Luna Tick: A Sunshine Novel

Luna Tick

Angie Merriam

Luna Tick

A Sunshine Novel

By Angie Merriam

© Angie Merriam

Published by Entertwine Publishing

Cover by Entertwine Publishing

All rights reserved

License Note

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without authorization of the Author or Entertwine Publishing. Any distribution without express consent is illegal and punishable in court of law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

The air penetrated my lungs the moment I stepped off the bus. After three months in a jail cell, then a day on a foul smelling bus, the fresh air gave my body the wake up it needed. I looked around, unimpressed by the seedy bus station and the dilapidated buildings around it. I wasn't sure where to go or how to get there. The important thing was that I was out of Lincoln, away from the murders, away from the Everly family. My mentor's words were in the forefront of my mind, 'Get out of Lincoln. Create a new persona. Carry on my traditions. It was up to me now to keep Joe's work alive, and I would do that for him. I would do that for me.

I never considered myself psychotic, much less a killer, but the feelings that coursed through my veins when I discovered my wife's affair spurred something inside of me that had been laying silent my entire life. Later, when I had my hands around Sunshine Everly's delicate neck, the power that surged through my heart became immediately addictive. I had the need. I felt the desire. I was a man on a mission, and my mission was simple–rid the world of the whores who taint our lives day after day all the while taming the beast inside of me.

My mentor taught me all I needed to know. How to choose my victims. How to gain their trust. How to kill them and most importantly, how to cover my tracks. I'd, of course, need to put my own touch on the murders. I wasn't The Bleach Killer after all. No, I am an entirely new monster. I am the Luna Tick, and I am on the prowl for my first tramp. First things first, I have to create a life. An unassuming life as an upstanding member of society. How do I begin that? With a job as a police officer, of course. My only regret? Not being able to see Matt and Sunshine Everly's faces when they realize what I've become.

Chapter One

Nick

Seven years later

"What's up, Nate?" My buddy and fellow officer Lonnie called out when I entered the room. The station was as it always was, quiet with the exception of the paper pushing pansy ass officers who were too scared to get out there and actually protect and serve. Of course, I'd never say this out loud to their face. I was good ol' boy Nathan Thomas from a small town in Northern Washington who moved to town seven years ago. I behaved for five years. I laid low. Fought the darkness that threatened to seep out of my skin on a daily basis. I did things the right way. Found a girl, wined and dined her until she agreed to marry me. We had a baby and had just bought a house. Typical boring fucking family. Perfect cover for me. Nobody suspected a damn thing.

I changed my name fairly easily and was surprised how simple it was to get into the police academy and even easier to get a job. Klamath Falls was a small town. It wasn’t a high crime area like the big city, but it has it’s fair share of drug users and thieves. Not a lot of killers, at least not serial killers. Not killers who did it out of necessity to feel alive. No, the only murders that happened here were usually from drug deals gone bad or a thief who got caught on private land. I guess the force was in desperate need of extra bodies because I passed their checks with ease. I'd done all I could do to leave no holes in my past or identity, but you'd think law enforcement would have been trained to find that shit. That's why I chose this town–small town with small crime problems. They didn’t give a shit who I was as long as I swore to uphold the law, which I'd done as far as they knew.

"Not much, bro. Busy day behind the desk?" I teased Lonnie. He was a good guy I guess, if you consider anybody good. He had a wife and three kids. My wife, Michelle, was best friends with Lonnie's wife, Kim. Their kid had playdates with our daughter, and we hung out with them on the weekends. I guess if I ever had a friend or thought I could have a friend, Lonnie would have been that guy. However, he was one of the pussies that were too afraid to go out on the streets. Some shit about wanting to go home alive every night, which I guess I understood since he sincerely loved his family, but why be a cop? It didn't make sense to me. He did his weekly drives, as was required, and spent the rest of the time doing the paperwork none of the other officers gave a shit about. Everyone had their place I guess. Mine was out there, on the streets. Only I wasn’t out there protecting. I was scouting.

"Game night Friday?" I asked as I filled my coffee mug. I actually hate coffee but that's what we all do, walk in, say hey, and fill up our travel mugs with shitty, muddy coffee. I'll never understand why the paper pushers need so much fucking coffee–they just sit! I take a sip of the sludge and do my best to hide the way it turns my stomach when the bitter liquid touches my tongue.

"Yup. Kim has a new recipe to try out. Some kind of dip, I don't know. You bringing the beer?" His voice was chipper, surely from the five cups of sludge he'd already consumed. His chipper personality matched his friendly face and light hair. Lonnie was so fucking happy all the time. It was hard to keep up with his constant state of bliss. Every now and then, I found myself envious of his normal life. Actually, his ability to care about people, but then the darkness found ways to creep in, reminding me of my purpose.

"You know it. Catch ya later, bro. I gotta go beat the bad guys." I smiled at him cockily and winked as I backed out the door.

"Fuck you, Batman," he hollered at me with a chuckle. We fucked with each other…it worked. He joked, and I was serious, but he didn't need to know that. Had to keep up that image.

I slid into my patrol car, the one good thing about this job. I loved this fucking car. It had power in more ways than one. It instilled fear in people when I pulled up beside them or showed up to a call, but it also had power under the hood. I turned the key and she roared to life, filling me with a sense of calm. It's 9:00 p.m. on Friday night. There was sure to be a fuck ton of teenagers cruising the main street, not to mention drug pushers soliciting them. I hated being around the teenagers, but I had my eye on a few whores who hang around down there, drug addict bitches looking for their next fix.

There is one specifically that I had been watching. She's in her early twenties, I guess. But the drugs were beginning to take their toll on her face and body. However, she was still attractive enough and spent most nights begging some asshole dealing drugs to suck him off for a bag of meth. Their way of life was much worse than what I did, in my opinion. These men got women hooked on their drugs then forced them to perform sex acts on them in order to keep the high. Me killing these women was actually doing them a favor. They did me the favor of satisfying the beast. I did them the favor of releasing them from a life of misery. Win win.

I cruised the main street loop slowly. The street was still quiet, for the most part. Kids don't usually start showing up until ten or so. Instead of mindlessly driving the loop, I took a drive through town, bored to death, the evil seed inside of me speaking loudly. Up until recently, I'd gotten by on a kill a few times a year, enough to keep my inner darkness happy but not enough to raise any real suspicions. I have to kill again soon though. It's getting harder to control. Harder to go long periods of time without the euphoria of taking a life, and it's beginning to affect my moods. I've been short and snippy with Michelle lately. We've been in more fights the past two months than the whole five years we've been married. I liked Michelle well enough, and if I could love again, I would love her, but I couldn't.

Shannon, my now dead wife, was it for me. Shannon's cheating with a serial killer, and later death awoke this thing inside of me. She killed my soul. Sharing a jail cell with the same man that took her from me was surreal. I should have hated him. In ways I did hate him, but he took me under his wing. He taught me everything I needed to know. He helped me see Shannon for what she was, a lying whore who deserved the fate handed to her. Despite the hatred in my heart toward Shannon and women like her, I still loved her. As much as I knew I couldn’t love Michelle, I didn’t want to kill her. She was a nice girl and my cover.

After cruising through the town I was back on Main Street. I was on my second cruise around the block when I saw her on the corner…alone. Perfect. I almost felt bad, seeing her standing alone, fidgeting with her hair. Her face lacked the innocence that usually graced the faces of girls her age. She was jonesing for a fix. She didn't even flinch when I pulled my cruiser up to her, my window down.

"You know prostitution is illegal right?" I gave her a stern look that was contradicted with a small grin. Confusion was a key point in getting them to trust me. Seems as if it should be the other way around but these women weren't typical women. They thrived on the dark side of life. They were used to being blatantly lied to. They could sniff out a rat just by the look on his face. I had to approach them assumingly, yet charming enough to get their attention. Offer them something different than their dealer or pimp, and they had to trust me…a cop. I had become a master manipulator.

"Fuck you, pig. I'm not a prostitute, just waiting for a friend. That's not illegal." She snapped her gum while twirling her hair around her finger. Her body language clearly in need of a fuck or a fix.

"Friend, huh? Would that friend be of the male species?" I countered, loving the little cat and mouse game we were about to play. The excitement of what was going to come later coursed through my veins.

"What business is it of yours who my friend is? You my daddy? Or, better yet, you looking to be my friend for the night, officer?" She slowly walked over to my car, bending at the waist when she reached my window giving me a full view of her ample tits. I wondered if they were real and decided they must be. She's too new at this to have a pimp buying her fake tits. "Eyes up here, officer ahhh…" She looked into my eyes, asking for my name.

"Nick," I replied honestly. I always tell my victims my real name. My time with my victims were the only times I could take off my mask and be me. Also, if any of them ever got away or my name was ever spoken of it would be Nick, not Nate. They'd never connect it back to me.

"What time you off, Officer Nick?"

"An hour. Meet me at this address," I instructed, handing her a folded piece of paper with the address on it of the house I'd been using. The family was out of town on vacation. I know this because they are friends of ours. I had the house to use at my disposal for the next two weeks. I appreciated not having to be creative with finding my kill zones.

"Spare key is under the rock to the right of the front door. Let yourself in. I'll meet you there." I smiled up at her, then turned my eyes back to her tits that were begging for me to touch them.

"Okay, officer, I will do as you say. God knows I'd hate to be arrested." Her voice was dripping with sugar and sex.

"Oh I'll be doing lots of things to you, but arresting you isn't one of them. See you soon." I gave her a wink before slowly pulling away, excitement wreaking havoc on my body.

***

I drove home after my shift and parked my car in the garage as I normally do. It was after midnight, and I knew Michelle would be sleeping. I quietly slid into our bedroom and kissed her forehead. She stirred and looked up at me sleepily. "Hey, baby," she whispered.

"Hi, love. Go back to sleep. I'll be back soon." She didn't question me. We'd agreed to watch our friend's house and care for their animals while they were gone. I also like to jog after work and would sometimes be gone for hours. She never asked me to explain anything else. She assumed it was the stresses of the job that I need to release before I could sleep. She wasn't totally wrong.

I walked down to the house where my girl would be waiting, thankful again for our friend’s frequent traveling. This wasn't the first, nor would it be the last time I killed in the Miller's house. The kitchen light was on, as it always was. Wouldn't want the bad guys knowing the family wasn't home, might invite trouble. I chuckled to myself at the irony of it all.

She was sitting at the kitchen table. Cocaine laid out in front of her. I didn't care. She could get high before I fucked then killed her. She looked up at me after snorting a long line up her nose. Her eyes, which I was sure were once bright blue, were dull and red rimmed. Her nose ran from the drug's invasion.

"Hey, officer hot stuff. I was beginning to think this was a party for one." Her tongue darted out, licking her full lips.

"Nah, had to tuck the wife in," I admitted before sitting across from her.

"Want some?" She offered her cocaine to me.

"No, I like to fuck fully aware of what I'm doing." I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest, examining her. Letting her examine me. I'd definitely grown into my body since leaving Lincoln. Instead of being scrawny and weak like I used to be, I was strong and muscular. Women liked that.

"Suit yourself," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. She slid her coat off revealing a shirt that left very little to the imagination and even less covered. I wondered if the cloth even passed as a shirt. Without thought, she hooked her fingers around the top seam of the shirt and pushed it down over her breasts, revealing to me the very things that had my mouth watering when she was on the street. She may have been a drug-addicted whore whose beauty was quickly fading, but she was still beautiful and damn sexy. She'd be a fun toy.

"Your turn, officer," she purred, leaning forward, her tits resting on the table. "I showed you mine, you show me yours."

"Fair enough," I replied before pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it on the ground. "However, it's what's inside my pants that's the real treat." I shot her a wink before leaning forward, mimicking her. "Your turn." She smiled wickedly at me. I liked this girl. It was cute how she felt the need to be in control. I enjoyed allowing her to think that she actually was. Poor, stupid girl never saw me coming.

"Boy, you don't waste time do you? You don't want a little taste of these before I show you my sweet spot?" Her hands cupped her tits, pushing them together and up towards her face. She slowly dipped her tongue down, teasing her own nipple. Who was I to refuse a woman? Without a word and without breaking eye contact, I rounded the table and pulled her chair out turning it quickly to face me. Dropping to my knees in front of her, I took her right tit in my mouth and sucked while my fingers twisted and tugged at her left nipple. "Mmmmm." She moaned, holding my head close to her. My tongue swirled, and my teeth nipped. When the bud stood erect I moved to the other side, torturing her again with my tongue.

Pulling away, I looked up into her lustful eyes. "Your tits are the sweetest tits I've ever had the pleasure of sucking." Before she could respond, I shoved my hand up her skirt feeling her soaked cunt.

"Who doesn't waste time, doll? Your pussy is soaking wet. Is it aching yet?" I asked her, my voice low.

"Yes, it's so ready for you," she panted, looking down at me.

"I do believe it's your turn, baby doll. Take that skirt off. Let me see that hungry cunt." I backed away, giving her space to undress.

She wasted no time slipping the skirt off while still staying seated in the chair. She kicked the pathetic excuse of clothing across the room before spreading her legs wide for me to feast my eyes. She kept it trimmed nicely. The juices glistened on the little hairs left behind.