*Author's Note*

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Kin Killers & Rat Bastards

Shaw POV:

It was dead of night as I snuck into the back door of Pikeville's whorehouse, my meetin' place for doing business with Bad Frank. I'd sent him a message earlier in the day to meet me by the back stairs; that I had important information.

"You wanted to see me?" Bad Frank asked, leaning against the back stairs while smokin' a cigar as I reached him.

"How'd you like to know were Selkirk McCoy the Kin Traitor is?" I asked the Pinkerton turned lawman while pulling my cigarette case from my pocket.

As I grabbed a cigarette from my case and stuck it in my mouth, Frank raised a brow and asked, "Ain't he your kin tho too?"

"He ain't no kin of mine." I quickly muttered while striking a match and lighting up my smoke.

"Well, if tell be true he's kin to your wife's youngest son." Bad Frank chuckled, causing me to give him a dirty look.

"Don't talk 'bout that boy." I roughly pat out. I took a long drag off my smoke, only to bark out, "Just go pick up Selkirk. It'll send Hatfields running 'round like a chicken with its head cut off."

"You want me to kill him too? Seems like you got a vendetta 'gainst your own kin."

"I don't care. Just go down to Peckleyville and you'll find him working at Shifflett's under the fake name of Big Will. Devil Anse has a couple of allies down there that run that branch of the store; I'm sure they'll be nearby when you show up to get Selkirk."

Bad Frank shook his head and chuckled, "You sure are one blackhearted bastard."

"You're one to talk. You used to be in a skunk's professional."

"You're definitely Hatfield kin." Bad Frank mumbled under his breath as he turned his back to me and left.

Well, since I'm out and about I might as well go in the back alley and use my ring to poof me to a bar that I can safely drink at.

Jessa POV:

"Where have you been?" I asked Shaw as he moseyed on into our room around 2 o'clock in the morning.

"I thought you'd be asleep. Restin' up from our loss the other day." He mused while unbuttoning his shirt.

"It's my loss, Shaw; not yours. You didn't experience what I did, so don't go there."

"So, is this how you're going to be now? Huh? Short with me cause you're upset you lost the baby." Shaw asked, tossing his shirt to the floor.

"I have every right to be short with you, Shaw. Everything that's gone wrong in my life's been your damn fault. Including the loss of my daughter." I told him, watching as he yanked his undershirt off and flung it to the side.

"She was my daughter too, Jessa." He reminded me as he unbuckled his belt. No, she would've been his possession. Just like me, Cotton, and the kids are. He doesn't truly love us, and he wouldn't have loved our daughter either. Hell, he just stuck her in a pine box and buried her hours after I miscarried. He didn't arrange for a funeral. Nothing. Toeing off his boots and taking off his pants, he added in, "And it ain't my fault that things have gone your in your life. Blame the McCoys for that."

"McCoys never did me any wrong, Shaw. Not like you and your family have." I reminded him as he made his way to his side of the bed.

"What the fuck did you just say to me? Did you just lose your goddamn mind?"

"No, I didn't just lose my goddamn mind. I'm just sick and tired of your bullshit. You act like you and your family's so great and that the McCoys are so evil, but let me tell you that's far from the truth. The McCoys might be flawed, but at least Ole Randall doesn't order people to get married or scheme in plans to kill a man to pour fuel on a feud that needs it's fire weakened, not strengthened."

"Oh…so you still got a soft spot for McCoys then? Is that it? Hmm, still pinning over that McCoy lover of yours I killed? Still mourning dearly dead and departed Tolbert?" Shaw cruelly asked me. He had a crazed look in his honey-brown eyes and I knew, I just knew that I let my mouth get away from me and that I was in for it now. "Answer me!"

I should've stayed silent, but I didn't. Hell, I already opened up Pandora's box so I might as well give the Vance Bastard the answer he wants. "I'll always love Tolbert. He was the one I wanted, instead of you, Shaw."

Uh oh, spaghetti-o's…I really shouldn't have said that. Oh no… Shaw's eyes went from their warm honey hue to a blazing with a pitch black hatred as he narrowed them at me. The look he gave me was unnerving. It was unlike any look he'd ever given me before. It chilled me down to the bone. I felt like I was looking into the eyes of the devil himself.

Before I could even blink, Shaw was straddling me and had his hands wrapped around my neck. "You ungrateful bitch! Why?! How?! Why him over me?!" He screamed as he choked me.

I felt the air leaving my lungs and I began to panic. Oh my god, he was trying to kill me! No, no, no! I can't die, not like this!

I squirmed around under him while clawing his hands. I couldn't do much to fight back since he was stronger than me. I swear, if by some goddamn miracle I survive I'm taking my kids (Cotton too) and high tailing it out of West Virginia. And quick.

My vision began to get spotty and then, all of a sudden, everything went black. When I opened my eyes, it was still dark out. My neck hurt so bad, and my lungs burned. I sat up in bed, only to see that Shaw was passed out next to me. Without giving it a second thought, I got out of bed and rushed out of the room. After nearly being killed, well, it was time for me to go.

Quickly, I went to Cotton's room and told him that we had to go. That Shaw had been real mean and hurt me really bad; that it wasn't safe anymore and he needed to hitch a wagon for us. Thank God, sweet Cotton didn't ask any questions and just assured me that he'd get our wagon ready.

Once the wagon was ready, Cotton helped me gather up the sleeping kids and get them into the wagon without waking up Shaw or his brother, Todd. Thankfully, none of the kids woke up while we were transportin' them into the wagon. Cotton got into the back of the wagon with the sleeping lil ones while I settled myself at the buckboard. With a quick, "Yah!" I snapped the reigns; making the horses pull the wagon away from the house.

My original plan, which was well thought out, was now scratched. I didn't want to risk heading all the way to Prestonsburg to see a lawyer for help when Shaw's drunk ass could wake up at any moment and find me on the road. I also knew that Abel and Nancy's place was too small to shelter us, so that left me with only one other option. Aunt Betty's.

"Where are we, Jessa?" Cotton asked as we pulled up the driveway of Aunt Betty's as dawn broke.

"Aunt Betty's." I answered as the old woman's slate blue house came into view. "She's nice and she'll help us."

"Okie-dokie." Cotton simply replied in a sweet sing-song like way as I pulled the wagon to a stop.

It only took me a few quick minutes to get the kids out of the wagon since I had Cotton's help. With Endor asleep in my arms, tightly clutching onto the blanket Tolbert had Aunt Betty sew for him when he was still in my belly, I made my way over to the Blankenship farmhouse. I walked up the porch steps with Cotton right behind me. He was holding Silas's hand while carrying a sleepy Lydia. Oh, we must be a site for sore eyes, trampling up the porch in our nightclothes, with nothing but each other.

When I reached the screen door, I knocked on it and waited for an answer. It only took a couple of minutes for the front door to open, revealing Aunt Betty with an apron tied tightly around her waist. Quickly, she flung open the screen door and gasped, "Sakes alive, sugar, you look like the devil himself's been chasing you and those chil'ren all night."

Pointing to my neck, which I'm sure was bruised with the imprints of Shaw's hands, I honestly told the old woman, "The devil's bastard cousin tried to kill me last night." Her blue eyes shone with pity as I explained, "I need somewhere to go, at least until I can get a divorce and get word to Endor's poppy 'bout what happened."

"So, you know the truth; where Tolbert's at then." She stated with a thin smile while ushering me into her house.

"Yes, I know." I confirmed while Cotton and my other children followed me inside of the house.

"You'll need to speak to a lawyer about your rights, but first I think that you could use some rest." She locked her front door. "Come on, I'll show you to Tolbert's old room. I take it you might be comfortable there." Aunt Betty kindly told me before leading me upstairs to Tolbert's room, which would be mine for as long as I needed it.

"Thank you, Aunt Betty."

Meanwhile Down In Peckleyville…

Bad Frank POV:

I decided to use the tip Shaw Eldridge, the Vance Bastard, gave me 'bout Selkirk McCoy, The Kin Killer. I took Ransom Bray with me, him being my personal deputy and all. Right in the back loadin' area of Shifflett's was Selkirk. Him and some other man were loadin' a wagon with barrels. Ah, right where I want him. I drew my gun, so did Ransom, and made myself known by saying, "Selkirk McCoy, The Kin Killer. Looks like we've found you."

"You're mistaken. Name's Big Will." Selkirk shakily lied as the man with him grabbed a gun out of the wagon.

I shot the man with him while telling Selkirk, "Stop the horseshit. You're Selkirk McCoy and we both know it."

"A'ight, a'ight." He nodded. "You found me."

"I'll give you time to draw, if you want." I told Selkirk, assuming that he wasn't going to just let me take him in. He was a kin killer; them kinds are fighters til the end.

"No." He shook his head. Opening up his jacket, he claimed, "I don't got no gun."

"I don't see how somebody that would kill his own kin wouldn't try and defend himself." I stated before giving him time for a defense by counting, "One…two…"

"I give myself up!" Selkirk shouted in a panic as some teenaged boy walked up to the back loadin' area. "I'm defenseless and he knows I'd give myself up." The Kin Killer announced, noddin' his head to the boy standing nearby.

"Three…four…" I continued to count as I hobbled closer to him. Ranson silently followed me, his gun trained on Selkirk.

"I'm gettin' down on the floor! I give myself up!" Selkirk screamed while at the same time the boy, who had his hands held up peacefully, simply said, "Don't do it, Mister. It ain't right."

So, Selkirk really was going to let himself get taken in alive. I didn't see that coming, him being a kin killer traitor and all. "Well, guess you ain't worth the price of a bullet." I chuckled, kicking Selkirk with my boot as I holstered my guns.

"Yes, Sir. No, Sir." Selkirk trembled as Ranson put up his gun.

"Come on, let's get this piece of trash over to the Pikeville Jail." I told Ransom as I bent down and pulled Selkirk up by his collar.

"Sure thing, boss." Ransom nodded, only to slap cuffs on Selkirk's wrist.

"So, you wanna tell us where the others are? Might be able to cut ya a deal that'll save you from hanging?"

"No, Sir. I ain't gonna be no rat."

If he only knew that the family already had a rat. A crazy rat bastard that seems to have a grudge against everyone in the Tug Valley.

AN:

YAY! Jessa FINALLY left Shaw! Bet everyone's happy about that. Anyways, the after math of Jessa leaving and Selkirk's arrest will be in the next chapter.