A/N: NEW CHAPTER! GOD, this was a pain in the ass to write. First of all, I had a script to finish. Second...you know when you're writing, and there's this perfect vision of the chapter in your head, and what ends up coming out isn't even close to being as good? Yeah, I was dealing with that. BUT...I hope you like it. We're getting down towards the end - only a few more chapters to go. ENJOY! PEACE!
Thank you to therealchamps, Shandy777, AprilGilbert1996, BigRedMachineUK, Girl on Fire, Esha Napoleon, nikki1335, and Thatpersonthatreads for reviewing the last chapter! I love you ALL! HUGS! LOTS OF HUGS!
Chapter 35: Hell & Consequences
"I'm not a problem/Until you make one out of spite/I'll give you hell and consequences for trying..." - Stone Sour, "Hell & Consequences"
He couldn't take this anymore.
Ted propped his elbows on the bar, pressing his fingertips against his temples. His head was throbbing, and his stomach was churning queasily; even the merest suggestion of food brought only overwhelming nausea. He hadn't slept at all - disposing of Cody's body and cleaning up the back room had taken until dawn, and all attempts to drift off afterwards had proved futile; he couldn't get the image of blood and brain matter caked on the walls out of his head...or the look of surprise in Cody's dead sightless eyes.
He had finally crawled out of bed around 3 in the afternoon, feeling like garbage but too terrified of evoking any further wrath from Randy to call in sick. Staggering into the bathroom and turning on the faucet, he had glanced in the mirror and been stunned to see an ashen, hollow-eyed, unshaven stranger staring back at him.
Ted groaned, covering his eyes with his hands. Somehow, overnight, his life had become as bizarrely deranged as a carnival funhouse, and he wondered what could have possibly compelled him to think that this job was exciting, sexy even. Tragedy has an amazing way of stripping away ambivalence, and despite the mental haze engulfing him, the blond-haired young man could feel his entire career at the Viper's Pit distilling down into three undeniable truths.
The first was that Cody was dead. The second was that Randy was completely insane. The third was that, the longer he stayed here, the greater his chances would become of one day ending up on the bottom of that river next to his coworker.
At the sound of the front door opening, the blond-haired young man hastily straightened up, forcing what he hoped was a welcoming smile on his face. The grin became a little less strained when he saw that the new arrival approaching the bar was a young woman who had to be at least a "10" on the gorgeousness scale - long red hair, big green eyes, delicate doll-like features, and what promised to be a pretty rocking body beneath those skinny jeans and off-the-shoulder top.
She halted in front of him, resting both hands tentatively on the scarred bar surface, and Ted was just about to open his mouth and ask for her order when he noticed the expression on her face.
As soon as he did, the bartender felt something inside him sink. Girls who walked into the Viper's Pit with that look on their face - that air of helpless desperation - didn't come here to order margaritas. They didn't come here to flirt with him and maybe slip him their number before leaving the bar. No...they came here because they were looking for something...something only Randy could provide.
Part of Ted wanted to grab this girl by the shoulders and hustle her out the door; tell her to run away and never come back - because this place was dangerous, it was death-
But before he could do so, a hand abruptly clamped down onto his shoulder, and the bartender could tell without even turning around - just by the way the fingers dug into the joint, by the way his internal thermometer plummeted several degrees - that Randy had emerged from his office.
A second later, he heard his boss's voice, practically in his ear: "Where's your manners, Ted? Why don't you ask the young lady what she'll have?"
"Actually-" The redhead spoke up suddenly. Despite the nervousness of her tone, Ted could detect a natural effervescence in her voice that made his heart drop even more. "-I was looking for someone named...Randy?"
The Viper's Pit chuckled. "You found him, angel." Still holding onto Ted's shoulder, he simultaneously eased his lean frame forward and shoved the bartender behind him. "What can I do for you?"
Instead of answering, the young woman glanced hesitantly at Ted. Her emerald irises momentarily locked onto his, and the blond-haired young man felt a rush of panic and concern surge upward inside him. Don't do it...he pleaded silently. Don't deal with him, PLEASE...you'll regret it-
His mental entreaty was cut short as Randy brought his arm up, whacking the bartender painfully on the back. "Don't worry about Ted," the blue-eyed man remarked mildly. "He's well aware of the business that I do - whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of him.
The redhead swung her gaze away from Ted, ducking her head as she stared down at the bar. She bit her full lower lip, the words tumbling out of her with a soft reluctance: "My coke dealer...got busted a few days...and a friend of mine told me that...if I wanted a fix - I should come here and ask for Randy."
She lifted her gaze, looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights. "I've got money." As though to illustrate her assertion, she dug her hand into the front pocket of her jeans, pulling out a thick wad of bills. "See-"
"Put that away," the Viper's Pit owner interrupted brusquely. The young woman quickly obeyed, shoving the money back into her pocket and ducking her chin meekly. Randy stared at her for a long moment, before nodding his head in the direction of the steps. "There's a room off to the right at the top of the stairs - we'll talk business there." Another wordless probing stare. "Go on up - I'll join you shortly."
To this, the redhead said nothing; merely shot another tentative look in Ted's direction. As soon as she did, the blond-haired young man felt the anxious gorge rise up inside him once more. Run!...he screamed wordlessly. Get out of here while you still have the chance - don't you know that he'll only tear you down the same way he does everyone else?...
But, as always, his pleas remained unvoiced, and he could only watch as the beautiful redhead jogged up the stairs - although not without a little appreciation; the view was just as spectacular from the back.
"Ted!" The bartender jumped, his few tenuous sensations of pleasure dissolving as he turned to face his boss. The blue-eyed man cocked his head to the side, favoring his subordinate with an unreadable stare. "Something on your mind?"
His tone was light, casual - but all Ted could hear was the dull splash that Cody's body made when it hit the water, and it took everything he had not to tremble as he blurted out: "No, Boss."
"Good." Randy flicked his gaze toward the upstairs. "I can't see this taking very long - but in the meantime, lock the door and take out the trash."
Ted nodded dully, hearing his boss's directive as though from a great distance - in his mind's eye, he was in the back room, the hot barrel of a gun digging in his face, Randy's baleful threat in his ear...
Cody...he turned out to be a disappointment...
I don't want to have to say the same thing about you...
"Oh...and Ted?" Randy's offhand tone - that nonchalance that was itself a threat - forced the bartender back to the present, and the blond-haired young man flinched, reaching up absently to scratch the blistered muzzle imprint that still remained on his cheek.
The Viper's Pit owner smiled; a chilling rictus grin. "If you happen to hear...sounds...coming from the upstairs - just ignore them."
With that, he turned around on his heel, sauntering back toward his office. It wasn't until he was out of sight that Ted's countenance crumpled with misery and hate, spitting out his response in a voice that was both bitter and utterly defeated.
"Whatever you say...Boss."
A small green light flickered to life on Jeff's gun belt. The rainbow-haired man glanced at it briefly, then looked back over his shoulder, nodding. "She's in - and Randy's with her."
Behind him, Dave unfolded his limbs gingerly, wincing. The effects of the taser had since worn off, but it was difficult for someone of his size and build to sit motionless with his knees up to his chest for an extended amount of time. While Maria had gone in the front, he and Jeff had approached the Viper's Pit from the rear, creeping into the alley and crouching in the shadows near the back entrance, waiting for the signal that the redhead had successfully commandeered their adversary's attention.
The vampire rose to his feet, glancing toward the door. "Are you sure this is going to work?" he asked, his tone dubious.
"Don't worry about it," Jeff interjected calmly. He stood as well, stretching his wiry frame to work out any residual kinks. "Maria's a natural at this sort of thing."
"Yeah, but she doesn't know Randy like I do - she doesn't know what he's capable of," Dave retorted. "If he makes her-"
This time, the rainbow-haired man shot him a look that was faintly derisive. "She'll be fine," he replied, a hard emphatic note slipping into his tone. "I know she might not look it...but 'Ria can take care of herself."
He said nothing else, and Dave decided it might be better to just let the issue drop and move on instead of pressing it any further. While he was grateful that Jeff was the one accompanying him rather than Cena - and there had been a few minutes of tense debate over that particular decision - he couldn't help but recall all the previous times their paths had crossed.
In Dave's opinion, it wasn't blood that ran through the rainbow-haired man's veins - but pure lunacy. Cena and Beth would use their weapons to keep you at a distance, but Jeff would be the one to throw caution to the wind and launch himself at you like a small vicious dog, fighting tooth and nail - that was not merely a metaphor; he had once bitten Dave hard enough to draw blood - and no matter how many times you slung him against the wall, he would just keep coming at you until you either knocked him unconscious...or killed him.
If the situation had been any different; if it had been just himself, the vampire wouldn't have been so concerned with Jeff's psychotic tenacity...but now there was Mickie's safety to consider. The scarred brunette was somewhere inside that building; pregnant, scared, starving - God only knew how much weaker she had become since Randy had taken her.
With Mickie's frail connections to life growing even more tenuous by the second, their sole option was to avoid confrontation altogether; to sneak in and get her out without the Viper's Pit owner being any the wiser. The thought of leaving Randy untouched, unpunished for his sins, galled Dave to the marrow, but he had no other choice - with Mickie in her weakened state, vengeance was something he could not afford.
He only hoped that Jeff understood that bitter truth as well...and that he wasn't going to turn around to find that the rainbow-haired man had once more duct-taped a homemade bomb to himself.
Save for a bare bulb above the entranceway casting a small pool of weak flickering yellowish light, the alleyway was dark. The two men slowly advanced toward the back door, taking care to step around the discarded plastic bottles and cans littering the ground. All of a sudden, the back door crashed open, forcing both of them to dive back into the sheltering safety of the shadows.
The vampire pressed his body against the brick wall, fully anticipating to see Randy emerge from within the Viper's Pit, like a spider creeping from the far edges of its web - and immediately feeling a stinging mixture of relief and anxiety as another figure stepped out of the bar, toting a large plastic bag of trash in both arms. Dave recognized him as Cody's coworker behind the bar - Ted, he was pretty sure his name was.
The vampire tensed, but the blond-haired young man passed by him without so much as a glance. He paused at the Dumpster a few feet adjacent to the door, lifting up the lid with one hand and shoving the trash bag in with the other. Dave shot a glance over toward Jeff, hoping the rainbow-haired man had a plan as to how to proceed next - and to his instantaneous dismay, saw that the Hunter was already sidling toward the unsuspecting bartender, gun drawn and down at his side.
The vampire quickly straightened up, but before he could move or even speak, Jeff had clapped his hand over Ted's mouth, dragging him back into the shadows. The blond-haired young man thrashed around, struggling to free himself, uttering muffled cries of protest.
His frantic flailing and panicked noises instantly ceased as Jeff pressed the muzzle of the gun against his temple. "Scream and you're dead." the rainbow-haired man ordered, his Southern accent making the command's cadence sound almost musical. Satisfied that his threat had had the desired effect, the Hunter looked over at Dave, shrugging as if to say: That was easy...
Fighting back the urge to belt the Hunter right in the mouth for his extreme choice of actions, Dave stepped forward into the light, halting right in front of Ted. As soon as the bartender saw the massive vampire standing before him, he let out a high-pitched mewling sound, his whole body quivering uncontrollably.
A familiar acrid aroma immediately assaulted Dave's nostrils, and glancing down, he saw that the blond-haired young man had indeed pissed himself. Despite the urgency of the situation, the vampire felt an involuntary rush of sympathy, and so he kept his voice as calm and nonthreatening as his current level of adrenaline would allow. "Where's Mickie?"
The bartender struggled once more, unintelligible mumbles emerging from his gagged mouth. Jeff removed his hand, and the syllables fairly flowed out of Ted. "I don't know where she is! I swear-"
"Bullshit," the rainbow-haired man interjected almost nonchalantly. He slid his emerald gaze in Dave's direction. "He's lying - I can hear it in his voice."
The vampire said nothing. He, too, had picked up on the deceit - not from Ted's voice, but amid the agitated jumble of his thoughts. Part of him wanted to dispense with the niceties - it would be so much easier to just grab the bartender by the shirt collar, shove his human facade aside, and let the beast take over.
But instead of giving in to the impatient growls rumbling inside him, Dave kept himself in check. Because he had sensed another emotion practically interwoven with the deception...and that was the sharp sting of fear. And while it would be simple to say that the feeling was just a result of the current situation...the truth was that Ted had been emanating pure terror before he had even realized he was not alone in the alley.
Something had scared the blond-haired young man; had pushed him so far to the edge that it wouldn't take very much prodding to make him jump. If they were going to get anything useful out of him, they would need to tread lightly.
Ted, meanwhile, must have mistaken Dave's silence for a tacit threat of violence, because his complexion was now the same hue as Swiss cheese, his eyes bulging so wide they seemed ready to pop out of his skull. "I...I can't tell you-" the bartender whimpered piteously. "He'll kill me-"
"Looks like this guy needs a little more persuasion," Jeff remarked calmly. He pulled back the hammer of the gun. "Maybe if I shoot him in the kneecap-"
"Hey!" Dave interjected sharply. He held up his hand, shooting the Hunter a reproving glance. "Back off a second, okay?" Jeff's features immediately twisted into a sour pout, as if to say: You're no fun... - but he obligingly lowered the handgun, backing away from the trembling bartender.
The vampire swung his gaze back toward Ted, taking a step forward and closing the distance between them. The blond-haired young man instantly let out a strangled cry that was almost a sob. He was shaking like a leaf in the wind, not even seeming to notice the dark wet blotch staining the crotch of his jeans - reading his mind would have been unnecessary; it was obvious that the poor guy was teetering on the brink of what remained of his rationality.
In the back of his mind, Dave could hear that pessimist little part of his psyche speaking up, proclaiming that this wasn't going to work; that Jeff had struck this poor sap too hard too fast, and driven out any information he might possess right along with his sanity.
But just as he had done countless times already in the last twenty-four hours, the vampire shoved that inner voice aside, silencing its equivocating whine. Maybe it was true - but nevertheless, he had to try; for himself, for Mickie, for their unborn child.
He had to try.
Dave reached out, putting his hand on Ted's shoulder. "Ted, look at me." he commanded gently. The bartender instantaneously obeyed. Dave squeezed his shoulder, his fingers sinking in forcefully but not painfully, his dark irises boring into the blond-haired kid's wide frightened ones - and then, with a mental motion not unlike the physical one of throwing a javelin, he pushed his mind forward into Ted's.
Almost immediately, he had to fight the reflexive urge to scream - every single one of the bartender's thoughts was swathed in layers of panic and terror, and just the singular act of being inside his head was like being in the midst of a mental mosh pit. But the vampire merely gritted his teeth, steering his mind through the chaos like a ship navigating through stormy waters, focusing his will on that faint beacon of sanity he could sense still burning within Ted, projecting it outward just as he had done countless times before with his own prey...
Ted...tell me where she is...
Ted's pupils dilated totally, the black eclipsing the colored part of the iris. His mouth moved, the words pouring out of him in a toneless, almost robotic rush. "In Randy's office, in the corner, there's this flight of stairs. At the bottom is a room - a basement, really. When Mickie first...showed up...that's where he kept her...and where he's keeping her now."
Like a tape measure slithering back into its case, Dave yanked his mind free from Ted's, and the bartender slumped as the vampire's control left him, his head drooping and sagging down against his chest. As Dave was wondering what exactly he should say by way of thanks, he realized that the blond-haired young man was still speaking, a note of ever-growing desperation bleeding into his monotone voice: "Before Mickie...and even after her...I've seen him...Randy...take girls down there..."
Ted hesitated, gulping down a breath. "...and whenever they came back up, I could just tell that he-"
The bartender's shoulders suddenly began to shake, and without warning, he burst into helpless sobs, tears rolling down his youthful face and plopping on the ground. Dave's first anxious thought was that his uninvited trek into Ted's mind had severed the blond-haired kid's surviving lucidity - but after a second or two, he realized that what he was actually witnessing was the collapse of Ted's toughness, his bravado...and along with it, whatever residue remained of his misguided loyalty to the Viper's Pit owner.
The bartender sniffed loudly, wiping his dripping nose on his sleeve. "Randy, h-he's out of control - he killed Cody-"
At the mention of the dark-haired young man, Dave felt a chill, as though a layer of frost had formed on his insides. Truthfully, part of him had always known, deep down, that Mickie's abduction meant Cody had to be dead - but somehow, that instinct couldn't prevent the shock from washing over him, from momentarily ripping him out of the present and back into the past.
Things are probably going to get pretty hairy...so if you don't think that you can lie for us-
Mick...it's cool, all right? Don't worry about me...
The vampire could still recall his first impressions of Cody; how he had initially pegged the bartender as stupid, cowardly - and how both of those impressions were in fact the farthest things from the truth. Cody had been impulsive, yes, perhaps even a little naive...but when he had had the chance to run, the dark-haired young man had refused, choosing instead to put himself in harm's way-
He might seem like a coward...but he's not...not deep down where it counts...
-not for any promise of a reward-
Whenever I look at her...I see what used to be there...
-but simply because he had loved Mickie just as much as Dave did.
If I fail Mickie again this time...I won't be able to live with myself...
With a start, Dave yanked himself back to the present. As much as it sickened him to do so, he could not afford to dwell on Cody's death at the moment - not if he wanted this crazy scheme he was currently embroiled in to actually succeed.
The vampire swallowed hard, forcing his features back to their original configuration of stony indifference. He leaned down, until his face was level with the blond-haired young man in front of him. "Listen to me, Ted," he ordered softly.
At the sound of his voice, the bartender looked up, swiping hastily at the tears pouring down his face. Dave's eyes bored into his. "Go home, all right? Go home, pack a bag, hop the next bus, and get the fuck out of this town. Understand?"
Ted nodded, peering at the vampire with a sort of hopeful eagerness. Without offering so much as a goodbye, he pushed past Dave, bolting out of the alley and disappearing around the corner. The big man stood there for a long moment, staring wordlessly at the small visible patch of street at the mouth of the alley.
"He'll be all right," Dave didn't even realize that Jeff had moved up beside him until he spoke. The rainbow-haired man shrugged. "He's a coward...and cowards always seem to somehow land on their feet."
He shot a glance over in the vampire's direction. "Funny, though - I put a gun to his head, and I get nothing. You just look at him, and he tells you everything." The corner of his mouth twisted upward in an amused smirk. "You put the whammy on him, didn't you?"
To this, Dave snapped his head to the side, his dark eyes narrowing as he favored the Hunter with a glare. "Shut up," the big man growled. Stalking past the rainbow-haired man, he yanked open the rear door leading to the Viper's Pit.
Jeff watched him go, his expression still bearing its look of faint bemusement. "Hey, I'm not judging you! I'm a pretty open-minded guy-"
But the vampire had already disappeared inside.
Maria pushed the wad of bills across the surface of the unsteady wooden table, then pulled her hand back, nervously fingering the identical chunky bracelets adorning each of her wrists. Randy accepted it, counted it, then reached into his front shirt pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag of white powder, pushing it toward the redhead with two fingers. Maria snatched it from him, barely glancing at the tiny bag as she shoved it into her jeans pocket.
"Aren't you going to check it first?" the Viper's Pit owner remarked mildly. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the redhead. "I could be ripping you off."
Personally, Maria didn't give a damn whether the substance in the bag was cocaine or powdered sugar, because she was throwing it down the sewer drain as soon as she left the bar. Nevertheless, the computer tech flicked her gaze back up toward the blue-eyed man, trying to outwardly maintain her demeanor of uncertain poise. "I trust you - my friend said you were solid."
The corner of Randy's mouth curled upward into a smile that was not quite a smile. "Solid - that's not exactly the word most people use when they talk about me." His azure irises bore into Maria's emerald ones. "I'd like to meet this elusive friend of yours sometime - since she speaks so highly of me-"
"Maybe we'll stop by and have a drink this weekend," Maria replied, just a little too quickly, fighting the reflexive urge to kick herself for her minor slip-up. Playing the role of decoy was nothing new to her - she had done it countless times before, in situations far more precarious than this - but she had seen enough well-laid plans go south to understand that it usually wasn't one big blunder that tripped you up and showed your hand, but rather the little things; the tiny idiosyncrasies that gathered together and coalesced into one glaring inconsistency.
The redhead had only been around Randy Orton a short time, but already, the Viper's Pit owner struck her as someone who made very few mistakes...and missed even fewer. She could feel it in the weight of his scrutinizing stare; in the emphasis of each of his carefully chosen words. She had already made one mistake - a minor insignificant flub, but a flub nonetheless - and she was betting that she could not afford to make any more.
Because Maria had formed another impression - one which had arrived much quicker than the other one - and that was that the man sitting across the table from her was evil.
Pure, absolute evil.
She remembered reading about black holes once, about how they absorbed everything around them - even light. That was how she felt sitting in this man's presence - it was as though he was drawing everything into himself and giving nothing in return. And those eyes; those flat, dead eyes that genuine emotion never seemed to touch...
It was a notion based more on intuition than intellect - Cena would have dismissed it immediately - but the redhead knew that it was dead-on. Because she had encountered evil before - though it had worn a different face then - and still had the jagged scar running down her back to prove it.
Maria averted her gaze, staring down at the floor and clearing her throat awkwardly. "Well...I should get going..." She pushed her chair back, trying not to flinch as the legs scraped against the floor with a harsh SCREECH. "A pleasure doing business-"
"Hold on," At the sound of Randy's voice, the computer whiz froze. The Viper's Pit owner's voice was still calm, still contained at least the illusion of affability...but there was something different about it now - something that Maria couldn't hear, but she could feel.
Randy leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting them on the tabletop, his stare never wavering from the redhead. "There's no reason for you to rush off so soon - you should stay awhile so we can get...better acquainted."
His voice changed slightly on the last two words - like a trapdoor cracking open to reveal a glimpse of what lurked beneath the floorboards - and it took everything Maria had not to shudder. The redhead lifted her gaze warily, hoping that that same apprehension wouldn't bleed into her voice as she spoke. "Why? You don't seem like the type of guy who's into small talk."
The Viper's Pit owner shrugged. "I'm not, actually." His smirk tightened. "But I am a businessman, and as such...I like to know who I'm doing business with." Again that flash, that glimpse of unspeakable darkness, and Maria felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
He had made her - every instinct, every nerve inside her body was screaming as much. He had made her, and now he was toying with her, prodding her ever-so-slightly so as to send her tumbling into the hole that she herself had dug.
Maria's first thought was to flee - the logical part of her brain, the Hunter part, was already racing ahead, scrambling to calculate how many seconds and how many steps it would take her to leap from her chair and run for the door. But instead of obeying her body's natural inclination, the redhead remained in her chair, staring back at Randy as steadily as she could.
They were depending on her - Jeff, Dave, Mickie - counting on her ability to keep the Viper's Pit owner distracted. She couldn't desert them; her only option now was to continue playing the game and hope that she could drag it out long enough for them to get the scarred brunette out of this place.
That...and pray that when the game eventually did spiral out of control...she would be able to handle it.
The computer whiz laughed nervously. "Me? I'm nobody-"
"Oh, I'm certain of that," Randy interjected smoothly. "But not the nobody you claim to be." Without warning, in a blur of motion that Maria barely registered, he reached over the table, grabbing her wrist and yanking it toward him.
The redhead gasped. The Viper's Pit owner's fingers were icy, his grip as powerful as steel. She wanted to scream, struggle, something - but she couldn't; her entire body had locked up, seized by a kind of fearful paralysis. Her pulse was thundering in her ears, deafening her, and with each throb of her heart, she felt the present give way and the past momentarily shimmer through, like an ineffable mural hidden beneath an innocuous veneer of paint-
...Escobar towering above her, fangs bared...
...His eyes, bright with cocaine and madness...
...The straight razor in his hand, its rectangular blade already wet with blood...HER blood-
Randy, meanwhile, leaned in closer, his voice growing softer but losing none of its terrifying affability. "See, angel, you may walk the walk, talk the talk, but you can't fool me - because no self-respecting party girl would set foot outside her house with hands that look like this." With his free hand, he tapped the redhead's slender fingers, indicating her bluntly-cut, unpolished fingernails.
The Viper's Pit owner went on, still maintaining his iron grip on Maria's wrist. "You've got calluses on the tips of your fingers - you do a lot of typing, which means you works with computers. You may act helpless, but the way you move...you've had martial arts training - judo, probably, or Brazilian ju-jitsu; something where size and strength aren't a factor-"
Maria barely heard him - Escobar's thick accent was in her ears, the fury and insanity in it undiminished by time-
Puta, voy a matarte...
I'm going to kill you, bitch...
Randy's azure irises bored into hers, his smirk vanishing, the fake geniality abruptly leaving his voice, and a cold ugly tone taking its place. "You're not a cop - cops know better than to come around here - and you're not some clueless bimbo who just wandered in off the street."
His grasp on her wrist tightened painfully, and the redhead had to bite the inside of her lip to keep herself from crying out. "So then...who ARE you?"
The stairway was right where Ted said it would be - a short flight of concrete steps that led down to a basement level. Any assumptions that the area beneath the Viper's Pit was unused, however, were belied by the windowless reinforced door blocking the entranceway.
Dave pressed his ear against the barrier's cold metal surface, listening for any sounds of life or movement in the space beyond. "Mickie?" he whispered softly - the last thing any of them needed was for Randy to hear them down here. There was no answer. The vampire gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the dread already solidifying in the pit of his stomach - that they had come too late - and tried again, as loudly as he dared this time: "Mickie? Are you in there?"
For a few awful seconds, there was nothing...then, weakly: "Dave? Is that you?" A low hoarse sob. "Oh, God, Dave - get me out of here-"
"Hold on, Mickie, okay?" Dave interjected soothingly. "Just stay calm - we'll get you out." He pushed the door; it refused to budge. Locked - and the vampire had a sinking feeling that the only key was safely tucked away in Randy's pocket. He glanced back at the rainbow-haired man behind him. "Can you pick the lock on this thing?"
Jeff shot him a scornful look that seemed to say: Do I LOOK like I know how to do that?... The Hunter shrugged off one of the shoulder straps on his pack, rummaging around inside. "Hang on - I have some C4 in here-"
Dave rolled his eyes; somehow, he wasn't surprised. "Never mind," The big man made a distracted shooing motion with both hands. "Just...stand back."
Puzzlement appeared on the rainbow-haired man's features, but he complied, hopping a few steps further up the stairwell and out of the way. Taking a deep breath, Dave raised his foot, and summoning all of his supernaturally-enhanced strength, kicked the door as hard as he could...
Both Randy and Maria jumped at the muffled BANG that seemed to echo throughout the Viper's Pit. The blue-eyed man immediately looked toward the redhead, icy wrath blooming on his features and robbing them of attractiveness they might normally possess, his deep voice a seething hiss. "You little-"
That was all he got out before Maria shoved the edge of the table into his abdomen, forcing the wind out of him and loosening his grip on her arm. The computer whiz sprang to her feet, sprinting toward the closed door.
She was just reaching for the knob when Randy's chair slammed in her back full-force, knocking her to the floor. Still struggling for breath, the Viper's Pit owner dropped his makeshift weapon, grabbing a handful of Maria's scarlet tresses and yanking her up to her knees.
Despite the dizziness and the haze of bright spots swimming across her vision, the redhead still struggled to free herself...that is, until she felt the cold hard bite of the gun muzzle dig into her temple.
Randy's mouth pressed against her ear; his voice, though still breathy, resuming its original smarmy confidence. "You made a big mistake by trying to screw with me."
His tongue touched her ear, and Maria felt sour bile climb up her throat. "And I'm going to make sure you live just long enough to regret it."
Grunting slightly with the exertion, Dave snapped the connecting chains on both sets of handcuffs, freeing Mickie from the metal bed frame. As soon as he did, the scarred brunette wrapped both arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely, her small body shaking with repressed sobs. "I thought...I was never going to see you again..." Her alto voice was thick and choked. "I thought...I was going to die here-"
Dave returned the embrace, burying his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent, her warmth. However, as much as he wanted to savor this moment of reunion, he knew that right now, they had to keep moving. . There was no way his assault on the door could have gone unheard - right now, they had to get out of here, and pray that Maria would be able to hold Randy off long enough for he and Mickie to put some distance between them and the Viper's Pit.
The vampire carefully pulled Mickie up into a sitting position, propping her against the bed frame. He drew back, taking both of her hands in his, his gaze lingering for a second or two on the bandaged stump where her left index finger had been before sliding up to her face. "Can you walk?"
He immediately hated himself for asking; the scarred brunette looked even worse than she had a few days ago - as though it was a struggle just for her to remain conscious. But just as he was about to correct his error, Mickie nodded slowly. "Yes."
Surprise must have visibly registered on Dave's face, because the brunette's lips curled upward in a familiar sardonic smile - a ghost of the real thing, but a smile nonetheless. "I walked in here...three years ago - I don't care if it kills me...I'm walking out of here."
Privately, Dave thought that was a little extreme, but he didn't argue - just seeing Mickie regain a little of her previous fire, after so much had already slipped away, filled him with the faintest twinge of hope.
Carefully, he helped Mickie don the few pieces of outerwear he and Jeff had grabbed from her apartment before coming here. In her long black coat, with her golden brown locks tucked up under the cadet hat, she looked almost exactly as she had the night they had first met, evoking a wave of deja vu in Dave that was filled with both wistfulness and foreboding. The vampire wrapped his massive arms around her. "Hold onto me, okay?"
The scarred brunette obeyed, clinging to him as they stood in unison. She sagged against him like dead weight, and Dave kept expecting her feet to suddenly give out beneath her any second, but Mickie stubbornly held her own, maintaining her footing as they exited the basement prison and ascended the stairs.
Jeff was waiting for them as the pair emerged from Randy's office, impatiently bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "Come on!" the rainbow-haired man whispered urgently. "We don't have much time-"
"Wrong." All three of them froze as Randy's voice, as flat and wintry as a sheet of ice, floated up out of nowhere. The trio turned as the Viper's Pit owner emerged around the steep slant of the main stairway, dragging Maria along in front of him. One tattooed arm encircled her slender neck, while the other pressed a gun to her head.
His blue eyes swept across his adversaries, taking in the scarred pregnant brunette, the rainbow-haired Hunter, and finally coming to rest on the powerfully-built vampire. "What you have...is no time at all."
For an excruciatingly long second, no one moved. Finally, Randy cleared his throat deliberately. "I suppose you can guess what the current situation is. Take a step toward me, and she's dead. Take a step back toward that door, and she's dead."
His azure irises never left Dave's. "In fact, the only option you have is to send Mickie over here and leave the way you came - otherwise, I'll splatter this cunt's brains all over the floor." To punctuate his threat, he jammed the gun even tighter against Maria's temple, forcing her head awkwardly to the side.
The Viper's Pit owner let out a harsh laugh, his handsome features twisting into a sneer. "I do have to admit, Dave, this is more cavalry than I expected you to show up with - but once again, I've proved that you are out of your league when it comes to me."
The vampire stared hard at Randy, his stony countenance never flinching. "Let her go."
Incredulous scorn flitted across the blue-eyed man's face. "Right, like I'm really going to do what you tell me." He shook his head, clicking his tongue admonishingly. "You're not the one with the gun, big man - I am."
His azure irises narrowed to tiny accusing slits. "This is all your fault, you know? You should have listened the first time - you should have walked away, gone back to your nice apartment, and screwed your vamp girlfriend's brains out." Randy's smirk deepened. "I met her, by the way. Melina? She's got quite a mouth on her - but once you muzzle her, she gives a pretty decent fuck."
A note of sadistic pleasure crept into his voice. "Not quite as nice, though...as what I used to get from Mickie."
As the cruel words passed between his lips, Dave felt hot scorching rage hurtle through his entire body, as though the blood in his veins had been transformed into molten lava. A veneer of red tamped down over his vision, and for a heartbeat of time, he almost lost control; almost crossed the short distance between them and ripped Randy's head right off his neck.
Almost...but he didn't...because that loss of restrain was exactly what the Viper's Pit owner wanted.
Instead, the vampire swallowed his fury, his face flushing and the muscles in his jaw twitching with the effort. His reluctant self-discipline was not lost on Randy, whose grin widened. "Oh, that struck a nerve, didn't it? You ever think about that when you're fucking her - that I broke her in for you?"
Dave didn't answer, but his huge body trembled with barely contained rage. Like a snake tasting the air, Randy's tongue darted out, gliding along his bottom lip. "You want to hurt me? Go ahead." He cocked back the hammer of the gun. "Let's see if you can move faster than a bullet-"
"Don't listen to him!" Maria abruptly blurted out. The redhead sucked in a breath, her green eyes wide and slightly glazed with terror. "Forget about me - just get her out of here-"
"Shut up, bitch!" the Viper's Pit owner roared, and the computer whiz instantly complied, whimpering softly. Randy flicked his gaze back toward the vampire. "Mickie's not going anywhere." At this, the scarred brunette let out a low moan, and clung even tighter to Dave.
The vampire clenched his teeth, keeping all of his focus on Randy. "You shoot her - and you're dead. You know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, but you won't let it get that far," the Viper's Pit owner shot back derisively. "And you know why? Because beneath that macho exterior, you're just a pussy with a set of fangs. Deep down...you're weak."
Randy's voice grew softer, but lost none of its contempt. "And that's why I'll always be better than you. You...you think that all lives are worth saving - but I know that life, ultimately, is meaningless...and besides, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."
His finger tightened on the trigger. "But you always were a slow learner, Dave - maybe what you need is a demonstration-"
The Viper's Pit owner's words dissolved into a hoarse thready scream as two serrated segmented blades pierced through his forearm, shredding tissue and muscle and bringing forth a dark spurt of blood. Maria flicked her wrists, and the blades withdrew, collapsing back into her pair of chunky bracelets. Without breaking motion, the redhead grabbed hold of Randy's forearm, using the blue-eyed man's size and weight to flip him over her shoulder and onto the floor.
The gun went flying, sliding across the floor with a loud atonal clatter. Maria dropped down, planting both of her knees on Randy's chest. She flicked her wrist again; the blade shot out once more. She pressed the tip of it against the base of Randy's chin, forcing his head up. "Move, and I'll open your throat," the redhead spat.
With effort, Randy opened his eyes, staring with dazed astonishment at the diminutive female who had overpowered her, her expression tight with cold relentless intensity - and then, his azure irises abruptly rolled back to white as Jeff's boot slammed into the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.
The rainbow-haired man had his gun out, the barrel trained steadily on the Viper's Pit owner. He shot a look at Maria, the corner of his mouth curling up in a wry grin. "You sure waited until the last second," he remarked dryly.
The redhead shot him a look that was equally droll. "I was trying to pull my head back enough so I wouldn't stab myself in the face." She jerked her wrist, and the serrated blade retracted back into its sheath.
Jeff glanced back toward Dave and Mickie. The vampire and the pregnant brunette were both staring at the tableau with identical expressions of open-mouthed stupefaction, as though neither of them could believe what they had just witnessed. The Hunter raised his eyebrows in amusement. "What?" He shrugged. "I told you - 'Ria here can take care of herself."
The rainbow-haired man jerked his head dismissively back toward Randy. "The two of us'll deal with this douchenozzle, make sure he doesn't bleed to death - though, if you ask me, we'd be doing the universe a favor."
His countenance sobered. "The van's parked two blocks north of here, on Columbus - Cena and Phoenix are with it." Jeff's gaze shifted from one to the other, settling on Dave. "Can she make it that far?"
The question was clearly referring to Mickie, and it was the scarred brunette who answered: "Don't worry about me." The pregnant young woman swallowed hard, but the look in her eyes was calm and lucid. "I'll make it."
The Hunter stared at her for a long moment, then gradually nodded, tacit approval flitting across his features. "All right, then." His emerald irises shifted back toward the vampire. "Take care of her, big man."
Dave returned the gesture. "I will." Holding Mickie tightly against him, the vampire made his way slowly but purposefully to the door, shouldering it open and stepping out into the autumn night.
Jeff looked over his shoulder, but all he was able to see was one last glimpse of Dave's massive back before the pair disappeared into the surrounding darkness.
The two remaining team members were sitting silently in the unmarked white van - Beth in the driver's seat, John in the empty back - when there was a knock on the side.
Hunching over, the lead Hunter moved to the back of the van, popping open the rear doors. He immediately scuttled back as Jeff appeared, Maria right behind him. The daredevil Hunter had the unconscious form of Randy slung over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, which he ungraciously dumped onto the dirty carpeted floor of the van.
Cena glanced briefly down at the senseless Viper's Pit owner, silently taking in the bloody tourniquet wrapped around his arm. His emotionless blue gaze flicked up toward Jeff. "Do I even want to know?"
The rainbow-haired man shrugged. "Guy said a lot of stuff - including crossing paths with Melina." He nodded down toward Randy. "Figured between that and what he does for a living, this scumbag could give us some useful information."
Jeff paused, peering past the lead Hunter into the shadowy recess of the van. "Where's...Dave and Mickie?"
A small muscle twitched in Cena's face. "Weren't they with you?"
The rainbow-haired man emphatically shook his head. "No, 'Ria and I were preoccupied with this asshole; I sent them on ahead..." His voice trailed off as the implication finally dawned on him. "I fucked up, didn't I? Fuck! Fuck!"
Cena shook his head, his handsome features tight with anger. "I knew I couldn't trust that fanged freak-"
"I don't think he ran away," At the sound of Maria's tentative tone, the two men looked over in her direction. The redhead gnawed nervously on her lower lip, her green eyes wide. "I saw Mickie - she could barely stand up on her own. He wouldn't risk something happening to her-"
"So...if he didn't run out on us..." the lead Hunter interrupted, his voice almost forcibly patient. "...where is he?" He looked from one team member to the other, his face slowly sagging as the obvious solution dawned on him. "No..."
"She was looking for Mickie," Beth spoke up from the front seat. She turned around to face him, her countenance and voice tightly controlled. "This guy Randy was doing business with her - she's smart, John. Even if he didn't tell her, she would have figured it out on her own."
For a second or two, Cena didn't move, didn't breathe...then, without warning, his stoic expression crumpled into one of anguish and anger, and balling his hand into a fist, he slammed it into the interior wall of the van, again...and again...and again.
"Whoa, whoa! Boss, stop!" Jeff leaped into the back of the van, while Beth extricated herself from the front - together, they grabbed Cena's arms, wrestling him back against the opposite side of the van.
The blond-haired woman grabbed his face in both of hers, peering deep into his eyes. "We'll get her back, John."
"Beth's right," Jeff interjected quickly. "We found her before - we can find her again."
For another indescribable amount of time, there was nothing - then Cena stirred, sitting up and running both hands over his closely cropped hair. His voice was distant, as though he had all but forgotten about his team members' presence. "You're right; we will find her."
He looked to the side, his steely azure irises settling on the unconscious Viper's Pit owner. "And this time...I know exactly where to start looking..."