When Dexter was out cold, Aidan got to his feet, breathing hard, hands stained with blood. He pulled Raven to him. “You okay?”
“Fine, just a bit bruised. You?”
He nodded. “They didn’t touch me. Fucking pricks,” he snarled at Dexter’s prone form.
“Thank you,” she said, kissing him.
He released a moan of relief and crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair. “Thank God you’re alright.”
She could feel him shaking. “Thanks to you.”
“Thank Christ it started raining and I came back early, otherwise I’d still be out on the moor while they were doing God knows what to you.” A shudder ran down his spine, terrified at how close he’d come to losing her. He pulled back slightly to regard her, cupping her face in his hands. “We need to finish this once and for all, before anyone else comes after you.”
“I agree. This isn’t over.” Behind him, she saw the clock flashing on the DVD player. “So that’s how they bypassed our security. They cut the power.”
“We’ll link everything to a back-up generator, so that can’t happen again.”
Dexter woke with a cough, spraying blood out of his mouth. Releasing Raven, Aidan stalked over to Rob’s body and yanked the machete out of his back. He stood over Dexter, gaze cold, brandishing the weapon. “I’m going to use you to send a message that Raven isn’t to be fucked with.”
Dexter started to laugh, a deep, guttural and utterly humourless sound, spraying more blood from his mouth. “You are so stupid and pathetic you little shit.” His laughter descended into a manic, wild-eyed cackle. It was the sound of a man who knew he was going to die and who was helpless to prevent it, the knowledge pushing him to the very limit of what little sanity he possessed.
Aidan ignored him, returning to Raven and taking her hands. “This is a necessary death.”
“I know.” Not that she wanted to protect Dexter, because she didn’t but Aidan had that look in his eye that told her nothing was going to stop him. He was in that dark place he sometimes journeyed to that only killing could bring him back from.
Aidan’s head snapped round, eyes burning when Rob released a groan and attempted to push himself upright. He grabbed him by his hair, yanking back his head. “Why haven’t you fucking died?” he snarled.
“He can’t feel pain,” said Raven.
“He won’t feel anything with no fucking head,” he said, raising the machete.
“No,” said Raven. “You are not decapitating someone in our home,” she added when those wild eyes were turned on her. Steadily she met his feral gaze.
Aidan took a deep breath and lowered the weapon. Instead he wrapped his arm around Rob’s neck, tugged, there was a crack and his body went limp. Aidan threw his body back to the floor, giving it a kick for good measure. “There, much neater,” he said breathlessly. He looked back at Dexter, who was attempting to get to his feet and failing. “I’ll take him out onto the moor. You won’t want me doing what I’ve got in mind to him in our home either.”
“Probably not. I’ll call One Eye.”
“We don’t need him.”
“We do if we want this mess cleaned up properly.”
Aidan reluctantly nodded. “Fair enough. I won’t leave until they get here, so you’re not left alone.”
Raven didn’t have the energy to argue with him. Besides, she was ashamed to realise that she didn’t want to be alone. “Where’s my phone? I left it on the coffee table.” She looked to Dexter, who gurned up at her, the spittle oozing from his lips tinged red. “Where’s my phone Dexter?”
He spat at her but, as his lips were damaged, it landed on himself.
With a sigh, she knelt by his side to search him, finding her phone in one of his jacket pockets.
“I want your feathers,” said Dexter. He took in a deep breath before bellowing, “I want your fucking feathers.”
Raven just rolled her eyes and pressed the phone to her ear so she could hear One Eye on the other end.
Aidan stood over Dexter, clutching the bloodied machete. “No one touches Raven’s feathers, except me.” With that he brought the machete down on Dexter’s right hand, severing it at the wrist, making him scream, his body jumping and jerking with shock.
“Aidan, please,” said Raven. “Look at the state of the carpet.”
“We’ll buy a new one,” he replied, his gaze locked on Dexter. He knelt by his side, pressing the blade to his chin, forcing him to look at him. “This is just the start. I’m going to do to you what you threatened to do to Raven. I can make it last as long as I like.”
“You won’t do it with the same style and flair,” he retorted, sweat standing out on his brow, body violently trembling.
“Maybe not but I’ll do it with a shitload more brutality.” With that, Aidan knocked him out.
“You need to bandage him up,” said Raven. “Unless you want him to bleed to death before you’re finished with him.”
“The bastard’s not getting out of it that easily.”
“I’ll get the bandages,” she said, walking into the kitchen to receive the first aid kit. As she crossed the hallway back to the lounge, she caught sight of the two dead bodies at the door, blood spattered up the wall and she sighed. They were going to have to do some serious redecorating.
Raven froze. There were only two bodies at the door. Rob and Dexter were in the lounge, making four. Where was the fifth man?
She raced back into the lounge, just in time to see the fifth man aiming a gun at the back of Aidan’s head from the opposite door. As Aidan was attempting to stem Dexter’s bleeding, he’d failed to notice him.
“Aidan, get down,” she yelled, charging into the room, throwing herself at him.
As she crashed into him, the man fired. Raven felt the bullet graze her back before it flew through the shattered window.
They landed together behind the couch, keeping low as more bullets were pumped in their direction.
“You’re bleeding,” said Aidan, touching her back.
“Just a graze.”
Fury filled his eyes and he pulled the gun from the back of his jeans, shot to his feet and fired, hitting the man in the chest, who fell, dropping the weapon. As Aidan advanced on him he kept firing, the man’s body jumping grotesquely as he emptied the clip into him, only stopping once he’d run out of bullets.
Aidan paused to check his pulse, just to make sure he was dead. “Fucking bastard,” he snarled at the body before returning to Raven, taking a dressing out of the first aid kit she’d dropped and pressing it to the wound on her back to stop the bleeding. “You saved my life,” he said.
“And you saved mine.”
Their eyes locked and something detonated between them. Frantically they started to kiss, caressing each other with bloodied hands, fuelled by adrenaline and death. When Aidan felt the blood trickling down her back, he reluctantly pulled away. “We need to sort that wound out.”
She nodded, pulling her hair over one shoulder so he could attend to the injury.
As he cleaned and dressed the wound, anger grew inside Aidan, it taking him back to the time she’d been shot and almost killed, because of him. When he’d finished he turned her round to face him. “You never put yourself in the line of fire for me again. Never.”
“I can’t make you that promise because if I see someone aiming a gun at you, I’d do the same thing again.”
He took her hands and furiously shook his head. “You don’t understand. Without you I couldn’t…” He trailed off, trying to find the words. He was a man of action so they didn’t come easily to him. “When I’m away, stuck in some hellhole I survive because of you, because I know if I come home you’ll be here and all the bad things I’ve done, the bad times I’ve survived, will just melt away.”
She kissed him. “I hear what you’re saying because I feel the same but I will always put myself between you and a bullet.”
He crushed her to him, kissing her hair.
/> When Dexter released a cry and his body began spasming, Aidan said, “I’d better stop his bleeding.”
She nodded, sitting on the couch while he bandaged the stump of Dexter’s right arm.
One Eye and Damon arrived half an hour later.
“Good God,” said One Eye as he walked into the living room. She and Aidan had moved the two dead bodies further down the hall so they could get in. “It’s a charnel house.” He seemed more surprised to see Aidan than he did five bodies. “So you finally came back? I might have known you’d bring chaos in your wake.”
“This isn’t Aidan’s fault,” said Raven. “This is because of my rival. Aidan saved my life. If he hadn’t returned from hiking when he did then Dexter would be dicing me up into little pieces right now.”
One Eye’s jaw set as he realised he was indebted to him for saving the woman he considered to be his daughter. “In that case Aidan, you have my apologies.”
“Don’t apologise to that bastard Dad,” said Damon. “He’s put Raven through hell and he bloody swans back whenever he feels like it, expecting everyone to welcome him.”
“It’s fortunate I swanned back when I did,” said Aidan. “Because you two were doing nothing to help her. She could have been killed today and what would you have done about it? Fuck all.”
“Don’t speak to us like that you wanker,” said Damon, squaring up to him, flexing his muscles. “I’ll knock you into next week.”
“Oy,” said Raven, putting herself between them. “I’ve had enough violence for one day and it’s not even lunchtime. Back off, both of you.”
“I don’t know why you keep taking this prick back,” said Damon. “He puts you through so much shit.”
“That is between Aidan and Raven,” said One Eye. “It’s not our business. Now we have more pressing matters to attend to. This is going to take us all day. We’ll board up that window and when the clean-up’s complete we’ll get someone out to replace it. It won’t be cheap.” His eyebrows went up when Dexter groaned and shifted on the floor. “That one’s still alive.”
“You don’t need to worry about him,” said Aidan. “I’m going to sort him out. He’s going to be a message to the city to leave Raven alone.”
“Good idea. You’re both best staying in a hotel tonight.”
Raven nodded, thinking that might be quite nice. Then she recalled Tom and groaned. “Shit, I forgot. I’ve got a date tonight.”
“What?” yelled Aidan and Damon simultaneously.
“A fucking date?” said Aidan. “With who?”
“Relax, it’s nothing serious.”
“It better not be,” he positively snarled.
“Oh calm down. I’m only going to get information. It’s with a police officer.”
Aidan ground his teeth together. “You’re going on a date with a fucking copper? Am I understanding that right or have I gone fucking deaf?”
“If I could get a word in edgeways I might be able to explain.”
“This had better be good.”
“It’s nothing romantic,” she said. “As we know, Jeremy is a police officer. Sergeant Carter invited me to the police ball and I saw a chance.”
“What if Jeremy isn’t there?” said Aidan. “What will you do then?”
“Make my excuses and leave.”
“You’d fucking better because no bastard copper is putting his hands on my wife.”
“He won’t touch me because I won’t let him.”
“Is he good looking?”
“What does it matter?”
“Is he good looking?” he yelled.
Damon rounded on him. “Don’t shout at her.”
“Don’t shout at her? My wife’s going on a date with another man.”
“Can you blame her when her husband is hardly ever around? She’s not a nun but you’d have her living like one.”
Aidan was stuck for an answer. He turned to Raven, the anger gone from his eyes. “Is that why you’re doing this, because I wasn’t around?”
“No. I’m doing it to try and find out more about Jeremy, that’s all.”
“Really?”
She nodded and took his bloodstained hand. “Really.”
“You’d better not kiss him.”
“I’ve no intention of kissing him. There’s only one man I want to kiss,” she said with a gentle smile.
Damon tutted and folded his arms across his chest.
Aidan’s gaze flicked to One Eye. “You already knew about this date, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “And she’s doing it exactly for the reason she said, even though I encouraged her to treat it as romantic.”
“You did what?”
“I didn’t think you were coming back.”
“Well I did,” he snapped.
“For once, I was wrong.”
“I’ve already told Raven I won’t stay away for as long again.”
“We’ll see.”
“I mean it.”
One Eye just nodded, not looking convinced.
“Please,” said Raven when Aidan opened his mouth to yell back at One Eye. “We have more urgent matters to deal with, like all these dead bodies.”
“We’ll get on with that right away,” said One Eye. “You two go and pack a bag. By the time you come back tomorrow, it’ll be as it was.”
Raven gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. As I said, you’re my daughter. We’re happy to help, aren’t we Damon?”
“Yeah,” he replied, glowering at Aidan.
Sensing the rising tension, Raven took her husband’s hand and led him from the room.
While Aidan took a shower to wash off the blood, Raven packed for them both, stuffing clothes into a small suitcase, eager to get her husband away from Damon. They had come to blows before. She picked out a pretty lilac dress and heels for her date that night. She was still going, she didn’t care what Aidan said. In her bag she secreted a few weapons - two guns and a few knives of varying size and viciousness. After today she didn’t want to be caught unarmed again.
When Aidan exited the en-suite shower, just a towel around his waist, Raven wished they could lock themselves away in here forever, her body aching at the sight of his.
He took her hands and kissed her. “Let me know which hotel you book into. I’ll meet you there as soon as I’ve disposed of Dexter.”
“Be careful.”
“And you. No sneaking off on your date before I get there, okay?”
“I’m not leaving until eight o’clock.”
“Good.” He took a deep breath and his eyes cleared. “No one should be looking for you for a while, they’ll think you’re in Dexter’s hands.”
“Thank you for stopping that from happening.”
“You do know that you’re what’s most important to me?”
She nodded. “Right back at you.” Raven kissed him and picked up her bag. “See you at the hotel.”
Aidan watched Raven’s black Nissan head down the road leading away from the house, waiting until it had disappeared along the main road. He then dressed and headed back into the lounge, passing One Eye and Damon, who had donned white biohazard suits and were placing the two bodies in the hallway into black bags. He skirted past them and found Dexter still lying on the floor, so pale and still he thought he was dead. When he kicked his legs Dexter woke with a start, raising his right hand to rub his face, gasping when he saw the bandaged stump.
“Oh Christ, I’m still here,” he said before giggling.
“I see the painkillers are working their magic,” said Aidan. “Don’t worry, they’ll wear off in plenty of time for you to enjoy what I’ve got in store for you.” He picked up Dexter’s machete. “With this.”
“Whatever.”
“Your nonchalance doesn’t fool me.”
“And your pathetic threats don’t scare me.”
“They’re not threats. I’m going to cut you up into pieces, like you inten
ded to do to my wife.”
“You think you can get rid of me and the danger will go away? Well it won’t. Even with me gone there’ll still be people gunning for her.”
“No they won’t, not after I decorate Leeds with your body parts.”
“You think you can protect her from them all? Your little bird’s going to die.”
When Aidan raised the machete to bring down on his neck, One Eye walked into the room. “That’s what he wants.”
Aidan took a deep breath and nodded, lowering the weapon. “You’re right and he’s not going to get it.” Instead he kicked Dexter in his gurning face, knocking him out before he could wind him up any more. Aidan looked back at One Eye. “Are we okay?” Despite being angry at him for encouraging Raven to go out on a date, Aidan did like One Eye and he was important to his wife.
He nodded. “But we won’t be if you hurt Raven like you did with your latest vanishing act.”
“It wasn’t through choice and I promised never to stay away for so long again.”
He held up his hand. “Raven’s already explained and there’s no need to go over old ground. However, should you stay away for another year then we will have a problem. A big one.” One Eye’s single blue eye morphed into a shard of ice.
“Not going to happen.”
“I sincerely hope you mean that. You’re fortunate Raven’s so loyal. Most women would have divorced you by now and barred you from this house.”
“I’m painfully aware of that, believe me. Raven’s everything to me.”
“I believe you. Just remember you’re everything to her too. How would you feel if she vanished for a year without telling you where she was, crying yourself to sleep at night because you had no idea whether she was alive or dead?”
“She does that?”
He nodded.
“Christ,” he sighed.
“You’ve gone some way to making it up to her today,” said One Eye, gesturing to the carnage lying around them. “If you hadn’t been here she would be being horribly tortured by now. But she is a woman, a very attractive one with needs. You’d be wise to bear that in mind.”
“I always do.”
One Eye nodded. “Get rid of that piece of shit then go and spend some quality time with your wife.”
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