The Hearts of the Killers

by Niecy P

  “Be safe. Beauty eff wah yuh saying true yuh need fi stay clear of yuh fada an bredda. Mi wi tell dem nuttin of dis conversation,” Mada said and hung up. It was her way of telling me that she did believe me. I placed the phone on the seat and got up to get some water. I wanted to know why my fada and bredda would do something like that to me. I loved them as I thought they loved me. I cleared the doorway and made a left where the refrigerator was. I opened it up, and the light from the refrigerator brightened the dark room. I saw a shadowy figure overcast the room, which caused me to drop the bottle of water. I spun around and saw a woman sitting with her legs folded on the kitchen table.

  The woman was dressed in all black, and her hair was covering her face. She was spinning a knife on the table, drilling a hole into it. The woman was humming something softly. The woman’s head was resting on her fist. I didn’t know who she was or why she was there. I found myself shaking and scared to move. That was the energy that came from her. She wanted me to fear her and she succeeded.

  “Mi pretty sure dat di central air working inna dis yaad. Yuh nuh need di refrigerata to kip yuh cool. Close it,” she ordered. I did as she said but I continued to shake. I tried to listen out for her movements. I couldn’t see shit. Suddenly, the lights were on, and the woman was standing in front of me. I jumped back, hitting the refrigerator. The woman stared at me with no soul visible in her eyes. She didn’t come here to talk. She came here to do a job, and I guessed it was me. She tilted her head and gave me a lethal smirk — one that would give anyone nightmares.

  “Yuh afraid an dat yuh should be,” she spoke. Her voice was light but it spoke volume. “Yuh still cold? Yuh wa fi guh a di fireplace fi get warm up, huh?” she asked. I nodded but lied. I wasn’t cold. She held her hand out in the direction towards the fireplace. I backed up out of the room, not giving her my back.

  “Nuh worry. Mi wi mek sure dat yuh seet coming,” she said. I felt behind me, for the couch and took a seat. The woman stood on the side of the fireplace twirling the knife in her hand. She looked up at me and shook her head.

  “Dis isn't fi him tayse. Duppy hate cabins an nature. Wi guh pan a trip once an him stayed inside di whole time. Him did use to to lights an di noise of di city — Mi neva. Mi guess him buy dis wid mi inna mind,” she looked around the cabin. The light from the fire illuminated the room more, which gave me a glimpse of the woman. Her rich brown skin was smooth like caramel. She stood with a nice slim thick frame. The woman looked familiar. When her eyes landed on mine, the familiarity of them brought back my first night with Mason. The skull one with the smoke around it. The hair and dark eyes resembled the woman that was standing in front of me. I never got the nerve to ask him about it, but wished I did, so that I knew what I was dealing with.

  “Yuh nuh luk like a nature gyal eitha. Suh mi wondering wah mek wud him bring yuh here?” She wondered.

  “Him want to kip mi safe from mi fambly,” I answered above the crackling wood in the fireplace. She flashed her teeth and shook her head, disappointedly.

  “Yuh fambly isn't a threat to him. Mason cud handle yuh whole fambly inna an hour,” she replied and placed the end of the blade of the knife on her fingertips, balancing it without moving her hand around to keep it there. “But mi it wi tek him eternity to gid rid of, nuh dat right Duppy,” she said and the knife went flying by the front door, where Mason was standing. He caught the knife before it landed in his face. Mason was leaning against the wall with his right foot up against it. His eyes was on the woman, whose eyes were on me.

  “Shi luk like shi nuh kno mi. Yuh neva show har any pictures of wi,” the woman sounded wounded, barely.

  “Mi neva ave a chance to. Lot been gwaan yuh kno,” Mason answered her. He sounded different. It was like seeing the Mason that was in Jamaica. I sat back in my seat and watched the interaction between the two.

  “Yeah, mi kno dat it nuff gwaan dat yuh cyaa handle mi. Did haffi crawl up outta di bed to help yuh bredda. Nuh worry. Mi neva mind mi kno dat it did a guh be tuff fi yuh to kill sum'ady dat yuh nuh official wid,” she said. My head snapped in Mason’s direction. His sister. No fucking way. I thought. I looked back and forth and saw that they looked alike.

  “Wi official Smoke,” Mason told his sister.

  “Even tuffa,” his sister said. Mason stood up from the wall and was ready to walk over to me when he saw another knife in her hand. I didn’t see her pull it from somewhere. It seemed as if it appeared in her hands.

  “Shi neva ave nuhthing fi duh wid nuttin. Shi a victim,” Mason explained to her.

  “A victim dat a related to di stupid fuck dat did involved wid mi shooting,” she answered with her eyes darker than before.

  “Shi innocent,” Mason yelled.

  “Mi ave no mercy to gi. Rules rules,” she said and pulled out a gun. She pointed it directly at me and let off two shots I closed my eyes and placed my hand over my face, waiting for my death.

  Mason

  I found out that Beauty’s father was in Philly. I was cool with that. It saved me a trip. DJ sent me the place that Costas was going, and I found out that it was the same place that Juice and his father was. They were probably meeting to plot the final hit on the family. They had to know at that point that we are hard to kill. Smoke was an example of that.

  I was on my way to the destination that Tylee sent me until my Dad called and told me that Smoke wasn’t at the house. I did an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street and sped back to the cabin. We both worked as accountants under my uncle’s firm. She knew to get the information there for the spot I was holding Beauty. I just hoped that I got there in time. When I saw Smoke talking to Beauty, I knew that I had a chance to save her. I stood in the shadows as they spoke in front of the fireplace. I knew that Smoke saw me and was waiting for the proper time to announce my presence in the room.

  Beauty was scared as fuck. She didn’t know what was going on and it fucked me up. It was what Dad was talking about. The fear of not being able to protect her from muthafuckers I knew that I was going to have a hard time putting down. Like my fucking sister. She was the only one that understood my every move. I knew hers, but she was faster due to the less body weight that she was carrying. I weighed at least one-fifty more than she did.

  “Mi ave no mercy to gi. Rules rules,” Smoke told me and pulled out her gun. She let off two shots. I pulled out my gun and shot at the bullets that were going towards Beauty’s face. The two bullets dropped on the floor and the weapon in Smoke hand was pointed at me. I wasn’t going to raise my gun at her and trigger off anything that was going through her head.

  “Very official,” she teased. I ignored her and walked with my hands down towards Beauty. Her hands were covering her face.

  “Mi ave proof dat shi nuh ave nuhthing fi duh wid dis. Inna di truck mi did pan mi way fi get Juice an fi him fada. Dem meeting up wid di Costas tonight. There wi be nuff blood dat yuh cud bathe inna,” I promised the bloodthirsty sister of mine. Smoke’s eyes dilated more. A moan escaped her lips and I knew I got her attention from Beauty. Beauty grabbed on to the end of my shirt and tugged. Smoke peeped behind me at her and nodded.

  “Eff any one fi wi fambly dies cuz of di shit dat a gwaan wid fi har mi wi mek har blood mi conceala,” she said to me but had direct eye contact on her. “Welcome to di fambly,” she told her and walked out the front door. Beauty jumped in my arms and started crying. I caressed her back to calm her down.

  “Your fucking sister almost killed me, Mason. I mean, you told me that I was safe,” she cried in my chest. I felt her pain in my chest. I pulled her back and palmed her face.

  “You are safe. If she wanted to kill you, she would have done it a long time ago,” I said to her. She wanted to say more but there was no time for me to explain further. I gave her a soft kiss on her lips and leaned my forehead against hers. “I promise you that everything will be over soon. Do you believe me?” I asked. Beauty hesitated at first, but she nodded her head.

  “I will h
ave some people to come over here to watch over you,” I told her. She nodded her head again and stared up at me with those big beautiful brown eyes. The confidence that she had in me wasn’t there, thanks to my sister. “Whatever I need to do to make this better. Whatever,” I promised her and kissed her lips again. I turned and left her at the cabin alone. Smoke’s car was pulled next to mine with the driver’s door opened. Her ass was about to go back into the house. Smoke smiled at me and slammed her door. The car that she adored, sped up the muddy road. I got on the phone with Eddrin.

  “Yo, Mason,” he answered.

  “I need you to come to the address that I am about to text you. Bring twelve men with you,” I said and hung up. That should hold Smoke down.

  Truth told me that she wasn’t right. I thought that my parents and Truth would have been able to calm her ass down, but that shit didn’t happen. She was out for blood and I was bringing her to it. JoJo told me that he went to DJ’s home to get the information on the Costa. What he didn’t know was that I already talked to DJ. DJ told me everything, including the voice that was on the phone during the shooting. It was something that JoJo left out. I was going to wait to see how he was going to handle the situation. If it wasn’t dealt with soon, I was going to break another promise.

  Smoke drove to the south side of Philly. We made it there within three hours. The address that Tylee gave us was in middle of the city. There was a night club next to it and stores surrounded it. How we were feeling, we didn’t care if it was in a middle of a funeral. They were going to get dragged out that muthafucker. JoJo texted me to let me know that he was five minutes out. Smoke, not giving a shit if they saw us, pulled in front of the building where there were guards standing outside the door.

  Smoke jumped out the car and caught the men’s attention with the outfit she had on. It was a black body suit fit that looked like she performed with Beyonce’ at the Super Bowl half time show. She had on some knee-high leather boots. Those niggas were drooling at the mouth when Smoke was in their sights. The men were talking in Spanish and some in Patios. Smoke smiled and bit on her bottom lip.

  “I am looking for a good time. Any of you can promise me that?” she purred. The men were going crazy trying to get her attention.

  “Right this way, beautiful,” one of the men opened the door for her to go in. Smoke went in with five guys following behind her. That left me seven guys to take care of. That wasn’t going to be a problem. I knew that I wasn’t going to get the warm welcome that Smoke got. I threw my hood on my head and exited the car. Immediately they placed their hands on their weapons. Not caring about who saw me, I pulled out my silencer and put a hole in each of their heads. Their bodies dropped within seconds. I opened the door and saw a set of stairs that led up to the second floor. Before I reached the stairs, I heard talking underneath them. I walked around and saw the group of men through the window. Smoke was in the middle, preparing herself for the brutal kills that she was going to make. From the looks of it, I knew that she was going to start with the Hispanic man that was undressing in front. But, when the asshole behind her began to grind on her ass, that put a different idea in her mind. Her hand went back with a knife releasing from her sleeve. The knife went right into the man’s pelvic area. His scream was cut short from the stab in the jaw from another knife she had.

  Smoke swung and kicked the man that was undressing with her spiked heels. It went across his face, slicing half of it off. A man grabbed her from behind while another pulled out his gun to shoot her in the face. She threw her head back and ducked before the shot was released. The bullet hit the man in the face, as the knife she pulled from her waist dug in his stomach. The last victim didn’t know what to do. He was ready to run after seeing what Smoke did. Any other time, Madison would have jumped in and saved his life by giving him a get-away free card. He caught her at the wrong time, though. The man spent to run away. Smoke pulled her gun out and shot the man in the back of his head, while holding the knife in the other’s stomach. He was staring her ass in the eyes. Smoke licked her lips and wrapped her other arm around the man’s neck.

  “How deep do you want it, baby? Is it not deep enough? Eight inches in Daddy. Can you feel it? Hmm.” She moaned. The man’s mouth fell opened into an O. Smoke went up with the knife slicing him open and released his body when she was done. His body fell with a big gap into his body. Fuck, I thought as the feeling hit me harder than before. I didn’t know if it was because of the rawness of the killing that had me feeling it more. It had me dizzy and fucked up for real. I pushed opened the door to allow Smoke to enter.

  “Yuh ready,” she asked me.

  “Yeah eff yuh a guh be doing shit like dat,” I said, following her up the steps.

  “Just imagine di feeling eff mi wudda kill Beauty,” she responded without looking back.

  I stopped on the stair and waited for her to look back. She didn’t, which had me on edge.

  “Watch yuh fucking mout Smoke,” I threatened. Smoke laughed my threat off and proceeded upstairs. We heard a lot of movement and shouting going on upstairs. When we got to the top, the people in the inside of the room began to shoot. I stood flat against the wall, listening to the gunshots. They all had different guns that held different rounds. I looked at Smoke and nodded my head. She went to the ground and was on her stomach. Smoke began to combat crawl underneath the gunfire. The shooter that was shooting a .45 clip went empty. Smoke pulled out her revolver and shot through the wall, no doubt hitting the man with a kill shot.

  The other shooters started shooting in the direction of Smoke. I pulled out my customized 9mm Luger 3.1 that held 10 rounds with one extra in the chamber. I let off seven, hitting each of the targets. Smoke jumped to her feet and kicked the door opened with her gun up and ready. There was no need because I didn’t miss. I never missed. I went into the room behind her. Eight bodies were on the ground, and none of them were the men that we were looking for. Smoke looked back at me and frowned.

  “Weh di blood yuh promise mi Duppy,” she said and kicked one of the dead men in the face. I pointed to the door that led to another exit. We ran across the room and went out the door that led us to a set of stairs going down. We ran down the stairs and burst through the door. Three cars were racing down the back alley. Smoke held her gun out and closed her eyes. Concentrating only on the tires of the last car, she shot the back tire out of the car.

  “Cat an Mouse,” I told Smoke. She smiled as if she had tiger teeth and purred like a kitten. I knew then that it was about to be fun. We ran to the front where our car was. JoJo pulled up on the side of us with Truth and Marley in the car.

  “What’s going on?” JoJo asked. The cars from the back alley peeled out, almost hitting pedestrians.

  “Dem coward mutherfuckas right there. Let's move,” I said.

  Truth jumped out of JoJo’s car to get into the car with Smoke. She took off before he closed the door. I got in my ride and was ten seconds behind her. I wanted to try to get them before they got on the interstate. We swerved through traffic and dodged cars. Truth stuck his arm out and started shooting at the vehicles. The second car swerved on the sidewalk. It was side-swiping businesses and cars that were parked on the curb. I shifted gears and sped up to the first car and got on the right. JoJo got on the opposite side of the first car to sandwich it in. I took my heat out and started blasting at the tinted windows. The bullets bounced off one by one. Oh, they came prepared.

  I reached under my seat and got Bonita. She was the bitch that liked to break glasses and shit when niggas didn’t act right. I lifted it and let out one shot that took out the driver. I looked up and saw the entrance to the freeway near. JoJo turned his steering hard to the left guiding it into the open field next to the bridge. I didn’t want the car to crash. I wanted to kill them fools with my bare hands. I hit the brakes with JoJo to slow the car down. As we moved our cars, the first car slowed down. I parked my car on a slant to use for coverage just in case they jumped out shooting. JoJ
o pulled up on the side of me and got out with Marley. Marley pulled out his shotgun and shot out two of the front tires. They had no other way out. The second car that Truth was shooting at was coming full speed ahead. JoJo stood up with his AK pointed in the direction of the vehicle. It swerved and ran directly into the first car. Smoke’s car stopped inches from hitting mine and got out the car. She started walking towards the enemies without a care in the world. Truth jumped out the car and yelled out her name.

  The passenger side door opened with Juice falling out. It looked like he suffered more damage from the crash. Smoke stopped and waited for him to recover. I knew that she wanted his blood bad, but she didn’t know about Nick and the rest of his siblings, who got out of the car one by one, along with Juice’s father, and Tick. Cruz was the driver I shot in the first car. Juice got off the ground and stood in front of the car next to his father. I knew that they had a speech for the showdown, and for the first time, I wanted to hear what those muthafuckas had to say.

  Nick stood between Barkley and Camila. She was eyeballing Smoke as if she wanted her in the worse way. Camila's teeth were clenched and ready for war in her combat boots and red leather pants and sleeveless top. She looked badass but she picked the wrong one out of the bunch to fight. Juan's hands were twitching as if he couldn’t wait to get his hands on me. That was fine and all, but I wasn’t going to play with him. I stepped forward to ask a question and Smoke impatient ass threw three knives hitting Tick in the chest and face. He fell forward, which pushed the knives further in his body. I look back at her, and she shook her head.

  “Mi nuh find did chatting, bredda. Neitha dem. Mi come fi mi blood yuh promise mi,” she said and started walking towards the group. Cruz pulled out his gun to shoot at her and Truth popped his ass in the face with a hand cannon.