Leticia

by Lindsay Anne Kendal

  I dropped the remote and ran into the hallway, pulling the gun out and turning the safety off. I stood with my back pushed against the wall, watching the front door. A loud bang came from the kitchen, followed by shrieking, someone must have opened the back door and been met by my little trap, a second later, another shriek, this time from the bleach. I stood there with an evil smirk on my face.

  The living room window smashed and I heard something hit the floor, it wasn’t one of them, the noise wasn’t loud enough to have been a human body. The windows upstairs began to smash, just how many of them were there? The next thing I knew the house was filled with smoke. I dropped to the floor trying to find my way to the front door. The smoke got thicker every second, I crawled as fast as I could, choking as I reached up to the door handle. I threw it open, gasping for breath.

  “There she is,” I heard a man shout. “Get her now, hurry.”

  I jumped up quickly, and started running down the front path. A couple of them started shooting at me and I dropped to the ground, covering my head with my hands until they stopped firing for a moment, then ran again. I was going to try and get to my car, but noticed all the tires had been slashed to pieces, I’d have to run for it, and to stand a chance of getting away I would have to change, however, these people didn’t know what I was. Did I really want to risk them finding out? But then did I really have a choice?

  They continued to fire at me, I took cover behind the car, I couldn’t risk being hit. What if the bullets were silver? The shooting stopped, I could hear crackling and popping sounds coming from my house.

  “Come out Leticia and you won’t get hurt,” a guy shouted.

  “Yeah right,” I yelled back.

  “We don’t want to kill you; you need to come with us.”

  “OK, OK.”

  I stood up slowly, tucking the gun down the back of my jeans again, slowly raising my arms to show defeat. I looked over at my house, it was engulfed in flames. I’d lost everything. My eyes started to fill with tears; I blinked them away quickly and turned my attention back to the men. There were nine of them, not including the ones I could see in a car not too far away.

  “If you didn’t want to kill me, why were you shooting at me?” I asked.

  “We wouldn’t have hit you, it was to slow you down,” the ginger guy I saw before said, walking slowly towards me.

  “Are they silver?”

  “Silver?” he frowned. “Err, no, why would a bullet be made of silver?”

  “Just checking,” I smirked.

  I grabbed the gun from behind me and fired at him, it hit him in his right shoulder. He fell to the ground in agony.

  “Bitch,” another guy shouted, shooting directly at me.

  The bullet hit me in my stomach, it smarted a little and bled slightly, but I just stood there laughing at him. I fired at them again and again but I was a terrible shot and missed them. All of them started firing back at me, bullets were flying everywhere, I could take a few shots, but not that many. I hid behind the car again waiting for them to stop, but they didn’t, they carried on and on. The windows smashed sending bits of glass all over me, now I was getting worried. I could hear the sound of a car engine coming closer and closer, my heart was racing, if they drove around and got me from this angle I wouldn’t be able to run, there were still too many bullets flying in my direction.

  A moment later a car screeched to a stop a few feet in front of me, a black Audi, the door flew open.

  “Leticia get in!” I heard Jackson shout.

  I ran as quickly as I could and practically threw myself into the car. Before I’d even shut the door, he’d put his foot down, turning the car around 360 degrees and shot off back down the private road to my drive way. The door slammed shut and I gathered myself quickly.

  “Put your seatbelt on,” he ordered.

  I didn’t argue but I didn’t do what he asked either, it’s not like a car accident could kill me anyway. I turned to look out of the back window, my house was glowing red and orange from the fire, then I saw headlights, we were being chased.

  “Don’t worry, we have it sorted,” he told me.

  “How did you know?”

  “We’ve been watching. Hold on!”

  I braced myself as we skidded around the tight corner onto Holmfirth Road, I closed my eyes waiting for us to hit something, but he regained control of the car.

  “Why you?” I asked rather nastily.

  “Do you want me to stop?” he shot at me. “I will...”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Don’t push your luck with me Leticia,” he said, switching gears.

  “You wouldn’t leave me; you wouldn’t have come for me if you had any intention at all of leaving me.”

  He didn’t respond, he just kept his eyes on the road. I looked behind us again; I could see the headlights from the men’s cars following us, trying their best to keep up.

  “They wouldn’t stand a chance of catching us in this, if I didn’t want them too,” he told me.

  “IF?” I shouted.

  “Trust me.”

  “HA, yeah right.”

  We were now on the straight stretch of Saddleworth Moors, I looked over at the speedometer and we were doing 120 mph. The cars behind us were managing to stay just in sight.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  “Jackson I didn’t mean to sound...”

  “Forget it, I’m not doing this for you.”

  “Fine.”

  I turned silent, holding on to the seat to stop myself jumping up and down as we hit the bumps on the road. I looked at the speed again, we were now at 140mph. I turned my attention to Jackson, but he didn’t look at me once, he just kept his eyes on the road. We entered Holmfirth, down the 30mph stretch of road at three times that speed.

  “Hold on tight, this is a sharp turn,” he told me.

  He slammed his foot on the breaks then turned the wheel like crazy, the back end of the car swung out as we turned almost back on ourselves to head towards Holme and the Summit. How he managed to regain control of the car I’ll never know. He slammed it into gear and put his foot down again, dodging parked cars and taking the sharp bends at still a rather high speed. I saw him look in the rear view mirror, and then for some reason, just as we were about start the winding approach to the summit top, he slowed right down.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Watch.”

  I looked out of the back window again for a few seconds; as soon as the headlights from the men’s cars were in view he put his foot down again.

  “Why did you do that? Aren’t we supposed to be losing them?” I scalded.

  “No, they need to follow us.”

  “Why?”

  He didn’t answer, and I didn’t ask again, he needed to concentrate on the road, the bends were so tight and I really didn't fancy going off the edge of the road, in parts, it was a sheer drop.

  “I’m going to pull up on the top in the big pull-in, you better get yourself ready,” he advised.

  “For what?”

  “A fight.”

  “What?”

  “We won’t be alone,” he smirked. “But I’d put your game face on, or turn fully, it’s up to you, it’s not like they’ll live long enough to tell anyone.”

  “You’re going to kill them all?”

  “No, we are.”

  We reached the large pull-in and he slammed his breaks on, I got out of the car quickly, Jackson did the same. Tristan was standing in front of us.

  “Have they followed?” he asked Jackson.

  “Of course, it’s not like they didn't know where we were heading.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  We heard the cars getting closer and closer, and then, it was as though something, somewhere, sent help. It started to go very, what I thought for a moment, was foggy, but when I looked properly, I noticed it was actu
ally a thick cloud that had started to descend.

  “Wow,” Tristan smiled. “This is amazing, perfect timing.”

  Jackson didn't say anything in response; he just stood there with an evil grin on his face.

  The cars stopped close to Jackson’s. There were four of them with four people in each. They stepped out warily. The cloud was so thick now that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. If it wasn’t for our excellent eye sight and senses we wouldn’t have seen them. They split up into two’s and started walking around, straining to see, trying to find us. We were standing across the road, slightly down the grassy hill, watching. Tristan suddenly shot away from us, so fast he actually turned into a blur. Jackson grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

  “Do not kill the one with the blonde pony-tail,” he whispered to me.

  “Why?”

  “Watch and see.”

  “Why can’t you just....?”

  I was interrupted by the sound of a man screaming, the others panicked shouting out for their comrade.

  “Well done mate,” Jackson smirked. “That was fast.”

  “What?” I asked confused.

  “Tristan just got one of them.”

  “Oh...”

  “My turn.”

  As soon as he’d spoke he moved out of my sight. Not ten seconds later I heard more screaming, shrieking, and then it was as though whoever or whatever had sent us the cloud bank to hide in, suddenly had a change of heart. The cloud dispersed and everything was visible once again. The fighting stopped.

  I moved closer so everyone could see me and looked at the men. Most of them were about twenty – twenty-five years old at the most. All of them looked frightened to death, especially when they saw Tristan with his fangs out. There were three of them standing in a line, side by side. The middle one, the one with the blonde pony-tail, seemed to be the only one that didn't look frightened; instead he looked rather amused.

  “Do you really want to continue with this?” I asked, allowing my eyes to change and teeth to sharpen.

  “What the hell,” one of them shouted. “Kill it.”

  “That’s a yes then,” Jackson smirked.

  The blonde guy in the middle reached into his trousers and pulled out two guns. I braced myself, waiting for him to shoot at me, but instead he reached his arms out to his sides pointing the guns at the other two men’s temples and pulled the trigger. The men fell to the ground instantly.

  “Traitor,” one of them shouted and went to point their gun at him.

  Jackson shot him in his chest; he staggered for a moment and then fell to his knees.

  “I’m not a traitor,” the blonde smirked. “I’m one of them.”

  I watched as the tall blonde man morphed into Nancy.

  “See,” she smiled, before shooting him again, this time through his heart.

  The guys who remained took shelter behind their cars while firing their guns at us all. Whenever a bullet hit Tristan he would burst out laughing.

  “OK I’m bored now,” Jackson sighed.

  “I’m so sorry about that,” I shot at him.

  Jackson jumped on the roof of one of the cars, guns in hand and shot four of them dead. Two other guys hiding behind the car closest to me jumped out and tried to wrestle me to the ground, but they were no match for me. My nails had extended, they were now more like claws. I swiped at the first guy’s throat, almost ripping it out, he fell to his knees clutching it with both hands and making awful gurgling noises. I threw the other one to the ground face down and, more quickly than any human possibly could, moved so I stood over him. I reached down and snapped his neck, as easily as snapping a twig. I turned to see Jackson, Nancy and Tristan staring at me, they had the only surviving man kneeling on the floor in front of them, Jackson had a gun to his temple.

  “Would you like to send a message back with this one?” Nancy asked me.

  “Actually I would.”

  I walked over to the terrified, middle-aged man and dragged him to his feet.

  “Give your boss”, I almost snarled, “A message from me, tell him if he thinks a few human beings can take me he is more stupid than I originally thought. Tell him to send as many as he wants, none of them will return. Tell him I’m waiting.”

  The man didn't reply he just nodded his head. I pushed him towards one of the cars and he jumped inside, quickly driving away from us.

  “Well that was a load of crap,” Jackson said putting his guns away. “I didn't even break a sweat.”

  “Yeah,” Tristan smirked. “I thought they would have at least put up a better fight, especially after the chase, so very, very disappointing.”

  “Don’t you guys care that a lot of people have just lost their lives?” I snapped.

  “No actually I don’t, they shouldn’t have attacked you,” Jackson replied, then quickly corrected himself. “Us I mean.”

  “Tish, you know he’s right,” Nancy said, walking over to me.

  “I need to get back to my house.”

  “I don’t think there’ll be much left of it.”

  “I have things in there I need to get.”

  “Like what, a few keep sakes?” Jackson asked nastily. “What’s so important about them?”

  “Look, you cold hearted prick, there are things in there of my mother’s,” I raged.

  “Tish,” Nancy interrupted. “Where are you going to stay?”

  “I’ll sort something out. Thank you for your help I appreciate it, I really do, but I need to go.”

  She nodded and watched as I got into one of the now abandoned cars and drove off.

  Chapter 15

  I raced all the way home. I pulled up in the drive and jumped out of the car. The house was still ablaze but I had to go inside, I had to pull my little safe out of there. I ran through the open burning gap where the front door used to be; I instantly started coughing and sweating, the heat and smoke were so intense. I battled my way through the hall and to the cupboard under the stairs, still choking and now, feeling rather light headed. I ripped the door open and grabbed the safe, it was quite heavy and lodged in. I pulled and pulled at it until it finally came out. I turned around, it was getting harder to move, to breathe, to even see, then, I felt someone grab my arm tightly. They dragged me out of the house and back into the driveway. I dropped the safe and used the car for support while I choked and struggled to breathe.

  Once I’d calmed down slightly and was actually able to see more clearly, I turned to see who had dragged me out. The first thing I saw was the black Audi parked a few feet away from where I stood, the driver’s door still open. Then I saw Jackson.

  “Are you OK?” he asked, actually looking concerned.

  “Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine,” I croaked.

  “That was stupid Leticia, real stupid.”

  “I had to get the safe.”

  “Some things aren’t worth your life.”

  “It wouldn’t have killed me.”

  “You could have been seriously hurt, was it really worth it?”

  “What do you care?”

  “I…” he stuttered, sounding a little nervous. “I...I don’t, I’m just saying that...”

  “Jackson, please, don’t start with me, in case you hadn’t noticed I’ve had a rough night.”

  “So have we.”

  “Oh, sorry, it’s just that I thought you said it was boring. I assumed you meant easy and no problem. I’ve been waiting for something to happen all day.”

  “I know, Nancy told me.”

  “But I didn't expect this,” I almost cried, pointing in the direction of my house, my eyes welling up with tears. “They’ve taken everything, my home, my clothes, my things, my car, everything.”

  “I know,” he whispered, coming closer to me. “I know.”

  He went to put his arms around me, but I pushed him away.

  “Oh don’t pretend you actually care, we both know you don’t, and I don’t want your sympathy!” I cried. />
  He didn't listen to me, nor did he respond. He just grabbed me and pulled me close to him, wrapping his arms tightly around me. At first I tried to pull away from him, but no matter how hard I tried he wouldn’t let me go. Eventually, I gave in and almost melted into him.

  We stood there for about ten minutes, just watching the house as it burned and eventually collapsed. Jackson called the fire brigade, and in no time at all they were there tackling the flames. The police had accompanied them and were now asking me all sorts of questions. I was finding it rather hard to talk about the situation without crying, so Jackson helped me out quite a lot. He told them we had been out all night and came home to this. He acted completely clueless as to what could have caused it, and when the police asked me if it could have been something left on in the house, I acted as though it was a possibility. The last thing I wanted was a deep investigation, I needed this done and over with as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was fine for money; I’d saved up a fortune over the years. If my insurance decided not to pay out, I would still be able to buy myself a new house.

  Once the fire brigade and police had finished with me and the house, they left. Nancy and Tristan were now with us.

  “I need to try and check into a hotel,” I sighed, opening my little safe and removing its contents. “Thankfully my bank cards and cash are in here.”

  “You can stay with us,” Nancy told me.

  “Thanks, but I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “Nonsense,” Tristan added.

  “Guys, I appreciate it, I really do, but....”

  “Leticia you are welcome to stay,” Jackson interrupted. “You need to get cleaned up, you’re covered in soot and bits of blood by the looks of it. You’re lucky it’s so dark out here, I don’t think the police would have been too happy if they’d seen that. So do you really want to risk drawing attention to yourself at a hotel?”

  “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or start being off....”

  “I won’t, I promise, come on,” he said as he walked towards his car. “I’ll take you.”