Chapter Ten – Loyalty
I have never hated anyone as much as I hate you. I hate your cold blue eyes, the way you survey everything with disgust and annoyance, I hate your voice always bitter, always angry. I hate your scar, the way it reflects your ugly personality. I hate your lips as they speak nothing but cruelty. I hate your hands, things you use to hurt and hit, the way they clench when she speaks to you. I hate your golden hair, the way it hangs about your face like a shroud, always hiding your gaze's intentions. I hate you, Mello.
These thoughts and more ran through Erin's head as she watched Mello rage in the hospital room. Shortly after calling emergency assistance, an ambulance had arrived carting both her and Matt away.
In hindsight, it probably would have seemed smarter to run, get away from Mello and his life of crime but it seemed wrong to leave Matt there, collapsed on the ground with a dart like needle poking out of his neck. She had held his hand until they had gotten to the hospital, where doctors had carted him away and told her to stay in the waiting room.
Mello and Layla had arrived a mere thirty minutes later. Unsurprisingly, there was also a fellow mafia associate who had seen Matt's collapse and had informed Mello of the incident. Unfortunately this same mafia associate had also informed Mello that Erin herself had injured the goggled man furthering Mello's suspicions that she was working under Lucky Lady.
"For the last time," Erin said wearily, "I didn't do anything to him. A man dressed in black came up to us and hit him in the neck."
"Right." Mello snarled, "Do you think I'm as stupid as you are, Blogger?"
"Mello." Layla said suddenly. She looked as tired as Erin felt and she recalled the harsh fight she and Mello had earlier that morning. She ran a hand through her long brown hair and let out a sigh. "There's no point in questioning her so incessantly. If she really is working for Lucky Lady its not like she'll speak easily."
Mello looked as if he might argue, but then fell into a heated silence. He then resumed his pacing, and Erin tried not to pay attention to the click of his boots on the tile.
"Are you all here for someone registered under the name of Matt?"
Both Erin and Layla jumped at the sound of the the voice. A doctor stood, looking squarely at the three of them in the waiting room.
Mello, as always, was hatefully calm. "Yes."
The doctor looked sheepish as he spoke, shuffling his shoulders, "I need his name, son."
Perhaps it had been Mello's all leather attire, or the tone of his voice, or even the scar that covered half his face that had clued the doctor in that Mello was not a man for giving out names like candy to children.
Since the whole issue with the Kira case, people, especially criminals did not want to give out their names. It seemed obvious to Erin that the question would have been like swinging an executioner's axe over Matt's head.
Mello shook his head.
The doctor it seemed, wanted to try a different approach. "Where are his parents? I can tell that he's only seventeen. He still lives with his parents doesn't he?"
At those words, both Mello and Layla stiffened and Erin was painfully reminded that the two of them did not have parents. But Matt did, didn't he? He'd never seemed to affected by talking about orphanages. But then the thought occurred to her, had Matt been in the orphanage too? Was that how he had known Mello and Layla originally, as little children? Had he watched Mello become a monster?
"Orphan." Mello said roughly.
The doctor's face seemingly sharpened, then softened. "I see."
"Just give me the facts," Mello said commandingly, "Can we just take him now?"
The doctor sighed and then spoke quietly, "This is against hospital policy, but yes. He's only been hit with a mild tranquilizer dart, the kind used for small game. Just give me thirty minutes to sign a release form. Would you like to wait in his room?"
"Fine." Mello said, and Erin noticed a minute change in his posture.
The doctor led the three of them to a hospital bed on a normal floor unit and Erin was surprised to see Mika already holding Matt's hand and standing by his bedside.
He turned to meet Mello's gaze first and Erin was shocked by the way his gray eyes suddenly became as hard as stone.
When the doctor left, Mika spoke in a heated whisper, "Just what happened to him? One of your mafia men called me and said he was in hospital. Why?"
"The hostage tried to kill him." Mello said, trying to keep his tone even.
Bullshit! Erin thought, hating Mello with every breath he took.
Mika took a glance at her and scoffed, "She is just a young woman Mello. Not a murderer, she is not you."
"Oh really?" Mello snarled, "And please, Mika Levandi, what am I?"
The two men advanced on one another until Erin noticed Layla had disappeared from her side and had wormed her way in between both her brother and lover.
"This isn't the time." Layla said frantically gazing at both the men with an expression of anguish.
Mika looked down at her and Erin could see the similarities between the two Estonians were striking.
"Where you get that bruise from?" Mika said, pointing at a spot underneath Layla's collarbone that was becoming grey and purple where Mello had hit her. Layla instantly covered the spot with a manicured hand and leaned back into Mello.
Mello braced her with his arms and glowered at the Estonian man.
"Again?" Mika said, sounding frustrated, "You let him hurt you again?"
Erin felt relief flooding through her system, finally someone had enough sense to point out the obvious flaw in Mello and Layla's so called relationship.
"Are you a fucking idiot?" Mika snarled at his sister, "Staying with a Russian, with a man who cut your face open? He is bad Layla! He is nothing but trash! I refuse to believe you are so stupid, so crazy!"
"Mika!" she said, her voice sounding strangled and Erin realized with slight surprise that she was about to cry.
"Don't you fucking talk to her like that." Mello said suddenly, a dangerous edge taking his voice. "She's not crazy."
"Then she is an idiot!" Mika snapped back, "Any woman is an idiot that stays with a man who treats them like a dog."
Mello suddenly shoved Layla behind him, speaking tersely. "Go wait for me outside."
Layla however clutched at Mello's coat sleeve, her nails digging in the red leather, begging silently for something Erin couldn't name.
For a moment, Erin thought Mello was going to slap her and she stood, preparing to throw herself into the midst of their strange fights.
However, Mello moved his hand upwards, not to hit or strike, but to pull his coat off his shoulders which he handed to Layla. It seemed a strange gesture and Erin waited with baited breath to see what else the mafia man would do.
"Go outside," Mello said again, "Go smoke a cigarette, Kiska. Take her with you." he inclined his blond head at Erin and the two of them shared a glance before Layla and Erin strode outside of the room.
From the way Layla was walking Erin could tell she was fighting the urge to cry. However when they walked outside of the hospital, sobs erupted from the Estonian woman like a river bursting through a dam.
Layla stumbled blindly to a nearby bench and sat down, her entire body shaking with either emotion or the slightly cold air Los Angeles took to during the evening. It became apparent to Erin why why Mello had handed her his coat and the strange kindness of the gesture shocked her.
Layla however had no interest in putting on the coat and was attempting to stifle her sobs with her fist. It was the first time she and Erin had been in such close proximity and she couldn't help but notice how little Layla actually was. The top of her head barely reached Erin's collarbone and she sighed, sitting next to the girl and pulling Mello's coat from her so she could place it awkwardly over her shoulders.
She looked so pathetic crying that Erin almost hugged her, but didn't want to startle the girl too badly so she instead opted for clasping at the girl's hand.
The gesture still startled Layla and she turned to look at Erin quizzically, "You really don't know anything about Lucky Lady or any of us, do you?"
Erin felt as if the sky had opened up and beam of light finally shone down upon her. Finally someone understood what she had been trying to tell them, finally someone got it.
"How did you guess?" Erin said, trying not to betray her excitement.
Layla gave a noncommittal shrug, "You didn't run. You would have had the chance to run if you did hit Matt with tranquilizer, you did not. You stayed to help him."
The two of them fell into an awkward silence and Erin wracked her brain, trying to keep the girl talking, to learn more about her.
"What's Kiska mean?" she asked tentatively, recalling now both times Mello had used the word.
Layla looked surprised, then a smile flitted over her face. "Kiska, is Russian for kitten. It is Mello's way of giving affection to me."
Erin blinked, Mello...affection? Those two words didn't match up. When Mello had been calling her that it hadn't been an insult like Erin had suspected, it had been a term of endearment?
"Layla," Erin said softly, "How did you meet Mello? Matt, he told me you were orphans, but you have a brother."
"When I was a little girl," Layla began, her voice sounding far off as if she was reading from a fairy tale. "I lived with my mother and Mika in Estonia. My mother, a devout woman...did not like me. I heard voices as a little girl and every day I was exorcised by her to make them stop."
Erin blanched, the idea that a little girl would go through such a treatment every day made her pity the woman she had become even more.
"One day," Layla continued. "A man came to our home telling my mother that I was special. I have always been gifted with artistic abilities, and my paintings were becoming well known even as a little girl. My mother told this man that my gifts were from the devil and that I was evil. The man offered her a thousand american dollars in exchange for my safe passage to this orphanage that he claimed was for the most gifted children."
"Did you meet Mello in this orphanage?" Erin interjected but Layla held up a hand.
"I'm getting to that. When I arrived at the orphanage, I spoke very little english. The man who brought me there introduced me to Mello who was one of the most intelligent children in the place. He assigned Mello to teach me english. I met Matt, Mello's best friend soon afterwards."
"So Mello taught you to speak english?" Erin said slowly, "As a little boy?"
Layla shook her head, "You don't understand, Mello is brilliant. His I.Q score at seven years old was 180."
Erin stared incredulously at the woman, however, that would also explain why Mello would have been so adept at running the mafia at merely eighteen years old. She wondered if she would perhaps be pushing her luck by asking what was on her mind but the curiosity was overwhelming.
"How did Mello come to be in the Mafia?"
Layla sighed and twisted a lock of brown hair around her fingers.
"Mello's weakness is his emotions. When Mello was about to turn fifteen, the man who had saved me from my parents and who became a surrogate father to Mello was killed by Kira. Mello ran away from the orphanage. Originally, he set out to defeat Kira himself, thinking he was smart enough to do so. However, when he reached LA, he soon learned that the man who murdered his parents was running rampant in Los Angeles. This man was Top Cat."
Erin stared blankly at Layla, as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to pity the young blond teenager. To begin to understand why he was who he was.
"Mello confronted Top Cat's rival gang, and told them he could bring them to great heights. They laughed in his face and told him if he was so clever he could bring down Top Cat himself." Layla's mouth quirked oddly, "Imagine how surprised they must have been when Mello came back two months later and with Top Cat's head in his hand."
Erin sat quietly beside Layla, trying to process all of this information. It was strange to understand now that Mello was not a mere cold blooded monster, but a mere teenage boy, someone who's life had been ransacked by Kira and by Top Cat as well. Mello just took things a bit further and actually got his own revenge.
It seemed easier to understand why Mello lashed out at everything around him. He was angry and beneath all that anger was fear for his life, and beneath that layer the ultimate thing was sadness. But suddenly her pity was stopped short when she recalled what Mika had said to her.
"Layla...that scar...on your nose, did Mello do that to you?"
Layla flushed suddenly, and reached up her hand to cover the distinct marking that lay across her face.
"Not directly." she said sheepishly.
Suddenly Erin was overwhelmed with anger, "How can you stay with him? How can you let him control you, hit you the way he does?"
Layla gave a noncommittal shrug. "I love him."
"How can you love someone who treats you that way?" Erin said, squeezing Layla's hand. "You could leave Mello! Run away from him and never come back."
To her surprise Layla began to laugh, a low throaty noise. "Leave Mello? I would never dream of it."
"Why?" Erin said fiercely, "You're so young Layla! You're what, sixteen? You're an amazing painter. You can be without him, refined men could fall at your feet if you wanted them too!"
Layla shook her head, then spoke with a strong kind of loyalty. "I love Mello. Mello and I will stay together until one of us dies."
"You keep saying how Mello loves you, but has he ever told you that?" Erin said, becoming annoyed with the Estonian's stubbornness.
Layla gave her a hard look, "I do not need him to tell me. I feel it, deep in my skin. He will tell me when the time for me to know comes."
"How long can you wait for that, Layla?" Erin said softly.
"Forever." Layla said sharply, "I will wait until I am dead. Beyond that too, if needed."