Red Lady

Eden

Light headedness was something I had become quite familiar with over my years in this line of business. You don’t become an assassin and not lose enough blood to make you pass out. Well, not unless you were perfect, which no one was, including me. It wasn’t one of the most pleasant feelings in the world, but it was a lot better than a compound fracture or something of the like. The light headedness had come from a slow but sure blood loss. Although it had been hours since we had first bandaged my wound, it had yet to scab over. Since the first wrappings, I had bled through three, and everyone was starting to worry about it, even me. After being almost stabbed in the heart, and many other horrible injuries, it was weird getting freaked out over a bullet skim wound.

“Why won’t it stop bleeding?” Donavan asked, bringing back to my thoughts. He examined my arm while a shrugged.

“Maybe my body just can’t heal me anymore; I’ve been hurt too many times. I couldn’t blame if I didn’t want to heal anymore.”

The man glared down at me. “Don’t say that.”

I shrugged again, about to talk when a wave of numbness went through my head. I had to try twice before I got out, “It’s getting worse.”

“We need to the bleeding to stop,” Irene said, turning around in her seat to look at me.

“No, what we need to do is get her to a hospital,” Avian hissed out, his hands clamped on the steering wheel tightly.

“You know that isn’t an option,” I told him, trying to sit up. It failed miserably, like I thought it would, but Don helped me sit up right, and I felt slightly better.

“It’s better than you dying from this.”

I snorted, finding what he had said funny. “Wouldn’t that just be sweet? I’ve been shot multiple times, broken bones, been close to dying many times, but it would just be icing on the cake if I died from a bullet skim.”

“That’s not funny,” all three of them said at the same time.

I grinned wide. “I know.”

“Back to the hospital-“

“You are not taking me to a hospital here in America. If the bleeding hasn’t stopped by the time we’re in La Chaux-de-Fonds, then I will agree to go. Any time other than that, it is an absolute no.”

No one seemed happy with my decision, but it wasn’t like they could really fight with me on this. We were quiet until we reached the very very private airport that Avian had somehow arranged for us to leave from. Even though the darkness of the night was approaching, my sharp eyes saw around six figures standing at the entrance of the plane, looking highly suspicious. I was going to ask my cousin where he had found these guys, but that numbness came back and I kept my mouth shut.

Avian stopped the car and stepped out, opening the door closest to me and picked me up gently, holding me in his arms while he walked towards the airplane. I was guessing he had left Donavan and Irene to get the bags. The six men cleared the way for us, and we were on the nicely decorated plane soon.

“I feel like a president,” I said weakly when the red head sat me down in a large chair. He ignored me and checked me out, unwrapping the gauze to see the damage. I looked over when he shook his head and saw that the wound looked exactly like it did when Mika had told us how to take care of it.

“This isn’t good,” Irene mumbled as she came up to us.

“Does anyone know how to fix this?” Donavan asked desperately to the men who had followed us on the plane.

“Do I look like a damn doctor to you?” the smallest one snarled.

With my good arm, I drew the gun from the thigh holster and pointed it at him. His eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t move.

“I don’t like your attitude kid, so either shut the fuck up or get the hell off the plane. Don’t think I won’t shoot you, because I will not hesitate to put a bullet through your head.”

“Feisty one, ain’t she?” I heard from a little farther in the plane. I didn’t take my eyes off my target, because that was amateur mistake number one, but told the male voice, “Hell yes I am.”

The Southern voice chuckled and said nothing after that. I gave the punk I had my gun on one last look before I put the gun down and looked at the man who had called me feisty.

He stood there in normal street clothes, a couple oils stains here and there, with a flat head screwdriver in his hand and a lit cigarette hanging from his lips. His long, dirty blond hair was let loose, flowing down to the small of his back, and it framed his brown eyes. When we locked eyes, I noticed a very familiar something in them. Emptiness, a blank that I had acquired over the years. It made me like him instantly, although I didn’t know if that was a good thing.

“Name,” I demanded once I was done looking. He smirked, but his eyes stayed the same.

“Ashton,” he said.

“Eden, we really do need to stop this bleeding. We can keep wrapping it up, but sooner or later we’re going to run out of gauze and you’re going to be bleeding all over the place.”

“Excuse me if I ruin the carpet,” I scoffed while my three friends glared. They didn’t seem to think humor was necessary right now. Bunch of stick in the muds.

“Well, I’m no doctor, but I got a suggestion,” Ashton said, taking a drag off of his cigarette and blowing it out slowly.

“And what would that be?”

“You can always cauterize the wound.”

Instantly, there seemed to be uproar between my “caretakers”, because no one seemed to find the idea very appealing. I didn’t like it either, but as my mind processed the information, I couldn’t argue the fact that it was a good idea.

“Well do it,” I said, silencing everyone.

“Eden, I really don’t think this is a good idea. One, it will hurt like a bitch-“

Once again I snorted, very unlady like of me, and looked at Avian. “You think I don’t know that? If anyone in this room knows pain, that would be me. And this is going to be a whole new level I’ve never experienced, but it’s our only option.”

“But Eden-“

“Shut the hell up Donavan, you’re not the one that it’s going to happen to.”

They were quiet after that, as well as unhappy- that seemed to be a pattern- but shut up as I had asked. I asked the man that had given us lip earlier to get me some whiskey or something so that in my drunken state I might feel less pain. He did what I asked and came back with a large bottle and a rolled up towel.

“To bite down on,” he explained when he handed the materials to me. I nodded and took the things, drinking the liquid as soon as I opened it. It bit the back of my throat and I coughed slightly, but continued to drink until more than half of the bottle was downed.

In my buzzing, soon to be drunk, state I watched as Ashton lit up his screwdriver with his handy lighter. It didn’t take long for the metal to become hot, and when I saw him coming towards me, I put the towel in my mouth. Avian and Donavan both held my hands as the thing inched closer. I braced for the burn, expecting it to hurt like a mother.

Oh, and hurt it did. The pain was so intense and sudden I let out a scream that was muffled by the fluffy towel that was in my mouth. I clutched to the hands that were in mine as if that could take the pain away. My blue eyes closed after the first couple seconds, willing myself not to cry like a little girl.

Although it only took twenty to thirty seconds for Ashton to close the wound, it was the longest half a minute in my life. In all my years, I don’t think I had ever felt something like this. Yes, there was agony that could top and rival it, but this was just a different kind of torture.

When the deed as finally done, I slumped against the seat, breathing hard after I had spit the towel out of my mouth. My arm was aching, still hurt, but not as much as it had with the actual contact. It took me several minutes until I was able to open my eyes, and when I did, the first thing they focused on was Ashton in the seat across from me, smoking a new cigarette.

“You’re one tough son of a bitch. I know men who would have fainted from pain like that.”

“I’ve felt worse, although this goes in the top five.”

He shook his head, his blond hair falling into his face slightly. “One tough son of a bitch.”

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Su

I let out another sigh, flipping through the channels of the nice TV that was screwed into the wall. It was now night time, and Kris had left ten or so minutes ago, so I was now all alone. I had slept most of the day away, so I wasn’t really very tired. When there was nothing of interest on the TV, I groaned and just left it on the news. I watched the two anchors converse with each other for a short time before the room phone rang quietly beside me.

“Hello?” I asked, confused at who would be calling me at this time of night.

“Is this Susanna Ramirez?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“My name does not matter, I just needed you to pick up the phone.” And then the female hung up. Still confused, I shook my head and hung the phone up, wondering why this mysterious person had called.

“Hello Ms. Ramirez, I’m here to give you some pain medicine, doctor’s orders,” I knew female nurse said, coming over with a small needle filled with a clear liquid.

“Oh, alright. I just got the strangest call. You guys wouldn’t happen to have caller ID, would you?” I asked her, watching as she put the needle into my IV.

“That’s not important,” she said, and I suddenly felt drowsy for no reason at all. Before my vision went to black, I felt strong arms start to take me away from my room and I had time to think ‘What is going on?’