Professional

***All characters depicted herein are of age, 18 years old at least, and, some of what you read may be distressing. Any violence portrayed is for dramatic effect and should not be recreated.***

At the police station, in the office of Detective Inspector Luke Bailey, 27, he tiredly fumbles at the keyboard of his computer as he types up a report of his findings for the day. He breathes heavily, with his eyelids feeling heavier, ready to turn himself in for the night, but denies himself, dedicated to his duty, choosing to continue his work regardless.

A knock on the ajar door wakes up the DI a little with a start, and in enters a tall, dark haired woman with long legs, wearing a smart, dark grey skirt, and a burgundy jumper. She politely asks, "Luke, can I come in?"

The DI sits back in his chair, and answers, "Yeah, come on in, Tina. What can I do for you?"

Valentina Cortes, 29, is a lawyer, but the intent of her visit is more casual, as she replies, "I just wanted to check in. What are you working on?"

Curious about Miss Cortes' motives for being here, Luke considers his words for a moment, and chooses to respond by saying, "I'm investigating a string of disappearances."

Tina enquires, "Missing persons?"

Luke calmly states, "Murder. Or, at least we have some bodies of women in their twenties and thirties which seems to indicate a correlation with similar missing persons we have yet to find. I am the lead on the case."

Tina perches herself on Luke's desk, and comments, "I'm sure you will get whomever is behind this," and smiles, quickly averting her gaze, not being able to look Luke in the eye.

The DI astutely notices, and probes, "Why are you here, Tina?"

Tina answers, "I just wanted to check in on you."

The DI probes further, "You have never done this before?"

Tina says, "I... can check up on a friend, can't I?"

Curious, the DI ponders this, and responds by asking, "Do you consider us friends?"

Tina, slightly embarrassed, rubs her arm, and asks in return, "Why not?"

The DI states, "I've only ever really seen you in a professional capacity. You've sat in on a lot of my interviews, defending your clients. We've never been more."

Tina says, "I just thought I wanted to get to know you deeper... closer?"

The DI understands the intent of the lawyer's visit, and understandingly tells her, "I don't think this is a good idea. You are very good at your job. You should be defending your clients the way you do. If we were to get close, then, your focus would be divided, and our feelings would get in the way. We need to keep things professional, so we can perform our duties clearly. I don't want anything between us to affect the work we each do."

Tina asks, "You... don't find me attractive?"

Luke confesses, "I do. I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. It would be a pleasure to get to know you better, but, I take my work very seriously. We owe it to the safety of those we are responsible for to maintain a healthy work relationship. I'm very proud of the work you do. I don't want to compromise that, no matter what I may want in... that way. The job comes first for me; always."

Tina pouts, and says, "Jeez, Luke, you really know how to let a woman down lightly," and she storms out of the office. Luke follows her, peering around the doorframe to see Tina rushing down the corridor, rubbing her eyes with her hand.

Upset, the lawyer goes home to her apartment, and throws her coat, briefcase, and handbag on a nearby chair, and holds her head in her hands as her heavy breaths get faster, beginning to hyperventilate, tears building in her eyes as her cheeks flush.

Tina begins to cry, unable to hold back her feelings any longer, and she says, with no one else in the apartment to hear, "I needed someone to be with, Luke. I really wanted to get to know you more."

Kicking off her shoes, but not undressing, Tina goes to her bed and throws herself on top of it, turning her face to cry into the pillow as she releases the emotions that have been building up on the journey home. Curling her legs up to her chest as she cradles herself and rocks gently.

Once she stops crying, she lays there, staring through the window at the dark night sky with the reflection of the lightbulb on her ceiling hanging in the sky, and she says aloud, "I just need someone to be with. I'm almost 30. I really thought I would be with someone right now."

She replies to herself, "Whose fault is that? You have been so focused on work, you never go out."

She answers that back with, "I never felt like I had the energy after such long days. When I come home, I just want to curl up and go to sleep."

The lawyer states to herself, "That is your own fault then."

Tina defends herself, asking, "Can you blame me? When am I supposed to find time to go out and meet someone?"

She goads herself, "Instead of being pathetic and talking to yourself in your apartment alone like a loser, why don't you go out and do something about it?"

Tina suggests, "Yeah, I could go out and meet someone."

She says in response, "Of course you can, Chica."

Tina reasons, "I am young, sexy, and free. If I put myself out there, I can get anyone I want."

She rallies herself, and says, "Then you get out there and get it."

Making herself look presentable, Tina leaves her apartment and braves the bitter chill of this winter's night, going to a nearby bar. She sits at the bar, and orders herself a rum and coke. She plays with her drink, nervous now that she's here.

The bar is pretty quiet, and she is suddenly scared of putting herself out there, stirring her drink with a straw, watching the bubbles rise to the surface and cling to the straw instead of why she came out in the first place, to look at guys.

One guy soon approaches the bar, and orders a drink, and when he is served it, he sits beside Tina instead of leaving. She turns her head, looking out of the corner of her eye, to see a cute face on a shaved head staring at her with a smile, and he comments, "You look so pretty, reminding me of a view from atop the mountains in South America. The kind of view that leaves a man breathless in it's presence. Your hair is so smooth and rich like a dark chocolate, slightly bitter on the tongue at first before melting to fill the mouth with silky sweetness. Your lips pursed like that hide a multitude of promises, and... that tongue licking your lips looks like it holds a sharp wit that can cut through anything."

Tina turns to face the man head on, and she sees his eyes scanning her every feature, fixating on her eyes with a warm stare as he continues to say, "Those eyes, hide within them a pain that longs to be soothed, begging for a warm hand to reach out and caress your soft cheek, and tell you, 'everything is going to be okay, just let it all go.' How does that sound to you?"

Seduced by the poetic nature of his words, Tina smiles and answers, "Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I'm Tina."

The man introduces himself, "Hi, Tina. I'm Mark," and he sips on his drink, and says, "I would say you're the most beautiful girl in here, but that's so cliche. True, though. What brings you out on this quiet night, alone? Boyfriend trouble?"

Tina sips on her rum and coke, and she tells Mark, "Something like that?"

Mark warmly says, "You deserve so much better than him. You need someone who appreciates just how beautiful you are, and will worship you like the goddess you seem to be."

Thinking he is a little too much, but feeling giddy from the compliments and letting her drink sink in, she asks, "Would you be talking about yourself?"

Mark responds with his own question, "Come on. You think I'm cute, right?"

Tina nods and takes another sip of her drink, and she says, "I would be lying if I said you wasn't."

Mark leans closer, and asks, "Then, what do you say we get out of here right now and I worship you like you deserve?"

Tina knocks back the rest of her drink, and gets up, feeling steady and not very drunk, although pretty tired, and says, "Why not? Let's get out of here."

Mark finishes his drink, and follows Tina out of the bar, and calls to her, "Babe? This way to my car."

Tina follows Mark to his car, parked in the corner of the car park, and he lets her in. She sits in the passenger seat, and waits for Mark to get in on the driver's side, and, when he does, he suddenly clasps his hand over her mouth and stabs her neck with a syringe needle, pumping something in...

Tina stirs in a dingy apartment, groggy, tiredly pulling her arms with her wrists cuffed to a bed, feeling her ankles cuffed too. She is completely naked, but warm because of the hot air wafting from a heater in the room, with a window at the foot of the bed giving a view up at the starry sky.

Only the silvery moonlight filters into the room, casting a grey light on brown stains on the ceiling and the walls from damp and tobacco smoke; where the stains overlap, they form patterns that transfix the attention of the woozy woman as the room feels as if it is spinning slowly. The musty smell of wet plaster and old cigarettes fill the room, making Tina's skin crawl as it seeps in. She struggles limply to no avail, still feeling the numbing effects of whatever drug is inside of her.

Entering the room from a door at her side, Mark walks in, chest bare and wearing only his cargo trousers. He holds a knife in his hand, and he walks slowly around the bed, staring at every inch of Tina's naked body, and he moans with a deep longing as he looks.

Tina, despite feeling deep dread, maintains a steady heartbeat, feeling quite relaxed even as she fears for her life. She's not even able to muster words, instead just moaning; wriggling around slowly in her bonds as she attempts to protest, but fails, feeling heavy like she is submerged in treacle.

Mark warmly says, "My goddess. Don't you worry about a thing. I intend to honour you and release your soul from this body so you can exist forever as this perfect being, so pure and righteous. I am but a humble servant, enslaved to your every need, and I am going to satisfy every single one of them, and, by the time the sun rises, your transformation will be complete."

Hearing these words makes Tina's blood run cold, and she swallows hard, powerless to resist as she realises she is utterly at the mercy of this man. She knows what her fate is to be at his hands, particularly from what is held within them.

Mark mounts the bed from the bottom, and he rubs the sole of one of Tina's feet, tickling her, prompting her to try pulling it away, but all she can do is softly moan. He teases her foot more, and rubs her toes, slotting his fingers between them to clench around her foot. He then rubs his tongue thick and firm up from the heel to the toes, giving each and every toe a hard suck as he reaches them.

Moving up, Mark strokes Tina's shins, marvelling at the smoothness of her skin, the hilt of the knife brushing against the bone beneath. His eyes are blank as he stares between the two legs. He places the blade edge against one of Tina's thighs, and slits sharply just above the knee, drawing a little blood to trickle from the parted skin. Placing the blade slightly further up the inner thigh, he makes another cut, eyes still blank as if in a daydream.

Tina feels the terror grip her heart with a tight squeeze, but still relaxed and motionless from the anaesthetic effect of the drug Mark used, feeling him mark her skin multiple times as she stares back into his eyes, looking back with a reverent charm, his smile almost soothing her as she struggles within herself to want to do something to escape this madness.

More and more, Mark makes further incisions on the inner thigh. Tina's thigh stings as the musty air sits heavily around the exposed flesh, but Mark is not done, as he proceeds to repeat his work to be mirrored on her other inner thigh. Each time he presses the blade against her skin, he breathes in deeply, and as he slides the blade up, he exhales with the length of the blade, nice and slow, but firm.

Tina watches as Mark's body limply drops down to rest his head against her crotch, and he takes in a long sniff, inhaling her scent and her essence, and she feels him tenderly peck at her labia with his lips. As he does this, Tina feels his hands and the knife rub over her thighs and her hips, smearing blood from the cuts, all the while, he sniffs deeply, and tenderly kisses her more.

Mark's tongue dances around Tina's crotch, teasing her clitoris and labial folds in equal measure, and with a reverence that makes Tina feel increasingly uneasy. The efforts of Mark's tongue, however, are not so focused as to build towards an orgasm, instead teasing Tina's arousal and bringing out a desire to be fulfilled by her captor.

Rising slightly up Tina's body, Mark kisses her belly all over, with his hands and the knife rubbing around her waist and hips all the while, increasing Tina's sense of unease as her stomach churns with a sickly feeling swelling inside like a pale green mist.

Tina feels Mark snake up her body, slithering up to her chest, teasing her tits with his mouth whilst his hands and the knife rub her arms. Tina feels her breath getting harder, and she moans louder, still struggling to give voice to her feelings as she tries.

Mark rises to hover above Tina's face, still rubbing her arms, and he warmly says, "There's no need to rush this. We have all night, and, by it's end, your will be done. I will free you."

Tina stares into Mark's crazed and glossed-over eyes, and she feels her dread deepen, and her blood run even colder. Adrenaline rushes, and she struggles beneath him more strongly, and she inhales to fill her lungs entirely before releasing a loud scream as Mark rises to sit straddling her crotch, as his hands and the knife caress her tits.

Mark allows the scream to fill the room, almost bathing in the sound, closing his eyes to soak it all in with a huge grin on his face. Once, Tina stops screaming, he looks lovingly down on her face, and tells her, "Your voice is like that of an angel, and an angel you must be. No one is going to enjoy your singing but me tonight. Your songs are for my ears, and mine alone until the sunrise."

Tears fill Tina's eyes, and an intense fear grips her all over. She watches as still as she can as Mark glides the tip of the knife around her chest, over her tits, up one of her shoulders and down one of her arms. She feels the knife press through her skin, and slowly drag to cut her arm just below her elbow, feeling it sting as the skin parts.

Mark creates another cut, slightly lower than the first, and he warmly says, "It almost seems like sacrilege to do this; scarring such a perfect body. But, leaving you would allow you to grow old and lose this beauty, and, doing this will preserve your beauty forever. A little desecration of your Earthly body is a small price to pay to maintain your godly form. Your spirit will remain forever young and beautiful, and, I will pray for your forgiveness for doing what is necessary to save you."

Tina feels the blade make more cuts, all the way down her forearm to her wrist, and she simply stares up at Mark all the time, feeling utterly defeated and helpless. Mark takes the blade to her other arm, and begins cutting just beneath the elbow again, as her other arm slowly bleeds with trickles of blood from a dozen cuts, much the same as her upper legs. Tina sobs loudly, crying out, feeling afraid of what is to come, with Mark apathetic to her crying, ignoring her as he continues to cut her arms.

Suddenly, a loud knocking raps on the door of the apartment, and a voice calls, "Police! Open up!"

Tina recognises the voice, and screams as loud as she can, "Help! Help! Help..."

Mark clasps his hand over Tina's mouth, and shushes her as he tells her, "I am so sorry. I couldn't finish the ritual tonight. I have to release you too soon. I pray you will forgive me," and he removes his hand to whimpering from Tina.

Mark sits up straight on top of Tina, and he raises the knife high above his head in both hands, waiting, and he brings the knife plummeting down as Tina screams her loudest yet, suddenly feeling her chest tighten and pinch sharply as...

Mark is thrown off of Tina as someone dives into him; the two of them crash into the wall and fall to the floor, and Mark is punched hard to knock him out, and his hands are cuffed behind his back.

The intruder undoes the cuffs around the bed, and mounts it, sitting between Tina's legs and lifting her up in his embrace, and she recognises him as Luke, and she cries loudly in his arms.

Luke tells Tina, "Don't worry. I've got you. I've got you. Backup and paramedics are on their way."

Tina finds her strength and hugs Luke tightly, still crying hard into his shoulder, and the DI tells her, "I came here following a possible lead, and was listening in from a directional microphone for anything suspicious from across the street. When I heard the screams, I reported it and came over as soon as I could.

"I don't know how you got here, but, I guess you felt like you needed some company after you left the station earlier?"

Tina sobs into Luke's shoulder, "I didn't want to be alone anymore, and you turned me down, so I went to a bar."

Luke says, "On your own? I'm sorry. I never should have put you in that position."

Tina pulls herself away, and looks Luke in the eye, and asks, "Yeah?"

Luke tells her, "Look, I stand by what I said earlier. I don't think it's a good idea for us to be together. That being said, I do want to be your friend. I will take you out and be your wingman, and find a nice guy for you; preferably one who isn't a serial killer. And, I can be there for you when you need."

Tina asks, "You mean that?"

Luke says, "I mean it. I wish I was there for you tonight. What kind of a guy turns down someone like you? I'm an arsehole, and you deserve better."

Tina smiles, and says, "You were there for me. You are good at your job. I love that about you," and she hugs Luke again, holding him tightly. Luke holds Tina until the paramedics arrive, and the officers to take Mark into custody.

Reporting to the DCI about the incident, when asked about the force he used to enter the premises and handle the suspect, Luke explains, "I acted in the interest of protecting the victim. She was in imminent mortal danger, and, my actions saved her life, instead of having another corpse attached to the case. I didn't know it was Tina... Miss Cortes, in that room. I would have done the same for anyone.

"We still have more missing bodies to find, and, I hope to get some actionable intelligence from this Mark about where to find them. If they're anything like how we found the other bodies, then, it's too late to save them, but finding them may give their families closure. I'm just happy that we could save one life in this case, and, Mark's arrest saves many more.

"That's all I have for the moment. It's back to work, for me, at least. Tina is going to need help. I will be stop by the hospital when I have a break to check up on her."

As he reported to his superior, his work in this case hasn't ended with the arrest, and the saving of his friend's life, and he immediately puts himself back to work. In his mind, though, he has a lingering thought of concern for Tina's wellbeing, but puts it to the back of his mind, telling himself, 'the best way to help Tina right now, is to focus on this case, and close it, to make sure this never happens again. I have to be what she needs, so she can get what she deserves.'