Penumbra (The Midnight Society #2) (21 page)

She was trying to convince herself while seeking out confirmation from me. I deduced this from the quiver in her voice and her refusal to look me in the eye as she spoke. It was time to completely unravel her.

“You always treated the Triad’s like shit,” I stated. “It’s well known that you look down on their business. You make your disdain for their entire organization transparent.”

She stayed silent.

“For years, the Midnight Society and the Triads always had a good working relationship,” I continued. “Do you know why that is?”

Silence.

“We respected them,” I said. “We allowed the Triads to fill their coffers first, before we collected our take. I bet Nathan remembers those days, after all it was only a few weeks ago.”

Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed tightly together. She was getting worried.

There was one more piece of information I needed to draw out of her.

“Your pussy’s not that good,” I said flatly. “Nathan told me so.”

She looked up, her eyes squinted, her mouth slightly agape. She was puzzled.

That was the ‘tell’ I needed. She wasn’t sleeping with him.

“Tell me where Calisto is,” I said once again, rising from my seat.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

I walked over to her and smiled, not a menacing smile, but a genuine one. I took the seat right next to her and leaned in, slightly, enough not to completely intimidate her.

“Calisto played you, Elena,” I whispered, doing my best to display sympathy. “She played me as well.”

“You didn’t deserve to be the leader of the Midnight Society,” Elena stated. “Calisto took what was rightfully hers.”

“Calisto murdered my parents—her own parents,” I said. “She slit my dad’s throat, and then stabbed my mom to death. She was ten years old at the time.”

I allowed my words to seep into her thoughts for a moment, before I continued speaking again.

“She played me for over thirteen years,” I said, “and now, she’s playing you as well.”

“Your parents…” she gasped. “You’re lying.”

I shook my head, and leaned in even more. I looked her in the eye
s, and allowed my face to soften. “It’s no secret that my parent’s death was a sensitive issue for me,” I said. “Do you think I’d disrespect their memory by making up such a story—spreading rumors that their own daughter killed them, unless it was the absolute truth?”

“I...” Elena began. Her mouth remained open but no words came out. She was trembling.

At the end of the day, Elena Zhao was nothing more than a helpless sheep trying to play the part of a wolf. Calisto made a big mistake in choosing her as her right hand.

“When this meeting is finished, Nathan wants to kill you,” I said.

She looked at me with glossy eyes. “My men are outside.”

“Your men are probably dead,” I bluffed. “But Nathan will do as I say. I’ll keep you safe. I promise you.”

She looked at me and shook her head.

“Why would you protect me?”

“Because I want you, Elena,” I replied.

She looked at me, skepticism reflecting in her eyes. “The Golden Virgin…” she began.

“It’s over between us. It was a mistake, one that Calisto forced me to make.”

Was it?

The answer would have to wait. For now, the only important thing was Elena, and getting what I needed from her.

“Calisto brainwashed me, remember?” I said. “Once I found out and I regained control of my mind, I kicked the Golden Virgin aside. If Calisto hadn’t manipulated me, I would have chosen you that night. I mean…God, look at you. You’re like an Asian goddess.”

“You’re just playing me,” Elena said. “You called me a whore again, the second you saw me.”

I nodded. “I did,” I replied. “But I want you to be a whore. I want you to be
my whore
, and mine alone.”

I leaned in until our lips were almost touching.

“I’m going to be the King again,” I said, confidently. “The question is who’s going to be with me when I reclaim my throne?”

I allowed my eyes to wander across her body while I took her hands and placed them on my chest.

“Who’s going to sleep in my bed?” I leaned in close and whispered into her ear, as I allowed my hand to rest on top of her thigh. “Who am I going to fuck every night?”

She looked at me and shook her head. “You…you hurt me.”

“Punish me then,” I replied as I allowed my breath to graze across her neck. “I’ll let
my whore
conquer the king whenever she chooses to.”

“Shadow…” she breathed as I allowed my hands to slip under her skirt.

I closed my eyes and thought of Aria and I imagined it was her skin that I was touching.

“But first, I need to protect us from my sister. Tell me how I can find her,” I said, opening my eyes again.

“Calisto’s –” but before she could finish her sentence, there was the single sound of a suppressed gun shot.

Before I could piece together what had happened, Elena fell to the ground in a heap, a single bullet hole marking the center of her forehead.

I looked up and saw the man from the convenience store—the same one with the thick glasses and greasy matted hair—standing there, a gun in his hand.

Standing next to him was the little girl, her eyes covered by a blindfold. She was clinging onto his leg.

The man smiled at me, his teeth stained yellow and jagged, as if he had been chewing on limestone. The gun was still in his hand.

Where did he come from and why the hell did he just kill Elena?

The kitchen was the only other entranceway into this private room, but Tsung and his men were supposedly guarding it. Perhaps Nathan had decided to betray us both, hiring this odd fuck to take us both out—two birds with one psychopath.

“You piece of shit,” I seethed.

A few seconds more and Elena would have sang for me. 

The man, still grinning, slowly lowered the gun in his right hand and began to turn around, nudging for the little girl to do the same.

What the fuck was going on? Was Elena the only target?

Four-Eyes began to walk away from the scene, but I’d be damned if I was just going to sit idly by. I needed answers, and chances were this twisted fuck had some.

I charged at him.

#

Chapter Twenty-Four

Shadow

Four-Eye’s speed reminded me of the White Crow. Before I could connect my fist with his face, I found myself lying flat on my back, winded. He had caught my arm and kicked my legs out from under me.

I took note that he dropped his gun next to Elena’s body, the silencer still attached to it.

As I struggled to my feet, Four-Eyes started clubbing me with his grisly fists. If I didn’t know better, I swore I was being pummeled by a stack of bricks wrapped underneath a layer of human skin. I felt every single blow.

Was I fighting a man or a shaved grizzly bear?

He continued to beat me with his heavy fists, swinging his arms like he was striking nails with hammers, smashing me in the fleshy part between my neck and shoulders.

Pain shot through my neck and into jaw, cascading all the way down to my lower back. I clenched my teeth as I tried to block the blows with my forearms, but they were coming down fast and heavy.

Four-Eyes continued grinning like an imbecile while maintaining his onslaught to my body.  After what seemed like two-solid minutes of the relentless assault, he let up for a split second. He was getting tired.

Now was the time to counter attack.

I drove my right fist hard into his gut. It felt like I was hitting a hard sack of flour.

Four-eyes frowned, and then smashed me in the right side of my face, knocking me flat on my back once more.

My head was throbbing. I didn’t think I could get back up.

Half-dazed and lying on the ground, I turned my head towards the blindfolded little girl. She began singing the cheerful tune of London Bridge, oblivious to the fact that the two men in the room with her were in a one-sided fist fight.

It was bizarre.

I heard heavy footsteps against the hardwood floor and I looked up to see Four-Eyes standing over me. He was gripping a silver fork.

I struggled to rise to my feet, but before I could, the bastard stabbed me in the shoulder with the eating utensil, burying the piece of silverware in my body.

“Fucker,” I hissed as I rolled away from him and struggled back to my feet. I grabbed the hilt of the fork, still protruding from my shoulder, and unleashed a growl as I pulled it out.

Four-eyes continued smiling as he picked up another fork from the dinner table.

He lunged at me like a cobra, but I was quick enough to dodge the attack this time. I made a dash for the gun on the ground, which the idiot had forgotten about.

Time to end this.

I grabbed the gun and directed it at the fucker’s head. I pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

I pulled again and again but each time, all I heard were empty clicks.

He had loaded the gun with only one bullet. The bastard must have been confident that he could finish the job with a single shot.

Four-Eyes lunged at me again, and this time, he made contact. He had attempted to stab me in the throat with the fork, but luckily I managed to shield myself with my arms just in time, protecting my neck from the attack. My right forearm, however, now had a dinner fork sticking out of it.

“Fucking hell,” I cried as I stared at the second piece of silverware protruding from my body tonight. It hurt like hell.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and everything went to shit as I was sent crashing into the large circular dining room table.

I wasn’t going to win this. I felt broken. Even breathing at this point hurt.

That was when the door opened and I saw Cairo stepping in. He looked at me first, lying on the ground, covered in Chinese food, before turning his attention to Four-Eyes, and then the blind-folded little girl.

“What the fuck…” he glanced over at Elena’s body, a heap on the ground. “Awww, shit.”

“He shot Elena,” I gasped as I forced myself back onto my feet, brushing fried rice and tofu off my clothes.

Suddenly, Nathan appeared in the room and at first sight of Four-Eyes, his calm disposition melted away into a frown.

He seemed genuinely upset to see him there. His facial expressions morphed from surprise to shock as he saw Elena’s corpse. Perhaps Nathan didn’t organize the hit after all?

“Nathan, get your men to grab
this fucker,” I said.

The Triad boss immediately shook his head. “No,” he replied, direct and to the point. “It looks like Elena was the target. He has accomplished what he came here to do. For the sake of your well-being Shadow, I suggest you allow him to walk out of here. I will not risk my men dying to apprehend him.”

I turned and looked at the assassin, who stood in the corner, grinning. Why wasn’t he attacking anyone, or running away for that matter? Maybe he was enjoying the one-on-one fight, treating it like a boxing match, patiently waiting for round two?

This guy seriously had problems.

I pulled the fork out of my forearm, and grimaced. “Do you not see Elena’s dead body over there Nathan? This fucker killed her.”

“I see it,” Nathan said, “and I’m thankful I wasn’t the target instead. Now, let Duckface walk. The last thing I need is another body in my restaurant.”

“Duckface?” I asked, puzzled.

Cairo immediately began to laugh. “Duckface?” he howled. “What kind of stupid name is Duckface?”

The assassin began blowing hot air out of his nose. He probably didn’t enjoy being made fun of.

Perhaps, I could get him to fight with his heart, instead of his head.

“Quack, quack, bitch,” I hollered.

My taunt worked, and immediately, he charged at me like a mad bull.

I quickly grabbed the empty gun and hurled it at Duckface’s oversized cranium. It bounced harmlessly off his forehead, as if the gun was made out of plastic.

I collapsed to the ground underneath the weight of Duckface and felt his cement fists striking at me all over again.

Cairo was quick to jump in, grabbing Duckface from behind.

“I got him.” No sooner had Cairo said that, the assassin snapped his head back, catching Cairo in the lower jaw with the back of his head.

Cairo spewed out a string of profanities as he released his grip on Duckface and clutched his jaw.

Duckface
was one slippery fucker.

The girl had now switched songs and was singing Ring-Around-the-Rosies.

“Nathan, give me your gun,” I shouted.

The Triad boss shook his head. “I will not get involved in this,” he said. “I suggested you let Duckface go, but you ignored my warnings. I will not be dragged down along with the two of you.”

“You’re joking, right?” I asked. “You have at least ten men out there.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “Ten men that are still breathing and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Fucking coward,” Cairo muttered, rubbing his chin.

Nathan shrugged as he turned his back on us.

“Good luck gentlemen,” he added, just before stepping back into the main dining room, closing the door behind him.

“Twinkle twinkle little star,” the blindfolded girl sang as she spun herself around and around in one spot of the private room.

Cairo looked at her with a raised brow. “That just ain’t right,” he said as he turned his attention to Duckface. “What are you, some sick twisted pedophile?”

A light-switch flipped inside Duckface’s head, and suddenly, the contours on his face were overcome with pure anger. Cairo had hit a nerve.

“No hurt her, no hurt her,” Duckface screamed. His voice sounded like a mash up between Animal from the Muppets and an old fog horn.

In a split second, Duckface was already on top of Cairo, smacking away at his bald head with bare knuckles. I grabbed a wooden chair from the ground, snuck up behind Duckface, and smashed him across the back of the head.

No reaction.

Like a wild animal, he continued to focus on his prey. He seemed fixated in trying to cave in Cairo’s skull with his blows.

I hit Duckface with a plate, but still the same, ambivalent reaction. I might as well have hit him with a pillow.

“Get him off me man,” I heard Cairo shouting, Duckface still on top of him.

“I’m trying,” I shouted, as I fumbled around for another weapon.

Another chair? Why the fuck not?

I smashed this one into his shoulders and the fleshy part of his neck. Nothing.

I started to wonder if this guy was even human.

Maybe I could put him in a sleeper hold, and choke him out, like I had done with Cairo a couple of nights ago.

No sooner had I wrapped my arms around Duckface’s head, I found myself flipped over and lying on the ground, winded.

That was then I was introduced with a heavy boot to the face, and then darkness.

#

When I regained consciousness, Cairo was sitting on the ground, like a child, wiping blood from his mouth. I slowly sat up and tried to shake the pain out of my throbbing skull.

“What the fuck happened?” I asked. It hurt to talk.

“We just got our asses handed to us by super nerd,” Cairo groaned, “That’s what happened.”

I tried to get up, but the ache shooting along my ribs told me to lie back down, so I did.

I stared up at the chandelier that hung in the room and marveled at the light refracting through every one of the crystals.

“You couldn’t take him?” I asked.

“The guy’s fucking loco,” Cairo said. “After you decided to intercept his boot with your face, he began clubbing me like a baby seal all over again. There was nothing I could do.”

I took a deep breath, and winced as I tried to turn my head to look at Cairo.

“He should have killed us,” I said.

“Damn lucky he didn’t,” Cairo shrugged. “Just when I thought he was going to finish it, he got up, scratched himself, and then grabbed the little girl and walked out.” Cairo tilted his head towards the door leading to the main dining room. “Nathan just let them walk out of here, like they had just finished dinner or something.”

I rolled over onto my stomach, and then pushed myself up—slowly and painfully.

When I was on my knees, I took a deep breath and looked around for the gun Duckface had killed Elena with.

It was gone.

“There was only one bullet in the gun,” I said.

“So?”

“I think he intended on killing only one person tonight, though he must have known there were other people here.”

“Still doesn’t make any sense. Why not kill you?”

I shrugged. “Maybe he wasn’t paid to. Why do something for free, when another person around the corner is willing to pay money for it?”

Cairo nodded as he slowly rose to his feet.  “You have a point,” he said. “I’m sure there’s more than one person out there who’d pay money to kill your stupid ass.”

I made my way over to Elena and began running my hands through her body, searching.

“Aww man, seriously?” Cairo asked, a look of surprise, and disgust, on his face.

“I’m looking for her cellphone you idiot.”

Eventually I found what I was looking for in her small, golden handbag.

“Elena was talking to someone on the phone, just before we entered. I think it was Calisto.”

“Is there a number?”

I searched for the most recent calls, both incoming and outgoing. The numbers were all from an unknown caller.

“Do you think Reiko can trace Calisto’s location from this phone?” I asked.

“No idea, best to ask her yourself.”

I nodded.

We headed for the dining room, where cowardly Nathan and the rest of his men were waiting. The first thing I noticed was the unconscious bodies of Elena’s men. Some lay on the floor while others were still in their seats, faces buried into the red fabric of the dining room table where they sat.

“Huh,” I stated.

“The food didn’t seem to agree with them,” Nathan said. He was sitting alone at a table, sipping tea from a small porcelain cup. His men stood around him, hands holding their guns tightly.

“Are they dead?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Sleeping,” he said. He glanced at me from head to toe and then shrugged. “I must admit, I’m surprised that you’re still alive.”

“Did you hire that four-eyed maniac to kill Elena?” I asked, bluntly.

Nathan smirked. “You really don’t have any trust in me, do you?”

“No more of your whimsical bullshit,” I said. “Answer the damn question; did you hire Duckface to kill her?”

The Triad leader rose from his seat and walked over to me. It wasn’t until we were inches apart that he stared me right in the eye and said
, “No. I did not hire Duckface to kill her.”

I tried reading his body language to see if there were any indications of him lying. From what I gathered, he was either telling the truth or a master sociopath, like my sister.