by Amy Braun
The second man was even bigger. He was a head taller than his friend and almost twice as wide, and Teardrop wasn’t a small guy. The Monster Man had thick black hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and bushy eyebrows. His lips were curled in an ugly scowl. He seemed to really hate me, though I wasn’t sure why. Both of them seemed familiar, and I couldn’t understand that, either.
“These are the two you want?” the male cop asked.
Teardrop nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. Monster Man clenched his fists so tightly I thought he was going to crack his leather gloves open at the knuckles.
“Tell your brother at the border that he’ll get his share,” Teardrop said.
Fuck fuck fuck. I should have known there was a reason that the other border guard was looking at me so much. He must have recognized me and called the cops, and those cops called these guys. My stomach dropped. I watched both men, even though I was trapped behind the bars and unable to get close to them.
“You got the keys?” Teardrop asked. His Mexican accent was thick and he sounded like he’d been smoking for thirty years.
The male cop fumbled around his belt, unhooking a ring of silver keys. Teardrop held out his hand, but the cop didn’t give up the keys just yet.
“You got our money?”
Teardrop stared blankly. “He does,” the man replied, jerking his thumb at Monster Man.
The big thug reached into his jacket, and pulled out a gun. With no hesitation, he raised the weapon and fired a bullet into the cop’s throat.
The silencer on the end of the pistol muffled the blast, but only just. Dro’s scream echoed off the walls as blood sprayed between our cells. The female cop shrieked and slapped her waist, looking for her gun. The Monster Man turned his gun to the right and fired another muffled round. The female cop’s head snapped back as blood, brain and bone exploded out of the back of her skull.
I waited for more cops to come running. Silencers made it harder to hear a gunshot, but couldn’t drown out the sound completely.
No one came in.
Teardrop stalked toward my cell. He stared like he could intimidate me. I’d stared down worse assholes than him, seen the faces of monsters. I flicked my eyes to the dead cops. A twinge of pity went through my heart. Yeah, they’d arrested us and been bribed, but that didn’t mean they deserved to die.
Teardrop took a step forward and smiled at me. It was a horrible, yellow smile that promised pain.
“Don’t worry. They were the only ones in the station. By the time the next pigs come in, you’ll be well on your way home, puta.”
My chest tightened and my gut flipped. Without even needing to see their tattoos, I knew who these men were.
Teardrop smiled when he saw the realization hit me. I wanted to punch every tooth down that smug bastard’s throat, but those damn bars were in my way. Not to mention that Monster Man was looming behind his friend, looking even larger than before. I scanned his face, trying to figure out why he was so familiar.
“I don’t think you ever met Enrique,” Teardrop said casually, like he was talking about the seven day forecast and not a coldblooded murderer. “But maybe you remember his brother. Hernandez.”
Oh, fuck.
Hernandez, Emilio and Mateo’s most trusted and loyal bodyguard. The man I stabbed to help Dro escape the hacienda.
Yeah. I remembered him, all right. He’d never been a friend so I didn’t know he had a brother, but Enrique was almost a twin of his sibling.
Enrique was also triple my size and catatonic with fury. I was in serious trouble.
“We’re supposed to bring you back in one piece,” Teardrop droned on. “You and your sister. But we’ll hurt you if we have to.” He tilted his head to make his beady eyes more intense. “And Enrique really, really wants to hurt you.”
I kept my movements slow and controlled. I needed a plan, needed it fast. ‘One piece’ was a pretty broad term for the Blood Thorns. It could mean whole, but shot, stabbed, beaten, strangled, burned, drowned, or worse.
We couldn’t go back. Dro would be given up to the witch who made a deal with Mateo. My old flame would torture me to the point of death, revive me, then do it over and over again until I shattered. Until I suffered in every way he could imagine, begged for mercy at his feet, and was reduced to something worse than death.
Mateo’s father had taught him well.
Teardrop took the keys from the body of the dead cop. He opened the lock on my door, but didn’t pull it open.
“Get her out,” Teardrop said to Enrique. “I’ll get the other one.”
The huge thug blocked my view of my sister. I had to crane my neck to see him properly. I backed away from the door as Enrique yanked it open. I heard the other cell opening and Dro crying my name. I didn’t answer her, still trying to figure out the massive Enrique problem. I had fought big men before, but never one looking for revenge. Big men looking for revenge were always the most dangerous.
His swing at my head was so heavy I could practically hear the air splitting. I ducked the punch, grateful I was smaller and quicker. If I could get out of the cell and lock the guy in, that would be one problem solved. I drove my fist into Enrique’s ribs. He jerked, but didn’t even let out a grunt. If turned into the key word.
Enrique grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me away from him. His fist pounded into my stomach. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to throw up my lungs. They burned, working hard to regain the oxygen they’d lost. I was just recovering when Enrique punched me in the cheek.
Stars burst behind my eyes and the world went black for a half a second. His fist might as well have been a sledgehammer. I pitched to the side, trying to right myself before I collapsed. Another blow struck me in the middle, crushing the air out of me. I stumbled back again, his hand clamping on my hair. He twisted it in his fist, and I grimaced. He pulled and pulled until I thought he was going to scalp me. Dro was shouting my name. I heard a loud crack that could only be from a slap, followed by Teardrop yelling at her to shut the fuck up.
Before I could see what was happening, Enrique slugged me in the jaw. My teeth dug into my lip and I tasted blood. When my head twisted under Enrique’s grip, I could feel a small clump of my hair wrench out of my head. He finally released me and locked his hands around my throat. He shoved me toward the back of the cell. My heels skidded along the stone floor, desperate to find traction. Enrique slammed me into the bars on the left side of the cell, a sharp pain cracking through my head.
He used both hands to squeeze the air out of my lungs. I wheezed and gasped as my lungs tightened, an invisible noose of agony coiling around them and constricting until I thought they would cave inward.
Enrique lifted me until my feet were off the ground. I got one good look at the hatred on his face before he slammed my head into the bars again. I gasped as much as I could when I felt the spike of pain and something warm matting my hair.
My body felt like lead and I couldn’t breathe. I was awake enough to kick pathetically, barely even brushing his shins. He pinned my throat with one enormous hand, then used the other one to beat the life out of me. His blows didn’t have a single point in mind. After what I had done to his brother, he wanted everything in me to hurt. He couldn’t kill me, couldn’t chop me to pieces, but anything else was fair game.
Getting hit by a meat tenderizer would hurt less than this. Blows pounded into me without mercy. My ribs stung as they began to crack. All of my organs were being turned to mush. My face felt like it had been smashed into an anvil. I couldn’t see, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. It was the worst beating I’d taken since Mateo had beaten me weeks ago.
Though my head was pounding, I could hear voices in the background. They sounded like they were coming through a thin wall, but I knew one of them was Dro. Her scream was angrier than before. I heard Teardrop shouting, and then he was screaming.
At the same time his terrified cry started, I felt the temperature in the cell increase rapidly. Th
e air shriveled and parched my throat. A huge white light filled the corner of my vision. Before I could turn my head and see what was going on, Enrique unlatched his grip on my neck. I collapsed in a painful heap, wincing as my knees and palms slapped the concrete floor.
The smell of burning meat and the sound of agonized screams told me all I needed to know. Enrique was swearing in Spanish and trying to get out of the cell. My head was spinning, but I pulled myself up and looked at the cell across from me.
Dro’s cell was filled with that terrifying, white flame. It burned like a bonfire, and I was barely able to see her outline in the middle of it. There was a blackened heap on the floor in front of her, which had to have been Teardrop. The fire licked the outside of the bars of Dro’s cell, beginning to melt them away. Enrique grabbed my cell door and yanked it open with one hand. He used the other to fumble for his gun.
I brought one knee to my chest and put one hand on my leg, then used it to push myself up. I swayed but got to my feet. My entire body thrummed with pain, yet I kept standing. The whole world was swirling in front of me as I put on foot in front of the other. Enrique almost had his gun. The fire coming off Dro’s silhouette was powerful, but I didn’t know if it would stop a bullet. I wasn’t going to take the chance.
No matter how hard I tried, my legs just wouldn’t move fast enough. The white inferno consumed the hall between the cells. I couldn’t see Dro at all now past the fire. Enrique lifted his gun, aimed it at the center of the blaze, and pulled the trigger.
Everything around me seemed to stop. My feet anchored to the concrete. I couldn’t draw a single breath. The beating of my heart seemed to disappear. I was barely aware of the entire lockup scorching around me, the water building in my eyes, the pulsing, bruising pain in my body. I didn’t hear the shot, but I saw the gun buck in Enrique’s hand. There was no way he could have missed.
The blaze continued to burn, stretching across the cell like a rushing tide. The bars turned red hot and shimmered as they began to melt. Enrique backed up, dropping the gun and panting harshly. The fire coiled around him. He raised his hand and screamed one last time. His clothes turned to ash, flaking off his body. Hair turned to cinder and flesh boiled. It smelled horrible, and nearly made me throw up.
Enrique’s body dropped when his screaming ended. Soon I wasn’t looking at a dead man, but a blackened heap at my feet. I kept my eyes on the fire, still not able to see my sister. The bullet might have hit her, and the fire was now just out of control. If that were the case, then I wouldn’t even try to escape the flames. There would be no point. It would be over quickly, a few moments of searing pain, and that was it. Better than living without Dro at my side.
The light from the fire blinded me, preventing me from finding an escape I coughed, inhaled smoke, and waited.
Then the flames pulled back. They curled over themselves, drawing out of the ruined cell and darkening the world around me. The air smelled and tasted charred and dusty, but I wasn’t going to swallow fire. The fire continued retreating until it was back in Dro’s cell, turning to a smaller shape, one with arms and legs. It drew back into her body, and she buckled forward.
I lurched toward her, mindful of the melted bars and burned corpses on the floor. I shouldn’t have been running in my condition, but I had to know she was all right. That the bullet had missed and she wasn’t going to die. I dropped to my knees at the same time Dro fell. I wrapped my arms around my sister. Her clothes were still intact but her skin was burning. I couldn’t feel any blood sticking to my clothes, so I pushed her back to get a better look at her.
Dro’s face was covered in dust and grime, her hair a tangled mess around her head, shoulders, and back, and there was a red mark on her left cheek. No gunshot wounds. Either the bullet missed her, or the fire had been so hot that it melted the deadly piece of metal.
But she wasn’t bleeding. She was alive. That was all I needed to know.
Relief, pain, or both made me slump. Her dainty arms curled around me so I didn’t land on the floor. I’d pushed myself too hard and too fast yet again. I fought against the exhaustion creeping toward my skull, but it was stronger than I was. The last thing I heard was Dro’s anguished cries that she was going to get me somewhere safe, and that she was sorry...
“Con?”
I jumped out of the memory and looked at my sister. I hadn’t even heard her come up. Stupid, pay attention. Someone could have leaped out of the alley and stabbed you and you never would have known.
“Con? Are you okay?”
I shook myself mentally and focused on my sister. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I told her.
Dro frowned. “You don’t look okay.”
I raised my hands and gave her a half smile. “Guilty as charged, then.”
As predicted, my sister’s expression never changed. I sighed. “What do you want me to say?”
My sister paused, like she didn’t trust herself to speak. If I didn’t know better, it would be like she didn’t trust me. So I relaxed, and let her speak.
“None of us doubt you, Con. But this is the best option. Nothing we do will be safe, but at least this way we have each other’s backs.”
She was right, though I was too stubborn to admit it. I grunted instead.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dro shaking her head and hiding a tiny smile. She didn’t notice when the gesture wasn’t returned. I wanted to smile, or at least fake it, but I couldn’t. Yeah, Dro was right. No matter how bad things got, we always had each other’s backs. But there had been times when it wasn’t enough...
The sirens woke me up. I lurched off the ground, tossing away the blankets and jackets that had been covering me. I whipped my head back and forth, trying to figure out where I was and if the sirens were meant for me. I was in an alley near a dumpster. This must have been as far as Dro had carried me. It was amazing, considering how small she was. Desperate times, desperate measures, I guess. I didn’t see her, but she wouldn’t be far. I’d check on the cops, and then I would draw her out of wherever she’d stashed herself. She needed someone to talk to about what happened.
I stretched my body out as I stood up. All of my injuries seemed to have been healed. That must have been something Dro did when she got me here. As I felt around my body, I found that I had my lucky jacket, hatchet, and throwing knives again. I curled my hand around the hatchet, comforted by its familiar handle. I pressed my back to the brick wall and carefully edged toward the mouth of the alley.
We were a couple blocks from the police station, which looked like a bomb had gone off at one end. Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances were parked outside of it. Their red and blue lights flickered wildly, painting the smoke rising off the ruined building. There were news vans cordoned away from the scene, though the reporters were shouting for answers and giving early opinions on what had gone wrong.
I stepped back into the alley. The cops were going to have their hands full for a while, so me and Dro had to take advantage of it to escape. I turned my back on the destruction my sister had caused and started walking back to the pile of blankets and jackets on the dirty alley ground.
I stopped suddenly. Dro had destroyed two buildings with a fire that came from her. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it and I had always known that she had powers, but I’d never seen anything like what she had done over the last week. What had set it off? How was it out of control at the motel, but in control at the police station? She must have known she’d done it. She must be able to control it. If not...
I shook myself. I couldn’t think too much about it. The more I did, the more hesitant I would be. I couldn’t be afraid of my little sister. She kept me from falling apart, and needed to be protected from the monsters. Maybe when things settled down, we could sit down and have a long talk about what was happening to her. There were proper times and places for that conversation, and this wasn’t one of them.
Especially since I couldn’t find her.
I searched every crack
and dark corner of the alley, but she wasn’t in any of them. Not even a trail to let me know where she’d gone. I couldn’t see her on any of the other streets, and all the shops were closed.
Confusion mixed with dread in my chest and left me gasping. Had she been taken while I was asleep? That had to be the answer. She would never leave me. But who had taken her? Cops? Blood Thorns? The monsters?
I had to stop because I was hyperventilating. I staggered back against the wall, sliding down the rough brick. I dropped onto my ass and drew my knees up to my chest. I took deep breaths, as if they would calm me down. As if they would make me forget that my little sister had been kidnapped while I’d been unconscious for who knew how long.
The cops could be shouting questions at her right now. The Blood Thorns could be torturing her. The monsters could be...
A lump grew in my throat. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d never been without Dro. I felt more than alone. I felt lost.