Demons of Saints Chapter 9: Attachment and Instinct, a boondock saints fanfic

Chapter Eight Summary: Romeo goes in after waiting and finds Connor tied to a chair, totally soaked. He frees him but notices that Murphy and Anna are both gone. Connor is out of it, begging Murphy to forgive him for something. Romeo snaps him out of it and Connor resolves to find his twin. Earlier, Anna tortures the brothers, making Connor watch as she recarves each of Murphy's scars. Murphy insults her and Anna makes Connor hold Murphy's head under water or she'll just kill Murphy. When she's satisfied, she ties Connor back to a chair and takes Murphy with her...

AN: This was supposed to be the last chapter... But I'm not done being evil yet. One more to go! Feel free to drop some feedback!

Demons of Saints

Attachment and Instinct

By Candra Hastings

Anna knew that he would follow. As soon as Connor could manage to get free that he would pursue her and and his brother to the end of the Earth. He would never stop hunting.

Anna sighed as she got in the driver's seat of her car. She should've killed him. She should've made sure that he could never follow them. Because she would never give up her pet. He was hers.

As much as she wished that she'd killed Connor, she knew she couldn't unless he forced her to. Not because she didn't hate him. No, she hated him with every fiber of her being. She wanted him to die, but she couldn't kill him..

Because she knew what it would do to her pet. She wanted him broken, not destroyed. He was far too attached to that brother of his. If she'd killed him, she would've killed her precious' will to fight, the very thing that made him so interesting. She just couldn't sacrifice that for the convenience of killing his brother.

She pulled onto the road. It didn't matter if Connor lived or not. He would never find them, not where they were going. They'd be out of the country by the end of the night. And she would be taking her pet with her, at least, until he ceased to amuse her.

It still astounded her. After all the years, he still looked so much like him. It still made her hate the Irishman for it, for looking so much like her dead husband. It still made her want to punish him for her husband's crimes. But then she'd see those bright blue eyes that looked so much like his, like Mae's, pain that she'd caused, and she wouldn't want to hurt him anymore. At least, not until that darkness crept back into her heart and it didn't matter than he still looked so much like an innocent little boy.

No, she couldn't think like that. Soon, they'd be gone and Connor wouldn't be a problem. But her pet was far from innocent and he had to pay.

And she was far too attached to give him up without a fight.

B~D~S

Connor was more pissed than anything. Yes, he was hurting. Yes, he was bleeding. But he didn't care about any of that. Now that Romeo had rescued him, all that he cared about was getting Murphy back and killing this woman for all that she'd done to them.

He was more stable on his feet once he and Romeo got outside. The beautiful Spic-Mobile as Murphy calls it was waiting there. Connor got in the passenger seat so he could shoot while Romeo started it up. He felt something under his feet and looked to see what it was. It was his and Murphy's bag. Inside it were his guns and his rope. He took a deep breath and shoved his brother's knife in his boot.

"Do you know where they're going?" Romeo asked.

To be honest, Connor had no idea. But he knew her car had been around the back. She would be trying to get out of the country. Canada. She'd go north. And he knew a backroad that went there.

"Go that way," he pointed out the road behind the building. Connor saw fresh tire tracks and he knew that he was on the right trail. "I'm going to kill her, Rome."

"What... what happened in there, man? I thought she was gonna send you out."

"She lied," Connor hissed. "She got us both. Made me watch while she... Then she..." he couldn't tell him. He couldn't tell him that he'd been forced to torture his own brother. What would Romeo think of him then? No, he couldn't tell him. At least not now. Now, they needed to focus on finding Murphy.

"Can this thing go any faster?" Connor changed the subject.

In response, the motor revved as Romeo floored it. The machine wasn't built for speed, but it was going pretty fast. Connor was grateful that Romeo hadn't pressed him.

As Romeo drove, Connor couldn't help but tremble in his seat. His shirt was still soaked from when he'd held Murphy under the water. The guilt for what he'd done was eating away at him. If she'd just threatened to kill Connor, he wouldn't have done it. He'd have died before he ever even considered doing that.

But she'd pointed that gun at Murphy. She'd threatened his brother and left Connor with two horrible choices. Torture his brother, or let him die.

And even though it had killed him to do it, there really hadn't been a choice in the matter. Because Murphy couldn't die. That was Connor's everything. His best friend, his brother. They'd never been separated a day in their lives, it wasn't an option.

So Connor had done the unthinkable. He'd held Murphy under the water until he grew weaker and weaker. And what had bother him the most was the fact that Murphy was so willing to suffer that fate. He'd been the one to tell Connor to do it. He'd helped Connor do it. He hadn't even fought back until pure instinct had driven him, and that just killed Connor.

Didn't Murphy know how absolutely horrible all that had been?

Did he have any idea how sorry Connor was?

That was Connor's goal. He would find his brother, kill the monster who'd hurt them, and then he'd hug him and never let go. He'd tell him how sorry he was for what he'd been made to do. He'd beg for his forgiveness until he felt that Murphy understood how horrible Connor felt.

But first, he had to find him.

"How fast am I going to need to get to a hospital when we get him?" Romeo asked.

Connor balked. He'd never even thought that Romeo would think to ask something like that. And though it was close to a touchy topic, he could tell Romeo how hurt Murphy was without telling him how it happened.

"He's pretty cut up. Got knocked in the head pretty good. He'll... He'll have water in his lungs," Connor admitted.

Romeo nodded curtly, never acting surprised in the least. Connor had to admit, it was good to have someone like Romeo around.

And then they could see her car. It was a grey Sedan and it was going fast. Connor rolled down his window and made to shoot the tire, but he thought about it and decided it was a bad idea. What if the car flipped? His brother was in there. If he accidentally killed Murphy, he'd never forgive himself.

"Romeo, get in front of 'er. Cut 'er off."

"If I do that," Romeo pointed out, "she'll impact on your side."

"Do it," he said, hearing the echoes of his brother's words in his own voice.

Romeo did as he was told. He managed to accelerate even more as he pushed to get in front of Anna's car. Connor eyed her on the way around. He large green orbs looked at him in surprise as he flipped her off while Romeo pulled around to stop in front of her.

Even though Anna hit the breaks, it wasn't enough to stop from colliding with Romeo's car. She'd been going fifty-five. The wreck wasn't pretty.

Connor was fine, though. He'd braced himself for the impact. He'd been expecting to have broken something, but the good Lord must've protected him from harm because he was safe. Romeo was mostly unscathed as well. His head had his the glass to his window and he was out like a light, but he was alright for the most part.

Connor crawled out of the car on Romeo's side, where the door wasn't crunched. He left Romeo where he was and took up his guns before heading around to look in Anna's car. Her face was a bleeding mess. She was slumped over and glass had ended up in her flesh from the windshield.

But where was Murphy? Connor couldn't see him anywhere in the car. Had she already dropped him off somewhere? There was no way. No way. That left one place for him to be. Connor hobbled around to the back of the car. He moved towards the trunk and didn't hesitate in popping it open.

There was Murphy. He was stuffed into the back of the trunk, bloody and broken looking. He was curled into a ball, as if trying to protect himself. His hands were tied tightly behind his back. That horrible gag was still tied around his head. Connor didn't think he'd ever been happier to see him.

Connor was afraid to touch him. The last time he'd touched his brother, he'd been holding him under the water until he couldn't breath. But the protective instinct in him won out over his fear. As gently as he could be, he reached in and scooped Murphy's limp body up into his arms.

Murphy didn't move, and that terrified Connor. His clothes were still soaked. Connor couldn't hold his brother's full weight, so he eased him to the ground. Murphy's upper body lay motionless in his lap as he pulled the knife from his boot. He pulled Murphy to his chest so that he could get at the rope that bound his hands.

Connor cut the rope away from his raw wrists, careful to not cut his brother. Then he eased him back, cradling his head in the crook of his arm. He set the knife aside and used the gentlest touch he could muster to pull the gag out of Murphy's mouth. His fingers ghosted over his twin's pale lips.

Murphy still hadn't moved. He was breathing watery breaths, but he hadn't moved.

"M-Murphy?" Connor asked, unable to keep the tremor from his voice. "Murph, c'mon now. It's time to wake up. Connor's got yah."

Murphy still hadn't moved, and Connor was beginning to panic. He patted Murphy's cheek, his thumb stroking the bone there. "Murph, please wake up. I don't even care if yah hate me for what I did ta' yah. Just wake up, please," he begged.

And Murphy's blue eyes cracked open, instinctively answering to his twin's voice as it called to him from the darkness. He coughed up a watery breath, his lungs feeling heavy with liquid. But it didn't matter how much it all hurt anymore because Connor was here holding him and he was safe.

"C-Connor?" he asked, having a hard time believing his eyes. His twin looked rough, like he'd been to hell and back just to come save him. "Are yah alright?"

Connor laughing, but it was choked, like it was a ridiculous question. "I'm fine, yah idiot. How are yah holdin' up?"

"Fantastic," Murphy said, offering a weak grin that came off as a grimace. Connor smiled back and bent down to press his forehead to his brother's, feeling his breath on his face, knowing he was alive and safe in his arms.

"I've got yah now, Murph. You're okay. You're safe," he whispered while he clung to his twin's wet and shivering body. He just held him, feeling his heart beat against his own chest. That familiar heart beat that had been his constant companion for thirty-seven years.

"Thanks f-f-for comin', Con," Murphy stuttered out while his hand sought out his brother's that rested on his tattooed chest.

Connor felt like he'd been smacked. "Of course I came for yah, yah dummy. I'd never leave yah."

"Con?"

"Yeah?"

"I ever tell yah that you're the best brother I coulda asked for?" Murphy asked, echoing his words from ten years ago when Connor had come to save him.

Connor caught it and breathed a sigh of relief. He felt like he didn't deserve the title of best brother after what he'd done, but he played along for Murphy's sake. They could hash that out later. "Maybe once or twice. I ever tell yah it back?" Murphy shook his head, his limited strength starting to fail him. Connor frowned and locked eyes with him so that he knew he was serious. "Well, yah are. So there."

Connor was about to go get Romeo to help get Murphy into the car when suddenly, the last person they ever wanted to see came around the corner. Anna looked like she'd been through a blender, and it was obvious that she wasn't going to last much longer in this world. Blood poured from rivets in her face from where glass had cut her. She was horribly disfigured, but that wasn't what the stunned twins noticed.

What they noticed was the gun trained on Connor.

And then she said the most cliche thing that she could've ever said. "If I can't have him," she said, nodding to Murphy laying in Connor's arms, "neither can you."

And then she pulled the trigger. And the bullet flew. And Connor closed his eyes, prepared to die.

But the bullet didn't hit him. And it hadn't missed. It had been intercepted.

A roar had built in Murphy's ears. It made him summon all his strength in that one moment that instinct took over to protect his brother. Because losing Connor was unacceptable. And he felt Connor's arms around him tighten as he made ready to die.

But Murphy wouldn't allow it. He'd had enough of Anna taking from him. Making him suffer. He would finally get the last word in.

Murphy clutched Connor to him and pulled himself up. And he took the bullet in his back.

and Instinct

Candra Hastings

Anna knew that he would follow. As soon as Connor could manage to get free, he would pursue her and and his brother to the end of the Earth. He would never stop hunting.