Chapter 18

"Please!! Please! Stop her!!! I have money!! I can pay!" Their captive begged and choked as a blood-spattered Heather was leaning against one of the wooden posts and cleaning the blood off her nails.

"I really should have worn gloves. Blood is hell to get out," Heather murmured as she looked at the spatter soaking her sleeves, completely ignoring the now bleeding man that Hiccup's doctor was patching up again quite crudely.

"Some hydrogen peroxide on those sleeves would do the trick," Hiccup replied from his seat as the balding man tried to plead for mercy. "Though I would suggest burning that blouse. Nothing of this bastard is making it off this property tonight,"

There was a muffled choke that sounded like a sob and that was when Hiccup finally decided to give the man his attention. "What? You thought you could still escape? Bribe your way out?"

Hiccup crossed one leg over the other and just watched the man come to the realization that he was never going to see the light of day after tonight. "Let's have a pop quiz," Hiccup said in a rather cheerful tone then. "What do pigs eat?"

"Come on, anyone?" Hiccup asked while shifting his head to the side in a questioning manner. "Don't be shy,"

"Uhm... a lot?" Ryker answered while scratching his head.

"Well you aren't wrong per se," Their boss stated while pointedly looking at their captive. "Pigs will eat anything, even a body,"

Another choked sob wracked the man's form. "I...I... Why?"

"Oh come now, surely you should have expected this outcome after all that you did," Hiccup responded, looking all prim and proper in his pinstripe suit. "I mean, a bastard like you had to have seen it coming. You pissed off the wrong people when you kidnapped Astrid and traumatized her son,"

"She had it coming," The landlord spat out. "Flaunting that body of hers and dating," Adrenaline must have been coursing through the man as he surged up, knocking the doctor back, and made a grab for Hiccup's leg. This just resulted in Hiccup planting his foot squarely in the man's face. A crunch could be heard and Heather winced as Hiccup had probably broken her landlord's nose.

"AAAH!!!" The man screamed while clutching his nose. He glared at Hiccup and uttered, "SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!!!"

"What? Like Connie Fleamont was supposed to be?" Hiccup questioned.

The man stilled at the name and Heather also perked up. "You found Connie?"

Hiccup nodded while he shot the man a nasty look. He proceeded to hand Heather one of the folders Fishlegs had given him. "You know, Fishlegs is really good at what he does," Fish actually blushed as Heather shot him a look before flipping through the file. She read aloud:

"Constance Fleamont a.k.a. Connie, age 32, missing since June 1982. Vehicle recovered...." she mumbled as she read the finer details. "Son, Nicolas Fleamont, age eight, found abandoned walking the streets. Custody returned to immediate family. Died December 22nd 1990 due to domestic violence."

"YOU BASTARD! YOU KNEW WHAT CONNIE WAS RUNNING AWAY!!" Heather put two and two together and just went off on the man "YOU PREYED ON HER, AND WHAT WHEN SHE WASN'T YOUR IDEAL YOU GOT RID OF HER?! THIS KID'S DEATH IS ON YOUR HEAD TOO SINCE THEY HAD TO RETURN HIM TO HIS ABUSERS! YOU FUCKING PIG!"

"Now that's just an insult to pigs." Hiccup admonished. "They don't go around preying on young innocent women. What's even more sick is that this guy didn't want them as wives or slaves but as his mother,"

"Wait what?" Viggo spoke up for the first time in a while as he looked perplexed by Hiccup's statement.

"The second skeleton we found, it was his own mother." Hiccup motioned to the second folder he had gotten. "One Dennise Hamdson, missing since the 60's."

"Huh? He killed his mother too?" Ryker asked but Hiccup just shook his head. "No, but I think it was the catalyst for him targeting blond women who had sons. Isn't that right, Lester?" Hiccup raised his brow at the balding man who was now being restrained once again. Their captive only spit at Hiccup's feet but that didn't deter the mob boss.

"Well, if you're that set on keeping your mouth shut now I might as well take a stab at guessing how your sociopathic tendencies awakened." Here Hiccup opened the third folder. "Let's see, Lester Hamdson, son of James and Dennise Hamdson. Mother disappeared in the summer of 1961. I guess that would explain the bunker. It was just nearing the end of the Cold War era though no one knew it at the time,"

He put down the folders on top of the one Heather placed on a nearby table and stared at the pitiful and bloodied man for a moment. "Let me guess, your father killed your mother and you were there to witness it. Instead of reporting her death, he hid the body and what, he had you help him?"

"A kid that young being traumatized like that, while I do feel for you at that time it still doesn't excuse your later actions of kidnapping and killing women. What? Were you so desperate for mommy's love that any woman that remotely reassembled her would do?" he needled. "And when she didn't live up to expectations you killed her?"

"They deserved it!" The man spat out while struggling Viggo and Ryker's hold on him.

A little boy held onto the balustrade of a dark upper floor. The only light illuminating his face was that of the kitchen where the loud voices were coming from. He slowly crept down the stairs, towards the screaming, flinching when a slap echoed through the rooms.

"Mom?" the boy curiously peeked into the kitchen only to see his mother on the floor clutching her reddening cheek while his father held on to a chunk of her hair.

"Go back to bed Lester," His mother urged.

"No," his father countered while yanking his wife's hair. "What did I say about speaking out of turn? You speak only when you are spoken to in this house," the man growled before ordering his son with a "Boy get over here!"

The young Lester tentatively approached and his father, still holding onto his mother's hair asked him "Son do you know why your mother is on her knees?"

Lester shook his head, tears in his eyes as he looked from his father to his mother.

"This whore's been out sleeping with other men," His father accused.

"I haven't James, really I haven't!" Dennise pleaded.

"Then what have you been doing all day?! You weren't home when I came back and dinner hadn't been cooked! You damn well know I want my food when I get home!"

"I... I.... was out getting my driver's license," Dennise finally admitted which only earned her another slap.

"Who allowed you to get your license?!" James was even more furious as his hand now closed around his wife's neck and he squeezed. "What, you wanna run away with some other man!? He accused while Lester shut his eyes upon seeing the violence but that only made his father more irrate. "Don't you dare shut your eyes boy!" the man ordered. "I'mma teach you a lesson today boy. This is what happens to women that don't obey men. A woman doesn't belong behind the wheel,"

Dennise struggled to breathe as her husband choked her. She clawed at his face and only when she was turning blue did James let go. Lester watched his mother fall to the floor, slightly slumped against the kitchen cabinets. His father left afterward, telling both his son and battered wife that he'd be going to the bar. When the door closed with a bang Lester stared at his mother however he could not feel pity for her as years of his father's teachings clung to him.

"Disgusting," Heather uttered, stopping the man from trying to reason with Hiccup. "I should have cut off Junior as well," she then growled.

Lester flinched back but Heather continued "You were brought up by a misogynist but that wouldn't have made you a killer," she stated. "No, you took a perverse and sick pleasure in trying to control your victims. You knew their home situations, you probably even turned on the charm with Connie since you were a young man then, but Astrid would never have fallen for you now, so you played the good samaritan card and offered her a low rent apartment knowing she was a poor single mother. Then you watched and waited." Heather deadpanned. "You probably stalked Connie for months, maybe even years. But Connie who was still married as divorce wasn't legal yet probably spurned your advances. Then you got mad because, how could a woman deny you," she growled.

"Connie obviously ended up dead because she didn't play well with your fantasy," Heather continued. "Why?"

"Father didn't approve," Lester uttered while struggling. He was getting dizzy from the blood loss and was swaying slightly.

"Okay, that's new," Heather looked back at Hiccup and Doc who were now standing to the side.

"I see what happened," Hiccup stated. "He put on the charms with Connie, hoping to get his father's approval but that backfired. So she had to be gotten rid of. Then sometime between then and a few years ago his father probably passed away, he met Astrid and her son and his urges came back,"

"That's even worse!" Heather uttered while looking utterly disgusted.

"Either way he's done for," Hiccup replied with finality as he took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves to reveal Nordic tattoos on his lower arms. He walked to the rickety table and picked up a pair of pliers. Examining the instrument he said "I have to amend my previous statement- Pigs eat almost everything. They have a hard time with biting through enamel so your teeth will have to go... one by one..." Hiccup's smile was terrifying as he approached Lester, who tried to scuttle back but the Grimbornes were holding him in place.

"Why don't you give us a smile," Hiccup said as he stood in front of his prey.