Chapter 29 #2
Royce walks with a predatory step as he closes the distance between us.
Glass crunches under his black shoes. I don’t flinch when he raises his fist, don’t block the hit as he slams it into my chin.
I do however allow myself to fall into the black out as he screams obscenities and ruins my body all over.
Ace
The four agents that circle me are nervous.
Their bodies tense and I would bet my life that behind those masks they are each sweating.
To be fair, they should be nervous. They were sent to eliminate The Grim Reaper, the one typically doing the eliminating.
My kill count is higher than all theirs combined.
They are lambs expected to kill the monster standing in front of them.
“So this is it huh?” I keep my hands in my pockets, facing off against the group. “A fake call for a job to get me in front of this piss poor executioner squad?”
“You are hereby removed of all titles from The Fallen, stripped of protections, and life forfeit." One of the assholes says.
I roll my eyes. “You know why they call me The Grim Reaper?” I ask it casually, no fear or concern in my steady voice.
“Not even you can stand against four of us.” This comes from my right. “We aren’t scared of you.” The shake in his voice makes me smile.
Tilting my head to the side I drag my gaze towards the one who keeps fidgeting.
“Big talk from someone fidgeting like a toddler who has to take a piss.” I miss any retort he is about to give, the knife I just threw now wedged into his throat.
He gasps and gurgles before his body hits the ground with a dull thud.
The others shift nervously now, even the most steady reek of fear. “You aren’t human.” One of them whispers.
“No. I’m The Grim Reaper.” I growl. Another knife is pulled and another assassin down. 2 out of the 4 now dead in the snow. “Who is next to offer up a blood sacrifice to me?”
` “ENOUGH!” Chief appears like a god damn phantom next to me, halting the slaughter of his crew. I don’t take my eyes from the wannabe assassins but I’m mindful of every step Chief takes towards me.
“So this is how it’s gonna be huh?” I snort. “What’s the saying? No loyalty among thieves?”
“We aren’t thieves.”
I shrug. “We steal lives.”
He comes to stand in front of me, letting out a long sigh. “Sorry kid, I didn’t have a choice on this one.” He doesn’t look mad, only a shining guilt in his eyes.
“Fucking bullshit. You always have a choice, and you chose to sell me out. Tell me, how much are you getting paid for this?”
He shakes his head, almost sadly, “I told you to take care of that family of yours.”
I’m moving before Chief can react, my fist connecting with his gut before I’m dropping him to the ground and stepping over his groaning form towards the last two of The Fallen.
They each seem ready, fist clenched, weapons drawn.
I let them see my smile before I’m dragging the reaper mask up to cover my mouth.
It takes me less than three minutes to kill them both, the blood decorating the snow in beautiful splatters. I send my last knife sailing through the air embedding in Chief’s leg. He lets out a long moan of pain as he grips right above the injury.
“He’s got too many connections kid, just let him take the girl back and you can go on living your life!” Chief groans. “You can have a clean break.”
I pause before opening the door, looking back over my shoulder at someone I almost considered a friend. “The Fallen made a mistake today, they unleashed the monster that has no problem bringing down their empire. And Chief, just know that when I’m done with Royce. You're next.”
My eyes are glued to the road as I race up the mountain towards our home. Law hadn’t answered since our last phone call. Neither had Thea or Logan. All were ominously silent. And with the confirmation that Chief gave me the silence feels like I’m being thrown off a cliff.
“Come on Cricket….” I mutter. The phone rings and rings, the length of time it goes unanswered has me clenching my jaw so hard I’m shocked I don’t crack my teeth.
“FUCK!” I scream when it hits voicemail, again.
Snagging the emergency radio I hit the call button. “Cricket you there? Over.” The static goes on and on, the length dragging out before I’m calling out again. I do it three more times before I’m throwing it down and cursing. “Something is fucking wrong.”
The emergency radio crackles to life suddenly, my spirits lifting before plummeting back down as the emergency broadcast comes over the speaker, something about the snowstorm worsening.
Adrenaline surges through me as I round the last bend, turning up our driveway.
I see Law’s police truck still tucked against the trees and it only has me pressing further down on the accelerator.
I slam on the breaks as the house comes into view, my car sliding on the snow covered ground for a moment.
It looks peaceful. Way to fucking peaceful.
Flinging my body out of the car I scream out for her only to be met with silence.
“Law?!” I frantically move through the house, greeted with more ominous silence.
My body slows as I race past the window facing the pastures.
My eyes snagging on something red in the snow, my heartbeat ticking up at the same time.
My brain is screaming to run, but I can’t seem to get past the feeling of wading through water as I make my way towards the color in the snow.
When I finally reach the source of the color, I drop to my knees, darkness nipping at my soul as I see yet another thing Royce has taken from me.
Tears streak down my cheeks as my reality crashes in around me.
I scream out into the void a broken animalistic noise that even the snow can’t mute.
It’s a war cry mixed with grief. It’s a promise of violence and blood and retribution. It’s my demons waking up.
And I welcome those demons with open arms, ready to unleash hell on earth.
Logan
The dead man at my feet has my face painted in a smile. The feel of his warm blood against my skin is a balm to my soul. Another body lies a few feet away and another behind my parents house. They made a mistake coming here, moving against me was one thing but moving against my parents?
As if summoned my mom and dad walk out from behind the house.
Each has their own markings of a fight. My mother, however, looks like a Valkyrie carrying her ax over her shoulder.
People often forget, myself included, where Tarrin Everheart came from.
Her origin story is filled with blood and darkness that even I don’t know the details of.
“Anymore?” My dad asks, his voice gruff.
I keep my knife loose in my hand as I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
Just as the words leave my mouth my mother jerks towards the right, her ax flying through the air and embedding in the leg of one last asshole. My father and I both look wide eyed between her and the man currently writhing on the ground.
“What?” She says with a shrug. “It’s called mom hearing. We are special that way.”
I watch as she meanders over to the bleeding villain, my father quickly trailing after her. “Do you have a plan, Bridie?” My father intercepts the man pulling a gun on his wife with a swift kick and the love that shines through my mothers eyes at the act is so beautiful it’s almost sickening.
“I thought we should ask this lovely gentleman who sent him, who he works for, you know the usual.” She says it so calmly as if we didn’t just go on a family killing spree together. “I won’t talk.” The idiot bleeding out in the snow yells. The words are honestly music to my ears.
My mother turns towards me with a soft smile, “Have you met my son?” She looks back down at him. “He has a particular affinity for making people talk.”
Twirling my knife I walk as casually as I can through the snow covered grounds, allowing the blood that decorates the blade to flip and drip as I play with it. The whistling toon that takes shape from my lips makes my father snort.
“Really?” He shakes his head at the song choice.
I shrug, coming to stand next to him. “What? I thought the twinkling tune of Halloween really added to the ambiance.”
My mother lets out a long sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Yes yes we all know how much you love Michael Myers. Now can we please get on with this so I can clean my ax off?”
“He’s the greatest! I mean come on!” I shout, throwing my hands in the air. “I do not understand how this is still an argument in this house!”
“Logan, I say this with love. But between all of them he is absolutely not the greatest.” My dad claps me on the back. He’s always been a Jason fan.
“Both of you are entirely wrong on this. Neither Michael or Jason could ever hold a candle to Sam.” My mother says with a sharp glare.
“Fine, ask him.” I point the end of the knife towards the injured man bleeding out in the snow. “Who is the best villain?" “You all are crazy.” The guy says in a hushed whisper.
My mother snorts again before letting out a disappointed sigh. “You had to know who they were sending you after, this can’t be a shock to you.”
“I just did this for money.” He sobs. This isn’t some professional assassin sent to take us out, these are thugs and it's almost disappointing because I really was looking forward to torture.
My father moves closer, bending down to his level. “Talk. Now.”
The sniveling thug sniffles and darts his eyes around the three of us. “The man told us all we needed to do was kill the guy who showed up in the black jeep. He said if we did that he’d make sure we were paid out real well.”
“Did you even know who the target was?” I growl.
He shakes his head, eyes wide and face pale. My foot makes contact with the man's leg still impaled by the ax. He screams out in agony as I step down hard, making blood ooze even faster from around the blade.
I release my foot and he gasps for breath. “He said it didn't matter who was driving the jeep! That by the end of the day everyone would be dead.”
My world stalls out for a brief moment, as though I’m nothing more than an RPG character who has glitched. The worst possible scenarios suddenly playing out through my mind before my father is shoving me towards my car.
“Go! We’ll take care of this!” My mother shouts after me.
My jeep rumbles to life and as I start heading towards our home I can only hope that when I talked to Law earlier he at least got some of what I was trying to say. Because there isn’t a doubt in my mind that Royce is behind this and his target is our girl.
“Hang on Tink, we are coming.”