I open my eyes slowly, aware of the fact that my hands and feet are bound expertly behind me, and that I'm lying sideways on cold concrete. My head is swimming, but I take a shallow, steadying breath and my vision begins to clear. I blink a couple of times and am pleasantly surprised that my glasses are still seated upon my nose and intact.
Without moving I inspect my surroundings. Mr. Lee and Mr. Coleman look back at me with alert eyes and Mr. Lee indicates with a slight shake of his head that we are the only ones conscious. The elder Mr. Taylor is on his side facing away from me, but his breathing is steady and even. His brother is on the other side of Mr. Coleman and he's beginning to stir.
Mr. Griffin is slumped over, but seated against the wall, and Mr. Korba is on his back beside him. Mr. Morgan is twisted awkwardly on the floor beside Mr. Lee's feet, and Sean is leaning slightly across my legs. We're in a warehouse room that appears familiar, but I can't place it. A door slams on the other side of the cavernous space and I mouth the word "sleep," to my brothers.
We pretend to be unconscious as two voices draw near.
"How much longer will it take?" a man asks. I recognize him and crack my eyes slightly to confirm that it is in fact Francis.
"However long it takes," Olivia snaps back at him. She walks over to Mr. Griffin and prods him with her toe. "I wonder if Master would consider letting me play with him before he takes his revenge. I've never had a real ginger before. They're usually too pasty." She reaches down and cups his groin with her hand and I see red.
"Get your hands off of him!" I order. She snaps her head up in surprise and then grins at me.
"So you're awake now?" She takes out a switchblade and begins picking at her nails. "Who else?"
I clench my jaw and stay silent. If I can keep her focused on me, my brothers might see a way out of this without taking notice. She leans down and holds her knife to Mr. Griffin's throat and I see a bead of blood well up at the tip. "Who. Else?" she demands.
"Me," Mr. Lee responds quickly.
"And me, you fucking psycho," Mr. Coleman adds.
Before I can cry out a warning, Francis kicks Mr. Coleman in the side and Olivia darts over to him. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" Her once attractive features twist in a combination of rage and insanity, and she stabs her knife down into his thigh while screaming at him.
"GABRIEL!" I cry out as she stabs him one more time. She and Francis laugh maniacally and they stand and stalk toward me. I feel my blood run cold and I glare at them both. "You've just assured your fate," I intone with more sangfroid than I've ever before used.
They hover above me and each pull on a Volto mask. The voice digitizer must be in the accessory itself, because when Olivia speaks, it's scrambled and impossible to identify.
"Is that so, Mr. Owen Blackbourne?" She kneels and brings a gun up to my cheek. "Because my fate was decided long before you met me by one that you're not even worthy to look upon. You and your team are nothing more than a mission to me, and when I leave this place, I will not spare another thought for any of you." She tucks the firearm into the back of her waistband when a door slams. Olivia and Francis spin toward the far wall, and I see that he also has a gun tucked into his pants.
"Eddie?" a sweet, smokey voice sings out into the warehouse. "Eddie? Where are you? I'm here to paaaarty! Start the music up babe!" The newcomer stumbles toward us and makes a beeline for Francis. "Eddie? Why are you wearing a mask?" she hiccoughs as she presses her hand against his chest. "Are we playing games tonight?" she whispers loudly, twisting a jet black strand of hair around her finger and swaying her hips from side to side.
The girl plasters herself to Francis and works her fingers along the waistline of his dark jeans. She catches my eye for a moment and then closes her fingers around his gun. "Who are these other people babe?" I hold my breath as I see her lift his firearm smoothly and slide it into the back of her belt. This is obviously an Academy girl, and she's almost as good as Mr. Taylor. "Is this one of those kinky-shit parties?" she asks suggestively and traces a fingertip alongside the mask's jawline. "Because I could get into that, Eddie." She lifts it up off of his face and places a loud, wet kiss on his lips.
Olivia steps up behind Francis and puts a hand on the girl's arm. "You're in the wrong place, hon, but we can party if you'd like."
I see the girl's eyes widen at the electronic voice, but then she dances over to Olivia and takes her by the hands. "You don't have to play! I know this is Eddie's doing!" She lifts Olivia's mask up and surprises us all by kissing her too. Mr. Taylor growls, finally shaking off the effects of the drugs, and the girl giggles and winks at him. "Wait your turn, cutie," she flirts, and Olivia and Francis laugh hysterically. She twirls in circles around Olivia, humming a small tune as she caresses each of their backs and pulls Olivia's gun from her back.
She doesn't hesitate, and quickly fires a shot into Olivia's right knee. Francis begins to react, and she dispassionately pulls the second gun from her belt and aims it directly at his face. Olivia falls to the floor, screaming.
"Are you the bitch that drugged Nathan?" she hisses? Olivia groans, and she fires a round into the other knee for good measure. Francis takes a step forward and she raises an eyebrow at him.
"I dare you," she growls. "I've had a really horrible day, and I'd love a reason to shoot you."
He doesn't take her seriously, and she squeezes the trigger, hitting him in the shoulder and throwing him back onto the floor with the force of the almost point blank impact.
"Did you think I was bullshitting you?" she asks, keeping her aim steady on him. He doesn't answer, and she shouts out, "All clear!"
Footsteps come racing across the room, and Uncle comes barrelling into view. "You couldn't have waited for me?" he huffs, taking one of the firearms from her and training it on the whimpering Olivia.
"They hurt them," she replies with a shrug and hands the other weapon to Uncle as well. She heads straight to Mr. Coleman and when she can't wake him, she shouts out for Dr. Roberts.
The doctor comes running in from another entrance and gets to work right away. As soon as she sees that Mr. Coleman is being cared for, she takes the bloody knife from the floor beside him and begins cutting fiercely at our bindings. She frees Mr. Lee and the Taylor brothers, and they immediately get to work securing the prisoners.
She goes to Sean next, and wordlessly frees the rest of my family before reaching me. She swiftly slices through the zip ties holding me, and as soon as I'm free, I jump up and sweep her into a dip. I feel my face break out into a grin, and I plant my lips against hers.
The warehouse fades and nothing exists except her, me, and this kiss. I fall hopelessly into her and feel her lips part to me. Her breath mingles with mine, making it impossible to tell where one of us ends and the other begins. My skin ignites under her touch, and when she sighs, she relaxes into my embrace. Her breath is sweet, carrying a hint of scotch, and she tastes like the best of addictions.
We're pulled from our bliss and crash back into reality with a chorus of shouting surrounding us. Mr. Griffin accuses me of cheating, and Mr. Lee and Mr. Taylor are calling me some of the most creative names I've ever heard. Sean hisses something at me in Japanese, and I grin at the magnificent creature in my arms.
Mr. Griffin stalks forward and pulls his hand back, about to swing at me, when Mr. Coleman's dazed voice carries across the space and says, "Oi, Trouble, what the fuck did you do to your hair?"
She looks at me, and we burst out laughing together. I wrap my arms around her and tuck her head in under my chin. I lower my face and whisper into her newly darkened hair, "Thank you, My Love, for saving us. I've missed you." She snuggles in closer and I feel my heart warm. "I'm an idiot, sweetheart, for thinking that I could stay away... for hurting you. Can you ever forgive me."
She nods and realization begins to dawn on each of my brothers' faces. Mr. Morgan's mouth drops open, and Mr. Korba rumbles with laugher. "Aggele Mou is not some delicate snow flake. She is Gabe's bad ass Troublemaker."
The senior Mr. Taylor agrees and sighs, "That was so hot!"
***
