Matt found himself shoved painfully back against the wall of the diner, the breath knocked from his lungs. For the briefest moment he swelled with pride that Charlotte had regained enough strength to hurt him so easily, but then the moment passed and he set his sights on the hideous being that was Bennett.
Matt stood up a little straighter, uncomfortable at how exposed Charlotte had left herself all in an effort to protect him. Her arms were spread wide across his body, her slim frame offered as a human shield.
"Miss Owens, it's wonderful to see you again," Bennett snarled, his wide grin stretching across his serpentine features. He gazed at Charlotte with black eyes, a greedy glint flashing in their depths, as he reaffixed the leather gloves over his long fingers.
"The feeling isn't mutual," Charlotte replied, her hatred dripping from her tongue with each word. Her body was tensed, every muscle quivering with anticipation or disgust. She regarded him carefully, but to Matt's surprise, did not attack him.
"Now, now Owens, you forget yourself," Bennett tutted, his black eyes shining maliciously. "You are the property of Kingston - once greatly valued property, though you have devalued yourself greatly of late. Pity the only patron who would have still paid for you is dead".
"Yes, I killed him myself," Charlotte said, the smirk evident in her tone. "I can show you how I did it if you wish?" Matt recalled the dead bodies littered around Nicholls' home, wondering if he was going to see first-hand how her alteration could kill. He wasn't sure it was something he wanted to see, but if it meant they were safe he would stomach it.
"Ah yes, we found your handy work," he smiled, seemingly unperturbed by the gruesome scene left behind in Frank Nicholls' mansion. Bennett seemed nonplussed by the death she had left behind, his sneering features unchanging.
"It was wonderfully done," Charlotte breathed. "And I did it all with my mind". She tapped the side of her temple thoughtfully, threateningly. "I really would love to show you".
"Do you need my permission?" Bennett asked, raising his gloved hands expectantly. "I'm quite surprised you haven't attacked already. I mean, we're not stopping you".
Matt's stomach clenched at the word 'we' and he couldn't begin to think who was hiding in the darkness surrounding them. Charlotte though didn't seem to find this surprising. She could sense them, he knew, or their fears at least.
Matt glanced down at the back of Charlotte's head and frowned. He knew her power, he had seen her use it before. She could take them all out effortlessly. Surely, the Kingston hierarchy had lost its power over her after all this time. He hoped she wasn't hesitating just because it was Bennett who stood opposite her.
Matt clenched his fists, his brows furrowing together as he tried to understand her reluctance, her hesitation. Even Charlotte didn't have an answer to Bennett's musings. She just remained silent, watching him carefully.
"I mean, that's if you want to attack us?" Bennett continued, taking a step towards her and glowering at her.
Still Charlotte didn't answer. Matt wished he could see her expression. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what was holding her back. He placed his hand on her hips, hoping to move her out of the way, but she grabbed his hands and pushed him back, refusing to leave him beyond her shelter.
"I'd listen to your girlfriend Desmarais. We're here for her – you're excess," Bennett grinned.
"I'll be damned if you think you're taking her back," Matt growled, his voice sounding braver than he felt.
"Hear that boys, Desmarais doesn't want us to take her back," Bennett breathed. Charlotte used her body to press him back against the wall again, as two grizzly looking men stepped from the shadows, flanking Bennett on either side. Their muscles rippled beneath their shirts, neither aware of the icy cold pressing in on them, or the need for warmer, winter clothes.
"You see the problem there Desmarais, is that I think your girlfriend wants to come back with us," he hissed, striding towards Charlotte. He paused before her, lifting a gloved hand and pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I mean why else would she not attack us? Even you can't be dumb enough to believe she is afraid of us".
Charlotte threw her clenched fist at Bennett, striking him across the face with a sickening crunch. Blood spurted from his nostrils, his eyes bruising instantaneously. He cursed, stumbling back from her. Matt grabbed Charlotte's arms in an effort to hold her back from Bennett and his hulking, altered companions. He spat blood onto the ground, pressing the sleeve of his jacket against the heavy flow of blood in an effort to halt it.
"Sensitive, little thing aren't you?" he growled, spitting another glob of blood onto the pavement. "I can see my guess is right though – you do want to go back," he hissed.
"Maybe I just want to take the pleasure in destroying you with my own fists," she hissed, the threat barely concealed in her words, sending a shiver down Matt's spine.
"Or perhaps you want to return to Alexander?" he breathed. "We've been taking excellent care of him," Bennett grinned, through bloodied teeth. Charlotte fought against his grip, almost breaking free. Bennett took a cautious step away from her, still nursing his wounded nose.
Matt wrapped his arms around her, trying desperately to hold her back, but it was no use. Charlotte was too strong with him, her returning strength aided by adrenaline and fury. She broke free of his hold, sending him crashing back against the wall once more. Her body vaulted into the air ready to continue her attack on Bennett, when a loud crack echoed somewhere beyond the shadows, the tell-tale sound of the dart gun Matt had grown accustomed to on the island. Charlotte's body immediately went limp and crumpled to the ground, her body tumbling to a stop at Bennett's feet.
Matt pushed away from the wall, panic swamping him as he tried to reach her unconscious form, but the two men advanced on him, grabbing him and slamming him back into the wall. Matt's head crashed against the wooden façade, the pain blurring his vision. Their thick fingers dug into the muscles of his arms beneath his coat, bruising him. He shook his head, trying desperately to keep Bennett and Charlotte in sight.
"Such a pretty thing, don't you think?" Bennett said in an almost soothing voice, gazing down at Charlotte's unconscious frame. "But then of course you do," he continued stepping over her and turning towards Matt. "Pity she was so incensed by the thought of what we've been doing to Alexander. I mean she's so eager to get back to him. She really will get a surprise when she returns," he smiled, the corners of his mouth pulling gently.
"She cares for him," Matt breathed, his mouth betraying his efforts to remain silent. Bennett blew blood clots from his nose, his face beginning to swell, one of his eyes narrowed from Charlotte's fist.
"A lot, obviously. More than she cares for you I think. I mean she could have protected you, finished us off, just like she did all those altered in Nicholls'. But she didn't, all in the hopes that she would get to see him again," Bennett sighed, taking joy in the emotional anguish he was causing Matt. Matt tried to fight against the grip of the two men holding him, but it was pointless. They were too strong, uncompromisingly strong.
"Go to hell, Bennett. You know nothing about us," Matt growled, straining against their control.
"No, only the little show you put on for us there," he smiled thinly, recalling their kiss moments before he had interrupted them. "I thought you were classier than that to be truthful - better breeding," he hissed. "Honestly, I had always suspected that you had harboured unsavoury thoughts for her on the island. Yet to steal her... I would never have thought you would stoop to such depravity".
Matt didn't know how to respond. He couldn't. The anger bubbling up inside him left him paralysed. If he had been able to, he would have copied Charlotte's successful efforts in breaking Bennett's nose, but all he could do now was watch and wait.
"The bad news is that Elmhirst doesn't want you back – he only wants the girl. So the question is, what are we going to do with you?" Bennett breathed with a satisfied smirk, his hand slipping inside his jacket. Matt fought pointlessly against the altered, only succeeding in causing him more pain. He watched Bennett's hand as he withdrew a revolver from his inside pocket, the metal dull in the deep shadows of the night.
"You have her now," Matt growled. "Leave me be". The words sounded so desperate and pitiful, but he had to find some way to help her and he would never be able to help her if he was dead.
"You stole from us, Matt," Bennett shrugged wearily. "We can't leave you live. It sets a bad precedent".
"Bennett, don't do this. No matter what I did, my father will not forgive you if you kill me".
"Do you think I give a shit about what your father thinks?" Bennett growled, fixing the revolver on him. "I have orders. Anybody helping her was to die".
"Don't please," Matt breathed. He couldn't leave it end like this. He couldn't fail Charlotte like this, not after everything they had been through, after everything she had survived.
Bennett pursed his lips, feigning a concerned, pitying expression. "Nah, I don't think so. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time," he exhaled, with a smug grin. He pulled back the hammer of the revolver, his index finger finding the trigger, caressing it almost lovingly. #
The metal of the barrel pinched into Matt's forehead, ice cold and painful. His head swam, the idea of what a shot fired from such close range was going to do to him blurring his thoughts. The only consolation was that death would be immediate. Matt swallowed loudly, his knees trembling as his final seconds fell away.
He took a deep breath, looking beyond Bennett, to Charlotte's limp body, her dark hair splayed across her face. He wished he had been able to do more to help her, unable to imagine what was waiting for her after his life was taken. He didn't look away from her, wanting Charlotte to be his last thought, his last moment.
"Hope she was worth it," Bennett hissed.
Matt knew in that moment she was, and he closed his eyes to the world, clinging to her memory as Bennett pushed the barrel of the gun even deeper into the thin flesh covering his skull.
Matt took a deep breath, thinking of Charlotte and counted.
One... Two... Three...
The sound that filled Matt's ears was not what he had been expecting, if he had been expecting to hear anything at all before death stole him.
Instead of gunfire, sirens, shrill and close, filled the air and the pressure from the gun vanished from his forehead. Matt opened his eyes cautiously, as the men gripping his arms released him. He could hardly catch his breath as he watched Bennett backing away and the two large men heaving Charlotte from the ground. Bright blue and red lights surrounded the diner, sending Bennett scarpering from the commotion.
"Charlotte," Matt yelled, ignoring his weak legs and charging after Bennett, momentarily thankful that the waitress Lauren had recognised Charlotte.
Bennett glanced back over his shoulder at Matt, his former arrogant expression, now one of fury. He lifted the gun hastily, carelessly trying to level it at Matt, before he fired the gun. Matt ducked reflexively, vaguely aware of the bullet whizzing past him and lodging itself with a reverberating thud into the wall of the diner. It made him stumble for a brief moment, but it also drew the attention of the police, their yelling and warnings filling the air.
The lights blinded Matt, but he could hear their heavy footsteps on the pavement, the rapid opening and closing of car doors, the deafening screech of the sirens.
Charlotte had been slung over the shoulder of one of the men, her weight effortlessly carried by his colossal mass. Her head lolled to one side, still unconscious to the commotion she had caused. Bennett backed up to the men, saluting him with a mocking smile.
Matt knew it was now or never. He had to stop him, before they had fought their way through gathered force with Charlotte. Yet before Matt had taken a step towards them, there was a strange popping sound, and a fourth figure appeared beside Bennett, her body materialising from thin air. She was a tall, slim girl, unknown to Matt. Her pale ash-blonde hair, glistened blue in the police lights, her gaze falling on him for the slightest moment, before she vanished again taking Bennett, Charlotte and the two male altered with her.
"Charlotte?" Matt yelled, dashing to the spot where she had vanished. He glanced around frantically, as silhouetted police began to advance on him, yelling nonsensically.
Panic rose in his throat, as he found himself unable to figure out what he could possibly do, if there was anything he could do.
He raised his hands above his head, watching the police advance as if he was watching a movie. His head swam until everything became unclear and unfocused. He could hardly believe he had allowed Charlotte to slip from his grasp, that she could disappear so quickly and easily.
He pressed his eyes together, hoping that when he reopened them, it would all have been a bad dream and she would have returned. He took a deep breath and counted.
One... Two... Three...
Pop
The sound cut through the darkness behind his eyelids, giving him a moment's hope. Matt wrenched open his eyes, hoping that Charlotte had been returned, but he only found himself standing face to face with the ash-haired girl.
She placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, squeezing it almost reassuringly. Matt furrowed his brow, thoroughly confused by what was happening, when her right hand moved swiftly, a piercing pain filling his side. He gasped, pushing away from her and clamping his lips together before the yell of pain could escape.
The girl winked at him and disappeared with another pop that resounded in Matt's head as he dropped to his knees, his fingers quaking.
He glanced down, only half aware of the dagger protruding from his lower abdomen, as his energy drained away from him.
Police rushed at him, catching him and lying him down on the icy pavement, calling for paramedics.
"Can you hear me, sir?" one of the officers called to him, as he searched for a pulse at Matt's wrist.
A second officer appeared in his line of vision. "Terry where the hell did that girl go? Did you see her just disappear? I mean what the..."
Matt stopped listening, unable to acknowledge him. Instead, he closed his eyes, trying to keep his breath even and ignoring the tears that ran from his eyes. None of it mattered anymore, not the police, nor the pain, not even his fading fight to live. Reality pressed in on him.
Charlotte was gone and he was dying.
Hey everybody thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!! We are heading into the last moments of Hunted now - the end of Charlotte's story!
Please vote and comment on this chapter - I would love to know what you think is going to happen next!! Thank so much again, Sorcha x