by Cat Mann
****
My fingers traced along the curvy line from Ava’s pink mouth. We stood at the door that leads to the garage. “Thank you for this morning.” I said into her ear and her cheeks flushed. “Please call me if the baby decides to come early.”
“I will, of course. But he won’t. I love you, Ari. Be safe.”
I did not want to let her go. “I love you, Baby.”
Ava turned and walked towards Max who was seated at the table eating his breakfast.
“Love you, sweet boy!” I said to him one last time and he blew me a sticky fingered kiss.
I left the house, double clicked the unlock button on my car keys and opened the door to my car. My heart stopped and then I couldn't help but give in to a relieved smile.
“Good God, Julie. How’d you get in here?”
Julia sat in the passenger seat of my car, looking forward, and did not speak a word. She was ashen, pale and old makeup was streaked with tear lines on her face.
“Jules? You alright? Will you finally talk to me and tell me what is going on with you? We can fix this. Rory loves you so much. Whatever you are doing, it won’t matter to him, he only wants you back.”
Her chest expanded and when she exhaled, her eyes fell closed, her bottom lip trembled and a tear slipped down her cheek.
“Jules?” I slid into my seat and in one quick second, my whole world changed.
Out of nowhere, a strong arm hooked around my face, slamming my head back against the headrest, pinning me to the seat. My mouth and nose were covered. Instinctively, I started to fight and pull away, my body jerked forward and my fist flew behind me and connected with the man’s skull. I punched him again and again. I thrashed and jerked free from his vise-like grasp but a cold, hard gun barrel was already pressed firmly in to my temple, a silent warning telling me to stay still. My throat constricted and oxygen fled my lungs, abandoning me in my moment of need. Blood rushed through my veins like a deep ocean current and my heart beat in triple time.
“Shhh.” A deep, throaty voice cautioned into my ear. “If you make one more move like that, you’re dead. Do you understand?”
I swallowed and nodded my head yes.
“Ok, good.” His lips were on my ear, his assured tenor warned me that he meant business. “Listen to me very carefully. You have two choices. I can kill you right now and then go inside your house and kill that bitch wife of yours and that shitty kid or you can do exactly what I say and no one will get hurt.”
I nodded.
“Open your garage door and drive. The GPS is programmed; if you take one wrong turn or make any fast movements, you're dead.”
I stole a glance at Julia. Her eyes were pleading with me to cooperate.
Fighting the tremble in my hand, I started my engine, opened my garage door and drove away, turning exactly when and where I was told. Fear lodged itself in the pit of my stomach as the directions took me south away from Dana Point. I stared straight ahead at the roadway but my mind raced trying desperately to piece together what was happening.
“Julie… Julie, what is going on? What do they want?” I whispered to keep from screaming.
“Ari.” Her eyes never stopped looking straight ahead. “Just please. Please do what they say. Ok? You will be fine if you just do what they tell you to do.”
“Tell me what the hell is going on!” I screamed at her and the gun barrel was shoved deeper into the side of my head.
“Please calm down.” Her voice broke.
“I cannot calm down, Julia! What is this?”
“I would do anything for you. Ok? Remember that. Look at me.” She turned to face me and I met her eyes.
“I would do anything for you. I’m on your side. I love you, Ari. I love Ava. We will get through this. Just please trust me. Put your trust in us.” She turned her hand over in her lap, palm side up and brushed the diamond bangle bracelet up her arm with her shirt sleeve and exposed her small, inky black tattoo. An X circled with an O was stamped on her pale flesh.
My jaw dropped and in the same instant she quickly ripped the bracelet back in place, hiding the permanent ink. Her eyes screamed at me to shut up.
The GPS had me turn onto a road that leads to a beachside national park. I was acutely aware of two other people in the car -- the man with the gun...and Fauna. I could smell her. I could feel her glee.
“Pull over.” The man said and moved the gun from my temple and pressed it into the back of my head. One wrong move and this would be an execution and Ava and Max would be next. I eased my car over to the side of a narrow, abandoned, weather-eroded seaside road that was nestled on a jagged cliff side.
“Shut off the engine.”
I nodded and turned the key.
“What do you want?”
“You know what I want.” Fauna leaned forward from the back seat and put her lips on my ear, she sucked on my ear lobe, causing my stomach to heave with disgust. I pulled back and she clamped her teeth down. “You are mine and I want you, Ari. And if you want your wife, kid and baby to live, you’ll give me exactly what I want whenever I want it.”
I slammed my head into Fauna’s temple and pulled back out of the arm of the man who held my face. I heard the click from the hammer of the gun. Julia screamed, “Ari! Just do it! Join them!” The man holding the gun reached across the back seat with his free hand and jerked Julia’s head back by a fist full of her hair.
“Shut your fucking little mouth, you stupid bitch.” He cursed into her ear.
“Ari, just do it!” She screamed at me. “Don’t fight it. You’ll all die.”
He threw her face forward, smashing her nose into the dashboard of my car before she could say another word. She went limp on impact and a trickle of blood seeped out from her nose and dark red droplets stained the carpeted floorboard.
Ziloti. Fauna was one of them and so was Julia.
“Right now, as I speak, I have my people surrounding your home and watching your wife. You cannot run from us. If you think your little tricks worked, you are wrong.” He picked Julia’s cell phone up from the arm rest and played a recording of Ava’s voice saying our security code, with that simple recording, they had access to the house. Jules had tricked Ava. My heart dropped into my stomach. They had access to her.
“One more wrong move and we will go back to your house and you can watch as I cut that baby out of your wife, kill it, kill her and then kill Max. I will do it. I really want to kill them.”
I closed my eyes and surrendered.
“Do I have your attention now?”
“Yes.”
“Step out of the car. Walk.”
Led at gunpoint, I was directed down a tapered path across the cliff. The waves fifty feet below were wild and beat the rocks mercilessly, the sea spray hissed with the incoming tide. Small stones, dislodged by our footprints, tumbled dramatically down to sea. The wind howled and threw tossed sand into my face and eyes. At the end of the path was a wind-carved, stone cavern, and there I came face to face with them. The Ziloti. I was face to face with my nightmare and my fear was excruciatingly intense.
At last, I looked up into the eyes of the group of men and women who stood before me. There were so many, too many. People who had betrayed not just me, but Ava and Max as well. They had fooled us all. Tricked us into believing that they stood for good and that they loved us and followed us on our path to righteousness. In the sea of faces, robed with hooded cloaks, I saw my loved ones, people I have known and trusted my whole life, who had turned, who had sided with The Kakos. The Ziloti stood before me, an arrangement of evil doers, of extremists, radicals. People who lived and died in the name of The Kakos. And amongst them were my friends and my family. My Aunt Gianna refused to meet my eyes, Margaux and Lirik’s hands were grasped together. Detective Jason Scott stood tall. Cameron Gallo’s gaze burned into my skin. August was there too and lastly my father. They stared at me.
Anoth
er man, the leader, approached me and the guy behind me, the one with the gun, kicked the backs of my knees, at the same time pulling my head up to look into the leader's eyes.
“Ari Cal Alexander,” he spoke, “do you swear to follow us in the name of The Kakos? To live the life of a believer, to live in their words, their truths?”
If I said yes, I would die. If I said no, I would die. If I jumped, I would die. Which words would keep my wife and children safe?
The man pulled harder at my scalp. I opened my mouth, ashamed and afraid of the words that poured past my lips: “Yes, I swear.” I would do anything for her.
“Adonis, do you swear to fulfill your duty as a descendant and honor the promises made before you in the name of Zeus?”
“I swear.” I would do anything for them.
“If you fight me… us, you will die, your wife will die. If you run or hide we will find you and you will die the most horrible death. Ari, descendant of Adonis, if you dishonor your promise to Persephone, you all die.”
I revolted at the idea of joining them, at making the mistake that so many of our ancestors had before me, but I knew this man would follow through on his word. Not only would I die, but Ava and our innocent children would suffer horrible, terrifying deaths. In truth, I had no choice; I would do anything for Ava, even if it meant siding with the members of The Kakos. Even if it meant leaving her for the woman I had been promised to. I will betray Ava but only to save her. Only for love.
“Nothing in your life belongs to you anymore. Nothing is private. Your wealth is now our wealth. You belong to us. If anyone finds out you are one of us, that person will die, but more than anything, she will die – those Fates will die.”
I nodded solemnly.
“We aren’t bad, Ari. We will open your eyes to a world of power you never knew existed. I think you’ll be happy with your choice.” I stared blankly in to the man’s cold, dead eyes.
“He’s yours, Fauna.” The man with the gun grunted and he let go of his grip after pulling me to my feet. Fauna came to my side with a sleazy, whorish smile and pressed her lips against mine. She moved her tongue across my mouth and when I wouldn’t open my lips, she bit down, hard on the scar Ava had left on my bottom lip the night we married. Instinctively, I yanked my head back at the sting and ripping of my flesh and her teeth came with me, tearing open my scar. Fauna’s wet tongue invaded my mouth along with the metallic, bitter taste of my blood.
My cell phone rang out from my pocket. I knew it was Ava; I could feel it in my bones.
“It’s my wife calling.” My eyes pleaded for permission. “She’ll know something is wrong if I don’t answer her call.”
I was directed by the leader, “Answer the call on speaker phone. Say as little as possible.”
I slid my finger across the screen and placed Ava on speaker phone for all to hear.
“Ava,” I closed my eyes when I spoke.
“Ari! It’s time! My water broke!”
I looked at the leader and he nodded, allowing me to go to her.
I looked at my father, whom I had trusted so devoutly, and I saw his eyes light up with emotion at the news of Ava in labor. I looked away from him in disgust.
“I am on my way, Ava.”