Author's Note: Sorry about the update delay. My internet has been on the fritz, so please be patient with me. Here's the nexy chapter. Be sure to let me know what you think. As always, thanks to everyone who had reviewed. And, to answer a question...
DarkAngel121: I thought about that when I was writing it and I guess I should have been a little more specific as to how he was walking out. The way I envisioned it in my head was to have him peeking around the corner and when he stepped through the door, his body would have been turned so that he was covering Jack Jr. I reread the chapter after reading your review and I see what you mean. I may end up going back and revising. Thank you for pointing it out to me.
Now, I'll stop babbling and let you read! Again, thanks!
Chapter Four: Luhki's Secret
Jackson could barely stomach what his daughter had just told him. He sat there, rubbing his hands over his face and fighting the urge to vomit. He never threw up, but it currently seemed a rather appealing idea. How was he going to tell Lisa? Would she believe him or would she think he made it up? He would just have to find a way to prove it to her. How was the real question? He thought about his little Luhki. About her big brilliant eyes, her gorgeous smile, her innocence. Why her?
Cynthia had dragged Lisa to the master bedroom so that she could give her present from New York to her. Jackson was taking advantage of the distraction to figure out exactly what he was going to do about the situation at hand. As if things weren't bad enough, now this bomb had to be dropped. But, he calmed and collected himself. He would diffuse this little problem the same way he did all the others. After all, he was the very best at what he did. He could handle this.
Luhki lay in the large bed located perfectly in the center of the guestroom of her auntie Cynthia's house. Mariah was sleeping soundly at her side, her breathing slow and steady. There was a small glowing slit at the side of the bedroom door where it was cracked, which gradually widened as light flooded into the room as the door slowly creaked open. The room was suddenly filled with eerie dancing shadows as the familiar silhouette entered. But their frightening ballet was cut short with the closing of the door. Luhki sat up in bed, being careful not to jostle Mariah. As her eyes began to adjust to the dark, she was able to focus on her visitor's face. She was not surprised to see him.
Rick slid over to the edge of the bed and kneeled down on one knee. "Hello sweetheart." He said, "Are you having trouble sleeping? Do you want uncle Rick to tell you a bedtime story?"
Luhki shook her head and her entire little body tensed as Rick put his hand on her leg. He squeezed her knee through the covers and reached his other hand up to tuck a dark strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Or maybe you just want to play our special game." He said with a creepy smile on his face that made Luhki shiver. She didn't know why he made her feel so icky, but he did. She never felt like this around any other adults, just him.
"Why is our special game a secret?" she asked, "I thought secrets were bad."
"Who told you that?" Rick asked, twirling the five year old's hair between his fingers and stroking the side of her jaw with his thumb.
"My daddy." The little girl answered.
"Well, let me tell you something, honey. Daddy isn't always right. Besides, you can't tell them about me, remember?" Rick went on, sliding his hand up to pull down the blanket and uncover the pretty little thing. "I'm the boogie man."
"No you're not." Luhki said, tilting her chin up defiantly.
"What?" Rick chuckled, "I'm not?"
"No." Luhki spat, "My daddy is!"
Rick laughed quietly and took hold of both of Luhki's shoulders and moved to pull her from the bed. He didn't want to wake up her little sister now did her?
"You should really listen to her, you know." A clear voice came from nowhere.
Rick slowly turned and looked into the darkness. There, in the far corner of the room, perched in the fluffy chair like an angel of death sat Jackson. His crystalline eyes were narrowed into slits and his hands toyed with an extremely large dagger that looked to be sharpened to a razor's edge. Rick rose unsteadily to his feet and like a bolt of lightening, Jackson was on him. Rick hadn't even seen the man lift himself from the chair, but he was up and had him pinned to the floor in less than a heartbeat.
Jackson held Rick to the floor by pressing his knee down hard onto his throat. Rick's lower body flopped around in the likeness of a fish out of water but the strain on his neck left him incapable of forming any sounds.
"Luhki, angel," Jackson said without looking away from Rick's contorted face. "Why don't you take Mariah and go into the living room for a while?" His eyes flashed maliciously, "And don't come back in here no matter what you hear."
Luhki wasted no time. She jerked her little sister awake and dragged her from the bed and room. Mariah began crying because she didn't why she had been woken and the sound broke Jackson's heart as the two girls descended down the hall. He turned his entire focus back onto Rick.
"What makes you think that you have the right to lay one finger on my daughter?" he growled.
Lisa stared at herself in the floor length mirror in Cynthia's bedroom. The dress that Cynthia had picked out was gorgeous. It was black silk with a lace outer layer. The skirt was cut up to her mid thigh and swished when she moved even the slightest bit. The sleeves slit ruffles that fit high on her shoulders and it had a low cut V neck that accentuated her cleavage while still covering her scar. Cynthia had excellent taste.
"Do you like it?" Cynthia asked from where she was propped up on the bed.
"I love it." Lisa gushed, "But, you really didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to, Leese. Besides, I took one look at it and knew that you had to have it."
"Mommy!" Luhki cried as she ran into the room, dragging Mariah along in her wake.
Lisa saw her two daughters, both of them crying and she dropped to her knees and caught them both in her arms. "Okay, okay. Calm down." She said, not knowing whether she was talking to them or to herself. "What happened?"
"Daddy…" Luhki said, "Daddy…he…"
Lisa didn't need to hear anymore. She was on her feet and out the door in search of her husband. She raced through the living room to get to the other end of the house where the guest room was. She could hear crashing and banging coming from behind the door and burst in determined to come to the aid of her husband should he need it. What she found was Jackson standing over Rick, who was lying on the floor with blood pouring from his nose and lips. Lisa saw the knife in Jackson's hand and sprang forward, tugging it from his grasp. Jackson spun around with fire in his eyes, his fist raised to strike, but he drew back when he saw that it was Lisa.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Lisa demanded.
Jackson spoke very calmly, "Lisa, give me back my knife."
"No." Lisa said, shaking her head.
"Lisa…he's…he's gone crazy." Rick mumbled from his place on the floor.
"Shut up!" Jackson bellowed, reaching down and grabbing Rick by the hair and forcing to sit up on his knees. He jerked his head, making him look up at Lisa, "Tell her what you were just doing."
Lisa looked from man to man, not sure what to make of the situation. Jackson quickly slammed Rick's head against the wall and forced him to return his gaze to Lisa. "Tell her! Or better yet…" Jackson said, dragging Rick past Lisa and out the bedroom door to the hallway. At the end of the hallway, Cynthia was kneeling with her arms wrapped around Luhki and Mariah, "tell your wife what you were about to do! Tell her what I just found you doing to my daughter!"
Jackson heard Lisa gasp from behind him. She was leaning against the door jam of the bedroom with both hands over her mouth, still clutching Jackson's knife. The tip had scratched her temple and there was a small trickle of blood dripping down her cheek, but she didn't even notice. She had zoned out the moment she had heard Jackson's accusation against Rick. She knew instantly what he meant. Now where most mothers' first instinct in this situation would probably be denial, Lisa knew that Jackson would never lie, let alone about something like this. Lisa leaned against the door jam, using it to hold herself up. Her body slumped forward and she tilted her head into the doorframe, closing her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to pretend that this wasn't really happening to her family, but she knew better.
Cynthia rose to her feet and stood on shaky legs, bracing herself against the wall because she feared if she didn't, she would fall. She felt as though she had just been blindsided with a baseball bat. "What are you saying, Jackson?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Tell her?" Jackson exclaimed as he shook Rick's head violently back and forth, "Tell her what you've been doing to my daughter!"
"Cynthia..." Rick started, but was cut off when Jackson slammed his head into the wall again.
"Stop it!" Cynthia cried, "Rick? What's going on?"
"What's going on…" Jackson shouted, shoving Rick forward so that the man landed on his face, "is that your husband has been molesting my daughter!"
The words left Jackson's mouth and Lisa left her position at the door and flew at Rick, only to be caught in mid air by Jackson. "Luhkie," he called while struggling to hold Lisa back, "take Mariah back to aunt Cynthia's bedroom and shut the door." Luhki just stood there wide eyed at what was happening in front of her. "Now!" Jackson commanded.
That snapped the little girl to attention. She took Mariah's hand and led her away. Once they were out of earshot, Jackson put his mouth to Lisa's ear. "Not here." He said and Lisa stilled in his arms.
Rick crawled toward Cynthia and put his hand on her leg. She recoiled fiercely from his touch. "Don't touch me." She hissed, then without warning, she kicked him in the face. Then her eyes met Jackson's, "Get him out of my house."
Jackson nodded as his arms went slack around Lisa's waist and then released it all together. He once again took Rick's hair into his hand and began to drag him down the hall. An unspoken promise passed between Cynthia and Lisa that Cynthia would look after the kids and Lisa took her place by her husband's side. Once she heard the door slam shut, Cynthia sank to her knees and began to weep openly. She had been married to the man for three years, dating him for six, and she had never known; never suspected a thing. She felt as though she didn't know him at all…and it was the truth. She really didn't.
Jackson peeled out of Cynthia's driveway in Lisa's SUV. Lisa was at his side in the passenger seat and Rick was bleeding all over the leather interior of her backseat. Lisa's entire body was trembling with rage she was so angry. The pervert in the backseat of her car had put his hands on her daughter; on her five year old daughter. He had touched her and made her touch him. She wanted to strangle him; she wanted to feel his body go limp as she choked the life out of him. She tried to get her mind on other things by looking out the window. It had stopped raining.
"Where are we going?" she asked Jackson.
As soon as the question left her lips, Jackson steered the four-wheel drive off of the road into a field. Lisa was tossed up and down and all around the cab as the car bounced along the unsteady terrain. Jackson didn't look at her. He kept his eyes focused out in front of as though he knew exactly where they were going. Rick groaned from his lying position and the sound made Lisa want to leap over the center console and claw his eyes out. Once the road was no longer in their field of vision, Jackson slammed on the breaks and the SUV went skidding to a stop.
Jackson flung open his door and leapt out, jerking the back door open as well. He moved so quickly that it all seemed to be one fluid motion. He grabbed Rick and pulled him out of the car, dragging him around to the front so that they were both in the light of the headlights. Lisa was still fumbling with the door handle when Jackson was throwing Rick to the ground in front of the car. She finally got the door open and jumped out, her bare feet sloshing into the mud with a wet, slapping sound. She trotted over to Jackson, mud splattering up onto her legs as she went.
Jackson kicked Rick in the ribs and the man rolled, coming to a stop face down in the mud. "Jackson?" Lisa said coming up to his side and Jackson turned to face her.
"Your call, Leese." He said, holding his arms out wide.
Lisa looked down at Rick, who was looking up at her, and a chill ran through her body. This bastard had put his hands on her little girl. He had stolen her childhood; her innocence. She looked back up at Jackson; into his blue eyes. He was asking her what she wanted him to do. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that she would be put into this position and she had to look away. But, slowly, she brought her eyes back up to Jackson's, her face twisted in an expression of anger, but at the same time one of deep and troubled sadness. "Make sure he doesn't lose consciousness." She seethed, offering him his knife.
Jackson bowed his head forward in compliance to her command. When he straightened, he jerked his jacket off and held it out to her. She took the coat at the same time he took the knife from her hands. As Jackson turned and started toward where Rick was trying to crawl away, Lisa got back into the car, turned the radio on, laid the seat back, and closed her eyes. She knew her husband and she knew that she didn't want to see what he was about to do to Rick. She knew what he was going to do and that was enough for her.
It was two and a half hours later before Jackson returned to the car. He climbed into the passenger seat, waking Lisa from where she had dozed off. She woke with a start and looked at him as he turned shut his door. He was shirtless and saturated with blood. It was an image she had seen before. He tossed the bloody dagger into the center console and reached forward to turn the radio down. Lisa licked her lips and tried to form words in her parched mouth. "Did he pass out?" she asked, her voice rough and scratchy thanks to her dry throat.
"Five times." Jackson said, "Reviving a torture victim is something they taught me on day one."
Lisa had long since learned not to even bother asking who they were. In the distance, she saw the faint flickering of a fire. Rick. And probably Jackson's shirt. She shifted in her seat and Jackson eyed her as he put the car into reverse. The thick coppery smell of blood permeated the air inside the car and it choked Lisa as she breathed in. She had images of what Jackson had done to Rick dancing in her head. In her mind, it was better than what he deserved.
"That's a hell of a dress, Leese." Jackson said.
Lisa looked at him in disgust as he spoke. There were some things about Jackson that she was afraid she would never get used to. For example, his complete and utter lack of consideration for human life. He had just spent two and half hours, give or take, torturing and most likely mutilating a man that they had known for close to six years and he still had the ability to just up and say something like that to her. She wanted to slap him. But that was just who he was. He was so good to her and the kids that she sometimes forgot that fact; the fact that he was still very much the Jackson Rippner from that damned plane. She suddenly felt very exposed and moved to cover herself, pulling her arms across her chest.
They got back to Cynthia's house, having silently made a pact not to tell her what had gone down in that field. Hell, Lisa didn't even really want to know. Jackson had so many talents, it was hard to imagine which ones he had narrowed it down to. Jackson tore into their suitcase, which was sitting by the door, and slid into a clean, dark blue shirt. He made his way into the kitchen, Lisa trailing slowly after him, hugging her arms over her chest as though she were cold. She watched Jackson wipe his face with a handful of paper towels at the same time he pulled a can of soda from the fridge and poured its contents into a glass on the counter. He put his hand into his pocket and fished out something which he then dropped into the glass. Lisa narrowed her eyes to watch the several bead-like items fall from his hand into the glass making multiple little clinking sounds as they did so. Lisa knew without further inspection that they were teeth. By the morning, the soda will have dissolved them. No dental records would ever be used to identify Rick should his body ever be found, though she doubted that that had been Jackson's main motivation for pulling them.
Jackson turned to look at her. His shirt hung open over his bare chest and he propped his hip against the edge of the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. He smiled at her. "Come here to me." He said.
"What did you do to him?" Lisa asked, standing perfectly still.
Jackson simply shook his head and held out his hand to her. He knew that she didn't really want to know the details of what had befallen Rick Monogan for his sins. She simply needed the peace of mind that only came with the knowledge that he was gone. Lisa ever so slowly placed her own hand into it and he gently tugged her to him, enveloping her in his arms. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her fresh clean scent. He loved the way she always smelled so good. Vanilla. She always smelled of vanilla. He ran a hand over the back of her head, letting it slide around to the front. He ran the tips of his fingers along the line of her jaw to the underside of her chin, tipping her head back to get her to face him. "He won't bother us again." He whispered, kissing the end of her nose.
Lisa's chin quivered as she blinked back the fresh tears that were threatening to spill over her lids. She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed Jackson, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers bearing down into his shoulders. It was odd to think about. Jackson was kind of like a normal husband. The family had had a problem and in his own way, Jackson had taken care of that problem. That was the man's job. Taking care of the problems that arise; and Jackson was good at that.
Jackson had just moved to kiss her again, but quickly turned his head away when a faint noise caught his attention. There was something sounding like whimpering coming from the bedroom.
"What…" Lisa began, but Jackson silenced her instantly when he pressed his finger to his lips.
He slinked around the corner, wishing that he hadn't left his knife in the car. Lisa followed suit, mimicking his movements step for step. They crept along the hallway, making their way to Cynthia's bedroom, which seemed to be the source of the noise. The door was cracked, so Jackson nudged it with his toe and it slowly creaked the rest of the way open.
Cynthia was slumped against the foot of the bed, her eyes at half mast, a stream of blood slithering down her cheek like a serpent from a gash at the top of her forehead. Lisa peered over Jackson's shoulder, spotted her friend and rushed forward to get to her but her husband held out his arm to stop her.
"No!" A voice called from within the room, "No, come in, please! I've been dying to meet you all."
Cynthia's eyes looked to the side and her head lulled back and forth and Lisa pushed past Jackson and flew into the room, falling to her knees in front of Cynthia. Jackson took only two steps in and scanned the room, his eyes focusing on the figure standing in the corner of the room.
Lisa looked up at the man that Jackson's attention was zoomed in on. He was tall and fit with broad shoulders and black hair fashionably slicked back. He wore an expensive looking suit, had deep brown eyes, and a scar at the very bottom of his chin. A single corner of his mouth turned upward as he looked from Jackson to Lisa and back to Jackson.
"Wow, Rippner," the man said, "she's cute."
"What do you want?" Jackson asked.
"Her." He said, pointing at Lisa.
"No." Jackson responded.
"Jackson?" Lisa broke in, keeping a firm hold on Cynthia's arm "What's going on?"
"Remember Mellmott, Leese?" Jackson said without taking his eyes off of the man in the corner.
"Of course." Lisa said, not understanding.
"Meet Clyde," Jackson introduced, "his brother."
Author's Note: Be sure to tell me what you think! Just a friendly little reminder to review:)