Nowhere to Run

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 25 (The Hunted)

Duke Martinez's frustration vibrated on the floor and echoed off the walls as he failed to sink the eight ball on the pool table; he hadn't been able to focus since he was beat. "Goddamn stupid kid, got me off my game." He threw his hat down on the table and bent over it, grabbing the sides and dropping his head.

His chest heaved and his left leg slid out along the slick floor. "Now she owes you nothing, correct?" Duke flinched and turned his head to the voice that spoke up. A well-built man was sitting in the booth where his son and Jorge typically sat.

He wore a brown sweater with a hood that was pulled over his face. His hands were pushed into the pocket on the stomach of the sweater. Long brown pants hung loosely around black boots.

Duke's mouth slid into a sneer and the lines on his forehead deepened. "And who in god's name are you?" The man's sweater appeared to shift to the right, his arms creased as his shoulders rose.

"Somebody." His head turned to the right. Duke felt like this man's shadow was stretching over him in such a way that it threatened to draw away his very life. "I've been around. I've purchased a VIP pass, so I've been watching you play."

"Why haven't I seen you before?"

"You have." Duke's upper lip twitched as a hot and sticky sweat ran down the back of his neck. The man pulled his hands out and hunched forward, folding his forearms over his knees. "You play a good game of pool. I've not played in many years."

He set his pool stick on the table and sighed. "I'm a bit out of my groove, but I will get it back."

"Just like you're going to get that girl back that you lost money to? Or did you lose money at all?" Duke ran his tongue across his lips and narrowed his eyes.

"It's complicated. She owes me money since I helped her get a job here." Granted Raymond was giving her jobs elsewhere, which would have diminished what she owed him to begin with, but the grievous insult he suffered was far too much for him. "She will pay for the hand she served me."

"How?"

Duke's eyes lit up and he pulled his pistol from his hips. The man's head tilted a bit as Duke turned to face the railing. "I know that woman will come work her final shift this evening with Raymond. When she shows up, all I have to do is aim from up here and shoot."

"You don't care if you go to prison?"

"Please, half these whores work for me." He spread his arms out and chuckled. "They see her fall, I put some pressure on them and they'll shut up. The only loose end to worry about is Ray, and all I have to do is either kill him-or pin the murder on him."

The man's hands spread apart, leaving only his fingertips compressed together. "It sounds like you've got this all figured out…"

"I'll just pay off the cops anyway." Duke approached the railing and glared at the floor below. He spread his hands along the railing and breathed in slowly. "All I've got to do is flash a little green and they turn their noses. These sluts don't matter to anyone, they're nothing."

"That woman matters to some."

His eyes rolled and he ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe in her mind." He heard a heavy shuffling noise and scoffed while bringing his hand back to the rail. They slid farther apart and he bowed his head, letting his hair fall before his face.

"She matters to my son." He turned his head slightly, peering out the corner at the pool table. It was enough to see the man pick up Duke's pool stick.

"Son? Who in God's name is your son and why does he matter?"

"My son is Katrina's lover…"

In Bedford, Keith stalked Harwood Terrace road. His hands were pushed deep into his pockets, and his right thumb was sliding along the blunt end of his pocketknife. His lips were spread into a wide grin as thoughts of murder unfolded in his mind like blooming flowers.

The skies were beginning to darken, and the air around him was ominously quiet. With every step he took, he felt a burning sensation on his back and was continually looking over his shoulder.

There was no one near him, but the feeling in his gut was causing him great distress. "No one's following you," he growled under his breath, "Leave it alone." He stopped on the corner of the road that ran into the dead end and flashed a smirk at the garage in front of him.

The home was silent and the lights appeared to be off from what he could see. There were hedges lining the outer walls; enough that he could hide. Keith was itching to kill again; the adrenaline rush of the fight before was fresh within him and could not be quenched.

"Your time has come you little vix…" He made a beeline for the hedges, chuckling darkly as he tried to find an opportune spot to hide.

He was still weak from where the woman drove her car into him, and he had to walk with a limp, but fortunately he was strong enough to make it here. His vehicle was parked a few doors down as he didn't want to run the risk of there being occupants in the home that might have seen him pull up.

The plan was to wait until Tori came, then he would sneak into the home and slaughter them all.

When he looked over his shoulder, he saw a startling sight. Across the street was a woman with long dark hair. She wore a long black dress and a dark hat with a black veil over the pale face that was shrouded by her raven hair.

She looked like death warmed over.

"The fuck?" He squinted his eyes and heard a loud rushing noise from afar. His eyes darted to the right and a giant truck was driving slowly down the street. He followed the vehicle for a moment and glanced back to where the woman was, but she was gone. "Freak."

Keith started to turn around, but something on the other end of the same yard across the street caught his eye. The woman was crossing the street and holding something behind her back.

The hair on the back of his neck rose on end as he got the sense she was following him. "Must be my imagination. Getting paranoid."

To ensure there was nothing going on, he began to walk away from the house and cross the street. Part of him was eager to return to his car and get out of the area, but he had a plan that he didn't want to give up on.

By the time he was across, the woman was making her way back to his side of the street. His eyes grew and his heart began to pound. "Shit." She lifted her head and glared into his eyes.

"How does it feel when the hunter becomes the hunted?" The woman asked. His jaw dropped and he watched her remove her hands from her back. In her right hand she held a long wooden plank with two nails on the end, and in her other hand was a small handgun. "You dropped your gun where you killed my husband. I'm going to use your own weapon to end your life."

She took aim with the gun and his pupils dilated. "Crap!" He bolted in the opposite direction, screaming at the top of his lungs as the pain from his prior injuries shot through his body.

"You'll only hurt more. This is for every person that has come into your path and every person that would come into your path. Run! Run as fast as you can, I won't stop coming after you until you're dead. Run…it will only make the hunt that much more bearable; I have nothing left to lose…"

Duke ducked as his pool stick swept above his head. His eyes widened and he looked up at the man holding the stick like a baseball bat. "This was about revenge first, but then I realized one of the girls you were after was with my son. I swore if you did anything to my family…she is family…"

"I don't even know who the hell you are!"

The man pulled away his hood and snarled at him. "Of course you wouldn't remember the man who you framed for murder several years ago." His heart flickered for a moment and he began shaking his hands, laughing nervously as the memory came rushing back.

"Now, now, I'm sure that was all a big misunderstanding."

"For years I've waited for this moment." Hector Tyler swept the pool stick downwards, pointing it diagonally at the floor as he approached. Duke leaned back against the rail, breathing rapidly as his eyes remained focused on this stick. "I've been patient, I've been calm, and I've been stewing. In prison for a murder I didn't commit, I may as well go to prison for a murder I did commit."

Hector raised the stick to his shoulder and took the posture as if he were a baseball player stepping up to bat. "For a year I've followed you; hunted you while you played the tiger to your prey. Now, predator becomes prey. Tiger faces Lion, but guess which one is the king of the jungle…"

"Look." He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket and ducked to avoid an oncoming swing. "I've got plenty of money. Name your price! What will it take?"

"I have no price." Hector's voice was deep and husky, and Duke could sense the anger in his voice. He lost his gun the minute Hector attacked, as the hand holding onto the pistol was the first thing hit. "I was going to kill you just for sending me to prison…but now it's become more. Now my son has fallen for someone that you've hurt, and I can't allow any further harm to befall my family. I've already damaged them enough."

"So go back to them. Make things right!"

"They don't want to see me, believe me. I was worse than you." The neon lights flickered in Hector's eyes as he approached. Duke turned around and spotted Raymond on the floor below. "Raymond! Ray! Buddy, help me, send the bouncers up here!"

Ray turned his head up and his lips formed a circle as he spread his hands apart. "What's that Duke? I can't hear you, the music's too loud." Raymond smirked and looked to Roger, then motioned for him to leave. "Did you say something about the bouncers? They're all busy right now."

Sweat dripped from his hair. "There's a killer up here." His knuckles tightened on the railing and his jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me." A swooshing noise echoed against his ears and a sharp pain dug into his lower back. He arched forward and let out an agonized scream.

"You should start running." Hector's nostrils flared and his sneering lips seemed to stretch across his face. "I'm unfortunately professed at striking big targets. I'm worse than you are…you are about to experience some of the harm I have caused my own son and my wife as they grew."

"What?" His hand clutched his chest and he limped to the right, hunched over dangerously. "You-"

"You framed the wrong person. I am the nightmare. I am the predator, the hunter, and you…you are the weak pup-a scavenger and a wannabe."

Duke bolted past the man, running towards the private rooms. "You can't run far and you can't hide. It ends tonight." He slammed the door shut and pressed his back against the wall.

The door shook as something crashed into it. His heart jolted up and his hands flattened on the door, trembling violently. "Goddamn it, where is Keith?" Thinking fast, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his son's number.

Meanwhile, Keith was still running from the woman that was after him. His back was against the wall of some house and he was peering around the corner, whimpering with anxiety. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his legs felt like they were going to fall off.

"You're not hiding very well," Jade screamed. He moved his head further into view to get a better look, but jolted back when he heard a gunshot. To his horror, a small part of the brick beside his head burst and dust particles wafted away in the air.

"Stop shooting at me!"

"I'm not stopping until you're dead."

"Why? What did I do to you?"

"You took everything from me. Whether it was my best friend to my husband and his friend; you took them all. I'm doing the world a favor…"

All of a sudden the wooden plank she had slammed against the house. He jumped in an instant and started running.

As he rounded the corner, his phone began to go off. "Oh god, not now." He grabbed his phone and put it to his ear, answering at the top of his lungs. "What? I'm having an issue right now."

"Keith, this is your father, I need your help. Get your ass over here right now!" Duke was grunting between each word. Keith rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder in time to see Jade rushing towards him with a wild look in her eyes.

"Dad, I'm having a bit of a problem."

"I don't care what your problem is, a lunatic is trying to kill me."

His eyes widened and a growl erupted from his lips. "You don't say?" A gunshot rang out and a whizzing sound zipped past his left ear. "Fuck!"

There was a loud crash on Duke's end, followed by a scream of frustration. "Raymond apparently is turning a deaf ear." Keith put his hand on a fallen tree and leapt over it, then spotted a fence in front of him. It was the only thing standing between him and his car.

"You've got nowhere left to run!" Jade called from behind. His lips pressed tightly together and he charged for the fence, cursing as he grabbed the top and struggled to pull himself up. "Don't think you can fence hop and get away from me. I will always be right next to you."

He landed on the other side and screamed as his legs buckled. His father said something unintelligible on the other line and Keith tried to think of something he could suggest. "Fucking call Jorge, he's probably having less problems than we are at the moment."

"Jorge is a goddamn gang member that isn't worth his salt-I'm not calling his ass for anything."

"Well I don't see any other alternative."

He ran across the yard he'd jumped in, noting the fence to his right; he could have easily run around the fence. It was likely what this girl was doing, so he needed to make sure she wasn't on the other side.

As he neared the fence, he hung up on his father and pulled himself up just enough to see if Jade was anywhere in sight. He did hear the sound of a car door slamming shut in the distance, but paid no mind to it.

Keith bolted over the fence and charged for his car across the street, grinning with confidence. "Home fucking free." He entered his vehicle, checked the rearview mirror, then started the ignition. "Sorry pop, deal with your own problems on your own time. I'm getting the-" His eyes darted to his front passenger seat where he noticed something missing.

Aside from the pocketknife he had on hand, he kept a long bowie knife for whenever he went camping, and it had been in his passenger seat when he left the vehicle. "Huh…" He pressed down on the gas pedal and looked at the road. "Whatever. That psycho bitch is gone, but I'm getting the hell out of here."

He was nervous and jittery to wait and stalk Tori or her family at the moment, especially after the nightmare he'd just endured, so all he wanted to do was go back to his motel and sleep. "I need a damned cigarette."

Back at the club, Duke was thrown back against the wall once Hector finally broke in. "Do you know how many doors I've kicked in?" Duke dropped to his knees and slid his arms out momentarily.

"Fuck, I don't know."

"Too many." Hector's large hand slammed against Duke's face and he felt a sudden force shoving him back. His head struck the corner leg of the couch and a sharp throbbing sensation swept through him. "I am proud of my son; I know he will be ten times the man I ever was. He knows how it feels to be brutalized, and he will always protect. Now he's found a woman who makes him happy, and I will go to my grave before I let scum like you destroy that."

"Go to hell." He bared his teeth and started crawling out of the room. Just as he escaped, Hector's grip constricted around his ankle and yanked him back. He twisted around and held his arm over his face as he watched his pool stick rise and fall.

A sudden force shot through his back and he let out another scream. "How does it feel to be brutalized by the very thing you love the most, Diego? Your pride and joy, this pool stick of yours I will break over your head."

"They'll throw your ass in jail for life. You know that, don't you?"

"I do."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Don't make me repeat myself." Hector roared out with anger and slammed his foot into Duke's ribcage.

He rolled across the floor and felt his body slam into the vertical rails. "Oh god."

"Try not to have a heart attack, Duke. I want the honor of killing you."

"Honor?"

"I'm hunting the greatest prize yet." All of a sudden Hector grabbed him by the neck and yanked him off the ground. Duke threw his hands onto Hector's arm and clenched his teeth. His feet shook in the air and his eyes started rolling towards the ceiling. "Goodbye, Duke."

He tried to suck in the air and fill his quivering lungs, but his entire body was limp from the pain. Hector dropped him onto his feet and released him, letting him grab his throat and try to breathe.

When he looked up, the man had taken a step back and was raising the stick to his shoulders. Duke started to pant, too sore to move and too weak to continue fighting.

"God…damn you." He straightened his posture, took in a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Goddamn you!"

Hector swung the stick with such force that it cracked on Duke's head and the top half broke away. Duke flipped backwards over the rail and landed with a sickening splat on the floor below.

Several of the strippers and customers began to scream and run for the door. Hector leaned over the rail and tilted his head, humming at the man's face. Duke's eyes were open wide and his mouth looked as though someone had ripped his jaw down towards his chest.

Blood splattered across the tables and had splashed out onto some of those standing nearby. "Oops," Hector muttered with a smirk. He extended the white cowboy hat over the rail, holding it just above the newly deceased. "Looks like the duke had just a little too much fun and stumbled over the edge…such a pity."

He opened his hand and watched as the hat hovered down to its former owner.

Like a horror movie the hunters have been hunted, and the duke has fallen from grace.A lot of action in this chapter, and a lot of fright apparently. We are in the final stretches of this tale. What are your thoughts as you read? I imagine Duke's death is a good thing, and do we really think Keith is safe at the moment? One thing we know, Jorge is safe.