contact with Emory was the same strange sensation he’d had with Ashlin. He couldn’t read her. He couldn’t see anything in her except those adorable brown eyes peering shyly, curiously, back at him. 

There was something else though. A shiver? A tickle? 

She looked at him strangely, like she knew something about him. Something a five-year-old wouldn’t know. It was a peculiar realization that she was Rene’s child. As far as he knew, Asim had never had a child in any other life. At least, not one that Khal had been privy to. To see one here, in the flesh, was an eerie realization. Rene was a father. 

Asim, was a father. 

He had always wanted to be a father. 

Something incredible happened as he was looking at Emory. A voice spoke through him, inside him, a voice he had not been visited by in centuries. 

“She is not to be harmed.” The voice said, and Khal could have cried as his goddess spoke to him. 

By the time they were sitting down to dinner, Misha toasting to their new friendship, Khal found himself unable to take his eyes off of Rene. 

If all went well, this would be his new family. Rene his new partner, and in a world where they wouldn’t have to hide their love from everyone. Emory would be their child, the one they could never have before. It was just a little matter of getting rid of Misha first. 

Khal glanced at Misha, who was anxiously fussing over everything, and put the thought into his head to calm down. 

“Why are your eyes so strange?” Emory asked. 

Khal was taken aback. Had she seen something? Could she sense when he was using his powers? He played it off, acting unconcerned, amused by the mind of a child, but it was clear she had seen something. 

Just as it was clear that Aset had plans for her. 

Khal spent the remainder of the dinner getting more information from the family about Rene. Information he already knew, after peaking into Misha’s mind. The dreams that Misha brought up, Rene’s dreams about past lives, were of particular interest. Khal had spotted in Misha’s mind earlier the notebook that Rene kept in their bedroom. He’d gotten glimpses of the dreams from what Rene had shared with Misha, and so far it was clear that they were based on events that had actually happened in Rene’s past lives. 

Khal couldn’t wait to get his hands on that notebook. 

As they sat eating dinner, Jeff Aquino was working on his third victim, perfecting his tattoo. Khal, in a moment of anger at seeing Misha’s happy face, had Jeff violently attack the young man that he had grabbed off the street. Jeff cut the young man, up and down his arms, torso, and legs, leaving him screaming and sobbing, rivulets of blood running down his body. Khal forced Jeff to strap the young man down and continue work on the tattoo, the young man’s back purposely left clear of any wounds. 

As Khal did this, he noticed Emory continuing to watch him strangely. Her gaze nearly unnerved him, but he merely smiled at her as he forced himself to eat the meal that Misha had prepared.

Eventually, the dinner was over. Khal felt bitter that he was the one having to leave. In time though, that wouldn’t be the case. In time, this would be his home. 

He headed outside to his car, which he parked a short ways across the road so that he could keep an eye on the house all night as he watched Jeff Aquino’s progress on the tattoos, set up the spectacular gala in Rene’s honor, and got everything else ready for his plan to make Rene fall in love with him. 

*****

The gala went off without a hitch. Khal planned everything from the food to the decorations. He made sure that Rene felt extra special on his big night. He even forced a few checks out of people to get the ball rolling on the next evening’s activities. 

He pushed the spread of the news regarding the new serial killer and his victims throughout the night. Certain people were very eager to talk about the fact that authorities had discovered a second body now, meaning Khal barely had to exert any influence before word had spread around the gala like wildfire. Apparently, Rene had not yet heard the news about the potential serial killer, and Khal was pleased to see the look of worry on his face as he was told the sordid details by Katrina. 

Khal had been careful to ensure that Jeff Aquino take great care in removing the patch of skin he had drawn the tattoo on before he disposed of the bodies. Khal didn’t want his special gift to Rene spoiled just yet. 

It was a bittersweet moment getting to watch Rene sing for the group. His voice was just as sweet as Asim’s had been. Just as pure as Cody’s, Ling’s, and Lestari’s. In that moment, with Rene crooning for the crowd, Khal caught a tear falling from his eye as he was brought back to enchanting moments in his lover’s past lives. He quickly wiped the tear away before anyone could see, and cheered as loud as the others when Rene had finished, blushing and smiling for the group.

Rene’s speech was sweet, though Khal would have given anything to have his name replace Misha’s, his place be Misha’s place as Rene’s husband. 

Patience. 

One more night. 

*****

Sunday evening went perfectly. Even better than Khal could have planned. He relished in the look of happy surprise as he handed Rene the checks for a not insignificant amount of money. He watched in amusement as Rene’s boss approached, and read in Misha’s mind the pure loathing he had for that obnoxious man. 

Khal almost had Carl, Rene’s boss, do the deed, but a better opportunity came along a moment later in the form of Mr. Scott, an old wealthy man who turned out to have plenty of skeletons in his closet. Though on the scale of minds Khal had peeked into within his lifetime, Mr. Scott seemed tame enough. 

He would do perfectly. 

Khal placed a pebble of thought into his mind, gave it a little push. Mr. Scott left to head to his car. Misha turned to Khal, excitedly chatting with him, telling him how he should get a job at the library. There was the briefest moment where Misha’s bubbly kindness put a pit of doubt into Khal’s stomach, but he knew what he had to do. What he had been planning all week. It was now or never. 

Carl continued to do a wonderful job of annoying everyone, so Khal took that opportunity to have Misha excuse himself. He even allowed him to give Rene a final kiss on the cheek. Then Khal sent Misha outside, pushing the thought into his mind to wait at a certain spot. At the same time, he had Mr. Scott slam his foot down on the accelerator.

A moment later, it was all over. 

Khal was placing a comforting hand on Rene’s shoulder as they looked upon Misha’s broken body, the light gone out of his eyes. 

Chapter 40 – Break Free