For a week, Khal played the doting friend. It had been so easy to slip back into Rene’s life. Despite only having known him for a week or so in this life, Khal went home with Rene the evening of Misha’s death. He offered him a sleeping pill, something he had on hand in his bag for special occasions. He’d taken a bunch from a now disgraced pharmacist for when he needed to shut down his mind to rest from the myriad pebbles of influence he had going on around the world.
It also came in handy to have Rene get some rest after having just witnessed the aftermath of his husband’s sudden and violent death.
As soon as Rene was asleep, Khal slipped his dream journal out of his nightstand drawer, and carried it into the living room. Khal spent the evening poring over that book, reading it over and over as many times as he could. A multitude of memories they had shared were there. With such vivid detail. Except, of course, that Rene couldn’t recall his face in any of the dreams.
There were also a number of memories of past lives where Khal hadn’t been present for whatever reason. Lives he got to experience and read about for the very first time. There was Adam, the soldier in Korea. He had been drafted away from his family farm, and ended up dying to protect a young pregnant woman from his friend. There was Nita, a Native American who died on the Trail of Tears. She had been the one born after Cody had passed. Khal read through her stories with great interest, as he had never had the chance to meet her.
There was sweet Laurence, a young black kid whose life had been cut short in the Watts Race Riots in 1965. A hard life. A short life. Apparently, Asim had died without reaching adulthood a number of times.
There were Asim’s first three lives after his first death, where he had been born in Puerto Rico as Conel, a Taino native who had fought and died in a revolt against the Spanish at the young age of fourteen. Then he was born in Brazil, a Native woman named Iara, who was kidnapped from the Amazon rainforest and forced to be a slave in sugar cane fields. Though, this time she had lived to the ripe old age of…49, before she went down fighting to free others. Still so young.
In his fourth life, he was born in Japan, sweet Yuto. He had spent a long honorable life fighting for family and country, and passed away at the age of 65, crushed by the Tokugawa Shogunate as they fought against the cruelty of Matsukura Katsuie.
Each death seemed to have occurred during a significant event in history. Khal had never thought of it before, but it appeared that many of Asim’s lives ended during important historical events.
By the time the sun came up, Khal had read the book through a number of times. He carefully snuck back into Rene’s room and placed the book in the drawer where it had been. He would look again later. Any new story, any new memory, would be far too exciting to pass up.
Khal took a moment to watch Rene sleep. He looked so peaceful and innocent. His dear, sweet Rene. Khal almost felt bad for everything he had to do.
*****
The next day, Ari came over with Emory, and Khal got to make eye contact with her for the first time. She was a sweet soul, Ari. A wonderful person who would lay her life down for her family in a heartbeat. She came from a long line of strong women, who had always had to fight to make their way in life and were so rarely recognized for their efforts. Khal found himself liking her right away. She was no threat to him, and provided a wonderful guardian for Emory when it was needed.
She had seen a lot of things in life, being a former EMT. She occasionally still had nightmares about the lives she hadn’t been able to save, the bodies she had found when it was already too late. As capable as she was, she couldn’t save a little girl that had been thrown through the windshield of a car when a drunk man had crashed into her family’s vehicle headon on a dark highway. The little girl had unbuckled her seat-belt for whatever reason a four-year-old might do so, and Ari had found bits of her all along the highway.
Ari had never shared this story with anyone. Not Rene or Misha, and certainly not Emory. But she was always very adamant that Emory remain buckled no matter what and had drilled this into Emory’s mind from the moment Emory was able to comprehend such things. Last night, Ari had dreamed of the little girl again, only this time, she had imagined her as Misha…Misha’s body splattered along the road. Misha’s eyes looking at her blankly, the life gone out of them.
She hadn’t slept very well.
Emory had snuggled up next to her all night, at a loss, struggling to process the death of her dad.
It was frustrating to watch everyone mourn over Misha. For days, Rene looked completely lost, and Khal did his best to keep him on track so that they could move into the next phase of their relationship.
He was pleased when no one really said anything about him being there. In fact, it had been so easy to integrate himself into their lives that he was a bit thrown when Rene returned home with the knowledge that his neighbor Colleen assumed they were already in a relationship. It was clear that Rene was uncomfortable with this information, and Khal sensed the first chip in the perfect situation he had created. But he was nothing if not a great actor. He played right along, assuring Rene that he could take care of things, even as he witnessed the disbelief on Rene’s face that things could be okay.
As Rene returned to work for the first time in two weeks, Khal marched over to Colleen’s house and knocked on the door. She answered with a sneer on her face, but with one glance in her eyes, Khal had her. He returned to Rene’s home and waited as he read all of Colleen’s mind. She was a bitter little thing. Her husband was abusive and cruel to her and her son, and she spent as much time praying for him to stop harming them as she did assuming that all of their abuse was happening because of the filthy gays and other minorities just down the road.
The timing also happened to line up with Jeff Aquino perfecting the tattoo on his latest victim. Khal smiled. Now it was time to really put Rene to the test.
Khal ordered Italian takeaway for dinner from an exquisite restaurant. Through Ari’s mind, he found out Rene was having Emory stay the night over there. Which could only mean one thing.
About the time Rene was heading home, Khal pressed the thought into Colleen’s mind to bring her son over to Rene’s house. Once Greg got there, looking very confused, Khal made eye contact, and by the time Rene came home, both were gushing in apology at their horrible actions. This left Rene rather flustered, which was quite alright to Khal.
After Colleen left, Khal pulled out the Italian food and sat down to have the conversation where he would pretend to be the better person and offer to leave. Of course, he had no intention of actually going, but Rene had to believe that he did. He could actually see the hesitation on Rene’s face, and it gave him satisfaction to know that deep down, Rene didn’t want him to go.
*****
The next day, Rene made up an excuse to keep Khal around longer. He suggested they go out for ice-cream with Emory before he left. Khal, of course, was more than happy to accept that offer. He did this knowing that ice-cream was never going to happen that evening. Poor Emory, promised a treat with someone she cared about twice in as many weeks, and having that future ripped away from her again. He made a point to make it up to her later.
Khal waited around outside the library all day, making sure to keep out of sight. He watched with a grin as Emory entered. There was a special flutter in his heart as he thought of his goddess watching her too, knowing how important she was.
Hours later, it grew dark, and Khal finally walked over and sat down on the bench, pretending to read a book as he concentrated on making Jeff Aquino wait just down the road around the corner. Sure enough, Khal heard the tap on the window, and looked up to see Rene looking at him from the second floor of the library.
This was it.
Khal made sure that Jeff Aquino came screaming around the corner in that moment, grabbing him when Rene was watching. When Khal appeared unaware.
Khal allowed himself to be violently thrown into the van. Through Jeff Aquino’s eyes, as well as others in the library, he watched Rene take off after him, running down the street, struggling to catch up to the van.
Rene’s desperate efforts to save him made Khal smile as he lay in the back of the van.
*****
Khal grinned as Rene went on the news, pleading for any information on his whereabouts. It was such a sweet gesture.
He knew through Ari and Katrina that Rene was scouring the city, looking for him. He gave it a few days, just enough time for Rene to get really desperate, then he had Jeff send him a cryptic message online. A message to let him know that he was being watched, being seen, by the very man he was hunting. It was a satisfying feeling, striking fear into Rene’s heart.
Khal didn’t realize just how much anger he had really been holding toward Rene until that Friday. He had never punished him like this in a past life, but everything now bubbled up into this moment. The horror he had felt at Aidan shooting and leaving him to be tortured for decades. The terror of being burned alive. The cruelty of having moved on with another partner when Khal was looking all over the world for him.
Khal took great joy in watching Rene run for his life throughout the library. He took sadistic pleasure in killing Frank, who was as useful to Khal as a doormat, but really seemed to mean something to Rene.
Khal watched through Jeff Aquino’s eyes as Rene tripped over himself in his attempt to escape. He mocked him, feeling sadistic glee at doing so. It was a slow burn to really bring about the terror that Rene deserved. All the exits were cut off. All the phone lines were cut. When Rene managed to grab Frank’s phone, Khal made sure that he paid for that as well.
For the briefest moment, he wondered if it was too much, but Khal shrugged off the feeling of regret and a few minutes later, Rene was unconscious, lying in the back of the van, on his way to the house where Khal was currently lying in a pool of his own blood.
Khal was nothing if not fair. He wouldn’t put Rene through something he wasn’t willing to go through himself.
Once Rene was at the house, Khal watched him through the camera hidden up in the corner of the room where he was being held, and through Jeff Aquino’s eyes. He had Jeff torture Rene by drowning, feeling great satisfaction at watching Rene suffer the way he had suffered when Aidan threw him into the ocean.
He tortured him with electricity. One of the many ways that Lord Bailey had tortured him for decades. Again, Aidan’s fault for feeding him to the sea and letting others know about him.
He took special pride in watching Jeff Aquino apply the beautiful tattoo. Not as perfectly exquisite as their goddesses’ gift to them, but it would do in its incredible elegance.
Khal had fun when he made Jeff Aquino torture him while Rene could only listen down the hall. The screams of pain had to be legitimate, and they were. Khal made sure that he was bleeding and bruised when Jeff Aquino finally dragged him into the room where Rene was being held.
There, he saw the relief and horror on Rene’s face. He was so happy to see Khal, so scared of what was coming next. This would be the ultimate test of course. The sign of how strong their relationship could be this time. Khal had to see what Rene was willing to do when Khal’s life was in immediate danger…as far as he knew.
Khal was dragged across the floor, and strung up on the noose. It was kind of a thrill as he felt it squeezing his throat, choking the life out of him. He felt a rush in his ears that wasn’t so loud that he couldn’t hear those beautiful words out of Rene’s mouth.
“Kill me instead! Take my life instead, please!” Rene begged.
Khal felt a rush of love and gratitude wash over him. Even knowing that he still had a daughter to go home to, knowing that he would never get to see her again, Rene was willing to sacrifice himself for Khal. He was willing to die to save the man he had known for only a couple weeks. At least, in this life.
Rene did love him. He truly cared.
Khal had Jeff Aquino release him back onto the bed. He was shocked when Rene suddenly kicked Aquino’s legs out from under him and put him in a hold until he stopped breathing. Khal certainly had not been expecting that. It only added to his love of Rene, who had now murdered a man to protect Khal. Something sweet little Rene probably couldn’t have ever fathomed doing.
They made their way out of that dark hellhole and upstairs, where Rene called 9-1-1 while Khal feigned being a whole lot worse off than he actually was.
Khal was absolutely giddy. He had set up this entire situation in the hopes that he would be able to put Rene’s love for him to the test. Rene had not only passed the test, but he had passed it with flying colors. Even in the horror of everything happening to him, Rene had not once given up on Khal, and now here he was, protecting him, nurturing him, even as they waited for the ambulance.
All of the anger that Khal had felt for what Aidan and Cody had done completely dissipated now. The seething fury that he had succumbed to when he discovered that Rene was in a happy relationship with another man all faded to nothingness. Gone, like a cloud blown away in the wind.
All that was left was love and contentment.
Rene was his.
Asim was his again.
And Khal couldn’t be happier.
Stories From Montana 