Police Sirens: Corry Warning: Mental and Physical Torture

[tarnishedbadge]

The beach was a wonderful place to go fishing. Early in the morning when no one else was around to disturb or startle the catch, all you had to do was wait. You put your bait in the water and just wait.

Normally Joseph preferred to do a bit more scouting and research before he fished, but desperate times called for semi-desperate measures. So far everything in town had gone as well as could be expected and he didn't imagine it would change anytime soon. Not that he would be here much longer.

Joseph just needed one more catch, a few days to prepare it, and then he would be on his way. Speaking of catches, he adjusted his glasses as he glanced down the beach, noticing someone coming this way. Making sure he looked properly disheveled; wispy hair blowing in the wind and his tattered robe loosely tied about his waist, he stumbled a bit aimlessly as he blinked owlishly as he looked around.

"Hello?" he called out. "Hello? William, where are you? William, is that you?"

Comments

[starsfallen]

Corry rarely has an easy night's sleep these days. Its gotten better at times - on days she's out and about meeting new people and dreaming up plans for the Waterhouse - and especially when she's with Leslie. But mostly the house is too large and too quiet. Dragons and mist linger in the shadows. And dark memories, darker self-doubts, every time she closes her eyes.

Its become habit on those nights she can't sleep, that she heads to the water, following the shoreline from her mansion on the cliff and down to the boardwalk. Maybe the sea calls to her Siren sensibilities, or its the tranquility in the chaos of the waves. Or maybe its all of the fond childhood memories that bring her a sense of peace and calm in the salty air.

Late at night on these walks (or perhaps what some would consider early morning), she's never spotted a single sole along the stretch of beach. Tonight however, is different. An elderly man ahead looks to be in distress. Disheveled and off-balance. Its unclear if he's disoriented from senility or intoxication. But if its the former, he obviously needs help, and if its the latter - well Corry has certainly had enough of those nights in her past that she can only sympathize.

"Sir?" Corry calls out, not wanting to sneak up on him too suddenly. "Sir, are you alright?"

[tarnishedbadge]

The girl is young and pretty, although he could care less. It had been years since a woman being young and pretty meant anything to him. He knew that some people like himself had 'types' that they went after. Joseph was not like most serial killers though. He hunted those that were convenient, like pretty young girls walking along the beach at night, because Joseph hunted out of the need for survival.

"It's William," he said, voice frail and frantic as he looked around. "I can't seem to find William. I can't seem to find him. Were here and then- no, no that's not right. William isn't here, he's in Vietnam, only he should have been home already..."

[starsfallen]

"Who is William? Your son?" She surveys the beach in all directions, there's no sign of anyone else there. No William, no anyone. He must be confused, or lost, the poor man.

"Sir, do you live around here?" Corrine pulls out her phone, thinking of calling 911. She's too far to go back for her car and she's not sure how successfully the man can walk. But Officer Thornton seemed all too threatening when he noted her tresspass at the Waterhouse before her ownership was official, and she's trying to stay under the radar this time around. So she hesitates. There's no need to be rash.

He looks too frail to be out here, looks like he hasn't had a warm shower in a little too long. So Corrine takes off her jacket and gently places it over his shoulders. "Can I call anyone for you?"

[tarnishedbadge]

The nicest ones were so easy. Homeless men, while sometimes more physically difficult to restrain, weren't missed at all. This woman looked like she might be missed but it couldn't be helped. One of his earlier victims had died too early and how he needed more.

"No, no, sweetie, that's okay," he said, patting the hand that was holding the cell phone.

His partner burst out of the water behind her, always so at home in the ocean. Powerful arms locked around the girl, one hand clamping down on her mouth while the other crushed her arms to her sides.

[starsfallen]

Corrine is not naive. She's simply been numbed to the fear of strangers. Once upon a time everyone on the street knew her. And she was never alone. Never had to be on guard because if a fan or a paparazzi did act off, someone else would inevitably shoo her, or the rogue individual, away. Of course the night on the red carpet changed that. But even then, Corry was surrounded by others. By help and support.

As soon as the old man reaches for her phone, she knows something is wrong. Tries to tear away and finds herself surrounded instead. Strong wet arms, threatening to crush her, holding in her screams. She tries to bite the hand at her mouth but the hold is too strong. Tries to kick, tries to roll him off her back, but whoever has her has far too great a hold for one so petite.

That doesn't keep her from trying. At the very least, her kicks should leave some nasty bruises. Maybe if she can hit his knees the right way...

[tarnishedbadge]

Joseph pulled her phone out of her hand while she was distracted by his partner. Whatever physical abused she was dishing out he could take it. It was the new sort of phone, the kind where you couldn't just take the battery out. Those were always so much easier to deal with.

He handed it to his partner and the hand that wasn't over her mouth sprouted claws and crushed it, making sure that it couldn't be traced. This had been so much easier in years past but Joseph was able to adapt to modern inconveniences if it meant staying alive.

"I want you to know that if you are successful in screaming for help, you will be killed. Your neck will be snapped and you will die. Probably. There's always the chance you won't die. You'd be merely paralyzed from the neck down. Unable to eat or drink on your own. Needing someone to help you go to the bathroom."

[starsfallen]

So they don't mean to kill her. At least not right away. Corry takes a deep breath. She has to think. She's out-numbered, over-powered. She closes her eyes for a moment, travels to an old friend - an old character. She's no longer Corrine Flynn, but Samantha Neptune. Samantha would know what to do. How many times had she been in tight spots? Tied, apprehended, moments from death... What would Samantha do?

Corry can't move her hands. But her fingers are close enough together that she can slide a ring from her finger. Its too small to be noticed as it falls in the dark. But if they need to find her - Leslie will know to comb the beach and someone will connect the ring to Corry.

Then she goes completely still. If she's compliant, there's less chance of getting hurt - she hopes.

[tarnishedbadge]

Joseph always preferred it when they didn't struggle. He wasn't sadistic, he didn't enjoy inflicting pain. His partner might, but he had never thought to ask. His partner was a tool, nothing more, a giant brute of a tool but that was all. This was all practical and nothing more. Necessity, really.

Joseph started back up the beach, all the former feebleness and confusion gone. He was as sharp and alert as ever and while his body wasn't young it was certainly able. Parker a short ways away was a truck with a camper on the bed. Once the girl was back at their hotel room the vehicle would disappear, something they had accomplished many times before.

His partner and the girl got in the rear and Joseph drove up front. As his partner bound the girl with duct tape, Joseph spoke while he drove.

"Don't worry my dear, this will all be over in a few days. You wouldn't even be necessary except one of our original victims died. The homeless, unfortunately, are not always in the best of health. Amusing, isn't it, that because a homeless man died, now you have to."

Eventually they would gag the girl but Joseph didn't get much in the way of conversation, his partner not being one to talk.

[starsfallen]

Corrine stays as still and limp as she can. She can't do anything in this man's - this thing's - arms. She has to preserve her energy. It takes all she can to focus on breathing without hyperventilating. Through the shaking. And the tears she refuses to give him the benefit of seeing.

When they get to the truck, however, she makes one swift movement, dropping her foot so that it scrapes against sharp metal jutting out from the bed. It looks clumsy. Like the mistake. She almost cries out in pain but the blood trickling from the gash in her calf is reassurance. Hope. Another trace that she was here, too subtle to be detected in this darkness.

People would find her? They're bound to look for her, right?! Who are these men and what do they want? Her head is swirling with pain and questions, but the man is talking now. His words barely register but they might be important. She has to stay focused. Figure out where they're going. What he wants. And at least he seems in a talking mood...

"Why?" Her response is barely more than a shaking whisper at first, but when she opens her mouth again she is stronger, more confident. "Why do you need us? What is this about?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"It's all quite simple. I don't want to die."

It really is that simple. How he keeps from dying, the method, that's where it gets complicated but the motivation is rather simple. That is what separates him from other killers. Serial killers are often broken in some way while Joseph likes to consider himself quite the opposite of that. There is nothing more natural than wanting to live.

She was bound now, arms restrained behind her back and feet bound at her ankles. There was nowhere she could go at the moment anyway.

[starsfallen]

The bounds are too tight. She can't move, she's bent in ways her extremities are not meant to be positioned and it threatens to cut off her circulation. Deep breaths. Stay alert. This is a scene. You're not here. You're Samantha Mercury and you'll get out of this because you always do. Be smart. Stay afloat hold your own but don't piss him off. Getting more hurt will help no one.

She could laugh. Is this another spell? Another sacrifice? To think, they thought they were safe. To think, they thought they'd been successful vanquishing evil. Its just one horror movie after the next. ...No. Not horror movie. She can't think like that. She's Corrine Flynn. She is Samantha Mercury and how many other strong women? She'll find a way out.

"So you're sacrificing others so you can live?" She tries to keep it conversational, not accusatory, though the tone is likely trumped by the shaking fear its attempting to mask. "Why is your life any more worthy?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"Because I'm willing to kill for it," Joseph said.

It was said with absolute certainty, the way people talked about the world being round or what the weather was currently like. Joseph had never once doubted the validity of his belief. Something was only worth as much as someone was willing to pay for it. He was willing to pay for his own life at a great cost.

"If someone offered to take your place, right now. To trade your life for theirs, would you let them make that choice?"

[starsfallen]

The words make her shudder. The simplicity. The truth that many, if not most, have a drive of self-preservation so strong that they wouldn't think twice. Human nature is fight or flight. And she herself is not without blood on her hands. It's that thought that chills her more than any. She is not an innocent victim here.

"You're not the only one who has killed before." Her words are cold. Steady. She looks him square in the eye.

[tarnishedbadge]

"I assure you, there is a difference between killing and being a killer. If you doubt me, I urge you to look into the eyes of my partner."

Joseph's partner was his antithesis in nearly every way. While Joseph's body was weak and frail his mind was sharp and clever. His partner was a giant of a man, tall and ridiculously muscled. His hair and beard were long and unkempt, almost giving him the appearance of a lion with a mane. It was his eyes though that truly showed his monstrous nature. They weren't cold and cruel like his own, not even particularly cunning. They were blue like the sea but utterly dead. If the eyes were the window to the soul then his partner had none.

"If you can truly find a kindred spirit in him, then you may more useful alive than dead."

[starsfallen]

She feels sick at the very notion. She is not a killer. Not like this monstrosity of a man. But she's killed nonetheless. Drove a man to death by the very nature of her manipulation. If she can make herself seem on level with these men, perhaps there's a chance for her yet. She's an actress. She can make people believe anything.

"I guess you'll just have to keep me alive to see."

[tarnishedbadge]

"No, I don't have to do anything. What little fascination you might hold is far outweighed by my need to live."

Joseph pulled the camper up to one of the spots near the door of their flea bag motel. Without a word his partner duct taped the girl's mouth before stuffing her into a very large bag. Joseph opened the door and his partner carried the girl in as easily as if she weighed nothing. Zipping open the bag, he dumped her onto the bed before ripping the tape off of her mouth.

"I want you to feel free to call for help," Joseph told her. "As loud as you would like, just so you can be reassured that no one can hear you."

[starsfallen]

Corrine has been through worse, if she's honest with herself. The moments and days following the blood red carpet. Her first days in rehab - of detox - of every cell in her body competing for worse agony while her mind finally sobers enough to confront all she'd done. She was quite sure then that she was going to die. This is an altogether other experience. Surreal. It still seems like a scene she's rehearsing. This can't be happen. Its too absurd. This man. Things like this don't happen.

Corrine doesn't try to scream when she's freed from the bag. Its not safe. There'd be some sort of retribution she has no doubt. Her head is throbbing now. Her arms and feet numb from the bounds. She won't succumb. Whatever these men want, she is Corrine Flynn and she's survived this far.

And its the fact that she is Corrine Flynn, not a character she's portrayed that gives Corry the idea. Her own personal bran of defense. She's not used her siren powers since - since she drove a man to death. But what else does she have, here, now? Is it not her most basic instinct to connect with others, make them feel lighter, loved? She never meant to use it to draw one to death. That was a common misconception of lore and a few bad eggs but - maybe she could connect with the man. One of them.

Corrine opens herself up and feels a song resonate. Its an old song, emanating from the old man. Its far away somewhere deep and buried. A childhood lullaby perhaps? But whatever coldness is in his heart, there's a seed of warmth in the melody. She begins to hum it, then turns to him. Voice honey, soothing, drawing both men into her words.

"At least tell me who you are. Please. Introductions seem only proper. Killing is not all of you." She makes sure to look both in the eye with the words.

[tarnishedbadge]

Joseph was about to refuse, to have his partner duct tape her mouth shut, but something stopped him. Something about her reminded him of himself, when he was much younger. More naive.

She reminded him of the first time he had killed a human. His wife had just discovered his early dalliances into magic and had been horrified. She had threatened to go to the police. To the priest. To anyone who would listen. It was the first time that Joseph realized that his life, whether it be the way he lived it or his literal life, was worth more to him than anything else in the world.

So he strangled his wife, had watched the life leave her eyes as "My Funny Valentine" played in the background. It was the last time he had ever really heard music. Until now. Until this girl. This girl was his funny Valentine.

"My name is Joseph," he said, taking off the raggedy bathrobe he had been wearing as he began to dress himself in clothes more fitting. A sharp tweet suit was more his style, the sort of clothing that allowed him to be just another old man. "And of course this isn't all I do, my dear. It's not some compulsion like your television shows and movies depict. It's survival."

[starsfallen]

Corrine looks away as he dresses, terrified by the close proximity, the painfully intimate nature of being trapped in a hotel room with these men. But it could be worse. She won't even let herself entertain the notions of how much worse it could be.

And the man keeps talking. The man is responding. If this is anything like her movies, her tv shows, the more he monologues the more time she can postpone any inevitable horrors. She has to keep the connection. Her charisma flows out of her like pheromones, in an odd way it's a relief after bottling it up for so long.

"Joseph? I'm Corrine. Corrine Flynn. I grew up along the beaches where you found me. But I don't think I've ever seen you before. Are you from Siren Cove?"

Just keep talking. Keep him talking. After the binding, the desperate struggle, the dragging in that godforsaken bag, there's an odd and terrifying tranquility in the exchange of words. Is this the calm before the storm or after?

She worries at any moment its all going to break. That she'll lose her nerve. That she will break down. That this moment of calm will break. She just wants to see Leslie again. And Lou. And Alfie and Lara and even friggin Riley Jung and the librarian and that man Joel she dumped her muffins on and the muffin maker and everyone that is safe and away from this and goddamn it maybe even her mother. and it shocks her that this is on her mind over Hollywood. God damn it why did she ever leave there? She was supposed to be safe here. Her jaw starts the shake and a tear escapes. Only one. But even that is too much. The dam will break at any moment.

"W-what else do you do? W-what do you like to do?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"I'm not from here, no," he said, taking one last look as his image in the mirror. There, even if someone had seen him on the beach no one would mistake him for the doddering old fool that had been there. The elderly all looked the same to most people. Besides, he had to look nice for his guest.

"And I like to read. There's nothing quite like a good book. I'm rather fond of those new e-readers, hundreds upon hundreds of books at your fingertips in such a tiny space. Truly marvelous."

He can't remember the last time one of his victims asked him about himself. More evidence that she was special, that she was unique. Perhaps, just perhaps, she would be worth keeping around past this. Heaven knew his partner was not decent conversation.

"What about you? What do you like to do?"

[starsfallen]

His words are merely echoes now, barely surfacing over the swirling thoughts in her mind. The sheer will it's taking to fight back her tears. She can't be here. There's so much she has to do. The Waterhouse her dream it was finally happening and she can't - she can't fathom if the last Hollywood sees of her is some strung out lost girl. Her star is due to rise again. She was going to be an EGOT winner one day! And Jen and Steve and James and Rob and Emma and all of people who stuck by and helped her get clean... she has to see them again. She's better now. They have to see...

And Les. She swore she'd never leave him again. She can't. She can't. She swore to herself she'd befriend Riley. Promised Lou she would reach out to her parents again one day. That she'd have the chance to make Lara proud. This can't end here. Oh god, is this where it ends!?? She knows she's about to hyperventilate. She's forgetting her poise. She can't. She has to play the part. Damn it. She can not fall apart. She has to be the great Corrine Flynn once more; not the mess she's become.

Then his words start registering. Books. Reading. Asking about her. The shift in his eyes from desolate cold to something of interest. She has to keep up the act. And this - she can work with. "I'm an entertainer." Not an actress. He might be suspicious of that. "I'm a storyteller. A performer." She silences her mind and looks straight into him. "I bring things to life." Take that. you killer. Monster! She wants to spit in his face. But she smiles, instead. Soft, interested. Everything that says she wants to hear more of what he has to say.

[tarnishedbadge]

"How very lovely," he said.

Joseph meant it, he did, but there was no doubt that his capacity to truly find anything lovely was terribly diminished. He had little interest in movies and music, though authors were storytellers of a sort. Perhaps he could have her write a book for him, a new story that was only his. Yes, yes, that is what he'd do.

"I'm sure that we kind find a way for you to make use of your talents. It would be a terrible waste otherwise."

[starsfallen]

Her heart simultaneously leaps and plummets at the notion of hope and the fear of what may be churning in his mind. Corrine never lets her gaze fall though. Lets her words flow with honey. The genuine nature of her suggestion is not an act. If only. If only she can take hold of the situation. She could find a weak point . She could escape.

"Your books. I could bring your books to life. Read them aloud, perform them. Give you the stories like you've never had before. Give you your own stories..." The words sound pitiful when they escape her. She realizes. She's clinging to glass straws. But his eyes still look at her with interest. She is no longer just idle prey. Corrine starts to hum the melody again. Makes it seem casual, like she's doing it for herself. To calm herself. Not to lull him to her graces. It's a game of survival and she is not some field mouse. But the melody takes her by surprise when she recognizes it. When the notes start to connect. 'My Funny Valentine'. That, here. That being the song deep and surrounding him. It is twisted in a way she can't fathom.

[tarnishedbadge]

"I assure you that my own imagination is more than sufficient to entertain me with the stories that I read," he said, eyes narrowing at her just a bit. Joseph knew that it wasn't meant as an insult but it was insulting all the same. Still, she seemed to be reaffirming the value that he thought she had to him. A storyteller would make for a wonderful additional.

"But new stories, written or performed just for me, that might be worthwhile. A modern day Arabian Nights, so to speak."