Livia Lone

63-NOW

Redcroft said, “All right, she’s gone. I should go back out and keep watch.”

Lone smiled. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Nobody’s coming. Well, somebody already did, but she’s here now. I think you can stay.”

Redcroft looked at Livia. “You see? This is part of why I like working for the senator. He knows how to treat his employees.”

Lone gestured to the living room. “Why don’t we go in here? It’ll be more comfortable.”

Skull Face gestured with his gun. Livia moved into the living room, the men behind her.

Redcroft settled into one of the overstuffed chairs. Skull Face gestured with his gun to the couch across from the chairs. Livia sat on it. Lone took the chair next to Redcroft. Skull Face remained standing next to the couch, keeping his gun on Livia.

Livia blinked away the tears and looked at Lone. “Tell me what happened to my sister. Please, just tell me that.”

Lone glanced at Redcroft, then at Skull Face. “Well, what do you think. Should we tell her? It seems unkind not to.”

Skull Face smiled at that. But Redcroft’s amused expression faded, replaced by something closer to… concern. Livia didn’t know what it meant, but she didn’t like it.

“Well, Livia,” Lone said, “what happened was this. Your sister Nason was supposed to join you on that boat to Llewellyn. My brother was going to foster you both. But you did a stupid thing. You made Chanchai very angry.”

Chanchai. His name was Chanchai. Not Kana, as Tyler knew him. But to her, he would always be Skull Face.

“And… Chanchai went a little too far. But he knows that. He apologized for it. Told me everything. That’s part of why we’re friends. Because we trust each other. Isn’t that right, Chanchai?”

Skull Face nodded. He was smiling, clearly enjoying watching Lone torment her.

“Now, Chanchai asked Fred and me how we wanted to handle things, given your sister’s… condition. That is to say, we couldn’t very well have my brother take in a little refugee girl who was that traumatized. At a minimum, she needed special care. I have to tell you, initially I was not happy at the news. Nason was supposed to be mine. Plus, how was Fred going to manage you without a sister for you to worry about protecting?”

He rubbed his brow and looked down for a moment. “Ah, it’s making me miss him. Anyway, Fred said, ‘We’ll make do. As long as I just tell her I’m trying to find her sister, and eventually that I know where her sister is, it’ll be almost as good.’ And he was right, wasn’t he? He always was the clever one. It’s why he stayed in business while I pursued politics. Although, in the end, I suppose we both did all right.”

None of it was surprising. It all fit what she had already pieced together on her own. But it was still agonizing to hear. It was as though his words were ripping away scars and probing the wounded tissue underneath.

“Fred actually thought we should get rid of your sister, given her state. But honestly? I thought that would be a waste. I thought she sounded interesting. So I told Chanchai to find a way to bring her to me. I wanted to meet this zombified little girl. Maybe I could help her.”

Livia could feel the dragon, its ears flattening, its eyes glowing, its breath getting hot.

Not yet. Not yet.

“And Chanchai, good man that he is, knew it was the least he could do following the momentary lapse of professionalism that had caused the problem in the first place. So he brought Nason to me. And I entrusted her to the care of Matthias.”

“I think you’ve told her enough,” Redcroft said.

“No,” Livia said. “Please. What happened to Nason? Please.”

Lone smiled and glanced at Skull Face. “Chanchai, she really does want to know, doesn’t she?”

Skull Face nodded and looked at her, his expression burning with hate. “Yes. She wants that. Yes.”

“Well, is there anything she could do that would persuade you to fill her in on the rest of the story?”

Skull Face smiled. “Yes. I think so.”

He stared at Livia. “You were so fun on boat. So fun. Maybe you be fun again, we tell about your sister.”

Livia shook her head. The dragon was struggling now, straining.

Skull Face raised the gun and pointed it at Livia’s face. “No? Two choice. You be fun now. Or I fucking kill you.”

Lone gave her a sad smile. “Why don’t you make him happy, Livia? You know what happens when he gets angry. And really, I think he missed you. The way he talked about you… you were special to him. I want to see what was so special. I want to watch. And then, if you make him happy, I’ll finish telling you about Nason.”

The dragon was practically screaming inside her now. She’d never felt it so huge before. So undeniable.

Skull Face pointed the gun at the carpet, then aimed it at Livia again. “Knees,” he said. “Like on boat. You so fun on knees.”

Livia got to her feet. She was trembling. Skull Face saw it and nodded with satisfaction. He thought it was fear. In fact, it was effort. She was doing all she could to hold back the dragon. She didn’t think she could contain it much longer.

She stepped closer to him. This would be her best chance yet, maybe her only chance, for a disarm. Just a little closer.

But Skull Face retracted the gun, holding it closer to his body. He knew her too well, and she’d hurt him too badly. He wasn’t going to take a chance.

Skull Face pointed to the carpet with his free hand, his gun hand keeping the pistol trained on her. She didn’t have a move. Not yet. She was going to have to do this.

She got on her knees. She could see how hard he was. He moved closer and pressed the muzzle of the gun against her temple.

“Pants,” he said. “You open.”

In her peripheral vision, she could see both Lone and Redcroft lean forward in their chairs. Probably out of anticipation and interest. But with Redcroft, the posture would create quicker access to the waistband holster at the small of his back.

It didn’t matter. She couldn’t fight the dragon any longer even if she wanted to.

And she didn’t want to.

She opened Skull Face’s pants. He pressed the gun harder. The muzzle bit into her skin.

He moved aside his underwear, exposing himself.

“Mouth,” he said. “Mouth. Like you did on boat. Like your sister did.”

Livia took him into her mouth. Deeply. As deeply as she could, the way she knew he liked.

He moaned. The dragon saw its chance. It spread its giant wings and filled its lungs with fire.

Skull Face grabbed the back of her head and thrust deeper, wanting to make her gag, to make her choke, the way he always had on the boat. It was all right. She wanted him to. She let him push as deeply as she could stand.

And then, in a single blur of movement, she shot her palm up into his gun hand. Jerked her head down.

And clamped her jaws together.

Skull Face shrieked. The gun went off inches from her ear. She barely heard it. She grabbed the barrel and torqued it toward the ceiling and bit harder, screaming, roaring through the clod of blood and tissue in her mouth. Skull Face shrieked again and shook, unable to pull away, frozen by shock and pain. Livia pushed the gun hard to the left and tore her head viciously to the right. The gun came loose. So did the rest of him.

She fell to her back, bringing the gun into her right hand on the way. Redcroft was already moving offline, his hand going for his gun, but she’d anticipated the move and tracked him easily, firm grip, front sight on the target, just the way Rick had taught her.

She pressed the trigger. The first round caught him in the side. He twitched and continued to fumble for his weapon. She shot him again in the side. Tracked up. Shot him in the neck. He fell to his knees. She lowered her sights. And blew his jaw off. A geyser of blood erupted from where his lower face had been. His hands went spastically to the wound as though he could somehow arrest the damage, and he looked at her for a moment, his eyes wide, as though imploring her to explain how this possibly could have happened. Then he pitched forward onto the carpet.

Livia stood, keeping the gun on Redcroft. She spat the bloody chunk of meat from her mouth onto the carpet. Lone watched wordlessly, frozen in his chair, his face a mask of shock and horror.

Skull Face was on his back, shrieking, writhing, his hands clasped uselessly over his crotch, blood flowing through his fingers and saturating his pants.

Livia pointed the gun at Lone and said, “Stay.” Then she walked to where Redcroft lay and put one more round in the back of his head. She pulled the gun from behind his pants and threw it to the far corner of the room.

She knelt next to Skull Face and patted him down, keeping the gun on Lone. Skull Face continued to shriek and writhe. He was clean. He’d only had the SIG, and now the SIG was hers.

She stood and walked closer to Lone. “The bedroom,” she said. “Move.”

“I’ll tell you about your sister,” he said, panting. “I’ll tell you everything.”

She spat out another bolus of gore and wiped the back of her wrist across her bloody mouth. She smiled at him.

“I know you will,” she said. “I know.”