Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Witness

The man struggled to answer and when he came up with nothing he resorted to more pleas.

Theo stood back up and walked over to the man on her right, "Your business partner here doesn't have an answer for me. And neither will you. Do you know why? Because there is no reason you do these things. There's no sense to what you do to these women, you just do it to hurt them. You do it because you can because you want power over them, you want them to feel weaker and like they need you."

Theo pushed her sword slowly into the man's neck, watching the blood begin to pour out. His wheezing breaths got raspier and wetter until blood filled his lungs and he fell forward. She made her way to the man on the left and he was shaking in fear, "See, I don't enjoy this. Having to come all the way back over here and prove that I wasn't throwing around empty threats. Having to come back and see that the women I thought would be in good hands are still suffering. But killing the likes of you lot makes all the other hassle worth it."

She plunged her sword into the man's chest and kicked him backward and off of it and she looked at the last man left alive, "Now that your two associates are gone I know you must be dying to know what's going to happen to all your money and your business. Well, lucky for you I happen to be a master at business, and I have found that when you believe and invest in women, they tend to flourish. So, you'll be happy to hear the recipients of your assets will be the lovely women here. Think of it as a grand repayment for all they've done for you."

Theo lifted her sword and brought it down but stopped right before hitting the man. She laughed then waved her sword near his crotch and clicked her tongue, "How embarrassing you seem to have pissed yourself. Ladies!" Theo called and some of the naked women from before were now clothed and they filed back into the room and Theo took a few steps back, "He's all yours."

Theo turned away and made her way to the back to the room. Xyra followed and Theo turned to her, "I have to go settle something outside. Will you make sure the money they find gets distributed between them. The crew gets none alright?"

Xyra nodded, "Be safe. I'll see you on the ship."

Theo squeezed her shoulders and made her way down to the first floor; the sounds of the man's screams prominent in the background. She made her way outside and ran to the tree where she had seen Ava, but Ava was no longer up there. Theo was livid that Ava did not listen to her when she said it was not business that concerned her. She needed to find Ava, she was afraid that she had scared her away but was also concerned that she would run and tell the authorities and there was no way they would leave port before they were caught.

"Ava!" Theo yelled and spun in circles looking for her then began to jog down the street. Ava watched her jog by and away from the small alleyway she had snuck into after she bolted away from the scene. Once she had seen Theo separate from the rest, she scurried down the tree and ran, lest she be executed the same way those men were there to keep her mouth shut.

She took quick shaky breaths and she began to panic. She had nowhere in Jarth to go because of her stupid age and their stupid rules. This is how she would have to live her life now, homeless on the street picking up sewer cleaning jobs to make ends meet. She began to feel tears prick up in her eyes, there was no way she could go back to that ship. Theo had gone in there and just killed people without batting an eye, what was to stop her from doing that to Ava. She had felt so foolish, befriending Theo and spending her nights chatting with a cold-blooded murderer, as if she wasn't a pirate who stole and killed for a living.

She tried to stop her crying, but she couldn't. She had never seen someone die at the hands of someone else before. All of the tournaments and duels put on for her father's expense were always when she was confined to her bedroom on punishment or she openly rebelled by not attending. That, coupled with the fact that the killing was mostly done by someone she had just literally broken bread with had her head reeling. She knew crying would get her nowhere, she had to regroup her thoughts and get somewhere safer, but she felt paralyzed in place. Ava's heavy breathing stopped when she heard footsteps approaching.