Quote of the Chapter: “And we’re down another jacket. I may be broke before I die." - Katie Lockwood

Also, here's something I learned from Youtube...if you're reading this, here's my challenge for you:  
If at any point you feel bad for Caitlin, and if you haven't given me a rating yet, go to the fiction page and give me a good rating! 

Will it work? Let's find out...

---

Sunday morning. 

In Caitlin's bedroom, Caitlin slowly put on a black leather jacket. She grabbed onto her handgun, checked the rounds completely out of habit, before putting it back onto the table. After all, she wasn’t planning on bringing the weapon. She wasn’t planning on bringing any weapon, in fact.

The time has come. If things went well, Mr. Isaac should be dead by nightfall, and he should stay dead.

Beside her, Katie was leaning against the wall in the bedroom. Surprisingly, she was looking concerned. 

“I still think I should be the one to go lure him out.” 

After agreeing to Pat’s price and transferring 20K dollars to a supposedly safe bank account provided by Ben, the two girls proceeded to go over the exact plan of operation with Pat. Ben was gone for this part. Sometimes, knowledge might mean danger. 

The two girls knew they had to lure Mr. Isaac out into the open before going in for the kill. After all, the entire point was to catch Mr. Isaac by surprise and remove half his body before he could summon his beasts or use whatever power he had to protect himself. Charging in with all guns blazing would defeat the point. If they wanted to do that, they had no need for Pat.  

Pat was quite confused when the girls brought this up. As far as he could see, this was a simple task. Kick the door open, empty an entire handgun magazine into that unfortunate teacher who might be too strict on the grades he gave, and collect the sweet paycheck. But his clients were insistent, and Pat had quite the professional ethics for a killer for hire. 

On Saturday evening, he did some minor surveillance around Mr. Isaac’s house before finally settling for the roof of an abandoned three-story house over five hundred meters away from Mr. Isaac’s house. It was far less than the maximum effective range of the sniper rifle, but it was the furthest point where a line of sight could be guaranteed. He spent the rest of the night getting familiar with the weapon and shooting a few rounds to practice.

But the issue remained. Someone had to lure Mr. Isaac out of his house. Pat didn't know this, but Caitlin suspected there must be some sort of automated defenses or trap in the house itself to prevent a direct assault. 

Katie, unsurprisingly, volunteered, but Caitlin turned her away. You go in and draw him out? If Mr. Isaac is standing in front of you, he’ll be an idiot to not have every single defensive measure available activated. Even if you don’t carry a single weapon, or even if you walk up to him naked, he will still be as cautious as if he was facing an army. 

In other words, Caitlin herself must be the bait. She had to, unarmed, go to the undead teacher that had consumed the bodies and souls of dozens of her classmates, and she had to lure him into her kill trap. This time, even Katie wouldn’t be there to protect her. She had to do this and she had to do this alone. 

Katie’s words dragged Caitlin back to the present. She did her best to give Katie a comforting smile. “I’ll be fine.” She said quietly before kissing her girlfriend in the forehead. With that done, she turned and walked out of the bedroom. 

Pat should already be in place in his sniper’s nest. She was the last missing piece. 

As Caitlin left the room, Katie was about to make her way out as well when she suddenly let out a small growl. Subconsciously, almost uncontrollably, a thousand thoughts flew by her head. If Mr. Isaac survived the assassination attempt...then what would he do to Caitlin? Oh...he would mutilate her, and that...that would be such a gorgeous sight! 

“Damn it!” She cursed loudly before shaking her head and leaving the room. She would be observing the exchange a distance away, and if Mr. Isaac killed the wrong person...by the time she was done, he would be wishing he had a time machine. 

---

Twenty minutes later. Mr. Isaac’s house. 

For a neighborhood with Mr. Isaac as one of its inhabitants, this neighborhood was looking oddly peaceful. In fact...it was a little too peaceful. Caitlin couldn’t exactly tell what was wrong with it. All she knew was, as she got out of her car alone, sweat was already covering every inch of her skin. She knew very well what the price of failure would be. Death? That was just the basics, as it has been clear to the students that death would hardly be the end. 

Mr. Isaac kept the corpses and souls of his victims for his own personal sadistic pleasures. What would he do to a would-be assassin? 

Stay calm, Caitlin...You can do it! The girl thought to herself before letting out a sigh. You know something’s off when you’re talking to yourself like you’re in a movie or something! Then again, even most horror movies wouldn’t hold as much gore and despair as she was facing now. If this was indeed a movie, then the producer must be a sick psychopath. 

Either way, the girl came to a stop in front of the house that she knew belonged to Mr. Isaac. How did she know? Well, she and Katie broke in once. That break-in happened just a few weeks ago, but to her, it felt like years.  

Caitlin went by Pat’s sniper nest before coming here, but to avoid giving Mr. Isaac a hint, she didn't have any way of keeping in touch with Pat, not even a Bluetooth. All she could do was hope he was keeping an eye on her right now, ready to pull the trigger and end this nightmare as soon as possible. 

Either way, it was time to act. Caitlin thought so as she gave the door a quick knock before backing off into the middle of the road. 

Five seconds passed and nothing happened. The girl found herself just a tad confused...was Mr. Isaac in the bathroom or something? Did he not hear it?

That was when she heard it.  

“Good morning, my student.” 

Caitlin snapped as she turned around. Stand right behind her was the horrifying form of Mr. Isaac. How did he even get here? Teleportation? Or did he manage to somehow fool her senses? And Pat...did he see Mr. Isaac’s sudden appearance? Why hadn’t he pulled the trigger already? Or maybe the teleportation scared him off? 

Stay calm...well, at least even if I die, Mr. Isaac will eventually follow me to the graves! The blonde said to herself before forcing out a polite smile. “So...Mr. Isaac. I want to talk to you.” She spoke as slowly and casually as possible to buy more time for Pat to strike. Maybe he was just waiting for a better opportunity?

Mr. Isaac tilted his head, which was fine if his head didn't form a 90-degree angle with the rest of his body as he did so. “I am always happy to chat with one of my favorite students, though I am a little surprised Katie isn’t here.”

“Yeah, well...Katie is still asleep. Let’s just say she has had quite the night.” Caitlin replied with a pre-mediated excuse before proceeding with a topic she put quite the thought into. “And Mr. Isaac, Katie is also why I am here. I have a few questions about her.”

Mr. Isaac’s eyes flickered. He looked intrigued, and rightfully so. “Go on.” 

“Katie…what is she?” Caitlin asked a question that she has been wondering a lot about herself. “I mean...is she a Demon? Do Demons even exist? Or maybe an elf? Or a vampire maybe? Do those things even exist in this world?” 

It has occurred to Caitlin a while ago that she knew so little about this world. She knew nothing about the organization Mr. Isaac was in, fine. But what about the Seven Tribes? Nothing. The Sect of Ascension? Nothing? The world in her mind was so different from the real world. Any information she could get from Mr. Isaac would be priceless.

Of course, despite what he has been claiming, Mr. Isaac was hardly a good teacher. This quickly became clear. 

“Give me one reason I should tell you anything.”

“Well, apparently you know nothing about her either.” The blonde took a deep breath. What is taking that damn sniper so damn long! Take aim, pull the trigger, and collect the paycheck! Is that so difficult? “If we work together, then maybe we can learn more about her. Are you truly not curious about her immortality?”

Mr. Isaac stood there for a while, thinking. Finally, he spoke up. 

“There are Demons in this world, much like this is Hell. Elves and Vampires and Werewolves all exist, but none of them have true immortality. Wound their bodies and souls enough, and they die. You friend...Katie Lockwood is more powerful than any of them. She can spend an eternity in the most agonizing torture, and she will only emerge unscathed, if not empowered. And the Mu power she somehow possesses...it is worth noting as well, considering she is clearly not a member of Clan Mu.” 

“So to answer your question, Caitlin. No, I don’t want to learn more about her, for she is way above my paygrade. One wrong move, and I may not live through another day.”

He clearly saw the pleasant surprise climbing onto Caitlin’s cheeks, which was why he quickly rained on her parade. 

“But don’t be so cheerful just yet. A while ago, I informed my superiors of the Dark Pantheon. Soon...soon, she will be dealt with by people much stronger and much crueler than I am, and perhaps ever can be.” 

“Tell your girlfriend to enjoy the freedom she has now, for it is timed.”

Watching Caitlin freeze in her place at the unexpected news, Mr. Isaac grinned again before landing another blow. 

“Of course, you never wanted to get anything out of me in this discussion, did you? You simply wanted to put something in me. For instance, a bullet.” 

He waved his hand, and something appeared in his grip. Caitlin’s face turned pale. 

It was Pat’s severed head. 

“Well, at least you can save 180K dollars.” 

For a moment, all Caitlin could do was stare into the twisted expression on the decapitated head. The horror on his face...she could only imagine what torment the man has been put through before he was killed. “How...how…” 

“Fun fact.” Mr. Isaac said quietly as he tossed the head onto the ground and stepped onto it, crushing it like a bloody watermelon. Caitlin felt vomit rising to her throat, but she forced it down. If she lost, at least she wanted to know how. 

The teacher waved his hand again, and out of thin air, a creature popped out and landed on his hand. Even as it showed itself, it was still semi-transparent. That, combined with its tiny size, made it perfectly capable of merging in with the surrounding without a trace. The perfect spy. 

“This is a spier, forgive the unoriginal name. I have thousands of them spread across the neighborhood. Also, I have at least a dozen of them in your house alone, Caitlin. They psychically inform me everything they see and hear...” The man smirked. “And to answer your private questions, no, I don’t need to sleep and I don’t need to eat. Yes. I do have automated defenses in my house, and no, you couldn’t have just blown my house up.” 

These were questions Caitlin only talked about in her the privacy of her house. 

Mr. Isaac took another step forward, closing in on the defeated Caitlin. Even as he moved, his hand tightened around the spier. The tiny beast screeched in agony, but its master showed it no mercy as he casually crushed the spier just for the thrill of claiming a life. 

“Of course, none of that would’ve mattered. You can blast me into a million pieces with grenade launchers, and I will still be perfectly fine.” He tilted his head before making a slight correction. “Well, I wouldn’t just grow right back like your girlfriend, but at the end of the day, I will be perfectly alive. You have to do that a lot, and I do mean a lot, of times before truly damaging me.” 

“So you see, Caitlin...all your struggles and all your hopes, none of that mattered. You, along with everyone in your class...you are hopeless. The only question you are left with, is when and how you’ll die.”

Footsteps approached, and Katie quickly appeared on the other side of the street. Mr. Isaac watched with a small smirk as she ran down the street with superhuman speed and placed herself between him and her, ending her run with a casual slide across the surface of the road. 

Mr. Isaac stared into Katie’s eyes before speaking up to her. 

“Leave an arm and you can leave with your girlfriend.”

Hearing the request, Katie growled furiously. It was one thing to pleasure herself. It was another to pleasure herself on someone else’s command. The second one was much more pleasant...either way, as much as she itched for a fight, this was neither the time nor the place. 

So she went for something else that she was itching. 

With her right hand, she grabbed onto her Knife before, slowly and painfully, cutting through the joints between her left arm and her body. Damn it...this definitely wouldn’t have happened if I didn't watch the Saw movies! Katie commented inside sarcastically as she gradually removed one of her limbs. 

Even for her, this warranted a few screams. Actually...the screams were more than a few. But even as Katie’s screams echoed through the neighborhood, no one came to her aid. In fact, no one even looked out the windows. It was as if the entire neighborhood was empty.

It was a haunting scene. Caitlin’s expression turned pale as blood littered the road despite her best attempts. Mr. Isaac looked intrigued, and Katie...she was just completely enjoying herself. 

Finally, Katie’s left arm was fully removed. She grabbed onto it with her right arm and tossed it to Mr. Isaac, who caught it. Even now, as Katie shook in excruciating pain, her severed arm was already growing back. Bones appeared out of thin air, followed by flesh and skin alike. It was not a pleasant process, with pleasant referring to its conventional meaning. 

Within moments, Katie had four limbs again. Unfortunately, not all was salvaged.

“And…” Katie complained as she looked down on her exposed left arm. “and we’re down another jacket. I really need to go shopping soon...”

Mr. Isaac lowered his head and licked on the wound on the severed arm. With blood on his lips, he looked back up at Katie and her mended body before letting out a whisper. 

“How...marvelous. You are truly beautiful, Katie Lockwood.”

The man turned around and went for his house, but just before he left, he turned to Caitlin for another notification. 

“Oh, and Caitlin? Remember my offer to let you go? Consider it... canceled.”

As the figure disappeared, Katie turned back to Caitlin, who could barely stop shaking. Acting quickly, Katie wrapped her arms around Caitlin in reassurance. 

“So...you feel like grabbing a drink?”