"But mama, wanna see Lu-lu" Melody whined as her mother tucked her and Mars into their bed, they had overheard the call from Lizard and now were too excited to sleep. Big-Mama smiled kindly at her youngest daughter.
"Now sweet heart you know if you don't have your nap you'll get cranky, we're only going to talk about boring adult things anyway and Luna will be here to play with you when you wake up" she promised, gently stroking Melody's blonde hair and kissing her forehead and then Mars before standing up from the bed and walking out of the room, quietly pulling the door closed behind her. Walking past Jupiter, who was sat in an armchair, she refused to meet his eyes as he looked expectantly at her, waiting for her to say something and when she didn't he opened his mouth.
"I 'spose we betta get goin'" he said, hoping to urge her to reply and start a conversation, however she was already at the front door and still didn't look at him. He sighed to himself, and heaved his body out of the armchair, following her out of the house. He knew exactly why his wife wasn't talking to him and for the most part ignoring him, she was still upset with him for attacking that horrible little demon she called their grandchild, but the bitch defiantly deserved what she got, she had attacked Jeb and driven him away. Jeb was their only source of food and the only other outsider they knew was Luke, Jeb's younger brother, but he had left a few years ago with some girl to start a family and they had no way of reaching him outsider of the desert. Even if Jeb had done something stupid and traitorous like almost telling outsiders about them, that might have not been a problem, he would simply just remind Jeb who was the boss with some frightening enforcement, perhaps sending Pluto and Lizard around to the gas station for a not so friendly visit would rekindle his loyalty. But now that demon bitch had ruined it all, Jeb had been helping them since Karen been the leader, back in the day when the parents of the first mutated children had been alive. What were they supposed to do if Jeb didn't come back? What if he was already dead? That demon bitch could have just been lying about only injuring Jeb to save her own ass and then make a run for it later, he doubted that he would see either Jeb or that girl ever again. They needed the Tourist Trap to survive, they would die without it, this was why they had to resort to cannibalism all those years ago, they would die in this place and yet there was no chance of any of them ever being able to leave this cursed desert, the outsiders would kill them all instantly.
He had tried to warn his family, many, many times, that creature with horns claiming to be his granddaughter was a demon sent from Hell to kill them all, and now it looked like it had done just that. Why hadn't the others listened to him? Especially Lizard, his eldest and most intelligent child had been brain-washed by the demon, he agreed to let it stay with him, he kept it alive, he protected it, he even loved it and now it had cursed them. Why, why didn't they listen?! He had recognised that the child Ruby had brought home one day was evil, no natural child, outsider or hill dweller alike, had demonic horns sprouting from its head!
He wished that the child's bitch mother had drowned her after she was born, that woman his son raped did try to kill the demon, but she had left it too late, it was already strong and smart enough to survive, she should have killed it moments of it coming out of her body, if she had then it wouldn't exist, it wouldn't be here brain washing all of his family and trying to kill them.
Big-Mama did her best to ignore her husband as she walked to Big-Brain's house, she was rightly furious with him, he had tried to kill their only grandchild! At the time she had no idea of how far he would go when punishing Luna. When she had heard about what had happened to Jeb, when Jupiter and Cyst came back from checking in on the gas station because Jeb hadn't been answering his calls for a while and found all of the blood there and the blood stained nails that they had recognised as the ones Luna liked having with her, for reasons unknown to them, and remembering that Luna had disappeared the night before, an issue Ruby had brought up when seeing her friend leave the village and worrying about her, then the severe injuring Luna had obtained during the night, when asked about it she simply claimed that some unknown mutant had attacked her, and now thinking about it the large injury to her upper arm was probably caused by Jeb's shotgun, although the removal of her fingernails and slashes to her hand were still a mystery, all of it clearly suggested Luna and Big-Mama couldn't defend what she had done. It was extremely dangerous and idiotic, they couldn't live without someone on the outside helping them and sending victims their way, so she allowed Jupiter to punish her, thinking that a good beating would get it into Luna's head to be more careful from now on but then he had pulled out the gun with the obvious intention of putting a bullet through her brain.
How could he? Why did he want to kill her so badly? OK, so maybe it was a big mistake to attack Jeb and now they were all compromised by it but that's not a good enough reason to kill a family member! All they had was each other, if they fell apart they would all die, didn't Jupiter realise how important it was to keep the family together? If Luna died Lizard would become more separated from them than ever, having been without his daughter just for the last day had made him hide away in his house, if Jupiter killed Luna Lizard would kill his father, if Luna died Ruby would be completely heart broken, she loved Luna like the big sister she'd always wanted, Goggle would most likely become more of an outcast to the family, always hiding away in the hills, even when he didn't have to do the watch, Pluto would probably fly into a devastating tantrum, Mars and Melody would also be crushed and Big-Brain would loose someone he could talk to, he and Luna seemed to have a mutual understanding and hatred for the outside world.
Big-Mama couldn't bare to see her beloved family fall apart like that. She refused to let it happen.
And besides, Luna could have attacked Jeb as a result of her problems, they were all too aware that Luna was a disturbed child, but Big-Mama could never dislike her for that, the outside world... well she didn't even have the words for it, it was just awful, she remembered how she was treated out there before she came through the desert and met Jupiter, and she didn't even have anything wrong with her but poor Luna must have been so abused, so traumatized by it all. There were times when Big-Mama would sit and think about Luna, often late at night when the children were tucked in bed and Jupiter had fallen asleep in the chair next to her while watching the television, and guessed at the life she had before she saved herself by coming here, how she was abused by her mother, by other children, the looks of horror she would get while walking down the street, how her twin sister wasn't so lucky to escape it, it made her feel sick to the bone and she would sometimes even have nightmares. Luna was such a brave little trooper though, so willing to help with things and most of the time she seemed so happy, probably relieved that she was finally away from all of the horrors of the outside world, Big-Mama just wanted to wrap her up in cotton and protect her from anything and anyone that would harm her, she really was such a adorable child. Although there was always that side of her, the side that wasn't so nice, that changes could happen so fast all that had to happen was for someone to say the wrong thing to her and she would snap, but even then it was reasonable, her mother had done terrible things to her, things that no mother should ever think of doing to her child, Luna had suffered for years and probably seen her sister tortured in front of her the same way, so now when anyone asked about her she would have terrifying flashbacks, probably making her think that she was still in danger and needed to protect herself, that's why she lashed out. Big-Mama sometimes wondered if she had that mental problem where people would create separate people inside of their own minds, what was it called? It sometimes was caused by traumatic events, multiple personality disorder, that was it.
Coming out of her thoughts she followed her husband into her brother in law's house, wondering what Lizard had called them all here for. Walking into the living room she found that they were all here, Pluto stood right by the door, smiling to himself in that way that had always tugged at her heartstrings, while Big-Brain sat in his wheelchair across the room beside his younger brother Cyst and they both looked just as interested in why the family was called together just as she was, and Lizard with his daughter in his arms stood beside where Goggle was crouched on the dusty floorboards along with Ruby who looked somewhat happy but at the same time wary. Her eyes immediately focused on Luna, and her heart suddenly felt ten times lighter seeing her safe and happy in her father's embrace. Lizard's cold blue eyes had connected with Jupiter's as soon as they had entered the room, giving him one of the most hateful glares one could give, warning him not to even think about touching his daughter.
"Thank goodness, you're safe" Big-Mama breathed out a sigh of relief and Luna smiled happy back at her, Jupiter however wasn't so pleased to see her.
"Wha did ya have ta come back for?" he growled out annoyed, Big-Mama instantly gave him a hash look and Lizard turned slightly, so that he was slightly shielding her small form from his hateful father.
Luna simply ignored his anger and grinned at him "We don't need Jeb anymore, I got someone better" she replied rather plainly, not bothering to make a big speech of it. Jupiter's anger washed from his face for a moment while he looked confused and then the anger returned.
"What the fuck did ya do? I told ya ta get Jeb, he's gunna tell about us" he snarled at her, and the rest of the family, apart from Lizard, Goggle and Ruby, looked just as unhappy and confused as he was, but Big-Mama looked like she was trying her best to understand.
"I went and found him but he really isn't in any condition to come back yet, so I asked ... my partner to help us, don't worry about Jebby-kins, I threatened to kill Luke and his family if he says anything stupid"
"Luna, what exactly did you do to Jeb?" Big-Mama asked warily, fearing the gruesome details of what she had done while she was in a state of brief psychotic madness.
"He was talking to police about us so I thought he needed to be taught a lesson, so I hammered some nails through his knuckles and cut off his balls rather messily with my cleaver" at this Lizard let out a howl of laughter, hugging his daughter with praise for doing something he had wanted to do for so long to that idiot. Even Big-Brain let out a few raspy chuckles, pleased the outsider was punished. "I'll make him come back when he's all healed up, and he will defiantly come back, so while he's not here we need someone else" Luna finished, looking most confident with herself.
"Since when did ya even have a partner anyways?" Jupiter asked suspiciously, refusing to follow what ever plan the little demon was creating to put them into even more danger than before.
Luna merely stared at him for a moment, she would rather not refer to Siren as her partner, because she was actually more of a tool and she didn't care at all what happened to her, and Siren didn't seem to give a crap about what happened herself either just as long as she stayed away from her family and out of the hands of the law. "Get your ass in here!" she called out, deciding that all this was getting boring and it would be simply easier to show them. Siren shuffled into the room and stood there quietly with her eyes turned down to the wooden floor boards, hating that so many people were looking at her. Pluto, who was standing the closet to her, stared at her gawkily, unsure what to do with the lady who just walked in, she didn't look like one of them but then again he hadn't been told to kill her yet so he was rather confused, was she going to be a family member or food? Either way he didn't care, but she didn't look very tasty, bigger ones were always tasty, and he thought about that man they had eaten a while back, now that was very, very tasty...
Luna could tell that strong feelings were raising here and most of them wasn't good "She's safer than Jeb, she doesn't care about what we are or who we kill, she thinks it funny to kill, and even if she tells someone, which she won't, nobody would believe her, the police are looking for her too and they know she's insane, nobody will believe a crazy person and we can kill her afterwards" Luna explained and this did seem to calm some of the family, although they were confused and Jupiter, Big-Brain and Cyst still looked angry.
Big-Mama went over what she had said and picked something out that didn't seem right, this girl knew they would kill her eventually? This didn't make any sense, so she was the first one to speak with the stranger "Don't you realise that we will most likely kill you even if you help us?" she asked, Siren didn't look up the meet the woman's gaze and she replied.
"I don't want to live anymore" she uttered very quietly, so that they had to strain to be able to hear her "But she makes me stay alive, and she's amusing to watch" she said, and it was then as she moved left arm from where it hung beside her to cross over with the other to hug herself that Big-Mama noticed the line of slices along her wrist and knew that she had done that to herself. She looked over the odd girl that her granddaughter had brought home with her and it was already clear from just her clothing that she wasn't normal. That white doll like mask, was she wearing it to hide her face from them because she felt they were too hideous to look at her? Big-Mama couldn't help the anger boiling up inside of her body, how dare she think that they were beneath her, that they were too disgusting and unnatural to even see her face. When she had first come to the desert and met Jupiter and his family, then give birth to his deformed children she had never once think that they looked ugly, they were her children and that made them beautiful to her, they were hers to love and protect from the evil eyes of outsiders like this girl in front of them. Besides, this girl seemed to think that she wasn't perfect, she had clearly had surgery to enhance her appearance, she had a tiny thin body but her breasts were too large, that looked naturally impossible. And another thing about this girl, if she didn't want them to look at her, which was obvious by the use of the mask and the way she refused to take her eyes off the floor while she stood there, then why was she wearing clothing that made it hard not to look at her? Her fake breasts were barely covered by a tiny and revealing strapless black tank top and forced to be displayed by a push up bra along with the smallest pair of shorts she had ever seen, the small piece of denim didn't leave anything to the imagination and the most covered up part of her body turned out to be her legs, clad in knee high brown laced boots.
Jupiter had been silent for few moments, burning up inside that the demon was doing this, "Why are ya all listening to 'er?! She's tha one always gettin' us inta trouble! She's tryin' to kill us all!" he yelled, furious that they were actually considering this insane idea, but Big-Mama quickly turned on him.
"That's enough Jupiter! Don't you say another word about her!" the large woman snapped, her eyes darting from where Siren was fiddling with a small leather handbag she was holding to glare at her husband "Now you leave that poor girl alone! She was only trying to help, Jeb was gunna tell on us! And I've had enough of your crap and I'm sure she's sorry, so leave it alone already!" she screeched, her meaty face turning bright red and the rest of the family stared rather blankly at her for a moment, she hardly ever raised her voice before, especially to her husband and to see her do it was quite amazing as Big-Mama was always one of the more quiet members of the family and not prone to outbursts like her children. "Now I think we should carefully think about this, Luna do you really trust this girl?" she asked, looking directly at her granddaughter again.
"Well I trust her not to do anything stupid enough to get herself caught, so she won't expose us" Luna muttered, knowing that it was never a good idea to completely trust Siren, and it was an even worse idea to fall asleep anywhere near her, but apart from the weak murder attempts and the general annoying madness that was Siren she was pretty reliable actually, as long as she was bothered enough to help out.
Big-Mama nodded as she took this new information on board, and looked from Luna to her most intelligent sons, Lizard and Goggle "What do you two think? You will have to work with her" she said, noticing that Lizard's expression was somewhere between pissed and pleased when he looked at the girl.
"I 'spose we could use 'er" he replied, giving a quick glance down to his small daughter in his arms, he wanted to defend her idea, it was better than nothing but he just couldn't get the idea of pushing that girl up against a wall later and fucking her raw, the slut was clearly begging for it, look at the way she clothed herself! Those pitiful scraps of cloth covering her were just asking to be viciously ripped off. Goggle on the other hand was not impressed by this intruder whatsoever, perfect people like her weren't welcome here, and if they didn't teach her that soon she would walk all over them, what was this outsider even doing here to start with? Why didn't she just go back to where she came from, back to her own perfect little family in her perfect little outside world, filled with evil people that would harm people who were different, people like them.
"But.... she's an.... outsider!" Big-Brain rasped out a growl angrily, making his presence know for the first time in a while, "She will.... betray ...us... just... like ...Jeb did,... we can't... trust... a filthy... blooded... outsider... kill her" he chocked, and sucked in a few deep breaths in and tried to stop himself from getting to worked up, getting himself in a state was never good for his already troubled and painful breathing.
Luna stared at him unperplexed, knowing he would have this reaction "But what about Big-Mama?" she asked blankly knowing where her grandmother had come from "Weren't you a runaway prostitute or something?" she asked turning in Lizard's grasp to face the large woman, who's face immediately lit up again, but this time from embarrassment of her past when she was young "How is Siren any different from how you were then? It's not fair to say she can't stay when you did" she finished, crossing her thin arms across her chest smugly.
"That's different!" Jupiter protested angrily, not liking how his beloved wife was being compared to this mad trollop the little demon dragged in from the outside world. "An' 'sides, I'm still tryin' ta get rid of the last thin' a member of this family brought home with them!" he growled, most to himself and glaring directly at Luna. Siren looked up for the first time and her dark eyes silently traveled across the family that were no longer paying much attention to her, she focused in on Big-Brain and gently crossed the room and past the still bickering Jupiter to where the disabled man sat in his wheelchair.
Needless to say Big-Brain didn't like the outsider approaching him "Get away ... from ...me, ....ya dirty... outsider!" he rasped painfully, trying to move away from her the best her could, which sadly wasn't anything at all. She moved forwards until she was standing right beside his chair and took out a small hand gun from her bag, gently pressing it into Big-Brain's hand that was trying to keep her from touching him.
"If you want to kill me then do it, I honestly don't care, I'm already dead." she spoke quietly to him, he stared at her suspiciously, not believing that she would really let him kill her "Although if you want to live then it might be a good idea to keep me" he looked at her and the gun, then back again, he didn't like this situation at all, but they really didn't have a choice. "You can keep the gun and shoot me when you don't need help anymore" she told him directly and moved back to where Big-Mama was standing.
Big-Mama stared at the girl in front of her, all doubt that she was lying was cleared from her mind, no person who cherished their life would tell someone, namely Big-Brain, to kill them and after all they did really need someone to help or they would surely starve to death, and Luna did say they could trust her... She slowly raised up her chubby hand to lift the mask from the girls face, wanting to know exactly what she was hiding from them, but she stepped backwards out of her reach.
"Please don't" she whispered, her voice sounding as weak as a frightened child's, perhaps that's all she was, a overgrown child...
"Why do you want to die?" Big-Mama asked her, just as quietly and she saw even through the mask that Siren's eyes seemed to dim a little as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"You have a family, you wouldn't understand" she muttered, an hateful tone emerging in her light voice and Big-Mama noticed how her arms uncrossed a little and her hand traveled down to brushed against the slices in her wrists, where she gently began sinking her well manicured finger nails into the wounds. Big-Mama turned away from Siren and looked at her husband who clearly knew he had once again lost in this battle to keep out what he saw as dangers of his family.
"Jupe, we need her" his wife pleaded, gently grasping Siren's hand and tugging it away from her wrists, holding it in her own.
Jupiter ground his teeth together angrily "Tha moment she ain't useful anymore we're slaughtering her" he spat out before turning and briskly marching out of the room, no doubt that he was heading back to his house to mope for a few hours.