Framed

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  “Are you going to use your home ec project there, or are we gonna do this like men?” she asked, staring him down. “Bare handed.”

  The clatter of his weapon hitting the floor was answer enough. He sidestepped a circle around her, slowly. She pivoted on pace with him, eyes glued on his.

  “Tell me something, Jer, exactly when did you decide to start eliminating your own kind for sport?”

  He laughed.

  “When I realized it was the only way to be rid of you.”

  “Oh, so somewhere between delusional and psychopathic then? I'm still amazed that you were clever enough to come up with the idea at all. No offense, Jer, but you don't seem to be much of a thinker,” she mocked. “Were you man enough to take them down from the front, or did you strike from behind like the coward I have you pegged for??”

  “Sean is a coward,” he spat, disgust tainting his voice. “He's too poisoned to see you for what you really are and do what needs to be done. I'm resourceful. I did what needed to be done, by whatever means necessary. He's gone soft. He's a disgrace to his position.”

  “So, by resourceful you mean willing to kill your own flesh and blood?” she asked, jerking her head toward Jay, who lay soundless by the couch. It wasn't a good sign.

  “He's weak. They all are.”

  “The PC?” she asked for clarification.

  “No. The sympathizers," he replied, spitting the word out with contempt and disdain. "They deserved to die. I wanted to make that point known to them.”

  “You must have nearly come in your pants when you figured out that you could kill them off while securing my death at the same time. I never thought I'd live to see a man who could multitask,” she said sarcastically. “I can die happy now.”

  “And you will,” he growled, “die that is, but there won't be anything happy about it. I'm thinking slow and painful is the order of the night.”

  Another smile danced across her face.

  “We agree yet again,” Scarlet purred, coiling to attack. “Slow and painful sounds perrrrrrrfect.”

  18

  A muffled groan escaped from Jay, breaking Scarlet's attention for the briefest of moments. Jer capitalized on her lapse of focus by sacking her in the stomach hard, driving her into the wall right next to the door. He wrenched her head to the side, nearly torquing it against her shoulder in an anatomically impossible way.

  “Don't worry, bitch; I won't snap it all the way. I just want to paralyze you enough to make this easier on me,” he whispered into her ear. “I don't like breaking a sweat.”

  “Wow,” she said through gritted teeth. “Your sex life must be really exciting then.”

  With that, Scarlet braced her back against the wall and quickly worked her feet up to his stomach. With one sharp exhale, she drove Jer across the room with her legs. He nearly landed on Jay, who was still a bleeding mound on the floor. He appeared to be semi-conscious, so I took it as an overall improvement to his situation.

  Jer wasn't down and out long. He sprang to his feet, ready for round two, and, unfortunately for me, he'd acquired his crafty little weapon. He looked rather intent on using it too. Scarlet may not have felt any pain, but I sure did, and by the looks of that thing it was more than capable of inflicting it.

  Do not get hit by that thing!

  “Oh...so I shouldn't let him just swing away then? Thanks for the sound advice, Ruby,” she said, sounding more than annoyed.

  Jay rustled against the couch—he was trying to sit up. Jer looked over quickly at him, and I realized that he was a little too close for comfort. One more swing of that mace-like thing at Jay's head and he was done. Scarlet must have had the same read on the situation and acted accordingly. With catlike reflexes, she leapt at Jer, knocking him down with a massive right cross to the chin. She added a few emphatic kidney punts while he was down, just for good measure.

  They played like that for at least ten minutes. Scarlet looked like she was sparring, and Jer didn't look any worse for the wear. I hadn't realized it at first, but Scarlet was just toying with him. From all my recollections, she could have taken him out without even trying. She wanted him to suffer for her being inconvenienced by a pesky murder wrap.

  She truly was a vengeful bitch.

  The apartment looked like the remnants of a tornado stricken town. Furniture was unrecognizable, and anything breakable was smashed to smithereens. Jay had molded himself against the wall, trying to avoid any further damage. At one point, he looked to be searching his surroundings for something, but, unless it was a splintered piece of wood or broken plaster, I doubted he would find it.

  Luckily, I was wrong.

  I saw the dim light of a cell phone in his hand as he dialed. With his left arm, he brought the phone gingerly to his ear.

  “Sean...,” he whispered, breathing heavily as he spoke. “Need help...hurt bad...Scarlet...Jer...fighting.”

  The phone fell to the floor, and Jer smashed it immediately.

  “You think Sean will come to your rescue, little brother?” he asked while circling Scarlet for the eightieth time that night. “He'll come to recover your corpse, because that's all I'm going to leave for him to find. Yours and hers.”

  Scarlet glanced down to Jay, who appeared to be trying to tell her something while Jer rambled. It earned her a blow to the back of the neck with his gnarly weapon. The pain shot through me like fire. My body remembered that extreme level of pain from when Gregory had all but gutted me only a few weeks earlier.

  Jer couldn't have looked more pleased with his temporary victory, though Scarlet did not seem at all amused. She growled low and deep, and I felt my skin quiver; she was threatening to Change.

  Bad idea...you need to be able to speak in case Sean shows up. He will kill you, make no mistake about that.

  “I'm tired of this one, Ruby," she said, her body still vibrating. "It's time to take him out.”

  They glared at each other across the room, each one waiting for the other to make a move. Scarlet coiled, ready to strike, when a ruckus from downstairs erupted. Sean and the boys had made it there in record time.

  I dreaded the thought of what would happen when he showed up to find a dying brother, a mildly wounded one, and a very pissed off Scarlet. It wasn't looking good for team “me." Scarlet didn't seem to think so either. She lunged across the room, taking Jer into a chokehold from behind—a hostage. She'd knocked his weapon away in the process, leaving him unarmed.

  What the fuck are you doing?

  “It's called leverage, Ruby. You should recognize it by now when you see it,” she said as she held Jer tightly to her. “He's our way out.”

  Sean was through the door and halfway into the room before he stopped to assess the situation. He really didn't need to. One look at Jay and Jer, and he was all over Scarlet, literally leaping over Jer to reach her. He pried Jer from her grip and threw him toward the others that had followed him in.

  “She attacked us,” Jer shouted as Sean seemingly tried to separate Scarlet's head from her body. “She nearly killed Jay. He needs Sophie, now.”

  “I did no such thing,” she choked out, realizing that Sean was far more of a match than she'd bargained for. I didn't peg her for someone who would underestimate her enemy.

  Let me out!

  “You don't stand a chance,” she informed me.

  “I'm going to make you beg me to end this,” Sean whispered to Scarlet, “You betrayed me, and worst of all you betrayed Ruby. There's a price for that.”

  “Sean...,” a feeble voice called from the floor.

  “Don't talk, Jay,” Jer called from the far side of the room. “Sophie will be here soon. Just hold on.”

  “Didn't...do...it,” Jay said, trying for as much volume as he could muster.

  “What?” Sean asked, confused. “Who didn't do what?”

  Jay started to drag himself gingerly across the floor, which was highly surprising given that he was barely on the right side of breathing. One of the brothers
came to his aid and helped him to reach under the last remnants of the couch. From the wreckage, they pulled out Jer's homemade killing tool.

  “Ruby...she didn't...do it,” he whispered, sweat and blood pouring together down his face. “Neither...did...Scar...let.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Sean asked without releasing Scarlet from his iron grip. “Somebody better start making some sense really fucking soon.”

  Jay looked to his older brother with an impossible level of disdain. It was as menacing a look as anyone in his position could have managed. With a better view of him, I was able to see exactly what injuries he'd sustained. His right arm was unusable, virtually severed and hanging at his side. It appeared as if it had been through a meat grinder, with bits and pieces of flesh hanging off at random intervals. His neck was badly wounded, but it appeared that Jer failed to strike him with a killing blow. He missed by only a couple of inches, having hit too wide to tear out his carotid artery. Jay also had a deep and gaping gash on his head, and you could clearly see his skull through it.

  Judging by his minute but present improvement, I figured that he was either self-healing like a werewolf or his original state had had more to do with head trauma than it did blood loss and shock.

  I don't think Jer had planned for that little hiccup.

  Jay presented the crude tool to Sean, extending it toward him. Sean eyed it, but wouldn't release his hold on Scarlet to take it.

  “What the fuck is that?”

  “That would be what Jer has been using to kill your brothers,” Scarlet wheezed, her airway being significantly cut off. “It does an excellent job mimicking my own work, no?”

  “Would you kill that bitch before she talks her way out of this?" Jer snarled from the far side of the room. "I'm taking Jay out of here. He needs Sophie, now!"

  “No,” Jay said, trying desperately to pull himself to his feet. It was painful to watch as he stumbled like a newborn foal trying to gain his footing. The brother nearest to him left him to manage on his own—as though Jay needed to prove his strength in front of the others. “No, Jer. No more. You've gone too far this time. You have to pay for this one.”

  "You need to be healed, Brother. She nearly killed you. You took a massive blow to the head. You need Sophie."

  “What are you saying, Jay?” Sean asked, ignoring Jer entirely. He eyed Jay tightly, as if his mind was shifting the facts around to paint a potentially different picture of what happened before he arrived.

  “Jer...attacked me,” he said, holding up the claw-like weapon. “With this. He said that...I could die...with the rest of...them. Just like...the rest.”

  Jay had given up any illusion of power and was leaning heavily against the brother next to him, the pain plain on his face. The mere act of speaking was taking every bit of energy he had, and I was extremely grateful for it. Sean loosened his grip on Scarlet minutely, allowing her to stand on flattened feet rather than tiptoes. He turned to see Jer standing by the other men looking completely unfazed by Jay's wild accusations.

  “Are you serious? You're actually listening to this craziness? He's got a fucking head wound the size of Texas, Sean. He's delirious!” Jer protested. It seemed to be working as Sean's gripped tightened ever so slightly again. “Don't you think it's just a little odd that she's here?”

  “What about this?” Sean asked, pointing at Jer's weapon. “Can you explain it?”

  “She brought it with her, Sean, which was a pretty fucking devious plan. She planted it here.”

  “No, Jer. Tell him,” Jay said, looking gruesomely pale. “You tell him right now, you sick fucker, or I will.”

  “I'd be happy to enlighten you as well,” Scarlet added. It wasn't well received. Sean spun her around to pin angry black eyes on her.

  “Why are you here, Scarlet? I'm certain that I forbade you to be here—or anywhere else for that matter. That should have death as it's consequence regardless, so tell me what I want to know, and I'll make it painless and quick. Be anything less than cooperative and I'll make a production out of ending you,” he said with an eerie calm to his voice. “We all will.”

  “Fine,” she choked as he released her throat from his grasp. “I'm here because Ruby didn't want these two to die. She had a vision of the Rev following them into the building. He stood outside their door smiling like a Cheshire cat. She said we had to save them. She wanted to do it because of her inexplicably good nature. I saw it as a necessary evil.”

  “Go on,” Sean ordered, his expression giving nothing away.

  “I heard a scream when I arrived and broke into the apartment expecting to see a fight between your men and the Rev. What I saw shocked even me...and that's not easily done.”

  “And exactly what did you see?”

  “I saw Jer standing over Jay, wielding that ungodly looking thing,” she said, affirming what Jay had said earlier. “We battled with each other until you showed up. Your arrival should have been a far more positive experience than it has been so far, might I add. I expected slightly better treatment for attempting to save those who belong to you. Instead, I get the blame yet again. It's tiresome, really, especially when I didn't even kill Jer. I just toyed with him until you could get here and see him for what he really is.”

  “You think I'd kill my own fucking brother?” Jer spat, putting on an Oscar winning performance.

  “You already have, haven't you?” she asked, her voice thick with honey. “Several of them, actually. First Cass, then Raife, then Stavros, and then the young one...I forget his name. Then you attacked your true flesh and blood, didn't he Jay?”

  “What she says is true, Sean,” Jay whispered. “He said I sickened him. All the sympathizers did. We deserved to die, and we would until Ruby paid the price for it.”

  “Liar!” Jer roared as he charged Jay. Sean was on him in an instant. “He's lying! They're in on this together somehow.”

  “And why would that be, Jer? What would Jay have to gain from such a union?” Sean asked, his eyes nearly blackened with rage. “I think the answer you're looking for is nothing. I do think, however, that you stood to gain much from all of this. You're forgetting a little detail, Jer...if Ruby gets put down, so do I. And you were just chomping at the bit to get my job, remember? I think the only thing you'll be getting is death...a death for each one of us that you murdered.”

  Jer smiled, showing his true psychotic nature to everyone in the room. He knew he was caught. There was no way to talk his way out of this one. His fatal mistake was not mortally wounding Jay in the time he had, allowing him to confirm my story, which nobody would have believed without that confirmation. Jer was sunk.

  “It was a beautiful plan, wasn't it?” he asked Sean, his voice laughing, but his gaze hard and menacing as he stood toe to toe with him. “It was working so well too. Even you were starting to think she did it...your precious little Ruby. Don't you see that they had to die? They were weak, like you. It was only a matter of time before they infested the rest of the brothers with their warm hearts and gentle nature. The thought of it made me sick, so I did something about it. Something you'd never have the balls to do. It's no wonder he's always liked me more...I'm so much more like him than you. He despises you—always has.”

  I was feeling a little lost, unsure of who Jer was talking about, but, judging by the look on Sean's face, Jer had struck a major nerve. He was going to hurt for that one.

  “He does prefer you, Jer,” Sean confirmed, cornering him back against the wall. “He always has favored you far more than me. You're his favorite, his prize pupil, the prodigal son. But he doesn't despise me, Jer; he despises weakness, or any human emotion for that matter. I love that I disappoint him because it means I'm capable of things that he never will be, and I know that deep down inside, in parts he wants to pretend don't exist, he envies me. He loathes me because he'll never be able to feel the way that I can. But he does know loss, Jer, and he will feel yours.”

  With that, Sean drove a long dagger
up into Jer's ribs, penetrating deep into his chest cavity. He withdrew the blade, then placed it up to Jer's throat. “Anything you want to say before I end your existence?”

  Jer turned his eyes to meet Scarlet's from across the room.

  “I'll see you soon,” he said, before his head was nearly severed from his body. Sean had a lot of pent up rage in him.

  The body slumped to the floor, and Sean immediately came to Jay's aid.

  “Where is Sophie?” Sean yelled to the others in the room. “Get her here now!”

  “Maybe he killed her too,” Scarlet proposed nonchalantly. All eyes fell on her in the most unfriendly of ways. “It would make sense, wouldn't it? It would have insured that Jay couldn't have been rescued.”

  “Get her on the phone, now!” Sean yelled, tossing his cell phone to Scarlet. She dialed as he tended to Jay. He had used some rudimentary healing abilities on me once, but I knew they had limits. He himself had admitted as much. However, it seemed as though he was able to seal the neck wound and do something to his arm that made it look less gruesome overall.

  “There's no answer, Sean.”

  “Leave a message then. Tell her to meet us at Peyta's house. Jay needs this healed soon or he'll lose the usage of it forever,” he said, sounding concerned. “And Scarlet...it's time for you to disappear. Now.”

  His point was well taken. After some deep breathing and centering, she was able to calm down enough to relinquish control. It left me pretty shaken and a little shell shocked.

  Sean's face softened slightly at my appearance. “Good to see you're back.”

  I smiled at him silently; I was completely uncomfortable in the room full of men, the majority of whom were glaring at me as though I was still responsible for the situation somehow. Their hostility was palpable, and I once again found myself wondering if there was ever going to be anything I could do to win them over. If saving their own from a raving lunatic wasn't going to be enough, I was pretty certain I was fucked.