Cutthroat Carmine (Book 1)(COMPLETE) (Wattpad Featured Novel)

9: [mur-der] Part One

"Okay, calm down. Tell me where you are." Carmine bites down on her lips nervously, drawing another prickling of blood. At this rate, her lips will be scabbed over tomorrow.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"I'm in Evergrove Park. Hiding behind that bench under the oak tree. Hurry!" Blake hisses into the phone, voice oozing with fear and desperation.

"Don't touch the body, Blake. Keep your distance. Wait until I get there. Do you hear me?" Carmine tries to keep her voice as calm as possible. "If you even think about drinking the blood I won't be able to help you. No one will."

"Ok. Ok. Ok," Blake stutters. "Just hurry."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Carmine ends the call and shoves her phone back into her clutch. She kicks off her stilettos, grabs the pair of torture devices by the straps and then starts to run. At first she sprints fairly fast, the soles of her feet pounding against cement, blistering and chafing. As she gains momentum, Carmine pushes past the pain in her feet and starts dashing at almost 75km/hour. The bottoms of her feet start bleeding profusely, painting the sidewalks with their bloody prints. Gritting her teeth, Carmine takes a shortcut down Elder Drive until she reaches home.

Nimble as a cat, Carmine climbs the ivy trellis on the side of her house until she reaches her bedroom window. She quickly takes off Sebastian's jacket and slips out of her dress. She hides his jacket under her bed, in case Mother decides to clean her room.

Grabbing a black t-shirt and dark jeans, Carmine quickly puts them on. She takes a roll of clean bandages and binds her feet. Her blood instantly soaks right through the white gauze. No time to change it. I need to hurry.

Carmine starts assembling (at lightning speed) the miscellaneous equipment she might need. Flashlight. Towel. Plastic garbage bag. Scissors. Knife. Bandages. Rubbing alcohol. Gloves. Extra hoodie and sweatpants for Blake.

Finally, satisfied with her gear, she slips into her converse sneakers and then silently shimmies down the side of the house. She can hear the television on in the living room. Mother and Father are probably watching late night reruns. Hopefully they don't hear me. Father's ears are especially sharp, but the T.V. is quite loud so...

Evergrove park is a two minute sprint from the Redoza residence. Carmine makes it there in a minute and forty seconds. Her superb sense of smell tracks down the scent of fresh blood even before she sees her brother and the body.

Carmine reaches Blake's hideout in seconds. "What the hell did you do?"

Blake's mouth and chin is dripping with sticky blood. His eyes bulge at the sight of Carmine and he quickly wipes his mouth with his sleeve.

"What the hell did you do Blake? I told you not to touch it! Shit!" Carmine crouches beside her brother and examines the damage.

The dead woman is young, in her early twenties. Strands of black hair thick with blood sticks to her cheeks. Bits of torn scalp and skull fragments are still oozing liquid. Her glazed eyes stare emptily, glistening under the moonlight. Cause of death: head trauma.

Carmine's eyes bulge at the sight of the open head wound. Her temples start throbbing. The sight of so much blood is tempting, even for her. "Have you learned nothing over the years? You never kill them! Never. That's how you get caught. And to do this...in a park? In public? Blake! What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Stop yelling okay? You didn't even hear my side of the story yet!" Blake stands up defiantly. He puffs out his chest indignantly, as if suffering from a grave injustice. "I FOUND her like this. She was already dead. I was walking home from my boxing session when I smelled her. I was drawn to the scent. Thought it was probably just a dead bird or raccoon. I figured no harm in having a quick snack. And then I saw her just crumpled there behind the bench. Head bashed in."

Carmine is unsure of what to believe. But what reason would Blake have for lying at this point? "Then what did you do?"

"I tried to resist. That's why I called you. I was thinking about our conversation this morning and how you said if I needed help, I should call you."

"Yes. That was good. Thank you for listening. But," Carmine points to Blake's face, "You still couldn't resist could you?"

"Fifteen minutes is such a long time. And I couldn't just leave and risk people seeing me with blood all over my clothes. So I just licked it. And of course one lick is never enough. Before I knew it, my whole face was slurping up her brains!"

"You're disgusting. Brains? Really? You're no better than a wild animal." Carmine starts taking out her gloves and snapping them on her hands. "Step aside. You've done enough damage already. Take off your clothes and put them in the garbage bag. Then put on the ones I have in my duffle bag."

"Sorry sis." Blake glances longingly at the corpse one last time before shuffling towards a bush nearby.

Carmine assesses the gravity of the situation with a heavy heart. She starts tying her hair up into a high ponytail. The odor is nauseatingly sweet.

One lick while Blake is changing in the bush won't hurt...The damage is already done anyways. No. What the hell am I thinking? His DNA is probably all over this woman already. I can't risk having mine on her too. We need to tell Father. Only he can help us. But he will think Blake killed her...He won't trust him anymore. No. I will not involve him. I can handle this myself. Father believes in my strength and talent. I should too.

Blake returns with a fresh set of clothes on his body. "What should we do now?"

"Give me those clothes." Carmine takes the garbage bag and hands Blake a towel doused with rubbing alcohol. "Clean up your filthy face."

Blake does as he is told and wipes down his stained chin. After he is done, he hands Carmine the rusty-colored towel. "Now what?"

Carmine takes the towel and shoves it in the garbage bag. "Be right back."

Carmine sprints back to her house and stores her duffle bag as well as the garbage bag under her bed. Then she zooms back to the scene of the crime.

"Hey, you still haven't told me the-" Before Blake can finish, Carmine rams her balled up fist into his stomach and then deals a fierce uppercut to his chin. "This is for being stupid." Then she punches him across his face, hard, drawing blood.

***How do you think they are going to deal with the dead girl? Guesses?
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