Chapter 22
FRANKIE
The race is on. We’ve successfully tracked Aiden for the last week, back and forth to the same club north of Birmingham.
Ben is still pale as fuck, but he has regained his strength enough to come along for the trip.
We ride in silence like fucking mad men down the motorway.
An army of SUVs drive behind us, full of men with guns imported from god knows where.
I can feel it in the air, we’re so close.
The anticipation of getting my hands on that cunt Oscar is palpable.
I go through the scenarios in my head on repeat, it’s the only way I can block the images of the video from my head.
It’s been playing on an endless loop, day and night, the only thing that can ever take it away is when I focus on Cora’s even breathing.
But without my anchor here, the intrusive thoughts worm their way in. “What happens if we get there and she’s?—”
“She’s not dead. If she was, we would know.” Zach’s glaring silver eyes reflect in the rear view mirror at me.
I have to take some comfort in that, right?
Spring is finally beginning to burst, leaves just forming on the trees lining the endless road, a peek of sunshine threatening to break through the grey storm clouds above us.
“We're almost there.” Ben says, breaking my train of thought. My body stiffens, adrenaline runs a thousand miles an hour through my bloodstream.
We turn off the motorway, into the north of Birmingham, skating past the new Russian territories and out through the smaller suburbs until we reach a small town full of kebab shops and nightclubs.
We pull up around the back. Silence hangs heavy in the air and dread sweeps through me.
What if they’ve moved? What if I’ve fucked up and Aiden has been onto me all along?
“You know the plan?” Zach says, looking between his brother and me.
“Yeah, you’ve repeated it enough times, Sergeant Dickhead.” My body hums. I need to get out, fuck some noses up, get my sister.
Zach rolled his eyes. “Sergeant Dickhead? Really? We need to work on your punch lines when this is over.”
I snort. “Assuming we make it out alive. Oscar’s a slippery fucker.” Zach’s grin turns evil, and I shiver from the sight of it.
Just as I’m about to pull the handle of the car, Ben doubles over in pain.
“Fuck!” He spits. Zach grabs his brother's jacket and undoes the buttons, revealing a fast spreading blood stain on his white shirt. “We have to go now!”
“You’re not going anywhere like this.” Zach says, but Ben has already thrown open the car door and straightened himself out.
We both share a look before we get out of the car to join him.
“New plan.” Ben says. “Zach, you will have to perform the ritual in there. I can feel her slipping away.”
It’s like a cold bucket of water, the thought of her dying. We had come so close, too close, to let that happen. Zach nods in agreement.
“What ritual?!” I ask.
“I’ll have to take her soul and put it in another in order for her to survive.” The other cars begin to show up around us. Men in tact uniform and machine guns start to file out silently.
“Woah, no no no—” I hold my hands up.
“You don’t get a choice. Not when she’s the only thing keeping us alive.
” The team posts up around the building, covering every entrance and window.
“Now shut the fuck up and let me focus.” Zach closes his eyes and stands as still as a statue.
“The basement. She’s in the basement.” Ben nods and we move. Fast, silent.
Hearts pounding as one, we enter the building.
The team leaves a trail of bodies in their wake. There's a few stragglers, all of which I recognise as Oscar’s men. Men that used to work for my father. I make sure to spit on each one as we pass them in the winding corridors.
When we finally get to the basement, I’m a sweaty mess. There's no air in here, it reeks of stale piss and cum.
It makes me want to vomit.
I get there first.
I wish I hadn’t.
It’s like seeing Mum all over again. I pause for a moment, taking in the scene. Lou’s on the floor, broken and barely breathing with that cunt lying next to her. A pool of blood circles them both.
Mum’s swaying body flashes in my mind, but this time I don’t shrink from it. I have the power to change this outcome.
My baby sister isn’t dead yet.
He whispers something in her ear, and her face twists in agony as the knife is pulled out of her ribs. More blood spills.
“Make it right,” she begs. The sound of her voice, raspy and pained, is both a relief and a stab in the chest.
Footsteps sound from the hallway behind me and finally, my feet begin to move.
“Hello mate, long time no see. I told you, you wouldn’t be able to hide forever.” The blood drains from Oscar’s face, as if I were the one he should be afraid of. I yank him up by the collar and hold his face close to mine,
“Frankie?” Lou’s dry and cracked voice calls from the floor. I throw Oscar towards the people entering the room, catching Zach’s silver eyes as Oscar falls unceremoniously to the floor. Zach kicks him in the ribs, but I don’t wait to watch what that crazy cunt has in store for that fucker.
“I’m here, Baby Sister.” My knees hit the floor next to her.
“You came.” She smiles, the shadow of my mum etched across her features. Lou reaches for me, her freezing hand touches my face. Then, her eyes go blank, and I panic as I grip her hand with her own.
“I’m too late, you’re cold.” Oscar’s screams spill into the room from the corridor.
As much as I want to look, I keep my eyes on her.
She frowns as she looks to the doorway. “I didn’t come alone.
I’m not the only one who's been looking for you. I have to say, those boyfriends of yours aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. ” I force a smile onto my face.
Her eyes go blank again.
“Hurry the fuck up, boys!” I shout behind me.
Lou turns her head towards the door, tears spill from her eyes in what I can only guess is pure relief.
Ben is pale as fuck. I eye him for a second before I turn back to Lou as he joins us. “Don’t you ever leave me again, Garrick.” He kisses her forehead and her eyes flutter shut. Her grip loosens on my hand.
“Stay with me.” Ben says, gripping the sides of her face as if trying to wake her up.
All I can do is watch, frozen, gripping my sister's cold hand. I kiss it, as if that might help. I repeat a silent prayer in my head to a god I don’t think exists.
“Do it now, Zach, she’s bleeding out.” Ben says through gritted teeth, one of his hands finding its way to his side where blood continues to spread through the fabric of his white shirt.
Zach nods and closes his eyes, words I can’t understand mutter from his lips.
It sounds like a chant, like the crazy shit you see on TV.
Moments pass, Lou lies still on the ground.
“It’s not working!” Ben roars in agony.
“She’s fighting me. I told you this would happen, I warned you, Brother!” Zach’s nose drips with blood, pain rooted in his voice.
“Damn the consequences, she’s here because of me. This happened because of me!”
All I can do is watch the exchange between the brothers, still keeping my grip on her hand, still praying in my head.
“Your guilty conscience is not a good enough reason for me to rip out her soul! She doesn't want this!” Zach screams, blood spilling from his mouth.
“Give her your blood, then. Extend her life long enough that we can get her help!” Ben sputters and chokes, falling to the floor. His skin begins to disintegrate in front of my own fucking eyes. Flesh melts into bone and muscle.
“Don’t fight it, let go and the pain will stop.” Zach mutters as he pulls out a pocket knife from his trouser pocket.
Ben is still on the ground, his body withering into something words can’t explain.
“What are you doing?” I ask Zach as he comes over to Lou.
“Saving us all.” He slices the palm of his hand open and holds it to her lips. As soon as the blood touches her tongue, colour returns to her cheeks. Her chest heaves upwards and no longer sounds like a death rattle.
“What did you do?!” My question goes unanswered.
Zach rips the baggy T-shirt, exposing her knife wound. I watch in awe as the skin begins to knit itself back together. Lou’s eyes fly open and I startle backwards. The brown is nowhere to be found, instead, silver eyes gleam up at the ceiling.
“What the fuck?”
“It’s temporary. She needs a doctor and an IV drip.” Zach gets to his feet and stumbles back until he hits the wall.
“How—” His eyes flash to mine.
“How? How does any of this happen Frankie?” He growls impatiently.
“I—”
“You need to start accepting the fact that the world is not what you thought it was, boy. Don’t try to make sense of it, just accept that this is what it is.”
I’m lost for words. For the first time in my life, I find myself wanting to understand. To know more. To know everything.
Ben begins to stir, his own skin beginning to regenerate into the youthful man I’ve come to know.
“I saved them. Don’t sweat about how I did it. You don’t want this kind of knowledge, trust me.” Zach’s hand continues to bleed, but I don’t care. Not really. My eyes find Lou’s silver ones once more. She stares up into nothing.
A thousand questions burn in my mind.
But Zach is right.
I can’t handle the burden. I can’t even read the damn book.