Deal With a Devil

Justin sat in the cell they had moved him back into once Winters left. The room was small, dark, and isolated; smelling of mildew and chemical cleaner. It was a little confusing how those two smells would both be there, uness someone was doing something wrong. He simply shook his head. It didn't really matter.

What he was focused on was his new source of entertainment; Agent Amber Winters. He was enjoying this little game with her. It was amusing a woman who carried herself so pprofessionally get so frazzled. The look on her face when she was furious was intoxicating. He chuckled, taking a deep breath, before his eyes snapped open. He had caught whiff of something other than the usual mildew and cleaner.

"What do you want?" He said, not looking up or even around. He didn't need to; he knew who was there.

"You are truly amazing Graves. You know, unless people are doing something incredibly stupid, I usuallly have a way of sneaking up on them." He heard the silky voice, turned to face the source of it when a slender finger placed itself under his chin, turning his head to look up at her.

"Is there a reason you've been hounding me more than usual lately? Or is there something about a man in chains that just gets you hot and ready?" He asked with a sneer. He kind of wished the officers had taken off his mask, but since they planned to have him back in the interrogation room in a few hours, they figured it best to leave him chained. Jeez, you bite the ear off of one asshole, you know? His train of thought was interrupted by the silky, sultry voice.

"I have come because there are things at work I don't think you quite comprehend..." She started, before he spoke again.

"Well, if I stopped to understand everything I did or was involved in, I would never get anything done. Now we could do this your way, which I get the feeling is a long drawn out process, and you'd probably be lying to me anyways. You're really good at that. Or, we could do it my way. And let me tell you something, my way seems to work a lot better." He felt her hand grab a handful of hair at the back of his head and pull him towards her and upwards. The hair that usually hid the left side of her face slid away, revealing skin that was not nearly so perfect, scarred like from a fire, the lips pulled back from razor sharp teeth, and the eye that looked out a glaring red color. Justin couldn't help cracking a grin. "Your ugly side is showing."

The woman snarled at him. "You impudent fool. Fine, play by your rules. But know this; your choice now will force another unto you. And the weight of that one will weigh far heavier." She threw him backwards onto his bed, where he lay laughing, only vaguely noticing the absence of the perfume smell in the air.

_____

Agent Winters had been going through the death records, as she had been for the last several minutes. She finally had a match on the name; one Trevor Keith Graves, died about nine years ago from massive cerebral hemorrhaging, almost exclusively on the right side of his brain. Nothing seemed too out of place at first; he was found dead at home, though it took roughly three days. This part threw her off, since he lived with a roommate, yet no one noticed he had died until his work called saying he'd missed the past few days. She felt this person had some tie, but she hadn't found it yet.

She opened another file, scanning through it. An autopsy report, pretty typical. It had the weights, and an audio file documenting it. His organs had all been perfectly healthy except his brain, the right side of which was a bloody mess.

She sighed, moving on. She had found a death certificate, and a few other things, and after a while she closed the files. "That bastard. This was a waste of time." She logged out, got up from her chair, and left the room. She had real work to do, and wouldn't let herself be sidetracked by his games anymore.

____

Justin found himself once again, chained down, in a chair sitting across from Winters. She looked absolutely furious. "You know, you're positively beautiful when you're seething." He says, causing her right eye to twitch as she fights to restrain herself.

"Okay, I played your game, I looked into the deceased Mr. Graves. A Mr. Trevor Keith Graves, age 29, to be exact. And you know what I found?" She asked, trying to keep her voice level, with minimal success.

"Oh, goodie. A guessing game. Let's see... I'd guess either a cinnamon struedel, or maybe that something was missing?" He said, the tone of his voice was that same, taunting, gloating tone he had used everytime he seemed to play this game.

She slammed her hands down on the table. "I'll say there was something missing! There was nothing useful in any of those files! Nothing!" She only felt herself growing more enragged as he started to laugh.

"So, you're it, huh? You're the best and brightest? You're what they could muster to deal with me?" He laughed some more, shaking his head. "How about this? I'll admit there was nothing useful in the files. But you're still missing something. I'll make you deal, since I like you, and this is more fun than I've had in seven years. I'm hungry. You bring me a cheeseburger or something, and I'll give you a hint."

She glared at him from across the table. "No, I don't think so. I'm tired of this game, so you can either give me answers, or I will have you thrown back into your cell to rot, and find some way to do this without you."

"Really?" He tilted his chin just a bit upwards, almost like a show of defiant arrogance. "Okay, I can live with that." He laughed a bit. "You see, I've been in that cell for seven years. It won't get to me. You though, you aren't used to this kind of fear. I know you're afraid of me Winters, you've heard of what I've done. So, it leads me to believe that whatever is forcing you to talk to me, has you all scared. And if I'm the lesser of two evils, I can only imagine what you're up against."

"Will you shut the fuck up?!" She all but screamed at him. He had called her bluff, and worse, he had a better grasp of the situation than she had thought. The chief was right. He's not as stupid as he would leave you to believe. She forced the unbidden thoughts to the back of her mind, watching him. The worst part was, she knew he knew something. She knew there was more going on here than she was seeing. She knew she needed the answers.

He watched her in silence for a moment, then chuckled. "I'll take mine with bacon, and extra mayo if you would."

She turned and stormed out of the room, his maniacal laughter following her the entire way out.

____

She was riding with Chief Woods, a fastfood takeout bag in her hands. "I don't know why he asked for this? I'm pretty sure he knows we're not stupid enough to unchain him while he eats. And I'm pretty sure he knows none of us are going to feed him." She set the burger down on the dashboard.

"I don't pretend to understand the way he thinks, Winters. The man is deranged and psychotic. Maybe he just likes watching us jump through hoops." He sighed and looked at her. "Look, maybe we can find someone else, someone a bit more rational, or maybe someone else on our side to interview this madman. It's obvious he's wearing you out."

Winters shook her head, sighing softly. "I'm fine. It's just, they don't train you for kooks like this at the academy. And, I don't know, there's just something about him. It's weird."

Woods nodded solemnly. "I understand. It's like that for everyone that has to deal with him. It's why we don't like to."

There was a silence that fell between the two of them, and followed them all the way to the station.

____

Justin watched as the door opened again, allowing access to Agent Winters, who steppped into the room and set the fast food bag down on the table between them. "There! Now, about what you said?"

Justin cocked his head to one side. "You can't be serious. What good is a cheeseburger to me if I can't eat it?"

She scoffs. "Do you really think we're stupid enough to unchain you so you could eat?"

"If I thought you were that stupid, Agent Winters, I would already be long gone from this establishment. No, I understand that you will not unchain me, and I cannot blame you. Because odds are good that even with just one hand free, I could kill a few of you before anything effective was done. No, I would merely like this mask off, and to be fed." The level tone of his voice throughout caught Winters off guard again. There was no sarcasm, no taunting tone. He actually expected this to happen.

"How about no? I brought you the damn food, you can eat it on your time. Right now, I want answers!" She said, angered that he was still playing this game.

"Agent Winters, how long have we been at this?" He asked her levelly, and she was taken aback a bit. How long had they been at this? She looked at the clock, and winced. It had actualy been a few hours. "I have not eaten since we started, and I can get a bit irritable without food. It is not an unreasonable request. Bring in backup if you absolutely feel you must, but I do expect you to be the one handling the food. It is you that wants answers after all."

She stood silently, thinking her options over. She didn't owe this monster any act that even resembled kindness. But, she needed the answers, and despite the fact that he could always be lying to her, just to watch her run herself ragged, it was all she had. She looked to the one way glass and gave a slight nod.

A few moments later, the door opened, and an officer came in, baton in hand to stand behind the chained down convict. Agent Winters moved slowly towards him, reaching behind his head, and loosening the buckles on the mask, pulling it away from his face, and setting it down on the table.

Justin Graves was an average looking man at best. He had brown eyes, that had a kind of odd dullness, backlit by the light that only madmen possess, his hair was brown and hung around his face in an unkempt way, and he was sporting a little bit of stubble on his face. The shape of his brow, combined with his deep set eyes gave him an impression of always scowling, and his lips seemed pulled back into a perpetual half-smirk.

He turned his head slightly, bringing a soft popping noise from his neck which made Winters a bit uneasy. "If you would be so kind, could you cut it in half. I figure I'll eat half now, and the other half in my cell." His voice hadn't changed at all, and when he spoke it was easy for her to picture him right back in the mask.

She sighed and took out her pocket knife, removing the burger from both bag and wrapper, and slicing it across the middle, she lifted one end to his mouth. Her hands shook a little as she expected him to lunge forward and sink his teeth into her fingers, but no such action came. He bit into the food presented him, eating at a leisurely pace. After a while, she almost wished he would bite her, just because it might imply he was hurrying.

After a while, he finished what was offered, and she turned to grab the mask. She was almost expecting a struggle to get it back on, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with that. However, before she could turn around, his voice broke the silence again.

"So, our friend Mr. Graves. Where, pray tell is he buried?" She wondered what the hell kind of question that was supposed to be, especially when he promised her a hint. She rounded on him, her voice opening to answer, when it became painfully clear to her. She didn't know. "...there was nothing useful in the files. But you're still missing something." His voice in her head was as clear as if he had just spoken. Then it dawned on her. The files had been useless. What was important was what was not there; burial records, the location of the mortuary the body was transferred to. She was so busy looking for something, she had overlooked what was missing.

The mask dropped to the table as she hurried out of the room. Her mind was full of questions. Why would those records be missing? What was she missing? She wondered if this was the key piece of the puzzle, or just another question that would lead to more. And yet, even as she left the room, she could swear she felt his eyes on her. He knew something, but why wouldn't he just tell her? Why make her play this game? It was aggravating, but she didn't have time to be upset now. She had answers to find.

To be continued...

Author's Note: Alright, I made it to chapter three. I'm actually kind of proud of this story, and I hope it's enjoyable for those of you reading it. As always, rates and reviews are welcome. Thank you for sticking with it thus far, and I hope it doesn't disappoint.