Denouement (The Darkness Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

we’d get started before I move you to accommodations that are more my style.” Jeffrey didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. Get started with what? This guy’s a fucking lunatic.
    He walked over to a black leather bag that was laying on the floor and rummaged through it, coming back to him with a small object in his hands. Jeffrey peered at him, trying to make sense of what was happening. Was that—matches? His mind raced, and suddenly all the pieces fell into place.
    “Holy fuck!” His curse came out muffled behind the tape. This guy was the Matchstick Man, the psycho that had been setting random fires and leaving behind victim after victim. The deputies and Sheriff were completely stumped as to who this guy was, and now he was here! In his apartment. And Jeffrey was at his mercy.
    The man chuckled, watching him squirm in the chair. “Ah, so you’ve figured out who I am. That didn’t take long.” He struck a match, his eyes glued to the tiny flame. “Was it because of this? Is that what gave me away?”
    Jeffrey’s eyes were locked on the blaze as well, unable to look away. He yelped and writhed in pain when the sick fuck brought the flame to his upper arm, holding it there firmly. The stranger inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, a spark had lit behind them, a flare of something that Jeffrey couldn’t quite place, momentarily distracting him from the pain. Was it…lust?
    “That smell. The scent of your flesh burning—there’s nothing like it in the world. I crave it,” he admitted. He held the match to Jeffrey’s arm until it burned out and then he tossed it down onto the carpet.
    Glancing down at his arm, Jeffrey recoiled when he saw the top layer of skin had been singed away, revealing an exposed pink area in an oval shape. Seeing the wound made the pain increase, sharpening to a torturous ache. Unashamedly, a tear escaped the corner of his eye. There was no way out, this man in the mask was going to kill him and Jeffrey knew without a doubt it wasn’t going to be quick and easy. He was going to suffer.
    “How does it feel?” The question came from nowhere, catching him off guard. “Do you find pleasure in the pain? Does the burn fill you with life? Tell me!” he shouted, pressing his thumb down roughly against the burn. Jeffrey squealed behind the tape and his back arched off the chair, his wrists and ankles straining against the cuffs.
    The man looked deep into his eyes and what he saw there must have satisfied him as he backed off. “Yes. Yes, that’s how I thought it felt,” he muttered.
    He lit another match and repeated the same process on the opposite arm, not even flinching when Jeffrey writhed and shook his head from side to side. “You know, when I saw you I knew you’d be a perfect experiment. All this extra skin, it’s like you called to me. I can hold the flame on you much longer than a female. It’s simply fascinating,” he nodded to emphasize his point.
    Eighteen matches later, Jeffrey was a blubbering mess. Tears mixed in with the snot running down his face and he was certain when the flame struck his earlobe, he had lost control of his bladder; a fact that didn’t even faze the lunatic torturing him. He’d even gone as far as burning off tufts of his hair.
    “I have one thing I want to try before we go. Will you indulge me a little longer?” he asked. Jeffrey imagined that if he could see his entire face, he’d be raising his eyebrows in expectation of an answer. He furiously shook his head no, unable to withstand any more torture. What else was he hiding in that horrible black bag?
    The man tossed the empty box of matches onto the carpet and retrieved one last item from his bag. It was a blue cylindrical object with a long brass end. Staring at it, Jeffrey knew what it was but in his frazzled pain-induced haze, he couldn’t place it. Whatever it was, it had the fucker grinning. A fact that had a hard knot of dread