THE DEVIL’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  “Lianna,” Ace said, his voice ragged. “Can you tell me anything?”

  She took a deep breath, unsure how to say this to her leader. “It’s a lethal amount of blood. Whoever’s blood that is…there’s no way they could still be standing. But hey, for all we know,” she quickly added, seeing Ace’s face, “it might not even be her blood. What if it’s Alexei’s?” she optimistically suggested.

  “Oh come on, Lianna,” Ace said dully. “It’s not Alexei’s. He has her. I can feel it.” Ace’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket to look at the screen. “It’s Smalls.” He hurriedly pressed the green button and put the phone on speaker. “What do you got for me?”

  Smalls’s voice rang out thinly in the demolished room. “It’s her, Ace! She’s here!”

  “Are you sure?” Ace demanded. “Is she okay? Does she look hurt?”

  “She’s, uh, she’s banged up pretty bad, but she’s walking,” Smalls said.

  “Barely,” Ace heard Katie mutter in the background.

  He clenched his fist so tight he heard his knuckles creak. Of course he didn’t kill Fiona, he realized, disgust twisting his stomach into knots. Where’s the fun in that? He took her because he knew it would hurt me. He knows whatever he does to Fiona…I’ll blame myself for it. And why not? It is my fault.

  “Smalls, there’s blood here at Fiona’s house—a lot of it. Is there anyone else there who’s badly hurt?” Ace asked. Fiona was a strong girl, and smart, too. It was possible she had taken out another one of Alexei’s men.

  “Hold on, there’s another car pulling up,” Smalls said. There was a long pause as Smalls watched the car pull into the alley from the rooftop of the same abandoned warehouse Ace had scaled a few days ago.

  “One of the guys is definitely bleeding, but he’s not—” Smalls broke off abruptly.

  “Smalls? Are you there? Smalls?” Ace said urgently, terrified that they had been made.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” Smalls replied. “The guys in the second car just pulled a giant suitcase from the trunk.”

  “A suitcase big enough to hold a body?” Ace asked.

  “Oh yeah, and what’s worse, its dripping blood.”

  Who could be in the suitcase? It’s not Fiona, it’s not Alexei’s men… The color drained from Ace’s face. “Thanks, Smalls,” he said into the phone. “Get back to headquarters, okay? I’ll see you there.”

  Ace shoved the phone into his pocket. The entire reason Fiona had come to Ace was for her brother, and he had promised her he would keep the kid safe. Now it looked like he might be getting buried in expensive luggage. Ace knew how close the two were; if Niko died, it would be like Fiona herself was the one who was killed.

  “Come on,” he said gruffly. “We should head back.”

  ***

  Fiona had patiently been waiting for Alexei’s arrival for over an hour when she finally heard footsteps creeping up the driveway. She quickly and silently moved into position, hiding just behind the front door so when Alexei stepped in, there was no chance she could miss.

  Hopefully, I’ll be able to take out some of his bastard friends, too, she thought, remembering Vlad’s eyes and the way they had caressed her body.

  They knocked, three loud booms on the door that made Fiona tense up so badly her muscles hurt. There was a long silence, then five shots blew past Fiona, shattering a vase, the last unbroken thing in her home, and filling her ears with a deafening ring. Light spilled onto the carpet from the holes in the door.

  “Did I get you?” Alexei called through the door. Fiona bit her lip to keep herself from whimpering in fear. “I hope I didn’t, because I want this to last a long time, Fiona,” he said, a mere foot away from her head through the door.

  “Is there anyone in there with you? Fiona?” he pushed when she didn’t respond. “Come out and it’ll go easy—you can even see your brother. He’s still alive! For the time being,” Alexei warned.

  Fiona still said nothing. They were toying with her, trying to shake her, trick her into doing something stupid. She kept her lips tightly pressed together as she held the gun up, ready to pull the trigger the second she saw Alexei’s idiotic, bleach-blond head.

  “Okay,” she heard Vlad say in a sing-song voice, “we’re coming in!”

  Fiona had been ready for the shots that came through the door, and she thought she was ready for this—but she was tragically wrong.

  Alexei kicked open the door and it flew back, striking Fiona’s hand with such force it broke two of her fingers on her right hand and knocked her into the wall. She dropped the gun in pain and crumpled to the floor.

  No! Fiona’s mind screamed. Not again! She scrambled for the gun as Alexei and Vlad burst through the entrance. Alexei swiftly kicked the gun, sending it skittering across the kitchen floor. Fiona made a desperate leap from her knees, just barely managing to catch the grip between her fingers.

  She swung back to face them, the gun in her left hand, awkward and heavy, intending to aim it right at Alexei’s giant chest. When she turned around, however, she saw her brother bound and gagged, standing right next to Alexei, who had one hand on the back of Niko’s neck, and the other pointing a gun right at his head.

  “Drop it,” Alexei said, no longer playing games. “Now. Or I’ll blast his fucking face all over the floor.”

  Fiona hesitated, but when Alexei cocked the hammer she quickly set the gun aside. “Okay! Okay,” she said, putting her hands up. “So, I guess you just want to talk about Ace?”

  Alexei let go of Niko and strode over to Fiona. He drew his hand back, the one still holding the gun, and backhanded Fiona across the face. “Stupid girl,” he said, kicking her viciously.

  Fiona wheezed, desperately gasping for air. The bruises on her side had only just begun to fade, and now new ones were forming. Her vision went dark and she fought to stay conscious.

  “Get her up, Vlad,’ Alexei ordered.

  She tried to crawl away, but Vlad caught her before she went even five feet. His hands gripped her under her armpits, and he hauled her back. Her side wrenched in the most painful way, and Fiona shrieked in agony.

  Vlad pulled her upright, supporting her with one arm wrapped around her waist. He clamped a hand over her mouth. “You’d better stop screaming right now, or I’m going to put a bullet in your brother.”

  Fiona quieted, but she didn’t stop trying to push Vlad’s hands off of her. He was holding her tightly from behind, pressing himself into her as he brought one of his hands up to roughly squeeze Fiona’s breast.

  Niko’s eyes widened in horror as he watched Alexei take off his jacket. He began to frantically wriggle against his restraints as Alexei started to unbuckle his belt.

  Fiona shut her eyes, wishing she had tried one last time to convince Ace to help her. They were in worse trouble than ever now, and no one was coming to save them.

  “You’re going to learn what a terrible mistake it was to try to stop us,” Vlad whispered in her ear as he smoothed her hair back.

  There was a loud knock at the door and Fiona’s heart leapt. Ace! He came!

  Alexei and Vlad froze briefly, looking at each other. “Check the door,” Alexei ordered Vlad, who was hurriedly redoing his pants and grabbing his gun off of the counter.

  Vlad stood off to the side of the door, much like Fiona had. He reached forward to grab the handle, looking back at Alexei, who was positioning himself in the kitchen. Alexei nodded and Vlad ripped open the door, ready and waiting.

  The sunlight shone through the door, casting an outline around the person in the doorway and blackening their face. They stepped in, and Fiona groaned, feeling more destitute than she ever had in her life.

  Ash looked around the room. After having called the police a few days ago and hearing nothing back, Ash had attempted to contact Fiona. Her phone had been shut off, so he decided to stop by her house.

  When he had walked up, he hadn’t noticed that there were more bullet holes than before, nor did he notic
e the dark town car parked down the road. He only heard Fiona’s muffled voice, and he knew he wasn’t leaving until he got some answers.

  The first thing he saw when he walked through the wide open door was Niko. He was lying on his side in front of the sofa, with ropes around his wrists and feet, and duct tape across his mouth. His eyes were rolling wildly as he tried to speak, his words suppressed by the tape.

  Ash immediately went to him, kneeling by his side. “Niko! What happened? Where’s Fiona??”

  Niko began to wriggle against his constraints furiously, but to no avail. Vlad had quietly stepped up behind Ash, placing the cold muzzle of the gun to the back of his neck. Ash went still.

  “Get up,” Vlad said softly.

  Ash raised his hands and slowly got to his feet. He noticed Fiona on the floor, blood trickling from a split in her lip and cheek. He took a step towards her, but Vlad held it up to his face and Ash stopped in his tracks.

  “What are you, the boyfriend?” Alexei asked. “You sure seem to be protective over her.” He turned to look down at Fiona. “At least he showed up; Ace is nowhere to be seen.”

  “Ace?” Ash echoed. “Fiona, who are these men? What is going on?” he asked worriedly.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” Vlad said. “Now you’re going to have to come back with us.” He was mocking Ash, his face an exaggerated grimace.

  No! Fiona thought desperately. I can’t have any more deaths on my hands! She looked around her, frantically searching for something that could help them. She spotted something, and got an idea.

  “Oh, my side,” Fiona suddenly groaned loudly, as though in severe pain. She grabbed at her ribs and slowly sunk to the floor.

  Ash started forward, but Vlad grabbed him and held him back. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

  “I think I have internal bleeding,” Fiona said, rolling onto her side and curling up into the fetal position.

  Alexei came to stand over her, his enormous shadow blocking out the sunlight that filtered through the holes in the boarded up windows. “Get up,” he ordered her, but she didn’t move. “Get up!” he repeated angrily, planting his boot into her lower back and shoving her.

  Fiona stayed where she was. Alexei strode over to her and bent down to haul her to her feet, grabbing her by her bicep. Suddenly, Fiona sprang up and stabbed Alexei in the muscle between his shoulder and neck with a long shard of the broken vase.

  He fell back with a roar and Fiona made a dive for the counter where Alexei had left his gun. Before she even had the chance to grab it, a shot rang out, quickly followed by two more. Fiona whipped her head around to see what happened.

  Ash stood, swaying gently. Three blossoms opened on his chest, then ran down, soaking his shirt. He crumpled to the floor, blood seeping into the floor beneath him. As the life left his eyes, they never left Fiona’s. Fiona screamed, quickly silencing herself when Vlad moved the gun to point at Niko.

  Fiona heard a loud grunt behind her and she saw Alexei slowly rise to his feet. One of his hands was wrapped around the long bit of glass Fiona had stabbed him with, and the other was using a dish towel to apply pressure to the wound.

  “That’s what happens when you do stupid things, you dolbo yeb,” Alexei angrily cursed, gesturing to Ash’s body with the glass shard. “People get hurt. And what good did it do?” he asked, holding up Fiona’s ineffective weapon and tossing it aside.

  Fiona was shaking her head. “Why did you come here, Ash?” she moaned. “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone!”

  “Look through the rooms,” Alexei ordered Vlad. “Try to find something for us to take him out of here,” he said, meaning Ash’s body.

  Vlad headed into her bedroom and Fiona could hear him ripping open drawers and pulling things off of shelves. He came back a few minutes later with a large suitcase.

  “Think we can get him to fit in this?” Vlad asked.

  Alexei nodded. “That’ll work. Call William, have him come pick it up. We need to get out of here.” He turned to Fiona. “Are you going to be good, or do I need to tie you up like your brother?”

  Fiona shook her head. “No, I’ll be good.”

  Alexei sighed. “Oh, how I wish I could believe that,” he said, just before his fist slammed into the side of her face, knocking her unconscious.

  Chapter 12

  Ace looked around the table. “So, any questions? Comments? Concerns?” he asked everyone.

  They had just finished discussing their plan on how to rescue Fiona—and Niko, if he was still alive. Ace was terrified that every second they spent talking strategy was another grain of sand in the hourglass of Fiona’s life, but even he realized barging in with no organization was a good way for everyone to end up dead.

  “Let me just repeat how stupid of a reason this is,” Katie said with a mocking smile on her face.

  Ace sighed. “Noted. Anyone else?” No one said anything, so Ace continued. “Well, then, let me just say how much I appreciate all of you for doing this for me. I know not everyone is fully on board, but the fact that you’re risking your lives anyway…” Ace broke off, glancing at Smalls, who gave him an imperceptible nod. “You deserve to know the truth. Everything everyone said before was right; I put this girl before the gang because, well, I care about her.” Ace coughed roughly. “I love her, actually, and I think I would legitimately go insane if she died. So, there it is,” he finished lamely, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

  Lucky rolled her eyes. “Fuckin’ finally,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Thank you for telling us the truth about this. I am more than happy to help you,” Riley said solemnly. “All we ever wanted from you was your trust and respect as our leader.”

  Ace nodded. “There’s nothing you guys ever did to make me feel like I couldn’t share this with you. I just got tied up in my own shit for a while.” Ace saw Katie out of the corner of his eye. She looked disappointed, but unsurprised.

  He wished he could tell her she was enough, that she shouldn’t feel like she did anything wrong, but when he looked at her again, he saw she already knew. Katie had never been someone who could be described as driven by her emotions.

  Smalls came over and clapped a large hand on his shoulder. “I’m proud of you for that,” he said quietly, a wide smile on his round face.

  “Thanks, Smalls,” Ace said, letting out a deep breath. “I just hope I get the chance to say it to her. The things I said last night…it’s no wonder she felt like she couldn’t ask me for help. I’ve done nothing but treat her like shit.”

  “You were trying to help in your own way,” Smalls finagled. “At least now you know how you fucked it up.”

  “And what good does that do me if she’s already…” Ace couldn’t say it. Saying it made it a real possibility, maybe even a certainty.

  “She’s fine, okay?” Smalls reassured him.

  Ace looked into his huge, clear eyes and began to calm down. “You’re right. Hey, Smalls, I got a special project, you up for it?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Smalls said, nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

  “You’re gonna have to be on your own for this one, so be careful, all right? If I go down, this gang needs you,” Ace warned him.

  Smalls cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Are you sure this is something you want to trust me with?”

  “Of course! We’re all about trust, right?” Ace said with a grin and a wink.

  “Of course,” Smalls agreed with an uneasy chuckle. “So, uh, what is it you want me to do, Ace?”

  Ace leaned in, his arm barely reaching around Smalls’ massive shoulders. “This is why you’re the one I want on this job…”

  ***

  A few minutes later, the seven of them were spilling out onto the front lawn, mounting their bikes and starting the engines. Bobby came out and stood on the front step of The Hell Brothers’ headquarters, staring at the bikers with an anxious face.

  “Hey there, Bobby,�
�� Ace said, coming to stand next to the young man. “What’s going on? You look a little worried.”

  A shadow seemed to pass over Bobby’s face. He turned to Ace with a determined glint in his eye. “I want to help,” he said firmly.

  Ace admired his bravery, but he couldn’t help but notice that Bobby’s bottom lip seemed to be quivering, and kind of a lot.

  “We would love to have you out there with us, but I think you and I both know it’s best for you if you went home,” Ace said, not unkindly.

  Bobby hung his head, his shoulders drooping. “You’ll get Mrs. Connor—I mean, Fiona—back, won’t you, Mr. Connor?” he asked hopefully.