Title: Pretty
Author: Bernarde
Rating: NC-17... my favorite.
Summary: In an underground society where sex does indeed sell, Mark Calaway stumbles across a tortured young man named Evan. A wicked past has left Evan with no memory and the mind of a child, but something about him captures Mark's attention...
-_Ω_-
I left the Rose and Evan at home, went to the bank and pulled out as much money as they would let me. They only let me pull out three grand at a time - bullshit. But whatever.
The elevator dings three times and lets me out on Raven's floor. The steel bars in front of the elevator are unlocked, as usual, and I slide them back.
"Raven?" I call.
"Just a moment!" He comes out from the back, looking slightly angry but otherwise calm, "Hello Mark," he chuckles, "Are Evan and my Rose not enough for you at one time?"
"No, they're plenty... I just needed to ask you something."
"Go right ahead."
"How much do you want for Evan?" I look him right in the eye. He raises a brow.
"For how long?"
"To own him."
"Evan isn't for sale, Mark."
"How about Rose?"
"Twenty grand."
"I'll give you thirty grand for him and Evan."
"Evan isn't for sale."
"Thirty-five."
"Evan isn't for sale, Mr. Mark," he gets a weird glint in his eye, "And if you keep pushing, I'll make Jeff's price your cocky thirty-five." Fuck.
"Twenty grand for Jeff?"
"Yes."
"You'll give me his papers?"
"Yes."
I nod slowly.
"So what made you decide to buy them?"
"No reason. How much for Shannon and Brian?" He looks almost... alarmed?
"Are you trying to buy me out, Mark?"
"Not at all. I just like them all so much I figured buying would be cheaper, in the long run, than renting." His eyes narrow.
"Shannon is fifteen and Brian is twelve."
"So forty-seven for all three of them."
"That is correct."
"I'll bring you the money next week if everything works out, all right?"
"And are you bringing Jeff back this evening?"
"Do you want me to?"
"If you aren't going to pay, then yes."
"I'll pay. How much?"
"Two-fifty."
"Fine. Here," I give him the cash and he counts it.
"That seems to be in order. I will see Evan and Jeff tomorrow?"
"Of course."I'm lying through my teeth. Jeff isn't coming back, and neither is Evan. Fuck this man, this insane psychopath of a creature. Shit, I'm going to have to work fast. I need to bust out Brian and Shannon and I'll be goddamned if I'm paying fifty fucking grand for it.
Raven suddenly stiffens, "If that is all you need, I have business to tend to. Thank you, Mark."
"Thank you, Raven." I leave. Shit. I need to think fast.
-_Ω_-
"Hello?"
"Hunter? This is Mark."
"Oh, why hello. How have you been?"
"Good. Hunter... what do you know about Raven?"
"What do you mean?"
"About him as a man."
"Well, he's very strong willed, very cunning. He's been getting pretty intimate with Randy and the whole Legacy bit lately. I heard they've been talking about merging together."
"Do you know about Gangrel's old slave, Evan?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Do you know about what Raven did to him?"
I hear him spit over the phone, "Yeah... yeah, I know. Not many people do. I think it's just me, Randy, and Randy's boys... and the Rose. He was there."
"How do you know?"
"The Rose told me a few weeks ago. I like Rose - I like him a lot, and I was taking him out from Raven for awhile. But when Rose told me about what had happened with Evan... I said to fuck with it. I wasn't giving Raven another penny of my money."
Well there's the big customer that Jeff ran his mouth to.
"All right. Thanks, Hunter."
"Any reason for these questions?"
"Just research. Thanks a lot."
"No problem."
I hang up the phone and get out of the truck. I'm back home, of course. I reach under my seat and pull out a wrapped bundle, carrying it into the house.
Jeff and Evan are sleeping in the bedroom, curled up on each other like kittens. Cute. I can't help but smile and then lower the blinds on the living room windows and unwrap my mystery bundle.
It's a Glock 18C. A fucking machine handgun... bought in a town thirty miles away from a black market dealer whom I know to be trusted. I fold it back up and lock it up in one of the cabinets, along with the box of ammo.
I'm going to need to go to Raven when no one is around. Hm. Or I could just go in, guns blazing. But how to get Randy and Raven at the same time...? Oh fuck it, I'll just get Raven first.
Tonight. He goes down tonight.
I go gently shake Jeff away, pressing a finger to his lips when he tries to speak. I motion for him to follow me and he does. We go out to the living room
"Jeff," I tell him, "Do you know where Raven keeps his keys?"
"Which ones?"
"The ones for the cages."
"Yeah."
"Okay," I lower my voice, "You need to come with me. We're going to Raven's."
His brow furrows, "What for?"
"Never mind that. But I need you to distract him for me. Make him go to the back or something. Stay away from him though - I don't want to hit you." I unlock the cabinet again and pull the gun out, loading it and tucking it into an inner pocket of my coat.
His pretty eyes widen, "You're going.... you're going to..."
"Shhh. Don't worry your head over it."
"O-okay..."
"Come on."
"You're leaving Evan here?"
"Yeah. We won't all fit in the truck."
"We?" he suddenly understands, "Oh."
"Come on."
-_Ω_-
As we drive, I think of a really good plan.
"I've got it," I say, "We're going to pretend, okay?"
"Okay."
"You've angered me and I want to watch Raven beat you." Jeff nods.
"Okay."
"Just follow along."
"I will. Are... are you sure this'll work?"
"It'll work."
We get to Raven's place without a hitch. Darkness has fallen at this point, and I guide Jeff into the building and to the elevator.
Raven isn't anywhere to be seen when we hit his floor.
"Raven!" I call, "Your little bitch needs to learn a goddamn lesson!" I pour all my anger and rage towards Raven into my voice. He comes out of one of the side doors.
"Oh?" he looks over at the Rose, the sides of his mouth curling into a wicked grin, "What did my boy do this time?"
"He answered my phone when he was never given permission and then mouthed off at me," I snarl, shoving Jeff roughly. He hands his head. "I figured you would be the best to discipline him..."
"Oh, of course... would you like to participate?" he asks, taking Jeff and starting to walk down the hall.
"Damn fucking right I would."
He straps Jeff to a weird board so that Jeff's face is lower than his feet. He fights a bit, earning himself a slap.
"Be still," Raven growls and straddles his waist, grabbing a cloth nearby and dipping it into a bucket.
Jeff's eyes go wide.
"Please, Master - no!" his voice is cut off as Raven covers his face with the wet cloth and then starts pouring water over him, pressing the cloth tight to Jeff's face.
Jeff's body thrashes and he chokes.
What the hell is Raven doing?
"It's called water boarding," Raven suddenly answers my silent question, "It causes his body to think he's drowning."
Holy god.
I grab at my pants' pocket, "Hold on, man, I have a phone call," I tell him, and flip my phone open. Of course I don't have a call.
"Hello? Oh, yeah, what's up?" I cradle the phone to my head with my shoulder and dig in my coat for the gun. The clip is already in it and I flip the safety off.
Time to go.
"Uh, I'm kinda busy right now. Can I call you back? No? It seriously isn't a big deal," I keep saying nonsense, loud enough for Raven to hear over the pathetic sounds of Jeff's choking.
I cock the gun and hold it in my left hand so it'll be facing away from Raven. All right. Fucker's gonna die.
I walk into the room - Raven has his back to me, digging in a box. I whip into the shoulder stance, aiming the gun right at his back. He straightens up just as I pull the trigger -
My phone clatters to the floor and he turns around, sees the gun, and wheels out of the way as the first shots ring out. He runs back through the door and I follow him, gun blazing the whole time.
"Fuck!"
This room is dark and I can see nothing, stumbling over something on the floor and falling to my knees. I hear a window smash and an alarm goes off.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I can't follow him. Fuck!
I hear sirens.
Son of a bitch.
Tucking the gun in my coat, I unstrap Jeff from the board, wiping his face off.
"Come on," I urge him, "I'm sorry, come on!"
He's coughing and still wiping water from his eyes as I drag him down the hallway, past Shannon's wide eyes. Brian isn't there.
"Don't leave me here!" he begs, "Please!" Shit. I can't leave him here.
"Stand back!" I holler, and he backs away to the other end of the cage. I pull out the gun, raising it to the lock. I fire.
Ping ping ping CLASH!
The door shudders and opens and Shannon races out.
"Come on!" We run to the elevator. It's locked.
"What the fuck?" I stammer.
"It's because of the alarm!" Jeff says.
Fucking bitch.
"The stairs," Jeff coughs, and he leads me to another door which is also locked. "Shit."
I look around desperately. Fuck. Fuck. I hear sirens right outside.
"The side entrance, they won't see us that way," Shannon says, "Come on!"
He takes us between his and Brian's cages - there's a narrow walkway, which we edge down. There's a door, which Shannon tries. It's locked.
"Fuck this, back up," I growl, and raise the gun again. One shot and the door swings open. There's a long, dark stairway, which Shannon darts down. Jeff and I follow him. The stairway goes on for a really, really long time, going down to a flat dirt path. It's fucking pitch black, but Shannon seems to know the way. He's grabbed Jeff's hand, who has grabbed mine. The sound of sirens is gone.
"Where does this end up?" I ask.
"Two blocks away. This building used to be a stop on the Underground Railroad," Shannon replies, and soon enough, the path starts to slope up. Shannon stops and I hear metal rattling.
Then there's light - blinding light - and he pushes the trap door in the ceiling up.
We're in... a park?
"It's a local wood," Shannon answers me, "No one goes here, except drug dealers." He sets the door back down after we've all gotten out and sets some rocks and layers of sod on it.
"I'm going to go get the truck, you boys stay here. I'll beep the horn three times, okay?"
"All right. Your truck is that way," Shannon points and I head off.
Jesus shit. I missed him. I fucking missed him.
I try to walk slowly, like I have no worries. I come up Raven's street - there are police everywhere. I try to look confused and get in my truck, start it up, and drive away.
No one even paid attention to me. Good.
I go back to the woods and beep three times. Jeff and Shannon come out and pile in.
"We can't stay at your house anymore, Mark," Jeff says as he squeezes beside me, "Raven knows where you live."
I blink, "He does?"
"Yeah. He's hacked into a bunch of police databases."
"... Jesus Christ." It's okay, though, I know exactly where we can go, "I have a cabin in Espers that's under my mom's name. He won't know about it."
"Yes he will."
"Shit. I'll call a friend of mine then, don't worry about it." Guess I'm gonna have to call Glenn.
Shannon stares out the window and looks back at me, "Why did you do this?" he asks, "Why did you free me?"
"I told him about what Raven did to Evan," Jeff answers him, "And... yeah." There's silence for a few moments.
"It just felt like the right thing to do," I shrug, "I don't know. You're never going back to him again."
"Well, okay... thank you..."
"Don't worry about it. Do you know where Brian is?"
"I know who he's with, yeah."
"All right."
I pull the truck into my driveway.
Shit just got a lot more complicated.
-_Ω_- Reviews are greatly appreciated -_Ω_-
