We Come Out At Night

I went to bed alone last night happy with the progress that I had made with Vengeance. Tonight was Monday and that meant I would have the night off. While I could stay up in my room and watch television and eat ice cream, but instead, I got dressed and went down to the casino. I hadn’t seen anyone all day as I slept through most of it.

I stepped off the elevator in a pair of ripped jeans and a white wife beater with red high heels. It’s not like I had a lot of clothing options. I hit the bar first and ordered a whiskey sour before walking around and taking in my surroundings.

Shadows and Gates were nowhere in site, but I did see Christ at one of the tables playing cards. I walked out the front door and lit up a cigarette, big surprise. No one followed after me. I could run away right now and not a single one of them would notice.

By the time I’d finished smoking, I’d been outside a good 10 minutes and not a single hint that I was being watched or followed. What the fuck?

After going back inside, I was now on a mission to find out how I’d become so obsolete over night and heaven help Vengeance if he had anything to do with it. I walked through the main floor of the casino and still the only one I saw was Christ and he didn’t even pay me any mind. Maybe they were setting me up for something.

Down the hall I walked and passed the gift shop and that’s when I heard it. Music, and I might add, it wasn’t very good either. I followed the sounds of the female voice that sounded like a cross between a humpback whale and Hannah Montana.

When I got to the auditorium, I finally found out why no one had taken notice of my whereabouts. Shadows was sitting at a table up front with Gates while Vengeance stood off to the side. The Rev was sitting on the other side of the room leaning back in a chair with his feet up on the table.

On the stage was the mother of all spectacles. Lilly. She couldn’t sing a note to save her life, but I guess the fact that she wore very little was enough to make up for her lack of talent. Lilly was doing a very bad version of Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” I stood there watching her in the doorway with my arms folded.

It didn’t take very long for Lilly to see my eyes on her and when her eyes locked with mine, she lost her train of thought, forgot the lyrics and tripped. Embarrassed, she ran off the stage. Shadows and Gates turned their heads to see what it was that had Lilly so shaken. Shadows looked right at me and I simply smirked and walked away back towards the main floor of the casino.

I found a slot machine and decided to press my luck. Of course I knew luck would never be on my side in this casino.

“What the hell was that?” Shadows asked leaning against the side of the slot machine.

“What the hell was what?” I knew what he meant, but I was going to play dumb for a little while.

“That little stunt you pulled back there with Lilly. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Izzy.”

I pulled the lever down on the machine and then looked back up at him. “So, now you’ve gone back to calling me Izzy? Make up your fucking mind Shadows.”

He looked like he was starting to get annoyed with me. “What the hell has gotten into you?” Funny he should ask because now he was about to find out.

“You. You got into me and then you had the nerve to hold me and while you held me you call me Kiera. So, that little stunt back there THAT was for calling me by another woman’s name. I’ll never be Kiera. EVER!”

His face turned bright red, but I was too angry with him now to sit there and wait for a response. I walked away and when I walked this time I walked with purpose in each step that I took. I spotted Gates sitting down at the bar and then I spotted fucking Ruby! She was sauntering right towards him while Vengeance was hot on her trail trying to get her attention and fulfill his end of the bargain that we made the night before.

Time for round 2! I walked right over to Gates and got there just as Ruby approached.

“MINE.” I hissed at her and sat on Gates’s lap possessively putting my arms around his neck. Vengeance grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away.

“What’s gotten into you?” Gates asked visibly annoyed. He grabbed my arms and pulled them off his neck. I hadn’t expected that reaction at all.

“You too? Isn’t anyone happy to see me? Oh wait, were you in love with Kiera too?” I had enough. One minute they weren’t able to keep their hands off me and the next they were treating me like I had the plague. Fine. Just fine.

I got up off his lap and he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back down. “Stop” he warned. “What is this about?” .

“Let go of me!” I raised my voice, but not so loud as to make people look at us. I could see Shadows approaching and tried to get myself out of the grasp that Gates had on me.

“I’m not letting you go until you tell me what is going on.”

I gritted my teeth at him and pinched his arm. “Let go of me or you’ll be eating your balls for breakfast.” his arms opened as soon as I finished the sentence. Amazing the results you can get when you mess with a man’s balls.

Shadows walked right up to the two of us and stood there with his arms folded.

“Isabella…” he started to say, but I waived my hand and cut him off.

“Don’t you Isabella me. What was it you called me yesterday?” I put my hand up to my chin and pretended to be thinking. “Oh that’s right. Kiera! Well, here’s a little advice from me to the both of you. Be careful what you wish for boys.”

I walked away and headed for the elevator. As I stood there and pushed the button, it became evident that someone was behind me. I didn’t know which one it was, but I was in no mood to deal with either one. When the elevator door finally opened, I stepped inside and in stepped Vengeance behind me. I ignored him and pushed the button for my floor and watched as the doors closed in front of me.

The bell sounded meaning that the elevator had reached my floor. When the doors opened I walked across the hall to my room and went inside. Vengeance followed me into my room. I knew there was no point in locking the door because they all probably had keys so what was the point?

When I turned around to face him he just stood there waiting for me to say something.

“I want out of here.” I tried not to cry, but I knew I had given away too much downstairs and things would be coming to light soon. I wanted to be far away from here before it did.

“Izzy, you know that isn’t going to happen so why don’t you just sit down and calm your nerves.” I didn’t want to sit down. I watched him walk over to the mini bar and fix two drinks. When he came back he pointed at the bed. “Sit down.”

After letting out a sigh and rolling my watery eyes, I sat down on the bed. He handed me the drink and I held the glass in my hand and stared down at the liquid inside.

“You’d feel a lot better if you just talk about it, Izzy.”

I shook my head and kept my gaze on the glass. “Easier said than done.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Really? Did he just ask me that question? I couldn’t help, but laugh.

“Have you met Marco?”

“Ok, we don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” Is he trying to be my friend now?

I sipped my drink, which was a little stronger than I usually take it. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way?”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“My life. Can I have a cigarette?”

He nodded and took the pack from his pocket and handed me one. When I put it to my lips, he lit it for me. After pulling it from my mouth and letting out a stream of smoke I continued. “I was stupid, left home 2 years ago when I was 18 thinking that I was going to be a model one day. I was going to make it big and never have to want for anything ever again. Stupid dream.”

“It’s not stupid, Izzy. Nobody’s dreams are stupid. You can still do it if you want it bad enough.”

“Have you seen my face?” I snapped my head in his direction and he didn’t say anything.

“Do you know how I got here, Zacky?”

“Nope.” he answered taking a cigarette out of the pack for himself and lighting it.

“One rainy night, I hitch hiked and Marco was the one who picked me up. He promised me that he would help me and that he could make me a star. I was so stupid, I believed him.” a single tear slid down my cheek and fell into the glass I was holding.

“Why did you stay?”

“At first it was everything I wanted, but then things started happening that I didn’t understand. There were other girls and there was Kiera. No matter where I go, I can’t seem to get the fuck away from Kiera. I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t know who Shadows was. I didn’t. I only knew that Marco had Kiera playing some guy for all he was worth.”

Vengeance took my glass and walked over to the bar to refill it. When he came back I took it from him and waited for him to sit back down. “I just wanted to be able to live my own life, but one night I over heard Marco talking. I guess he figured I was sleeping, but there was a thunderstorm so I got up out of bed and had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink. On my way back I stopped outside Marco’s office.

I set the drink down on the table and picked up the pack of cigarettes that Zacky left on the bed and took out another one and lit it.

“What happened next, Izzy?”

“Kiera. It was the night she had come back with her face all busted up. I heard him yelling at her and she was pleading with him, but I could barely make out what she was saying due to the damage to her face. When he finished yelling at her, I heard him say something that scared the hell out of me, but it was what I saw him do that made me drop the glass I was holding. When Marco found me outside the door of his office, my plans no longer mattered because Marco had other plans for me.”

“What did you see and hear?” I shook my head and took a drag from the cigarette.

“I know you’re trying to help me, but I can’t tell you. This is one secret that I’ll have to take to my grave because if Shadows finds out, he’ll be the one to put me there.”

“Ok wait a second. How can it be possible that Shadows would hold you responsible for something that you saw or overheard?”

“It’s more complicated then it sounds, but after that night is when Marco started branding his girls with the letter M. on their shoulders. The Maker’s Marc. After that night, I knew he would never let me go, so when we pulled into that gas station and Matt’s car was sitting there running, I took it. I honestly had no idea that it would lead me right back to the hell I was running away from.”

He put his hand over mine in a gesture of understanding. “I think you should go to bed.”

I nodded and put out my cigarette. Afterwards I stood and took off my jeans while he pulled the covers back on the bed. I climbed inside and when I lay down he put the covers over me and kissed my head. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s another day”

I turned on my side and watched him walk over to the light and shut it before leaving my room.

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Shadows Office
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There they sat Shadows and Gates watching Izzy on the monitors. She was sitting on her bed in her room talking with Vengeance.

“What could she be telling him that she won’t tell us?” he asked never taking his eyes off the monitor.

“I don’t know,” Gates shook his head. “What I do want to know is what she meant when she said be careful what you wish for.”

“Me too.” Shadows nodded and remembered how she threw Kiera in his face. It was evident to him that she knew more about Kiera then she was letting on, but just how much she knew was the mystery to all of them.

They’d sat there and watched as Vengeance tucked Izzy in and when he kissed her head Shadows snapped the pencil he was holding in his hand in half. After Vengeance walked out of Izzy’s room, Shadows turned his gaze to Gates.

“Get that motherfucker in here now” and with that, Gates nodded and left him alone in his office.