They had approached from a different side to where she had left the last time she had been here. She couldn’t see the gravesite from here. She didn’t intend on mentioning it to Amato, she had no plans to visit it. She would be perfectly happy to avoid even catching a glimpse of it at all, if this was the reaction she had to the town alone, she hated to think how her body might betray her closer to the place where she had interred her brother’s body to the earth.
He gave her a few minutes to take it in, to adjust to the idea of going back there, and then they moved forwards again, heading towards the main gate.
Since she had last been here a thick wall had been built around the place, shelter from the elements most likely, but to her it gave the impression of something designed to keep her in, she was overcome with the feeling that once she set foot inside those walls she would never leave.
Leci pushed aside such foolish thoughts, knowing that her mind was still trying to play games, still trying to convince her that she was doing the wrong thing. She had Amato with her, he would take care of her, he would let no harm come to her and it was this thought that allowed her to keep calm as they passed through the gate and into the bustling inner workings of a busy mining town.
There were more people here than she had seen in any one place for a long time and everyone was out for themselves. There were traders who yelled noisily, in competition with one another for the attention of the crowds who jostled and bustled one another in an effort to get the front, be the first. Leci picked out three pickpockets within the first five minutes and hugged her pack to her chest, guarding what few possessions she had.
For the sake of congestion, horses were not permitted to be ridden in town and, as requested, Amato left their ride in the capable hands of the stable owner, just inside the gate. He passed a box of bullets to the man as payment and then took Alecia’s hand, leading her through the crowd. She stayed close to his side, timid and subdued, the place was not much different to how she remembered it.
There had been good times here, before the bad. The place wasn’t all doom and gloom; it was just that the painful memories far outweighed the happier ones.
The tavern was usually the easiest place to find in most towns you came across, purely because it was where the biggest crowds tended to be gathered. People relied a lot on alcohol to numb their senses to the harshness of the world around them. This place was no exception and they found the building with no difficulty. Leci could’ve led him right to it if he had asked, but he didn’t, and she wasn’t feeling inclined to volunteer the information.
The place was busy as they passed through from the sunlight of the day outside and into the unlit interior.
Enough light passed through windows to leave the place merely dim and shadowy rather than dark, features could be made out in the gloom. The place hadn’t changed a bit in the last five years.
Leci tugged her cap down subconsciously; now more afraid of the men she was looking for, than of Officials. Amato moved over to the bar and she followed closely, trailing him like a small child, clinging to the back of his jacket, as though letting go would mean that she would be instantly swallowed up into the hungry, greedy crowd and lost forever.
Unlike most small towns that didn’t offer many places for travellers to stay the night, the bigger ones, and particularly the industrial mining ones like Coleville, tended to offer a wide variety of alternatives, and there were usually rooms available in inns aswell as in apartment style buildings. Amato waited patiently while the bartender finished with another customer and nodded to the two of them, acknowledging their presence, he served a scruffy looking kid who was maybe around eight or nine. The kid ordered a Whiskey chaser and wandered off with it, Leci watched him until the voracious throng consumed him whole and he was lost from sight. She turned back to the two men as the barkeep approached them. Amato nodded a welcome to him.
‘Hi there, friend, any rooms going for a night or two?’
The other man leaned on the bar, cleaning a dirty glass with an even dirtier cloth. His eyes flickered from Amato to Leci, gave her a quick once over and then shifted back.
‘I charge extra if you’re bringin’ in a whore to pimp out.’
Before Leci could protest, Amato had reached across the bar, grabbing the man by a fistful of his shirt. The dirty glass fell to the floor and smashed as the man found his face pressed up against Amato’s.
‘Watch your tongue. The lady ain’t no whore. We rode in here together and when our business is done we’ll be ridin’ out together, and there’ll be no man laying a finger on her apart from me, got it?’
Leci couldn’t describe the feelings that rushed her. She wanted to believe he meant it when he defended her honour like that, and that what he had said a few days back in the other town had meant nothing. She was relieved and pleased and almost brought to tears by the gesture.
Keep it together Leci, he just doesn’t want to pay more for the room.
She didn’t like that voice, the one that niggled away at her, causing her to doubt herself, or the people around her. It had been sticking itself into her business far too often lately. She pushed it way down deep, burying it for the time being and pointedly ignoring it.
She glanced around, not surprised that the small scene had pulled no attention at all from any of the other patrons. They were all far too interested in themselves and their own pointless lives to take notice of what was happening around them.
‘Got it, Pal.’ The guy was holding up his hands in a defensive, submissive gesture. Leci hid a grin behind her hand, wondered how many people usually had the balls to argue with Amato in a fucked off mood, he was the kind of guy who was used to getting his own way, all the time. She was secretly proud to stand beside him, even if it was only to be considered his personal tramp.
Amato released him slowly, lowering him back to his feet. The bartender took out a small brush and swept up the broken glass without a word, pretty much used to this kind of behaviour, it didn’t really faze him anymore. He spoke while he worked.
‘Yer in luck, got two rooms just emptied up today. One’s even got a bed, but that’s the pricey one.’ He grinned, revealing a gold tooth that glinted as a patch of light hit it. Leci stared at it, captivated, wondered if she could get away with killing him and taking it... it was so pretty.
‘How pricey?’
‘Got coins?’
Amato hesitated briefly but then nodded. Coins were the preferred form of currency but by no means the only one, if you had them you were at such a high risk of having them stolen that most travellers tended not to bother. Leci was surprised he was carrying any on him, he hadn’t mentioned having them before and he’d been using ammo to trade with up until this point. It made sense though, to save the valuable stuff for when it was really needed, rather than using it in situations where something else would do just as well.
‘How many nights?’
‘One for now, maybe another, depends on whether or not we got business here.’
The man scratched his chin. He may have been curious to know what business they were looking for but someone in his profession knew better than to pry, and if he was interested, he didn’t show it.
‘Four silver ‘uns for the first night, I’ll lower it to three per night after that, if you stay any longer.’
‘I’ll pay you two for tonight and you’ll be happy with that.’
The man narrowed his eyes.
‘Two’ll get you the cheaper room, friend, I ain’t negotiatin’, see how busy this place is? Another couple hours an’ some of these drunks are gonna realise they couldn’t ride a horse outta here no matter how bad they tried. Some of em’ll try a’course, but a few’ll be payin’ me fer my rooms.’
Amato considered their options, Leci watched his jaw work as he clenched it, annoyed at not having been able to talk the barkeep down, but smart enough to know that pushing the issue might leave them without somewhere to stay for the night.
He
finally slid four silver coins across the bar, Leci hadn’t even seen him get them out, in return the barkeep handed him a rusty metal key.
‘First floor, go up the stairs, right to the end, last door on yer left.’ He grinned again and Leci caught herself watching the shiny tooth. She wanted it very, very badly... Her fingers twitched and it was a relief when Amato pulled her away from the bar and towards the stairs.
‘Is it bad that I want to kill him and steal his tooth?’ She whispered as they made their way along the deserted hallway to their assigned room.
Amato unlocked the door and then relocked it behind them when they were inside.
‘No, can’t be any worse than me wanting to kill him just for the hell of it.’
‘Sounds good, you kill him for kicks and I’ll make off with the tooth, deal?’ She grinned.
Amato laughed.
‘Deal, so long as I get my coins back in the bargain.’
And then, without warning, he had his arms around her and his lips were pressing against hers.
He ran his hands down her sides and peeled her top up over her head, she lifted her arms high to let him and then locked her hands behind his neck, she jumped and he gripped the undersides of her thighs, hoisting her as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
‘We got time to have a little fun before we start.’ He murmured against her mouth, right before he slammed her against the wall.
Leci grunted as she was thrown forcefully against the crumbling plaster. Her spine jarred with the impact, her head hit the wall and would’ve rebounded off it apart from the fact that Amato’s face was pressed against hers, she heard a ringing in her ears and her vision doubled up for a moment, before swimming back to normal. The force of the blow caused her to snap her teeth shut involuntarily, biting through his lower lip. She tasted warm, coppery blood in her mouth, Amato hissed in pain but she could feel him grinning against her and he kissed her harder, more hungrily.
He pinned her to the wall with his body and his hands tore at her pants, pulling them down as far as he could before her legs, still around his waist, prevented them from being yanked any farther.
He kept her held against the wall but slipped a hand behind her back and roughly tugged fistfuls of her hair. He unfastened his jeans and stepped out of them as they fell around his ankles, kicking them to one side, and then she felt his hand between her legs. Leci gasped as he thrust upwards, entering her painfully with his entire fist. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, she felt her nails pierce his skin but he didn’t flinch, continued pounding her with his hand.
He lowered his lips to her breasts, sucking one into his mouth, painting her skin with streaks of his blood, she shivered as his tongue ran over her nipple, flicking it teasingly. He withdrew his hand partly and used his thumb to gently massage her clitoris while he carried on thrusting. Leci squirmed against the wall, feeling the pleasurable tingle spread upwards through her groin, slowly growing in intensity until she cried out, her nails drawing blood from his shoulders as she dug deeper into his flesh. Her back arched, the back of her head hitting the wall as her body tensed, rigid, and she felt herself convulsing as waves of pleasure washed over her, a low moan of satisfaction escaping her lips as the tremors ran through her.
Amato released her, pulling away from the wall and peeling her legs from around his waist, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and pushed her to her knees, guided her mouth to his cock, Leci moaned softly, wanting him badly. She grabbed a hold of his buttocks, pulled him closer and ran her tongue along the underside of his shaft, from base to tip, planted a soft kiss on his head and then took him into her mouth until he filled it and she could take no more.
Amato closed his eyes, leaned his head back, both of his hands in her hair, gentle this time, caressing her as she worked him; licking, sucking. When she blew lightly on him he shuddered and moaned, and then she took him back inside her mouth, pulling him close, his hands moving with her head as she quickened, sliding along his length, her tongue constantly moving.
He grunted, clenching his fists, and then he was pumping into her, filling her mouth and throat with his seed. Leci moaned, swallowing as he came, and then used her tongue to lick him clean. Amato looked down at her, a wide grin on his face, his chin was covered in blood.
‘Good girl.’
He hooked his hands beneath her arms and lifted her to her feet, into his embrace, Leci smiled, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until their heartbeats had slowed to a normal pace, they had both caught their breath, and then Leci disentangled herself and got dressed.
She looked up at the bed and smiled.
‘Remind me why we bothered paying extra for that?’
He laughed and stepped back into his pants.
Chapter 35
Leci had found a few clean-ish pieces of folded cloth tucked down at the bottom of Amato’s pack, Bitsy must have put them there. She used the last of her water, some she had gathered from a stream a day ago and stored in an empty bottle plastic bottle that she had found along the roadside, to clean Amato’s wounds the best she could. His lip didn’t look too bad once the blood was wiped away, only her front two teeth had gone all the way through, the rest had just left angry red crescents below his lip.
The marks on his shoulder were little more than deep scratches, shallow gouges. She kissed them better and he flinched but smiled at her.
‘So, how do we do this?’ She asked, referring to the reason they were here at all.
‘We head out into town, see if we can spot them anywhere. How many bars are there here? Just the one?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I remember two. This is the one I saw them in both times though.’
‘If they’re still here, chances are they’ll still be drinkin’ at the same spot. Old habits die hard.’
Leci felt her gut clench, it was drawing closer and closer, the moment she had been waiting for.
‘Amato looked at her. ‘You didn’t see them earlier, when we came in?’
‘No... I wasn’t looking, I was just keeping my head down.’
He looked slightly irritated by this but chose not to say anything. She was relieved, she knew she should be paying attention, it had just been a shock to the system to find herself here again was all, and she hadn’t been able to concentrate on much else at the time.
‘We’ll check out downstairs, if we can’t find them we’ll have a look round the rest of town. We can hang around until dark, some types don’t crawl out of the woodwork until later on, so we can have another check around. If they’re not here, we may aswell stay the night, the room is paid for and it’ll be good to sleep in a bed instead of on the ground listening to you snore, then-‘
‘I do not snore!’ She interrupted.
Amato raised an eyebrow coolly.
‘Yes, yes you do.’
‘Nu-uh, you snore. You’re so loud you can probably hear yourself.’
Amato shook his head, looking amused.
‘Then in the morning we’ll head out and move onto the next town, and the next, and the next, until we find those sons of bitches.’
‘You don’t think they’ll be here?’
I dunno.’ He shrugged. ‘It seems as likely a place as any other and since you never checked it seems like the best place to start.’
‘We could get things done a whole lot quicker if we split up.’ She suggested.
Amato didn’t even consider the idea, he shook his head firmly. ‘No chance.’
‘Why not?’
‘Why not? What happens if they are down there, if they see you first and I’m not there to protect you?’
She blinked at him. Had he forgotten what she could do?
As if to make her point she sent a wave of heat through the piece of cloth he held in his hand. He dropped it to the floor and stamped it out as it erupted in flames, then scowled at her, Leci smiled sweetly and feigned innocence.
‘That doesn’t mean anything. What if they come at you from behind with a gun, shoot you in the back of the head before you even know they’re there?’
‘Well... Ok, but, what use would you be if that happened?’ She countered.
‘I’ll be watching out for you, no one is gonna get close enough to try anything like that if I’m there.’
‘Fine.’ She sulked. ‘They wouldn’t do that anyway though.’
‘Really? What makes you so sure?’
‘It’s been five years, they probably don’t even remember me, chances of them recognising me are pretty low, and if they did they wouldn’t kill me. Why bother? What kind of a threat do they think I am to them? They already know I’m not strong enough to defend myself, or at least, they don’t think I am. They’d be lookin’ for some more fun, they might kill me but it wouldn’t be until later on, and by then they’d be charcoal.’
He shook his head again, his lips set in a firm line and she knew the subject wasn’t open for debate or negotiations.
‘Alright, fine. And what if we find them?’
He looked confused, as though the question made no sense to him.
‘How do we go about it? What happens?’ She elaborated.
Amato shrugged. ‘We’ll deal with that if it comes to it. I suppose the first thing to do would be to get them alone somewhere, nice and quiet.’ He looked around the room and she had a pretty good idea what he was thinking. She just didn’t know how he planned to achieve it, then his gaze shifted to her, he looked thoughtful and contemplative, Leci narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
‘What?’ She prompted, a little nervously.
‘It makes sense to get them up here. We won’t be disturbed, got the place all to ourselves.’
‘Yeah, and?’
‘And... They’re not likely to follow me up here, are they?’
The Condemned Page 24