Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Joey
My head throbs as darkness fades into slivers of light.
My face is raw and tight, swollen from a few sucker punches.
It’s my knees that are killing me though.
Face down on hardwood floors, and my entire body weight is focused on my joints.
My wrists refuse to move and my fingers tingle.
Shit, they’re bound. This is not a kink I have for myself. Good to know.
The last hour replays in my head. Fuck, why didn’t I upgrade the cabin with more defensive tactics?
Bullet-proof windows work as a shield to protect yourself but suck in defense.
I opened the door to shoot at them and gave them a clear opportunity.
And how in the hell did they get past the security cameras and alarms?
Some elite hacker did some coding shit? Or did someone give these assholes the code?
None of these questions are as important as focusing on my surroundings. Where am I?
On the other side of the room, there’s a pile of clothes and some upside-down chairs. There is a coloring book and crayons on the opposite side of the room. Does a kid live here?
To my left, there’s a whimpering cry. “Not here, please not here.”
Donny?
He sounds like he's in pain, but it’s the fear that gets me. Donny’s been in scrapes before. He’s had the shit kicked out of him multiple times. Ever since the kids were taken a few months ago, he’s been teetering on a breakdown. But this is different, it’s terror.
Further to my left is Uncle Gio, all blood, spit, and venom. He’s been roughed up the most. Blood drips down the side of his face, and his nose is smashed up. But it’s the tears that have me concerned. His head is down, his chin quivering, and tears form a river down his cheeks.
There’s a guy, I can’t tell from here who he is, but he’s got a cell phone shoved in Gio’s face. “Shot the shit out of the car. Got the video and everything. Your daughter’s dead.”
What?
Donny wails, “Izzy!” and crumbles into sobs.
Izzy’s gone? Dead? No. It can’t be. She wasn’t in this life. She did one job for Gio, one message at a wedding. But she wasn’t connected to anything. We made sure of that.
The guy standing in front of me punches the guy standing in front of Gio. “Who’s that other bitch in the car?”
“Alana Fucking King. We gunned down the Deviant’s number one target.” The two of them laugh. “We’re fuckin’ legends.”
Izzy and Alana? How is that possible? Gone in a hail of bullets? Were they scared? Did they see it coming? Was it fast and painless?
My chest tightens and breathing seems impossible. My mind is a blank space where no thoughts are getting through, because reality can’t be real.
How can they be gone? Is the world still here? I’m still here.
There’s a feminine whisper next to me. “Please don’t hurt them.”
The man in front of me shifts his weight and pistol whips her face. Jenny cries out in pain. Jenny? When did she get here? These fuckers lost my dog, roughed up my cousin and uncle, killed Izzy and Alana, and now they’ve hurt Jenny? From the blank space in my mind all I see is red.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I snarl.
But I’m tied up—helpless, useless. And my family is getting picked off one by one. Wake up, Joey. This has to be a hellscape dream. There’s no way it’s real. It’s impossible.
The guy laughs. “You can try, but we’ve got men heading toward the safe house. In ten minutes, your nephew and aunt will be dead too.”
Jenny spits blood in front of her and stares off into space.
“Look at the way the blood soaks into the wooden floors. Do you think this is the original wood? The knots and knobs are all where branches used to be, and now it's been filed down to nothing. Life is so fucking weird and temporary. The blood drops landed on the center of the knot. It reminds me of an eye from an anime character… What was his name? The one with the red eyes. There’s a billion characters like that, and they all have great hair. Oh, anime boys, dark, brooding, and great hair. Shit, did I wash my hair today? Wait, that’s right, Joey did.
But he didn’t use the shampoo I like. Do I need shampoo?
Maybe I should switch to Japanese hair care?
Japan and Korea have fantastic hair and skin care products… .”
At this point, both men are staring at her. Normally, I can understand what the fuck she’s doing, but now even I’m at a loss.
“What the hell, woman? We said your friends are dead and you’re talking about wood and hair products?” the shorter of the two men snaps.
But the other man punches him in the arm. “Shut up, I want to see the station where this train of thought ends.” He gives her a little nod. “You go right ahead.”
Jenny smiles like her teeth are coated with sugar instead of blood.
“Thank you. I figured, since you’re clearly going to kill us, I would let my Narrator Lady talk for a little while.
I mean, it’s only fair. I work so hard to keep her quiet, she should get a few minutes to be free before… Well, you know.”
I blink at her a few times, but she doesn’t look at me at all.
Instead, she’s locked eyes with the taller guy, who is nodding violently.
“You’ve got a narrator too! Mine changes accents depending on what’s happening in my head.
When I’m thinking about sex, the Narrator Man sounds like Chef from South Park. ”
“Issac Hayes,” The shorter one mumbles.
The taller one counters with annoyance, “No, he sounds like Chef, fuck you. When I’m thinking about fancy science shit, it sounds all British like Hugh Jackman.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Hugh Jackman is from Australia.”
“Shut up, I don’t criticize your narrator man.”
The shorter one throws up his hands. “I don’t have one!”
Both Jenny and the taller guy gasp and stare with their jaws open. “So, what random thoughts are filling your head all the time?”
The shorter one shrugs and says, “Nothing. It’s a blank wall unless I need to think about something.”
Jenny drops her eyes. “That sounds so lonely. Right now, my Narrator Lady is playing random scenes from The Prestige and Logan.”
Both men pause and nod, but it’s Donny who pipes in. “Great fucking movies.”
“Right!” the short guy says.
Donny says with a sadness in his voice, “My Narrator Dude stopped talking when my meds got upped. I miss him. It’s too quiet now.”
The men whip their attention to Donny, and while my cousin starts babbling about his meds, I notice the pile of clothes start to move.
Wait, are we not alone?
A side door creaks open, and my Aunt Rita comes storming in. As Jenny would say, the vibes instantly change. She’s a snarling beast complete with fur coat and diamonds around her neck like trophies of her kills. She scowls. “What the hell are they still doing alive?”
“Um, we were talking about narrators in our head,” the taller one says, “and movies.”
She locks eyes with me and yanks the gun out of the shorter one’s hand. “Your mother and father didn’t take this long to die here.” She points to a dark patch of wood in the center of the room. “They left one hell of a stain, though. I didn’t even bother to clean it, just left them to rot.”
Before I can react, my girlfriend says, “Ohhhh. That’s why this place is haunted. Or was it already haunted and you made it worse?” Jenny glances over to the tall one. “Haunting is a hyperfixation.”
He nods in agreement. “Stonehenge for me.”
“Fucking hell.” Rita sighs and presses the gun against Uncle Gio’s head. “I’ll have to do it myself. Two for two.”
The gunshot echoes across the room. No. No. Donny’s screaming, but the scene remains frozen as blood drips down onto the floor. Gio’s shirt is covered in red, and Rita falls forward, her lifeless body crumpling to the ground.
Uncle Gio shifts from side to side and watches his vengeful sister’s brains stain the wood floors.
“Told ya this place is haunted,” Jenny says flatly.
Before the other men can react, two more deafening pops fill the air, and they fall, their confused expressions still on their faces as the light leaves their eyes. I freeze, waiting for more bullets to take our lives too.
In the back of the room, the pile of clothes moves again. But this time my brain makes the connection…
First of all, I need glasses, because what was a blurry mess of nondescript clothes is actually a man with fabric draped around him, sweatshirts, blankets, and pants cocooning him.
The clothes topple over as he stands, the gun in his hand still smoking.
His beard hasn’t been shaved in years, and his eyes shift wildly between us.
He takes a few steps forward, at first toward us, but pauses and turns the forgotten chair right side up.
Jenny speaks first. “Thank you very much.” She says it with the same sweet gratitude as a waiter bringing her an unexpected refill on her drink, not with the awe of someone saving our lives.
The man grunts and coughs. His whole body lurches forward as he spasms. When the fit ends, he rights himself and says, “Sorry, I have dust allergies."
It’s like I can hear Donny say, “Well maybe don’t live in an abandoned house.
” But his mouth is shut, and he scoots over to the side of the room as a trail of blood leaves my aunt’s body and drips toward him.
It’s been life and death here for the last ten minutes, and he’s worried about getting his pants dirty.
I ask, “Are you going to hurt us?”
The man raises an eyebrow. “From my experience, the people who've been kidnapped and tied up aren’t the bad guys.” He stops in front of Jenny, and my stomach tightens.
What’s he going to do with her? He digs through his pocket and pulls out a knife.
I twist against my restraints. “Besides, this one brought my family food a few days ago.” He steps behind her, cuts her zip ties, and then frees my family one by one.
“I’m a former Hunter trying to live off the grid with my family while I cope with my PTSD. ”
He continues to talk to Gio as I check myself for injuries. “Hunter, huh? You knew Alana King?”
The man laughs. “There’s no way in hell that woman is going out in a car shooting. That chick has better plot armor than a character in the Fast and Furious franchise.”
Donny mumbles, “Great movies.”
I struggle to my feet and rush to Jenny, checking her for damage.
Her wrists are red and raw from the plastic digging into her skin, and her cheek is red from the sucker punch, but overall, she seems okay.
But there’s something in her eyes that I don’t like at all.
It’s not trauma from the near-death experience. “Are you disappointed?” I ask.
Her lower lip juts out. “I thought this place was haunted.”
I press my forehead to hers. “Baby, you’re safe, that's what matters.”
She steps away and crosses her arms. “You don’t understand. One of my hyperfixations was wrong… That super fucks with my head.”
She’s right, I don’t understand.
But our new friend pauses and whips around to her. “Oh, this place is definitely haunted.” His brown eyes go wide, his jaw tight, and as he speaks, the chair he fixed moments earlier, topples over. On its own.
Jenny lights up like she’s been given a Christmas gift. “Thank you, Mr. Ghost. I hope you have a lovely day.” I blink at her a few times. “What? Just because he’s a ghost doesn’t mean every second of his existence has to be shitty. I genuinely hope he has a good day.”
She’s the best kind of chaos.
But Donny throws his hands up and yells, “Nope nope nope. I’m out.”
Gio steps over his sister. “What about them? Obviously, cleaning is in order. We can send a crew.”
But our new friend shrugs. “There’s an incinerator downstairs. I’ll take care of it.”
“We don’t like leaving a debt unpaid. What’s your price?” I ask with my Mafia boss voice.
But once again, it’s Jenny who speaks up. “Do you need a job with flexible hours, lots of physical activity, and your co-workers are animals? Plus, there’s healthcare for you and your family.”
We all stare at her, and his eyes get glassy. “You’ve fed my family and now you’re offering me a job?”
Jenny shrugs. “I mean, I did think I was paying tribute to a demon, but yeah. You’re an assassin who lives in a haunted house, you’re going to have, like, the best stories at our weekly staff meetings.”
Gio shakes his head and mumbles something in Italian I don’t understand.
Donny’s already down the stairs and waiting in the vestibule.
Jenny writes down her number on a piece of paper she found in the hallway and hands it over to her newest employee.
But I think he might be better suited for my family business.
The past few minutes linger in my head. My girlfriend is completely unfazed by the violence, everything I’d work so hard to hide from the outside world.
And instead, she embraced it with kindness and humor.
Betrayal runs deep with the business, and the longer I’m in it, the less I like it.
I want to be more like Jenny—hopeful for a future.
As Donny opens the front door, another body comes charging in. It takes me a second to recognize who it is. Cam is drenched in sweat, his gun drawn.
“Shit, Joey,” he gasps out, “are you okay? Dimitri called. Said the cabin was under attack. He gave me the code for your GPS tracker. I’ve got backup coming. What do you need?”
“GPS tracker?”
“Yeah. Dimitri said Alana lojacked the whole Four Families in case something like this ever happened.”
Alana. She was our constant protector. My throat tightens as I can’t hold back anymore.
“She’s gone.”
Cam holds the door open for us. “You think bullets are going to stop Alana? Nah, she sent a message to Dimitri a few minutes ago. Everyone needs to head to Mastodon to regroup.”
“Told ya!” our new friend calls out.