"What the fuck do you mean she's going to die?" Richard roars at Kisa.
"I mean," She starts. "It is written in the books that the one who is taken over by Khaalida will be killed so that she can take over."
"I'm going to die?" I ask in shock.
"Well, yes." She shrugs.
"How can you just stand there and ice queen this shit?" Seth asks, waving at Kisa.
"Is there a way that I can not get possessed by this Khaalida?" I ask, with hope in my voice and she thinks about it for a moment.
"There is a small chance that if you die your soul won't get taken over." She says.
"How do we make sure that happens?" Richard questions.
"In order for her to take control, you have to kill yourself ," She says to me. "But if someone else does, that could disrupt the your fate and Khaalida won't be able to take your soul. It's extremely hard though, Khaalida is very powerful and it's almost impossible to escape her influence."
"But if I die then how do you bring me back?" I question and she thinks about it for a moment.
"I'll have to look into it but for now we need to be worried about other things." She states.
"Before we go any farther I have two questions." I take a deep breath. "Who is Khaalida and how do you know all of this."
"Khaalida is the immortal version of Nafuana." She tells me.
"Nafuana as in the princess warrior Nafuana?" I question. I had heard the story of how Nafuana saved our people from war.
"Yes," She nods. "When Nafuana killed herself, the Goddess of Death, Destruction, and Chaos took over. Turning her into Khaalida."
"Well then how the fuck is she in me?" I question.
"You're of Samoan decent, so she must be one of your ancestors." She says to me and I stare at her. Her eyes look into mine, trying to hide something. A gut feeling tells me that she's lying.
"Can we get back on track now?" Richard asks everyone and Seth nods.
"Seth, we boost the blood, we deliver the goods, and the job is done." Richie tells his brother.
"What job?" Seth asks him.
"Soon you'll know." Kisa states, walking towards him. "In the labyrinth, the trials are constructed from the memories of everyone in it."
"I don't know." Seth says, unsure and shaking his head. "Labyrinth, trials? This whole thing seems like a long way to go to keep a showgirl in a cage."
"It's not just a prison," Richie says and I just now notice his horn rimmed glasses are missing from his face. "It's a test, put here by the lords of the night. Whoever has the purity of mind to withstand the trials will be deemed worthy."
"Of what?" I question.
"No one knows. In five centuries... It's never been done." Santanico says, staring at Seth. My eyes are on Richard. He sees me looking and turns his head away from me.
"Alright." Seth sighs. "When do we start?"
"As soon as I leave." Santanico says walking towards Richard. "I can't go with you. The lords would know that I was there and they don't like cheating."
"No self-respecting God does." Seth mumbles as she walks away.
"Wait," I call out to her. "What about me?"
"You," She starts, looking me over. "Will go into the labyrinth as well." Santanico walks away and we all exchange a look. As we look back to where she was just a minute ago, we see that the RV is gone. I look the other way and see tables full of weapons and things we need to know about the job.
We walk closer and Seth sighs. "Perfect." He groans.
"Well, good news is, you know the job." Richie says to his brother. "The bad news is, you got yourself busted doing it."
"This is the job that landed you in prison?" I ask Seth in shock but he ignores me and turns to Richard.
"Oh, yeah. I wonder why." Seth says sarcastically.
"We both know why." Richie states. "Just run it for us." He mentions to him and I.
"The Parker Hotel..." Seth starts.
~~
"As soon as that's finished, the two men converge onto the penthouse and start cracking the safe." I look to Seth in awe. Does he have that whole thing memorized? "That's where the real score is. 10 million in uncut diamonds."
"That could buy me all of the McDonald's I wanted." I smile and Richie gives me an incredulous look.
"You're not seriously thinking of that right now are you?" He questions me and I shrug.
"I haven't eaten all day." Richard rolls his eyes at me but I catch a smirk coming from his lips.
"I bet that's where the labyrinth is keeping the blood." Richie says to Seth, walking to the table with the weapons. "Shouldn't be too much of a problem with all our new swag."
"No, no. No dice." Seth shakes his head at his brother. "We can't lug that thing all the way up there, okay? You got to go native. Touch and feel." I stand in the back awkwardly.
"You too Moana." Seth mentions me over and I smile.
"At least it's a Samoan princess." I laugh and he smiles back at me.
"Pick out some stuff because you need to help us." He tells me and I nod.
"Hey, same goes for the arsenal, all right? Keep it simple." Seth scolds his brother who has a semi-automatic rifle.
"We are at a severe disadvantage if we don't take these." Richie objects.
"Oh, that's right. It's a house of horrors." Seth shakes his head. Throwing his arms up, he continues. "And one of my worst memories, thanks to you."
"I told you not to take that job in the first place." Richie and Seth continue to fight and I pick up a gun.
"You made it personal, and that's why you blew it." My ears tune in and out of the conversation and I look the gun over.
"No, I blew it because I didn't have the right boxman with me."
"Well, now you do." Richie says. "This place can throw whatever it wants at us and it doesn't matter. You know why?" Seth walks over to Richard who is holding two suites. "'Cause the Gecko brothers ride again."
Seth takes the suite and I feel my finger slip. All of the sudden I hear a gunshot as my hand accidentally hits the trigger, putting a bullet in Richie's chest.
I drop the gun and gasp, covering my mouth with my hands. Richie groans and I run over to him. "Oh my god Richie," I breath. I quickly undo the buttons to his suite and look to see where the wound is.
"I'm fine." He says, leaning on the desk. My hands run over his wife-beater where the bullet should've gone in but I feel nothing. He walks past my shocked face and takes off his jacket, Seth doing the same.
"Masina," Seth calls to me, bringing me out of my state of shock. "There was another outfit hanging up in the closet. Go grab it and put it on." I nod my head, shuffling over to the closet where the brothers got their suites.
I pull out a hanger with something on it. Walking back to the boys, I lay it down and open it. I gasp as I see the beautiful dress that sits in front of me. It's all black with a low cut front, a lace slit going all the way up my leg, and it's backless. I look up and see Seth taking his shirt off.
There is the bonds he stole from the bank duct taped to his side. "You kept them on you?" Richard questions, taking off his shirt.
"The safest place I could think of." Seth shrugs and we both look to Richie as he takes his wife-beater off. The wounds where the first shot that went into him, and where I shot him, are gone.
"I had to let her do it, Seth. I was a dead man." Richard explains and I catch myself staring at the faint outlines of his abs.
"Is being her slave any better?" Seth questions, throwing on another shirt.
"I'm not her slave." Richie states and I take the dress from it's hanger, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Oh, then what are you exactly?" Seth asks, buttoning up his shirt.
"I'm your brother." Richie says simply and our eyes meet. I quickly avert my gaze and take off my flannel. I take my boots and socks off, wiggling my toes around before I have to pack them into the heels that came with the dress.
I pick up my dress and walk over to one of the columns. Standing behind it so Richard and Seth can't see me change, I strip my clothes off and shimmy myself into the dress. It's tighter than I imagined but as I look down I see it accents my curves well.
I grab my heels and slip one on. As I'm doing the other I hop out from around the corner. I stumble but get the shoe on. Looking up, I'm met with the eyes of the Gecko brothers.
"What?" I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and they finish buckling up their pants. Was there something on my face?
~~
I grab a pistol from the table, my whip, and my sword. Folding the sword back into a belt, I wrap it around my left thigh so no one notices. I take my whip and put it on a side pocket attached to the dress.
"You can't have your gun on you right away but if you want to try hide it somewhere they won't notice." Seth tells me and I grab a strap. I attach the gun to my inner thigh and Richard walks up to me.
"Here," He hands me a necklace. "It's a cam with a tiny explosive on it. The cam will let Seth and I see what's going on since you're our distraction."
"What's the explosive for?" I question and Richard smirks, taking the necklace back from me.
"You'll see." He says simply, putting the necklace on for me. I look in one of the mirrors at my reflection and I see Richard in the background. Our eyes meet and I look away, walking over to Seth. He leads me to the car and I hop in.
We drive away for a while until we make it to a parking lot. "Okay, this is the drop spot." Seth says as we all wait patiently. "My guy's always on time."
"There we go." A car pulls up and men get out of it. "So that's how it is." Seth sighs.
"What?" I ask him.
"The bodyguard. He wasn't on the original job." He explains. "I did time with that guy. Son of a bitch kicked the shit out of me in the yard."
"Labyrinth of the mind." Richie mumbles, nodding his head. Another car pulls up and a man opens the door.
"Is that Pritchard?" Seth questions. "He wasn't there, either."
"Yeah, well, he's here now." Richard says, annoyance in his voice. "Probably because the labyrinth knows that I hate him."
Another person steps out of the car and my blood boils with fury. Lexandra. "Who's the girl?" Seth questions and I let out a breath of fury.
"Her name is Lexandra." I spit.
"You two know each other?" Richard asks and I nod, staring at the tall blonde.
"When I was in foster care, she made my life a living hell." I think back to when she would hit me and push me around. "I put up with it but it's what she did after that I hate her for." Tears brim my eyes as I think back.
"What did she do?" Seth asks me and I take a deep breath.
"She let her brother try to rape me." I say and Seth goes to open the door.
"Hold on a second." Richie stops him. " his isn't a video game. There's no reset. You die, and you're dead." He tells his brother. Seth gets out and aims the gun at the man. Richard and I sneak out.
I grab my gun and as Richard raises his up to the body guard, I raise mine up to Lexandrea.
"Seth Gecko?" The man with the bag asks Seth.
"Nice night for a walk, Warren. I'm gonna need that cash." Seth says to the man.
"Not so fast, Bluto." Richard cocks his gun at the bodyguard who reached for his weapon.
"Try again beauty queen." I seeth at Lexandrea as she reaches for her knife.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Warren questions Seth.
"Why don't you go ahead and toss him the bag while he thinks about it?" Richard says to Warren and Seth nods.
"You heard him. Toss it." Seth mentions for Warren to give him the bag and he does as he's told. Opening the bag, Seth jumps back in disgust and Warren laughs. The bodyguard shoves Richard back and Lex picks me up, tossing me across the parking lot.
I hear the faint sound of shooting as I lay on the ground in pain. Looking, I see the bodyguard choking Seth and Richard running over to Warren.
Richard knocks him out and takes a crowbar, driving it through the bodyguards chest. I run at Lex who is about to stab Richard, tackling her to the ground. I pick up the crowbar that Richie dropped and hit her on the head with it.
Running after Warren who is trying to escape, Richard throws him to the ground. Turning into a Culebra, Richard stalks towards the frightened man.
"Richie, just get the money." Seth tells his brother but it's no use. Richard's fangs come out and he sinks them into Warrens neck. "Just get the money." Seth yells at Richie but he doesn't stop. I back up from Richard towards Seth who has a traumatized look on his face.
Richie finishes his snack and stands up, staring at us both with blood dripping down his mouth. What did Kisa do to him?
~~
Whoa. Update.
Sorry for not updating, I was just in Hawaii so my focus wasn't on the book but I'm back!! And ready to get my From Dusk Till Dawn on.
Vote and comment!