Chapter 189: The ringmaster didn’t move
Steven and Noah followed the blood trail fast, so the mastermind wouldn’t escape.
The blood trail thinned into a narrow hall. The muffled noise of the commotion and cries of children slowly faded behind them, leaving only silence.
But this silence was broken by Steven’s growl as they came across yet another curtain. He looked at the dried blood on the floor and then at the curtain.
The smell was the strongest in there.
That was to say, the owner of this blood bled a lot in there and this was where the ringmaster was hiding or... He didn’t even want to think of other alternatives.
They pushed into a small dark room.
The first thing they saw was the hulking clown man sprawled on the floor, body twisted unnaturally, and his wide frame stiffened lifeless.
His torn neck, the wound Josh had left him, must’ve been the reason for his demise. He had lost too much blood, and the pool of dried blood around him was proof.
He must’ve escaped seeking help, but he didn’t get it, and this was how he ended.
Noah and Steven looked at this, with no shred of sympathy, but they did wish they had ended him with their hands.
(Noah would’ve wished it more if he knew what he did to Olivia.)
And just beyond him, seated on a wooden chair with legs crossed and hands clasped in an eerie composure, was the Ringmaster wearing a falcon mask that pointed downwards.
He didn’t rise at their sudden entry, didn’t even flinch, and just smiled.
"Ah..." His voice rasped like he had ventured in the desert for days. "The great Fathers... Protectors... Heroes." He chuckled as he called them one by one and then burst into hysterical laughter, slapping his knee like this was the grandest and most comical performance of his life.
Noah’s eyes burned cold as he stepped forward, but the man lifted a hand.
"Do you know why I did it?" He asked, causing Noah to stop in his tracks and he tilted his head, his smile widening until it looked hideous. "Because I hate children. Their laughter, their annoyingly joyous laughter, and their little squeals of delight." His tone sharpened like venom dripping from his lips. "I never had that joy... Not once. My childhood was nothing but chains, darkness, and the whip. Ah, the whip," he leaned back, tapping his finger on his thigh. "I had very much of that, I can tell you."
He said that and laughed once more.
"A horrendous childhood. That’s the kind of childhood I had. So, why should they have what was denied me?"
His laughter rose again, filling the tiny room in the most unpleasant manner.
"I wanted to replace their giggles with screams, their dreams with nightmares, and show them the truth." He raised his hands, looking up like he was serving an invisible god in the shadows. "The truth that happiness is nothing but a lie their parents use to blind them." He leaned back, sighing as if satisfied. "And I did it. Their tears, their fears," his lips widened. "It was beautiful. A work of art, if I must say." He chuckled.
Steven’s rage boiled over, the Alpha’s aura exploding so violently that the wooden chair beneath the Ringmaster cracked.
"You DARE," he snarled, his voice shaking the walls. He didn’t even know why he listened to the crap this madman had to say. But one thing was for sure. He was responsible for all this and a crazy jackass who needed his head split from his neck. "You dare to touch ’my’ son... for your sick games?"
The Ringmaster didn’t flinch, even when feeling such intense pressure. Instead, he clapped his hands slowly and mockingly.
"Yes! Yes! This is the reaction I wanted. Fathers reduced to beasts, children broken like toys..." he laughed. "I don’t care what happens after. I’ve already won. Their innocence is stained forever. The little monsters will never laugh the same way again."
Noah’s claws extended, his voice deadly calm.
"You think we won’t be able to make our children laugh again?" He asked, stepping forward, his pressure gradually suffocating through ringmaster. "You’re fucking wrong, you mad man. Nothing will ever stop my daughter from smiling."
The ringmaster didn’t move.
Even with this intense pressure, he felt that the most they could do was beat him up and then hand him over to the police. It’s not like they have the guts to kill him.
But his thoughts were meant for people who were supposedly ’normal’ because these two weren’t normal. They’ve spent years on the field killing their kind, which was far superior to humans and held no remorse. So, what in the world could stop them from reducing this maniac to a pile of bones? Nothing.
"You’re going to face your end here," Steven growled under his breath and they finally got a reaction from the ringmaster.
He flinched. Even if it was a tiny bit, it was enough for Noah to guess his thoughts.
"What? Did you think this ends with you being taken into custody?" He stepped closer, his shadow swallowing the Ringmaster. "No. You stole happiness from kids who did nothing wrong. Kids who have never hurt a fly in their lives. Kids who just needed to breathe, smile, sing, play, and eat. You hurt what is ours. And so... You dug your grave."
The Ringmaster’s grin faltered completely and he looked at them, wondering what they were talking about.
Were they some kind of Mafia gang or something?
Steven walked forward as well, crouched low, his killing intent pouring like a tidal wave and he glared into the beady eyes of the falcon mask.
"You’re not walking out of here with just a trial. You’ll learn what it means to suffer."
The Ringmaster’s laughter suddenly returned in a louder and more deranged form.
He thought they were bluffing. They wanted to intimidate him.
But he had passed through a lot in life for such cheap tricks to work on him.
"You’re very funn-- ump!" Steven’s hand gripped his throat, cutting his words short and the mask fell off.
The ringmaster, looking like a regular man but with a horrible burnt scar on the side of his face, stared with his eyes bulging, and his once loud laughter cracking into desperate wheezes, but that mad smile never fully disappeared.
He was still so confident that this was a bluff.
The police were definitely around the area. Would they really kill someone and be called a murderer just because of the prank he pulled on their kids?
It was unheard of.
There was no such parental love. This was just his pride getting in the way.
He knew they would never go ahead with it so he decided to provoke them.
"Go ahead," he croaked between gasps, "I’m sure your kids would love to know their fathers are murderers."
Noah’s eyes glowed like a predator’s as soon as he heard that.
"Hah, do you think the world is so clean?" Noah asked. "Now I know where your confidence is coming from."
The ringmaster looked at him, barely able to catch his breath since Steven’s grip kept tightening.
"But that would’ve worked if we were normal parents." He said and then walked around a little, picked up what looked like a whip used on circus animals. "You emphasized this a lot, so I guess this is your main fear." He said, and the ringmaster’s eyes widened. "I shall bring your darkest fear to reality. To the point you wish to die, rather than continue living."
Steven threw him down and the ringmaster coughed, rubbing his neck and then looked up at the one who released such intense pressure that it was hard to breathe even after his neck had been released.
Noah’s figure in this barely lit room loomed over him, his eyes glowing golden in the dark, and the sound of his grip tightening around the whip made chills run down the ringmaster’s body.
This... What were they planning to do?
They weren’t planning to use it on him, were they?
"You’re not human," Steven said. "Maybe you were in the past, but not anymore." He also picked a whip, looked at it, and then tightened it. "But you’re not an animal either, so we can’t even treat you like a mutt."
"You’re a beast," Noah said. "One who feeds on the cries and pain of little children. And there’s only one way to make a beast repent."
They both loomed over him and he trembled, fearing for what he was about to face.
"This is letting you off easy," Noah said and Steven nodded.
"I’d like to show you hell with my own hands but I’ll have to make do with this."
After all, there was no way to make a man repent better than torturing him with that which he feared the most.
His crime here was touching their kids and causing them pain. Whether he was an unfortunate child while growing up and decided to make other children’s lives unfortunate as a result of that, was none of their business.
What mattered here was that Olivia and Josh bled and were found unconscious.
He touched, not just one, but two Alphas’ cubs, so now he has to deal with the Alphas’ wrath.
They were going to be executioners here to pass on punishment based on their own judgment.
This ringmaster... Would not live to see another day.
(He better say his last prayers and pray to come into the next life into a loving family)
