Atticus frowned as suddenly the room around him was plunged into darkness and silence, the scalpel in his hands only inches away from the face of the unconscious woman. He had been about to awaken her and begin a routine of interrogation and torment when every single electronic device had shut off at the same moment. Moving across to the window he opened the curtains slightly, looking out and the now pitch black cityscape that was sprawled out before him. 

“How unfortunate” remarked Kitiara flatly from beside him, the sounds of panicked neighbours reaching his ears through the relatively thin walls that surrounded them. The sounds made it clear that Atticus would not be able to do what he had planned, not unless he wanted the entire building to know that he was slicing up a helpless woman right under their noses. 

Furrowing his brow Atticus ran through several scenarios in his mind as he considered what he could now do, seeing as how this apparent citywide blackout had struck at the most inopportune time for him. He could not think of a simple and easy enough way to either create enough noise to mask the sounds that she would likely make or remove her from the building without taking a large risk of being discovered. 

“You know” began Kitiara as she moved behind him, wrapping her arms around his frame and whispering in his ear “I’ve always wondered how much you’d enjoy a… killing spree.” 

He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off as she continued to speak “Not the kind of mindless spree that would end with a shootout with police, but rather the kind of opportunistic spree that sends shockwaves of fear across the population as you move from darkened building to building, killing indiscriminately as you go…” 

He turned and returned her embrace as she continued “I know how you do love to play with your toys, but when an opportunity like this presents itself it would be an awful shame to let it pass you by. Think of the rush of killing without all of that tedious watching and waiting, to just end the lives of those who you come across on a whim.” 

A moments silence was shared between the two as he gazed into her eyes before pulling her into a fierce embrace and kissing her, the passion between the two being as real as ever to him. Moving away from her Atticus instead turned his attention back to Anica where she lay affixed to her bed. The woman looked to be in a peaceful slumber, her toned stomach rising and falling slowly as she took what would soon be her final few breaths in this world. Atticus had used the woman’s own handcuffs to affix her to the bed after he had found numerous pairs in a box under her bed with several other quite unmentionable items. 

He moved so he was stood above her with the scalpel held in his hand as he took one final moment to think about the lost opportunity to torment and question the woman as well as the now wasted time he had spent building to this moment. Turning his mind away from such thoughts he moved the scalpel to her neck and prepared to end her life. He looked over to Kitiara who simply nodded at him before he applied a moderate amount of pressure and quickly ran the blade over her throat. 

Her eyes shot open suddenly and she tried to cry out as she started to thrash a little against the bonds that held her. Even in the darkness Atticus could see the terror in her eyes as her scream came out as nothing more than a weak gurgle, deep crimson blood spilling so generously over her body and onto the bed. Her gaze met his for a moment, her terror and her desperation spilling over him and making him feel almost euphoric as he watched the very last moment of her life drain away as she looked into his eyes. 

He took a step back as the blood started to spill from the sheets onto the floor, his heart still pounding from the excitement of what had just happened. Kitiara smiled and moved behind him once more as she wrapped an arm around him and they both stood looking at what remained of the woman. 

“I didn’t expect that to feel so… good” he said eventually as Kitiara kissed at his cheek, still picturing that moment the life had left Anica’s eyes. She had died so suddenly and without warning, that desperation and that look of unknown fear on her features being more satisfying then he would have ever thought. 

Moving back to the window he looked out again over the city as Kitiara joined him, the dark pair gazing out into the world. 

“Here we come Santa Somabra” said Kitirara softly as their faces reflected in the glass, their smiles hovering in the darkness.

Several Days Later. 

“Fuckin ‘ell bro!” shouted Reece as he jumped backwards, his rough voice echoing around the street as a bag filled with silverware crashed into the ground beside him. He looked back up towards the window the bag had just flown out of, the head of his brother poking out with a buffoonish grin spread across his features before it disappeared back into the building. 

Reece grumbled to himself as he picked up the bag and moved back across to their truck before slinging it onto the existing pile of their ill-gotten gains, numerous televisions, laptops and other expensive items being visible amongst the sacks that were also filled with stolen goods. If it wasn’t for the ridiculous amount of money they would make from this blackout Reece wouldn’t have tolerated this kind of behaviour from his brother again anytime soon. Without alarms these higher-end apartments were ripe for the picking, especially Kyle’s moronic inclination to do everything Reece told him to, even if it included beating tenants to death with a bat so they could loot their belongings. 

Reece looked up towards the window again, waiting for his brothers head to appear once more as he threw down the next bag, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened a few moments later. 

Suddenly his brother’s head did emerge from the window, but it was followed by the rest of his body as he tumbled forwards with some force out of the window. He hurtled down and smashed into the edge of the parked truck, the force of his body and the momentum from the fall causing quite a bit of damage as the roof buckled and windows smashed. “Kyle!” screamed Reece in disbelief as he rushed forwards towards the bleeding body of his brother which had crumpled onto the floor and now lay in a pool of rapidly accumulating blood. Falling to his knees and turning him over Reece saw his lifeless eyes gazing up into the darkness, causing him to cry out in confusion and anger as he wondered what had happened. Examining his body aside from the damage caused by the fall there were also several stab wounds in his back. Turning frantically to look back up at the window he saw for the briefest moment the silhouette of a figure which soon faded back into the darkness of the building. 

“What the fuck!” Reece shouted as he stood and pulled out his pistol, running into the building with his torch in hand. He made his way up the landing and into the open doorway with his gun raised aiming from left to right as he scanned the rooms. The inside of the once luxury apartment was trashed and stripped, Reece’s torch revelling the extent of the damage they had inflicted as he moved through the hallway and into the main room. The figure was nowhere to be seen and there were several bags still lying in the centre of the room waiting to be thrown down. 

“Where the hell are you?” he yelled again as he began to point his torch towards the bedroom, moving into the room quickly as he scanned his darkened surroundings. Across the room he saw the figure of a man standing, a knife of some kind in his hand as he simply stood staring at Reece with his features hidden in shadow. 

“Motherfucker!” he screamed as he opened fire, anger still burning through him at the thought of his brother’s lifeless body. As his hail of fire hit the figure there was a shattering sound and Reece realized too late that he had opened up on nothing more than a mirror with the reflection of the man watching him. Reece twisted on the spot, turning to face the direction of the reflection just in time to see Atticus lunge forwards with almost inhuman speed before he felt a sharp painful sensation in his stomach as he plunged the knife in burying the blade completely. Reece tried feebly to aim his gun at this man, but already his strength was fading as the man pulled the gun from his hand with a jerk. 

Reece tried to plead, barley getting out a word before the man withdrew the blade and once more stabbed it into him several times, the entire time he gazed into Reece’s eyes with his cold unmoving face. Reece’s vision began to fade as the man stepped back, watching him slink to the floor slowly before he turned and said something, though the words were lost to Reece as his vision faded and he knew no more.