They dragged me back to the parking lot beyond the earthen wall and threw me down to the ground a few yardz from my own car.
Sen had the gun of course, the black one, and Nim was at his side, face twisted, clearly getting close to having just about enough of this shit. The other set of twins were the ones I had seen at Enepril, but we hadn't been formally introduced. They were more coordinated than their brothers, their faces mirroring each other as their emotions flitted between anger and fright.
"Are you sure you told him?" Sen, talking to Nim.
"Of course I did. I told him in person. Don't you trust me?"
"Mmnh." Sen held the gun with his good hand. "I think we should just shoot him now."
"Father is COMING Sen. He'll be here in moments, even you can sense that. If you don't want Uncle to really get mad, you can wait until Father gives his blessing."
"Uncle could be waking up! I don't want him talking father out of this! Let's just shoot him now!" I jumped when I heard the gunshot; even through my brain registered it was a full inch and a half from my body.
I heard a slap, but I didn't dare to look up. "You are a fucking IDIOT! If Uncle Vash wasn't awake before he is now! Control yourself, will you?"
"I hate you! You never want me to be happy! If you were really my brother you would stand by me while I destroy this useless piece of garbage! Brother…" Sen start sobbing like an angry teenage boy.
Even without looking, I could tell Nim was unimpressed. "Jesus Christ." He muttered.
"I don't get you guys. Why don't we just shoot him in the arm and be done with it?" This was a new voice, and I guessed it to be one of the other twins. His twin piped up with a: "Yeah, that whole eye for a tooth deals."
"It's an eye for an eye, you morons." Sen said distantly, still moping.
"Shut up!" one of the silent twins said, followed shortly by a "Yeah!" by the other one.
"Sen, as always, wants more than what should be coming to him." Nim said. "Honestly Sen, if you really wanted to kill someone, couldn't you have just killed another homeless girl?"
"He was… touching Uncle."
There was silence then, and a rumbling in the distance of a car. The other set of twins feet moved, with shouts of "Father!" and "He's here!"
"I still don't see why that's a reason to kill him." Nim muttered above me, "Uncle has so few living friends as it is."
"No one in this family has friends like… that." Sen said, determined.
If I had been the man I had been when I arrived here, I might have felt guilty.
But I now knew on a personal level, that Vash swung that way. It was bullshit that Sen couldn't see that for himself.
The blow to my head knocked me back on my back. The barrel ground into my nose. When the dust cleared I could see Sen's eyes burning at me with hate. "What. Did.YOU. SAY!"
So mind reading ran in Vash's family.
I wet my lips and, thinking back, chose my words carefully. "I said… your father… is a goddamn whore."
I wasn't entirely sure why I said it. At the time I didn't know any better. But the words felt right coming out of my mouth. The look on Sen's face made it even better.
Sen blanched, then flushed, then screamed, and I was sure that was it.
But I recognized Vash's footfall better than the back of my hand. It came, it dodged, and he fired.
That's when the bullets started flying.
Sen went down again, and I heard one of the quiet twins screech. There was a seconds lull in the gunfire that promised more in a moment, but in that pause a voice full of authority, power, and very familiar said "Enough." Said it firmly and did not expect to be contradicted.
Vash appeared above me, and pulled me up. "Nick. Leave. Go." He whispered as he managed to yank me up into a sitting position.
I could suddenly see everything. One of the twins, I couldn't tell which, had gotten hit on the leg. Sen was clutching at the arm I had already shot, his gaze shooting daggers.
Nim was leaning against an elegant car that had suddenly appeared in the dusty parking lot, freshly shined and without a grain of sand on its glossy surface. He spoke to someone beneath the canopy, stepped back and let two blond kids get out. They were so short that it took me a second to realize they were older than they looked. One kept talking to Nim and the other moved to the back and opened the door.
And a man I never knew I always feared got out and walked among us.