I don't know how it all happened.
One second I'm standing in the middle of the Belikov living room, the living room of people who had not so long ago invited me into their home and treated me as one of their own and I repay such kindness by unintentionally involving this family in the biggest standoff any of us had probably ever seen, and the next second….
Chaos.
Mayhem.
Noise.
Shouting.
Shooting.
Dark Laughter that can only be my father's is the prominent of all of the sounds.
Screaming.
Crying.
Sobs.
Pain.
Blood.
More chaos.
More mayhem.
Its one of those moments that you don't actually believe is happening; One of those stories that one reads about but never completely understands.
This moment started with a slow montage of all of the happy moments I've had these past months. How this moment will end…
DPOVFBI training 101: stay calm in tense situations.
It's the first thing you hear in the academy and the last lesson you learn.
Calm, a feeling that fades from my mind. I don't think I'll ever understand that word again. Anytime, if I ever do, experience calm, I'll remember the sight of my mother and my nephew laying a few feet behind me, lifeless, still; I'll remember the odd color of red splayed across the walls and how it pooled on the floor at our feet; the sounds were the worst. The sound of Victoria, Zoya, and the newborn's cries were unforgettable; the sound my shoes made when I lifted my heel off of the blood that had ran around my feet; the sound of triggers being pooled and bullets being fired.
These weren't sounds I was accustomed too.
I'd been through a lot in my life, I'd seen a lot of terrible people with terrible cases but these were sounds I would never get used to no matter what happened.
Some how the worst of all of the sounds was Abe laughter. His laugh was so thick and bone chilling; it fit in so well with the thick air of despair and…tragedy.
He was even laughing when the first gun went off.
The three of us immediately stiffened and were ready to pull our own guns looking around for who had fired and who had been shot.
"That was a warning shot from Eric. Lay your weapons down or next time he will hit his target," Abe smiled.
I think all of us grabbed the handle of our guns harder.
We were all so tense and focused.
We had to be ready.
We didn't know how this was going to end but we did know that none of the sick monsters standing across from us was going to get away without a few extra holes even if meant dying to get the shot off.
We were ready.
And then I saw Rose.
She was on the other side of Kirova in the corner of the room. I didn't have to look at her directly to know her knuckles were white from squeezing Lissa's hand so tightly. She was afraid. We all were. I moved so lightly in a way that only Rose would have noticed…and she did. She averted her eyes, so beautiful and deeply brown, and met my own. There was something in them. A flash…. barely noticeable. It was a new…spark I had never seen before.
She pursed her lips tightly together and then relaxed them sending me the smallest of smiles, the barest of acknowledgments.
Before I could question what she was doing, she leaned back to whisper a few words to Lissa who barely nodded, in shock, and then she made her move.
She dropped her grip from Lissa's with one quick squeeze and stepped forward.
"W-what are you-" Christian started but Abe's voice cut him off.
"Come to your senses, have you? Good timing Rosemarie."
She stepped forward, so small compared to the four of them. Her hair hung long and loose almost at her waist, her shoulders relaxed but her hands clenched tight and stiff at her sides.
"Stop this. All of This. You're doing this to get back at me because I'm a sorry excuse for a daughter in your eyes, I'm a nuisance who betrayed you and went to the police, and I'm a threat to you. You're afraid that there is the slightest chance that I could end up being the reason behind your demise and believe me I want to be the one who either puts you in jail or kills you. I would give anything to just make you go away, to get rid of my problem as easily as you get rid of your but so long as one of us is alive that's never going to happen…is it?"
Abe stood form his crouch, pulling his gun from crying Zoya's grasp. For once, he wasn't laughing nor did he look amused in any way. To a small young woman like Rose, he looked frightening.
His eyes glossed over completely dark.
He stepped away from the barricade that Natasha, Jesse and Victor had made around him and stepped before Rose. It took the click of Natasha and Jesse's guns to stop me from blocking Rose from Abe, the way I had protected her before.
"It seems I have bestowed some knowledge upon whatever you carry in that naïve little head of yours." He said it so smug, arrogantly and low that I could barely hear him. His words were for Rose and Rose only.
She didn't back away though.
She held her ground.
She looked closely, really searched his eyes and did the strangest thing.
She smiled.
"You really are afraid of me."
He smirked then after a brief pause.
"It's nice to know you hold some type of emotion for me before I die."
I had only caught the last of what she said when it was too late.
It seemed Abe was moving a little slowly too.
We all looked up just as Rose maneuvered in one of few ways I'd taught her in disarming an attacker. She gave a quick swift kick to his legs and he faltered, only a little, but enough for his grip to loosen on his gun and Rose to grab it.
He broke out in a wide grin as she pointed the gun directly at his chest where his heart was. Natasha hit the side of Sonya's head with the butt of her gun and went for Rose. Kirova let off a shot and Natasha dropped her gun to the ground with a shriek.
"Protect Rose. Take them all down," Kirova ordered, going to disarm her.
Christian and I covered her in case Jesse and Victor moved.
"This blade can be in and out of her neck before your bullet even touches me," Victor croaked. Karolina was m uttering, most likely a prayer.
I had to take the risk.
I fired my weapon in unison with about three other weapons. Either Christian or I hit Victor. Jesse tried to block him self with Yeva who stood expressionless and moved slowly out of the way when Jesse dodged away from her behind the couch while firing his gun.
Eric Dragomir fired shots from out side.
"Karolina, take everyone upstairs, lock the door, stay on the ground until I come get you," I shouted. She nodded once and grabbed everyone in our family who was alive and moving.
"I'll take care of them," I said when she looked at Paul, our mother, and Sonya on the ground.
She had grabbed the newborn in her arms and Victoria and Yeva.
She nodded again, shaking, and they scurried, screaming and crying.
Lissa had fallen to the ground, not from being shot but to avoid flying bullets. Christian glanced at her but went to disarm Victor while I went for Jesse.
I didn't dare avert my gaze to look for Rose. I just had to hope she was okay.
I had to hope she was bale to take care of her self for this brief moment and that we'd all be okay in the end.
I had to hope.
RPOVAbe literally flew at me.
He wasn't exactly young but he moved pretty quick for a man who had just been kicked in the shins. We tumbled to the ground all limbs and shouts and reaching for the gun.
My father only used one gun and one blade.
Right now we were battling it out for either one.
He yanked his blade form his belt but I kicked his shoulder back and it went flying, clattering to the floor. I was so focused on what was going on With Abe in front of me that whatever else was going on in the room faded out of focus.
It was me and him.
It was me and my father.
He recovered from the strike at his shoulder and delivered a quick blow to my cheek, the bone crackling against his fist. I stifled my scream and searched for the gun.
He was laugh.
"You just don't know how long I've waited for this moment."
Another fist came flying toward me but I rolled and I saw the gun across the floor under the table.
He grunted and came for me again, yanking at my ankle to me toward him away form the weapon.
"Finally, I get to kill you."
His hands unclenched and reach for my throat with a tight grasp. I clawed at his hands leaving scrapes and scratches on his hands. He loosed his grip when I kick him in the stomach and he doubled over onto the floor.
"I will never understand why you hate me so much," I muttered more to my self.
He chuckled and went for my leg again to get me as far from the gun as possible but his laughter faded when I finally managed to grab the gun.
He froze.
His lip dripped blood from where I had hit him once with my foot and he had another gash on his brow. I felt a bump on my forehead and my neck was throbbing but I was awake and alert enough to hold the gun with a steady hand.
"I didn't ask to be born. I tried being the good daughter you wanted; I tried to follow your rules because at the lowest point in my short life I actually cared about what my father," I spat the word,"thought of me. And then I realized, I'll never be good enough in your eyes. You and Janine will never accept me and you know what?" I sat up and stood over him as he kneeled before me, the weakest I had ever seen him. Who knew an eighteen year old would be the one to bring the great Abe Mazur to his knees.
"I don't care. I have everything I could possibly want but you're never going to let me have that." The tears started to fall. I sniffled and kept going. He had to know why. Unlike him I would give him a reason for everything I was about to do. "I just want you gone."
"That's a mutual feeling," he tried to smiled but it didn't come out the same. "So now you've give your little speech, the reason for all of your problems just disappears with one shot."
"No. Because then you'll be the reason I feel guilty for taking a life, even if it is yours," I admitted.
I lowered the gun and kicked him once hard across the face. He faltered and fell to the ground unconscious but not dead.
Sun light form the window across the room poured in.
I was about to smile my self, I felt like smiling. This could be the end of it. But there were two bodies on the ground because of me and…and then Abe sat up.
He had reached his blade again and without a moments hesitation plunged it directly into me, through and through. I don't know how I knew. I just felt it.
It was that numb feeling the movies talk about, it was pure excruciating pain.
Suddenly, the background chaos that had faded out earlier came in clear and loud. Lissa screamed, Dimitri shouted….
There was nothing I could do to console them.
I wasn't okay.
I was dying.
Abe stood over me now grinning wickedly, still holding the blade.
"I told Eric to only take the shot on my word because I wanted your death to be at my hands. I wanted to watch the light go out of your eyes-"
He started to monologue.
I was still holding the gun though and it was pocking at his chest where his heart was. Yes I'd feel guilty for taking a human life but I'd get over it.
"And I guess ill watch the light go out of yours."
I pulled the trigger.
Abe fell to the ground, leaving the blade in my side.
Lissa shouted, I could still hear Dimitri.
Chaos.
Mayhem.
Noise.
Shouting.
Shooting.
Dark Laughter that can only be my father's is the prominent of all of the sounds.
Screaming.
Crying.
Sobs.
Pain.
Blood.
More chaos.
More mayhem.