Kozy Kills #5 - Avi & Felix - Ch. 2 (Patreon)

Here is the very very late second chapter of Avi & Felix. There will be another bonus chapter that is Patreon exclusive as well as a core four fic coming soon. And yes this is based on the tiktok someone put in my reader group on Facebook.

Avi

Felix ran his finger along the concrete walls of the warehouse, making a face when his finger came back covered in grime. “It’s filthy in here.” 

Avi snorted out a laugh, looking around the space. “It’s a warehouse, kitten, not a surgical suite.” 

It was less a warehouse and more an abandoned factory of some kind. He had no doubt it was another of Mulvaney Holdings ‘investments’ but he’d never been to this particular property before. A tingle of excitement rushing through him. He loved when he got to break free of the monotony of murder. Tonight just felt different. Or maybe it was just his post-orgasmic haze. 

“Actually, it’s an old textile plant,” Felix said, looking around. And just because we kill people, doesn’t mean we have to do it in squalor,” Felix said, walking deeper into the large space. 

Avi laughed as Felix turned up his nose like some delicate flower instead of the bloodthirsty little badass he married. “You can tell all that just from the dirt on the walls?” 

“No, baby,” Felix said, patting his cheek with his clean hand. “I can tell because we walked past a sign that said Heritage Fabrics, established 1914.” 

Like Felix, Avi worked in the industry. He was fully aware of the mechanics that went into producing and dying fabrics. He’d visited a number of factories and plants over the years, but he’d never seen one that had decayed over time. In the modern plants, the vats were pristine steel and chrome, the catwalks were well maintained, people moved around wearing white coats or equipment that kept them safe while they did their jobs. 

This place, not so much. Every piece of metal in the place had oxidized to a rusty red, the scent was sharp almost like blood, but…dirtier. There were bits of metal on the ground and old empty barrels knocked on their sides. Overall, the windows were still intact but covered in layers of filth and grime. 

They wandered around the labyrinthine walkways between large machines and scaffolding, staring up at the bottoms of several conical shaped vats, some open, some shut. 

Avi could have explored the place forever if it didn’t smell like mold, but there was something about the air that put him on high alert. It was eerily chilly and there was a strange fog rising into the air from somewhere above, billowing up then disappearing. They needed to find his brother. 

“Where-” 

A bloodcurdling scream made them both jump, ricocheting off the walls and running right up Avi’s spine with cold feet. Their eyes met, moving closer together as they quickened their pace. 

“You don’t think he started without us. Do you?” Avi asked, feeling a sulk coming on. 

“I doubt it,” Felix said, patting his arm reassuringly. “August asked for you in particular. He knows how much you pout when you don’t get to be the one who makes with the stabby-stabby.” 

It was on the tip of his tongue to protest, but they weren’t wrong. He didn’t see anything wrong with pouting when he didn’t get his way. It worked for the kids. Was he not equally as adorable? 

“Up here,” a voice called, echoing through the space. 

August. 

They glanced up as one to find him standing on a platform above them. He waved them up then pointed to a rickety set of rusty stairs about ten feet away. Felix pushed Avi ahead of him, but he wasn’t sure if he was using him as a human shield or just ushering him like he did the twins when he was worried they might make a break for the playground in the center of the mall. 

The stairs made a disconcerting groaning sound with each step they took. Avi’s adrenaline was pumping, his heart beating triple-time, like he was at a dead run. Like back when Asa used to chase him through the woods when they were teenagers. It was…exhilarating. 

When they reached the top of the metal scaffolding they stood before one of the cylindrical vats. One that was billowing white smoke like a witch’s cauldron. Dangling over the smoke was a man, wrists bound with chains, ankles bound with rope, sweat pouring off him like he was in a sauna. 

“Is that…boiling water?” Avi asked his brother, while the man began to twitch and wiggle like a worm on a fish hook. 

“No, bet-” 

“Help me. I’ve been kidnapped,” the man cried, cutting August off. “This man is crazy. Please he-” 

“It’s rude to talk over people,” Avi said. “You’re an adult. Act like it.” 

Felix snorted, leaning back against the metal railing then hissing like a cat when he felt the dirt touch his palms. 

“Oh, here,” August said, reaching into his pocket and producing some thick yellow gloves.” 

Felix gave him a dazzling smile, charmed by August’s weirdly thoughtful nature. 

“No need to swoon, kitten. They’re kitchen gloves, not prosthetic limbs. You can find them at the dollar store,” Avi grumbled. 

He was almost positive that it was true. He’d heard rumors that they sold all kinds of handy things there from milk to gardening supplies. 

Felix scoffed. “Like you’ve ever set foot in a dollar store.” 

“You know I wasn’t allowed,” Avi mumbled. 

He’d never seen it first hand but had always wanted to go. Thomas had adamantly refused, not because he believed they were too good for dollar store items but because he didn’t want his children gawking at strangers like they were some kind of…poverty tourists. 

If there was one thing Thomas couldn’t stand, it was people using other people’s misfortune to enrich themselves. He hated those videos where people would film themselves giving shoes or money to unhoused people just for likes and clicks. Or worse, videos where they would set people up to see how they would behave if they found a thousand dollars on the ground. 

Aiden had reminded him that it was better the people got the shoes and money regardless of whether the person giving them was doing it for selfish reasons or not, but he said it was distasteful. But the Mulvaney Foundation gave away literally billions of dollars a year to charity…in his name. Did that make Thomas a hypocrite? 

He shook thoughts of his father away, giving his full attention to his brother and his husband now standing there in his black cargo pants, black and white striped cropped hoodie and some bright yellow rubber gloves. 

Somehow he still looked stylish. 

“It’s liquid nitrogen,” August said, looking so very proud of himself. 

Avi’s eyes went wide. “No fucking way. Like…for real? You’re not just fucking with me?” Avi asked, lurching towards the vat without thought, held back only when August gripped the back of his sweatshirt. That didn’t stop him from marveling at the swirling vapor. “Bro, how?” 

Liquid nitrogen wasn’t heavily regulated or anything. It wasn’t hard to come by either, especially not for someone like August who often worked in a lab. But it was so dangerous that people only used it when needed to avoid any potentially catastrophic incidents. 

And now they had a middle-aged man with jowls and a receding hairline dangling over a vat of it like a cartoon villain. Or were they the villains? No. No, it was definitely this guy, even if Avi didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this yet. Other than being one of Jeffries goons. 

“A series of happy accidents. First, several barrels of liquid nitrogen were delivered to the university for an experiment that lost its funding months ago. As the department head, I was left with the task of disposing of the hazardous material. I was just going to expose it to the air and let it evaporate, but then dad called to say they’d found another of Jeffries' men.”

“How did you arrange this all in one day?” Felix asked. 

“I didn’t. This guy and the nitrogen arrived a couple of days ago.” August pointed to the man. “I put him on ice—no pun intended—until I could get this all set up for you. Then I had Aiden call you and Felix so you could come play too.” 

Avi’s brows went up, his heart doing something complicated behind his ribs as he looked at his older brother. “That was…weirdly thoughtful of you.”

August really was getting good at this whole human thing. 

“But why me?” Avi asked. 

August shrugged. “I missed your birthday because the kids were sick and I knew this was on your bucket list. I thought it would be a good way to make it up to you.” 

Avi looked at Felix. “Did you know about this?” 

Felix shook his head. “Only after we left the office. Lucas shot me a private message to let me know that this wasn’t gonna be a quiet death and to ask if he needed to send extra earplugs with August.” 

“That was…nice of him,” Avi said, quickly snapping his attention back to the hanging man. “Why was he screaming a minute ago?” 

“Oh, I was testing the pulley system,” August said, jabbing his finger towards two buttons, one red, one green. “I think I got a little too close for comfort. The poor dear has been a bit overwrought since his kidnapping.”

“You gonna hang out while we kill this guy?” Avi asked. 

August gave them an apologetic look. “I know this is supposed to be a date night thing, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to at least supervise if you want to Mr. Freeze this asshole. You’ll also have to sit through a rather tedious lecture on the effects of liquid nitrogen on body tissue.” 

Avi was already nodding. “That’s fine. We fucked in the office before we came here and then got each other off again in the car after dinner. We’re good for a few hours at least.” 

“Avi…” Felix cried, slapping him on the arm then covering his face. “You know you don’t have to tell everyone everything all of the time.” 

“What?” Avi asked, shaking his head. “It’s true, isn’t it?” 

“That’s beside the point,” Felix muttered, then pointed to the hanging man. “Who’s this fuckstick anyway?” 

“This piece of shit has a name but it's honestly not worth remembering so I am just gonna call him ‘this piece of shit’. This piece of shit—unlike most of Jeffries other acolytes—deliberately targeted young children, snatching them off the street to do  things too terrible to mention in Felix’s presence. Then he would taunt their parents by prank calling them and sharing their children’s last moments.” 

August said this like he was reading from a cue card, but he was looking at the man with a disgust his brother only saved for those he found truly loathsome. The bottom feeders who targeted the most vulnerable of the population. Children, the elderly…Having kids had softened some of all of their edges, but it had hardened their resolve when it came to ensuring that child killers suffered worst of all. 

There was a time when hearing even the most gruesome details of a crime rolled right off him. But now, his intrusive thoughts often led him to thinking of Oscar and West and the even the idea of anyone harming his children infuriated him in a way he hadn’t even known was possible. He’d wanted Kyle dead just for disparaging the looks of his gorgeous children. If someone harmed them? Yeah…they’d have to invent a new word for the level of hell he forced them to endure. 

He stared for a long while at the man hanging there over the cryogenic cauldron. He would enjoy making this man scream. “So what happens when we dip this guy?” 

August’s smile was chilling. “It's time for a little chemistry lesson,” he said, raising his voice so the man could hear him. “Do you know what happens to the human body when it touches liquid nitrogen?” 

The man began screaming obscenities at them. August made a sound like an angry buzzer. “Incorrect. Anyone else?” 

“It freezes,” Felix said, inching forward to look over the railing. 

There was a gap between where he stood on the catwalk and the deep well holding the foggy liquid but Avi still put his hand up barring Felix from getting too close. 

“Correct,” August said. “Do you know what happens to the tissue?” 

“It…dies?” Felix asked, sounding unsure. 

“Gold star for you,” August cried, pointing at Felix, before turning to the piece of shit. “If you don’t start participating, I’m afraid I’ll just have to use you as an example for the whole class.” 

“F-Fuck you. You’re all fucking crazy,” the man said, voice warbling. “Just…Just do it already.” 

August sighed warily. “The tissue doesn’t just die, Felix,” he said, emphasizing his husband’s name like he was trying to prove a point to the other man. “At first, it feels like a…tingle or maybe even nothing at all. Then a burn…like touching a hot pan.” he hissed, then shook his hand miming his words. “But after half a second, the tissue freezes. Blood vessels constrict, nerves get damaged, and an intense pins and needles sensation kicks in.” 

“Like frostbite?” Avi asked, wrinkling his nose. He made no attempt to hide his disappointment as he said, “I thought it would be more…damaging.” 

“That’s just in the first few seconds,” August said around a laugh. “This is where the fun part kicks in.” 

The man moaned, then whimpered as August’s hand hovered over the green button. “Please don’t…” 

“How many little kids said that to you before you did all the sick shit you did to them?” Avi asked, voice as icy as the vat of liquid below. “I promise you, begging won’t help you. We’ll show you the same amount of empathy you showed them.” 

Felix’s hand skimmed Avi’s bicep, then wrapped around until he was curled around his arm like a vine, his chin resting on Avi’s shoulder. “I can’t wait to watch this fucker shatter like a vase. Those poor babies…and their parents…” 

August taunted the man with the button. “After a few seconds, blisters start to form…I’ve heard it's excruciating,” he said casually, like he was mid-lecture and not tormenting a monster. “Then the tissue blackens from necrosis like something out of your worst nightmares.” 

“Please…” the man whined. 

“Let's start with his feet and work our way up,” Felix said, his mouth a hard line, tears in his eyes. 

His husband was fierce in every sense of the word, but the barbed wire surrounding him guarded a very soft marshmallow center, especially when it came to kids. Avi was excited to watch all of August’s teachings come to fruition, but he wished it hadn’t come at the cost of Felix’s happiness. 

“That’s fine with me,” August said, unbothered. “But I’m warning you, if we go one body part at a time, he’ll likely go into shock rather quickly. But the alternative is to dip him all at once and, really, where’s the fun in that?” 

August stepped away from the button and made a ‘go ahead’ gesture to Avi. “It’s all yours. Green means go, red means stop, yellow retracts the pulley.” 

“You’re gonna let me do it?” Avi asked. “Really?” 

August shrugged. “It’s your present.” 

Avi looked at Felix. “You don’t mind?” 

Felix wrinkled his nose. “I’m not touching that button. It’s dirtier than the walls, which is saying something.” 

“Okay,” Avi said. “Then let's do this.” 

He wished the others were there to witness this. They would definitely find it as cool as he did. He tried to curb his excitement but he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

Speaking of feet…

“Three… Two… One…” Avi hit the button, squinting into the fog. 

The only real way to know he’d hit the nitrogen was the howl of pain that reverberated through the place, raising the hair on his arms. He hit the stop button. It was probably only about thirty seconds before he pulled the man out but his feet were now a strange blue color, looking almost waxy from where Avi stood. 

August handed him a metal bar. “Make it count.” 

Avi had no idea how much force would be needed to ‘shatter him like a vase’ as Felix put it, but he’d give it his best. He’d never tried to hit something from that distance. It was like trying to hit a pinata hanging over the middle of a swimming pool. Still, the pole was long enough for Avi to choke up on it a bit before he took a big swing. 

The sound it made was drowned out by the man’s screams followed by wet gags as he started to vomit. 

Felix’s mouth fell open, his eyes going just as wide. “Woah. Gross.” 

Avi had seen men lose their feet before, both dead and alive. But he’d never seen them shatter like glass. Had never seen veins and arteries frozen closed with healthy living tissue directly above it. 

“That’s the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” Avi said, breathlessly. “Oh, fuck. I should have taken a video for Asa.” 

Felix gave a long suffering sigh, then pulled his phone free, pointing it towards the now footless man before hitting record. 

Avi’s heart swelled. “Thanks, kitten.” 

Felix continued to look disgruntled, but gave him the tiniest of smiles. “If we dip the rest of him, will his whole body shatter like that?” he asked August. 

August grinned. “Only one way to find out.” 

Avi slammed his hand down on the green button before the words even left August’s lips. The piece of shit sank slowly into the fog, his sharp screams lasting less than a minute but causing a throbbing behind his eyes. 

The sudden silence was deafening. 

Avi hit the stop button then counted to thirty slowly. The three of them huddled close as he hit the yellow button, leaning forward to see what they’d find. Felix gasped as the man’s body came back into view. Avi breathed a little harder, saliva pooling in his mouth. It was…the coolest thing he’d ever seen. 

The man looked like a marble statue, except the blue veining throughout was from ruptured blood vessels not from…well whatever caused marble to marble. 

For a few moments they all just stood there, staring. 

“If you’re gonna do it, you should probably do it now,” August said, pulling Avi from his stupor. 

Avi shook his head. “Oh, right. Shit, sorry.” 

He moved closer, then used the metal rod to aim directly for the man’s chest, a delighted laugh escaping as the flesh began to crack like a broken windshield. He hit him again, riveted as the man began to fall away like ice chips or slowly breaking glass. It took several jabs for his body to shatter completely, falling back into the liquid, but soon there was nothing left. 

When he finished, he dropped the bar, breathing heavily. “That was a workout.” 

“That was the craziest shit I’ve ever seen,” Felix said, lowering his phone. He looked at August. “But how are you going to get this mess out of here?” 

August laughed. “What mess?” 

As they watched, he moved to another area. There was the screech of metal on metal as the bottom of the vat opened. Avi and Felix both sucked in a breath as the liquid transformed to vapor right before their eyes, sending a rush of frigid air their way. When it dissipated, there were only a few wet spots on the ground to show it had ever even been there. 

“Crazy…” Felix said, sounding winded. 

August yanked off his gloves, folding them inside out, then shoving them in his pocket. “Alright, you crazy kids have fun. I’m going to hunt down Lucas’s favorite cheesecake before I head home so he’s not too mad at me for ditching him at a faculty gathering.” 

“Tell him thanks,” Avi said, watching as August navigated the stairs two at a time. 

When he reached the bottom, he turned, giving them another chilling smile. “Night, children.” 

“He acts like he’s so old,” Avi muttered. “Should we go home and see our children?” Then he remembered. “Oh, right. Dad kidnapped them. And Zane and Asa aren’t home either. What are we supposed to do now? We don’t have anyone to play with.” 

Felix gave him a pissy look, crossing his arms over his chest. “You promised to be my mannequin for the Met Gala outfits,” Felix said. 

“I did, didn’t I?” Avi said. 

Felix sauntered close, wrapping his arms around Avi’s neck before pulling him in for a deep kiss. “Come on, I’ll let you do dirty things to me in front of the mirrors so you can watch yourself,” he murmured against his lips. 

“It’s not me I’m watching, kitten. But I accept.” 

Felix snorted, then kissed him again. “Somehow I thought you might.”