Chapter 3: A Pointless Interrogation
Author's Note: You're probably thinking... "What the hell? What just happened at the end of chapter 2?!" Right? Hehehehe. You're lucky chapter 3 is posted now. I know I used to drive people nuts with my insane cliffies back in Free Writers And Readers. Oh yeah, you should fear my cliffies! *evil laugh* That chapter's somewhat shorter, but you'll probably be interested in what Lillian has to say. *wink wink*
Enjoy!
Nessie ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My hand moved against her throat, a touch that from gentle could turn into violent in just a second. If I pushed a little harder, she wouldn’t be able to breathe; I knew exactly the spot to press to constrict her airway. And she wouldn’t want this now, would she? I felt her breath hitch in her throat and her eyes looked even bigger, somehow, and almost pleading.
“So? I’m still waiting for these explanations.”
The door snapped open and I glanced for a moment, seeing Kellah and Silvia standing there. Silvia’s eyes looked up at me, her mouth half open as if she was frozen in the moment she was going to take a bite from the toast in her hand. Kellah’s smile was wiped from her face and I was a hundred percent sure she wasn’t sure what she should think about what her eyes were seeing. I could have been making out with Lillian and be in the exact same position. Sort of, if Lillian wasn’t with her back against me and her face down on the mattress. Maybe…
“Will you shut the door already?” I snapped. “In. Now.”
“What happened?” she asked, lifting Silvia and placing her on the bunk as far from us as possible.
My gaze flickered between my aunt and the girl and letting go of her throat I lifted the skirt of her dress slightly, finding the dagger hidden there. Predictable. Who did she think she was? Lara Croft? I let the dagger drop on the ground. “Take it, and keep it away from her,” I instructed Kellah. “Anything else hidden up your sleeve? Or… your skirt?” I snapped at Lillian, pressing her a little harder against the mattress.
“That’s all. Thought it would do.”
“So back to the subject. Who. Sent. You?”
“Actually shouldn’t you ask what was she going to do?” Kellah chimed in. I gave her an angry look and bared my teeth at her for a second.
“That’s the only thing I know for sure. She was going to distract me and stab me, and then kill you as soon as you came through the door and keep Silvia until the train reached its destination and then she’d hand her over.”
“Hmmm. You’re good. Are you sure you’re not working for my boss too?” Lillian said, her voice slightly cynical. Copycat. I sneered.
Instinctively, my grip on her wrists tightened. “Do I look like I work for them?” I growled.
“It… was… a… joke… Geez…” I could see she had difficulty breathing, so I loosened my grip a little and applied less pressure on her. I didn’t want her dead. Yet. “You really don’t know how to talk to a lady if you don’t want to make out with her, do you?”
“Do you consider yourself a lady?” I snarled. “More like a backstabbing bit-” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Kellah’s strict look. She was eyeing Silvia carefully. No matter what the circumstances, I still had to watch my language around her. She was barely five years old. “Told you I’m not good with people. And you didn’t follow my advice. I told you, you don’t want to see my angry side.”
“Come on, kill me already and let’s get done with this,” she encouraged, looking me straight in the eye. There was no humor or flirting in her voice; her eyes were stone cold.
“Not until I don’t get my answers first.”
“Oh, come on! I don’t know! Okay? I’m your average bounty hunter! Those guys found me, offered some really big money to get the child for them, and I took the job. No questions asked. I figured you had kidnapped her and they were getting her back.”
“What were they like?” I snarled. I squeezed her wrists so tightly that my knuckles were turning white.
“You’re hurting me!” she said.
“If I don’t get the answers to what I want, this will be like foreplay before I am done. Why don’t I just break your arm to see how much that hurts? So…? Where were we?”
“I didn’t see any faces! They kept lingering in the shadows. Covered in cloaks and all. They had a creepy laugh. They gave me the job, but didn’t believe I could do it!”
“They weren’t wrong,” I said bitterly, smirking.
She shot me a look burning with hatred. I didn’t have much trouble giving her a similar look back. “Their voices were like snakes. Slow and making that shrieking sound in the end that made the hair in your neck rise. And when they handed me my pay, their hands were gloved but they had extremely long fingers. Honestly, I don’t know anything else! I just really needed the money. Nothing personal and all.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said coldly. But I did. This wasn’t the description I expected, but it was real. There were more after us. Some that lingered in the shadows until this moment. Oh great. Why don’t they all just go to hell? And the funny thing is… They sent a clueless human bounty hunter to get us? Come on, that’s the best they can do?
“That means you’re gonna kill me?” she asked. “Do I get a last wish thing?”
“Last wish? What would you want?” I asked, playing along. Not letting go of her hands, I turned her to face me completely; for a second I had forgotten completely that Kellah and Silvia were still in the cabin.
“To pick the way I’m going to die.”
The corners of my lips lifted slightly. “Oh? So?”
“Just stab me. Take the stupid dagger and let’s get it over with.” Her face was completely calm, as if she said the simplest thing in the world. The look she had reminded me of a schizophrenic who just announced he killed someone. Something was up with her.
“I don’t need a dagger to kill you.”
“You’ll strangle me? Huh. That’s so cliché.”
“Stabbing is too. So, why would you ask for this? Maybe you still have some more tricks up your sleeve? And just a little secret. I don’t need to use my hands to kill you either,” I said in my scariest, darkest voice. I felt some wild excitement overtaking me as I saw the color slip from her face; for once, I was not the one who had to run away. I had someone and could make her feel as if she had to run for her life… only she couldn’t. Because she was trapped. “It’s not nice when you can’t run now, is it?”
“Stop toying with her, Brian!” Kellah interrupted. “Come on, just ask her what you want and let her go.”
“If I turn my back to her, she’ll kill us. Maybe I should let her, huh?” I said sarcastically.
“But you took her dagger!”
“If she’s a bounty hunter, those little fingers of hers can do a lot without a dagger. A weapon is just extra power for her.”
“So, I’m not the first hunter you’ve come across,” she said, smiling cunningly. I glared at her. “Thought I should remind you I’m still here.”
“I’ve met more talented than you by far! Some who make you look like an amateur. You really must be, huh? Or maybe just a newbie? And, just for the record, I’m not sure that reminding me of your presence is good for you.” I frowned, still wondering what I should do with her. “For the time being, you may be useful. I think we’re going to keep you around for a while, at least until I figure out why you asked me to stab you instead of anything else.” Her expression didn’t change; she didn’t utter a word. I turned to face Kellah then. “Just tell me you have some rope like those you walk dogs with in your stuff,” I asked my aunt.
She rolled her eyes, but without another word she threw a blue leash at me. I caught it midair and with swift moves, I tied Lillian’s arms behind her back. “And that is why a dog walker may be useful in such situations,” I murmured in Lillian’s ear.
“Dog. Trainer. Not dog walker. Trainer, Brian!” Kellah snapped.
“I think that now is not the time to argue about your profession, Kellah,” I said.
“Who is this giwl?” Silvia asked, now things had eased finally. Now that I knew that she was tied and she had nowhere to go, I climbed down the bed and reached for Silvia.
“Someone you should be very careful with. She is not to be trusted.”
“Why did you tie hew?” she asked looking at her. Lillian gave her one of her naïve smiles and I made Silvia turn and look at me again, lifting her little chin and making sure she was looking me straight in the eyes.
“Because she is dangerous. Don’t go anywhere close to her. Do you understand? She is not to be trusted, do you understand?” I asked.
She nodded slightly. “Is youw leg still bloody?” she asked, her eyes lowering and looking at my leg intently, as if she could see through the fabric of the jeans and at the spot the bandage was.
“A little. It’s fine, Silvia, don’t worry about it. Finish your toast.”
Obediently, she sat on the bed crossing her legs and finished her food. Kellah stood up and caught hold of my arm. “Can we talk?”
“I’m all ears,” I told her coldly.
“Out?” she pleaded.
“And leave her with Silvia? Forget it.”
“What are we going to do with her?” she asked quietly.
“That is not something you should worry about. You’ll see when we get there, alright?”
“If you don’t trust me with your plans, I am completely useless, you know that.”
“You’re not needed anyway,” I snapped and turned my back at her.
“This can’t go on. I know this is not the time and place to talk about it, but eventually we are going to have a long talk about this.”
I squared my shoulders and sat on the bottom bunk right under Lillian, staring at the boards of the bunk on top of me. The pain in my leg returned but at least I couldn’t feel The Chill. They weren’t close. Apparently, they thought this doll of a hunter could get the job done. Always thinking they came first themselves. Their big disadvantage.
“When awe we meeting momma?” Silvia asked eventually, bored of playing with her fingers and the shadows creeping through the closed curtains.
“It will take a while, Silvia,” I said softly. My voice was raspy and heavy from not using it for hours and I grabbed a bottle of water and drank some. I sat up and peeked at Lillian; she was sitting there quietly, not talking but seeming interested at the mention of our mother. I eyed her carefully and mouthed Don’tto her. I didn’t know how much she knew. For all I knew, she could have been with them and have been the one who killed mom. Although, I doubt that mom would have been unable to escape someone like her.
Silvia yawned and curled on the bed, her tiny hands clutching on the pillow. Soon she was fast asleep.
I turned on the side, facing the wall of the cabin and closed my eyes. I was just resting; sleeping wouldn’t be safe. I saw the ghosts of former passengers of the trains here already. The trains were old and their stories even older. And all thedeceased passengers somehow had a gruesome, gory appearance, as if they did it on purpose to make you nauseous. I could see a man with piercing muddy brown eyes, a cowboy hat on his head, a dark suit; only that what made it look dark wasn’t the suit… it was the blood. There was a big hole in his chest. I averted my gaze from him… I hated it when such people showed up. And they all had something that was creepier than deep gashes and bloodstains or distorted characteristics. Everything faded on them; everything was black and white, gray and transparent… see-through. Only the eyes were the same. Only they somehow appeared to glow and be more piercing; more knowing. They knew what only people who had crossed over to the other side knew. And just the thought of this was creepy. And the haunting eyes themselves were even creepier. I shut my eyes, not relaxing though; not letting my body allow access to the dead for the living world. I wouldn’t sleep yet.
The bunk creaked and squealed as Lillian shifted a little; I tensed in case she tried anything. But she didn’t.
“He plays it all rough and badass always?” she asked.
At first Kellah didn’t reply, but I could imagine the scene as if my eyes were open and looking at them. Lillian looking at my aunt with that persistent gaze of hers; Kellah looking guiltily at me, wondering if I was actually asleep.
“That’s how he has been for quite a few years now…” she murmured.
“Why? He really has potential to be nice.”
“He is. Just… only with his sister. He has never said a single bad thing to her. So protective…”
“I noticed that. What’s the deal with the girl?”
“Don’t you know? I mean, weren’t you told? You were after her, weren’t you?” The shock in Kellah’s voice was obvious. I wondered if I should intervene maybe and stop the conversation there, but I was curious about where this was going.
“I’m a bounty hunter. I receive a reward to be someone else’s bloody hands. I don’t get more information than I need to fulfill my purpose. They just told me to kill you and keep the girl. That’s all. But you got me all involved for real now. So, can I know what the deal is?”
I heard Kellah sucking in a deep breath and could feel her look at me again.
“No, you’re not involved. You just happened to get in the middle. Now be quiet, or I will make you quiet,” I snarled not bothering to turn around.
She snorted, sensing how it was just an empty threat.
“If you hurt me, I’ll just get myself healed,” she said and I could feel she was smiling even if I couldn’t see her.
“What do you mean?” Kellah asked before I could utter another word.
“If he wants to learn, he has to get me involved. And if he sleeps for real, I might actually tell you,” she replied confidently, as if she was sure I’d somehow want to know. And it wasn’t far from the truth. She didn’t seem to be quite as human as I thought at first now… what was up with her?
“You’re not getting involved. The end,” I snapped and that was my final word.
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