Gray Gangster- 𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 𝓑𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼

The Devils Coming

Lola was standing in the Garrison when Lizzie walked in, "Lock the door, Lizzie. People around here start drinking this early in the morning." 

Lizzie shook her head when Lola nodded to the bar, "No. I need to stay myself and be strong." 

Lola walked over to the bar, leaned over and picked up a bottle of whiskey, she stood up and hugged Lizzie as she walked over to her, "Now, come on, not with me. You can let it go with me. God knows we both need it." She leaned over again and picked up two glasses pouring the whiskey, "Isiah's gone down to Liverpool, Arthur's gone with him, and the kids are with Jeremiah. We can drink all night if it gets your head clear." 

Lizzie looked at her, "I can't cry, Lola. If I start, I'll fall apart. I need to stay strong for Ruby. And I can't drink I need to be myself, just in case." 

"Tommy says it's just in one lung." 

Lizzie shook her head, "No. They now think it's in both. It's moving quickly. They collapsed the left lung but it made no difference. They're starting her on the gold salts tomorrow." She saw the way Lola looked, "You know somebody who died on the gold treatment, yes?" Lola nodded, "Half the people I tell look like you just did because they know someone who died on the gold treatment."

"The person I knew was old." Lola commented 

Lizzie shrugged, "Old and young, the same." 

"Have you given up, Lizzie?" Lola asked, "Because, when it comes to your kids you can't give up. Not until they're safe." 

Lizzie shook her head, "No. I'm being strong. At her bedside, on my own. While Tommy is up in the mountains to be among the gypsies. In truth it's a blessing he's not around at the hospital, because all he wants to do is fight people and blame himself, and I've never felt so ashamed of him, Christ, because right now I need a normal man. And it's me sitting there, taking away the bloody rags and watching her disappear. Do you know when he's back, Lola?" 

Lola sighed and shook her head, "He gave me instructions, not information."

"Can you get a message to him?" Lizzie asked 

Lola shook her head again, "He'll be out of reach, not many phone boxes where he's gone I wouldn't think." 

Lizzie sighed, "Lola, I thought you might know things. You're still Gypsy. You still believe in all the things right?" 

Lola nodded, "I am and I do. But it would take time to even figure out which group he's gone to. But before he left, he was looking for a number for Esme, I could start there, there shit hard to find though." 

"What's Esme got to do with this?" Lizzie asked 

"Esme's a Lee." 

"What does that mean?" 

Lola picked up her drink and said, "The Lees and the Boswells, they're wild tribes." 

"Where do they live?" Lizzie asked 

Lola looked at her and said, "They're gypsies, they live where they like. You can't find them unless they want you to find them...and nine times out of ten they don't want you to find them." 

"Fuck. Fuck, Lola. Tribes in the mountains. People living in the fucking mountains. It's bullshit, and the doctors know what it is, they know what causes it, but oh, no, my husband, he knows better. Not a normal man, your cousin. He's up in the mountains with fucking horse thieves and sorcerers, no offence, while I'm here on my own. Not a normal man." 

Lola shook her head, "He's not normal. None of us are if you think about it. Look, Liz you weren't raised in the same way that we were...you saw my mother she believed in everything gypsy, passed it on to all of us. There are some things that make total sense to us which make no sense to you. Curses, talking to the dead, writing on bullets. Then there's things that make sense to you that don't make sense to us. Science, sane ways of doing things...Tom's a gypsy first you gotta remember that." 

Lizzie chuckled, "Oh I remember that, I promise you I remember it. He went ballistic when I told him what Ruby had been saying." 

"What had she been saying?" Lola asked 

Lizzie sighed, "Tickna Mora. O'Beng. O'Beng, over and over again. Something like that and she said she could see a man with green eyes, it was just a fever dream I know that, I tried to tell Tommy that but...you've got the same look he did when he got home." 

"Did um...did you put a Black Madonna on her, keep her away from horses, lakes, fields everything like that?" Lola asked 

Lizzie nodded and said, "Yeah. Tommy said to call Johnny Dogs's wife...uh Esmerelda. Put a Black Madonna on her and keep her away from the horses, Curly came up to take them." 

"Yeah that was the right call to make." Lola said 

Lizzie turned around on her chair, "What did it mean? He wouldn't tell me he just looked terrified" 

"Devil. Well it means a bit more than that, but it roughly translates to girl of the devil or heart of the devil. Basically-" 

Lizzie cut Lola off, "The Devil's coming. Is that what you're saying." 

Lola paused before she said, "That's what I would say if I lived in a camp amongst the horse-thieves and sorcerers." 

"What would you say now, that you don't?" Lizzie asked 

Lola put her hand on Lizzie's, "I say, give science the chance. Maybe it'll prove us all wrong. And I hope that it does. We don't need to loose another child in this family." 

Lizzie squeezed Lola's hand, "How do I uh...how do I do it?" 

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. And that's a big if. That girl has Gypsy and Stark blood in her, I'd like to see that Devil try to take her." Lola said and Lizzie nodded 

Thank you for reading 

Bit of Lola Gypsy time in this one

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