Hallows: Eulalie

Better Mascara

Julia Buulock- Memorial de Tlatelolco

Ashley:

When I asked Kelly if just the two of us were going to go in, she nodded and said it wasn't going to be a big deal, but standing inside the King Shark's warehouse surrounded by his men with only a .22 and a knife tucked away in my jeans feels kind of like a huge f*****g deal. I can't believe I felt like we were connecting in the car. This b***h is f*****g crazy.

"Victor," she greets the man sitting at a huge desk in the middle of the room.

The desk is completely out of place here. If I'm being honest, this is something that would gather dust in Dante's house. I can see his pretentious ass sitting behind that desk telling everyone to go f**k themselves.

"What are you doing here, Hayashi?" the man doesn't look up at her.

"Times up," she tells him. "Dante wants what is owed. You know exactly what I'm doing here."

He finally looks up, putting down the pen in his hand. His eyes are a pretty dark brown color. They almost look black. He's bald and intimidating as hell.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming into my territory, Oni," a woman comes over to Victor and places a stack of papers on the desk. I'm taken by surprise at first. She's tiny and her eyes are bright amber. Like honey. Her hair is pitch black, making her eyes look like they glow.

"What the f**k are you doing here, widow?" Kelly laughs. "With Escobar of all people,"

"s**t happened," she holds up her hand to show off the huge diamond resting there.

"f**k," she sighs. "You couldn't have just picked a cute little mortal off the street to give you an heir, huh?"

"Oh, come on," she rolls her eyes. "You know me better than that. Who's your cute friend with the angry eyes?"

"This is Ashley. Dante bought her for me last night. Got her off Jimenez," she shrugs. The woman laughs.

"She's cute. Could use better rags," she motions to my ripped jeans and purple t-shirt.

"Yeah, that's what I'm going to blow my money on right now," Kelly nods. I want to f*****g slap her and I know that widow lady can see it in my eyes because she doesn't take her eyes off of me as she moves in closer.

"She's not broken in yet, Kels," she whispers as she walks in a circle around me. She takes in a deep breath when her nose grazes the nape of my neck. "You smell that? That's the smell of rage and violence. This one is going to give you a hard time, honey."

"Nena," the man warns her. She groans and pulls away from me.

"Men, am I right?" she smirks. I don't answer as she goes back to the desk. My body is humming with the urge to hit someone.

"I'm not going to ask you again, Victor," Kelly reaches into her little sweater and pulls out a desert eagle. She holds it out in front of her as she takes a clip out and loads it.

There are four others here and they all have really big guns. They all tense up but don't move. Kelly isn't concerned about the four guys. Her eyes are trained on the man behind the desk. My heart is beating wildly in my chest. Adrenaline is flooding my body and I am very aware of the gun tucked into my lower back and the pocket knife in my front pocket. My mind is racing as the fight sequence in my body prepares to go to war.

"I need a couple of days to-" he starts to say, but Kelly fires the gun and a huge hole pierces the chair behind him right next to his bald head. He scoffs as if she had told him to shut the f**k up or something.

My body moves before I can think. In a split second, I'm holding my knife as the woman, Nena, lashes out at Kelly. My hand grips her wrist and I spin her around before pinning her against the desk. My pocket knife is pressed to her cheek. Everyone looks at me surprised but they say nothing.

"Now, Victor," Kelly shakes her head.

"Give her the f*****g money, Vic," Nena growls. The sound is terrifying. I press the knife into her a little harder, not liking how close to an animal the sound is.

"Domingo," Victor waves his hand. One of the four guys moves.

"Let her go, baby face. Follow him," Kelly orders.

I hate that I listen. I let go of Nena. She stumbles away from me as I turn to look at the guy behind me. He leads me into what looks like a little office. The man opens up a file cabinet and pulls out a bag. He puts it on the table between us. I reach for the gun tucked into my jeans and wave it to motion him back. He takes a step back and raises his hands as I reach for the bag to open it. There are stacks of hundred-dollar bills inside.

"They're clean," he says in a thick Spanish accent.

I set my gun down between me and the bag and reach in to take a stack. I flip through the bills. I drop it back in and take another one. When I press down to flip through the bills, they don't fold the way the other stack did. Half the bills flip forward until there's a little plastic card peaking out. I drop it back in the bag and pick up my gun again.

"Go," I motion to the door. He keeps his hands up as we walk out. I toss the stack of money at Kelly when I'm close enough. She looks down at it and takes the blue card out. She holds it up.

"Really?" she smiles at him. "You got feds on your ass?"

"I don't know what that is," he says, plucking it out of her hand. He's not lying. The woman straightens up and looks over at the guy that had been in the office with me.

"Que chingado es esto?" she demands, angrily. Her voice completely shifts an octave. It sounds demonic even.

"Let my girl, take care of it," Kelly reaches into the bag and starts taking the stacks out to check them. The woman shifts uncomfortably and then turns to face us.

"If you insist," she shrugs.

"All of them," Kelly orders.

"f**k," I groan.

I hold out my hand and she places her gun in mine knowing that my little one isn't going to cut it. I take the safety off and turn around. The guy reaches for his AK but I don't let him. I squeeze the trigger. His head whips back and he falls when the bullet hits he bridge of his nose. I don't have to move much to hit the second guy. The two behind me shout, I drop down spinning around and fire taking them both down.

This isn't the first time I have had to do something like this. It was why Chave gave me the job she did. I clear the chamber, put the safety back on, and offer the gun back to her.

"Give me the little one. I like the way this one looks in your hands," Kelly pushes it away.

"Where am I supposed to hide this?" I ask, holding it up.

"Your t**s are bigger than mine, Ash. Figure it out," she rolls her eyes and snatches the .22 out of my hand. She puts the money back in the bag and tosses it at me. I clutch it to my chest along with the gun. "Danny's not going to like this, Vic. Get your s**t in order or he's going to cut you off. We're headed to So-Cal in a couple of weeks. He's got a show and some press s**t. If you don't have this figured out by then, lose his number,"

"He's not going to do s**t to him," Nena scoffs.

"It's good to see you, Widow. Maybe teach your Shark some manners. You, better than anyone knows not to f**k with a f*****g Mamba," Kelly sneers at her. "Congrats on finding your mate. He's going to give us a good heir."

"f**k off, Kelly," Nena sighs. Kelly walks up to her and presses a kiss on her temple before whispering something into her ear. Nena gives her a nod.

"Let's go, Ash," Kelly walks past me.

"Sorry about your guys," I shrug. Nena smiles at me. "Men, am I right?"

"Get the f**k out of here, kid," she shakes her head. I spin around and rush after Kelly.

"Get in," she says as she puts the phone to her ear. I get in and place the bag on the floor. I hold up the gun, wondering how the f**k I'm going to hide this right now. I hate wearing jackets and sweaters. "I don't know, Danny. What do you want me to say?" she huffs, shutting the door when she sits next to me. "Four bodies. Ash took them out. Well, she likes me calling her Ash. Yes, Dante. Fine, I'll see you in the morning. No, I'm not going to the f*****g horse show. You know they freak me out. Take Aubrey with you. If she touches a single f*****g hair on- I don't care, Danny. You know what? If Ashley kills her, that's on you. All I'm going to say is I told you so," she hangs up. "f*****g asshole,"

"Do you think I can have a minute?" I ask, trying to steady my breathing. She looks me over and nods. She climbs into the front seat with her driver.

I lower the window a little, letting the cold air in. To keep my hands from trembling, I shut my eyes and think about the beautiful grand piano in the music theatre. I position my hands in front of them and let my fingers work over the imaginary keys.

The hum in my body slowly begins to fade and the fear finally sets in. Tears flood my eyes and spill over as I process what I just did. The sound of Chopin's Nocturnes echoes in my head as my breathing steadies itself. As the fear melts away and my emotions spill to the sound of the keys in front of me.

Dios mio. I killed four men today. I swore to you that I'd never do it again after I killed those men who hurt my mom, but I didn't really have much of a choice and it looks like this isn't going to be the last time I have to pull that trigger. The sound of the wrong key startles me and I open my eyes. Asking god for his forgiveness seems so far out of reach right now.

I knew what I was getting myself into when I accepted the deal with Chavela's dad. It was always about money with him. This is nothing like that. This isn't about money. Dante Blackstone doesn't need it, not like this anyway. He's doing whatever the f**k he wants because he can. The level of dominance he demands goes beyond corruption. What am I supposed to do? I don't know what I'm doing here or why.

"We're here," Kelly holds out a handkerchief for me to take. "Come out when you're ready. You're going to need better mascara, Ash. You got black s**t all over your face,"