Violet Grenade

  “That’s right. Let’s negotiate,” I say. “I want Poppet and Cain to leave here unharmed. I want you to forget they ever existed.”

  “Domino, don’t,” Poppet mutters, her eyes closed against Eric’s gun.

  She knows what I’m offering—my head on a platter for Madam Karina to place on display. Domino the Betrayer. See what happens to those who slight her? Poppet thinks I’m being serious, because she sees Domino when she looks at me. She doesn’t know that Domino is asleep, and I’d kill everyone in this room if it meant protecting my sleeping beauty.

  “And I want you to release Angie,” I add. “Tell her she’s free to keep working for you, or to work elsewhere.”

  “You make a lot of demands for someone with a lesser weapon.” Madam Karina locks eyes with Eric and yanks her wrists against the binds. “Take this off me.”

  I step between Eric and Madam Karina, jab my knife to her throat to remind him I’m still armed. Over my shoulder, I say, “I’m going to let him untie you as a show of good faith. But I want your word that you’ll release Poppet and Cain.”

  “Enough with your threats. Let me go!” Rage laces the madam’s every word. It’s the sweetest music I’ve ever heard. I smile to Eric and bow like he’s royalty. Let him release the beast. When she says it’s me she wants, I want her to be on her feet. I want to be on my feet, too.

  I step away, and Eric releases Madam Karina. Immediately, the madam covers her wounds and puts pressure on the hole in her gums. Her face furrows, and she moans deep from within her core. I understand then how much pain she’s in. It isn’t enough. It’ll never be enough. If Domino were here, she would’ve called off the torture long ago. But she isn’t here. I am. And Madam Karina has another think coming if she thinks I’ll die easily.

  Madam Karina straightens and then dashes toward me, fury in her gaze. I lift the knife so it glitters between us and shake it back and forth. Tsk, tsk. She glares at it and shuffles backward. Her eyes flick to Eric’s weapon, and she seems to understand she can’t risk it. After all, how quickly could I stab her before Eric put a bullet in my head?

  “Tell me what you want,” I say between my teeth.

  “You know what I want.”

  I smile and open my arms as if I’m all hers. She eyeballs my knife again, uncertain as to whether I’ll use it on her after Domino’s friends have fled. If I’m still kicking, I’ll use it and then some. Her eyes slide past my knife toward the open front door. She narrows her gaze as a crunching sound reaches my ears. Lights flood the front room and I turn to see what she does.

  It’s Mr. Hodge, sitting passenger side in the car we saw him in yesterday. From here, I can make out the woman in the front seat. It’s one of the two ladies from the general store. The thinner one who acted scared of Madam Karina and who said she’d bring by canned pears.

  Mr. Hodge leans forward and peers through the windshield, eyes squinting like he can’t make out what he’s seeing.

  “Get out of the doorway!” Madam Karina yells. She shoves Cain and Eric so that they disappear from view. The madam grabs my free hand and presses it to her chest, folding her fingers around my own. I’m startled by her touch, especially since I could cut her throat from this distance. “You want to make a deal?” Her eyes are manic, and her bloodied lips are curled away from her teeth. She takes a small step toward me, and I lift my knife. Her breath is spoiled milk and rusted metal, and she looks terrified that I’ll reject her proposal. “Kill him,” she whispers. “Kill him, and I’ll let you go. All of you.” She squeezes my hand tighter. “I won’t chase you. You have my word.”

  So Madam Karina wants me to kill her philandering lover. She doesn’t have the guts to do it herself, and it seems she’s decided there’s something magical about her favorite girl turned rogue doing the deed for her. Eric could do it much easier. One antsy trigger finger and it’d be done. But I do have a flare for making murder long and interesting, and I’ve shown Madam Karina a touch of that sinister side.

  I kill Mr. Hodge and we go free.

  One more X on the arm.

  One more man.

  I turn and glance at the open door, knowing that in a matter of seconds that Mr. Hodge will come through it. I push Madam Karina’s hand away. “Get against the wall and let me work.”

  She inches away and waves for Eric to follow her and to bring Poppet with him. I nod for Cain to do the same, and he does, though he’s looking at me strangely. Domino would care about that look, but to me, his feelings are irrelevant. Besides, I know what’s best for him. For all of them.

  After tonight, they’ll no longer live under the giant’s thumb.

  Mr. Hodge strides through the door cautiously, one hand on the threshold. His meaty head appears first, no neck to be seen.

  He takes a second step inside, and his pupils enlarge.

  I’m on him in an instant.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  The Past is Present

  I knock Mr. Hodge onto his side, feeling like a comic book hero. The beefy man scoots backward on the floor when he sees what’s in my hand. But I just slither on toward him.

  “She has a knife,” he yells to Madam Karina.

  She doesn’t care.

  When he realizes she doesn’t care, and that no one else does, either, he makes this high-pitched cry that’s unnatural for a man his size. I almost laugh. But I shouldn’t laugh, right? I mean, the man’s about to meet his maker. It’d be rude to poke fun.

  “You deserve anything she does to you,” Madam Karina shrieks. “You think I didn’t know about your whore? You think I didn’t notice she drove you home? You wanted to get caught!”

  “Puppy,” he pleads. The way his mouth downturns, it’s like he’s more concerned about hurting Madam Karina than he is my blade. Seeing him this way, vulnerable, I almost regret having to kill The Neck.

  “Say it again,” I snarl, speaking to Madam Karina but keeping my eyes on Mr. Hodge. “Tell me you’ll let us go if I end him.”

  “Yes, just do it!”

  “Domino.” Cain’s voice breaks through my sniper focus. “Don’t.”

  “Shut up,” I snap. “That’s not my name.”

  “Listen to him,” Poppet pleads.

  “I said shut up!”

  Blood pounds at my temples as I crawl toward Mr. Hodge. He tries to retreat, but his back hits the wall.

  “I’ll make it quick,” I tell him. “And I’ll carry the ghost of you on my arm, always.”

  Sweat drips between his eyes. I watch it slide down his nose and pool at the corner of his right nostril. His eyes dart toward Madam Karina, and then he makes a break for it. I leap onto his back, the knife arched above my head.

  Someone behind me closes in. It’s Cain, judging by the heavy footfalls. He doesn’t reach me in time, though. Not before I drive the knife into Mr. Hodge’s side. It’s not enough to kill him. I didn’t go deep enough for that. But it does get him on the floor.

  He moans like a rhino taken down in a safari hunt. As if I’m the cruel, advantaged hunter with a scope and camouflage. And here he is—one of God’s innocent creatures. But the truth is, he helped Madam Karina build this empire. Helped seduce girls into selling their bodies and souls so he could lord over this three-story farmhouse. And let’s not forget the way he cupped Poppet’s bottom. Think that’s the first time he’s pulled a stunt like that? Please.

  No, I won’t mourn his death.

  Mr. Hodge flips onto his back and blocks his face with his arms. As if that’s what I’m going for.

  “Don’t take another step,” Eric yells.

  I turn to find Cain a hand’s width away from me. He looks like a knight, come to rescue a damsel in distress. But I’m no damsel, and I’m certainly not stressing. Not over someone like Mr. Hodge. One less dirtbag walking the planet, if you ask me.

  Eric points his gun at Cain, but Cain doesn’t react. He keeps his gaze on my face, silently imploring me to see reason. To not kill a monster that deserves to
die. But it’s men like Mr. Hodge who make me sick. They hurt women, leave them, walk out front doors in the dead of night even though their wife and daughter are asleep down the hall. Doesn’t he know how they’ll grieve the loss of him? Doesn’t he care?

  Slowly, Gentle Domino slides her hand over mine. Grips that knife along with me like maybe she wants in on this, too. Is tired of being in the back seat at this midnight matinee.

  I stumble to my side, shocked. Domino has never risen while I worked before. She may have whispered in my ear, but I could swat away her presence like a gnat.

  I shake my hand once, twice, until I regain full control, and then refocus on my task.

  Madam Karina clutches Poppet’s upper arm, rooting her in place, and tears streak down Poppet’s face. I glance at Cain. He’s no longer checked out. Now he’s present and accounted for, and he’s terrified of what I may do. And what about Poppet? Look at that fear. Taste it! Is that what I do? Is that the same look the men I hurt gave me? Yes. Yes, it is. It’s different this time, though. It’s different, and it’s the same.

  Domino’s two friends don’t want me to do this thing. But I guarantee what they want more than anything is for us—for all of us—to be safe. To be free. And so I will do this for them. Because it’s people like them I want surrounding my Domino.

  I turn back to Mr. Hodge.

  He must see the determination in my eyes. He must.

  Mr. Hodge screams, and I crawl on top of him like I’m scaling Mt. Everest. I hold my knife above my head, ready to plunge it like a flag into uncharted land. My fingers twitch as I eye the soft spot below his chin. It’s funny, really, that the fastest way to kill this man is in the one place he’s largely missing. But in all seriousness, there’s enough neck there for me to work with.

  Wilson, Domino whispers. Wilson, I was wrong. I am strong enough to handle this.

  Nope, I tell her. Go away!

  The knife in my hand lifts a fraction higher, and Mr. Hodge fights to get my weight off him. I avoid his flailing and zone in on his jugular. My heart stills. My pulse slows. I am calm in this moment. My name is Wilson, and this is what I do.

  I kill.

  I kill so Domino doesn’t have to.

  “Do it,” Madam Karina says from behind me. “Do it for both of us.”

  Her words spill over me like heated oil, tangling in my hair, sticking to my skin. It’s dangerously similar to something Mother would have said. Mother didn’t want to be alone in her hatred, and so her baby girl helped torture her victims. Madam Karina’s own hate stretches from her to Domino, an invisible thread binding them. When I assisted Mother, she gave to Domino freely—affection. And Madam Karina will give to her, too—freedom.

  Domino hesitates. She hesitates, but I won’t.

  My hand quivers above Mr. Hodge’s body as he writhes side to side. I lose my hold on him once, but regain my place on his chest quickly enough.

  Why am I shaking? I don’t have a care in the world for this man. I am fearless and emotionless and made of gears and glass.

  Because you are me, Wilson. And I am you.

  My body freezes. Why won’t she just shut up? I asked for complete control, and she gave it to me. So why is she here?

  Go back to sleep! I growl.

  No, she responds firmly. I won’t turn away this time.

  “What are you waiting for?” Madam Karina barks. “Do it!”

  At the same time, Poppet and Cain yell for me to stop. To put down the knife.

  But it’s Domino’s voice that stills my arm. I’ve closed my eyes to the things I’ve done for too long. I want to see it now, all of it.

  I spot it then. The dark room. The girl. My girl. She has a chain tied around her ankle. Rusted links that stretch from her to me. She’s bound to me the same way Madam Karina binds herself to Domino. But it’s not the same.

  IT’S NOT THE SAME!

  Mr. Hodge breaks away and races up the stairs. I can get to him again. That’s not my concern. My worry now is Domino and her insistent fingers digging into my mind.

  Domino produces something from behind her back. An axe. She has an axe!

  “What are you doing with that?” I yell aloud. “You shouldn’t be here!”

  “Who’s she talking to?” Eric mutters.

  These are my memories! Domino says, lifting the weapon. This is my anger. I want it back. All of it.

  “Don’t do this,” I whisper.

  “Enough!” Madam Karina snatches the gun from Eric and points it at me. I lunge at the madam, no longer sure who I am. The gun goes off at the exact moment that Cain slams into her. I’m stunned silent for only a fraction of a second, the bullet lodged into the drywall behind me.

  Cain pins Madam Karina to the floor, yelling as if he’ll never stop. Eric fumbles across the room for something, and Poppet grabs him about the waist, trying to stop him. It isn’t until I see the gun in Eric’s hand that I understand what he intends to do.

  Let me in let me in let me in! Domino screams, bringing the axe down.

  Eric takes aim at Cain.

  A gun.

  My Cain.

  I dive across the space between us and sink my teeth into Eric’s arm.

  He elbows me off and swings the gun wildly. A second shot is fired, but this time it doesn’t lodge in the drywall.

  It buries itself into my body instead.

  Domino hacks at the chains over and over as I scream in anguish, in desperation.

  Pain sears through me, and Cain turns his attention to Eric. He rises to his feet and transforms into a battering ram, a plague, a stone giant come to life—and he uses every ounce of his pent-up resentment to take Eric down. Eric’s face becomes a blood-soaked sphere as Madam Karina scrambles back toward the wall in horror. Poppet is next to me, putting pressure on my arm and telling me it isn’t so bad. But all I can think about is the gun. Where it is? Who has it?

  Then I see it in Eric’s hand. It’s stretched forward and kissing Cain’s gut. Eric smiles, white against red, and his finger moves to pull the trigger.

  I scream for Eric to stop.

  Domino screams, too. Brings her axe down one more time and severs the chain.

  Wilson gone.

  Domino here, here, here.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Fire

  Eric jams the gun farther into Cain’s stomach as I rise on shaking legs. My legs. My body.

  Eric grins. Spits his anger at Cain. “And now you’re gonna die ’cause you thought you were a big man.”

  The wall behind the two tangled men explodes. The madam collapses beneath the rubble, the house thunders with the magnitude of a deadly earthquake, and I decide that maybe God has had enough, that he’s reached in and ripped away the walls that shield us.

  But then Angie appears, killing the headlights on Black Betty. She’s yelling something I can’t make out. But as she climbs over the crumbling fragments of siding and drywall and insulation, I understand her perfectly.

  “You killed my dog!” she roars, unearthing Madam Karina from pieces of wall and debris. “You killed my dog, and I’m going to kill you!” Angie’s remaining Doberman, Kali, is by her side as she kicks the injured woman in her rib cage. “You poisoned them. You poisoned my babies!”

  My eyes dart to Cain and Eric, and I see that Poppet has Eric’s gun. I don’t know how the exchange happened, but she has the blasted thing now, and that’s enough for me. I jump to my feet and race toward the kitchen, one hand gripping the bullet wound on my arm.

  I find what I’m looking for behind a box of rat poison, exactly where Cain said it would be.

  I could light a fire if you’re cold, Cain said to me once. I have some lighter fluid beneath the kitchen sink.

  Wilson is not the only one with anger. I harbor it, too. Me.

  Pulling in a deep breath, I flip the red cap and squeeze fluid on the rabbit mount with the lei around its neck. Next, I squirt some on the curtain valance and then trail a line of it down the hall
way and toward the room where everyone is screaming threats. My knife lays flat against my back, held tight to my body by my waistband. The coolness is reassuring. It makes me work faster, my tongue touching my bottom lip in concentration.

  When I reach the foyer, I squirt the remainder of the fluid over the curtains and couch. No one sees what I’ve done. Angie is busy kicking Madam Karina’s bony butt, Cain is distracted beating the life out of Eric, and Poppet is exalted by her newfound weapon and power.

  “Cain, give me your lighter!”

  He stops slamming Eric into the floor and looks at me. He’s returned to his dark place, nothingness behind his eyes. It’s a glorious look on him. I’d like to lick that look from the back of a spatula. Cain spies the fluid in my hand and then digs in his pocket. The silver lighter gleams in the low light. He tosses it across the space and I grab it one-handed.

  “Poppet, get out of here,” I tell my friend. When she glances at me, I say, “Start the green car and wait for us.”

  She nods and dashes out the door.

  Cain throws Eric into the corner and dusts off his hands like that’s that. I crouch next to Madam Karina. She’s breathing, but she doesn’t look good. I grab her hair and pull her head up so she hears me clearly. “Now you’ll see if your girls really care about you.”

  A vein in Madam Karina’s eye is busted, filling the creamy whiteness with red. Still, I glimpse the fear in it all the same. It instills me with power and joy like it would any reasonable madman. I flick the grind and a small flame dances.

  Stealing one last glance at the farmhouse, I fill my lungs. Then I yell, “I’m lighting this place on fire. You’d better get your butts down here and out the door or you’ll burn to the ground, too.”

  That’s enough warning, right?

  Right.

  I toss the lighter, and the curtains burst into flames. The yellow-red warmth snakes up the fabric. It stretches its long arms toward the furniture and the drizzle of fluid I trailed along the floor. Already the smell of smoke is all-consuming. I could be roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories and inhale the same scent. But it’s not marshmallows I’m roasting.