Cruel and Unusual - serialised novel EXCLUSIVE to Steemit Part 54

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Episode List From 1 – 52 53

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Please read the start of the story using the link above. I promise, it’s well-worth the time to check it all out. At least then, this excerpt will make more sense

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Hazel walked along the cobbled street, past other ladies of the night plying their trade. It seemed that they either sensed Hazel’s previous ‘defeat’ at the hands of the territorial woman or they had heard of it through some grapevine, but the jeers greeting Hazel as she moved on were encouraging.

The women still had their instinct to fight and whilst they had that, they had a chance.

Hazel did not judge these women on the morality of their work, she knew what she had done in order to survive and some of the things were far, far worse than participating in sex for money.

Her head bowed, she appeared defeated. As she made her way out of the area where the largest concentration of ‘Seamstresses’ held court, she was aware of someone following her. Her senses and her instincts pricked up in an instant. She searched with her mind but found no trace of anomaly, no trace of Wolfness. This predator was purely Hume.

She stopped and leaned her forehead on a wall as though in despair.

The ruse worked and he didn’t take long to approach her. He took her arm in a gentle manner and pulled her close to him in an embrace. He stroked her hair and his touch was gentle too.

“I saw you, my sweet.” his accent was not local, perhaps a Northern one?

“I saw you being moved on. The woman was nasty and rough and she should have been more tolerant. These are dangerous times for women in your trade. You need to stay close together, not be moved on to separate. Divide and conquer is what I believe this murderer is trying to do, setting people against one another, making them wary of strangers.”

“And what are you proposing? That I should go back and assert my right to stand on the corner, where they have always worked? I cannot imagine that those women would take that proposal kindly.” Hazel replied, keeping her eyes cast down.

“No, of course not,” he crooked his forefinger and placed it under her chin, lifting her head so that he could look into her eyes. Hazel wondered what on earth he was up to.

He gazed into her eyes for a long moment and then began speaking again. Hazel noticed the subtle changes in his breathing, his manner and his speech. The man was becoming excited.

“You are beautiful, my dear. Beneath the grime and filth, your beauty shines. You should not be working these streets; you should be married to some rich gentleman who would cosset and pamper you and who would take such care of you that you would never be cold or dirty again.”

Hazel was used to eccentric behaviour, but this one took the whole bakery. Was he making a marriage proposal? It certainly seemed as though he was about to make a proposal of some sort. Hazel waited.

“But instead, you lower yourself to the behaviour of an animal – nay, worse than an animal! Beasts of the field rut in order to procreate, whereas you and your kind take payment for such behaviour! The love of money is the root of all evil!”

Could she have been wrong in thinking that the murderer was a Throwback? It hadn’t seemed possible that it could have been anything other than a Throwback, given the evidence of her own eyes and senses, but this man seemed to be intent on berating her for her chosen ‘trade’. She allowed her eyes to grow wide as though in fear and the man carried on in his tirade.

“That chap, Jack the Ripper has started a crusade that I wanted to join. He has the courage of his convictions and I will join him in his crusade when I can find him! Until I do, I shall continue in his work, mimicking his actions and help him to rid first London, and then England of the blight upon our fair country. Those that infect decent and god-fearing men with their diseases, syphilis and gonorrhoea will be cleared out – permanently!”

He took a breath and carried on. “God cannot do it; it has been left to man to clear up his own mess. The first woman, Eve, tempted Adam with her wickedness, the apple being a symbol for her wantonness and since then, man has been repeating his behaviour, destroying families and the decent working man and now it shall be stopped, one filthy, disease-ridden whore at a time!”

Oh good, a man with a mission, ridding London of prostitution single-handed. Hazel realised that she had stumbled upon – or rather, had been stumbled upon - by a fanatic. Her own instincts began to take hold, self-preservation first and foremost. Then her perverse sense of danger made an appearance and she decided to goad him more.

“I see,” she said. “You caught the Clap and your wife threw you out, is that how it went?”

“My wife died,” he seemed to sag as he admitted it. “She died during childbirth, our son died with her, but it was then that the doctors discovered that she had caught the disease. I was disgraced; her father threw me out of my job and out of my home.”

Then he rallied again and became furious at Hazel.

“It is whores such as you that tempted me. I would never have strayed if I had not been made the offer!”

“Yes you would.”

That was enough for the enraged and embittered widower. He slapped Hazel with the hand that had lifted her chin so tenderly. With his other hand, he drew a blade from his coat and made to slash her face.

“I wrote of my last victim. I sent a piece of her to Mr George Lusk. With you, I shall send not just a piece of kidney; I shall send him your heart!”

Hazel’s reactions were far swifter than his and she dodged the blade’s arc with ease. She punched him full on the nose and it erupted in a spray of blood and snot. Far from stopping him, however, the blow infuriated him more and he again lunged at Hazel with the blade in his fist, pointing towards her.

She could tell that he was not proficient at knife fighting by the way he held the weapon and she dodged him again and again, throwing the odd punch and slap at his face as she did so. He was beginning to tire when she decided enough was enough and moved forward, past the extended arm, into his embrace almost. She reached up to grasp his head in both of her hands and gave a sharp twist of his head. The ensuing crack announced that his neck had been broken. His death was instantaneous and Hazel was not even out of breath.

She made the judgement that she could leave this particular kill as it had fallen. The cause of death would be deemed the result of a fight – which it was. She had no reason to disguise the cause of death and even if someone had seen her kill the man, there were no witnesses that could identify her as the killer without reasonable doubt. She would don a different dress and coat and then the only recognisable feature would be her long red hair. She was satisfied that she would not be brought to the attention of any authority.

Hazel walked away from the dead man, she never looked back. She did not see the Wolf watching her from the shadows, but she knew he was there and she had a good idea of who he was.