The Predators Ch. 08

All of these thoughts were swirling in Fay's head as urgency drove her on, temporarily eclipsing her fear. Finally, unsure of where she was but knowing that she had to take a chance eventually, the girl found another grate and kicked as hard as she could. As the grate burst outward, Fay slithered through and dropped down into what looked like a conference room. She tried the door leading out of it. With relief, she found it opened. Peeking into the corridor, she checked for movement. None.

Fuck! No! Now she saw him. Dwayne had turned the corner and was running full tilt down the corridor toward her.

"I see you, bitch. You are in deep fucking trouble!" he shouted, sprinting toward her with impossible speed. At that moment, Fay made a calculation. She didn't have a chance of outrunning him, so she would do the next best thing...the only other option she had. Pulling back into the conference room, Fay frantically looked around, searching for anything she could use as a weapon.

She picked up the nearest chair -- it was of industrial strength, with metal legs that ended in rounded metal nubs, and prepared to swing it with all the force she could muster. Then she waited, listening for the pounding of his footsteps, knowing that if she didn't time this absolutely perfectly, she was fucked.

He came on, just as she'd hoped. He came rushing on, rushing arrogantly forward into the room. And she was waiting for him. Fay swung the chair just as Dwayne burst into the room. The metal chair leg took Dwayne full in the face, bashing him into the door, and his body crumpled as he let out a strangled groan, his face bleeding. Fay threw the chair aside and ran. She ran to the end of the corridor and catapulted up the stairwell, nearly tripping and breaking her neck in the process. She ran like a woman possessed, adrenaline giving her superhuman strength and speed -- at least that's what it felt like. Yanking open the door on the next level, she turned and saw the most wonderful thing she'd ever laid eyes on: Some sort of lobby, with two glass doors. An exit.

She ran and made it to the glass doors. She pulled as hard as she could.

Nothing. The door's lock mechanism was still engaged, and the glass was far too thick for her to break with her body. No. It couldn't be. Oh god... She turned back and saw Dwayne stagger up the stairs, into the corridor behind her.

"You fucking bitch...you'll pay for that," he rasped, spitting out blood.

'This is it,' Fay thought. He was going to kill her. She'd failed. She would go down fighting at least. But for a split second she turned back toward the door, wanting to have one last glimpse at morning daylight because she didn't think she would live to ever see it again. And that's when she saw him. Vick approaching fast, with officers in body armor, weapons drawn, flanking him on either side.

"Fay, get clear!" he shouted as he raised his weapon, his voice oddly dulled by the thick-paned glass.

Fay dove to the floor, well clear of the doors, and Vick opened fire. The loud gunshots were followed by the shattering of glass, and Fay had never in her entire life loved a sound more than the sound of that glass shattering. Vick and the SWAT team members burst into the building, guns poised. Fay catapulted into Vick's arms, hugging him as tightly as she had ever hugged anyone in her entire life. She was sobbing. She was joyful, relieved, broken, too many emotions swirled and reconstituted into something sharp and new...and most of all, Fay was grateful to be ALIVE.

"You have to help Kacie and Mason. They have them," she croaked out between sobs. "Please help them."

"SSSHHH. I've got you, partner. Don't worry, Gracey, we've got this place locked down. You're safe. Come on."

As if finally aware of her nakedness, Fay blushed. But Vick was no-nonsense, just like always. Taking her hand, he led her toward his squad car and called for an ambulance on the way. Opening up the trunk, he pulled out a large blanket and wrapped it around her.

"Are you okay?" Then he caught himself. "Stupid question. Let me try again: Are you physically hurt? Do we need to have any wounds looked at?"

Fay shook her head side to side.

"No. I'm good." She didn't say anything for the longest time. Vick stood there with his arm around her, and she just rested her head on his shoulder, crying with relief.

"How...how did you find me?" she finally managed, swiping at her tears.

"Well, I threw out the rulebook and decided to pay Kasimir Shosveni a visit; we came to a mutual agreement."

"Agreement?" Fay asked in disbelief.

Vick paused, listening to something, then nodded. "The team just found Kacie and Mason. They're okay." Fay sagged with relief, then prodded Vick to elaborate.

"Agreement as in...we both had a common enemy. I told him Amanda's story, and Kasimir knew who the perps were. It's lucky for me that Kasimir is anal when it comes to record-keeping. He remembered his nephew selling off this abandoned corporate headquarters and the surrounding property to our two psychopaths a couple months ago for a whopping $1."

"So he knew..." Fay muttered, "he knew how close Tolya was with Deon and Dwayne..."

Vick nodded. "Apparently so. Our two psychopaths were adopted by a crime family in Russia allied to the Shosveni clan. Anyway, none of this is your problem anymore, Gracey. I'm getting you to a hospital to get checked out in any case." He paused. "Thought you were dead."

"I'm not that easy to kill," Fay replied.

There were tears in Vick's eyes now. "Yeah. You're one tough-ass cookie, aren't you?"

"Yeah, well I would be one tough-ass and DEAD cookie if it weren't for you," she said with emotion. "Vick, you saved my life." Now he hugged her tight as she cried a little more in his arms, and then the exhaustion came up to swallow her like a bottomless pit, and the adrenaline was wearing off, her consciousness fading fast. The last thing Fay remembered was Vick gently laying her down in the back of the squad car and telling her that the ambulance was almost there.

"Get some sleep, partner," he murmured, tucking the blanket in around her. "You've earned it."

So it was that Detective Fay Gracey, once presumed dead, was finally and mercifully able to get her first decent sleep in more than nine excruciating weeks, with her partner vigilantly watching over her like a grizzled guardian angel.

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AT THE HOSPITAL...

Fay awoke dazed, confused, with a helpful nurse at her side. They gave her Plan B to take, which she did, and took evidence with the rape kit. At her request, they also removed her piercings. After running a few more tests and checking her over thoroughly, the doctor insisted on keeping her overnight for observation, and so that she could see one of their mental health counselors the next morning. Fay wanted to argue. She wanted nothing more than to sleep in her own bed, in her own apartment, and forget that anything had ever happened.

Now she was in the middle of arguing heatedly with the nurse.

"I'm fine. Please, I need to get home."

"Honey, you need to keep your ass in bed and get some REST," the sassy nurse insisted. "Plus, you've got visitors on the way."

"Visitors?"

The door to the recovery room opened and three figures stepped inside. It was Vick, Alexander, and a much-the-worse-for-wear Mason Blackwell with his forehead bandaged and one arm in a sling.

"I'll let you talk in private," the nurse said crisply, "but don't you even THINK about going anywhere. You hear me?"

"Yes," Fay mumbled, but her thoughts were less than charitable. 'Geez. Bossy much?'

Now Fay's attention was taken up completely by the most important men in her life. Vick was on the phone, and judging from his tone he was furious.

"How the fuck could you lose them? I don't care if it wasn't in the schematics, you should have prepared for that. Son of a..." He hung up the phone with a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong?" Fay asked.

"Our two perps made it out. No sign of them anywhere on the property." Vick sat down on the side of the bed and took Fay's hand, giving it a squeeze. "They won't make it far, Fay. We've got every uniform in this city looking for the bastards."

The blonde detective nodded, trying to ignore the shiver of dread coursing through her body. "It's okay, Vick. I trust you. Right now I'm just glad to be somewhere safe, and that Kacie and Mason are safe too."

"Speaking of which," Vick said, slipping back off the bed to stand, "I'll, uh, let you and Mason and Alexander catch up. If there are any new developments, I'll shoot you a text. Get some sleep, partner. That's an order."

Fay threw him a little smile. "So I keep hearing. Yes, Sir."

As soon as Vick had left, Alexander was at her bedside.

"Baby." Alexander's eyes were glistening with tears, his voice raw with emotion as he leaned over and hugged her with an iron grip. "Vick told me you were dead. Oh god, I'm so glad you're alive and safe. This is a miracle."

And, dammit, Fay hated how she was tearing up too now -- yet again. How many times had she cried today? She was starting to lose count. Fay hugged him back, her tears soaking the collar of his shirt.

"Alex, I'm so sorry."

"SSSHHH. All that matters is that you're safe."

But she shook her head. "No, you idiot. The truth is, I don't deserve you. The truth is that your girlfriend is a workaholic detective with a suicide wish who was willing to sleep with someone connected to a crime syndicate if it meant helping catch her perps." Fay took a deep breath. "And the realization I've come to is that the ends can't justify the means. I can't...I can't live like this, I can't survive...if I hurl myself into my cases like each one is the only thing that matters."

Fay's tears were flowing freely now, but she struggled forward. "And Alex, the truth is that I've been a terrible person to you. I've used you. I wasn't even willing to commit to be in a relationship with you. I always put my job before you every single time. Why do you even love me?" She was sobbing now. Part of her was distantly aware that, given her ordeal these past nine weeks, all of these emotions and feelings so long repressed were finally pouring out like the ultimate flood.

But Alexander sat down on the bed and cradled her face against his chest, soothing her and stroking her hair.

"SSSHHH. Do not ask why I love you, baby. Just know this: I DO love you, and that means I'm never giving up on you." She laughed at his simple sincerity, how lame and beautiful it sounded to her ears.

"If that's the case, then you truly are an idiot," she murmured.

But Alexander just kept stroking her hair, nodding as if it made all the sense in the world.

"Perhaps I AM an idiot, Fay, but I am a very lucky idiot." Now he leaned over, giving her a gentle yet erotic kiss, his hand caressing her cheek as he pulled away. "Now I will let you rest. You are to stay here, understand? The nurse has given me a full update, so don't try to wiggle your way out of it. You are NOT coming home tonight, Fay, so don't get any ideas."

Fay wiped away her tears as she began to nod. "Okay, 'Doctor,'" she said teasingly and somewhat grumpily. "But I warn you, I make for a very difficult patient."

"As if I didn't already know that," Alexander teased right back. "See you in the morning," he said softly, giving her one more kiss before he departed.

Fay watched him leave. But now an aura of awkwardness came at her with a vengeance. Mason had stayed in the background, but he had overheard everything that had been said. One arm in a cast, the other hand in his pocket, at first he just stared at the polished floor.

"So...Look, Fay, words can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am...about everything."

Fay shook her head adamantly. "No. Mason, this isn't your fault."

"But it is. I get that now."

"What do you mean?"

"You were right all along, and I was wrong. We walk in different worlds, you and I. You go after the bad guys, sacrificing your personal life and happiness to make other people safe. I get enriched by serving those very same bad guys. Yes, I try to fool myself into thinking otherwise. Sure, I try to work with the bad guys that have a sense of 'honor', or who at least operate by their own moral code. But at the end of the day, the very crime family that my law office has been serving loyally for the past 10 years was at least indirectly responsible for the crimes against those girls, for helping those two sickos."

Fay put up a hand. "Mason, you can't blame yourself for that. It was even your client, Kasimir, who helped Vick rescue us."

Mason bit his bottom lip so hard it bled. "Yeah? And who helped enrich Dmitri Shosveni, the original head of the snake? Without people like me, Fay, crime families like the Shosvenis would never flourish. Without people like me, a criminal princeling like Tolya Shosveni would never have inherited his father's power." Mason chuckled, but it was a humorless, almost wretched sound.

"I thought that you were destined to be with me. I thought that your case...my involvement in Southside Rain, I thought it was all cosmic serendipity, a second chance for us to be together. But you know what the truth is? The truth is that if I really love you, I need to let you go."

Inwardly, Fay hated seeing all that pain etched on her ex-boyfriend's face, on the face of the first man she had ever loved. But deep down, Fay knew it too. Maybe Mason was being too harsh on himself, but that didn't mean he was wrong.

Now the detective reached out her hand. Mason took it. Then, seeing the look in her eyes, he leaned forward and hugged her. She whispered in his ear.

"I will always have feelings for you, Mason. Whatever happens, promise me you'll take care of yourself."

"I will." He turned and walked away. Just as his silhouette began to disappear through the open doorway, though, he turned back. "Right back at you." And then he was gone.

~~~~***~~~~

EPILOGUE

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The sun was shining and the sky was an almost achingly piercing blue. Fay opened the door to the three-bedroom house. Tranquil, boring suburban streets and tame green lawns surrounded the new home on all sides, but Fay was okay with that. Alexander rushed in behind her with an annoyed sigh.

"You should have let me open that for you."

"I'm sorry. You're right." He was fussing over her now; he had been ever since they'd found out she was pregnant. It had been a year since Fay's rescue. Dwayne and Deon had vanished, but their benefactor Tolya had died mysteriously not long afterward. Fay had a feeling that an extremely pissed-off uncle, one Kasimir Shosveni, had had something to do with that. The crusty old Russian's coup against his nephew was now complete, and Fay was more than okay with that too.

"So, what do you think?"

Fay grinned as Alexander wrapped his arms around her from behind and gave her a gentle kiss on the nape of the neck.

"Too soon to tell. Show me the baby's room."

Alexander led her upstairs, and when he showed her the room with its beautiful, bright blues, yellows, and lush greens, all interwoven with vividly drawn animals and nature landscapes, Fay immediately loved it.

"You think our child could be happy here?" Alexander said.

"I do," Fay said calmly, standing on her tiptoes to give her husband a kiss. "Sometimes I think I don't deserve you."

After her rescue, Alexander had been there for her. He had forgiven her for being reckless, for not valuing their relationship, and he had helped her through the long and slow healing process ever since. And it had made Fay realize something else too: As much as she loved Mason, that love wasn't as real as what she and Alexander had. Mason would always be her first love, but he didn't share the values she did. She had to live in a world where she pursued and caught bad guys, and he had to live in a world where he seamlessly worked with people who had done horrible things for the wrong reasons. Whether or not Mason worked with the 'lesser evils' of the world, the Kasimir Shosvenis instead of the Tolya Shosvenis, that was ultimately irrelevant.

Fay needed more light in her life, not darkness, and Alexander gave that to her. Well, with one exception. There was one area in her life where darkness, dark instincts at least, were still welcome...even more than welcome.

"What are you thinking?" Alexander said, eyeing her appreciatively as she looked around the nursery. Her eyes dipped suggestively to the carpeting as she began to take her clothes off.

"I was just thinking that it would be fun to christen this room..."

Alexander gaped at her. "Right now?"

Fay finished taking her clothes off, standing naked and beautiful; her baby bump hadn't started to show yet.

"I want you to make love to me right here, Alex. I want you to FUCK me."

Alexander's face hardened, but his eyes were dancing.

"It would be my pleasure, Mistress." And soon his clothes joined hers in a heap in the corner.

As Fay laid down on her back, legs spread, Alexander's face dove to her pussy, licking and lapping fervently as she fondled her aching breasts and began to moan.

"Yes, Alex. Yes," she sighed, her cunt wet for him as his tongue ran along her labia and then stroked deep inside her sex. But now she was pushing his head away, panting and needy.

"No more tongue. I need your COCK," she insisted. "Put it inside me."

With a little growl of dominance, Alexander loomed over her.

"Be quiet, little slut. Shut up and take cock."

"Yes Master," Fay moaned as Alexander positioned his manhood, the tip poised at her delicate sex. Then he was thrusting, deep and deliciously hard inside of her, his body rocking into hers, her body meeting his thrusts with zeal, their first fucking in their new home where they hoped to make many good memories to come.

Ever since the traumatic experience at the hands of Deon and Dwayne, one thing had changed about Fay's libido more than anything. She was no longer purely a dominating Mistress. She actually appreciated being dominated and controlled. As shocking as the realization was, her traumatic sexual experiences had forced her to understand herself better and to realize what she wanted -- not just the logical, modern woman, but also the instinctual, primal self that was every bit as much a part of her.

"Uhhh! You feel good, little slut," Alexander growled, his cock pumping hard and fast as he gripped her shoulders, pounding into her again and again. Each time his cock sank into her, she urged him on.

"Yes. Fuck me, Alex. Fuck your little slut."

"Oh fuck, you feel so good," Alexander groaned.

Fay bit her lip, gripping his strong arms as he fucked her, as she moaned and moved her pussy to meet his fucks, saying the words right back at him.

"So do you."

And then he was coming undone, his cock deep inside of her and spilling his seed, thick, violent spurts of life-giving sperm filling her as she laid back, her body pinned to the floor, groaning his name.

"AHHH! Alexander!"

Finally, after he had spent himself completely, his wilted cock still nestled in her warmth, the two began to kiss. Now, as Fay kept kissing him, basking in the afterglow of sex with the man she loved, a realization dawned on her.

No matter how dark the world she had to navigate as a detective might become, this man, this Alexander Kovalov, would always be her beacon of light.

~~~~***~~~~

THE END

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I hope you enjoyed Part 8 of The Predators, the final conclusion. Although this is the end of the story, I may very well write a sequel at some point. Please know that thoughts or suggestions (or constructive comments and ideas) are always welcome!

For those of you who were looking forward to or hoping for a more brutal ending (i.e. a less happy one), I may write a darker alternate ending, but for now this ending seemed appropriate to me. After everything that Fay's been through, I wanted her to see a ray of light. Of course this doesn't prevent me from making the sequel every bit as dark or darker than what's come up until now: Who knows, maybe Fay and Alexander will become the victims of retribution from two psychotic men thought to be dead (hint, hint)...or some new breed of sexual predator.