THE DEVIL’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  “You idiot, put your gun down. See, unlike you, I can pull the trigger, and when I do, your precious little girlfriend bites the dust,” Skull snapped.

  “Fair enough, but you have to ask yourself one thing first, Skull. Am I holding one of my assault rifles to your head, or is this one of the automatic weapons your boys brought in to play with a little while ago?”

  I felt his grip on me loosen, and his gun shifted back from my head.

  I took the opportunity to turn away from Skull, draw my weapon, and back myself towards Mick, who was also pulling his gun back up from the ground.

  “Okay, you got me, Mason,” Skull said, raising his gun above his head. “Maybe we can talk now and work something out that will benefit both of us.”

  “Can you believe this guy?” I asked Mick under my breath.

  Skull had something up his sleeve, though. Even in the nearly complete darkness around us, I could see his eyes smiling back at us. He was about to try to pull something at the last minute to get himself out of trouble. Classic Skull.

  “Why doesn’t Mason just shoot him?” I asked, growing frustrated at the little game these two were playing.

  “I think he wants a fight. This has built up long enough between the two of them. Mason isn’t going to want to shoot him at this point,” Mick explained.

  “But he’s got him,” I argued.

  “Oh yeah. I think he’s had numerous opportunities to drop him right then and there tonight, but he wants a fight. He wants the satisfaction of actually punching Skull, I think,” Mick continued. “You have to remember, Mason was brought into the MC by a bunch of old school guys. Bar fights were their thing. They used to start fights just for the hell of it. No reason. They’d get bored, have a few drinks, and start knocking the hell out of folks.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” I asked, but from his laughter behind me, I knew he wasn’t. Maybe that was the reason for Skull’s unsettling smile. He knew Mason wasn’t about to shoot him. He knew he had an opportunity to still get the upper hand.

  “I could shoot him from right here,” I told Mick. “I’ve got the perfect shot. Even I couldn’t miss it.”

  “Mason would hate you forever if you did that. Don’t rob him of this,” Mick warned me.

  That was when it happened. Mason was getting his fight after all. Skull dropped his gun and spun around. He grabbed Mason’s rifle and the two of them struggled for the firearm.

  Mick and I relaxed. It was just the four of us now, and I got the feeling that Mick’s opinion of the fight was to let it take its course. He didn’t seem too worried about who the winner would be.

  Maybe he was just too confident in Mason’s abilities as a brawler.

  Chapter 26

  Mason

  “Still too afraid to shoot me, huh?” Skull taunted me as he grabbed my rifle and used it to push me back.

  “Why would I settle for shooting you, Skull? That’s like cheating. It’s far too easy to just take someone out with a gun. We need to have a real fight,” I told him.

  “Then stop running your mouth and fight.” He pushed harder.

  I realized I had been mistaken about Skull all this time. He was a smooth talker, and a smooth dresser. He almost always wore suits, usually a black suit with a dark red shirt and a black tie. He always wore that damn necklace with the Skull hanging from it. He wasn’t built like the guys in the MC. He had a pretty narrow frame, and he kept himself very pretty by comparison to the people I was usually around. He didn’t seem like much of a fighter. He seemed like the kind of guy who would rather shoot his enemies than engage them in an actual fight.

  Honestly, I didn’t even expect him to use a gun. He struck me as someone who would rather have all his dirty work handled by someone else, keeping his pretty little hands clean. He was a bitch in my book. He may have been creepy up close with his evil clown smile and the serpentine way he moved, but that was just how he manipulated everyone into doing his dirty work for him.

  He was proving me wrong tonight, and it was a damn shame to think all of his talent was about to be put to waste when I finally got the chance to take his ass out. One of the reasons I wanted to force him to actually fight me was so I could actually see who he really was underneath that creepy show he put on for everyone.

  Skull was starting to drop his front, but I could see him fighting to keep the mask on as long as he could. The creepy clown smile was gone, replaced by an angry man gritting his teeth as he pushed his opponent back.

  “You can’t fight me,” he taunted. “You’ve had so many chances tonight to take me out, Mason, and I think I know why you haven’t taken a single one.”

  “Why’s that, Skull?” I asked.

  “I define you,” he said, pushing me away. He let go of me and stood his ground as I tumbled backwards. He adjusted his tie while he waited for me to respond or come back.

  “You don’t know me,” I growled.

  “Sure I do,” he said confidently. “You are so hell-bent on taking me out that you can’t actually do it, because you know as soon as I’m out of the picture, you won’t have anything else to work towards, and I think that scares you.”

  “Nothing about you scares me, Skull,” I told him.

  He just laughed. “Then come on,” he challenged me. “I’m right here. I’m unarmed. Let’s do this. One of us isn’t walking away tonight. Let’s go ahead and figure out who that is so I can go home and get some sleep.”

  I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to shoot him or just kick his ass and then shoot him, so I charged at him with the gun in my hands still. I grabbed the barrel and swung it at him like a baseball bat.

  He dodged it beautifully, contorting his body so there was no way I could have hit him.

  “Is that all you’ve got, Mason?” he asked. “I figured by your reputation this was your thing. I heard you were one hell of a fighter, not just some punk who relied on guns to handle his business. So far tonight, though, I’ve only seen you shoot a couple of guys. I haven’t seen you actually fight. Put the gun down.”

  He turned to the side and assumed a martial arts stance. I had never been so wrong about anyone before in my life. I should have shot him the first time I had the chance. Tonight would have ended long ago, and most of Storm’s Angels would be headed back to HQ with no more threat of Skull or his men hanging over our heads.

  Now, I was about to be stuck in a fight with a jackass who only looked like he didn’t know what he was doing.

  “Put the gun down, Mason. If you want to fight, let’s fight.” His voice was calm and smooth again.

  I had already figured out how he’d created the almost mythical legend of himself on the street with his smooth tongue and his creepy smile. He played right into everyone’s perception of him, so it wasn’t as unnerving anymore. What was unnerving was realizing I’d talked a bigger game than I was prepared to back up with him.

  One thing was still for certain, though: there was no way in hell I was talking things over with him to try to work out a deal. He wasn’t going to walk away from here. He wasn’t going home from this one.

  I glanced at Mick and Clara, and I realized it was starting to get brighter outside again. We weren’t too far from sunrise, it seemed. Traffic would be picking up soon, and people would have to see the outcome of what happened overnight here on the side of the highway. I hoped Mick had the good sense to call a cleaner while I finished off Skull so we could get the hell out of here.

  “What are you waiting on?” His voice tormented me.

  Every time he spoke, it shook me a little more and made it harder for me to focus on what I came here to do tonight.

  “Come on, Mason, handle your business.”

  I was beginning to see red. I charged him again with the gun.

  “You know,” he said, catching the gun with both hands, “for someone who believes so much in hand-to-hand combat, I haven’t seen you put this fucking gun down.” He pushed the gun against me again.

  �
�You know, Skull, I’ve learned something about you tonight,” I responded.

  “What did you learn?” he asked me.

  “You talk way too damn much. That’s all you are,” I told him.

  “I’m glad you noticed,” he said with a smirk spreading across his face.

  He pushed me back with my rifle and tucked a foot behind one of mine, tripping me and pushing me down onto the ground. I fell hard onto my back, almost knocking the wind out of my chest.

  He pressed the rifle against my throat as he straddled me. “Part of what they teach you in martial arts, is how to use leverage. You learn how to use a combination of gravity, your weight, and the other person’s weight against your opponent. See, even though you’re a bigger man than I am, I’ve got you on your back, and I’ve got this gun pressed against your throat. There’s nothing you can do about it, either, because I’m using my weight against you. If you’d like, maybe I can show you how to do this sometime. You’re coming to work for me after tonight, right?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “I don’t want to learn anything from you,” I said as I pushed back on the gun, trying to get it off my throat.

  “That hurts my feelings, Mason,” he mocked me. “But that’s okay, because you’re not coming back tonight anyway.”

  He reached to his side, holding me down with only one hand, and he produced a handgun from his pants or suit pocket, or maybe just thin air. I was starting to consider that maybe all the stories about him were true

  “Now, before I shoot you, I want you to know that I have really enjoyed being a thorn in your side,” he said as he leveled the gun at my face.

  I stared down the barrel of his 9mm. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a gun shoved in my face like that. If he thought that was going to scare me, especially with his smooth talk, he was pretty damn mistaken. I’d had so many guns pulled on me that way before that it had actually become a pretty common occurrence at one point before we established our dominance on the streets.

  With his gun in my face, he didn’t realize it, but he’d actually given me the upper hand again. While I wasn’t sure how he was putting so much weight on the rifle at my neck, I knew how to get out from underneath the handgun, but I couldn’t move again. This time it was because of his weight holding my arms down with the gun.

  “It’s a shame we couldn’t work together, Mason, but you’ve got to realize the world is changing. There just isn’t room for street thugs like you and your biker gang anymore. Organized crime is going corporate. My business is so much bigger now than you could ever hope to be,” he continued.

  “Just pull the trigger already,” I sighed.

  “I can’t do that. You know that. It would be too easy to just wipe you out. Besides, I’m trying to pay you a compliment, and you aren’t listening,” he said.

  “I don’t need compliments from the likes of you, Skull. Now, blow my brains out or get the fuck off me,” I snapped.

  “My goodness. Why are you in such a rush to die, Mason? Is it because your friends are watching and you don’t want them to see you like this?” he taunted me.

  “No, but that’s why you won’t do it, isn’t it?” I asked him, laughing at him. “You know if you go ahead and take me out right now, there are two guns pointed at your head from behind. As soon as they hear the gun go off, they will unload on you.”

  I saw his eyes shift then. He realized he no longer had the upper hand, and I couldn’t help but rub it in his face.

  “You never actually had the upper hand, Skull. You realize that as soon as you take me out, someone will step right in to take my place. In fact, he’s standing right behind you with an assault rifle pointed at your head. Can you say that about any of your men? Do you have someone to step in behind you and continue your business once you’re dead?” I asked him, taunting him, trying to get inside his head for a change.

  “Shut up,” he growled, shoving his gun in my face.

  “You’re not even trying anymore, are you? You know that no matter what happens to me now, you’re dead, and everything you’ve worked so hard for will fall into the hands of Storm’s Angels. That’s right, once we get you out of the picture, we’re taking your business people under our wing, and we’re going to keep your businesses going for you.”

  His eyes searched my face, looking for a hole in my words somewhere, looking for something he could grab hold of to tear me apart, but he knew I was right. He knew I wasn’t just talking shit anymore. He knew we were about to take everything from him, including his life.

  “You know, you were right,” I continued. “We would have made a pretty decent team, but your greed is going to cost you everything. Everything. Hell, even if you manage to walk away from here alive tonight, we’re going to take everything from you.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” he yelled.

  I could feel his grip on the rifle slipping. His gun wavered. I was getting under his skin, and I was about to earn my freedom back from him.

  Chapter 27

  Clara

  I raised my gun, but Mick put a hand on it and pushed it back down.

  “No, wait,” he told me.

  “But look at them. Skull has Mason on the ground,” I pleaded.

  “That’s fine,” Mick argued. “Just wait. Mason’s got this. I can feel it.”

  “But what if he doesn’t?” I asked.

  “But he does.”

  I lowered my weapon and watched. I couldn’t see what was going on. Skull’s back was to us. All I could see was that he was straddling Mason, and it looked like he was pressing Mason’s rifle down on his throat. I took a couple of steps closer to try to get a better look. I walked carefully, quietly.

  I could hear them talking, but they were keeping their voices low. The conversation was obviously just between them; we weren’t meant to hear it. As I got closer, I realized it was getting much easier to see outside. The light was getting brighter. Soon, the sun would be coming up, and traffic would pick up again along the interstate.

  “It’s going to be daylight soon,” I told Mick.

  “I know. We need to hurry up and finish this. I wish Mason would go ahead and shoot him already,” Mick said.

  “Well, shouldn’t we do something about the mess?” I asked.

  “Already on it,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He lowered his rifle and started tapping on the screen, apparently texting someone.

  I turned my attention back to Mason and Skull sitting on the ground in front of me. They didn’t seem to be moving. Whatever their conversation was about, it must have been pretty important. I could still hear them murmuring, though I couldn’t hear a word they were actually saying.

  “I’ve got a cleaner on the way,” Mick said. “We need to hurry this up, because anyone who’s left alive won’t be for long once he gets here.”

  “All right, good,” I told him. I’d never been around when a cleaner was working before. I was only a thief. I had never been exposed to anyone else’s job. All I ever did was get in, grab the loot, and get out. I had no real concept of what anyone else did, and I didn’t really care, not at the moment anyway. At that moment, all I cared about was what was going on between Mason and Skull.

  “Don’t,” Mick warned me again. “Do not interfere.”

  “Look, I’m the one who got him into this mess,” I argued. “I need to be the one to get him out.” I stopped and turned back to Mick.

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You may have facilitated it happening this way, but this has been coming for a long, long time, Clara. These two have been at each other’s throats for years,” he said to me.

  I looked back at the two men on the ground. I could have sworn they hadn’t even moved since Skull had pushed Mason onto his back. For all I knew, he’d already choked Mason out and was just sitting there enjoying his victory over his rival.

  “Dammit, Mick,” I said, “I need to do this.”

  “No, what you need to do is let the fight take its course, C
lara. Let them duke it out,” Mick continued to argue.

  But they weren’t duking it out. They were just sitting there. It sounded like they might have been talking, but I wasn’t completely confident in that assessment either. Something wasn’t right, and regardless of what Mick thought I should have been doing, I crept up to the two men to see what the hell was going on.

  I couldn’t just let a fight I’d started take its course, not without my intervention. Besides, we needed to get out of here before we created a spectacle. In the early morning light, everything was already pretty obvious.

  There was car sitting completely upright on the passenger side. There were bodies everywhere. Less than a mile back on the highway itself, there was a wrecked motorcycle with a body tangled up in it. There were guns everywhere. There was an SUV parked and running along the side of the interstate, where it had plowed into several motorcycles.