Confessions of The Dangerous Kind

"Nikkia, answer me when I am talking to you. What are you doing home at this hour?" Aunt Dee-Dee asked, sternly.

It was 1:00 in the morning when I got home. I did not sneak in. I wanted the confrontation. She was pissed off, and so was I. I kept my back turned as I locked the deadbolt.

"Do you hear me talking to you!" She demanded.

"Yes!" I retorted, as I swung my body around to face her.

DeeDee's look of anger resolved into sorrow when she noticed the pained look in my eyes, "Nikki what's wrong? Did something happen to you?"

"You...lied...to me." My voice was barely above a whisper. But, she heard me.

Aunt DeeDee was, obviously, confused, "What are you talking about, lied about what?"

"About everything. DeeDee he told me everything." I said, as I went and took a seat on the couch. The overwhelming feelings of confusion, anger, and sadness boiled in the pit of my stomach like a piping hot cauldron. It almost felt like an out of body experience. I was there but I wasn't.

"Who told you what?" she said, "I don't understand what in god's name you are talking-"

"Cutlass! Cutlass told me everything!" I shouted. The bitter tears fell once more, and I did nothing to stop them.

Aunt DeeDee stayed silent for several moments, "What did he tell you." She said, in a barely audible voice.

I looked back at her and the most profound look of remorse was upon her. I had always looked to Auntie for strength; however, for the first time in my life Aunt Dee Dee looked like the meek and fragile invalid that she was.

"He told me everything, Auntie...Or should I say, 'Isis."

Aunt DeeDee said nothing as she let out a long sigh...

"All this time, nearly ten years, you looked in my face every single day and lied..."

"It is not that simple, Nikkia-"

"What isn't that simple! The fact that I have been searching for answers almost my entire life, and you kept them from me!" All of the anguish exploded like a reactor. I had to keep myself from going into a tirade of expletives.

"Nikki, it is alot more complicated than that. I was only trying to protect you-"

"You liar."

"You were too young to understand-"

"STOP LYING!"

"SHUT UP!" DeeDee hissed, in a tone that I had never heard her use before. Her voice sounded cold and serpentine. I looked back at her and she was deadly serious. Her gaze looked like it could cut steel.

"Why?" I pleaded

"I told you to stay away from him," she said, "I told you..."

"It doesn't matter now. I know the truth."

"Are you sure about that? What did he tell you?"

"He told me that you, and my mother, worked for him."

"That part is true," Aunt Dee Dee sighed, as she went into story mode, " I started working for him when I was about the same age as you, give or take a year or two."

"Did my daddy know? Was he in on it?" I asked. I had to know. If that were true I would have been broken.

Please god don't let it be so, I prayed silently.

"No. Your father went to his grave not knowing. I made sure of that."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I got into the game after your grandparents died. When I was fifteen and your father was five our parents died in a car accident. We were sent to live with our aunt and uncle, Elroy and Latoya Bell. Elroy and Latoya were going through their own marital problems, and they barely had time for either of us. I started running with a bad crowd, and your daddy-smart like he was-dove into his books and academics. We both took different paths. His led to being a doctor and mine led to Cutlass."

"What happened, how did you get caught up with him?"

"I got into drug dealing, gun running, and every other bad thing you can imagine. However, when Uncle Elroy found out that I was going bad he immediately snatched me off the streets and made me hit the books. During my Junior and Senior year of Highschool I was a really good student...so good that I thought about going to college."

"Why didn't you go?"

"Oh I did...for awhile." She said, her voice suddenly going quiet.

"Did you drop out?"

"Yes..."

"For what?" I asked with great interest.

"My newfound 'Career' choice was very lucrative." Her voice was laced with sarcasm and irony, "When I enrolled in college I was ineligible for any scholarships and loans. I decided to try and pay my own way so I started working at the grocery store. But, that was chump change and it barely covered my tuition, let alone the price of books. I decided to get back in touch with some of my people on the streets, see if I could get something going on the side...That is when Cutlass Supreme-we used to call him that back in the day-came callin. I needed to earn good money to finance my education so..."

"So you became a killer." I asked, my face contorted into and expression of disgust and bewilderment.

"Assassin..." DeeDee corrected.

I couldn't believe it, "Auntie, most women become strippers to pay their tuition, not contract killers." I tried to be a bit facetious (to take away some of the gravity of the situation). But I failed miserably. Thinking about it only made me feel worse.

"Don't judge me Nikkia. At that time I was only thinking about your brother and I. When I started doing hits I was making more money than you could ever imagine. The first time I-" She paused for a long moment, ashamed of what she was going to say.

"Killed someone? You can say it Aunt DeeDee, because that is what you did."

"The first time I did a 'job' Cutlass paid me 30,000 dollars..."

I gasped. I had a good amount of money in my bank account, but that much for a first time outing was remarkable.

"It was, for me, at that time, easy and convienent. When Cutlass called It was always after school hours and holidays. No one knew what I was doing, and when I was asked I told them I was working part-time as a stewardess. Each job made me richer and richer, and I was able to take care of myself and Lawrence. Pretty soon we moved out of Harlem and into a nice apartment in Manhattan."

"What led you to drop out?" I asked.

"The money was getting better and better. I started making a big name for myself in the business, and Cutlass wanted to make me a higher ranking operative, with my own squad. I decided to quit school because I already had a lucrative career that I enjoyed..."

My stomach turned at the mere mention of 'enjoyment' and assassination in the same sentence,

"What kind of people did you kill?"

"All kinds: social elites, wealthy business men, cheating husbands, wives, and everyone else who had a contract on them. Back then I was filled with the spirit of satan, and I took no remorse on those I killed. I just looked forward to getting a paycheck. Anything Cutlass told me to do I did it. Back then if he had asked me to assasinate the president with a B.B. gun I would have done it."

"How did you meet my mother?" Our eyes locked then. I braced for the answer.

"I recruited her when she was 16. She was a notorious gang banger around that time. When I left college Cutlass rewarded me by making me the leader of his new, all female, assassination gang called, "The Soul Sistahs." I was 'Isis' and the other girl, Dana, was Nefertiti. We needed one more to round out the group, and when I met your mother I knew she would be the third. She was raw back then. All she liked to do was fight. I decided to take her under my wing. When I trained her it was like taming a wildcat. But, eventually, the two of us became very close. Even though she was alot younger than me there was a kindred spirit between us. We always had each other's back, and I trusted her with my life. " Dee-Dee said, thoughtfully.

"What was daddy doing at the time?"

"Fortunately, Lawrence was a straight 'A' student, and I made sure to keep him off the streets. Cutlass suggested recruiting him for his brain power, but I made sure Lawrence stayed far away from it. When he was sixteen he left for California to attend Stanford University. I was so proud of him, and I felt even better knowing that I could totally finance his education..." As she spoke her face lit up like a lantern. Aunt Dee Dee truly loved my daddy.

I changed the subject, "What happened to my mother in Barcelona?"

"Snake Charmer." said DeeDee.

"Snake Charmer? Who is that?"

"A professional international assassin. Whereas Cutlass did the most of his operations domestically, Snake Charmer worked foreign and domestic, quite frequently." DeeDee paused and continued, "While Vernita was hiding out in Barcelona-plotting where she would go next-she did a final job for Cutlass. Snake Charmer had been keeping tabs on her and liked her work. He and his brother were forming and all girl Assassination group, The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, DiVAS for short. The money that Bill-"

"Bill?"

"Bill's codename was Snake Charmer." she said, "He offered her a new job, and believe me what Bill was paying made Cutlass's salary look like peanuts. Had I not been in this wheelchair I would have taken a job with him. Vernita contacted me, unbeknownst to Cutlass, and said that she wanted to take the job. I told her to do it, but make sure she covered her tracks thoroughly...Unless you were no more good to Cutlass he never let go." Aunt Dee Dee whispered.

I cringed, "What do you mean?"

"Once your mother took that job she had to dissappear. Had Cutlass found out she betrayed him he would have killed her, and me for lying about her whereabouts. However, I think he could careless now. You and me both are still breathing..." She mused, before she returned back to the topic of my mother, "Anyway, she disappeared, and we lost contact for about the next decade or so." Aunt Dee Dee smiled, "But the funniest thing happened around that time. Lawrence flew me down to California because he wanted me to meet his fiance..."

"My mother..."

"You could not believe the look on both of our faces. It would actually be funny were it not so tragic. The two of us had to pretend, for their entire marraige, that we had not known each other previously..." she laughed.

"Even if it meant lying to your own brother and niece..." I said, feeling the anger well up in me once again.

DeeDee's tone became somber once more, "We only talked about the past when no one else was around, including you..."

"Who is Beatrix, DeeDee...I know that you know." I said through gritted teeth.

A sigh escaped her lips, "Her name was Beatrix Kiddo, and her codename was Black Mamba..."

Snake Charmer and Black Mamba, how clever, I thought.

"She was the field leader of your mother's last team..."

"And?"

"Your mother and I spoke in privately after the wedding, five years prior to..."

"Her murder, you can say it. God knows you committed enough of them yourself." I said sarcastically.

Aunt DeeDee paid no attention to my tone this time.

"She told me about a final job that she had done with The Vipers. The job was on Beatrix. Vernita confided in me about everything. At the time she thought nothing of it; But, when she married your father everything she had done previously began to eat at her. They say once a killer always a killer, but that wasn't true, not in her case. She was truly remorseful, and that pain only intensified when she became pregnant with you..."

"What happened then?"

"Vernita got a call a few years later, from Bill. He told her that she needed to get out of town because the Black Mamba was going to strike." DeeDee paused. I saw the anguish on her face, "She called me early that morning, afraid. By this time she had lost her edge. She had settled into suburbia and focused on being a mother...Had Vernita been half the warrior she was you and I might not be having this conversation."

The tears fell freely down my face once more, because I remembered that day as if it had only happened seconds ago...

"Mommy I'm home!"

"Hey Baby how was school?"

"Sweetie don't come into the living room. There's glass all over the floor and you could cut yourself."

"Mommy what happened to you and the T.V. room?"

"You know that good for nothin dog of yours? He got his little ass in here and acted a damn fool, that's what happened baby."

"Barney did this?"

"Baby, this is an old friend of mommy's that I ain't seen in awhile."

"Hi honey, I'm Beatrix. What's your name?"

I pulled my knees to my chin and cried...

"I told her to fly down here to New York. She was afraid to, afraid of the police and especially of Cutlass. She decided to meet up with Bill, so they could formulate some kind of plan. She called up your babysitter-"

"Sarah..." I said, remembering all too well. Sarah was supposed to come over later that day while my mother went out to take care of some 'business.'

"That was the last time I talked to her. After that I got a call from your father."

"So you knew all of this and never said anything?" I sobbed, as I continued to rock. I did not want to believe what I was listening too.

"Nikki, you don't understand-"

"No, I do understand!" I screamed, as I lept to my feet, "You watched me and my daddy, your brother, suffer all that time and you never said anything!"

"If I had said anything I would have destroyed all of our lives! Yours, Lawrence's, Vernita's, and mine!"

"No my life was already destroyed, and I found out about you anyway! My daddy commited suicide because of the lies! The least you could have done was help the police catch that evil bitch! Do you know how much we suffered!"

"Yes, because I suffered too-"

"No you didn't, because you are a cold, cruel, and heartless bitch who only cared about herself!"

Aunt Dee-Dee was horrified by my words, but I didn't care.

I stood in front of her seething, and emotional wreck.

DeeDee finally broke as her eyes flooded with tears, "I didn't tell you because it would have ruined the way that you felt about her. And, because of the consequences." she said.

"No, you didn't say anything because you wanted to save your own ass. If the cops had found out about you they would have executed you on the spot..." I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. DeeDee didn't say anything because she knew it was true.

"I know what you have been doing every since you threw your first punch in a martial arts class."

"How could you possibly claim to know me, when I don't know ANYTHING about you?" I said with contempt.

"I know that you want to get back at her...I have seen that look in too many people's eyes, my own included."

"So, what if I do? What business is it of yours?"

"It is my business because I told your father that I would always protect you!"

"Well, Aunt DeeDee I am not your little girl anymore..." I said, "And since you did absolutely nothing to make sure that my mother recieved justice I am going to do it myself!"

"Nikki...no." DeeDee whispered as the tears fell freely from her eyes.

"Save those tears, Auntie." I stood in front of her, my body trembling with anger and sadness.

"Look at me." I demanded, " This rage, this anger, this hatred, this is the price I've paid for all of your goddamn lies and secrets." With that I walked away from Dee Dee and went to my room. I packed my things.

I went back downstairs, "I'm leaving Aunt Dee Dee. I'll be back for the rest of my things tommorrow." I said.

"Nikki, where are you going?" she said, as she quickly composed herself.

I stood by the doorway. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew what I was going to do...

"I am going to Kill Beatrix Kiddo."

To Be Continued