Chapter 42: There Will Be Heads

The further Nile Crocodile Sobek walked, the louder the commotion became and the more obvious the scale of the disaster became.

His confidence began to disappear when he saw the blood that dyed the walls.

Bodies were scattered across the passages, some had been stabbed repeatedly, others had their necks twisted so violently that their heads were facing completely backward, while others had been left with gaping wounds.

The wounds were all fatal. Whoever had done this hadn’t simply fought them. They had slaughtered them with enough ease to practise different killing methods.

Sobek swallowed.

"What kind of lunatic...?"

He had plenty of enemies. Anyone who worked in the black market long enough accumulated people who wanted them dead, and Sobek was no exception. He had cheated merchants, stolen slaves, betrayed partners and sold information to whoever offered the highest price.

He knew there were people out there who would happily put a bullet through his skull. That was precisely why he had kept Obba around. The enormous man was the closest thing Sobek had to an insurance policy, and until today that insurance had never failed him.

Nobody had ever gotten this far before. Who the hell was it?

Sobek wondered while cautiously rounding a corner. And that was when he caught sight of a lone figure sitting among the corpses.

At first glance, he almost mistook her for a man because of her short, messy black hair and the way she sat. But there was no mistaking her figure. She was drenched from head to toe in blood. Her pale blue eyes were almost colorless beneath the dim underground lighting, and a thin scar ran across her lips.

It was an unsettling sight, but what unsettled him even more wasn’t the corpses, rather it was what she was doing with them.

Several severed heads had been placed around her like dolls. She was holding one in her lap, talking to it.

"You can’t keep doing this to me, darling. Why can’t you tell me... I really want to know how you feel"

The young woman spoke while moving the severed head closer to her face.

"You disappear for months and get angry that I’m exploring my options. You want to keep me all to yourself? That’s rather cruel, don’t you think?"

She tilted the head.

"No, no, darling, don’t say that. I know you didn’t mean to shout at me back there"

Her expression suddenly became wounded with tears starting to come out.

"You’re saying you don’t love me anymore?"

She paused, then the severed head was thrown against the wall.

"Liar! Cheater! Deceiver! Player! Haven’t I been loyal? Why are you treating me this way?!"

At the flip of a switch, she was immediately furious and bawling her eyes. But that fury didn’t last long as she picked up another head and giggled.

"I should punish you for saying something so hurtful, but then again, you’re my darling, and I’m very forgiving when it comes to you. Besides, if I killed you, who would I spend the rest of my life with?"

Sobek’s skin crawled. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing with his own eyes. He even cursed having ears and eyes in that moment.

This was not a Ranger. At least she didn’t appear to be one. The instant Sobek took a step back, the woman stopped playing with the heads and stared at him.

For a long drawn out minute, neither of them moved or said anything. Eventually, her scarred lips curled into a delighted smile.

"Oh, hey. You look ugly and important, are you the owner of this filthy little place? "

She casually wiped some blood from cheek with the back of her hand.

"My name is Jack Ripley, although most people from here prefer calling me the Ripper"

Sobek said nothing, still trying to process what he was looking at. The woman continued talking.

"It is very nice to meet you. I was getting rather bored, but you seem like you might be interesting. Want some head?"

She extended the severed head toward him with both hands with a pleasant smile.

"Come, I promise I won’t bite"

Sobek clicked his tongue, tightening his grip around the handle of his whip. There was something deeply wrong with this woman. Whatever she was playing at, he had no intention of humoring her.

That strange smile, the blood covering her clothes, the corpses and severed heads scattered around her and her complete lack of fear all told him that she was dangerous. Very dangerous.

Even so, he lunged toward her. The whip snapped through the air with a vicious crack, its long length cutting toward Ripley with enough force to split flesh and bone.

The head she had been offering him was caught in its path. The whip sliced through it and it flew apart, blood and fragments splattering across the stone floor.

There was no satisfaction in his eyes. His actual target wasn’t sitting there anymore. She was gone.

"Where–?"

He immediately looked upward and that’s where he saw her.

Ripley was hanging upside down from the ceiling several meters above him, her boots planted against one of the exposed beams. Her dark coat hung toward the ground while her black hair dangled around her face, staring down at him.

"So rude. I was offering you a perfectly good head, and you destroyed it before we even started. You really should learn to appreciate gifts from a girl"

"Get down here, you freak!"

Sobek sent another whip strike upward, but it struck nothing. Ripley had disappeared from his sight again. He quickly looked around, but before he could register her presence, a hand suddenly settled on his shoulder as though they were old friends.

"Fine, fine, I’ll give you another chance. "

The casual familiarity of the gesture was insulting, the blood she was smearing on his clothes was even more insulting.

"You don’t have to get so excited about it, though. You’re going to make me think you’re desperate. That’s not attractive"

Sobek’s expression twisted with fury.

"Get your filth off me!"

He swung his free hand toward her, but his fingers closed around nothing. Ripley had disappeared again, leaving the man to stumble half a step before catching himself.

His eyes darted across the corridor and caught sight of her quickly.

Ripley was standing several meters away while holding a cloth bag in one hand. She lifted it in front of her and gave it a gentle shake.

"I’ll give you head, but I expect stunning feedback on my service"