Monsters - Chapter 1 – Who Was I

Monsters

By Karen Singer

Chapter 1 – Who Was I

The red motorcycle screamed up I-985, heading north out of Atlanta.  The interstate highway gave way to a state highway, and as the traffic became thinner, the rider pushed the motorcycle even faster, at times topping a hundred miles per hour.  The rider was dressed from head to toe in a red and black riding suit that offered no clues at all about who the rider was.  Even the rider’s helmet that covered the entire head and the darkened full windscreen on it made the rider totally anonymous.  Only the shape of the body inside that suit told the story of a woman with a young voluptuous figure.

The further she went, the more rural and hilly the region became, making the Sunday morning ride into northern Georgia that much more enjoyable.  It had been several years now since she had been by this way, but as long as she was travelling north, there was no way she wouldn’t make the brief stop.

There was someone she wanted to see.  Not talk to.  Just see.  From a distance.  In fact, she dared not let that person know that she had ever been there.  A number of times now, she had come this way, only to see her from afar.  That’s as close as she dared to get.  Closer might bring about a massive manhunt involving every authority from the local police to the FBI, to possibly even the CIA.  She dared not let anyone know she was there.  But she couldn’t help herself.  He had been her first.  And she couldn’t help but stop by once in a while just to see her.  He…was now a she.  Mostly because of what her mother had done to her…to him.  But she had played a major part in it right from the beginning.

Candy Girl the Handy Girl.  That’s what her business cards read now.  He used to be her high school math teacher.  Now, Candy did handyman work and renovated and sold houses.  The few little tidbits she heard about him, or rather about her now, all said the same thing, she was doing pretty well for herself.  She knew though that before he had become a total woman, he had managed to walk off with over a million dollars that rightfully belonged to her and her mother.  But that money no longer mattered.  A million dollars was nothing but pocket change to her now.  Her mother made billions.  She herself, what little she cared about making, made more than enough.  But as her mother’s daughter, she had more money than she knew what to do with. 

Playing with all that money was her mother’s hobby.  Not hers.  Her mother sometimes moved money between dozens of bank accounts all over the world, just for fun.  As for herself, as long as her credit cards worked, she couldn’t care less.  According to her mother though, with the money she had, she could probably buy her own airline if she wanted it.  What would she do with an airline?  Things like that didn’t interest her.  Her interests were far more…unrefined.

Her given name was Carol Stokley.  At times, mostly now in the past, she went by Carol Edgewater.  But for now, she was travelling with ID cards in the name of Judy Cunningham.  An identity she had used on probably the last six trips back into the States.  Judy Cunningham was nobody.  Judy Cunningham wasn’t on anybody’s radar.  Judy Cunningham could move freely and openly anywhere.  But Carol Stokley was one of the most wanted fugitives in the world.  Not just the United States, but the world.  Surprisingly though, she was wanted, not for the things she had done in the last few years, which were possibly even worse than what her mother had ever done, but she was wanted just because she was her mother’s daughter…and she knew and had done things way back then that the authorities were still overly interested in.

All that barely crossed her mind as she wound her way along country roads and through the small little communities until she saw her destination.  The tiny little church building where the Free Spirit Nondenominational Church met.  The congregation of that small church used to meet every week in an abandoned storefront.  Now they had bought an old church that some other congregation had outgrown.

She parked her bike at the very back of the parking lot in a place where she could see everyone coming out, but they wouldn’t see her clearly.  She didn’t dare even raise the visor on her helmet so she could see better.  It was too dangerous.  She checked her watch.  A little before twelve.  She had timed it well.  Now all she had to do was wait for church to end.

The door opened and the people began spilling out.  All of them appeared to be happy and at peace.  Why wouldn’t they be?  None of them knew that someone like her was around and watching them.  Her eyes locked onto the figure of a woman.  Her!  Candy!  She was wearing a nice coat over her dress.  She would really love to see the dress.  She would really love to see so much more of him…her.  She dared not.  Even this was too close.

Carol watched as Candy stopped to talk pleasantly with several other women.  They all seemed so happy.  Why shouldn’t they be?  She noted that Candy’s hairstyle still looked about the same.  She was still wearing it loose, the light brown hair falling just over her shoulders.  She watched as Candy said goodbye to the others and got into a car.  Not a pickup truck, but a car.  That was different.  She could only guess though that Candy did still own a pickup truck.  Her job would probably require it.  But now Candy had driven to church in a car.  A nice car she noted as it drove right past her out of the parking lot.

She sighed as she watched the taillights of Candy’s new car disappear around the corner.  She had seen, but as always, she had seen too little.  All it did was to leave her hungry for more.  Like it or not, it was time for her to get going again.  Time to get back on the road.  She still had a lot of miles to cover.  Miles that she didn’t mind at all.  She loved riding the big bike.  One of several she had stashed around the United States for when she snuck back into this country.

But now she had been summoned up to North Carolina to do a job.  She had been summoned by Susan Wu.  She owed everything to Susan and her father, including her life.  Far more than her life.  Susan had taught her much and had found other people to train her to do things most people would never even contemplate.  All the things that made her who she was today.  Candy, before she had become Candy, had once said that she was a monster.  She smiled at that description.  Candy, Roger back then, had no idea in the world what a monster she would one day become.

Carol pushed her bike north.  North towards North Carolina.  North towards an area outside of Ashville.  North…towards the Wu compound out in the middle of the woods, where nobody but those who were invited ever entered.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

“Hey kid.  How ya’ doin?”

“Uncle Vinny, why do you always call me kid?” Brandy asked teasingly.

“Because you’ll always be like my own kid,” Vinny told her.

Brandy laughed.  “I love you too, Uncle Vinny.”

“Yeah,” Vinny laughed.  “Me too.  Listen, Brandy.  Before you go to Vegas, is there any way you can you stop for a day or two and help Dominic out in Dallas with a little problem that just came up?”

“Sure.  What kind of problem?”

“Something about someone talking to someone they shouldn’t have.  I’ll let Dominic give you the details.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Only you would think of it that way.”

“Uncle Vinny.  You know how I am.”

“Yeah.  I do.  And sometimes I don’t know whether to be appalled, just plain sick, or proud.  But it makes no difference.  I still love you as if you were my own daughter.”

She laughed. “I practically am your daughter.”

“Like I said, I couldn’t be prouder.  When do you leave?”

“I wasn’t scheduled to fly to Vegas for a few more days.  I’ve got to stop in Chicago tomorrow for a quick job there, then I was coming home tomorrow night.  I was going to leave for Vegas the next afternoon.  Does Uncle Dominic need me there sooner?”

“No.  He says keep to your schedule.  He knows you’ve got other things to handle.”

“Then tell him the day after tomorrow.  I’ll call Ralphie and have him change my hotel and flight reservations.”

“How were you gettin’ to the airport?”

“Sammy’s was going to drive me, as usual, Uncle Vinny.”

“Of course!  Good!”

“I’ve got to go, Uncle Vinny.  My mark is walking out towards his car right now.”

“You be careful Brandy.”

“Aren’t I always?  I’ll be back tomorrow night.  Love you Uncle Vinny.”

“Love you too, kid.”

Brandy hung up her phone, the call all but forgotten.  In the semi-darkness, she could just see Conrad Harris heading across the parking lot toward his car.  She pulled the simple feminine mask down from on top of her blonde wig so that the mask covered the top half of her face.  She eased her car door open and got out.  She almost closed her car door, but not quite.  She would be able to get into it and away faster with it that far open.  On silent feet, she followed Harris toward his car.  She heard every swear word that left his mouth as he saw that all four tires on his car were flat.

“You shouldn’t have done it,” Brandy said, her voice soft but threatening in the chilly evening air.

Harris turned.  He had to look around before he finally spotted her standing between two other cars.  “Did you do this?”

She shrugged.  “Just a little something to get your attention,” she said.  She moved forward toward him, knowing that with his car disabled he was less likely to try to take refuge inside it.

“Who the hell are you?” Harris asked, now noticing the blonde color of her long hair.

“Retribution,” Brandy replied.

“Retro what?” Harris said, noting her lithe curvy figure as she approached.  Her hips wagging invitingly from side to side were almost hypnotic.

“Retribution,” Brandy repeated.  She was close enough now.  With a speed that few others possessed, her right leg kicked out and caught him under his chin.  Knocking him backwards and nearly breaking his neck.  At least she hoped she hadn’t broken his neck yet.  She watched as his body was launched backwards and his head slammed into the hood of his car.  He slipped down to the pavement, unconscious.  Ugh!  She had kicked him too hard.  Such a bother.  She needed him alive.

She checked.  He was still alive but unconscious.  Good!  She looked around.  The parking lot was still deserted.  She unfastened his pants and pulled them down to his ankles, exposing his hairy cock to the air.  She rolled his body over and used a zip tie to fasten his hands behind his back.  Then she rolled him over again so he could face her.  She pulled a knife from her pocket, then started slapping his face.  “Wake up, you turd!” she said softly.  “Wake up!”

Harris gradually came awake.  His head hurt all over, front and back.  His neck hurt, and so did his back.  It was a moment before he realized he couldn’t bring his hands in front of him because they were tied behind his back.  And that woman was sitting on top of him, looking at him.  “Who are you?” he asked again.

“I already told you,” she said.  “Retribution.  As far as you’re concerned anyway.”

He struggled against his bonds, but it did him no good.  “What do you want?” he asked, his mind in a total panic.

“You took the money from the gambling casino.  Where is it?”

“What casino?”

She moved sit further down on his legs.  She grabbed his balls in her gloved hand.

“No!” he screamed in fear.

She crushed and twisted his balls in her hand as hard as she could, enjoying his screams of pain.  She let him go after a moment, watching him breathing hard from the exertion.  “Do you know what casino now?”

“Yeah,” he breathed.  “That casino.”

“There isn’t another one operating in this part of the city, is there?” Brandy asked.

“No.  No.  Not that I know of.”

“Good!” Brandy said.  “Now where’s the money.  You took the bag of profits that was supposed to be delivered to Randal.  Now where is it?”

“It wasn’t me!” he tried.”

“Really?  Because we have someone who swears they saw you with it.”

“It wasn’t me!  I didn’t take it.  “I swear!”

“Uh-huh.  And I don’t believe you.”

“It wasn’t me!”

She grabbed his cock and stuck the tip of her knife right up against the opening.  She pushed gently.  “I’m going to keep pushing this knife into your cock, slicing the silly thing all the way up, until you tell me where that money is.”

“No!  It wasn’t me!”

She pushed a little harder on the knife.

“No!  Ow!” He cried.  His panic was genuine.  So was his pain.  “It wasn’t…  Ow!  Okay!  Okay!” he shouted through his pain.  “I took it.  Stop!”

She kept pushing, slowly.  “You haven’t told me where it is yet?”

“In my car.  In the trunk.  Under the spare tire.  Just please stop!”

She stopped pushing on the knife.  It had already sliced open a good half inch of his dick.  “If it’s not there, I’ll be back to finish,” she told him.  She got off him.  Most cars now didn’t require a key to get in them.  The key just had to be close.  She tried the trunk and it opened.  She pulled the spare tire up.  Bingo!  One bag.  She checked it.  Full of money.  She pulled the bag out of the trunk and closed it.

“See how easy that was,” she told him as he writhed helplessly on the pavement next to the car.  “All you had to do was tell me, and you would have saved yourself all that pain.”

Leaving the bag out of the way, she bent down over him again.  “Next time I won’t be so nice!” she hissed at him.  “Next time, I’ll kill you – slowly!  She grabbed his cock again and placed her knife in the bleeding slit she had already made.

“No!” he screamed in terror.

“This is to remind you, that there better not be a next time!”  With that, she slit his penis from the tip to the base.  He screamed again.  His scream soon broke down into tears of pain.  “No next times!” she hissed.  She picked up the bag of money and walked back to her car.

As she drove away, her mind was already on the trip to Dallas that Uncle Vinny wanted her to take.  Uncle Dominic now needed her for a job?  It wouldn’t be the first time, but she still found it unusual.  Then after Dallas, she would be flying out to Vegas for a few days of business out there.

But more than thinking about Vegas or what her Uncle Dominic wanted, the thought of Dallas brought her mind around to thinking about someone else.  Her first.  Her very first victim.  Bobby.

It had taken her years to figure out where Vinny had sent Bobby and his mother.  She’d never dare mention to Vinny that she knew, let alone that she had seen him several times now, even though each time it was either from a distance or only on a video screen.  Dominic knew that she now knew that Bobbie now lived there, and he did everything possible to make sure she never got near Bobby again.  It was so frustrating!  But at least Dominic arranged things so that that she could at least see him.  Just…never up close, and never in any kind of situation where he could ever see her.  Or rather, where she could see her.

She yearned to talk to him…to her now.  Bobby, was now Bobbie – permanently.  Operations and all.  Back in her junior year of high school, she had kept Bobby under her thumb so bad it had been hilarious!  For her and her friends at least.  Not so much for Bobby.  But that was what it was all about.  That was where the fun was.  She had taken the boy, the stupid sissy boy, although he wasn’t a sissy then, not at all, and she had put him in diapers – for the entire school year!  And nobody had stopped her!  Not only that, but she had made him more and more of a stupid sissy, dressing in more and more feminine clothes – to school!  And then eventually, even at home in front of his mother.  And she had done it in such a way that even though it was something he never wanted or liked, she had made it stick.  She found out later, that it had stuck well enough that he had been forced to undergo hormone and surgeries to make it permanent for the rest of his life.  At least the part about dressing as a girl.

Even now she didn’t know about the biggest thing she had put him through back then – the diapers.  And Uncle Dominic refused to tell her anything more about Bobby except that Bobby was now totally Bobbie.  For life.  Especially since he had gone through an operation to give her a female vagina.

Had she ever used the thing?  With a man?  Brandy desperately wondered about that.  But even more so, she wondered about whether Bobbie was still in diapers or not.  Sometimes she would bet that he was.  Other times, it sounded nothing but ridiculous that he would still be stuck in them after all this time.  She once tried to imagine Bobbie getting ready to have sex with a man, only to have her diapers get in the way.  That was an interesting and fun little thought. 

But either way, she had fixed things so that even though he didn’t want it, he had been forced to convince his mother that he wanted to be a girl instead of a boy.  That had been…amazing!  And it was all because she had done it to him.  He, Bobby, now forever Bobbie, had been her first.  It had been better than sex.

She had done it to him, and he had been her first.  Her very first.  Everyone after him had been nothing but business.  Well, there was Ralphie of course.  He was fun too, but that still amounted to business.  Her business!

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Carol stopped her bike at the little guard shack outside the gate.  She pulled her entire helmet off her head, letting her long brown hair spill out around her shoulders. 

“Is good to see you again, Miss Carol,” the Chinese gate guard said as he recognized her.

“It’s good to be here,” Carol replied. 

The guard radioed to another guard on the other side of the wall, who pushed a button.  The heavy gate began sliding sideways.  “I shall call up to the house and let them know you are here,” the guard told her. 

“Thanks,” Carol replied as she stuck her helmet back on her head.  Slowly, she moved her bike through the open gate, past the large wall that surrounded the entire compound.  Coming in here now felt like coming home.  More so than the island where she and her mother lived off the coast of Columbia.  The island was dull and boring.  This was where life happened!  This was where her real training had begun.  This was where Susan Wu lived.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

“Daughter,” Mr. Wu said softly as he stood in the doorway to Susan’s office.

“Yes father?” Susan asked.

“Carol has arrived.  I heard her motorcycle before I got the call.”

“She didn’t rev it up inside the compound again, did she?” Susan asked, concerned.

“No.  She was almost silent this time.”

“Good,” Susan said, the smile returning to her face.

“You are sending her to Vegas?”

“Yes.”

“A good decision, I think.”

“Thank you,” Susan replied.  After all the years they worked together, she was still grateful for the approving comments she got from her father.  “I’m also going to send her on another little mission first.”

“First?” her father asked.  “The Vegas situation is very important.”

“I know,” Susan replied.  “But we have a candidate the committee has decided should be offered the chance to become a customer.”

“We don’t usually send someone like Carol for something so simple.”

“This one is not so simple.  This one is more like Carol herself.”

Wu’s face darkened.  “I see.  Who is that?”

“Brandy Salvatori.”

Her father nodded.  “Dangerous indeed.  Her name as come up before, but we were never able to get to her.”

“Yes.  This time, we’ve caused a little problem down in Dallas.  We planted the seeds and the mafia down there has decided to bring her in to deal with it.”

“And you’re hoping that Carol can intercept her there and convince her to at least consider our most generous offer.”

“Yes, father.”

“It would also be nice if we could offer her in our own catalog of services as well.”

“Yes, it would.  But with this one, I believe one small step at a time would be the wiser course.”

Her father nodded.  “I agree, daughter.”  He smiled.  “I will leave you to deal with her, as usual.”

“Thank you, father,” Susan replied.

Five minutes later, the soft knock at her door made Susan look up.  One of the servant women was there.  “Miss Susan,” she said.  “Carol Stokley.”

“Thank you,” Susan replied as she now saw Carol in the doorway.  “Carol, come in.”

“Hi Susan,” Carol replied.  “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too,” Susan told her.  “Has everything been alright?”

“Just fine,” Carol replied.

Susan got up from behind her desk and headed for the seating area.  She sat on the sofa and Carol took one of the chairs across from her.  “I understand your mother has been busy,” Susan said, starting with polite small talk.

“Yes.  Your father makes sure of it.”

Susan laughed.  “Hardly.  Maria Alverez constantly wants her services.  She now secretly owns most of South America thanks to your mother, and your mother has been good enough to let all their transactions go through us.”

“The money trail,” Carol said.”

“Exactly.  Untraceable.”

“Mom loves her money!”

“She earns it.”

“True!”

“And speaking of earning money.  We have a job for you.  Two actually.”

“Two?” Carol asked, brightening.

“The biggest one is in Las Vegas.  I’ll let you see the folder tonight.  But basically, someone out there is trying to stir up some trouble, not just for us, but for the entire underworld structure out there.  We suspect that it’s some kind of take-over, but even we haven’t been able to find out who’s behind it or what’s really going on.  We will pass on every bit of intelligence to you as we get it.  We’re also moving in as many operatives as we feel safe doing.  Their services will of course be available to you whenever you need them.”

“Good,” Carol replied.

“The other little job, isn’t something that’s in your usual line.”

“It isn’t?”

“No.  We need you to go down to Dallas first and offer our services to a new candidate.”

“Me?”

“Yes.  You!”

“Why me?”

“Because this one is too dangerous for most of our usual people to handle.”

“That’s rare.”

“Yes.  We’ve tried getting to this one before, and we’ve never been able to manage it.  She’s too well protected.  Too cautious.”

“She?”

“Her name is Brandy Salvatori.  She’s the niece of a mob boss up in Cleveland named Vinny Salduvicamervatori.”

“What?”

“I suggest you do like Vinny himself tells everyone.  Just call him Vinny.  All his brothers and the rest of his family changed the name to Salvatori years ago.  He kept the original name.”

“What’s wrong with him?  A name like that is too much.”

Susan smiled.  “He seems to like his original name.  He doesn’t know it yet, but Vinny will be getting one of our invitations too.  But not until after we find out how things go with Brandy.  She’s the one we’re really interested in.  And we’re hoping that if she trusts us enough in the future, we can add her services to our catalog.”

“Her services?”

“Carol.  This one is more like you than you think.”

“Like me?  I didn’t think there was anyone out there like me.”

Susan sighed.  “True.  There isn’t.  But she may be as close as someone can come.  And let me offer you a little bit of advice with this woman, don’t get in a fight with her.  As good as you are, for all the training you’ve had in hand to hand combat, this one will rip you apart faster than you’d believe.”

Carol was skeptical.  “That’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it?”

“No!  It isn’t.  Watch your ass.  Like I said, she’s dangerous.  Her uncle Vinny makes almost as much money renting her services out to other gangsters around the country as he makes from all his other business enterprises put together.  She’s a master of disguise, she loves doing things that are overly cruel, and she doesn’t mind killing in the least.”

Carol smiled.  “I can’t wait to meet her.  She does sound like me.”

Susan nodded, but it was a very serious nod.  “Watch yourself with this one.  She’s very dangerous!  Even for you.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

“I will worry.  We need you out in Vegas.”

“And what happens when I find whoever we’re up against out there?” Carol asked.

“Soften him up a bit, then hold him for your mother.”

Carol nodded.  “Mom.  Nobody can get the full story out of someone like she can.”

“Precisely!”  Susan stood up.  “Kimonos for dinner tonight, Carol.  I’ll see you then.”