Page 297 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER FIVE: STORYTELLING
hair frames her perfect complexion; her cute nose defi nes her to death. His only connection with other people was when he
elegant face. Her eyes are brilliant blue, and she stares with was at school, and that was a nightmare. Every day a gang of
intensity that other people sometimes mistake for piercing boys would punch and kick him, and use him as the butt of
intelligence. She dresses on the conservative side of fashion, lewd and hateful jokes. Alex ignored them.
favoring designer blouses and pleated skirts. Despite not hav- One day, the other kids went too far. After delivering

ing the figure she had 12 years ago, she still turns heads among their usual pounding, one pulled a knife and said, “Run.”
both the neighborhood’s teenagers and their fathers both. Alex ran, but didn’t get far. The others just wanted to scare
When she holds Kyle’s straight razor, she changes slightly. him, but they tackled him at the wrong time. His skull hit the
She stands straighter, holds eye contact and asserts herself in ground with a loud crack, driving fragments of bone into his
th
a way that she normally never would. The world doesn’t mat- brain. Alex died instantly. It was his 15 birthday.
ter when her darling speaks to her. This sense of detachment The boys who had chased him hid Alex’s body and did
gives her an otherworldly air that few people can truly under- their best to make his death look like an accident. Though they
stand. She tortures and kills with clinical precision, following were scared of anyone fi nding out, people took their explanation
a complicated recipe with human ingredients. at face value. They split up after graduating from high school,
Storytelling Hints: When she’s not holding her darling’s razor, spread out across the country and had families of their own.
Emily Gillen is as normal as anyone can hope to be. She’s worried But Alex has found them. And he goes to these communities
about her children — but nobody who has lost a partner would be one by one, and he kills in the name of those who hurt him. Alex
any other way. After so long, she’s coming to terms with Kyle not stalks these towns, minister of a religion based on blood and bone

being around, but she’s not bothered with finding another man. Af- and hate and pain. Though he never visits his classmates twice in
ter all, her husband’s still with her. She’s nice to people who know a row, they know he’ll come back eventually. Only his original kill-
her, but doesn’t join in with community activities like she used to. ers can put Alex Kincaid back in the ground (see below).
Emily no longer goes to PTA meetings or cares for the Neighbor- Appearance: Short and misshapen, in life Alex just never

hood Watch. On the other hand, the Watch is far more concerned fit in. His arms didn’t quite bend right and his legs were differ-
with missing children than burglaries and traffi c deaths. ent lengths. Add in a lopsided face, and though he didn’t have

When Kyle tells her to do something, she projects herself. learning difficulties, he was set for a life of mockery. Thanks to
She’s no longer the good, submissive wife that her parents told her his addict mother and missing father, he dressed in thrift-store

to be. Her husband’s voice gives her a confidence she didn’t have handouts and rarely had a chance to cut his brown hair. He
before — the confi dence to do whatever she must to carry out his never had time to take care of himself properly. Despite his
wishes. Emily’s far more cool and detached than she is without best efforts, he never fully developed physically; he weighed
Kyle — she doesn’t fully know what she’s doing, even as she peels just over 100 pounds when he died.
the skin from a teen’s chest, or carefully stimulates exposed nerves When he rises from the grave, Alex remakes his body
to generate excruciating pain. Normally, she snatches her victim anew. He retains his misshapen limbs and strange legs, though
in broad daylight. She carries them to her basement without others they don’t seem to hinder him. Taller than he was, he usually
really seeing her. By the time the blur of motion ends, her victim’s clears six feet in height. While he’s still rail thin, he moves with
secured to a chair in a soundproof basement. She’ll do whatever an unstoppable power and his eyes are jet black. Every time he
Kyle wants her to do without a single question. comes back, he sports a different set of stitches across his body,
A cell investigating her may think Emily suffers from mul- as though the devil has sewn together the corpses in the grave-
tiple personality disorder — it certainly explains the discrep- yard to give Alex Kincaid a physical form once more.
ancies in skills when Kyle is with her. Some things just don’t Storytelling Hints: Alex exists to kill, but he’s not a ram-
add up. There’s no way she could know some of the things she paging monster. When he arises, he takes time to familiarize
knows without Kyle’s ghost. He can go places and see things himself with his surroundings, working out hiding places and
with strong resonance to him, which is how he knows about escape routes. He knows, instinctively, who his targets are and
the suppressed report. A cell has to decide between dealing does his research on them first. This way, he knows who he’s

with Emily and Kyle together, or banishing Kyle’s spirit and going to kill, where they are most vulnerable and when he
treating Emily for her derangements. can strike without anyone noticing. He doesn’t kill instantly
— instead, he picks a time when he can torture his victims
The Resurrection Man first, stringing them up and beating or flaying them while they

Quote: I’ll kick your fuckin’ head right off! can see their blood dripping.
Background: The story of Alex Kincaid is one etched in Alex knows someone will discover him. When they do,
blood and hard black pencil. Dark mutterings in his neigh- he just changes target, going after the witnesses next and try-
borhood attributed his diminutive stature to his mother’s ing to maximize the neighborhood’s fear without dying. He’s
amphetamine habit and his absent father. Many a time at never successful. Eventually, a group of parents and police of-

school he was tormented with drawings of what the other ficers — the bigger boys — shows up. He flies into a rage then,

boys thought his dad looked like: a twisted wreck of a man killing everyone and everything in a shocking display of blood
—his mom had to be off her face to sleep with him. He had and violence. He leaves his original attackers until last. They
to take care of himself at home: washing clothes, buying food must witness what has become of their new lives. The only
and cooking for a mother who would otherwise have starved way to put Alex Kincaid back in the ground is for one of his
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