Chapter Four #2
“Okay,” Marilisa whispered, patting her head. “What’ll keep your awful sister from doing this again?”
That was a question Adalyn had been asking herself, and the only answer she had she didn’t like. Luckily, a customer walked in, ending the conversation. Work kept the past twenty-four hours firmly locked away behind a rust-proof door in her mind.
As day turned into night, Adalyn kept glancing at the clock. The time for the payoff drew near, and anxiousness settled in her chest. Then, right at closing like the previous night, the thugs were back. Mohawk dude smirked, and she could tell he didn’t think she had the payment.
“Got the money?”
Adalyn reached for the bag and laid it on the counter. He picked it up and looked inside. His eyes rose high as he glanced at her.
“How did you get this?”
“I just did.”
His eyes narrowed. “Trying to be a smart ass?”
She dropped her gaze.
He handed over the bag to his associate then leveled his cold, mocking stare on her.
“You know,” he said, licking his lips. “The boss man will just toss that money into his lockbox with all the rest. But you. I think you should be my reward. You’ll be coming with us after all.”
Adalyn took a step back, shaking her head. “You got your money.”
“Yes, but you’re still a prize.”
He marched forward, reaching over the counter, but Marilisa stepped in front.
“She’s not yours. Leave us alone!”
“Get out of my way, Granny.”
“No,” she snapped. “Leave. Right now.”
In the blink of an eye, a gun was in his hand. The flat black matte of the weapon looking deadly. Fear spiked, not for herself but for Marilisa who stood in front, blocking with her body.
“If you don’t move, you old bitch, you’ll be breathing out of your forehead.”
“Please, don’t,” Adalyn begged brokenly.
She tried to move Marilisa out of the way, but despite her age, she wouldn’t budge.
The air turned thick as an unnatural silence descended, and then the gun went off.
Adalyn screamed as Marilisa was pushed back from the force of the blast, right into her, and they both went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
“No, no, no,” Adalyn cried. “Please, no. Marilisa? Can you hear me?”
She was unceremoniously yanked away, and that’s when she saw Marilisa’s eyes were wide open, but no life remained in them.
Seeing that vacant stare broke everything inside of Adalyn, and she gave up.
Too numb to feel. Too numb to cry. Too numb to care.
Mohawk man dragged her through the doors, into the cool night air, where a car idled by the curb.
Adalyn looked back at the craft store Marilisa loved, where her empty body now rested.
Her friend was gone. She had used her body to defend Adalyn, knowing these guys weren’t playing around.
Marilisa would be so disappointed that she gave up, and she couldn’t do that to her memory. Adalyn looked down at the hand that held her and she bent to bite it. Her teeth sank into the soft tissue and immediately opened as purely a reflexive response.
“Bitch!” he yelled, letting her go.
A grim flash of satisfaction filled her a moment before he backhanded her.
The force spun her around, and she lost her balance.
Her head hit the side of the building, and pain exploded through her skull.
A little whimper escaped her lips, as something wet ran down her face.
When she inspected, her shaking hand came away with blood.
“I was gonna play nice with you,” Mohawk snapped as he loomed over her. “Now, your cunt will be used to entertain the boys. How about fucked five ways to Sunday before I put a bullet in your brain? How’s that sound?”
He drew his leg back and kicked her in the ribs.
Pain shot through her, and she curled up to protect her vulnerable side while covering her head with her arms. Then there was a scraping sound and Mohawk gave a pained grunt.
When she dared to open her eyes, she saw a man reach down and rip his head clean off.
Mohawk’s decapitated body fell with a thud.
Quick as lightning, her rescuer rounded on the second henchman and ripped out his neck.
A vampire, she thought.
At this point, Adalyn couldn’t care less if she was next. Death had to be preferable to this misery. Her knight turned and she stared at Lord Gareth Huntley’s blood-stained face. Surprise was an understatement.
“You?” she asked through frozen lips. “W-what are you doing here?”
He kneeled down next to her. “What did he do to you, little bird?”
“He killed my friend,” she whispered. When she tried to stand up, her bruised ribs sent a lightning bolt of agony through her. He slid an arm around her back and helped her. Adalyn glanced at the craft store. “She protected me. I went to The Crimson Den to save her, and he s-shot her.”
Blinking against the darkness threatening to pull her under, she spotted the headless body where copious amount of blood spilled across the concrete sidewalk.
The head had rolled into the gutter, and in her opinion, there wasn’t a more fitting place where it belonged.
The neck of the other goon was completely gone.
Both bodies should’ve made her recoil and gag, but she couldn’t summon the energy to give a shit they were dead.
The bag of money caught her eye so she bent to scoop it up, thrusting it into his hands. It belonged to Lord Huntley anyway.
“This is yours,” she said in a broken whisper, blinking up at him. “Are you going to kill me too?”
Gareth placed a finger under her chin, lifting until her gaze met his. “Of course not.”
“It’s okay if you do.”
He frowned. “Shh. Enough of that. I’m going to take you away from here.”
Fog rolled through her mind, and she tried shaking her head to clear the tunnel vision. “No, I have to take care of Marilisa. Call someone. Like an ambulance or something.”
“It’s okay, lass,” his beautiful voice rumbled, soothing across her nerves. “I already have people enroute to take of everything. Marilisa will be handled with grace.”
Comprehension was difficult. All she wanted to do was lay down and never wake up.
As long as her friend wouldn’t be left all alone inside the store, Adalyn didn’t care about anything else.
The edges of her vision grew even darker with each passing second, until the only thing she could do was cave to gravity.